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!