Such unbelievable experiences here. The words cannot keep up with the thoughts.
Today it rained, so we were unable to continue on building the “kresh”. Instead we went to a primary school where we were given access to three different 7th grade classes. Under the heading of “life studies”, we were open to share about the character of God as displayed through the fruits of the Spirit.
We started by introducing ourselves in Xhosa. I was last and mispronounced “igama lam ngu, Steve” and the kids burst into laughter. It totally broke the ice and I loved my unintended moment of being a class clown. (Funny moment #324: Katie mistakenly makes a point to the classroom by using the Spanish translation of Jesu Cristo and gives the kids two big thumbs up…the reply was silent, blank stares.)
We broke the 50 children into 9 teams and each was given a character trait and assigned to draw it and act out a scenario (thankfully, the children understood/spoke English). My group had “faithfulness” and they chose a scenario of telling a secret of smoking and the friend being faithful not to gossip the secret. The funny part was the child saying “if my parents find out, they will FREAK OUT.” Really, freak out?! Not my words at all, but funny to see catch phrases going global. My second class group had “self control” and they did a skit about some party scenario that I never fully understood.
In the third class, my team was five guys and we had “kindness”. I really felt like I connected with them…we were fellas after all. I taught them my cool (to me) snap hand shake and they taught me theirs. I was able to drive the point of kindness home by relating it to being a kind teammate on the soccer field. The best player isn’t always the better teammate and showing unselfishness/kindness on the team is a great way to demonstrate godly characteristics. They seemed to really get it and I gave them homework to be a good teammate next time they play ball. It was an amazing exchange – all within a public school!
After lunch, we went off to a community center that was housing 200+ foreign African refugees (largely from Zimbabwe) due to the recent xenophobic violence against them. We were there to have a worship service and hopefully offer inspiration. At first it was a tough crowd. Individuals were very warm to us, but the crowd was pensive. A few songs in and they were clapping, singing and dancing with us. I was asked to share my testimony and talk about Christ…what could I possibly say to these people in their circumstances? Be truthful and God will provide the words…and He did. I shared my story of how living for self is ultimately unfulfilling. I mentioned that we are all refugees in one sense – all away from our hopeful home in heaven, living out this brief time on earth. Our current difficult circumstances are a mere blink in the expanse of eternity and knowing Him provides a long-term perspective in which hope and joy are the promise. It was well received and later we sang more and had an altar call. We prayed for those who came forward (for hope, protection, bravery, obedience, and a kingdom perspective). Afterward, several longer conversations took place. One with Willard, an organizer of these people, who loves God, has such faith, loves his homeland and wants to show it to me, and amazingly knows that the people who do these horrible deeds against them don’t understand mankind’s interconnectivity or Christ’s demonstration of love. This was a remarkable perspective that many here shared…I don’t know how they do it. I found it ironic that the day started by educating students about character and the fruits of the Spirit, and it ended by offering encouragement to refugees who had been shown just the opposite of this character by older generations of these same kids. Lord, let these seeds find fertile ground.
A truly surreal day – being used by God to teach South African children and offer comfort and hope to refugees. Not bad for my first time out of the country. I feel small in His plan, but important in His works. Later, Pastor Ohm would wisely share that we are beautiful in our differences.
Today it rained, so we were unable to continue on building the “kresh”. Instead we went to a primary school where we were given access to three different 7th grade classes. Under the heading of “life studies”, we were open to share about the character of God as displayed through the fruits of the Spirit.
We started by introducing ourselves in Xhosa. I was last and mispronounced “igama lam ngu, Steve” and the kids burst into laughter. It totally broke the ice and I loved my unintended moment of being a class clown. (Funny moment #324: Katie mistakenly makes a point to the classroom by using the Spanish translation of Jesu Cristo and gives the kids two big thumbs up…the reply was silent, blank stares.)
We broke the 50 children into 9 teams and each was given a character trait and assigned to draw it and act out a scenario (thankfully, the children understood/spoke English). My group had “faithfulness” and they chose a scenario of telling a secret of smoking and the friend being faithful not to gossip the secret. The funny part was the child saying “if my parents find out, they will FREAK OUT.” Really, freak out?! Not my words at all, but funny to see catch phrases going global. My second class group had “self control” and they did a skit about some party scenario that I never fully understood.
In the third class, my team was five guys and we had “kindness”. I really felt like I connected with them…we were fellas after all. I taught them my cool (to me) snap hand shake and they taught me theirs. I was able to drive the point of kindness home by relating it to being a kind teammate on the soccer field. The best player isn’t always the better teammate and showing unselfishness/kindness on the team is a great way to demonstrate godly characteristics. They seemed to really get it and I gave them homework to be a good teammate next time they play ball. It was an amazing exchange – all within a public school!
After lunch, we went off to a community center that was housing 200+ foreign African refugees (largely from Zimbabwe) due to the recent xenophobic violence against them. We were there to have a worship service and hopefully offer inspiration. At first it was a tough crowd. Individuals were very warm to us, but the crowd was pensive. A few songs in and they were clapping, singing and dancing with us. I was asked to share my testimony and talk about Christ…what could I possibly say to these people in their circumstances? Be truthful and God will provide the words…and He did. I shared my story of how living for self is ultimately unfulfilling. I mentioned that we are all refugees in one sense – all away from our hopeful home in heaven, living out this brief time on earth. Our current difficult circumstances are a mere blink in the expanse of eternity and knowing Him provides a long-term perspective in which hope and joy are the promise. It was well received and later we sang more and had an altar call. We prayed for those who came forward (for hope, protection, bravery, obedience, and a kingdom perspective). Afterward, several longer conversations took place. One with Willard, an organizer of these people, who loves God, has such faith, loves his homeland and wants to show it to me, and amazingly knows that the people who do these horrible deeds against them don’t understand mankind’s interconnectivity or Christ’s demonstration of love. This was a remarkable perspective that many here shared…I don’t know how they do it. I found it ironic that the day started by educating students about character and the fruits of the Spirit, and it ended by offering encouragement to refugees who had been shown just the opposite of this character by older generations of these same kids. Lord, let these seeds find fertile ground.
A truly surreal day – being used by God to teach South African children and offer comfort and hope to refugees. Not bad for my first time out of the country. I feel small in His plan, but important in His works. Later, Pastor Ohm would wisely share that we are beautiful in our differences.
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