To say this month and season of life has been a blessing is an understatement. I’lI start by saying we’ve been living off the grid which has been beautiful to fully press into community and exactly where God has us with little to no distractions. I’ve enjoyed living with our entire squad and the events that have occurred in this time!
This month we are primarily focused on kid’s ministry. We have done a few house visits here and there but we are essentially there for the kids. We are working as a team during ministry hours, which are
9:30-3:30 alongside half of team Othe (one of the boys teams). We are working with Jackson, Sam, and Marvin and I love having them as an addition to team NAYA! A typical day at ministry looks like leaving at 9:30, dropping team Abide off at their care point, driving to ours and either house visits or weeding out the kids play area. Some of us use shovels to clear the land at our care point and others help the
“go go” (cook/ grandma of the carepoint) make the meal for the kids. Then we eat lunch around 12 before hanging our with our “Shepard” (leader) and some older kids that are usually there! The little kids finally arrive around 2 and we get to pour into them, serve their food, and play until we leave around 3:30. I personally have a little group that always gives notes and hugs right as they arrive… its so cute, a few of the kids have claimed each person on our team! As for the house visit days, we go before the kids arrive and I’ve truly found a new love for those this country! Most of them have heard the name of Jesus and have a relationship but we’ve been able to pour into them and bring encouragement… we also bring food so we say “we are bringing food for their bodies and their soul”. I’ve found kids ministry isn’t exactly my favorite… as I thought it would be, pre-race, but they do have a place in my heart and I am not looking forward to leaving them in just a few days here! Needless to say, ministry has been so sweet here and I’ve enjoyed getting to start our time off in Africa living with our whole squad, pouring into kids and the community, and getting to emerge ourselves into their culture day after day.
We also had PVT (parent vision trip) recently which was what we called “2 worlds colliding”! We’ve been fully living in the world of travel, community, friends and out of a backpack, so to have our parents join for a week was so fun. They got to emerge themselves in the culture of Africa and get a small glimpse of our life for the past 7 months. It was a beautiful week of worship, growth and fun memories!
What a blessing that week was and I’m so grateful for those experiences! Side note: I saw a giraffe super close and that was one of my favorite moments of the race!
I will say I’m a little sad we didn’t get to do any hiking in these beautiful mountains that we are surrounded by, but the views are like no other here. Some of the house visits that we did, their daily view is like a dream. They see miles upon miles of God’s glorious creation and mountains but they laugh when we are in awe because they are used to seeing it daily and growing up here.
Anyways, we leave on Friday for South Africa. My team is located in Jeffery Bay, South Africa. I don’t know our ministry yet but I’m excited to see what this month has in store for us.
