Coke & Nik Nak's

Cape Town Stadium

If you are ever faced with the challenge of having to catch and hold twelve kids attention for ten minutes, coke and chips, with a lot of enthusiasm, works every time.  During class this past week we were learning about telling the gospel story, which is relating creation, the rebellion, sacrifice, Christ’s return, and the Great Commission into a story, all the while with holding using Christian terms and in addition telling it as a story a person can relate to. It was rather challenging I must admit, but creativity and excitement was on our side. Before the teachers dismissed us from class they told us to try and tell five different people in the community within an hours time and return to share what happened. My friend Katrina and I were partners and we set out not a clue in mind in who we were going to talk to. However, as we walked across the street we saw a bunch of boys playing soccer in the field and the ideas hit both of us at once; share with twelve boys, so we only told the story once, plus kids are always the most fun people to talk to about this, and we could make it really enjoyable by relating it to soccer, a sport neither Katrina nor I have ever played, nor knew anything about. What could go wrong? As we walked up to them they just kept on playing their game and completely ignored us. I mean I would have done the same thing if I were having fun playing a game and some strangers wanted to tell me a story. We retreated, then came up with a plan B, run into the nearest Pick N’ Pay, buy 15 cokes, not the normal size but the big size, along with Cheeto like snacks called Nik Naks. It worked. We walked out onto the field and said, “anybody want a coke?” and suddenly a group of loving boys turned into a determined stampede. We finally quieted them down and were able to share with them our God story. It was probably the funniest thing we have done. As I told you we don’t know much about soccer so relating it to them was difficult, but we made it through. The kids seemed to enjoy it and later they were waving frantically at us saying hello. Yes, maybe they wanted more Cokes and Nik Nak’s, but in the end we were able to share a God story and hopefully it planted a seed in these young boys lives.

Other than our exciting story telling, we had a fun week filled with inspirational teaching and good times in Ocean View. Floyd McClung, the founder of All Nations, spoke with us this week on discipleship. It was an amazing class; Floyd’s classes are always so inspirational and encouraging. Other class times included: preparing for India, developing different methods of sharing Christ such as sharing a God story or peace reason, and a special class with social justice leader on Ocean View culture and the social injustices. In Ocean View the crime rate is high and the saddest part of it all is that to the people it is normal. The stories he told were heart wrenching and so sad. For example, it is normal for a child to be raped or molested before the age 10. In an elementary classroom setting more than 75% of the kids have been sexually abused. Hearing these statistics just made me cringe inside, I couldn’t believe it, but it is a reality that these people deal with everyday. I really began understanding the Ocean View culture this past week and it made me all the more determined to show these people love and hopefully give them the hope of Jesus. He is the one who will help them get out of the gruesome cycle of abuse. So please continue to pray for the Ocean View people that this abuse will be stopped.

On a lighter note, visiting Ocean View was an extreme pleasure this week! On Thursday we began our morning with our simple church then headed into the community.  This past Thursday was unique due to the fact that the schools were off for a public holiday and all the buildings were closed. So instead of dancing this week we just visited different friends and walked through the community meeting new people. Then we ended our day with talking to a warden in training for a local prison. It was interesting to hear the perspective of a warden about the prison life.  On Sunday, when we returned to Ocean View we started the morning with the lively bunch of guys, which is always a joy, then headed down to the park to play with the kids. We finished the day by walking through Ocean View just giving encouragement to others and praying. I can’t believe I am here in Ocean View for only two more weeks. It saddens me as our time is coming to end here in our community, these people have made such an impact in my life, I know I am going to miss them dearly.

The ending to our week was a rather exciting one. I went to my first professional soccer game at Cape Town Stadium, the home of the 2010 World Cup. After a relaxing morning we drove into Cape Town and grabbed some delicious dinner at the Eastern Bazaar then headed to the stadium. It is an awesome stadium the design is so awesome! The game was the most exciting sporting experience I had. The South African fans are dedicated! We partook in African dancing which more than 80% of the crowd was doing, the wave and the entire stadium took part, and just the overall supportive vibe the crowd gave. It was so much fun! I got to use a vuvuzuela for the first time too.  To top it all off South Africa won so the rejoicing after was even more exciting! The experience was great and the memories made with friends were even better!

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!

New Experiences

The Rasta Camp

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? What draws you to that place? I hope you have a place you want to travel to, because there is so much to see and so many rewards in exploring different cultures and meeting people outside of your normal society. I would encourage you to one day try and venture there, especially if God placed a certain area on your heart. The reason I ask this question is because over these past few weeks that question has been asked to me multiple different times, but in a slightly different context. In All Nations the program looks like this: you have twelve weeks of training, three or four of the days goes to a classroom training and two days go to a local outreach in the community, with one day off. However, after the twelve weeks a group of about six people head to a different part of world to begin sharing the gospel on their own, so to complete the program you have to have a location to go to. Luckily, All Nations makes it a little easier on us by giving options to choose from. The options this year were Kenya, India, Malawi, Botswana, and Madagascar.  All of which carry different cultures, people, challenges, and different experiences with the Lord.  Well, if you don’t the location I am headed to this year is Dharmsala, India! When they announced where we were going in class, I literally was bouncing out of my chair.  Originally, India hadn’t been an option for outreach so I had never really thought about going there, but over the past weeks I had been hearing so many different and exciting stories about what the Lord was doing there, I began developing this desire to go. Consequently, when they told us that India had become a option, I had no doubt in my mind that was where I wanted to go. I couldn’t tell my parents fast enough, hoping they would agree, which they did (I think). =) If ya’ll don’t mind, prayer is greatly appreciated for this.  Different obstacles for some of the team have risen up in preparing for India such as waiting for funds to come in, visa difficulties, etc. So please pray for the team and that all these details can get worked through as quickly and painlessly as possible. I can’t wait to share with you guys what the Lord is doing in India, thank you so much for the support and encouragement you guys have shown me even in just reading my blog!

The Fly Zapper

Playing Games in Ocean View

           

What I love so much about God is you can never get enough and He is always teaching you something new. I learned so much about God this week in my adventures in Ocean View and the lessons taught in class. I have to say God became that much more real to me this week in one of our walks around Ocean View. I had one of the coolest experiences in making a new friend this week. About two weeks ago when we had our weekly prayer meeting God gave me this picture of an elderly woman. At first I was like okay, just a coincidence, but on Monday she became a reality to me. One of my friends and I were walking around Ocean View just praying and we decided to take a new route, which is always fun especially when you don’t really know where you are. Well, as we were walking this same woman who I had seen two weeks before in our prayer time walked out of her house. It was like déjà vu, I stopped and before I realized what was going on I was walking up to her. We began talking and got to know one another. Maria was her name and after getting to know her a little more she invited us into her home. Now Maria loves to garden and her home is filled with plants plus she has one of the most flourishing gardens in the community. Maria then walked us through her garden and told us about her life, how Christ delivered her from alcoholism, and her family. Her story was life changing and she asked us to pray for her family. She then explained that she had been struggling the night before with wanting alcohol and she needed an encouragement not to go back. She told us her encouragement had been us coming to see her. In addition, at the end of our visit she blessed me with the most beautiful plant. This plant had been with her since the day she quit drinking, which was thirty-six years prior to our meeting. We have gone back twice since Monday and next week we are going to help her garden. Gardening with her is such a blessing to me because its like a little piece of home and it helps with the homesickness. Another highlight of Ocean View this past week was the poike (sounds like porkie) we had with Usher in the Rasta camp. He had gone fishing earlier in the week and spoiled us with the delicacy of crayfish. As we boiled the crayfish, rice, and veg over an open fire in his backyard we got to know his life and his own experiences with Christ.  Spending time with these different people was very encouraging; I can’t wait to continue to spend more time with them.

Cooking over an open fire

Crayfish

   Life in Africa is an adventure and everyday I am learning something new. God is stretching me in so many ways especially over this past week. My life would not be the same without Him. I cannot wait to see what this next week holds! 

The Climb

Views from Table Mountain

Down here in South Africa, flies can be quite the pesky little creatures. They are everywhere. This past week the students at Africa house got so fed up with shooing them away that we decided to take action. We went to pick n’ pay, which is the local grocery store, and picked up two different forms of fly killer. My favorite fly killer is this electric zapper machine. It looks like a mini tennis racquet with horizontal metal shockers. It is has been the funniest thing to watch my friends attempt to kill them. It’s almost like the flies know it is coming and quickly move, but at the same time when they you successfully hit one you feel like a champion. This sense of accomplishment overpowers you when you hear the loud popping noise and see the electricity shoot off from the fly. In addition to killing the flies, my friends think it is funny to zap each other; it seems pretty painful, yet they continue to do it. I don’t understand that, but hey whatever floats their boat. So if you ever have a extreme fly problem I would recommend the fly zapper, not only does it rid you of flies, it gives a little entertainment as well.

The Cape Argus

The Last Bit of Hiking

This past week has been one filled with exciting classes and eventful outreaches. In class this week, Joe Ewen from Scotland came and spoke to the class. Joe’s teaching was focused on learning about the Holy Spirit and how it influences our lives. He gave a great biblical basis for perspectives on prophecy, speaking in tongues, and the various gifts.  Noah, the other speakers, spoke about the five fold gifts and helped us find the gift that best fit our personality.  He then taught us how to further that gift. It was a really good week of teaching with many powerful moments. In Ocean View this week we danced, met up with the previous connections we had, and then walked around the community making more friends. It was a fun week in the multi-purpose hall. We had about 30 kids come dance and play games with us. They were the funniest group and can all dance extremely well. It was rather impressive. I can’t wait to see what we do next week! In addition to the dancing, we had another successful week just making connections and spending more time with people in Ocean View. I can’t describe how wonderful these people are. Yes, they live in some hard conditions but you would never guess with the attitudes they have.  All in all it was a great week there!

The End of the Hike

We also had an adventurous side to our week. We drove to Table Mountain and hiked to the top. The hike was comparable to the stair master exercise machine. However, double the stair size and then climb for about an hour and a half.  It was fantastic though and a great workout if you like to workout. The rest of the day we spent at Imhoff Farm, which a beautiful market square, where we had a delicious lunch and viewed some amazing scenery. After we got back, I headed down to Kommetjie beach and just spent some alone time there. It is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been. I can’t wait to spend more time there. To end the week, Cape Town was entirely shut down for the big bike race, the Cape Argus. Over 35,000 bikers from all over the world came and participate in the 110km bike race. Bikers passed right in front of Africa House and we spent some time cheering them on. It has been a really nice relaxing weekend and tomorrow begins another week of class and we get to hear which outreach we are going on! I can’t wait to see where I end up going! Again I appreciate any prayers and thanks again for reading!

Concentration

Just a Cape Town View

Have you ever been in a situation where you really have to focus on something you are doing, but in that exact moment it seems that nearly everyone wants your attention? For example, this past week I drove on the left hand side of the road for the first time. I am not going to lie, it takes a lot of concentration and the constant reminder stay on the left side of the road and if you see headlights, instead of taillights calmly MOVE! That was one of the many adventures I got to experience, luckily for me though I did not have a headlight experience. However, this past week has held many different experiences where concentration was absolutely necessary.

The week held multiple different speakers, each teaching something new and exciting. On Monday, we had discussions about how to apply missions in business, which was extremely exciting, because business is something that I cannot wait to study. The speakers made a great point though; well they actually reiterated this point. You can share Christ wherever you are and whatever walk you are in. Whether you are a billionaire who supports others in the mission field or just being the best boss you can be to your employees, treating them with respect and providing a great atmosphere. Throughout the rest of the week we learned about church essentials and how to share the gospel through Discovery Bible Studies. These studies are extremely beneficial and really teach you how to learn on your own and helps encourage the locals here to be able to start their own Bible studies. Classes ended this week with the staff talking about the different outreaches that we get to choose from. The places we get to choose from are Botswana, Malawi, Kenya, Madagascar, and a new addition India! I haven’t chosen which outreach for sure I will be going on, but I am really leaning towards India. I would have the opportunity to teach English and interact with the vibrant culture of Dharamshala, the home of Dalai Lama, the main teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Many people visit here to hear him speak and get wisdom. It is going to be interesting being in that culture, but also exciting. Dharamshala is in the northern part of India between the Chinese and Pakistan border, right next to the Himalayan Mountains. So hopefully, if the Lord leads me here then India will hopefully be my outreach location. However, any of the other locations would be just as exciting! Camping for six weeks and living in tribal conditions in different parts of Africa, would be one of the most exciting experiences, not to mention meeting some pretty amazing locals! This is the area I would ask for prayer from ya’ll this week, that I will be happy where ever God sends me, or that I could really concentrate on the Lord’s voice to direct me where I should go.

Outreach this week was absolutely fantastic! My friend Sakhile and I got to perform our dance for the first time and in the process met some amazing kids!  We started outside in the soccer field, but by the end and different circumstances we moved to the front of the building. We turned on the music as loud as it could go and just went for it. At first, you definitely feel a little bit like a fool, however by the end so many different styles of dancing had been shown that you didn’t want to leave. So many kids came and watched and danced along with us. Our goal with the dancing is to hopefully start a dance class for the high school students. Many of the kids here have nothing to do after school and we are hoping to open a way for them to get involved in something that will give them a purpose to stay in school and to have a different way to release stress other than the drugs or alcohol.  In addition, we are going to learn some awesome styles of dance. These people know how to dance, it is quite crazy how good they are at it! Hopefully, I will be able to record a performance and show you guys!  Other than the dancing, we have an awesome time getting to know the Rasta community. We are going to have a crayfish boil with them in the next week or two and have a discussion/ discovery Bible study with them. I will have to let you guys know how that goes. Lastly, two of the other students and I get the privilege of visiting different families in the community.  Last week we visited a home where a bunch of different people come and meet for a weekly get together.  This group is the one of the liveliest groups I have met and I feel so privileged to be able to spend an hour or two with them.  They are a great group and have been super open about talking about the Lord. It has been a great week in Ocean View, I can’t wait to see what the next week holds!

No Big Deal

We also had some fun this week! After I got driving on the left hand side and driving standard backwards down, we took the car and headed to Cape Town Proper. We visited various markets and ate some delicious food at the waterfront by the Victoria Wharf, viewing the beautiful Table Mountain. After that we drove the opposite direction to the lowest point of Africa, Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. Our drive was rather interesting I must say. You know in America we have deer signs or different signs for animals that seem normal to see on the road. However, here in South Africa you get signs like baboons or penguins on the road. Not exactly the animal you expect to see walking along the side of the road. Well, I experience my first baboon crossing, it was hilarious. They are some of the ugliest animals I have ever seen, but they are so funny! The car in front of us was covered in the monkeys just walking all over it. All in all though that was the most beautiful drive I have ever taken! We stopped in Simon’s Town and saw penguins, which sounds weird because we are in a extremely tropical area, but nope they are here and so stinking cute!  All in all it has been another great week down here, definitely has had it’s moments where it has been hard, but in reality those moments are easily forgotten as you move on and experience more of this culture and especially God.  Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it!