We made it to South Africa! This month I’m with the other girls from the co-ed team and all the men are doing “man”istry month.
We took an 5 hour bus ride to Johannesburg from Swaziland and then got picked up by someone from the church we’re partnering with this month. He drove us 18 hours to the western side of the country. We spent the night in the van and woke up intermittently to see the stars out of the van windows in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning we arrived in Heidelberg and were greeted by Tania. She made coffee for us, had cereal out and later we found chocolates on our pillows. Her and her husband Phil pastor Langeberg Christian Fellowship Church. They are lovely people and I’m inspired by their faith in God as they’ve gone around the world to church plant. We listened to parts of their story and how they came to Heidelberg as we ate a traditional South African meal together outside. They’ve arranged daily dinner meals from the church while we’re here. We are truly blessed!
It’s quite a different atmosphere from last month. The 8 girls on our team are sharing a home with Tania and Phil. Which I love because the proximity helps us get to know them more. I am also sharing a bedroom with just one person. It’s a quaint and quiet town. Sometimes as I walk the streets I feel like I went back in time. Everything has character and a European flare because of the colonization. The language Afrikans is really similar to Dutch. Everyone knows everyone. Tania and Phil introduced us to their friends and neighbors across the street, Mike and Noreen. They made dinner for us one night and dropped off some fresh grapes from their vines. They even showed us their routine in how they serve tea and coffee after church service. We continue to run into people we meet all around town. One of our first days here a friendly guy from the church drove by us and stopped to say hi to see if we were the Americans in town. I guess we stood out haha.
This month is flexible with ministry. We’ve taken a few classes at the Bible college. Last week we attended an evening church group and we laughed, we shared and had a good time. We are serving in the schools in the morning and as a team we’ve decided to pray and find ways of serving the community. We want to spend time meeting people on the streets and inviting them to church, or getting to know the students at the Bible college near the church. I can already tell this month is going to be rejuvenating and also stretching as we’re given some discernment as to how we want to serve. I anticipate pressing into more gifting and blessings God has given each of us so we can be a blessing to Tania, Phil, Mike, Noreen, the church, the neighbors and all those we encounter in town. We are really grateful to be in Heidelberg this month and we’re trying to soak it up before we leave in less than 2 weeks. I posted some pictures below to show what we’ve been up to.
Love and peace,
Eva
These are kids drawing and coloring after we taught a lesson about Noah.
We met the local artist who made this mural. She told us, “Art is the doorway to the world.”
Our team did a skit for the after school kids program.
Pumpkin contest at the local fair.
Our local grocery store.
Here is our patio where we hang out and have meals.
This is a photo I took of the view towards our backyard.
