The entrance to Phumlanie. One of the few pictures I felt safe taking
with my iphone.
Hello to all! It has been a busy month for me in Cape Town, South Africa. Besides having our team ministry everyday in the tent cities of Cape Town I have been doing alot of leg work in securing our squads passage into India for next month. The month is almost at a close and only this past weekend have I had time to reflect on the past few weeks and sit down to right a blog.
My teams ministry for the month has been the most challenging for me personally. In many ways it is similar to Mafambisee, Mozambique. Yet the despair in Cape Towns' tent cities, yes full blown tent cities, is on a whole other level. The towns I walk through and the children and young adults that I have been teaching thoroughly understand the lessons I teach them, but its realizing that that has made me want to remain here in Cape Town even more! Cape Town is a beautiful city, its people are the most welcoming, outgoing, and helpful people I have met in Africa across the board. They are hungry for the gospel, they talk about it for long periods on the streets, at the market at nighttime, reading their bibles at bus stations, and even give ear to the open air preachers on the trains and busses. Christianity here is ALIVE! And I have mentioned to my teammates a couple times that Cape Town could be a city that one day I might have to visit for a longer period again to go deeper with its people.
The tent cities here remind me of the commercials I used to see as a kid on TV where a older white bearded man would come on the screen showing scenes of impoverished half clothed children playing ball in streets that are more garbage alleys where kids and dogs dig through the same pile looking for something to eat or use. And the older man would proclaim in a soft voice that for less than a dollar a day you can provide these children with food, clothing, shoes, and an education to better themselves. And what has startled me is that for the most part, albeit for inflation, his plea is still true today! These places are real brothers and sisters!!
Conversating with these people day after day has always brought me mixed emotions. One for the joy that we bring by talking about the gospel and the necessity of not being a part of this underworld that they have to live in and finding a church that will get them involved and begin making other disciples in their neighborhoods. Yet, their surroundings are filled with gangsterism, drugs, alcoholism by almost every male in the communities, violence, and dogs roaming the streets that make me sick just looking at them. Many of the women's faces light up when we come to visit them and talk about the bible, while the men who are not drunk always ask for us to pray that their living conditions will become better because they don't deserve this they say.
Along with the joy that we bring, I always leave sorrowful in a big way because I wish I could have more time to spend in these communities. The people are real, and their problems are surmountable by the power of God. I just feel like more time and more "boots on the ground" could radically change the lives of these people one baptism at a time. Thus, my prayer continues that God will lead me to the areas in the world where there is the greatest need for the gospel period, where the enemy outnumbers us and where bystanders' looks at what we do and where we go willingly every morning are ones of utter incomprehension. Praise be to YHWH, ruler of heaven and earth!!!
Brother in Christ,
Matthew
Teaching the bible at the afternoon school program where we taught them the Word, life skills, and kept them of the gang infested streets. 200 yards outside the class was a gangster battleground field.
My month long accomidations, except for the weekends where we slept in tents.
A typical Phumlanie street and alley way.
Me and our ministry host coordinator extraordinaire, Malcolm. He has such a passion for the lost here in Cape Town. He set up a childrens day home/school in Phumlanie, which is one of the largest tent cities in Cape Town. The picture was taken at the christian group Hillsong.
