I am now here in Cape Town, South Africa
working with at risk children in the neighborhood with a ministry called the
Jeremiah Project. Until I came I didn’t realize this ministry is run out of Ma
and Pa’s house (this is what we call our contacts we live with here) and we
literally live right along side all the people and children that we are
ministering too. We do VBS, tutoring, sports camp, discipleship, and just
encourage and pour into these kids and this community. We go into peoples
houses that are sick and pray for them and sing worship songs and prayers over
fruit stands in the community…the fruit stand donates free fruit to the
children. These kids are amazing and without this ministry there is really
nothing to do in this community besides get into trouble. I do not feel in danger because I know that
the Lord is protecting our team as He has done each month but the facts are
that no we are not in a good section of Cape Town. We are the only white people
that are living in this neighborhood and when people we meet hear where we are
staying they are surprised that we are in such a rough neighborhood. Picture
two train tracks, we live right in the middle of the train tracks in a colored
neighborhood. The black people live to the left and the white people to the
right. All separated by train tracks and they do not mix. At church the
congregation is mixed but not in where we live. Where we live people are very
proud to say they are colored people and say they are the nicest ones J
We have formed really good friendships with
the kids and have enjoyed pouring into them and encouraging them! There are
about 100 kids in the neighborhood that come, usually not all at the same time
but at different times during the day or different days. It sounds overwhelming
to have so many kids but God has made tons of room in each one of our hearts
and given us crazy memories to memorize each child’s name! One of my favorite
things we have done twice (usually once a week) since arriving is at 8 PM we
will have a movie night outside in the street (we live on a dead end and the
area of the street in front) of their house is safe to sit in) where we project
the movie onto the house and take blankets out into the street and watch it all
together!
I
have REALLY found my heart in the young girls ages 10-14. At 3 PM my group is
smaller and consists of 9 kids ages 10-14 years old. The very first day with
them I got to talk to them about what we were doing here in Africa, where we
have been, what God is teaching me, and encourage them in their faith and then
just talked about their lives and got to know them. After almost two hours
together I was hugging them all goodbye and one of the girls Kimlee, said to me
“I don’t want to leave, you have really impacted me with your words and I feel
connected to you!”. Before I could even think about what I was saying I said,
“Wow and its only day one!.” I thought whoops hope she doesn’t take that wrong,
I just voiced what I was thinking and I was honestly kind of thinking well she
is 13 and at this age they get attached fast. But with the most serious eyes
she looked up at me and said, “You would be surprised the impact that you can
have on someone in one day and the difference you can make in their life.” She
hugged me goodbye and left but the lesson and impact of her words will stay
with me forever. So from day one the Lord set the tone for the month, every day
you can love people and one day can make a difference in someone’s life.
These kids just desire to hang out with
you, its so touching. Day 3 I was hanging out with the girls and then said well
girls its time to go eat lunch so I guess I will see you back here at 3 then!
That was the schedule we set up, 3-4 hours in the morning and 3-4 hours later
in the afternoon/night when it got cooler out…but when I went to walk inside
the girls asked if they could just sit on the bench and wait the THREE hours
outside for me to come back out. And they were COMPLETELY serious. I thought
they may want to go have lunch or something…then it hit me these kids may not
even have food to eat at home, most kids come to us hungry having not eaten, we
feed them each day and give them fruit and we had already given them food but I
thought they may be hungry again. The Lord spoke ALL day to me whispering,
“They matter…this matters…they matter…”
Last short story….J The other day I got the opportunity to share the gospel with 4
girls ages 11-13 and spend a long time with them talking about the Lord’s love
for them and about Jesus and answering their questions. This small group
started from a big group of kids I was working on reading with and we were
reading bible stories. Once many kids left after a while to go play soccer with
our guys, I saw one older girl and realized I didn’t know her. I asked her name
and she sad it was Ronique and she knew my name was Emily J From the moment I saw her eyes the Lord spoke very clearly and said
pay attention to this one. As we read and the Lord led the conversation at the
end I asked the girls if accepting Christ was something they wanted to do and
if so they could today or they could think more about it. I took each child one
by one and talked to them to make sure what they really wanted and if they
really understood what we had spoken about. With kids I never want them to just
walk into something just because all their friends are doing it or without
really understanding what is happening. Two girls, the younger two, talked
about their friends and said they would think later about what we talked about.
The third said she was really interested and wanted to talk more next week.
Ronique sat down and her eyes told it all…she said she wanted to accept Jesus
and live for the Lord starting today and she wanted to know how to do that. She
had never prayed before or talked to God so we talked all about prayer and what
it means and that it’s a conversation with God. She prayed the sweetest prayer
I have ever heard and then I prayed over her. God spoke a lot over her through
the words he had me speak out about her life and the woman she would grow to
be. It was a really special day for Ronique and she was SUPER excited! She is
going to join the spiritual dance group they do once a week and I will continue
to meet with her throughout our time here. But most importantly I introduced
her to everyone in the ministry, Ma and Pa, and the whole family because they
will be here long after I go.
The Lord is doing awesome things here! I
could go on and on story after story but you all may all be asleep by then! Ma
and Pa (we call our contacts Ma and Pa J) are two of the most AMAZING people I have ever met in my whole
life. The way they live their lives and pour out all they have is the most
inspiring. I am learning a lot about trusting God and what that REALLY looks
like. I am learning that in my life as far as finances go in daily life I have
never been worried about where my next meal will come from, if there will be
money for gas or to pay rent…I have never poured out everything I have to
others not sure if there would be enough for myself…that’s what Ma and Pa do
every day. They didn’t really have enough money to have us come here (we do pay
but you know when people stay with you sometimes there ends up being extra
costs along the way you end up paying for) but they prayed about it and said no
let them come, God will provide for us all!
Miss
and love you guys TONS!! Have a great week! Love, EM
