The township of Mamelodi will always have a special place in my heart. Though we only visited a few times, my heart broke and was filled simultaneously each time we were there. The people of Mamelodi were always friendly to us and were always smiling and laughing.
We spent our time in Mamelodi walking through the township, picking up trash and brush, harvesting a garden, putting in a fence, going to church, cleaning out a storage room, folding clothes, eating popsicles, and loving on the most amazing group of kids you could ask to know.
We had our most authentic African meal in Mamelodi thus far… A can of sardines in tomato sauce mixed with a can of beans served with a loaf of white bread to use as an eating utensil. My Dad would have loved it- me, not so much.
Usually groups helping at Beam Africa spend a lot of their time hanging out with kids. God had a different plan for us. God wanted us to grow as a team and learn some hard lessons about grace, truth, and love. God wanted us to see what it was like to live in a community centered on those principles and to observe people that follow him with every aspect of their lives. The Lord changed the way we think about him this month and changed the way we are as well.
On our second to last day at BeamAfrica- a day when we were originally supposed to leave, we ended up in Mamelodi thinking that we were going to be doing ministry with Pastor Ezekiel. When we arrived, everyone was cleaning out a storage room, so we started to help. Then, the kids started to arrive. Some from the very beginning, but more and more as the day went on. They were a little shy at first and most of them spoke very little English, but by the end of the day, we were playing games with them and they were climbing all over us. It was incredible.
Mamelodi is a special place. I am so excited to see what God does there through Beam Africa, Erika and Louis, Pastor Ezekiel, and everyone with which they cross paths.
