Written Friday July 27th…
We are leaving Capetown today, heading back to Alabanza in Pretoria for 5 days of debrief. I am so sad to be leaving this place that has been my home for 5 weeks. I rejoice though that Tom and Cindy are joining us for debrief, so we have a couple more days to spend with our ‘parents’ before saying goodbye for good.
Our family of 5 (Amy, Lynette, Tom, Cindy and myself) sits right now in the airport awaiting our flight, delayed by 2 hours due to terrible winter thunderstorms, reflecting on our time together. We have grown close to one another, mutually challenging each other, enjoying family time, and coming before the throne of God in prayer, seeking greater intimacy with Jesus. I would not have traded this month for anything else, despite the fact that it looked nothing like I expected my time in Africa to look like.
We will be meeting the rest of ZEO when we arrive at Alabanza, as they returned there from Zambia several days ago. It will good to see them, and interesting to catch up with them. They have had their adventures, lessons learned, and we have had our own, so it will take time to reunite our team, sharing all our stories. I miss all three of them, since we have been together every moment of every day for 6 months until now, and have become close family.
On August 1st, following debrief with Squad C (June Racers), Squads A and B will be leaving for Bangkok, Thailand, where we will split into our small teams again. As of right now (and things change frequently) it looks like some teams will be staying in Bangkok, while others will be heading north to other areas. ZEO and Revolution (Media Team) will be working in Phuket with a ministry called S.H.E. a ministry touching prostitutes in the area with the love of Jesus and providing opportunities for other lifestyles. I’m not sure exactly what all we will be doing there, as there is a variety of opportunities for both the men and women of our team to take part safely.
For those that are unaware (because I am not sure I have publicly mentioned this), but after Thailand, team ZEO will be heading into The Philippines for September while other teams spend the month in various South East Asian countries. We will be setting up ministry contacts for June and September Racers who will follow behind us by a few months.
These next few months are going to be so different than the first four, and the middle three, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us. He has changed my life over the last couple months in Africa – it has gone by way too fast. I can hardly believe we have been on this continent for 3 months – to be honest, it has felt more like 3 weeks, and definitely much, much faster than the 4 months in Central and South America.
The ministry in Thailand, combined with the new and fresh perspectives I have gained here (‘being’ ministry more than busy ‘doing’ ministry, and my own growing intimacy with the Lord), will be drastically different, I
imagine, than anything thus far. Set up work in the Philippines will also be a change from anything we have done before.
For the last leg of the trip, we head to China – and as of yet, I have no information on what we will be doing there.
My heart aches to be leaving this beautiful continent so soon, but I am confident that I will return at some point down the road of my life. May God bless this place, and all who I have encountered along the way.
