The last thing I expected when I walked into South Africa was South Africa. I’ve always wanted to go to Africa my entire life but didn’t learn much about it except for Ancient Egypt, a little about the Apartheid in South Africa, the Rwandan Genocide, and all the pictures and videos that show Africa as a desolate, hot place. The first thing my squad did when we walked off the plane was go to the mall to buy clothes. It was freezing! I imagined the whole continent to be dusty and dry but, boy, was I wrong and it wouldn’t be the first time.
I spent 4 weeks with the church Kruisgenerasie, a white Afrikaans church, in Middleburg, a few hours from Johannesburg. My team, Refined Elegance, was paired with Koininea and we didn’t even consider we would have native South African hosts who were white. I was a little shocked but thought, “No big deal, I can handle this.” As we drove to Middleburg, I didn’t see zebras, lions, tigers, giraffes, or rhinos everywhere. In fact, South Africa looks A LOT like the Mid-West in the United States. We lived in Suburbia with members of the church. They graciously did our laundry for us, we had a kitchen to work in, hot showers, every day the church made breakfast for us; we were so incredibly grateful!
Every day ministry was different; sometimes we would be handing out flyers to invite people to a church Braai (BBQ) or selling pink cloth to raise funds to send people with cancer to receive chemotherapy treatments in a nearby town. We visited preschools to high schools where assemblies were held in honor of us. We participated in feeding programs and joined pastor meetings. Also, we were able to meet people who have overcome addictions and met the Mayor of Middleburg, praying for the city with all his council members! It was a crazy month with so much a part of it, I cannot list it all here without writing an extremely long blog.
What I loved most about South Africa was the people. They were some of the friendliest and hospitable people I ever met. In addition to cooking breakfast for us every morning, they blessed us with a ton a meals and experiences, like micro-flights. One person even bought me a new sweater when they heard that I had lost mine! I loved them all so much. On Saturdays we would all gather at the Pastor’s house to watch Rugby matches (I lost a lot of my nails during these), we played squash throughout the week with members of the church, and there were so many Braai’s we were a part of, even one for breakfast at 10 am!
I must admit, South Africa is so much like the United States that it became a common question between us to ask, “Where are we?” In fact, many people say that once we return home to the States, we will go through reverse culture shock. For awhile I was in shock in South Africa that I was going through reverse culture shock in South Africa! It blew my mind! It was so much like home to me and everyone spoke English!
South Africa is so beautiful, from the country to the people. We were able to see African wildlife such as Giraffes, cheetahs, lions, rhinos, leopards, and so much more. I even got to kiss a lion and a cheetah! (The cheetah purrs just like a cat!) African sunsets are just what I imagined them to be. I was in awe every time I looked out. I could definitely live here.
One thing I must mention is how God is in South Africa. Our teams were constantly amazed how much He is in the schools, community and government. We prayed with the local mayor and sang hymns in the official government building! There are signs everywhere, in many of the towns in the shape of white crosses stating “Middleburg 4 Jesus.” We go to school and have a whole assembly dedicated to us so we could talk about God to the students. Many of them were surprised to hear that in the United States religion is not allowed to be talked about in school unless its a religions class. Actually, most of the South African people were surprised at how little God is in America. Many of us encouraged the people to send missionaries to United States!
South Africa, its culture, people, community, and physical landscape is one of the most beautiful I have seen in the entire world. God is definitely in that place and I miss it very much. It became a second home to me and I dearly hope I will be able to live there with my Middleburg family for awhile. It really was home to all of us.
