While still in Cape Town, South Africa for our squad debrief, Michelle and I decided to go down to Cape Point to explore! We got up early and took a cab to the train station to grab the next train to Simon’s Town. As soon as we stepped out of the cab at the train station, we immediately stopped to pray. We asked for God’s presence, protection, and blessings over us for our day of adventure!
The train was super sketchy, but the views along the coast were incredible!
The view from our train car of the coast!!
I never once felt unsafe, even though we didn’t always know where we were or where to go. I just fully trusted and relied on God and knew that He would be with us!
Once we arrived in Simon’s Town, we found a tour company (right above the train station) that would take us to Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope, and Boulder’s Beach for only 300 Rand!
We had the whole tour van to ourselves!
Our Driver was really nice and very accommodating. At one point on the drive, we passed some pretty interesting signs:
This sign had us laughing so hard!
I then proceeded to ask the driver if we would actually see baboons and he said they are common on the Cape and that it can be very “hit or miss.” So I told him, that I really hoped we’d see them and that I was going to pray for God to bring us some! So I immediately began to pray out loud in the van.
We then stopped at Cape Point and took a tram up to the light house at the top. The views were incredible! You could see where the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans meet! And the cliffs were stunning.
Cape Point on the Left. Cape of Good Hope on the Right.
We spent so much time taking pictures and admiring the views that we were behind schedule and could only stop quickly to take a couple photos at the Cape of Good Hope, which is the farthest Southwestern tip of Africa!
Michelle and I at the Cape of Good Hope!
Once we were back in the van, we only got about a mile up the road when we were forced to stop due to a standstill of traffic backed up in front of us.
And that’s when we saw them!
A whole family/pack of baboons coming up the middle of the road towards us!
I screamed in delight! “He answered our prayers!! God is so good!!”
I asked our driver if it was ok to get out and take pictures and he said sure so jumped out of the van without hesitation and preceded to take some great photos and videos of them!
Baboons walked right past me! 🙂
As one approached me, I turned back to the van to ask Michelle to take a picture of me since she had her camera out, but as I turned, 2 baboons jumped up into the van through the open passenger side window!!
Michelle jumped out and the driver went around the outside of the van banging on the walls to try and get them out! They finally made their way back out of the van, and so we got back in and drove off.
We couldn’t stop laughing at the thought of those baboons in the van! We just couldn’t believe that we’d prayed for baboons and how God OVER-delivered! So then, as we were driving to Boulder’s Beach, which is famous for penguins, we were asking the driver about them and I asked if I should be praying for more penguins… to which he replied, “Please don’t!”
I laughed so hard, but inside was delighted at the fact that even if he didn’t believe God was responsible for answering my prayer, there was still a possibility that praying again might yield a similar result!
After wondering around Boulder’s Beach, we realized we didn’t have enough time to catch a train back to Cape Town (since we had a meeting that afternoon we needed to be back for), so we called a cab to take us straight back to our hotel.
When we got in the cab, we were still laughing about all the baboons and I shared with our driver, Luckson, what had happened and about how we had prayed and that God answered our prayer!
As we were driving, a car right in front of us had horrible exhaust that was making me nauseous, but we weren’t on a road where we could pass him. At one point I thought I was going to be sick. It was awful. So I prayed out loud again. I asked God if the car in front of us could pull over to the side of the road or make a turn at the next intersection so that we could pass it. And literally within a minute of speaking this prayer, the car pulled off to the side of the road!
I laughed so hard! I just couldn’t believe it!
“What did I tell you?! God is so good!! He answered my prayer! Now that’s authority!”
I was on such a “Holy Spirit High!”
We had asked our cab driver Luckson if he believed in Jesus, to which he replied that no he didn’t. But as we arrived back at the hotel, after seeing God answer my silly prayer, he asked us if we would pray for him! I was so honored and touched by his genuine request.
Our cab driver Luckson!
What an amazing day! As I took time that night to reflect on the crazy adventure we had, I was reminded of how it all began. I really felt like it all started with our prayer that morning, outside the train station, for God’s presence, protection, and blessings over us. All the little prayers we had throughout the day were so silly, but God still answered them!
I think He did it for several reasons:
The first was to show us that He delights in giving us good gifts for us to enjoy. Even if it’s just a couple of baboons in a van! He delights in making us happy and showing us how He loves us. He’s in even our smallest prayers.
He cares about the things we care about.
The second reason I think He answered our silly prayers was to answer our bigger, genuine prayer. The one we prayed at the beginning of the day outside of the train station, when we asked for more of His presence.
He was showing us His presence throughout the day, in the amazing places we went (His amazing creation), in the people we met (our van and cab drivers), and in our silly prayers – that He answered.
And the third and, I believe, main reason I feel God answered these prayers was so that through them, we could glorify Him!
We couldn’t stop talking about it, about how faithful He is and about how important and powerful prayer can be to our 2 drivers and in doing so – in talking about God, one man began to believe in the power of prayer and in God to the point that he asked us to pray over him!
This whole day was an answer to prayer and in the end – God was glorified!
