TIA- This is Africa

We’re finally in Africa and I love being back here.  We may have travelled for 24 straight hours with practically no sleep, but it was worth it.  We’re in a town called Harrismith, which is 3 hours south of Johannesburg living with 3 missionaries named June, Jill, and Amanda who are the backbone of Ignite South Africa (ignitesouthafrica.org).  I met the three of them when I came to Africa two summers ago so its been great getting to see them again.

We spent the whole day in Qwa Qwa, a township about 45 minutes away from here where Ignite South Africa serves.  We started the day by sitting in a 5 hour meeting with 14 of Ignite’s coaches that teach a program in many of the schools in Qwa Qwa.  The curriculum the coaches teach covers God’s purpose for the students’ lives, leadership, and many of the tough issues they’re facing like HIV/AIDS, drugs, and sex.  All of the coaches were very welcoming and we had a chance to talk to them a bit.  I don’t know why it still surprises me after all this time, but I was shocked to hear all the struggles they’re facing and how much they praise God and depend on Him through it all.  

After a quick lunch at KFC (America follows us everywhere) we went into another meeting with about 15 pastors in the area that are taking a course on the foundations of Christianity, which is HUGE, because most of the pastors here have no biblical training.  This class is legit too with mandatory attendance, homework assignments, and weekly tests.  Today was their last session of the class so it was a time of celebration for the group.  Once again, we got to hang out and talk to them which was great.  David, one of the coaches who was also there for the class in the afternoon, opened up to Doug and I and we got to here a lot about his life.  The bond between Christians, even those that are complete strangers and live on opposite sides of the world, is such a special one.

Ignite is having a big pastoral conference for about 120 people next Wednesday that we’re going to help prepare for in the next few days.  We’re also going to use this time to help with some of the administrative tasks that need to be done and to brainstorm ideas of how L4L can serve Ignite South Africa once we get back home.

Doug will update the blog tomorrow with more details, but we’ve had an amazing start to our summer and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.

-Alison