Greetings
from South Africa! We arrived Friday evening, and have enjoyed a
restful and reflective few days at Alabanza (sort of a retreat center, located
right outside of Pretoria). It has been great fun to be welcomed by all
our South African friends, and a blessing to be present for their own
homecoming. The next few weeks will fly
by, and we are all quite aware of the upcoming lasts… last ministry leg, last
race, last goodbyes. We are determined
to make the most of them and to finish as strong as we can.
Yesterday
was an enjoyable first Sunday in S.A. We were privileged to attend two very
different church services. In the
morning, we went to Rifilwe, where we worshipped with a small, predominantly
black congregation. They were
celebrating “Culture Sunday”, and many of the women showed up in gorgeous
colorful dresses, complete with elaborate coordinating headwraps and beaded
jewelry. Our team was invited to spend
time with the children, so we spent the morning performing our dramas, along
with songs and games. At the end of the
service, we rejoined the adults. We were
amazed by their eagerness to welcome us as distinguished guests, and to pray
over us for our next leg of ministry.
They brought us to the front and washed all of our feet, and even treated
us to a ‘holy kiss’ on the lips by Mama Lizzie!
Though I couldn’t understand the words of their language as they prayed,
the presence of the Holy Spirit was sweet and unmistakable.
After
a quick trip back to Alabanza for lunch, we hopped back in the vans to head to
our next service. This time, we went to visit
Liesl’s (Yellow Team) home church. She
is a member of a large church in Pretoria
that has experienced rapid growth over the past few years. We were amazed as we walked into a brand new
auditorium that probably seated at least 5,000 people. Our group was given the chance to participate
in a youth worship service, to talk about our experiences in the world race,
and invite those present to devote themselves to God’s call in their
lives. Dozens of students got out of
their seats to kneel before a cross, and pray about a life of service to the
Lord.
As
racers, it’s difficult to internalize what our participation means to those
back home – we’ve just been doing our best to be obedient in living our day to
day lives, as unusual as they may be. We
are just now approaching the chapter of the trip in which we get to share with
our friends and families face to face, where they will see us trying to live out
our changes back in our home environment.
For the South Africans, this chapter begins a few weeks earlier, but for
the Americans, its not far off.
I
can’t help but think about sharing with my own church, and I have to admit, the
idea is a bit overwhelming. This year
has been so extraordinary, how can I possibly ‘sum up’ my experience in a short
testimony? Is the world race experience
something that can be ‘boiled down’ to a couple of bullet points? Goodness knows, it’s been a challenge to even
blog about!
So,
I have a new prayer request: pray that God would help me to process the events
of the past nine months. Pray that when
I return to the states, I would know exactly when, how and what to talk
about. Most especially, that the way I
communicate what I’ve learned about God’s goodness and glory won’t even require
words at all.
ps – I added a bunch more Kenya photos… click on “browse my photos” on the left!
