Sweat was slowly trickling down my forehead as I kicked the ball again.
The hot South African sun was beating down mercilessly on all those who dared to stand in its rays. My throat and mouth were dry and the water in my bottle was not only hot at this point, but also nearly empty. But I stood there and kept playing futbol(soccer) with these kids. One of them was named Jr. And he was 11 years old and an absolute sweetheart. He kept making faces at me when the other boys would try me show off or do something silly. By the time the end of the Christmas party came around, he was sad that I had to leave. He came up to me and asked,
“When will I see you again?”
I looked at him and said “I don’t know.”
It was so sad. I would have loved to see him again, but in all honesty, I probably never will. As we drove away in the van later that day, the sea of about 30 kids waved goodbye to us with giant smiles and we waved back, never to see them again.
That was one of the stories from the two days I spent with kids in the villages throwing Christmas parties for them. It was a precious time and I wish I had the ability to go back and spend more time with them.
This past month in SA was awesome. The first two weeks the guys were in Botswana building a roof for a church, while all 32 of us girls were at Manna Christian Church. While we were there we had many different jobs to do. We gardened, painted back drops for the Christmas plays, helped move sound equipment, painted one of their youth buildings, and we also participated in the Christmas play they put on. We danced to “The Hoedown Throwdown” by Hannah Montana. We wore flannels, braided our hair, and had full stage makeup done, even the guys.
Something that I learned this month as a continuation of what I was learning in Greece, is that I need to give my all, and love my best, while I have the time to love. The first two weeks with just us ladies was an awesome time for me to get to know some of the girls better. And I thoroughly enjoyed all of their company immensely. We did a Bible study through Phillipians, went on date nights, swung in hammocks and just did life together. It was great. We vanquished the giant bugs by getting a smashing rock and tallying our kills on it.
All in all, South Africa was a nice introduction to Africa itself. Now as my team and I get ready for a new country, Zimbabwe, we’ve had a lot of other changes as well. Besides being the new year, we’ve also been put on new teams.
Meet my team Set Ablaze!
Our ministry in Zimbabwe is called Unsung Heroes. My team and I will be going into the country with no contacts, no ministry host, and we’ll spend our time looking for future ministries for future WR teams to work with. We’ll be spending a lot of time in prayer seeking the Lord and where He would have us go and who He wants us to talk to. It’s definitely going to be a faith growing experience and I’m excited to see how this will grow us as a new team.
I’m currently $155 short of being fully funded! How exciting is that!!!
If y’all could be in prayer for my team as we enter this new season of life, we’re gonna need it!
Thanks for reading! God bless!
Cheers!
P.s. The stars on this side of the equator are upside down.
