3rd Week

Sorry for taking so long to put this up. I’ve had a hard time getting internet for a while.
Another good week has gone by. I am now living with the Marthinus family, and they are wonderful. Julian is the father, Shermaine the mother, and Sharmina is the 17 month old girl. Though it was quite a change to finally leave the Prince’s household, they have been wonderful in making sure I feel welcome and at home. I’m getting settled into my room, slowly taking in the fact that I will be living here for another 8 months or so. It’s very weird to settle into a home which is not truly your own, yet you must treat it as if it were.
This past week, as the others, went by very quickly. The past Sunday I, along with Casey, Sarah, and Mike Jenkins, went to Hillsong Church. Some of you may have heard of their ministry or at least of their music, more likely the latter whether you know it or not. I won’t be able to give you too much information but I know that they are a Sydney Based Church whose song and albums have been increasing in fame over the past few years. Many of their songs have caught the attention of big name Contemporary Christian singers including Chris Tomlin, and David Crowder Band. The service had about 250 people and was held in the fancy Cape Town International Convention Center. The sermon was given by Phil Dooley, the head pastor who moved here a few years back after leading an incredibly successful youth ministry in Australia.
They also organized a ‘Men’s Conference’ this past Friday and Saturday. Casey, Mike Jenkins, a good friend, Shagmie, and I, attended. There were around 350 men (my guess.) Over the two days, 4 sermons/messages were given by Phil and another Australian pastor, Steve Penny. They spoke of ‘serving Christ as broken men’, ‘love, sex, and marriage’, ‘always finding a way’, and I don’t remember the other : / When three different sessions were offered, I chose to attend the one speaking about “Becoming A True Man Of God.” It was an amazing 45 minutes that really seemed directed at me in many ways. Jon Norman, the speaker, talked about managing each of our weaknesses which too often lead us away from God. The visual metaphors and examples he used really spoke to me in the way I must handle my weaknesses in order to stay a man of faith. It was a greatly useful time.
Saturday was also my birthday. From 9-4:30, I was in the Hillsong Conference. When I returned home, I spent a few hours at the Prince’s, playing soccer with the kids there. It was a lot of fun, and I found out they all think I’m in my mid 20’s. They kept guessing I was 23, 24, 25, I even got 28 years old. I know they’re still young but there is no way I look or act anywhere near that age. But I suppose I am in my last year of being a teenager. It sucks. I’ve talked to a lot of people who have tried to comfort me saying that my tough teenage year will be over and life picks up afterward. I wish they knew how great my teen years have been. I’m really unhappy about the fact that I can’t help getting older. Generally speaking, these past 6 years, along with the previous 13, have been the best years of my life.
The Marthinus wouldn’t be home for the rest of the day, so instead of coming home and being bored on my own, I went with Shagmie and some of his friends from Church to Century City, one of the biggest malls I have ever seen. It was fun to be able to spend time with them, learning some Afrikaans as well. Which leads me to my next point; I’m not sure how much you guys know about South Africa’s history, but I’m guessing you know enough to know that it was a Dutch and British colony, not sure in what order. Afrikaans is the Dutch dialect language spoken by the Afrikaners (White Dutch South Africans) during the time in which they first came to the country. I knew people here spoke it, but I figured it would only be a small percentage of the population. As it turns out, I was wrong. Just about every white and coloured person speaks it as their first language. When they speak to each other they don’t speak English, the speak Afrikaans. On Tuesday and Wednesday I went to a special youth-aimed service. After we were done with the music, this girl was supposed to come up and share this incredible testimony. I was really excited to hear the way God had worked in her life and the amazing turnaround that she had. Little did I know, her whole testimony was in Afrikaans. It seemed so exciting and some people even cried. I wanted so bad to understand and be inspired but it’s kind of hard to do when you don’t understand the language. So from now on I have decided to try to learn some Afrikaans. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’ll also mention that the Black population speaks Xhosa. This is the clicking language, though it’s not quite as exciting as you are probably thinking. The actual clicking is used once or twice every 3 or 4 sentences. But it is pretty cool.
This week I was blessed enough to go to one of the support groups that Sarah is helping lead. The Princes know this amazing family of Congolese refugees. It’s a 30-something year old couple with two young kids; a 3 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. They live in Capricorn, a poor township about 25 minutes from where we live in Ocean View (realize that when I say poor, I don’t mean public housing. It’s actually poor; houses/shacks made out of cardboard and scrap metal poor. Nothing like anything you can find in the U.S.) It was a group of about 10 other women, one from Rwanda, and the rest from different parts of Congo. I took three years of French in high school, so it was really funny to see how I would live up to the challenge of understanding and communicating with these women. I must compliment my teacher, because I could actually hold a decent conversation, much to my surprise, and understand almost all of their enthusiastic prayer.
As I sat there with my Aeropostle jeans and Nike winter jacket, I could not help but feel bad about myself. I have no doubt in the strength and trueness of my faith. Yet as I watched these women with hurt in their eyes, I almost felt invalid as a Christian. I hadn’t heard their stories, but I kept imagining the terrible pain that these people had experienced. These are the people who have experienced things like the Chivu conflict first-hand. They had lived through the Rwanda Genocide. I’m sure many of their friends and family members had died from the atrocities of humanity. If it weren’t for their decision to flee, their children would have been potential victims of the Lord’s Resistance Army. And there I was, having just graduated high school, what college to attend being my biggest worry. I almost felt unworthy of their presence. When we finally got to pray, in French, these women, instead of asking God why their lives were as they are, they were praising Him with incredible passion. I am so blessed to have been there and grateful so Sarah for letting me accompany them.
I almost forgot to mention the other moment this week where I was reminded of how alive Jesus really is. Red Hill is a very poor community about 20 minutes from Ocean View. It is built on the mountain so there are three ‘levels’ where people live. The two lower ones are Black while the highest level is coloured. This past, a great wild fire took out all the first level and some of the second. It was a devastating blow for these families that have so little. A lot of the first level has already been rebuilt with the shacks that stood there before. Living Hope has a ‘kids club’ and a ‘teen club’ there. When Casey and I pulled into this informal settlement, 4 or 5 kids surrounded the car. Some of them recognized Casey from his previous stay in Cape Town so we gave them a ride to the kids club on the second level. When we got to the small opening by the Living Hope container where most of their work took place, I saw about 30 all sitting down on three big benches, looking at a man who seemed to captivate their attention like nothing else. They were all following Mzoa’s (again, a guess at the spelling) singing of Jesus’ live and love for them. Mzoa’s gift with children was amazing. After the singing, he told them about the time when Jesus’ feeding of the 5000. With pictures he drew himself, he had different kids come up to hold a different image representing different parts of the story. Between each activity he would say “Christ is” to which the kids would respond “alive.” He would then call out “in Red” and they would respond “Hill.” The process would then be repeated backwards. It was so amazing to be there, witnessing how God was investing in these kids’ lives through these people. I couldn’t help but think of how alive Jesus still is today, whether in North Raleigh or in Red Hill, He is alive through the people that follow His Word.
On Sunday evening we had a braai (barbeque) for my birthday at the Princes. The volunteers for Living Hope came over, as did my host family and other friends from the community. It is hard to be away from all your family and friends during a birthday, but I am so blessed in that God’s community transcends all political boundaries and crosses the deepest oceans. I am so grateful for the love that He continues to show me through all the wonderful people I’ve met here and for the overwhelming support that I have at home. I cannot tell you enough how much it means to me. I know many of you think I’m doing something great by being here serving Christ, but your love and prayers are equally as representative of God’s love for the world.
Over the past year or so, I have really come to witness and understand the true power of prayer. There must be a lot of people praying for me because I have felt the comfort and happiness of my Father so clearly. I ask that you may continue to pray for me this week as I keep witnessing God’s work in Cape Town. Please pray for the youth here in Ocean View. Having nothing to do, the great majority of teenagers turn to alcohol and drugs to shun the boredom which seems to overtake their lives. Also, please pray for the huge amount of unemployment in Cape Town. Too many people are wasting their lives away, giving up all hope that they may be productive in some way. It is horribly sad. I may also be getting a scooter for myself this week, so if that is the best option, I pray that it may work out as it should. I will continue to pray for you in your daily lives and struggles. I really pray that you may be able to appreciate everything you have. I know it is human nature to complain, but very few of your complaints actually deserve to be so. Please appreciate what you have, not just the materials, but the structure and peace in your lives as well. Be grateful for your family, your health, your education, and so much more that God has blessed you with. It is awesome to live so comfortably, but as Christians, God expects a lot more of us than to just be happy with what we have. With great power comes great responsibility.

Love,

Andy