A little about this month:
My team and one other team are at Michael’s Children’s Village near White River, South Africa. The 13 of us work so well together and I love the dynamics of the group, we all feel so blessed to be with each other. I have so much to learn from the ladies I am with when it comes to the bible and the kitchen, and they go along with my crazy workouts in the morning so it’s great. I love the sisterhood this month! They are too much fun!
Here at MCV they believe in family based care for the orphan children, which means that each of the orphans lives in a house on the property with a family and a mama. They are under Iris Ministries and have several ministries branching out from their local church, which is located in Backdoor. When we first arrived, we had orientation and they wanted to make sure we all knew that our number one priority was to spend time with Jesus, preferably in the morning. I love that the believe everything we do flows from our secret place with Jesus, because I completely agree! Our first day we had morning worship and prayer time with the kids and the mothers and these people really love Jesus. We spent about two hours singing, praying, and giving testimonies.
This week we planned activities with the kids and also took time to pamper the mothers. The kids played sports, watched movies, did zumba, and made crafts. With the moms we painted nails, drank tea, and prayed with them at random times.
We also received some hard news this first week. One of the girls on our squad lost her mom. Because “I” squad is one big family now, we all took the morning to cover her, her family, her team and the rest of the squad in prayer. I cannot imagine what Laine feels like having to grieve the death of her mother while in Africa, while on a plane, and while back home in California. When one hurts, we all do and so I ask you to also pray for Laine. We know Jesus is holding her through this hard time but we pray she does not loose sight of Jesus and how much He loves her. This will not overcome her and we pray she continues to praise Jesus even in her grieving.
Next week we will go up into the community, around the church, and do home visits where we will pray with people and serve them however we can. We might also work some in the Dream Center where they help teach people basic skills like on the computer or sewing machines. I am thrilled to see more of the community next week and can’t wait to share stories with you all! There is a little preview of October!
Oh ya and how could I forget to tell you that I am extremely thankful for hot water, a shower, a bunk bed, a kitchen, electricity and a washer!!! Which means no cold bucket showers, no tenting, no cooking over a fire, and no hand-washing … anything could change at any moment, but at least for now! Our house is called the Destiny House because they say more of people’s destinies are unlocked here! And the land around this place is beautiful with the trees, hills, and tall brown grass!
