This past week we finished up our week at Mamelodi. Leaving all my kids on Friday was much more difficult than expected…
On Thursday I went home with Alpha & Zandile. We pulled up to Alpha’s little green, metal home to find her mother, Esther, waiting in expectation for our arrival. We visited with her and I bragged on Alpha for a while. When we asked what we could pray for she told us that she had other children from a previous relationship. Her husband, Alpha’s father, would not allow them to live with him because they were not his. Pray for a change of heart in Esther’s husband so she can have all her family under one roof. I believe the Lord desires to answer her prayer to be a good mother and support all of her children.
Zandile is the one that stole my heart this week. She is incredibly sweet, wants to be loved, absorbs knowledge quickly, and desires to know more about the Lord. When we got to Zandile’s home several children came out of the house along with her mother. Zandile typically does not live with her mother and father in Mamelodi. Since her mother has so many children, she lives with her grandmother in another township and was visiting during the school holiday. When we prayed for Zandile’s family her mother also asked for prayer regarding her husband’s lack of support for the family and her inability to find a job herself. The women of these townships work so hard to do what they can, but pray the Lord impacts the hearts and minds of their husbands to have the desire to make family a priority.
On Friday the Lord really impressed upon us the need to pray for each of the kids at camp. In our Bible Study time I went around and asked each kid individually what I could pray for them. Then my translator and I prayed for them one on one. Here are the list of things I heard…
-A job for my parents
-For my dad to not get drunk and come to know Jesus
-Healing for family members
-That I wouldn’t be naughty
-To be strong in academics and grow in the Lord (I believe this one will be a leader in S. Africa one day)
-To learn more about Jesus
When I asked if everyone had been prayed for…my translator, Khomotso said “Everyone but ME.” The previous day he had been gone, so when I sat down with him he told me he was gone yesterday because he was baptized. Come to find out…that week Khomotso had decided to follow Jesus too! You never know who needs to know about Jesus. I assumed he knew the Lord but was mistaken. While talking to him I was so extremely excited for him because he saw the Lord’s desire and jumped all in. He asked me to pray that his friends would be positive and come to know Jesus, pray for his future, and pray that God would allow him to help younger kids know Jesus. When I asked him what he wanted to do he told me he wanted to be a motivational speaker throughout South Africa. While praying for Khomotso the Lord revealed to me that He will become a powerful evangelist. I told him that I believe the Lord desires him to fulfill this purpose and he was overjoyed about the Lord’s desire. In addition to that I introduced him to a guy around his age who has discipled several of the kids that attended camp in the last few years. Pray for Khomotso…the Lord is going to do powerful things in his life! I learned this week that you really never know who is listening and watching. I was speaking to my 13 year olds all week without the expectation that Khomotso needed Jesus too.
