Love Regardless of...

This was the theme for our youth camp this past week, where our focus was based in Romans 12:1-2. Tuesday, the first day, we settled into the bunk beds, played games, cooked our own meat for a braai (BBQ) and had a devotional at night. We split the 16 youth and 10 leaders into three teams, of which the RED team is the best!!! In the afternoon we went down to the valley and played dodge ball and capture the flag in an open area, with impalas as spectators J The youth were given papers where they would write what held them back from loving God regardless. At night Natalie spoke about being living sacrifices and loving God regardless of past experiences. She ended her sermon by allowing the youth to throw into the flames the papers which contained everything that held them back. Lastly, we ended the night with smores under beautiful constellations. Wednesday we woke up to a beautiful sunrise sparkled with shimmers of blue, crimson and orange rising above a mountain right across from our beds. The sunrise was breathtaking, the smell of dew upon the grass, and the sight of brown and thorny acacia trees reminded me of God’s faithfulness for South Africa. In the morning Walker spoke about not conforming to the world. We all went on a hike, swam in the Umgeni River (where 50 meters below was a crocodile pond) and climbed to the top of two waterfalls. The view was breathtaking. At night we saw the movie Indescribable, which talks about the universe. The movie brought tears to my eyes and to some youth. I spoke about renewing our minds. We finished looking at the stars, the full moon, and praised God wanting to have a relationship with us. It was sad to leave camp but we knew that God had worked in all of our lives. We left the youth with encouraging words and challenged them to be the change they want to see in their communities. Jerry spoke about seeking first the kingdom of God and Dayna spoke about standing out. It was in that moment that we knew the youth had been touched, they had a spark of hope, walking with a skip in their step, and ready for the next stage in their lives.
Today, Sunday, we were able to see the youth give their testimonies at church; Alfred-one of the youth gave a small sermon while Njabulo translated. It was amazing to see the youth fired up for Jesus and preaching to the whole congregation about standing out as Christians in Haniville. It was also a blessing to see three young brothers, whom we delivered food on Friday and invited to church, there along with Zandile, a mother who was too weak from TB and HIV walking to church. God is good, He is working and we are just honored to be part of it.
South Africa has been such a blessing. I came with differing expectations, such as to see family here, but my love, knowledge and understanding has grown deeper. Starting with seeing such joy, love and hope on a day filled with three funerals, to seeing a young girl understand the concept of not conforming to this world by being grounded in the middle of a river. God has taught me so much here. The day a little boy got hit by a car and died was difficult for us for he was on his way to Walk in the Light. However, we were able to see his mother and family and God’s love, his gentle hands, tender mercy, and compassion filled that small house.
Being in a township where most kids have not seen the ocean, 45 minutes away, was a shock when giving an example about water; one of my most embarrassing days, but I quickly learned to change the route and focus one rivers, lakes and smaller bodies of water. The example was not the best, but on these days you just learn to laugh it out and thank God for humility J
God is good. He is faithful, and constant in our lives. Living here has taught me to live day by day, like Dayna said. For His mercies are new every morning. I am learning to wake up expecting to see what God will do that day and how I can be a willing vessel. And so I end with my theme song for this trip.

Somlandela, somlandela UJesu,
Somlandela, yonke indawo.
Somlandela, Somandela uJesu,
lapho eyakona somlandela.

I will follow, I will follow Jesus.
I will follow, wherever he goes.
I will follow, I will follow Jesus.
Wherever he goes I will follow.

South African Adventures

“You can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” Words I feel that this team has learned to live by in the past week.

We’ve gone from plane transfers, jet lag, and sightseeing, to the realities of the township in which we’ve been staying. We arrived safely last Saturday afternoon in Durban and were greeted with the warm, gentle, humid wind as we watched the sun slowly disappear into the Indian Ocean. We piled all of our luggage into the back of the truck and got into the cars to head to Pietermaritzburg. The scenery on the way of rolling green hills and “Lion King” trees was absolutely amazing. You think you know a place well enough, but even google images can’t truly capture the true beauty of Africa. We drove for about 2 hours until we arrived at “Hamba Ekukanyeni” (Walk in the Light) in the township of Haniville. We were greeted by Heidi, Keryn, and Ryan Taylor, as well as Sandile, Neils and Katie (another APU student). They showed us to our rooms and after tea at about 8:00 p.m. everyone headed off to bed.

Everyone was up and ready to go at 9:30a.m. for church there at Walk in the Light. A service that i’ll never forget. As we walked towards the main building you could hear the strong harmonies and clapping of the service. The music was joyful and upbeat, and we saw May team already there sitting and singing in the church with the kids. I was greeted by a little boy named Bonga, who was out dancing everyone in the church. I’ve never wanted to move so much in a service, but for the first time, my insecurities of expressing worship in dance were gone. I don’t think anyone could help themselves but dance and sing even if it wasn’t the right words. It was all in the spirit worship. May team went up and spoke about their experience at WITL and you could tell the kids were bummed they were leaving, but they wished us a great experience and hearing the impact that was made on them was a huge encouragement to us. They sang a couple of songs during the service and then Pastor Sepo called our team up to introduce us to the church and to the ministry. We each went around and said our names to the church and heard giggles here and there. Then they asked us to sing a song so after much freaking out trying to figure out a song, we started to sing the chorus of “Rejoice.” PTL that it went well and then it was time for the sermon. I’ll never forget the moment Sepo told us to turn to Phillipians 4:4. “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again rejoice.” Our faces just lit up in knowing that God really makes NO mistakes in having us have been there singing that song on that particular Sunday morning. It all came together and we felt right at home. After church we played with the kids and I had one of the girls come up and tell me that I was her new mother, her name is Masisah. There was one little boy who had the biggest brown eyes and as soon as he grabbed on my hand I just couldn’t let go. Ionda is definitely something else. A pretty big baby who we could tell and have been warned would be trouble. But he was just too adorable to resist. We met up with the team at Bruce’s house for a Braai and we hung out and heard their amazing stories. Thank you May team! You guys seriously helped prepare us for our time here. :0)

Our first day of work started up at 7:30 a.m. with prayer and song with the workers of Walk in the Light. Then it was off to the fields to harvest corn. After that day, I don’t think i’ll ever be able to see corn the same way again. My grandma had made me help her with corn before, but never like this. We went up and down the fields picking the ripe corn, but the workers had pretty much cleared the fields. They filled up about 10 bags of corn to shuck, chop, and package for sale. (The three ways Walk in the Light gets money is their Sugarcane, Corn, and Donations) [we’re working the sugarcane fields next]. It took pretty much all day to get it all done, but we had about 20 boxes of corn ready to go for the vendors and it was enough corn for us for the day. By the time we got home we were all exhausted and ready to sleep, but as we drove through the gates of smiling kids running and waving, you couldn’t help but find the energy to play. And that we did. My “daughter” Masisah ran up to me with a present and melted my heart. Those kids gave us the push we needed to keep going. So much love in one place and I feel like we didn’t deserve it at all.

The next couple of days we spent playing with the kids and running errands around the townships. A few of us got to go on Clinic runs with Pindile and Bruce.

Ran out of time...oops! more to come!