South Africa
Day 1 –Tuesday, June 19
Today felt like the longest day ever! We landed in South Africa around 8:30 am
South African time. There, we proceeded
to go through custom, etc. We met an
American guy, Dana, who moved to South Africa about 10 years ago and married a
South African woman. 30 of us loaded
into 4 vans, each with manual transmission and the steering wheel on the right
side of the car! It was bizarre to say
the least. It was a 45 minute drive to
the complex where we are staying. It is
actually pretty nice! I will take more
pictures later and post them. I am
living with 2 other girls from Cal Poly, Hannah and Michelle, in some tight
headquarters, but it has been great so far and I am so excited to get to know
them! Today was mainly briefing and some
training on what to expect culturally this trip.
Day 2 – Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Today was awesome.
Awesome, awesome, awesome! I got
a good 12 hours of sleep and was pretty well rested once I woke up. We mostly were taught how to teach curriculum
to these children. It was such an
inspiration to hear what we were going to be doing these next couple
weeks. Dana, our project host, said
something that really captured my heart.
He commented that “South Africa is a country of great resilience. Out of the great struggles that people are
born with come great hope for a place I have grown to love so dearly.” He talked to us about safety and security in
South Africa. For example, treat red
lights as stop signs after 11 pm to reduce your chance of being
approached. Also, when asking for
something, always always greet the South African first. My friend actually bought a mirror from
Clicks, our CVS, without greeting the employee first, and the lady said “I’m
good” to remind my friend, Sarah, to greet her first! Then, we proceeded to learn some sayings in
three different African languages, Zulu, Spedie, and Afrikan.
After lunch (lentil soup and salad), Richard, a guy who
lived in South Africa for a year and is currently a teacher in DC, taught our
team how to teach in South Africa. It
was such an inspiration to listen to how we would be impacting the lives of
these children. In addition to teaching
them lifelong skills academically, such as time management, how to take a test,
and addition, telling them the Gospel should be at the forefront of our
minds. We have an opportunity to get to
know an amazing country and be fortunate to be a part of a victory that God is
going to win anyway! What a neat
experience, and I want to truly thank each and everyone of you for your love
and support for letting me have this opportunity. No matter what happens this month, God is
sovereign over this experience and I am so blessed to be His hands and feet to
the children of South Africa.
Later tonight, we had our first life group meeting where we
told our life stories. It was such a
touching night and I am so excited for our next meeting tomorrow! I love life groups and truly believe in
fellowship with one another.
Thank yall for reading and stay tuned!
Day 3 - Thursday, June 21, 2012
Note: This is a shout out to Cobb and Meghan! I did Insanity this morning at 7 am! Crazy, huh? About 12 people woke up at 7:15 am to do
Insanity (a video workout like P90X).
What I didn’t realize was that we are about a mile high, like in Denver,
Colorado, so we were at some high altitudes trying to work out! Several people found themselves light headed
and having difficulty breathing, including me, but it was quite refreshing to
start my day exercising with several members of my team.
Today we went into the township of Mamelodi. This was the second time we got to see the
township, which consisted of about a million people living in shacks and
settlements the size of dorm rooms. It
was just so sad to see the extent of the poverty that so many people are
unaware of. We kept driving and driving
and there were just so many huts. It
seemed like it never ended. We parked at
the University of Pretoria campus, and walked into the township, which was only
about five minutes away. The people were
so friendly! A security guard even came
up to one of the project leaders and asked what was going on. It was so odd to see a group of 30 white
people walking into a township!
Needless
to say, we were the focus of the street.
We split up into groups of three and proceeded to walk on the street,
greeting people and talking to them as well.
I am so amazed at how awesome God is. My team talked to a group of ladies, who
showed us their homes. It was basically
a square room the size of a dorm room where about five people lived. It was just shocking to see how small the
living quarters were and how many of these shacks were squeezed in such a large
area. I ended up talking to one guy,
Elias, who builds the shacks. He told me
what he believed in, and I was able to tell him about the Gospel. God is so good! I realized before we left for the outing that
any words that come out of my mouth will be of God’s, and ultimately, it is up
to God to work in these people’s lives, and I pray that God will continue to
work in Elias’ life. Before I left, I
asked Elias if I could pray for him, and he said yes. So we prayed together! Isn’t that
unbelievable? Would you join me in
praying for Elias, that God would show him how much He loves Elias and that it
is possible to have a relationship with Him.
Guys, I can’t tell you how much I love this country already,
and I have only been here for four days.
I pray that God would reveal himself to the township of Mamelodi, filled
with people who don’t truly understand the concept of having a relationship
with God. We found that, as a team, many
of the South Africans claim to be Christian, however, when we dug deeper to ask
them some more intimate questions, they were unable to answer them. I am just so blessed to have the opportunity
to love on these people and come back to the township in a week and talk to
Elias again.
One thing I found was a little difficult was getting past
the language barrier. While we were able
to communicate, I found it hard to match what I thought Elias was saying versus
what he actually meant. However, I pray
that God is stirring in his heart and that today’s conversation will raise some
questions.
I am beyond excited to start tutoring on Monday. I am fearful that the kids won’t want to listen
to me, respect me as a teacher, or want to even be there. However, I am anxious to see God’s sovereign
hand working in the lives of these students, especially the 12 that I will be
teaching. I can’t wait to see their
faces when a light bulb goes off, and I can’t wait to tell them about how much
Jesus loves them. I just can’t wait to
see the Lord working in their lives and in mine as well.
There are so many feelings bouncing around right now! God is so good. So good.
What an amazing creator and savior we have!
Day 4 - Friday, June 22, 2012
Today we haven't done much. I am at the mall right now in a McDonald's getting 10 minutes of free Wifi, ha! Today will mostly consist of lesson planning and a Drum circle later tonight! I'm really excited! Tomorrow, we are going to the Apartheid museum and to the craft market where I can imagine I will be buying several souveniers. :)
Thanks for reading!
Eann
0 comments:
Post a Comment