Friday, October 03, 2008

It's a Wrap

Hard to believe this is the last night in the team house. Part of the team will leave for home tomorrow, some will stay a few days longer, and the rest will be going onto a whale watching and shark diving adventure.

Today concluded all the projects we had begun earlier in the week. All the VBS teams finished their studies, and the other construction , and landscaping people finished as well. The retreat team had concluded their work yesterday.

We were able to play tourist this afternoon as we visited Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point.
The ride back to the team house provided great wild life viewing. We saw a zebra, eland, camels, baboons, and ostrich . Being the tourist we are of course we made plenty of photos.

Each team had great stories tonight in our share time. Many were touched by either locals they had met or by other team members. It's always great to see how a random group of people that really don't know each other can bond as a team and even a family before the end of the trip.

Tomorrow we will say goodbye and go in many different directions, yet we will always share the love and memories from this trip.

Thank you again for reading our updates and for all your support!!!

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Kitchen Duty

We have had an incredible week in VBS (or Holiday Club as they call it here) at Ocean View township. The numbers in all of the VBS locations have steadily increased. Monday we had about 180 children in Ocean View and today, Thursday, an enthusiastic 215 children! The children come to us everyday--eager and ready for the day to begin. Many are waiting for our van as we arrive, some with no jacket or shoes and most in the same outfit they've worn all week. How precious are the faces that come...they love to be in close proximity with any of us. The children want to hold our hands, sit in our laps, and touch our hair constantly.
Our day begins with a Call-Out, which consists of many of us walking through the township with a bullhorn, calling the children to come to the "Multi" where VBS is held. Those sweet faces greet us on the streets or look out from windows, wondering what the commotion is all about. Several join our group on our walk through the streets. These streets may be dirty or desolate, but the children's eyes tell another story-one of joy and hope in the direst of circumstances. Some children cannot come on a rainy day simply because they will be punished if their one outfit becomes wet or dirty. Their sparse concrete buildings are laced together with clotheslines...reminding us to never complain about doing laundry again.
Is it because we have so much that we think they have so little??? Do they realize how little they have? Do they know?
The day is filled with fun activities, music, and Bible Study. The children have learned Bible memory verses, participated in biblical dramas, and we wish we had recordings of their sweet voices singing praises to our God! Our friends will find this humorous...but Debo and Ellie have been referred to as "The Dance Team". We laughed out loud, as we are sure you will as well!
Every day in VBS, our children are fed a hot meal, usually rice and chicken necks. After literally licking their styrofoam bowls clean, they neatly stack them on the table along with their plastic cups. Today, we had kitchen duty and had one of the most humbling experiences of the week. The children had been fed and had left for the day, and we asked the cooks to show us what to do to help them clean up. We began to wash the styrofoam bowls in dirty sink water and drying them with a towel that had seen better days. One staff member commented that we didn't need to wash the bowls for tomorrow since the kids would be having hot dogs--they wouldn't need a bowl. Then a kitchen staff member commented, "The thing about that is, if it can be used, we cannot throw it away". We continued to wash away, marveling at the appropriateness of her words. So many times, we discard things in our lives as "trash", not realizing they can be used. Aren't we all thankful that God has the same outlook as our sweet kitchen helper? How easy would it be for Him to give up on us because we are dirty and unclean? Instead, in His mercy, he gives us another chance, washes us clean, and helps prepare us for use. May we all be so blessed as the children we have worked with this week. It's truly amazing to come to this foreign land hoping to bless others, and instead, have these children of our mighty God bless us.

Debo Morris and Ellie Axford

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Nightly Team Meetings

We just finished our nightly team share time. We come together each night and share from the day's events. Various people have been asked to also share a devotion. Today the VBS teams had the opportunity to present the plan of salvation to each of their groups. Some teams reported planting seeds, others saw more immediate results from spontaneous worship through song, and comments and questions. It's encouraging to listen to how each person has been affected and seen God move that particular day. Amazing just how God can take something average or mundane and use that to create opportunities to share or discover.

Tonight Ryan and Dora shared a song with us to conclude our share time, very appropriate.
These two have wonderful talent and it's refreshing to see such talent used to glorify and share for the Lord.

The construction team and landscaping team that are assigned to Muizenberg have had the opportunity twice to join in the devotion with the homeless that show up for spiritual and nutrional food. This morning I noticed all the songs requested were all praise and worship; such as "Majesty", and "Open The Eyes of My Heart". It still baffles me that the same songs are sung all over the world. I observed that several of our team members set with homeless guys and ladies instead of our own memebers. Some seemed to accept this easy and others a little sensitive to their territory. The devotion this morning was given by a lady that used to work in the Living Grace office at Muzienberg. She spole on the parable of The Prodigal Son, she called it the parable of The Lost Son. I had never considered that term before, however that is very accurrate of his condition. She went on to say that God is waiting for us to return even if we have messed up by doignthings not appropriate , many of these people are drug users, former users, all sorts of backgrounds. She was speaking on their level, in terms they could relate to.

The main take away I realized this morning was that this is exactly how "church" looks and feels!
Think about it, someone has obvious needs, and are almost out of hope and just can't make it on their own anymore. Another person comes by and shares with them the greatest news of all time and gives them hope. They point out that God is in control and not only has the answers, but IS the answer!

I think we get so caught up in programs and routines, that we forget that the early church did not meet at the First Baptist Church of The Holy Land, instead they met in small groups throughout the community taking the message of God's love to the people. It's difficult to ever reach a lost person if we never are around any nor interact with them. Sometimes this means going on their turf, no matter how uncomfortable that may be to us. Honestly a homeless shelter is not my idea of the perfect place to hang out, yet God has used that to show me a very real example of the church in action.

I'll leave you on this note: How quickly do we judge or dismiss someone just because of how they look, act, dress, or even smell? So many times we disgard them and their contribution to society. Just like the prodigal son or a homeless person sleeping on the street .........God accepts us no matter where we've been, how we look, dress, smell, or what we've done. If God was willing to welcome us with open arms , even though we were covered in the filth of the world and smelled of sin, should we not offer the same acceptance to those we meet????