Hey!
To any family member, friend, donor, random boy or girl who came across this blog: I made it to South Africa! I can’t believe it and sometimes I forget because it’s pretty dang nice n developed where we are. A McDonald’s, a mall, a farmer’s market- all in walking distance! So, to all the people who asked me how I was going to shower when I ran out of soap- there’s your answer.
We arrived if Jeffrey’s Bay (JBay, if you will) on Thursday night, the 12th. We are staying at Global Leadership Academy and we LOVE IT. My entire squad is in a house and we get bunk beds, hot water and three amazing meals a day- that is World Race luxury at its finest, my friends. We settled in and got comfortable to our new home for a few days and then started ministry on Monday the 16th.
Our schedule during the week looks something like:
Devotionals at 7:25 am, breakfast at 8, session (like a mini sermon) at 9, ministry from 10 am- 1 pm, lunch at 1, ministry from 2- 4, dinner at 6, lights out at 10pm (with team time for about an hour somewhere in there).
My team is on manual labor with the guys’ team. So, Monday- Thursday, we were creating a foundation for a school building to be built on. Therefore, we were digging trenches for the perimeter of a 30x 15 ft building. The guys were pickaxing the (especially hard) dirt and we were shoveling it out. It doesn’t sound that bad, but my back would tell you differently. It is a really special thing though, because we get to do something really small in big love. We get to pray over the ground we work on, talk about Jesus on it and dream of all the things that will be done on top of it. Although, we don’t see the fruit of what we are doing in the moment, there will be a school building on top of it someday. A building where kids will learn about their perfect father in heaven and be formed into leaders and doers and thinkers. We get to build a literal firm foundation for them to then develop a firm foundation of who Christ is. It’s wild.
South Africa is on holiday right now, so there’s no school for a couple weeks and that means we got to work a Christian camp from Friday- Tuesday. The camp is called UCSA. It’s super close to the beach in downtown JBay. I led 4 girls and 5 boys all around the age of 16 with my teammate, Sarah. Our girls: angels, our boys: honoree but we still love them lots. They all speak English along with a couple other native languages, so it wasn’t hard to communicate.
We basically just got to walk them through the gospel, answer their questions and give advice. I was blown away by their curiosity and excitement to know the Lord better. 7 out of 9 of them even ended up giving their lives to Christ at the end of the week (praise Jesus)!!! It was the sweetest thing being able to be a vessel the Lord used to reach them.
I just also thought I should mention the fact that this camp has a lil somethin called “coffee hour.” Where every night at 9 pm (yes PM) the CHILDREN and high schoolers just get coffee. It really made our job as counselors easy to get them to bed at 10:30!:)
Anyways, on Tuesday the 24th, we got the day off after a week full of constant ministry. I used that time given to me to rest, watch my friends get their noses pierced, cook a gourmet dinner and write this blog.
Life on the WR is just normal life but my job is ministry instead of school and I’m in South Africa instead of the states. It’s been an adjustment, but it’s been a real good one that stretches me and produces growth.
I’m so grateful for what has been and excited for what’s to come.
Love y’all,
Julia
