First of all, I am so sorry that this update is SO late in coming!!! Our schedule on the field, the load shedding, and so many other things made it too difficult to send out regular updates. Then when I got home, I was so sick!! An upper respiratory nightmare that kept me on the couch for a week after I got back. And this week I have been working from home so as to avoid scaring those around me. 😊
So, I’m going to do two updates here. A short one, for those that just want the highlights, and a second one that gives a little more detail. You choose which one to read.
SHORT (ish):
It was a great trip! I know that sounds cliché. But sometimes “great” is the right word.
I was so concerned about relating to the teenagers on the trip and as it turns out…we got on really well. So, praise the Lord for that! And thank you for your prayers.
We hit the road running when we got there, attending church and getting to know some of the youth.
Monday and Tuesday we spent the day at LIV Lanseria, a non-profit that serves a squatter community nearby. They provide education for the kids that live there, have church services, and provide for some of the needs of the community. Our team cleaned and painted missionary housing, cleaned and organized the donations shipping container (yes, shipping container. They are used a lot in So Africa because of their versatility and affordability), weeded flower beds, played with kids, helped with homework, sang and shared the Gospel through Bible stories.
Wednesday, we went to Philile, an inner-city school in Johannesburg, and did a short version of VBS with the kiddos. Bible story, gospel bracelet making, face painting, game playing, etc. We spent the afternoon at the Apartheid Museum. What an impactful visit! Dinner at Carnivore. You’ll have to read the details on this one! 😊
Thursday, we started at City Hope Church (the partner church who connected us with all of our serving opportunities) by packing bags for Baby Box, a non-profit that provides necessities to new moms and babies. We also started our painting project at the church that day. Painting three rooms for the City Yth and two murals in a couple of those rooms.
Friday it was back to the church so that we could gather the bags we packed the day before and the girls headed off to the hospital to deliver the bags to the new mommas and pray with them and their new little ones. The guys stayed at the church to finish the painting we had started the day before. That evening we spent time with City Yth, playing games, getting to know each other, and hearing an awesome sermon from our very own, Tegan Pienaar. Afterwards, we shared the “food of our people” with each other. They gave us Boerie Rolls (think giant sausage link on a hotdog bun) and we gave them S’mores. Ha!!
Saturday was a cultural day. We went to the Lion Park and watched them feed the lions. Saw a handful of other animals (giraffes, leopards, wild dogs, wildebeest, hyenas, etc.) on our game drive and in the evening, we had a “slumber party” of sorts. Girls and boys separately. The girls had girly food and drinks, chocolate, painted nails, decorated cookies, and heard a great talk on Godly friendships from Gianella. The guys watched a rugby match (and ate our leftovers!). Not sure what else they did since…well, I’m a girl, so I wasn’t there. 😊 We didn’t “slumber” at the church so I’m not sure why they called it that. But it was a really fun time.
Sunday, we served the kiddos at church. Bible stories and crafts. Went to a huge mall in the afternoon then back to the church for evening service.
Monday was departure day. But wait…there’s more. Since we didn’t leave until late in the evening there was time for one more cultural experience. We visited Lesedi. They walked us through the villages all of 5 of the tribes in South Africa (and showed us all the places in each “village” where women were not allowed to go. Hmmm.) Then off to the airport for a final lunch with all the wonderful people at City Hope that had schlepped us places, got us medicine (a couple of us were sick), made all the arrangements for our serving opportunities, scheduled meals and events for us, and generally took excellent care of us!! They were an amazing team and by the end, none of us wanted to part.
The ride home was not a smooth one. We were already dreading being on the plane for 15:57! But it got worse. Unfortunately, mid-flight a poor woman had a medical emergency, and we were diverted to Senegal to get her some much-needed help. We were on the ground for nearly two hours. Once off we finished the flight without incident and arrived home about 19 hrs after our departure from Johannesburg. I was sick, and tired, and miserable. And I would do it all over again to experience what we had the chance to do and see.
LOOONNNGGG:
It was a great trip! I know that sounds cliché. But sometimes “great” is the right word.
I was so concerned about relating to the teenagers on the trip and as it turns out…we got on really well. So, praise the Lord for that! And thank you for your prayers.
We hit the road running when we got there, attending church and getting to know some of the youth.
Monday and Tuesday we spent the day at LIV Lanseria, a non-profit that serves a squatter community nearby. They provide education for the kids that live there, have church services, and provide for some of the needs of the community. Our team cleaned and painted missionary housing, cleaned and organized the donations shipping container (yes, shipping container. They are used a lot in So Africa because of their versatility and affordability), weeded flower beds, played with kids, helped with homework, sang and shared the Gospel through Bible stories. I also had the chance to visit with some of our support missionaries on Monday. It was a great time. We visited in their lovely home, and she treated me to some wonderful coffee and cake. The visit was sweet and easy. Tuesday, we took a tour of the squatter camp that LIV Lanseria serves. The depth of poverty was crushing. It is a large camp with about 100,000 people living in “homes” that they have cobbled together from scraps that they can find or steal. Most homes are very small and made of scraps of tin and wood. Oddly enough, even though it is a squatter camp, which would imply that they are not there legally, the government provides electricity and sewer for the homes. On top of these “houses” there are satellite dishes and throughout the camp there are small buildings (government built, concrete block structures) that house bathroom facilities. I noticed something that was a bit surprising to me. In the midst of all this poverty, where one may assume that hope and pride of ownership may be absent, I noticed that some of these homes were well tended. Some were painted a bright color with clean “yards” and plants around the home (curb appeal!). Their hopes and dreams are the same as mine. They want a comfortable home in which they can take pride and find respite. They care. They try to create beauty where little can be found. But THE most surprising thing I saw as we walked through the camp (with our escort, by the way) was the shiny new Cadillac that drove through!! Yes, in the middle of poverty…someone had a Cadillac!! Now, maybe they were just some folks who were driving through? Without you being there to see the conditions it may be hard for you to understand. But this is not a paved street where someone may take a short-cut through a neighborhood and this car could be attributed to this. While there were some cars in the “driveways” they were, let’s be frank, beaters. They weren’t nice cars. And here comes a Cadillac!! My heart didn’t know what to do with that.
Wednesday, we went to Philile, an inner-city school in Johannesburg, and did a short version of VBS with the kiddos. Bible story, gospel bracelet making, face painting, game playing, etc. All these kiddos were little. Pre-K ages 4 and 5. They sang a welcome song for us, and we played with and loved on them. One little guy was not all about us being there. He wouldn’t come into the big room with us and kept wandering into the hall. So, folks would go after him. Eventually, they set up a small table and chair for him in the hall. A bit later I noticed a couple of our students were coloring with him and a couple of other little ones at the table. The best part though, was when one of our teens started playing a game with him. He would fist bump and Barker (our student) would fall back like he was blown away by the power behind the fist bump. The little guy would laugh and laugh, and Barker would come back for another fist bump. Over and over, they played their little game. It was beautiful!! Barker has such a sweet way with little ones. He demonstrated that over and over when we were there. We spent the afternoon at the Apartheid Museum. What an impactful visit! It was reminiscent of our own Civil Rights Movement. However, theirs seemed much more violent than ours. When it first began, they passed a law that said you couldn’t be married outside of your race. If, at the time, you were married outside your race, you had to divorce your spouse. My heart broke thinking of all those couples who loved and were devoted to each other. And what if they had children? Can you imagine your government making you divorce your spouse?!? You may have opinions about Nelson Mandella, but it was made quite clear in the museum that his stand from the beginning of his political activism was this…if you were born in or moved to South Africa, you should be welcomed there. EVERYONE has a place in South Africa. It’s not perfect there anymore than it is here. But it is evident that it is a far better country for having had him as a leader. We had dinner that evening at a restaurant called Carnivore. Yep. ALL the meats! They brought their offerings around on spits and sliced off a piece of…whatever. I had chicken, beef, pork ribs, pork sausage, venison sausage, elan (a type of deer), zebra, crocodile, and warthog!! Well…I’ll admit the crocodile and warthog never made it down my throat. Eeww! They also served us Ugali. This is a type of corn meal made from maize or corn flour. It has absolutely NO TASTE. The best thing you can say about it is that it is filling. It is white and served in lump on the plate. It looks as bland as it tastes. BUT…the sauce the served it with was to die for!! I decided if the only way I could eat the sauce was to eat the Ugali, then I’d eat the Ugali. 😉
Thursday, we started at City Hope Church (the partner church who connected us with all of our serving opportunities) by packing bags for Baby Box, a non-profit that provides necessities to new moms and babies. We also started our painting project at the church that day. Painting three rooms for the City Yth (this is anyone from Kindergarten to High School) and two murals in a couple of those rooms. This was a short day. And believe me when I say…I needed a short day by that point. Teenagers don’t seem to have an ”off” button. Ha!!
Friday it was back to the church so that we could gather the bags we packed the day before and the girls headed off to the hospital to deliver the bags to the new mommas and pray with them and their new little ones. This one was a hard one. But at the same time totally great! The government hospitals just don’ have enough resources. The new moms have to leave the hospital within 4-6 hours of having their babies. There just aren’t enough beds for all of them. I had to opportunity to go into the Preemie Ward and pray over those wee ones. One little guy was so small that his leg was only slightly bigger around than my thumb. Had I not seen it for myself, I’m not sure I would have believed it. I got so choked up when Tarynn asked me if I wanted to pray for the nurse in the ward, that I almost couldn’t. But the Lord helped me, and I was able to pray with her. When finished she thanked us for the prayers and told us how hard it is to work in that ward. I can only imagine. Their little lives are so tenuous and the resources so sparse. Often her job does not have a happy ending. I also had the chance to share two bags with mommas that had C-sections just 2 and 3 days prior (I guess they could stay longer due to the surgery?). So these ladies, 2-3 days post-surgery, were sitting in chairs in the hall with baby beside them on a cart because there are not enough beds for them. But the joy on their faces when we gave them the bags (gifts for the baby: a couple of onesies, a hand knitted sweater, booties and cap, nappies, diaper cream, a bottle of water, wipes, and a blanket) couldn’t be measured. It was a sweet time of fawning over their babies, talking with and praying for them. As I was turning to leave, the first mom called me over again. She unfolded the blankets on her boy and said, “See, I have no clothes for my baby. But now I have clothes for him. Thank you!”. Truly, our little becomes much, when placed in the Master’s hands. I literally only gave of my time for this woman and her joy and gratitude toward me was more than I could hardly bear. Baby Box goes and gives these gifts to mommas almost every week. What a blessing they are to these women. The guys stayed at the church to finish the painting we had started the day before and the place looked amazing! So fun with a new murals and fresh paint on the walls. That evening we spent time with City Yth, playing games, getting to know each other, and hearing an awesome sermon from our very own, Tegan Pienaar. Afterwards, we shared the “food of our people” with each other. They gave us Boerie Rolls (Think giant sausage link on a hotdog bun, with tomato sauce. That’s ketchup to you and me) and we gave them S’mores. Ha!! Not sure it was a fair exchange.
Saturday was a cultural day. We went to the Lion Park and watched them feed the lions!! THAT, was an experience. We drove to the lion enclosures just before the truck brought out huge chunks of meat for the lions. Not quite the same as a live kill, but it really was an amazing thing to behold. We saw a handful of other animals (giraffes, leopards, wild dogs, wildebeest, hyenas, etc.) on our game drive. We even had the chance to feed the giraffe Simba Chips and give him a pet. That evening, we had a “slumber party” of sorts. Girls and guys separately joined the City Yth teens for a fun evening. The girls had girly food and drinks, chocolate, painted nails, decorated cookies, and heard a great talk on Godly Friendships from Gianella. The guys watched a rugby match (and ate our leftovers!). Not sure what else they did since…well, I’m a girl, so I wasn’t there. 😊 We didn’t “slumber” at the church so I’m not sure why they called it that. But it was a really fun time.
Sunday, we served the kiddos at church. Bible stories and crafts in all of the age groups. Then we had lunch at the church and went to a huge mall in the afternoon. That evening we were back at the church for evening service. There was a great talk by a psychologist who talked about being weary, worn, and tired and how God can help us overcome it.
Monday was departure day. But wait…there’s more. Since we didn’t leave until late in the evening there was time for one more cultural experience. We visited Lesedi. This is a place where they have model villages that reflect life in the 5 tribes in South Africa and what it might have looked like as they were becoming a nation. They walked us through the villages and showed us all the places in each “village” where women were not allowed to go. Hmmm. Not sure what we were supposed to think about that. Ha! We also had a chance to play the African drums (they gave us a tutorial as we all sat around together). The cacophony of sound bounced off the walls and brought lots of laughter. Mostly AT us from the people who knew what they were doing. 😊 They also showed off their dance moves. We saw their tribal dances and an interpretive dance of warriors fighting and overcoming their foes. It was incredible. Then before they let us go, they called out Dan, one of the interns that served us SO well while we were there. It was his birthday, so they made him come down to center stage and dance while we, and 50 other strangers, sang Happy Birthday to him. Totally embarrassing for him. Totally fun for us. Then off to the airport for a final lunch with all the wonderful people at City Hope that had schlepped us places, got us medicine (a couple of us were sick), made all the arrangements for our serving opportunities, scheduled meals, and events for us, and generally took excellent care of us!! They were an amazing team and by the end, none of us wanted to part. One final meal together and we slowly said our good-byes and reluctantly headed toward security.
The flight home was not a smooth one. We were already dreading being on the plane for 15:57 hours! But it got worse. Unfortunately, a couple of hours into the flight a poor woman had a medical emergency. She was in so much pain that it caused her to scream out for help. Repeatedly she cried out for God to help her. Flight attendants called for a doctor or nurse to see if they could help her. For nearly 2 hours the woman was in agony. Finally, it was decided that we would be diverted to Senegal to get her some much-needed help. We were on the ground for nearly two hours. Once emergency personnel were able to come on board and get her and we were refueled, we finished the flight without incident and arrived home about 20 hrs after our departure from Johannesburg.
I was sick, exhausted, and miserable. And I would do it all over again to experience what we had the chance to do and see. God was on the move in the lives of those we served, but also in ours.
Thank you for the financial and prayer support! It meant so much. It sustained us through all the hard places.
