Greetings to our warmer family in Christ back in America!
Yeah, as you might have guessed, it’s pretty bitter down here! We’ve all been bundled up in coats, hats and mittens almost every hour of the day. One good thing is that I have never before appreciated indoor heading so much! There are many things to be thankful for here, and not only in the expected way of food and shelter. I’ve learned to appreciate the fact that I am surrounded by loving people who help me to grow closer to Christ and my schools try their hardest to see me succeed. At first like many others, I was intimidated by the thought of serving in Africa but now I can say I have truly fallen in love with the country. After our first day of relational evangelism, I for the first time got to play with local children and talk at length with some of the adults in Qwa Qwa. The children are absolutely enamored with us, simply for the fact that we want to love them and spend time with them.
I also made a wonderful relationship with an older woman who we spent the day with. Using an interpreter, we discussed her life, our lives in America and Jesus Christ. Most people in South Africa believe in God, but also worship ancestors. We shared our favorite bible stories and some verses on the topic with her and she really seemed to listen with interest. All of the groups came back with stories of the generous and welcoming people in the city. I cannot deny that I could not help falling in love with her! I wanted her to make me her granddaughter and upon announcing our departure, she ran up to me, gave me a warm hug and chattered away that I had to come back and she loved me so much.
I wish old people in America were that cool!! Seriously though, my heart is already busting with joy. I can’t WAIT to go back tomorrow and plant a life garden for her to remember us by. I hope you all are doing well.
Sala Hlatla!
-Ana Petillo
Monday, June 30, 2008
Day 2 from Christian Holmes
Friends, Parents, Concerned Adults… Lend me your eyes!!!
Hey everybody back home, it’s the end of our second day here in the big SA (that’s South Africa for all of you Western Hemisphere people) and we have gotten our first glance at native worship and the role of the church in poor communities.
My day began with a hot shower (yes, we have those) and a bit of time outside on the cabin deck where I observed a glorious sunrise with a great blanket of fog sprawled over the rolling hills as antelope and wild horses grazed the morning grass. I’ll tell you what, I have never seen such a glorious sunrise. I read a bit of Romans (chapter 3 for those who are wondering) and went down to breakfast with the rest of the boys after we took part in our normal morning shenanigans. We had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, sausage and this South African wheat dish that tasted like very bland Grits. My group of rough riding gringos and myself retreated back to the cabin where we did some more scripture reading before getting ready to go to church.
Now, the church service was definitely the high point of the day, it was unlike any kind of service I’ve ever experienced. It wasn’t like the Falls Church where everything is very proper and organized. I liked to call it disorganized grace because it was without a doubt the most powerful and meaningful service I’ve ever seen. It was simple, it was small, it was humble but it was powerful. These people sang their hearts out and we were blessed with a sermon from Neil who was the founder of Thrive Africa. The native worshipers were so receptive and open to us; they shook our hands, prayed with us, asked God to bless us and welcomed us into their humble church with open arms.
When we got back to base camp, we had lunch and went straight to more training and lessons. Tomorrow we’ll be taking our first plunge into the city of Qwa Qwa, which is where we’ll be ministering for the next few days. Let me just say this to all of you back home… I am nerrrrrrrrvoussss. I have no idea what to expect or how we’ll be accepted into the community but I am continuing to pray on this and I feel that the Lord will guide us through our challenges. Well, it’s getting late and the staff is kicking me out of the nice, warm lounge room. So, from all of us over hear in the big SA, (you know what that means) goodnight and good luck.
With much tomfoolery,
-Christian John Holmes… the Great
PS: hey Mom, I’m I have an application form to come back here next summer as a member of staff for 2 months... I think I’m gonna do it..
Hey everybody back home, it’s the end of our second day here in the big SA (that’s South Africa for all of you Western Hemisphere people) and we have gotten our first glance at native worship and the role of the church in poor communities.
My day began with a hot shower (yes, we have those) and a bit of time outside on the cabin deck where I observed a glorious sunrise with a great blanket of fog sprawled over the rolling hills as antelope and wild horses grazed the morning grass. I’ll tell you what, I have never seen such a glorious sunrise. I read a bit of Romans (chapter 3 for those who are wondering) and went down to breakfast with the rest of the boys after we took part in our normal morning shenanigans. We had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, sausage and this South African wheat dish that tasted like very bland Grits. My group of rough riding gringos and myself retreated back to the cabin where we did some more scripture reading before getting ready to go to church.
Now, the church service was definitely the high point of the day, it was unlike any kind of service I’ve ever experienced. It wasn’t like the Falls Church where everything is very proper and organized. I liked to call it disorganized grace because it was without a doubt the most powerful and meaningful service I’ve ever seen. It was simple, it was small, it was humble but it was powerful. These people sang their hearts out and we were blessed with a sermon from Neil who was the founder of Thrive Africa. The native worshipers were so receptive and open to us; they shook our hands, prayed with us, asked God to bless us and welcomed us into their humble church with open arms.
When we got back to base camp, we had lunch and went straight to more training and lessons. Tomorrow we’ll be taking our first plunge into the city of Qwa Qwa, which is where we’ll be ministering for the next few days. Let me just say this to all of you back home… I am nerrrrrrrrvoussss. I have no idea what to expect or how we’ll be accepted into the community but I am continuing to pray on this and I feel that the Lord will guide us through our challenges. Well, it’s getting late and the staff is kicking me out of the nice, warm lounge room. So, from all of us over hear in the big SA, (you know what that means) goodnight and good luck.
With much tomfoolery,
-Christian John Holmes… the Great
PS: hey Mom, I’m I have an application form to come back here next summer as a member of staff for 2 months... I think I’m gonna do it..
Saturday, June 28, 2008
First Day in a Beautiful Country
After my first night in South Africa, I woke up to see the flowing savanna and the towering mountains behind it. I still was in disbelief that I was actually in South Africa, a place full of wonders and experiences that I was waiting to see and encounter. We got to finally eat some very good food for breakfast. When I was walking down to breakfast, I was beginning to think that the food would turn out to be like normal camp food... How wrong I was! Later, we took a winding path up to the building called the "classroom". I started to finally learn what we might expect when we started meeting local families, telling them about ourselves and learning about their lifestyles. I also learned some of their language so that I could communicate a little. We then played many games that taught about team building and communication. Some of these team building games included a game where we had to get around four posts walking on wires and holding onto ropes. We beat the time that we expected to get! Today I got to read parts of the bible, write in my journal, and got to know everyone on the missions trip even better. Tonight I got to hang out with friends at the coffee house and watch card tricks. During the night, I was able to see the stars in the sky so much clearer than back in the city. I cannot wait tomorrow to visit the local church, and going on to talk to local families. I also cannot wait to get to know everyone on the trip better and I think that everything is going to be great on this once in a lifetime trip to South Africa!!
Matthew Adams
P.S. Christian says, "HI MOM"
Our first day at camp
Hey everyone!
Today was a great first day. After breakfast we hiked up part of the mountain for training about what we should expect for the upcoming week, like what the culture is, what to do and not do, and more details on what we will be doing while we're here. It was pretty intense, and we have a list of words in Sesotho we can learn! Very cool. After lunch, we did a low ropes course for more "team bonding" time. The course was amazingly fun, and we did get some "team bonding" of it. :-)
The countryside here is so beautiful! Words can't even describe how amazing it is. We can't wait to see what God will do through us while we're here. Bring it on!!! =D
Sala huntle!
Anna Milograno
Fun Fact: Deer bark. Who knew??
WE ARE HERE!!!
Dumelang (sesotho for Hello)!!!
After a 2 days of travel we are finally all here in Harrismith, South Africa! The trip was long (about 30 hours of travel) but good and we are a little jet lagged but so happy to be here and ready to serve the people of Thrive Africa. Today will be full of some ministry and cultural training time to prepare us to serve the South African people. We will be learning some of the language and meeting our interpreters and then head into Qua Qua to see the place we will be doing kids club and relational evangelism. I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are!..
Below are some ways that you can pray for us today..
- Please pray for our students and leaders- we are all a little jet lagged and need the Lord's strength and energy
- Pray for today and tomorrow as we get accustomed to a different culture
- pray that we will be an encouragement to Thrive and its staff and team members
- Pray that we will see God in ways we cannot even imagine
- Pray that God will open the hearts and minds of the kids we will be doing kids club with and the people we will be visiting in their homes as we do relational evangelism
We are so thankful for all of you! keep checking this blog- some of our students will be posting something later on tonight!
Kgotsong (Peace),
Stephanie and Team Africa
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