I thought it would be good to post an update on what life
has been like so far in South Africa
and to update everyone on new information about our tentative plans to head
into Mozambique.
So it turns out we aren’t quite roughing it as much as we thought we would be. We are doing the
whole bucket bath thing and we are cooking our meals… but we aren’t living
outside in tents. We are actually living about twenty minutes outside of
Nelspruit up on top of a large hill in a community called Backdoor Township. This
is a poor area that resulted from apartheid, where they moved a large part of
the black community out to this area with little electricity and water. On top
of the large amount of poverty, AIDS is also a huge problem in the area.
Right on top of the hill is a small home occupied by two
missionaries from London, Bob and
Sue. They just moved to the Backdoor Township
a little less than four months ago to join the efforts of their daughter Linda,
who also lives in the community a few doors down.
Most of our ministry in the township will center around the
feeding program, hospital visitation, and a few local preschools. Some of our
goals for the week are to help one of the preschools build a playground and to
visit the children, to visit the hospital as often as possible, and to do
puppet shows for the children at the feeding program.
But we have also come to realize that we have another
purpose during our time here in South Africa.
This time that we have here will be used a time of preparation for our time in Mozambique.
We are trying to spend as much time as possible in the word, meditating on
scriptures, and praying. We feel as though God is preparing our team for
something great, and we want to be as equipped as we can be.
Next Friday, February 15th, we will head on over
to Mozambique.
We have been told that the actual driving time will be about twenty-five hours,
but overall travel will probably take two and a half to three days. It will be
the six members of our team (Sarah is working on another ministry this month J),
either Tyler or Alexis Black, and possibly two other missionaries from California.
TO BE CONTINUED
