Okay y’all, I take full responsibility for not posting a full blog in quite some time. South Africa has been quite busy, and jam packed full of a multitude of activities.
I am living in this town called Steenberg, which is right outside of Cape Town. Here, I live in a beautiful home with an amazing family. There is Pastor Richard, Mama, and their adorable 8 year old daughter Faith. Day in and day out they have their family coming in and out and it has been so awesome getting to know them as well. They also have a grand-daughter that is an ADORABLE little 4 month old baby named Sydney.
Sadly, the next 3 months I will no longer be the cutest Sydney in the house.
Also, in our house I live with 17 other people from my squad. In addition to Team Pop Collar, we live with Team Selah and Team LLPT. Living with 17 other people has been interesting to say the least. There is seriously never a quiet moment. There is always singing and dancing and screaming and laughter filling the house. While I thought it would become exhausting, it has actually been the most fun experience of my life. I have loved getting to know so many people and literally spend every waking moment with them. The personalities that fill this house are so exciting and my lessons about loving people continue to grow.
One night, all of us crammed into a van and got this glorious thing called the Gatsby. The Gatsby is a foot long sandwich filled with chicken and lettuce and french fries and sauces and who knows what else, on this giant, thick bun. Less than 24 hours later, we had 13 out of our 18 people violently throwing up and pooping themselves and a lot other disgusting medical ailments going around. With 4 bathrooms and 13 ill people you can only imagine not only the stench but the chaos of sick people trying to find bathrooms at the time they needed it. Needless to say, there was people running outside and running to the kitchen sink to take care of themselves and their toxic stomachs.
We nicknamed it the Black Night.
That night, community living was real as ever.
Currently, the boys have all left for Lesotho and now I am with 8 incredible sisters. For the next month, I will be experiencing an all girls team with Girls in Motion!
Here in Cape Town and the surrounding area, drugs and poverty and gangsters is a huge issue. A lot of children in the area are faced with hunger, drug addicted parents and broken homes and families.
As for ministry, it has been so so sweet but also more difficult than expected.
We have worked a lot with the children. One week, all 18 of us ran a summer camp for any and all neighborhood children of all ages. We played games, and sang songs and drew pictures. It was such a blessing to be able to give these children just a few hours of being TRUE children, because The Lord only knows how they are forced to be at home. Some of those kids are probably faced with the job of being the protector and care taker in their home for their younger brother and sisters.
This week, we again are running a summer camp for children in yet another gang infested area. Here, they hear stories from the bible, play games and sing songs. The organizers of this camp have also arranged speakers to come in and inform them about the dangers of gangs and drugs, life skills and other activities they can do instead of participating in gangs.
The hard part about this camp was how rough the area is. The kids here come from complete broken homes, and nonetheless, are products of their environment. It was difficult to watch them constantly fighting each other, and cussing each other out and using their middle finger as ways to communicate. It was even more difficult to explain why it was not nice and why it was not the right thing to do because they just don’t understand. That is all they were taught to do.
Another cool thing about this camp is they are able to provide the children 2 meals and a snack each day. The food that the children receive here is sometimes, the only food they get the whole day.
You truly don’t understand the expression “Wow! You’re eating like you never have seen food before!” until you see the smallest little boy, no older than six years old, devour two large plates of spaghetti with his fork and hands at the same time because the last thing he ate was a slice of bread, 2 days ago.
Sometimes ministry can be slow here and nothing is planned for us, so we decide to make our own.
Some of the coolest ministry I have done the whole race is days of friendship ministry. This looks like just prayer walking around the shopping malls and streets, asking people if they need prayer or just simply going up and talking to them to see how their day is going. I have met so many different people and got to hear about their story and walks with The Lord. It is the coolest things, and some times it just is heart breaking and sometimes it is filled with joy.
Train ministry has also been real cool. With this, we get on trains. Doesn’t matter if theres 8 people or 65 people and the train car is bursting at the seams. We get on the train and talk to people. Our musical people will sing songs of praise and people who are feeling led, and bold will stand up and preach, sharing their own stories of hope and how they found the love of Our savior.
A lot of people here know Jesus. They have heard His story and have an idea of who He is, but they don’t truly know Him. They don’t desire a relationship with him.
Some people I have met know The Lord so well, and are over joyed that people are here to spread His promises here with their people. Once we met a lady who was walking through the town square where we were singing and preaching. She walked right up and asked for prayer, saying that she had been praying she would stumble upon a group of evangelists and they would pray healing over her. How cool is that?
I’ve seen so many people come up to my team or myself and ask questions. Ask questions about us and what we’re doing and most importantly, ask questions about Jesus and what He really is all about. I’ve seen so many people walk away encouraged and ready to start their own personal walk with The Lord.
The last month, I have really felt the Holy Spirit moving here in this area. I have felt nothing but His love around me the whole month. I am beyond excited to spend 2 more months here, everything has completely captured my heart.
Happy New Year y’all. I will be seeing you in 5 short months!
