What an awesome couple weeks it has been! On October 1, our
team along with team J159 left Pretoria where we had debrief and headed towards
White River, which is near Nelspruit- northeast of Pretoria. It was a quick and
smooth 5 hour bus ride that put us at our next ministry location by early
afternoon. I am currently staying in Michael’s Children Village (MCV), which is
an IRIS ministry, as was our first month in Zimbabwe. There are four houses at
MCV. Three of them belong to the children, while one is for the visitors. They
have a really cool set up here. At each of the three houses are about 5 to 6
children with a momma and a poppa. While these children are all orphans, they
have the “family feel” to them. The children range from about 1 years old to 15
years old. All of them attend a nearby school. We are staying the visitor home.
WE HAVE BEDS! So thankful for that luxury! We also have a kitchen where we cook
our food, and a family room where all 13 of us eat meals.
Last week (October 1 through 5), the children were actually
off from school on holiday break. Our host asked us to stay on the compound for
most of the week to plan some activities for the children. We played soccer,
American football, tree tag, red rover, red light green light, sang songs,
memorized bible verses, bible stories, arts and crafts, did Zumba, nursed
wounds, and watched a movie. The week was jam-packed. We really got to know the
kids because they speak very good English, and they call us all by name. They
were so happy we got to spend the week with them.
One really crazy thing that happened last Thursday (October
4) was that there was a forest fire. It was about 10:45AM and we were Zumba-ing
it up with the kids in the prayer hut when we got the call. All five of us guys
raced to the truck where we zoomed out of the compound and about a quarter mile
down the road where the fire was picking up heat. We slapped the fire with fire
sticks in an attempt to smother it and watched in dismay as the fire quickly
spread towards our compound. Only three or four other people were there beside
us to lend a hand and one man was taken by his wife to the hospital to be
treated for burns. The fire department eventually came, but when they did
arrive they didn’t do much to help out. The girls on our team, along with some
of the other older kids, quickly started to gather water in huge pots and in
random buckets and jugs. They would relay them to the guys who would attempt to
stop the path of the fire. The guys had wet rags on their faces in an attempt
to avoid smoke and debris, and to help breathing. Water-tank-backpacks were
also being used to stop the flames. It was close to 90 degrees, and it hadn’t
rained in weeks. The fire was relentless. Finally, as the fire approached the
compound and was literally feet away from the electric fence that lined the
property, we were able to put it completely out. The fire breaks and lack of
trees helped slow down this fire that consumed 7+ acres of forest. It took
approximately two and half hours of fire-fighting to stop the flames.
Check out http://angelaketcham.theworldrace.org/?filename=fighting-fires for another viewpoint.
We were exhausted, would smell like smoke for days, and
hoped that we wouldn’t have to deal with anything like that again.
Fire-fighting? I didn’t see that in the description of the World Race when I
applied! The fire taught me some lessons:
-Patience, perseverance, persistence, and
finishing the job. My teammate Angela complimented me as I sat down for lunch
after the fire. “Jochem, great job fighting the fire, I’m really proud of you.
I’m glad you guys fought it out to the end.” My response and amazing analogy
was, “Angela, of course- no problem. But does a midwife leave the room when the
baby is only halfway out? No, of course not! No matter how gross, sweaty,
difficult or time-consuming a job is, it must be finished and it must be
finished correctly.” I think that fire-fighting should replace any aerobic
exercise because it burns so many calories. We were tired- but we finished the
job. We persevered. We finished the job
we started. We finished the job correctly and with passion.
-A blurb of a popular song we sing here on the
World Race is “Come start a fire down in my soul, that I can’t contain, that I
can’t control. I want more of you, God.” We couldn’t contain this physical fire
for a long time. We couldn’t control it using the manpower or equipment we had.
It was scary at times as we thought and braced for the worst possible outcome.We
sing and pray for a spiritual fire, we want God, we want to be on fire for Him
and we want to be out of control for Him. Our team so desires to spread God’s
love just as quickly as the flames spread through the forest. Pray this for our
team today.
–The last lesson might just be the most
important. We went into that fire uncomfortably. We didn’t know how to be good
firefighters, have a good strategy, or know the best techniques to get the job
done. We knew the risks involved and that they could be bad. It works the same
way with God’s calling. Sometimes he calls us to something that is far outside
our level of comfort. We fought this fire though we were not firefighters. When
God calls us to something, we have to have faith and trust in Him that He will
lead the way and guide us through what He is calling us to do. We need to trust
that God will give us the best way, the best strategies, and the wisdom to
whatever He calls us to.
It has been a fantastic first week here in South Africa and
I’m looking forward to the upcoming weeks here! Next week we have some
different activities planned. We have plans to visit Village of Hope, visit a
preschool, and doing some home visits. This will all take place in the nearby town
of Backdoor. We will be assisting in the feeding program that goes on at
Village of Hope. This takes place Monday through Friday at 3:00 PM.
Construction is underway for the new Bible College next door to Village of Hope
and we will have the opportunity to assist in the building process of the
college.
Excited to be serving here in White River, South Africa! The
weather here is gorgeous- though all over the place. Before and during the
fire, it was hot hot hot. Since then it has actually rained twice and one day I
wore my hoodie all day because it was chilly. The scenery is beautiful.
Mountains are all over the place and it is very green and lucious. I hope to
get pictures up on facebook soon, but as you may know, it may be challenging
due to my limited time on the internet combined with the slowwwwww internet
speeds. TIA. This is Africa. J
-Thanks for your prayers and support-
