Easter in South Africa is not as celebrated or recognised as it is in America. The malls were all open on Sunday and there were plenty of empty seats in church. There were no plastic eggs in the shops and it was even hard to find chocolate eggs. Despite this general lack of celebrating the resurrection of Christ, I had an amazing weekend with fellow believers!
I went to a township church in Nellmapius on Friday night. We danced and sang for hours. Most of the music was not in English, but the Spirit of the Lord was in that tent and it was a wonderful night of worship. Belinda and I picked up Busi and Dimakatso on Saturday morning and headed back to Nellmapius for another time of praise and worship. Then I headed to the airport to pick up some potential future OMers from Florida. Sunday morning was a celebration at our church (Willows Methodist) and then we made the traditional African "pop" for lunch. It was delicious! We couldn't find eggs, so we had a candy bar hunt for the kids. Then we went swimming and played the rest of the evening!
I was blessed to be able to talk to AND SEE (with web cams) my entire family on Easter afternoon! God is good...
Monday, April 9, 2007
Sunday, April 8, 2007
LEEU GAMKA...
I can officially say that I spoke more Afrikaans during my three days in Leeu Gamka last week than I have in the 14 months I've lived in South Africa prior to that. It was nice to play with the kids and they were quite impressed with my level of Afrikaans. The adults, however, were not interested in playing with Barbie dolls and taking wheelbarrow rides, which meant that most of our conversations were in English.
The training was quite different than expected. We planned to have youth from age 12-19. They told us anywhere from 50-300 teens, so we planned accordingly. A few days before we arrived in this poor community of about 3000 people, there was a huge division. The church (who was responsible for starting up the AIDS initiative in the community), school teachers, and recently established health board butted heads at full speed. The school refused to advertise and inform the students about the trainings and the health board made it known that they did not want us there. We went anyway and trust that through the trials (lightning strike, power outings, double bookings, language barriers, youth retreat which took the youth 1000 km away, etc...), God was at work.
We ended up changing our program on the final training day because the youth were all away on a retreat in Johannesburg. We had a kids' day filled with songs, games, juice, sandwiches, soccer, netball, the kids' Jesus film, balloons and wheelbarrow rides.
The training was quite different than expected. We planned to have youth from age 12-19. They told us anywhere from 50-300 teens, so we planned accordingly. A few days before we arrived in this poor community of about 3000 people, there was a huge division. The church (who was responsible for starting up the AIDS initiative in the community), school teachers, and recently established health board butted heads at full speed. The school refused to advertise and inform the students about the trainings and the health board made it known that they did not want us there. We went anyway and trust that through the trials (lightning strike, power outings, double bookings, language barriers, youth retreat which took the youth 1000 km away, etc...), God was at work.
We ended up changing our program on the final training day because the youth were all away on a retreat in Johannesburg. We had a kids' day filled with songs, games, juice, sandwiches, soccer, netball, the kids' Jesus film, balloons and wheelbarrow rides.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Starting my blog...
I have finally caught up with technology and have created a blog for all of you to see. I will try to post things on here as they happen, so you can be more in tune with my life in South Africa. Right now there is not too much to say... We finished a three day training with the OM training team last week and will leave on Saturday for Leeu-gamka. It is a 1200 km trip and a three day training. South African schools are on holiday for the next two weeks, so we'll be training the youth. It should be a lot of fun! I'll take some photos and post them so you can see what went on...
A new volunteer from Germany arrives on Wednesday, so I'll meet her at the airport... AT 6:30am! (That's early!) On Thursday I will visit a man named Hannes. Hannes is a white man who lives in the black township. He was heavily addicted to drugs in the past and lived a homosexual lifestyle. Now he is a true follower of Christ and is living everyday of his life for our Lord. The people who live around him do not like him very much and refer to him as 'the AIDS guy'. Hannes has committed his life to caring for those who are dying of AIDS. He spends each day from sunrise to sunset taking patients to the clinics and hospitals, cleaning them, and loving them during their last days on earth. He can share stories for hours and it is so easy to sit and listen to his amazing testimony. On Thursday, Belinda and I will go out in the community with him to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Friday is an orphanage day, so I'll get to see the children. Busi and Dimakatso are supposed to come with us this weekend, but because we leave on Saturday, we'll have to postpone until the following weekend...
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