Joburg!

Well folks, I’m back from another mission trip and on my way to the next. I can’t really explain the feeling of being able to represent Christ overseas. If you haven’t tried it….I’d recommend it! Just GO! Seriously, if God wants you to go, believe me He WILL provide! God has blessed me beyond measure. I am so grateful to have some many supportive people in my life that care and pray for me daily. God bless you all!

But I’m sure you’re really just here to read about lions and tigers and…wait no bears, sorry.

Being able to go on a FUGE World Changers mission trip was beyond a blessing. I was able to serve alongside some very amazing people Fuge staff (the camp I work at) and missionaries, who have committed years to a foreign country and people. It’s truly inspiring!

So I’ll try to give you a good overview of what my days looked like in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our team was broken down into two groups: Soweto and Inner City. I served on the Inner City team and wish I could be two places at once so I could explain both sides of the trip but technology has just not caught up to my far-fetched futuristic travel ideas! Hmmmp.

For starters, I was in the presence of true Fuge celebrity (not sure if that’s a word?)!! Don Mattingly, the man behind Fuge, was our team leader. He was such an inspiration to work with. A true Fuge hero and a great Godly man. Such a pleasure to work with him.  Properly dubbed Baba Fuge!

Sunday we attended church at Bellevue Baptist in the Inner City. Somehow, I ended up on stage…singing. What?! Yep I’m still really confused by this but there I was singing Hosanna in front of 100 people…thankfully there were other people singing alongside because let’s just be honest…no one wants to hear that. Haha. The people in that church we such a blessing and it was wonderful being able to work with them all week.

 In the afternoon, we were able to go to the Apartheid Museum. That was nuts! I don’t really know how to explain it but I’m pretty sure it was a more intense version of a U.S. Civil Rights Museum. It was crazy to think that less than 20 years ago many of the people in South Africa were living in great oppression simply based on race. We are a sad excuse for humanity that for sure! But PTL…we have Jesus to take care of all the shame and sinfulness that fills humanity!

Well the rest of the week look kind of similar.

We spent our mornings working with Bellevue Baptist doing street ministry and working in the local community. It was interesting to see how many crazy cults and outrageous religious beliefs were in just a few city blocks. You name it…they were there. There were kids everywhere and there is a great need for children’s ministry there. Seeing the poverty and hopelessness of these Inner City people was very eye opening. There were refugees from all over Africa living in this area and many language barriers to overcome.  Unemployment is high and many men just hang out on the street waiting for work to come find them…I guess.

In the afternoon we worked at a local school doing sports camps, basketball and baseball. The basketball kids were good but it was great conversation learning their perspective of the U.S.  Baseball was great and one day the kids had me running ragged from playing centerfield. They were so fun to work with.

 One afternoon we got to stop by the Door of Hope. It's an abandoned babies home. There is a door in the side of the church wall where mothers can safely abandon their babies. I know it's sad but it is the world we live in. They were so precious!

In the evenings, our groups would gather for worship and devotion. A couple of night we got to overlook the city lights and worship and pray right there on the side of a hill in JoBurg! Talk about powerful.

One day we got to do fun stuff. We ate at a restaurant called Carnivore. It’s exactly what you think it is. Huge hunks of meat on a skewer (much like the Brazilian steak houses) but this time you aren’t just eating steak or chicken. You get options like zebra, impala, and antelope. They were all pretty good but I think I got my fill pretty quick.  We also got to go to a lion and rhino reserve. That’s were I got to pet a cheetah, baby tiger, and baby lion. Little Simba was so cute. It was very surreal to be able to experience that and quite thrilling. The park had all kinds of animals from tigers, lions, zebra, antelope, and rhino.  At one point I was about 12 inches from a giant male lion…(I was in a car but all I had to do was stick my hand out the open window) so that was pretty nuts.

 It was such a quick trip and I would have loved to stay much, much longer. Maybe next time! ;)

We left the day before Easter but got one last chance to worship at a church in Soweto. The singing was beautiful and the dancing (yet dancing) in church was right up my alley. Anyone who knows me well or even doesn’t know I love to dance. I could not think of a better way to spend Passion Week and celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. 

Well tomorrow I’m off to Haiti for a couple of weeks. Justin and I will be working in a couple of orphanages and doing construction projects. So keep us in your prayers!