Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Final Stretch
We've spent the past couple of weeks staying with the Stotler's- a family of missionaries in Port Edward, which is a small town on the east coast of South Africa. When I came to South Africa two years ago I became great friends with a girl named Emily. She is now working with a ministry called YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Durban, South Africa and it is her parents and two younger siblings that we're now with.
Each day we go out into the town they serve in to their ministry site which is composed of a nursery and community center building. We've been painting murals inside of the preschool and just finished painting the roof of the new community center. Most of my mission trip experience has had a construction work focus, so its been a lot of fun getting back to this type of work. There is also a water pump on the site, which is one of the main social spots of the community. Its crazy to watch even young kids walking to the pump by themselves to bring back water for their family every day or even multiple times a day. Though its simply part of their lives, it often prevents children from going to school here and women from working outside of the home. A majority of their time is instead spent just surviving. It has also been interesting interacting with these people as they walk by and seeing their expressions trying to figure out what the crazy white people are doing trying to paint a roof.
Our free time not spent painting has been great as well. Being here has allowed us to truly see how another missionary family lives. Each portion of our trip has given us a new perspective on what the life of a missionary is like and we're really starting to understand what this actually looks like. One thing we've all realized is that so much of it is not preaching the Gospel, but living it out. Its all about being an example to the people they interact with each day and building long term relationships. Its easy to have an American mentality and think that I can come in and start making changes to improve everyone's life, but its so much deeper than that. It takes time. Lots and lots of time.
Christine leaves on Friday to head back home and Doug and I leave next Monday so we're all trying to make the most of our last few days here. We'll try to post some new pictures on the blog soon.
-Alison
Each day we go out into the town they serve in to their ministry site which is composed of a nursery and community center building. We've been painting murals inside of the preschool and just finished painting the roof of the new community center. Most of my mission trip experience has had a construction work focus, so its been a lot of fun getting back to this type of work. There is also a water pump on the site, which is one of the main social spots of the community. Its crazy to watch even young kids walking to the pump by themselves to bring back water for their family every day or even multiple times a day. Though its simply part of their lives, it often prevents children from going to school here and women from working outside of the home. A majority of their time is instead spent just surviving. It has also been interesting interacting with these people as they walk by and seeing their expressions trying to figure out what the crazy white people are doing trying to paint a roof.
Our free time not spent painting has been great as well. Being here has allowed us to truly see how another missionary family lives. Each portion of our trip has given us a new perspective on what the life of a missionary is like and we're really starting to understand what this actually looks like. One thing we've all realized is that so much of it is not preaching the Gospel, but living it out. Its all about being an example to the people they interact with each day and building long term relationships. Its easy to have an American mentality and think that I can come in and start making changes to improve everyone's life, but its so much deeper than that. It takes time. Lots and lots of time.
Christine leaves on Friday to head back home and Doug and I leave next Monday so we're all trying to make the most of our last few days here. We'll try to post some new pictures on the blog soon.
-Alison
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