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Rather than a run-down of the week, today I'm going
to just give a few highlights and thoughts in the interests of variety
and brevity.
As far as projects, this week we spent more time at the home for elderly
people/pottery workshop, and visited another shelter for youth who are
getting over drug addictions and such. As far as seeing things, we took
a boat to Robben Island, where the prison is located in which Nelson Mandela
spent 18 years in solitary confinement. Altogether it was about 4 hours
of trip and tour and
hearing people talk about the history of the island, which under the Dutch
was a leper colony before it became a prison. It was a time of much reflection
for me on the capacity of humans for cruelty, frailty, and survival, the
legacy of colonialism worldwide, and analogies of life to the ocean. A
philosopher forever am I. In addition we've seen a lot in terms of the
coast and such both in Cape Town, and a few hours north along the West
Coast over the weekend. It's beautiful.
We've also spent a good bit of time with churches, at prayer meetings,
youth meetings, Bible studies, church services, etc. And we've had a good
bit of time this week to spend with our host families, getting to know
them, talking to them, playing games with them, etc. Also watching more
soccer than we ever have in our lives with them. And beyond that, we wait.
Our hosts are busy with other things as well (Pastor Brian Herbert, who
is officially in charge of us, had a stroke not long before we came, so
he has therapy every day, for example), and punctuality is not nearly
as big a deal here as it is in the U.S., so we wait to be picked up, wait
for things to happen, etc. Many of those times are just pleasant times
to be together as a team and to talk things over and have fun together.
Some of them are times to reflect alone. Some of them are times to watch
Dr. Phil :). It just depends on the day. We want to be more "useful"/"serve"
more, as our hosts kind of see us more as exchange students than students
on a missions trip at times, but we're thankful to be able to see things
and to build relationships and learn much.
The weekend was spent in and around Saldanha Bay, about 2 hours up the
coast. We visited the youth, and had a program all planned for them (over
which we stressed much), but it turned out they had something ready and
didn't need ours, but just wanted us to hang out. We were primarily relieved,
and only a twinge disappointed over our hours of time practicing "There's
No One, There's No One Like Jesus..." Actually mostly we were amused
by how much we had freaked out over it, and it was just a misunderstanding/miscommunication.
And so we drove around and "saw what nothing looks like," as
they told us, because it is fairly isolated fishing villages/vacation
towns. And ate a lot, as they barbecued twice and a barbecue (aka braai)
is a huge deal here and takes about 4 hours to cook (we got to help, which
was much fun). And hung out and had good converations and singing and
laughing. Also splashing barefoot in the Atlantic was a good time.
Wednesday morning marks approximately our half-way point in our trip,
which is interesting to think about, and it seems that it has been both
short and long since we've been here. I'm surprised by being homesick
sometimes. Yet when I got back from the weekend trip, I realized that
Mitchell's Plain feels a bit like home, and our hosts a bit like family
for now, and that's pleasant. The kids in Kiara's host family said that
they like that they've gotten to know us/hang out with us more than they
did with last year's team, so in that sense we are glad to have that down
time with them available, because real relationships are more what we'd
like this to be about than meeting people for a few hours and not even
remembering them.
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| It seems like only yesterday that I left Wheaton
College for summer. And now, my summer is transitioning to Los Angeles
where I will be serving for six weeks (June 25-August 5) at Union Rescue
Mission, a 5-floor mission dedicated to serving the homeless of skid row.
I do not know specifically what kind of work I will be doing, but this
mission has all sorts of ministries from the
typical soup kitchen and housing areas, but also a gymnasium, job training,
medical facilities, and other outreach programs that care for the whole
person. It sounds like the mission is very good.
While I am out in LA, there are a few things for which you can pray.
1. Pray that God would save some of the people I serve this summer.
2. Pray that our group can remained focused and united even through stressful
times.
3. Pray that God would change me this summer that I would continue to
act out on that change when I return.
4. Pray that God would continue to lead me to where He wants me to go
after college.
5. One of the things that I've been searching for these last couple years
is the answer to this question: "What does it mean to be a Christian
in the 21st century in the context in which I live?" I think this
trip will help to answer part of that question. However, pray that I accept
the answer that God gives even if it isn't what I expect it to be. Truly,
though, this question is a question of a lifetime, so pray that I would
walk with God and trust in His faithfullness daily on this trip and onwards.
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| Well, we're finally done with training,
now we have a couple of days for some last minute preparations, then camp
starts on Monday. Training was long, and I feel like my brain is
in "information-overload" mode right now (sort of like it is
at Wheaton), but it's been a good 2 weeks here. Wow, has it really
only been 2 weeks? It feels like a lifetime. I still feel
unprepared for camp, but I'm excited to meet all the girls in my group
(7&8 year olds) and start serving the Lord however I can. Please
pray that we'd all be as ready for camp as possible, and that God would
use us to touch these kids' lives for His glory.
Please keep praying for our group, there's a lot going on.
Many of us living in the house have not had a good night's sleep in days,
either tossing and turning or interrupted by awful nightmares (I'm in
the first group, waking up several times a night - I've only
had two or three nights of restful sleep since I've been
here). Earlier in the week, one of our "camp moms," an
elderly woman helping with camp, was assaulted in broad daylight outside
the Little Lights office. She's fine now, but it really shook up
the whole group. Keeping praying that Jesus would keep us safe and
empower us to do the work for which He's called us here. |