Last month, Jeremiah 29:11 followed us. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Everywhere that we went this verse came up. It got to be so redundant that me and another girl on my team, Erika, would just exchange a look back and forth in recognition of hearing the verse another time! This verse was especially comforting in the beginning of the month when we were told that we would be leaving Lesotho early to go to a random, small town named Heidelberg in South Africa.
The people and community of Heidelberg welcomed us with open arms and our hosts kept emphasizing that we relax and let them serve us. It was a surreal experience to sit in on the opening day conference at the Charis Bible college and hear some amazing speakers. So many times it felt like we were being poured into by our hosts and community instead of the alternative. It was a sweet season of getting to know everyone in this small town in a short period of time and being served an abundant serving of God’s love through this fellowship of believers.
Our hosts were Pastor Phil and Tanya Smythe with an extra helping of Jonathan Wall. Unfortunately, Pastor Phil was on a trip to Montenegro, working on a mission project there, while we were in Heidelberg, so we never got to meet him in person. We got to stay in a beautiful one hundred year old house in the middle of downtown Heidelberg and every morning our hosts would have coffee with us and take us to our ministry site for the day. Some days we helped with the kids in the local preschool, other days we cleaned out cobwebs around the Bible college, and some days we just sat in on the classes at the Bible college. It was a nice range of options where we got to meet many of the people of town and learn more about their community. Every night someone from the church made dinner for our whole team and reminded us how much we missed home cooking! We got to have a real South African braai a few of the nights we were there. (It’s a different way to grill or barbecue that uses a hole in the ground style grill that gets extra hot depending on how you stoke the fire.)
So it seemed as though God’s plan for us this month was to rest. So far on this journey I have not been good at resting. I feel like there is so little time in this race and so much to do. Each month we get to a new country that has a new and exciting culture, landscape, and monument to see! We are in these places to serve where we’re needed and spread the gospel in every corner and sometimes I feel like I can’t stop going or I might miss someone or something. I did not listen to this need for rest and I added more things into my schedule every week; because now I was cramming two new places into the time that I normally had for exploring one. This allowed for me to go to some of the most amazingly, beautiful places (insert Betty’s Bay ad here!) I saw penguins, the southernmost point of Africa, Mossel Bay, baboons, elephants, and waterfalls everywhere. Everything about last month was a dream that didnt require sleeping. I’m so thankful for the beautiful moments of community and the wonders that only God can illustrate. In this new month in Port Elizabeth I am learning what it means to rest and carrying the rest of Jeremiah 29 with me, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord; and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” (Verse 12-14)
Song – https://youtu.be/WJnrgvivZ1E
