The Life of a Missionary

Hey everyone. Thank you all so much for the prayers that you all have said for me. The allergies in Cape Town were not good to me. That was part of my problem, as well as mold in the home I was staying in. I’m allergic to mold, and turns out that the house we were in had mold in it. But I’m still alive and serving the Lord so everything is okay now!! Phew

Last week was amazing. We had an extremely amazing time with the people of Cape Town. The week was packed with some last minute projects that we needed to finish up. We spent a lot of time video taping some of the kids of the Ubuntu Sports Academy in order to create a video for Sarah and Casey to show at home. It was awesome hearing some of the stories from these kids. One of the kids who we interviewed is named “Sim”. We were given a chance to ask Sim some questions about his life and see where he lives and what his daily life is like. Amazing story. For those who don’t know, the colored and black communities here are separated, mostly because of the separation that was required/forced from Apartheid and still exists to this day because no action has been taken to combine the communities together. Therefore, still to this day Ocean View is a colored community (where we had stayed for the month while we were in Cape Town), and Massiphumelele, where Sim lives, is a black community. We were given a chance to videotape his shack and hear his family speak about how they live as well. Sim’s character is incredible. Though he is one of two black boys in the entire Ubuntu Academy, he doesn’t let his situation in the shacks keep him from excelling in the academy/soccer field and in school.

Last Friday night, Alison, Christine and I sat down at the dinner table (eating our last home cooked meal from our host family before we were to leave on Sunday) discussing what to talk about and how to lead youth group that night. We all felt that these kids did not know what it truly meant to be a Christian. So we decided that instead of a youth group of games and activities, we decided to make it a youth group filled with Q&A and Hope. We sat down with the 12 youth kids and asked them some series questions about Christianity. What does it mean to be a Christian? What does a Christian look like? What kind of things do Christians do? Why do Christians do that? What does it take for a Christian to get into heaven? You would be surprised by some of the answers we had gotten from them when we asked these questions. It’s not the church’s fault for not speaking to these kids about these basic doctrine principles of Christianity, nor the fault of the leaders of that youth group, but these kids are between 8^th and 9^th grade high schoolers who most just aren’t ready to decide for themselves whether this is the path of life they want to take just yet. So Alison and I asked these questions to them and answered them to the best of our abilities. I later was able to share with them most of my testimony, which I think most of these kids could relate to. In Ocean View, the community lacks hope and perseverance to succeed from the Apartheid er. Therefore as a result, most kids aren’t parented correctly, most get involved into sex, drugs, and alcohol, and most just aren’t given a chance to succeed in life, or if they are given a chance, most don’t grasp on to that opportunity and fly with it. Sharing my testimony with them was hopefully something they relate to in some ways in the Ocean View community. Alison and I challenged the youth group kids to be different than their community, and to be leaders and not followers. Near the end of our time, the leaders got up and had a chance to share, and later that night the youth started opening up…for the FIRST TIME! It was amazing. The leaders said they had never had the kids open up like they had that night. Three of the 11 girls told their stories about how they had been beaten by family members or taken advantage of at a young age. By the end of the night, about 6 girls had come forth to talk to one or more leaders about their past within their household. It is sad to hear the stories that were told, but we were glad to have shared and held a conversation that gave the youth a chance to open up, share a bond with one another by their past, trust each other in confidence, and be given hope through Jesus’s Word. I’ll be honest with the blog readers right now. I’m not sure if anyone was saved that night. To be even more honest, I’m not sure that I care if they were saved that night. We didn’t come to Africa to count the number of souls the Holy Spirit could save through us. But we left Cape Town in a hype of special bonding with one another and brought the youth closer together to one another in community. I say our work for the month has been completed. One of the most amazing nights within my time in Ministry. Bam!

We left Cape Town on Sunday and joined up with the Stotler family who live here in Port Edward, South Africa. They are from Atlanta, GA so we get along great with one another because we’re all from the south and say “y’all” together. Funny how one word can bring us all closer together. When you’re here in Africa for this long, whenever you hear any word spoken like a true southerner, an immediate bond is formed. The Stotler family partners with a ministry based out of Atlanta who ministers to the people about 15 minutes south of Port Edward on the Eastern Cape. The community is a black community that was formed by the separation from the Apartheid. The Stotler family represents this ministry in the area by running a preschool in the community. They also teach the community life skills and witness to them on a daily level. Our work immediately begun by helping the family repaint the preschool that they operate. The kids are out on holiday, therefore this has given them a perfect opportunity to repaint and clean the building, and we have gladly volunteered our time to assist them in painting. Mr. Stotler is a business grad from UNC-CH who, after several years of experience of running his own businesses in the States, brought his skills here to teach the community computer skills and business skills. The people in the area are extremely poor. There is no market or economy in the community. None what so ever. The only businesses in the community are little soda and snack shops or local bars. Everyone one else finds their own way to survive, mostly by sending their kids to Johannesburg or another city to work and send back money to them. With no market or economy in the area, its difficult for anyone to leave and make a living here. The Stotler family decided to be missionaries in this area last year in order to help change that. This week, Mr. Stotler began a computer class for anyone in the area to learn about computers. The first week’s class starts off with basic anatomy of the computer and learning about what it can do and what it does. Simple things like what the monitor is and teaching them how to use the mouse, etc. It’s crazy because these people are so smart! I mean everyone knows atleast two languages in this area, if not three, but they lack an educational system to teach them these things. So missionaries like the Stotlers come in to provide this education to them, which is amazing. As well as teaching them these skills in his first lesson today, near the end he spoke to the class about perseverance and the Apostle Paul, sharing with them the gospel and reading to them Hebrews 12 about perseverance and striving for the goal layed ahead, which in this case is finishing the 5 week course that he is providing for now. Amazing work is being done in Africa everyone.

What am I learning so far? Well, I’m learning that being a missionary isn’t just preaching the gospel in an unreached area. Being a missionary isn’t just simply preaching the gospel everywhere you go as well. Sometimes, words aren't even necessary to tell others about the gospel. Living out the gospel is what these people really look at. It’s seeing people live it out and loving the people in the community. In Qua Qua we saw June and Jill share the gospel by ministering to local pastors in the area and teaching them, as well as teaching kids life skills within the schools about alcohol, drugs, and sex, hoping to see kids make better decisions in life that will benefit themselves and their families. In Cape Town, we saw the Prince family share the gospel through being care givers in their community, loving others in their daily lives, witnessing at their local church, and teach kids soccer and life skills, so these kids could have something to do after school instead of giving them time to get into trouble. Here in Port Edward, we are seeing the Stotler family share the gospel through loving the poor community in the area, taking care of kids during the day, and teaching the community business skills, hoping that some day these men and women can use these business skills to provide for their family and start a new life.  I hope that God will use what I’m learning here to prepare me for what he has next in my life, whether that is being a missionary somewhere in the world or at home in America. 

God you are so good. I thank you for who you are.

Doug

P.S. So sorry for any messages that have been unanswered and for the inconsistency of blog posts. Internet is limited in Africa, and this is my first time on the computer in 4 days. We will keep posting when we can!