After a couple days and a stop over in the Middle East our team made it to South Africa!! We are in love with our contacts and even though we aren’t quite sure what ministry is going to look like yet this month we are excited and have already had a couple of opportunities to get to know some of the people here. I’ve learned a few new recipes and had a baking night with our contact’s daughter, as well as spending the day with a few South African women who after the holiday season will be enrolled in Beam Africa’s life skills class.
Beam Africa does a few different things as far as ministry goes, mainly an after-school feeding program with a side of homework help, a computer training class, a life skills school which teaches the students various job skills that can translate into real world work, and a advice and information desk where people can come and find out about other programs as well as seek medical advice.
Yesterday we helped clean up the main center for Beam because tomorrow starts the holiday season and much of South Africa shuts down until after New Year’s. We packed away toys, food, and various other odds and ends, and then
swept and wiped down everything in the place. After our cleaning session the staff of Beam had a little Christmas party and it was really sweet. They have had a tough year financially but they were and are all so joyful and expectant about the new year. They absolutely believe that the Lord will bring them through these times and for the most part has already. Although they are tired and ready for the holiday break you can see how much they care for each other and the people they are serving. I’m a bit sad because we will probably only get to work with them a couple more days towards the end of our month when they reopen but I’m so glad that they get time to recharge and prepare for another year of the awesome work they are doing.
So please be in prayer for our team, and our contacts as we spend this month together whatever it looks like. Someone please wear an ugly Christmas sweater for me! Love yall!
Lindsey
