Time Goes by so Fast

It has been way too long since I have written on my blog! Time is going by so fast, it is so hard for me to believe I only have two more months here!

My Dad and Robin are actually on their way for a visit and will be here in just under four hours. I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! It’s going to be so exciting getting to show them around Cape Town and travel with them!

I have been doing well. We had our last training block over the last two weeks and it was amazing. It was quite hard to say goodbye to everyone, but hope to see them again someday. Training was good – we studied the book of Ephesians, talked about Eschatology, being a Christian in the Marketplace, Sex and Relationships and had time to wait on God in silence.

On Friday, Sept 21st, Jac, who leads fyp South Africa, took all 24 of us on the beach and spread us out there. We were in seeing distance of each other, for safety, but could not hear each other. We were allowed to take nothing – no Bible, no journal, no cell phone, no music, no watch, etc… only ourselves. He left us there for three hours and we were not to move from our own area unless we needed the restroom. It was such an amazing time. We just rested in God, listened for His voice, adored His creation, sang, cried out to Him, loved Him… it was amazing. Afterwards, we got together to debrief and we were each allowed one word to describe what the three hours was like… people gave words such as long, short, amazing, awesome, silence, secure, listening, hearing, interesting, adoring… it was such an amazing time.

We also did some team building activities to build our trust and confidence in each other and in ourselves. One thing we got to do was go abseiling… which is when you basically go rock climbing in reverse… I’m not sure what we call it there – maybe repelling? It was amazing and scary!

Sue (my housemate) and I went to our neighbors on Tuesday night for dinner. Anne is from Montana and William is from Senegal (sp?). Someone had asked Anne to write an article for a magazine called Alive Now and she felt like she had too much going on with writing her thesis and all, so she asked if I would be interested in doing it. It is simply about being a Christian here in South Africa. I am not even sure they will use it, but I have been working on it for the past couple of days and thought that I would put on here what I have so far. I don’t even have a title yet. ☺

Here it is:

As I was leaving Pollsmoor Prison this morning, I found myself walking out with an Africanz lady. She was walking to the front gate, which was about an eighth of a mile from the female section of the prison. She went ahead of me as I was getting in my car. I was driving by her just anticipating to pass her and yet found myself wondering why she was there… was it for counseling the ladies, to visit a friend or even a family member?

As I was passing her by, I heard a little voice in my head: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mathew 25:40). I stopped to see if she would like a lift as I prayed for God’s protection. I asked her where she was going, and she was going to take a taxi to the train station up the road. I went ahead and offered her a ride to the train station and took her there.

As we were traveling together, I found out she was visiting her 18-year old daughter who she had not seen for three weeks and had finally connected with her when she found out she was at Pollsmoor. This lady said that her daughter was a pretty good kid until her dad was murdered in 2001, and she had gone downhill ever since.

I have been in South Africa since January of this year and have been doing volunteer work for Jubilee Community Church in Observatory and also doing some work in Pollsmoor Prison. I have heard many stories like that of this lady… I have met a lady who killed her husband as she was saving her own life, I have met a lady who was drug trafficking to “provide” for her family, and I have met a lady who kidnapped a baby because she and her husband had been trying to get pregnant for nine years with no success.

As I meet with the ladies at Pollsmoor or when I see people begging on street corners here in Cape Town, I am reminded of a verse in Matthew 11 – Mary and Martha send word to Jesus regarding their brother Lazarus and his sickness. They tell Him, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” I love this verse. They are saying that Lazarus is the one that Jesus loves. Each one of these ladies at Pollsmoor, each one of these people begging on street corners, and each one of us is the one that Jesus loves.

South Africa is known for its high-crime rate and non-safety. It has been hard to live here at times, as the culture is very different than what I am used to. One of my friends here made a comment to me that I will never forget: “The safest place a person can be is in God’s will for their life.” No matter where God has called you or where He has you living, He is your Protector and you are safer with Him than anywhere else in the world.