It has been a while since I have written a blog. It has been a great couple of months learning so let me tell you a little bit about what I have learned and where I have been.
Last month we were in South Africa. Our team was blessed to live inside a children’s village. Let me give you a bit of background on this particular village and what it looks like. A church in the area had an idea to build an entire community, giving the children a place to live as opposed to an orphanage or something similar. Basically, it looks like a small gated community.
On the premises of the children’t home, there are 5 houses, each of which has a mother that goes through a rigorous interview process. This village is called Ingane Yami, which means “my child” in Zulu. Through the leadership of the church, Ingane Yami works to find more children who can come live there. Once found, the children are placed with a mother who will legally adopt and care for them until they are old enough to leave. Ingane Yami also has a church, a nice soccer field, and a school for the kids. If you would like to learn more, I encourage you to check out their website at: http://inganeyami.com
Last month, we got to do a variety of different things. We had a lot of time to spend with the kids. We helped teach them in school, did some soccer practices, and most days just played with them doing whatever. One of our main objectives was to do some manual labor. Very few of the people on my team of seven had experience in the area of construction. With the odds against us, we were able to build a retaining wall, a set of stairs out blocks and concrete, and a braai (what we would call a BBQ in America) for them to use to help cook for the children. We also met a man named Bheki that lived in the village and was in charge of taking care of it as well as being the youth pastor. We spent one day a week with him, going out into the community, talking to people we met and then praying for them. He also took us into different schools to help bring Jesus to the students.
Our team did most of all of these things together and it was really fun doing ministry. But for this month in particular our team didn’t seem to mesh so well outside of ministry. I think the first month for us was really great, but this month we were able to spread out a little because the property was so big. A lot of times people chose to do their own thing, which is okay, but it was pretty often. This contributed to some tough times during the month. Despite all that though, it was a great month.
This month we are in Nsoko, Swaziland. That’s right, Swaziland, a country you have probably never heard of and yes, we are in the middle of no where. Fun fact though, this is the last country in the world with a true monarchy i.e. there is a king here and he is in charge. Also this month is all squad month, so all 35 of us live in a house together.
We get to spend two days a week working at care points. Care points are places out in the community that the kids can come and get a hot meal, possibly the only meal of the day, and they get to hear about Jesus while they spend the day there. For us, this includes a three mile walk one-way in what feels like 197 degree heat. Basically, we spend the entire day at the care point hanging with the kids. Two other days of the week we stay close to our house, doing whatever help is needed, which sometimes looks like teaching in the preschool and/or the primary school right up the road. We also spend Fridays in prayer with our team praying for anything that God puts on our heart.
This month I’ve really been learning a lot about grace, compassion, and about Christ’s love for us. Being around kids that are 12 and younger all day long really teaches you to have grace. Let me give you an example. One day, a couple squad mates and I were at the primary school teaching a 4th grade class. In that classroom there were three of us and 51 students in a room half the size of what you would expect back home. As we got started, I noticed one little boy that wasn’t participating or writing anything down that he was supposed to. I walked over to him and asked him why he wasn’t doing anything and he told me that he didn’t even have a pencil to write with. Now I don’t know about you, but if I didn’t have a pencil for school I would have been in some serious trouble. In that moment, God really hit me in the stomach. I thought about how much grace God has for me always, even though I could never be worthy of it or do anything on my own to obtain it. How often am I unprepared because I don’t choose to spend time with God each and every day? Why would God choose not to punish me because I’m not doing the right thing and making sure I’m prepared? You guessed it my friend, it’s because of His unending and unfailing grace. Why shouldn’t I have the same grace toward the kids that God shows me? Why shouldn’t I extend that same love and grace to my teammates?
This reminds me of the story of the woman at the well. She was caught in sin and the law demanded that she be stoned. Instead God showed her grace upon grace. He didn’t condemn her or tell her what she needed to do. He simply told her that He was the Living Water and said go and sin no more. If my goal is to be like Jesus, then why am I not having the same grace towards people. Why am I always so quick to judge others and compare them to myself to make me feel better about who I am.
This month has been abundantly better, especially as it pertains to our team growing together. Even with all of the distractions that can come from living with 35 other people, our team has gotten better about spending time with one another. I don’t know if I could ask for a better group of 6 to do the race with. I have gotten the opportunity to get to know a lot of other people on the squad that I don’t really know as well. I have gotten to work on my intentionality with others and finding out what’s really going on in their life and not just surface level things. This is something that I really want to bring back home with me. How can we ever help anyone out in life or be helped if we are unwilling to open up and share about what’s really going on in our lives?
Along with all that I have learned this month, I am also still learning to be patient. With all of the struggles of last month in South Africa, it was a serious challenge to be patient with my team mates. As I was trying to be patient last month, God was trying to teach our team something. And now that we are into the next month, the team is the best it has ever been. Its cool how, through patience and prayer, God can change something from what seems to be bad into an awesome situation.
The past couple of months have been really stretching, but also it has been very fulfilling. I have learned so much and hope to continue to learning even more as the race continues. We are off to South America in just a short few days. Thanks for checking out this blog and God bless.
