So the first thing I would like to say is that Alison stole my title for this blog post. Urg. So wrong. Thats the answer to everything here in Africa though. "What is that?" or "Is this going to kill me?". Answer: "I dont know, this is Africa" haha.
So I just want to say that Africa is so amazing. Truth. Once we stepped off the plane and went through customs we could already see what it was going to be like for the next two months. Afrikans everywhere, language I've never heard of before, cars just like from the movies of 4 wheel drive jeeps and their awesomely cool license plates that you see in the Borne Movies (I want one!). Jill and Amanda, two of the three women who run Ignite South Africa, picked us up from the airport. They're pretty awesome people I must say. June is the other woman and she is awesome herself. All three live in a house here in Harrismith, so Alison and I are staying with them for the week. I'm the only guy though, so apparently they just feel free to pick on the lone guy all the time. Women.
We all went to Qua Qua yesterday which was about a 45 minute drive from their house. The ministry itself is ran out of Qua Qua, so it was pretty cool to see what the town was like there. All I have to say is that these women are LEGIT. God has blessed them so much. The first couple hours we were there they had a meeting with the counselors who go into the schools to teach kids about safety and certain protection methods incorporating the gospel into their material. Its so cool because they're all really young but when the meeting started they all started off with songs of praise and prayers and testimonies and to hear how passionate they are about the Lord and to see how they sung songs of praise was mind blowing. I promise you, these 15 counselors sung with more enthusiasm and passion than an entire church back home would. God has blessed these people and their love for Jesus is so strong. It encourages me to push myself even further. The last couple hours we were there we met with a couple of "pastors in progress" I like to say. June taught the class and just amazed me with the material she taught. You could just listen to her and see the Holy Spirit speaking through her during the day. Her love for Jesus is so strong that she perseveres through the trials to teach Jesus to those in the area. I mean she gave her life to live 8000 miles away in a country that is not the most comfortable place to live in to share the gospel for crying out loud. What amazing people and what a blessing it was to see the Bible being lived out.
David was a man who touched me the most. David is 23 years old. He is an Afrikan, who came to know Christ in the past couple years. His hardships are more difficult than the average. His family disowns him for the way he lives. For pursuing a life of love and obedience to God, his family blames him for not being there for his mother, who is struck sick with HIV and is on the verge of losing her property to the government. He encouraged me yesterday though. Through all this difficulty in his life, he continues to look to Jesus for his guidance and for his support. With little income that he has, he hopes to become a pastor and share the gospel to his people. I may or may not have gotten teary eyed while talking to him throughout the day. What made me smile the most was that he had told Alison and I at one point that he had never had a conversation with white people before. Yes, there are white people in SA. But in Qua Qua, most are Afrikan. He pulled me aside and said he had never opened up to someone before like he had to me, and it was a pleasure to talk to a white person who listened and continued a conversation with him before. And apparently me being American made it more worth wild to him. He says that we made his day yesterday. Truth is, he made our day too. What an amazing man David is. If you're reading this, please pray for David and his family. He needs prayers.
Tomorrow is Sunday! What what. Can't wait to check out the church that Jill, June, and Amanda go to. Oh by the way, you should see the view outside of the house. It's incredible. I'll post a picture on twitter at some point. Internet isn't free here. You can't just get unlimited bandwidth. They pay for a certain amount of bandwidth a month here, so I dont want to use up a lot of their internet posting a picture or video. But the next time Alison and I are at an Internet Cafe I'll make sure to post a picture.
Love you all. As Lindsay would say, LATERRRRRRRRR
Doug
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