Monday started out our outreach and my team did Muslim outreach first. We basically just walked around downtown Kimberly, split off in groups of 2. There are a lot of foreigners there and we were just supposed to start conversations with them and if it ended up on religion then we would just get to know their religion better. The first day didn’t go super great. Later, Ina and I had a conversation with an older lady from South Africa who sells fried fish on the side of the street. She had her two grandkids with her and it was just a really good experience to start conversation out of nothing. By the end of it we were able to pray with her and it was just so wonderful! You could really see the joy in her face.
Tuesday we had the kids program. There were about 45 kids. We started out by introducing ourselves and showing them where we are from on the map and they loved that! We sang songs and put on a puppet show for them. They didn’t really understand the puppet show though, especially the younger ones. English isn't their first language. After that we just split them off in age groups and played games with them. It was a lot of fun just to get a chance to play with them and love on these kids who don’t get much of it at home. I could have just sat there for the whole day and let them play with my hair and they would of been completely fine.
Wednesday we did practical work for the pastor. His family and ministry is incredible! They left a normal life to live in the informal settlement much like the people do and have 3 foster children from the camp. We started making them a house out of home made bricks and clay. It was a lot of fun with the team! We got slightly carried away with playing in the mud when it started to rain but it was a lot of hard work!
Thursday we did Muslin outreach again which went a little better than last time! By this late in the week people were recognizing the the white missionaries around town and where approaching us asking us what we were doing and we had some really good conversations! Friday we did practical work again. Most of the girls were planting gardens. It was really great to be able to give that to the community! It was slightly frustrating at the point when there was just trash everywhere and when we are digging in the ground we just kept finding more of it under the ground with nowhere to throw it away. But it was so great having the little kids come and try to help us dig as they sang the songs we had taught them. Friday afternoon we got to go to a mosque. Imam showed us around and we were just able to ask him a bunch of questions. It was a really great experience!
Saturday we split up girls and boys. The girls had the kids and boys had practical work. It was the best kids ministry we had! We had most of it all translated into Afrikaans for the kids by one of our leaders and I feel like they really got what we were telling them. We sang a lot of songs and did a puppet show, then split them up to do crafts, face paint, obstacle course, games and songs. They are such loving children! I really miss them! After the games and everything we just played with them. I was holding one of the little girls and she just fell sound asleep in my arms! It was so precious! We were able to give them all lunch and icy pack and candy before we left. Saying good-bye was so sad. Some of the guys stayed back to work a little longer and said the kids were still singing the songs after we left! We left early Sunday morning and made it back at the base at 2:30! It was a really amazing week! We all really felt like God used us in amazing ways in Kimberly.
This coming Thursday night 5 other trainees and I are taking a bus to Durban for Christmas! We are so excited to get some beach time and experience a completely different culture in Africa! We will be staying with the Skinners who ran the MMT week so I am really excited to get to know them on a more personal level. They are an incredible family! It still doesnt feel like it should be Christmas with the hot African sun! Pretty sure the beach wont help but it will be a lot of fun! I will miss you all and I wish I could be ice skating and exchanging Campbell cousin gifts but I know I am in the right place!
After training I will be going to Doors of Hope in Johannesburg. They have installed a "hole in the wall" or "baby bin" in the wall of the Mission Church, where babies can be placed 24 hours a day. A sensor alerts the people in the house whenever a newcomer has arrived. They come to fetch the baby and will thereafter begin caring for him/her. However, not all babies come through the "door of hope". Sometimes the police bring them, a desperate mother will hand over her baby personally, or hospitals phone us to pick up little ones whose mothers have disappeared after the delivery and leave their babies behind. If the mother is available to counsel with, they then take her through (if she agrees) to the Commissioner of Child Welfare in order that she can sign the baby over for adoption. This cuts down on the time the baby has to spend with us before going for adoption. Within the first few weeks we get the inoculations up to date and by two months of age an adoption, medical, and blood tests for HIV, Syphilis, and Hepatitis B. Once all these are in place the baby can be available for a family and the matching begins!! By June 2007 they had helped over 560 babies about 50 of whom came through the hole in the wall, and almost 200 have gone for adoption. The children we care for vary in age, size, and health. Each child is an individual and each child needs unconditional love. I will most likely be working with all the age ranges. I am so excited for this amazing experience and to give these babies love!
Thank you all so much for your prayers on this past week! We really could feel them! Love you and miss you! Merry Christmas!!!!!
Awww....I sure love you, Kenzie!
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