Adventures In Missions decided to try something new with the World Racers that launched in January. We do ministry with our host Monday-Friday, then we get an “adventure day” on Saturday and “rest day” or Sabbath on Sunday. This is different because typically racers would do ministry 6 days a week and have one day for rest/adventuring. People would quickly discover that they can’t do it all.
Our bodies and minds need rest. Believe me, ministry Monday-Friday takes a lot out of us. We also want to immerse ourselves in the culture and go explore the places that makes each country so unique and beautiful. But there are only so many hours in a day/week/month. To find a balance, they decided to give teams a day to bond and go play, and a day to rest and recuperate.
For our first adventure day, we decided to go on a hop on hop off bus that makes stops all around the city. We visited downtown Cape Town, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Groot Constantia winery, Mariner’s Warf at Hout Bay Harbour and the V&A Waterfront. It was a great time to get to know each other better after only being a team for a week.
I don’t like to call these “off” days because when bringing the kingdom to earth, there are no off days. Although we are out to relax and have a little fun on our adventure days, we are still constantly looking for opportunities to share love with others. For instance, on our train ride into the city on our first adventure day we met Charlotte (pictured in my first blog from the field). She goes into the trains every Saturday and preaches. Now when I say train, I don’t mean Hogwarts Express with comfy seats and private cars. I’m talking New York City subway, where sitting is nearly impossible and you are forced to get closer with your neighbor than you would like. It was cool to see how she boldly proclaimed Christ in such a crowded place. Our team gathered around her and prayed for her, asking the Lord to bless her in her efforts to share the Gospel.
This past Saturday, the team split up. Denise and I left the house early to make the train to Table Mountain. As you can see from the pictures, IT WAS BREATHTAKING! Once at the top of the mountain, you could walk around the top for 360 degree views of Cape Town. I just stood up there for awhile taking in God’s creation. I mean, the man clearly knew what he was doing when he spoke the world into existence.
After Table Mountain, we decided to go to the beach. We took a bus to Camps Bay and rented an umbrella for the afternoon. Pretty soon God presented us with another opportunity to pray with someone. A Malawian man stopped by to sell us sunglasses. I bought a pair and asked if we could pray with him. We prayed that he would sell all of the sunglasses to provide for his family and that God would bless him wherever he goes. His eyes lit up as he stood up and walked off. Ministering to people doesn’t have to be extravagant, and we even get to do it on our “off” days.
Enjoy these pictures from our two adventure days in South Africa so far! As of now, you have to view them one by one. I am working on a better way to post them.
Stay tuned for a more detailed update on our ministry in schools, and a blog about “South African-isms” and “Cape Town-isms”
Love you all!
Ali
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