Ah. So here I am. Two months overdue. Apologies. Outreach has come to an end and so finally I have time and internet to update you all. Wow, where do I even start though? Sum outreach up in one word? Afraid I can’t – intense, amazing, stressful, incredible, redic-redonk, magical – none of them really do it justice by themselves. God’s certainly been moving in the last five weeks – both through me and in me and it’s been really cool to see. There’ve been times when I’ve wanted out, when I wanted nothing more than to be just shlocking back home and enjoying all the comforts that come with that but more often than not I’ve been able to really embrace the time here – making strong friendships within the team and enjoy seeing God work in the lives of the people we came in contact with.
Out of all the places we went I think Kimberley – a small city in Northern SA – was probably my favourite. We had a contact who set us up to work in lots of different schools and the kids and young people responded really well to everything we said. Much better than the prisoners and the OAP-home-inhabitants at least! It was here God really transformed my public speaking skills too – I used to stand there, hands and legs shaking like there’s no tomorrow but God just completely took me and gave me a confidence that could have only come from Him so that these days I even quite enjoy it! Sometimes. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not claiming to be a world-class speaker these days but it’s been really cool to see God working in my life when I thought I was only here to let Him work in others. Blessed to be a blessing or whatever it is!
My sleep-talking has continued in spectacular fashion – much to the amusement of all the lads, and the girls too when they are duly informed of proceedings later in the day. There was one particular moment – I awoke one morning to Andy and Janeal in hysterics and so naturally in my dozy state I was very confused and just a tad annoyed – how dare they be so raucous when some of us are still trying to sleep! I was just about to give them an ear-full when Andy explained my alarm had just gone off but instead of reaching over to turn it off, I’d instead rolled over in my sleep and and in a non-plus kind of was answered it... “Hello?” Ha – never before have I tried to answer my alarm! I didn’t even pick up the phone – must have been some kind of dream! The annoyance left and soon I was laughing as well... good times!
After Kimberley we headed to Rustenburg where we were supposed to rest for a couple of days before heading on up to Botswana. That was our plan at least – seems God had other ideas. We ended up staying two weeks, making day-trips to Pretoria to try and sort out all our visa issues. Turns out the World Cup has completely thrown the whole system off kilter and to cut a long story Sam and Andy – the two Nigerians on our team – weren’t given what they needed for us to get into Botswana. We decided that if they don’t go, none of us do so we all stayed in SA. Was rather frustrating at the time – we couldn’t work out what was going on ‘cause we’d covered the whole thing in prayer and everything – why wasn’t God opening the door? Anyhows, we found out just recently that it’s been declared dangerous for white people to be in Botswana currently – something to do with the instability. Praise the Lord – he was in control after all. Should’ve known!
So we ended up staying in Rustenburg two weeks – we did some ministry but mostly it was just a really good time of relaxation and rest after six intense weeks. We stayed on the YWAM base there which came complete with swimming pool – provided the perfect spot for some sun-loving despite being freezing cold! We were also over-shadowed by a mountain and so one morning Jess and I decided to arise before the sun, pack a picnic and head on an exciting adventure up the treacherous slopes. As you can see – Rustenburg was a welcome respite from what had come before.
Woman’s Day. 9th August. Have you ever heard of anything like it? There’s a whole day dedicated to celebrating women while the men don’t even get a mention. Oh well – life goes on.
It’s crazy. As I’m writing it’s September 9 – feels like summer just completely passed us by down here! I mean, the weather’s been nice enough and people’s Facebook photos of Shepton Mallet Showground have reminded me (with only a little jealousy) that it is in fact summer after all but there’s been none of the two months of doing absolutely nothing which have characterised every summer previous. Strange. Oh well – in a strange sense I’m more refreshed than ever and can’t wait to get stuck into some hard work (don’t worry –I’m sure that’ll change after a week or two) at uni!
After Rustenburg we headed down to East London to help the pioneering work that is being undertaken there – a new YWAM base is under construction! It was a good two weeks – during the first week we were joined by a team from Brighton – was surprisingly nice to relax with people who not only know the meaning of the word ‘banter’ but also entered into it with refreshing enthusiasm. Ha, no that’s not fair – South African’s do banter they just don’t have a word for it and they don’t say ‘Banterrrrrr...’ after every other sentence!
The cinema here costs about £3 – it’s crazy cool. Seen loads of films – including Inception, once it finally came out. I have to say I was impressed and confused but probably more the latter than the first. I think I need to watch it again. The best film I’ve seen has to be Toy Story 3, just for sheer comedy value. Top stuff.
Lecture phase was amazing – I grew a heck of a lot in my faith and as a person – but I would say I think I grew even more on outreach. It’s strange – that seems like the wrong way round but during outreach you really get the opportunity to put what you learnt into practice. There are days when all you want to do is go home and that really forces you to fully lean on God. He’s really drawn me deeper into Him, he’s increased my love for Him and He’s showing me what it really is to live life in Him. True life. What life is all about. And it’s been brilliant – I’m really enjoying life because He is giving me joy. It’s all a journey though and I know this is only the start. I’m well aware that it’s going to be a big culture shock coming back home and a bit of a faith-shock as well but I hope I can keep pushing into Him because that’s been the best decision I ever made and I hope I never forget what wonderful life can be found when we really seek him with all our hearts. Hmmm, really hope this doesn’t sound like I’m preaching – just trying to share a little of what I’ve experienced without sounding holier-than-thou. Trust me – I still have my struggles, I still have my troubles, I still have lots of rubbish going on but through all that I’ve found a peace and a security which sometimes seems close and sometimes rather distant but no matter how I’m feeling I hope I won’t lose hold of that when I come back home and settle into ‘normal life’ once again.
Home-time is just around the corner. In fact tomorrow morning I’m loading all my stuff into the back of a small hire-car and embarking on the eight hour journey to Cape Town. It seems so very, very long ago that I was arriving in that very same city – seeing proper shanty towns for the first time, climbing table mountain and staying with eight others in a far-too-small dorm. So very long ago and yet at the same time these six months have flown by and I can barely believe it’s time to leave already. This experience of the city should be a more pleasant one – Sandy and Jess are coming with and because of her contacts from a past job as a tour operator Sandy has managed to bag us luxury accommodation for only £5 more than the hostel. We’re going to stay one night, do some more exploring and then on Saturday they’re going to drive me to the airport to say our farewells. Now I know most of you back home only really want to hear about how excited I am to be back on home-turf and of course I am but naturally there’s a flip side as well. I’ve been with these guys for six months – we’ve laughed, cried (well they have), sang, danced and annoyed the living daylights out of each other throughout. Its going to be so strange going our separate ways. Leaving England was tough but at least I knew that in six months time I would be surrounded by all the friends and family I love so much. Right now I don’t know when, if ever, I’m going to see some of these guys, and that is really tough. But yeah – that’s just me right now – emotions seem to be going overboard but I guess that was always going to happen!
The last five and a half months have been some of the best of my life. Without a doubt. Anyone thinking about gap years or just taking some time out I would definitely recommend YWAM – six months just dedicated to searching after God is really never going to leave you disappointed. Trust me. This is it then. May write the occasional blog from here on in – but thanks for following this epic adventure. Keep it real.
X
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Chocolate Fudge Brownies, Mozza Rolls and Jason Gillespie
Hello! Sorry it's been a while again, internet isn't quite so available these days. It's exactly midday on Monday 20th July as I type but I'm writing on a friend's laptop and not entirely sure when I'll be able to put it up. Soon hopefully.
Something I didn't have time to mention in my last blog – the night of Sunday 4th July. So we were staying in a boarding school, we were the only ones there so I'm sure you can imagine at nights it can get pretty scary (for some, obvs I was fine); long dark corridors, windows rattling etc. Well this one particular night we were all having problems sleeping, and then, close to midnight (we are all normally in bed by half ten) the payphone, right at the end of the dark corridor, started to ring. We left it the first time but by the third time we couldn't ignore it any longer and so Sandrine and I ventured down to see what on earth was going on. We picked up the phone only to find a dead tone – no one was there. Weird. That didn't stop the phone from ringing though – it rang several times more and each time we picked up, no one was there. By this time Sandrine was thoroughly freaked out and so a prayer meeting was called in the early hours of the morning. We walked up and down those corridors and around the school just praying for peace and against this spirit of satan that was causing the phone to ring annoymously. Eventually – I think it was gone 1 – we decided we had prayed long enough, the phone had stopped ringing and the girls were generally feeling a little better. We headed to bed. Two days later I gave Beej a ring. “Mate, why didn't you ring me back the other night. I rang so many times!” were some of the first words he said. AH, GOSH. I couldn't believe it – so it was Beej who'd been the spirit of evil that we'd spent so long rebuking! Top stuff Benjamin.
So. We spent all of last week in Outdstroom; biggest town in South Africa apparently but still most definitely smaller than Bath. It's redic though – apparently there's over 300 churches! Crazy. How many churches are in Bath do you reckon? Can't be much more than a hundred surely? I couldn't believe it when the Pastor told us. Although he also said he could count the good ones on his fingers – that's the big problem; there's loads of churches not 'cause there's loads of Christians but because there's a few Christians all going their own way and disagreeing with each other. And there's a huge amount of religion in this place – everyone belongs to some church or other but for many of them it's about the one service a week and not about relationship with God. Speaking of the Pastor though, this guy was a serious lad. We arrived at his house last Sunday and still two hours after meeting him I was still wondering where on earth the Pastor was – I didn't think that the young banterful guy that we'd been introduced to was actually the Pastor who was due to host us! Turns out he wasn't that young – 38 – but he was still very youthful. When we first met him we were all sitting down in the living room and he came in and said with all seriousness, “Shall we pray” and none of us even questioned it but then he burst out laughing and said, “only joking” as if it was a rediculous idea that we should pray! Ha, I think you had to be there but still – I took an instant liking to this guy. Reminds me of that time I was in the Junior School, we were having assembly and Mr Stafford was talking about the arrangements for Sport's Day. He rounded it up by saying in an off-hand kind of way, “Now all we need to do is pray for good weather...” at which point the whole auditorium bowed forwards, as one used to do when saying prayers at the Junior School. He didn't mean it literally poor guy! Unfortunately I think you had to be there to really appreciate that one too – hopefully some of you were but if not my most profuse apologies!
Outdstroom as a town is okay, take it or leave it, but I did really fall in love with the township in which we were actually staying and in fact spent most of our time. Everyone was just so friendly (I think it's potentially 'cause I'm white but still) – I often enjoyed just taking a stroll along the streets, meeting kids playing their games and smiling at the mums as they looked on from their homes. I took a liking to one particular group of kids that I met on one of our door-to-door sessions. I started talking to a couple of young guys and soon we were joined by about ten of them, all interested in what we were doing. It soon materialised that by far their favourite past-time (maybe bar football) was dancing and they were all keen to show me their Michael Jackson moves! It's almost unbelieveable – ask any kid out here to dance and they will immediately imitate MJ, normally quite well too. How do they even know what they're doing though – these kids all live in tiny houses, no internet and often without a TV, how on earth have they even ever heard of Michael Jackson, let alone know exactly how he used to dance?! Baffling. It was soon my turn to show them some moves from the Northern Hemisphere though and, lacking any other inspiration, I plumped for the Macarina – always a safe bet! This was anything but safe though, the kids were all over it – carnage - they just couldn't get enough and didn't seem to even consider that us old folk just don't have the energy to keep going forever! Even as we were dancing more kids came up and joined us and people smiled as they walked past – must've been quite a sight, just dancing on the street in what was a previously relatively peaceful little street. Those kids were great though – those ten soon became my favourites and if I had time off in the afternoon I would slip out of the house by myself (standard rule is that you're supposed to roam in pairs) and head down-town to meet up with them. There'd always be at least one just chilling on the street and as soon as we met up the rest would not be long in coming, all pleading for more of my dance moves! On Friday we ran a children's meeting and all of my new-found friends were only too-keen to come! It was brilliant – we had about forty kids there, twice the amount we were expecting so we had to cancel one of the games we'd planned for the smaller group! We did one of our “funny” dramas which the kids all loved and then I just explained it and gave a short, simple message. Really good meeting. The next day I went back to the kids to say goodbye (They didn't seem to grasp the whole concept fully – “when will you be coming back?!”) and we were just chatting when one of them said something about our drama yesterday and before I knew what was happening they were all fighting over what part they wanted to play. There we were, on the street, spontaneously acting out the drama we'd done the previous day, me playing my part and all of the kids filling in the other roles! Was such a priceless moment – just wish I could have it on camera. I think you get the picture though – these kids were cool. Enough said.
So, I was on one of my strolls around the community, and I must have looked slightly confused because one lady called out, “Are you lost?” We got talking and when she found out I was from England a smile passed over her face and she exclaimed, “Ooo, I know someone who's in Germany!” Ha, what do you say to that?! “How wonderful, same continent!” It was cute though. I carried on walking but it wasn't long before a group of people, adults and teens, shouted from outside their house, “Oi MJ!”, “Yeah Michael Jackson, how's it?” Not entirely sure but I think it was 'cause of my slightly MJ-resembembling hat. I smiled and carried on walking but then decided to stop, hold the rim of my hat, tilt it down and thrust my waist a couple of times, like all the kids round here like to do! Got the best reaction ever - “Wooooo, we like the way you move!” I smiled again then turned and carried on walking. For a split second I actually thought I was just a little bit cool. Didn't last long though! Love that about this place – I could never get away with doing anything like that back home! Simple pleasures. Something else that you just never get back home – spontanes worship times. They're the best – we were just all chilling in the living room the other day and before I knew it someone had grabbed the guitar and people were dancing and singing and just altogether making one joyous noise. Sweet times.
I was walking (again!) the other day but I hadn't gone very far before I rounded a corner to be greeted by five girls, two of which shouted “Matttt!” and ran up to me for a hug! 'Awww' I thought, it taking me a couple of moments to realise that I actually did recognise these kids – think I'd chatted to them the other day. It's so lovely how kids express emotions so freely though – felt way more appreciated by all of them than I ever do by the rest of my team, which may be because that is in fact the case, or it may just be because us adults don't like to show our emotions quite so readily. Not really cool is it.
Friday evening was insanely cool though – we had a youth meeting which a whole host of people came to and during the response time at the end about ten people seemed to genuinely give their life to the Lord, or at least make a recommitment. Was so exciting – the atmosphere was incredible and we were all just singing and dancing. I've always internally-rubbished it when people say the biggest miracle they've ever seen is someone give their life to the Lord – I've always taken it to mean that they've never actually seen a “proper” miracle but now I know what they mean – it's genuinely awesome. Like with the lady who was healed a couple of weeks back, the healing was exciting but her recommiting her life to God as a result was even better in a way! At the end of this meeting we were all taking loads of photos and this girl who I'd said hello to earlier came and put her arm round me, intending for Sam to take a photo of us but he, quite oblivious to us, was looking through his photos. She refused to let go however, so were just standing there like lemons, arms round each other, waiting for someone to notice and take a photo of us so I could escape! Awkward turtle.
So last week we got back to the house we're staying at one evening and I was just chilling in the living room when the lady of the house came in , clearly a little frustrated and said in a stern voice, “Matthew, pick up that toy!” Now I was slightly taken aback considering I hadn't long been introduced to this lady (I was surprised that she even remembered my name!) and yet here she was bossing me around the house! I assumed it must be a cultural thing and sheepishly bent town to pick up the toy in question before realising that just behind my left shoulder sat her 10 year old boy who also goes by the name Matthew! Ahhh. All made sense!
Sunday saw us take a 8 hour minibus ride across the South African outback. The roads were amazing – completely straight for as far as the eye could see with barren waste-land either side, never seen anything like it. Huge expanses of land that don't seem to have been trodden on for decades. Was cool though, felt like we were on some mass road-trip. Which I guess we kinda are.
Okay. Timecheck? 7:11pm Wednesday 21st December. Just going to keep writing this one til I find internet. We're in Kimberely now for two weeks – a city (famous for diamond mining apparently!) in northern South Africa. This place has impressively large shopping centres – allowed me to go bible shopping the other day. Found the nicest bible ever, leather bound and all, 40 pounds down to 15. Bargain! Took it to the till and they only charged me 9 for it! Isn't that just the best feeling ever? Thought as much.
I know what you're thinking... 'Don't you have anything more interesting to talk about than bible-shopping?' Aha, glad you asked, in fact I do! The place we're staying in this week is self-catering, giving us all a chance to demonstrate our wonderful culinary abilities. Jess and I were in charge of preparing supper yesterday – macaroni cheese. Simple enough. Or so you'd think but somehow we both managed to screw things up big-time. I don't know what it is with me and kitchens but I seem to jynx every one that I step foot into. I just seem incapable of making a good meal. It's all a learning curve though, isn't it?! I think our most costly error involved the addition of the cornflour to the sauce. I'm told cornflour is used to thicken and so I kept adding until the sauce got thick. Fair enough, right? Next thing I knew I was scraping the bottom of the box and the sauce still wasn't thick! And then we didn't even think to taste the sauce before pouring it all over the macaroni. Error. Big error. We didn't give up on it though – we laid on hands and said a quick prayer before going to put it in the oven only to find the oven wasn't in fully functioning order. Not functioning at all in fact. We thought it could be a blessing in disguise though – we'd have to cancel supper, blame it on the oven and no one would ever know that the food was actually inedible anyway! It was the perfect plan until Raymond (now our leader) told us to just whack it all in a pan and put it on the hob instead. Nooo. We did what he said but after rinsing it through with milk and then water and still having it taste like pure gloopy cornflour, we decided to call it a day, raising our hands in defeat. Everyone was like “Don't worry guys, you tried your best...” which really only made things worse – felt bad tipping a whole tray's worth (and this is no ordinarily-sized tray!) in the bin. Oh well, we ordered pizza in the end which quite frankly tasted better than any macaroni ever could. All's well that ends well.
Today we went to two high schools – our first visit to schools since they've only just gone back after the holidays so none of us really knew what to expect. Reminded me quite a bit of Monkton actually – these were posh school with team-photos lining the corridors and green blazers being sported by all. Their cricket pitch – which consisted of a few tufts of straw-like grass – couldn't really compare to Longmead though. I was due to share a message at the first school's assembly (you have no idea how much I was wetting myself at the prospect of talking for 15 minutes to about 600 boys and girls not much younger than me. I actually felt physically sick beforehand and wasn't entirely sure whether it was just 'cause of the nerves of whether I was actually ill. Not going to lie – I was hoping with all of my heart it was the latter!) – but when we got there we found someone else setting up their projector in the hall! What a shame, we'd been double-booked! Thought we'd have to just go back home but then an opportunity arose to speak to the CU – a group of about twenty 16-17 year olds. Much more manageable, the only problem being I had a prepared a message aimed at non-Christians. Raymond told me to just change my message. What?! It's enough of a challenge for me to prepare and share, but attempting to change my message 25 minutes beforehand! I prayed and yet again God just took over – he laid on my heart another message to share, he calmed my nerves and when it came to doing the actual sharing God just came through in a way I hadn't even hoped! All the kids were engaged and attentive and they laughed at all the right moments which always helps. I shared with confidence I didn't know I had! PTL! I think I definitely prefer the smaller, class-room type of situation where you can interact with the guys a little more than just standing and preaching to a big audience. Safe. The guys there were all really cool as well – got chatting to about seven of the lads outside afterwards. In a way I want to stay here and disciple them properly. It takes time but discipleship is way more important than any preaching ever will be. I've just got to trust that I've planted a seed and that someone else is going to come along and water it. I was getting discouraged about that when we first came on outreach actually – I was thinking that we don't stay long enough in any one place to properly make an impact – but then I read something in 1 Corinthians were Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth”. Both are needed – people who plant seeds and people who water them – and I just need to rest assured that this season of my life is one where I'm planting seeds in people's lives. I need to trust that other people are going to come behind and water that seed but most of all I need to trust and pray that God's going to give the growth because ultimately it's him that does the work. Amen!
Something I didn't have time to mention in my last blog – the night of Sunday 4th July. So we were staying in a boarding school, we were the only ones there so I'm sure you can imagine at nights it can get pretty scary (for some, obvs I was fine); long dark corridors, windows rattling etc. Well this one particular night we were all having problems sleeping, and then, close to midnight (we are all normally in bed by half ten) the payphone, right at the end of the dark corridor, started to ring. We left it the first time but by the third time we couldn't ignore it any longer and so Sandrine and I ventured down to see what on earth was going on. We picked up the phone only to find a dead tone – no one was there. Weird. That didn't stop the phone from ringing though – it rang several times more and each time we picked up, no one was there. By this time Sandrine was thoroughly freaked out and so a prayer meeting was called in the early hours of the morning. We walked up and down those corridors and around the school just praying for peace and against this spirit of satan that was causing the phone to ring annoymously. Eventually – I think it was gone 1 – we decided we had prayed long enough, the phone had stopped ringing and the girls were generally feeling a little better. We headed to bed. Two days later I gave Beej a ring. “Mate, why didn't you ring me back the other night. I rang so many times!” were some of the first words he said. AH, GOSH. I couldn't believe it – so it was Beej who'd been the spirit of evil that we'd spent so long rebuking! Top stuff Benjamin.
So. We spent all of last week in Outdstroom; biggest town in South Africa apparently but still most definitely smaller than Bath. It's redic though – apparently there's over 300 churches! Crazy. How many churches are in Bath do you reckon? Can't be much more than a hundred surely? I couldn't believe it when the Pastor told us. Although he also said he could count the good ones on his fingers – that's the big problem; there's loads of churches not 'cause there's loads of Christians but because there's a few Christians all going their own way and disagreeing with each other. And there's a huge amount of religion in this place – everyone belongs to some church or other but for many of them it's about the one service a week and not about relationship with God. Speaking of the Pastor though, this guy was a serious lad. We arrived at his house last Sunday and still two hours after meeting him I was still wondering where on earth the Pastor was – I didn't think that the young banterful guy that we'd been introduced to was actually the Pastor who was due to host us! Turns out he wasn't that young – 38 – but he was still very youthful. When we first met him we were all sitting down in the living room and he came in and said with all seriousness, “Shall we pray” and none of us even questioned it but then he burst out laughing and said, “only joking” as if it was a rediculous idea that we should pray! Ha, I think you had to be there but still – I took an instant liking to this guy. Reminds me of that time I was in the Junior School, we were having assembly and Mr Stafford was talking about the arrangements for Sport's Day. He rounded it up by saying in an off-hand kind of way, “Now all we need to do is pray for good weather...” at which point the whole auditorium bowed forwards, as one used to do when saying prayers at the Junior School. He didn't mean it literally poor guy! Unfortunately I think you had to be there to really appreciate that one too – hopefully some of you were but if not my most profuse apologies!
Outdstroom as a town is okay, take it or leave it, but I did really fall in love with the township in which we were actually staying and in fact spent most of our time. Everyone was just so friendly (I think it's potentially 'cause I'm white but still) – I often enjoyed just taking a stroll along the streets, meeting kids playing their games and smiling at the mums as they looked on from their homes. I took a liking to one particular group of kids that I met on one of our door-to-door sessions. I started talking to a couple of young guys and soon we were joined by about ten of them, all interested in what we were doing. It soon materialised that by far their favourite past-time (maybe bar football) was dancing and they were all keen to show me their Michael Jackson moves! It's almost unbelieveable – ask any kid out here to dance and they will immediately imitate MJ, normally quite well too. How do they even know what they're doing though – these kids all live in tiny houses, no internet and often without a TV, how on earth have they even ever heard of Michael Jackson, let alone know exactly how he used to dance?! Baffling. It was soon my turn to show them some moves from the Northern Hemisphere though and, lacking any other inspiration, I plumped for the Macarina – always a safe bet! This was anything but safe though, the kids were all over it – carnage - they just couldn't get enough and didn't seem to even consider that us old folk just don't have the energy to keep going forever! Even as we were dancing more kids came up and joined us and people smiled as they walked past – must've been quite a sight, just dancing on the street in what was a previously relatively peaceful little street. Those kids were great though – those ten soon became my favourites and if I had time off in the afternoon I would slip out of the house by myself (standard rule is that you're supposed to roam in pairs) and head down-town to meet up with them. There'd always be at least one just chilling on the street and as soon as we met up the rest would not be long in coming, all pleading for more of my dance moves! On Friday we ran a children's meeting and all of my new-found friends were only too-keen to come! It was brilliant – we had about forty kids there, twice the amount we were expecting so we had to cancel one of the games we'd planned for the smaller group! We did one of our “funny” dramas which the kids all loved and then I just explained it and gave a short, simple message. Really good meeting. The next day I went back to the kids to say goodbye (They didn't seem to grasp the whole concept fully – “when will you be coming back?!”) and we were just chatting when one of them said something about our drama yesterday and before I knew what was happening they were all fighting over what part they wanted to play. There we were, on the street, spontaneously acting out the drama we'd done the previous day, me playing my part and all of the kids filling in the other roles! Was such a priceless moment – just wish I could have it on camera. I think you get the picture though – these kids were cool. Enough said.
So, I was on one of my strolls around the community, and I must have looked slightly confused because one lady called out, “Are you lost?” We got talking and when she found out I was from England a smile passed over her face and she exclaimed, “Ooo, I know someone who's in Germany!” Ha, what do you say to that?! “How wonderful, same continent!” It was cute though. I carried on walking but it wasn't long before a group of people, adults and teens, shouted from outside their house, “Oi MJ!”, “Yeah Michael Jackson, how's it?” Not entirely sure but I think it was 'cause of my slightly MJ-resembembling hat. I smiled and carried on walking but then decided to stop, hold the rim of my hat, tilt it down and thrust my waist a couple of times, like all the kids round here like to do! Got the best reaction ever - “Wooooo, we like the way you move!” I smiled again then turned and carried on walking. For a split second I actually thought I was just a little bit cool. Didn't last long though! Love that about this place – I could never get away with doing anything like that back home! Simple pleasures. Something else that you just never get back home – spontanes worship times. They're the best – we were just all chilling in the living room the other day and before I knew it someone had grabbed the guitar and people were dancing and singing and just altogether making one joyous noise. Sweet times.
I was walking (again!) the other day but I hadn't gone very far before I rounded a corner to be greeted by five girls, two of which shouted “Matttt!” and ran up to me for a hug! 'Awww' I thought, it taking me a couple of moments to realise that I actually did recognise these kids – think I'd chatted to them the other day. It's so lovely how kids express emotions so freely though – felt way more appreciated by all of them than I ever do by the rest of my team, which may be because that is in fact the case, or it may just be because us adults don't like to show our emotions quite so readily. Not really cool is it.
Friday evening was insanely cool though – we had a youth meeting which a whole host of people came to and during the response time at the end about ten people seemed to genuinely give their life to the Lord, or at least make a recommitment. Was so exciting – the atmosphere was incredible and we were all just singing and dancing. I've always internally-rubbished it when people say the biggest miracle they've ever seen is someone give their life to the Lord – I've always taken it to mean that they've never actually seen a “proper” miracle but now I know what they mean – it's genuinely awesome. Like with the lady who was healed a couple of weeks back, the healing was exciting but her recommiting her life to God as a result was even better in a way! At the end of this meeting we were all taking loads of photos and this girl who I'd said hello to earlier came and put her arm round me, intending for Sam to take a photo of us but he, quite oblivious to us, was looking through his photos. She refused to let go however, so were just standing there like lemons, arms round each other, waiting for someone to notice and take a photo of us so I could escape! Awkward turtle.
So last week we got back to the house we're staying at one evening and I was just chilling in the living room when the lady of the house came in , clearly a little frustrated and said in a stern voice, “Matthew, pick up that toy!” Now I was slightly taken aback considering I hadn't long been introduced to this lady (I was surprised that she even remembered my name!) and yet here she was bossing me around the house! I assumed it must be a cultural thing and sheepishly bent town to pick up the toy in question before realising that just behind my left shoulder sat her 10 year old boy who also goes by the name Matthew! Ahhh. All made sense!
Sunday saw us take a 8 hour minibus ride across the South African outback. The roads were amazing – completely straight for as far as the eye could see with barren waste-land either side, never seen anything like it. Huge expanses of land that don't seem to have been trodden on for decades. Was cool though, felt like we were on some mass road-trip. Which I guess we kinda are.
Okay. Timecheck? 7:11pm Wednesday 21st December. Just going to keep writing this one til I find internet. We're in Kimberely now for two weeks – a city (famous for diamond mining apparently!) in northern South Africa. This place has impressively large shopping centres – allowed me to go bible shopping the other day. Found the nicest bible ever, leather bound and all, 40 pounds down to 15. Bargain! Took it to the till and they only charged me 9 for it! Isn't that just the best feeling ever? Thought as much.
I know what you're thinking... 'Don't you have anything more interesting to talk about than bible-shopping?' Aha, glad you asked, in fact I do! The place we're staying in this week is self-catering, giving us all a chance to demonstrate our wonderful culinary abilities. Jess and I were in charge of preparing supper yesterday – macaroni cheese. Simple enough. Or so you'd think but somehow we both managed to screw things up big-time. I don't know what it is with me and kitchens but I seem to jynx every one that I step foot into. I just seem incapable of making a good meal. It's all a learning curve though, isn't it?! I think our most costly error involved the addition of the cornflour to the sauce. I'm told cornflour is used to thicken and so I kept adding until the sauce got thick. Fair enough, right? Next thing I knew I was scraping the bottom of the box and the sauce still wasn't thick! And then we didn't even think to taste the sauce before pouring it all over the macaroni. Error. Big error. We didn't give up on it though – we laid on hands and said a quick prayer before going to put it in the oven only to find the oven wasn't in fully functioning order. Not functioning at all in fact. We thought it could be a blessing in disguise though – we'd have to cancel supper, blame it on the oven and no one would ever know that the food was actually inedible anyway! It was the perfect plan until Raymond (now our leader) told us to just whack it all in a pan and put it on the hob instead. Nooo. We did what he said but after rinsing it through with milk and then water and still having it taste like pure gloopy cornflour, we decided to call it a day, raising our hands in defeat. Everyone was like “Don't worry guys, you tried your best...” which really only made things worse – felt bad tipping a whole tray's worth (and this is no ordinarily-sized tray!) in the bin. Oh well, we ordered pizza in the end which quite frankly tasted better than any macaroni ever could. All's well that ends well.
Today we went to two high schools – our first visit to schools since they've only just gone back after the holidays so none of us really knew what to expect. Reminded me quite a bit of Monkton actually – these were posh school with team-photos lining the corridors and green blazers being sported by all. Their cricket pitch – which consisted of a few tufts of straw-like grass – couldn't really compare to Longmead though. I was due to share a message at the first school's assembly (you have no idea how much I was wetting myself at the prospect of talking for 15 minutes to about 600 boys and girls not much younger than me. I actually felt physically sick beforehand and wasn't entirely sure whether it was just 'cause of the nerves of whether I was actually ill. Not going to lie – I was hoping with all of my heart it was the latter!) – but when we got there we found someone else setting up their projector in the hall! What a shame, we'd been double-booked! Thought we'd have to just go back home but then an opportunity arose to speak to the CU – a group of about twenty 16-17 year olds. Much more manageable, the only problem being I had a prepared a message aimed at non-Christians. Raymond told me to just change my message. What?! It's enough of a challenge for me to prepare and share, but attempting to change my message 25 minutes beforehand! I prayed and yet again God just took over – he laid on my heart another message to share, he calmed my nerves and when it came to doing the actual sharing God just came through in a way I hadn't even hoped! All the kids were engaged and attentive and they laughed at all the right moments which always helps. I shared with confidence I didn't know I had! PTL! I think I definitely prefer the smaller, class-room type of situation where you can interact with the guys a little more than just standing and preaching to a big audience. Safe. The guys there were all really cool as well – got chatting to about seven of the lads outside afterwards. In a way I want to stay here and disciple them properly. It takes time but discipleship is way more important than any preaching ever will be. I've just got to trust that I've planted a seed and that someone else is going to come along and water it. I was getting discouraged about that when we first came on outreach actually – I was thinking that we don't stay long enough in any one place to properly make an impact – but then I read something in 1 Corinthians were Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth”. Both are needed – people who plant seeds and people who water them – and I just need to rest assured that this season of my life is one where I'm planting seeds in people's lives. I need to trust that other people are going to come behind and water that seed but most of all I need to trust and pray that God's going to give the growth because ultimately it's him that does the work. Amen!
Chocolate Fudge Brownies, Mozza Rolls and Jason Gillespie
Hello! Sorry it's been a while again, internet isn't quite so available these days. It's exactly midday on Monday 20th July as I type but I'm writing on a friend's laptop and not entirely sure when I'll be able to put it up. Soon hopefully.
Something I didn't have time to mention in my last blog – the night of Sunday 4th July. So we were staying in a boarding school, we were the only ones there so I'm sure you can imagine at nights it can get pretty scary (for some, obvs I was fine); long dark corridors, windows rattling etc. Well this one particular night we were all having problems sleeping, and then, close to midnight (we are all normally in bed by half ten) the payphone, right at the end of the dark corridor, started to ring. We left it the first time but by the third time we couldn't ignore it any longer and so Sandrine and I ventured down to see what on earth was going on. We picked up the phone only to find a dead tone – no one was there. Weird. That didn't stop the phone from ringing though – it rang several times more and each time we picked up, no one was there. By this time Sandrine was thoroughly freaked out and so a prayer meeting was called in the early hours of the morning. We walked up and down those corridors and around the school just praying for peace and against this spirit of Satan that was causing the phone to ring anonymously. Eventually – I think it was gone 1 – we decided we had prayed long enough, the phone had stopped ringing and the girls were generally feeling a little better. We headed to bed. Two days later I gave Beej a ring. “Mate, why didn't you ring me back the other night. I rang so many times!” were some of the first words he said. AH, GOSH. I couldn't believe it – so it was Beej who'd been the spirit of evil that we'd spent so long rebuking! Top stuff Benjamin.
So. We spent all of last week in Outdstroom; biggest town in South Africa apparently but still most definitely smaller than Bath. It's redic though – apparently there's over 300 churches! Crazy. How many churches are in Bath do you reckon? Can't be much more than a hundred surely? I couldn't believe it when the Pastor told us. Although he also said he could count the good ones on his fingers – that's the big problem; there's loads of churches not 'cause there's loads of Christians but because there's a few Christians all going their own way and disagreeing with each other. And there's a huge amount of religion in this place – everyone belongs to some church or other but for many of them it's about the one service a week and not about relationship with God. Speaking of the Pastor though, this guy was a serious lad. We arrived at his house last Sunday and still two hours after meeting him I was still wondering where on earth the Pastor was – I didn't think that the young banterful guy that we'd been introduced to was actually the Pastor who was due to host us! Turns out he wasn't that young – 38 – but he was still very youthful. When we first met him we were all sitting down in the living room and he came in and said with all seriousness, “Shall we pray” and none of us even questioned it but then he burst out laughing and said, “only joking” as if it was a rediculous idea that we should pray! Ha, I think you had to be there but still – I took an instant liking to this guy. Reminds me of that time I was in the Junior School, we were having assembly and Mr Stafford was talking about the arrangements for Sport's Day. He rounded it up by saying in an off-hand kind of way, “Now all we need to do is pray for good weather...” at which point the whole auditorium bowed forwards, as one used to do when saying prayers at the Junior School. He didn't mean it literally poor guy! Unfortunately I think you had to be there to really appreciate that one too – hopefully some of you were but if not my most profuse apologies!
Outdstroom as a town is okay, take it or leave it, but I did really fall in love with the township in which we were actually staying and in fact spent most of our time. Everyone was just so friendly (I think it's potentially 'cause I'm white but still) – I often enjoyed just taking a stroll along the streets, meeting kids playing their games and smiling at the mums as they looked on from their homes. I took a liking to one particular group of kids that I met on one of our door-to-door sessions. I started talking to a couple of young guys and soon we were joined by about ten of them, all interested in what we were doing. It soon materialised that by far their favourite past-time (maybe bar football) was dancing and they were all keen to show me their Michael Jackson moves! It's almost unbelieveable – ask any kid out here to dance and they will immediately imitate MJ, normally quite well too. How do they even know what they're doing though – these kids all live in tiny houses, no internet and often without a TV, how on earth have they even ever heard of Michael Jackson, let alone know exactly how he used to dance?! Baffling. It was soon my turn to show them some moves from the Northern Hemisphere though and, lacking any other inspiration, I plumped for the Macarina – always a safe bet! This was anything but safe though, the kids were all over it – carnage - they just couldn't get enough and didn't seem to even consider that us old folk just don't have the energy to keep going forever! Even as we were dancing more kids came up and joined us and people smiled as they walked past – must've been quite a sight, just dancing on the street in what was a previously relatively peaceful little street. Those kids were great though – those ten soon became my favourites and if I had time off in the afternoon I would slip out of the house by myself (standard rule is that you're supposed to roam in pairs) and head down-town to meet up with them. There'd always be at least one just chilling on the street and as soon as we met up the rest would not be long in coming, all pleading for more of my dance moves! On Friday we ran a children's meeting and all of my new-found friends were only too-keen to come! It was brilliant – we had about forty kids there, twice the amount we were expecting so we had to cancel one of the games we'd planned for the smaller group! We did one of our “funny” dramas which the kids all loved and then I just explained it and gave a short, simple message. Really good meeting. The next day I went back to the kids to say goodbye (They didn't seem to grasp the whole concept fully – “when will you be coming back?!”) and we were just chatting when one of them said something about our drama yesterday and before I knew what was happening they were all fighting over what part they wanted to play. There we were, on the street, spontaneously acting out the drama we'd done the previous day, me playing my part and all of the kids filling in the other roles! Was such a priceless moment – just wish I could have it on camera. I think you get the picture though – these kids were cool. Enough said.
So, I was on one of my strolls around the community, and I must have looked slightly confused because one lady called out, “Are you lost?” We got talking and when she found out I was from England a smile passed over her face and she exclaimed, “Ooo, I know someone who's in Germany!” Ha, what do you say to that?! “How wonderful, same continent!” It was cute though. I carried on walking but it wasn't long before a group of people, adults and teens, shouted from outside their house, “Oi MJ!”, “Yeah Michael Jackson, how's it?” Not entirely sure but I think it was 'cause of my slightly MJ-resembembling hat. I smiled and carried on walking but then decided to stop, hold the rim of my hat, tilt it down and thrust my waist a couple of times, like all the kids round here like to do! Got the best reaction ever - “Wooooo, we like the way you move!” I smiled again then turned and carried on walking. For a split second I actually thought I was just a little bit cool. Didn't last long though! Love that about this place – I could never get away with doing anything like that back home! Simple pleasures. Something else that you just never get back home – spontanes worship times. They're the best – we were just all chilling in the living room the other day and before I knew it someone had grabbed the guitar and people were dancing and singing and just altogether making one joyous noise. Sweet times.
I was walking (again!) the other day but I hadn't gone very far before I rounded a corner to be greeted by five girls, two of which shouted “Matttt!” and ran up to me for a hug! 'Awww' I thought, it taking me a couple of moments to realise that I actually did recognise these kids – think I'd chatted to them the other day. It's so lovely how kids express emotions so freely though – felt way more appreciated by all of them than I ever do by the rest of my team, which may be because that is in fact the case, or it may just be because us adults don't like to show our emotions quite so readily. Not really cool is it.
Friday evening was insanely cool though – we had a youth meeting which a whole host of people came to and during the response time at the end about ten people seemed to genuinely give their life to the Lord, or at least make a recommitment. Was so exciting – the atmosphere was incredible and we were all just singing and dancing. I've always internally-rubbished it when people say the biggest miracle they've ever seen is someone give their life to the Lord – I've always taken it to mean that they've never actually seen a “proper” miracle but now I know what they mean – it's genuinely awesome. Like with the lady who was healed a couple of weeks back, the healing was exciting but her recommiting her life to God as a result was even better in a way! At the end of this meeting we were all taking loads of photos and this girl who I'd said hello to earlier came and put her arm round me, intending for Sam to take a photo of us but he, quite oblivious to us, was looking through his photos. She refused to let go however, so were just standing there like lemons, arms round each other, waiting for someone to notice and take a photo of us so I could escape! Awkward turtle.
So last week we got back to the house we're staying at one evening and I was just chilling in the living room when the lady of the house came in , clearly a little frustrated and said in a stern voice, “Matthew, pick up that toy!” Now I was slightly taken aback considering I hadn't long been introduced to this lady (I was surprised that she even remembered my name!) and yet here she was bossing me around the house! I assumed it must be a cultural thing and sheepishly bent town to pick up the toy in question before realising that just behind my left shoulder sat her 10 year old boy who also goes by the name Matthew! Ahhh. All made sense!
Sunday saw us take a 8 hour minibus ride across the South African outback. The roads were amazing – completely straight for as far as the eye could see with barren waste-land either side, never seen anything like it. Huge expanses of land that don't seem to have been trodden on for decades. Was cool though, felt like we were on some mass road-trip. Which I guess we kinda are.
Okay. Timecheck? 7:11pm Wednesday 21st December. Just going to keep writing this one til I find internet. We're in Kimberely now for two weeks – a city (famous for diamond mining apparently!) in northern South Africa. This place has impressively large shopping centres – allowed me to go bible shopping the other day. Found the nicest bible ever, leather bound and all, 40 pounds down to 15. Bargain! Took it to the till and they only charged me 9 for it! Isn't that just the best feeling ever? Thought as much.
I know what you're thinking... 'Don't you have anything more interesting to talk about than bible-shopping?' Aha, glad you asked, in fact I do! The place we're staying in this week is self-catering, giving us all a chance to demonstrate our wonderful culinary abilities. Jess and I were in charge of preparing supper yesterday – macaroni cheese. Simple enough. Or so you'd think but somehow we both managed to screw things up big-time. I don't know what it is with me and kitchens but I seem to jynx every one that I step foot into. I just seem incapable of making a good meal. It's all a learning curve though, isn't it?! I think our most costly error involved the addition of the cornflour to the sauce. I'm told cornflour is used to thicken and so I kept adding until the sauce got thick. Fair enough, right? Next thing I knew I was scraping the bottom of the box and the sauce still wasn't thick! And then we didn't even think to taste the sauce before pouring it all over the macaroni. Error. Big error. We didn't give up on it though – we laid on hands and said a quick prayer before going to put it in the oven only to find the oven wasn't in fully functioning order. Not functioning at all in fact. We thought it could be a blessing in disguise though – we'd have to cancel supper, blame it on the oven and no one would ever know that the food was actually inedible anyway! It was the perfect plan until Raymond (now our leader) told us to just whack it all in a pan and put it on the hob instead. Nooo. We did what he said but after rinsing it through with milk and then water and still having it taste like pure gloopy cornflour, we decided to call it a day, raising our hands in defeat. Everyone was like “Don't worry guys, you tried your best...” which really only made things worse – felt bad tipping a whole tray's worth (and this is no ordinarily-sized tray!) in the bin. Oh well, we ordered pizza in the end which quite frankly tasted better than any macaroni ever could. All's well that ends well.
Today we went to two high schools – our first visit to schools since they've only just gone back after the holidays so none of us really knew what to expect. Reminded me quite a bit of Monkton actually – these were posh school with team-photos lining the corridors and green blazers being sported by all. Their cricket pitch – which consisted of a few tufts of straw-like grass – couldn't really compare to Longmead though. I was due to share a message at the first school's assembly (you have no idea how much I was wetting myself at the prospect of talking for 15 minutes to about 600 boys and girls not much younger than me. I actually felt physically sick beforehand and wasn't entirely sure whether it was just 'cause of the nerves of whether I was actually ill. Not going to lie – I was hoping with all of my heart it was the latter!) – but when we got there we found someone else setting up their projector in the hall! What a shame, we'd been double-booked! Thought we'd have to just go back home but then an opportunity arose to speak to the CU – a group of about twenty 16-17 year olds. Much more manageable, the only problem being I had a prepared a message aimed at non-Christians. Raymond told me to just change my message. What?! It's enough of a challenge for me to prepare and share, but attempting to change my message 25 minutes beforehand! I prayed and yet again God just took over – he laid on my heart another message to share, he calmed my nerves and when it came to doing the actual sharing God just came through in a way I hadn't even hoped! All the kids were engaged and attentive and they laughed at all the right moments which always helps. I shared with confidence I didn't know I had! PTL! I think I definitely prefer the smaller, class-room type of situation where you can interact with the guys a little more than just standing and preaching to a big audience. Safe. The guys there were all really cool as well – got chatting to about seven of the lads outside afterwards. In a way I want to stay here and disciple them properly. It takes time but discipleship is way more important than any preaching ever will be. I've just got to trust that I've planted a seed and that someone else is going to come along and water it. I was getting discouraged about that when we first came on outreach actually – I was thinking that we don't stay long enough in any one place to properly make an impact – but then I read something in 1 Corinthians were Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth”. Both are needed – people who plant seeds and people who water them – and I just need to rest assured that this season of my life is one where I'm planting seeds in people's lives. I need to trust that other people are going to come behind and water that seed but most of all I need to trust and pray that God's going to give the growth because ultimately it's him that does the work. Amen!
Something I didn't have time to mention in my last blog – the night of Sunday 4th July. So we were staying in a boarding school, we were the only ones there so I'm sure you can imagine at nights it can get pretty scary (for some, obvs I was fine); long dark corridors, windows rattling etc. Well this one particular night we were all having problems sleeping, and then, close to midnight (we are all normally in bed by half ten) the payphone, right at the end of the dark corridor, started to ring. We left it the first time but by the third time we couldn't ignore it any longer and so Sandrine and I ventured down to see what on earth was going on. We picked up the phone only to find a dead tone – no one was there. Weird. That didn't stop the phone from ringing though – it rang several times more and each time we picked up, no one was there. By this time Sandrine was thoroughly freaked out and so a prayer meeting was called in the early hours of the morning. We walked up and down those corridors and around the school just praying for peace and against this spirit of Satan that was causing the phone to ring anonymously. Eventually – I think it was gone 1 – we decided we had prayed long enough, the phone had stopped ringing and the girls were generally feeling a little better. We headed to bed. Two days later I gave Beej a ring. “Mate, why didn't you ring me back the other night. I rang so many times!” were some of the first words he said. AH, GOSH. I couldn't believe it – so it was Beej who'd been the spirit of evil that we'd spent so long rebuking! Top stuff Benjamin.
So. We spent all of last week in Outdstroom; biggest town in South Africa apparently but still most definitely smaller than Bath. It's redic though – apparently there's over 300 churches! Crazy. How many churches are in Bath do you reckon? Can't be much more than a hundred surely? I couldn't believe it when the Pastor told us. Although he also said he could count the good ones on his fingers – that's the big problem; there's loads of churches not 'cause there's loads of Christians but because there's a few Christians all going their own way and disagreeing with each other. And there's a huge amount of religion in this place – everyone belongs to some church or other but for many of them it's about the one service a week and not about relationship with God. Speaking of the Pastor though, this guy was a serious lad. We arrived at his house last Sunday and still two hours after meeting him I was still wondering where on earth the Pastor was – I didn't think that the young banterful guy that we'd been introduced to was actually the Pastor who was due to host us! Turns out he wasn't that young – 38 – but he was still very youthful. When we first met him we were all sitting down in the living room and he came in and said with all seriousness, “Shall we pray” and none of us even questioned it but then he burst out laughing and said, “only joking” as if it was a rediculous idea that we should pray! Ha, I think you had to be there but still – I took an instant liking to this guy. Reminds me of that time I was in the Junior School, we were having assembly and Mr Stafford was talking about the arrangements for Sport's Day. He rounded it up by saying in an off-hand kind of way, “Now all we need to do is pray for good weather...” at which point the whole auditorium bowed forwards, as one used to do when saying prayers at the Junior School. He didn't mean it literally poor guy! Unfortunately I think you had to be there to really appreciate that one too – hopefully some of you were but if not my most profuse apologies!
Outdstroom as a town is okay, take it or leave it, but I did really fall in love with the township in which we were actually staying and in fact spent most of our time. Everyone was just so friendly (I think it's potentially 'cause I'm white but still) – I often enjoyed just taking a stroll along the streets, meeting kids playing their games and smiling at the mums as they looked on from their homes. I took a liking to one particular group of kids that I met on one of our door-to-door sessions. I started talking to a couple of young guys and soon we were joined by about ten of them, all interested in what we were doing. It soon materialised that by far their favourite past-time (maybe bar football) was dancing and they were all keen to show me their Michael Jackson moves! It's almost unbelieveable – ask any kid out here to dance and they will immediately imitate MJ, normally quite well too. How do they even know what they're doing though – these kids all live in tiny houses, no internet and often without a TV, how on earth have they even ever heard of Michael Jackson, let alone know exactly how he used to dance?! Baffling. It was soon my turn to show them some moves from the Northern Hemisphere though and, lacking any other inspiration, I plumped for the Macarina – always a safe bet! This was anything but safe though, the kids were all over it – carnage - they just couldn't get enough and didn't seem to even consider that us old folk just don't have the energy to keep going forever! Even as we were dancing more kids came up and joined us and people smiled as they walked past – must've been quite a sight, just dancing on the street in what was a previously relatively peaceful little street. Those kids were great though – those ten soon became my favourites and if I had time off in the afternoon I would slip out of the house by myself (standard rule is that you're supposed to roam in pairs) and head down-town to meet up with them. There'd always be at least one just chilling on the street and as soon as we met up the rest would not be long in coming, all pleading for more of my dance moves! On Friday we ran a children's meeting and all of my new-found friends were only too-keen to come! It was brilliant – we had about forty kids there, twice the amount we were expecting so we had to cancel one of the games we'd planned for the smaller group! We did one of our “funny” dramas which the kids all loved and then I just explained it and gave a short, simple message. Really good meeting. The next day I went back to the kids to say goodbye (They didn't seem to grasp the whole concept fully – “when will you be coming back?!”) and we were just chatting when one of them said something about our drama yesterday and before I knew what was happening they were all fighting over what part they wanted to play. There we were, on the street, spontaneously acting out the drama we'd done the previous day, me playing my part and all of the kids filling in the other roles! Was such a priceless moment – just wish I could have it on camera. I think you get the picture though – these kids were cool. Enough said.
So, I was on one of my strolls around the community, and I must have looked slightly confused because one lady called out, “Are you lost?” We got talking and when she found out I was from England a smile passed over her face and she exclaimed, “Ooo, I know someone who's in Germany!” Ha, what do you say to that?! “How wonderful, same continent!” It was cute though. I carried on walking but it wasn't long before a group of people, adults and teens, shouted from outside their house, “Oi MJ!”, “Yeah Michael Jackson, how's it?” Not entirely sure but I think it was 'cause of my slightly MJ-resembembling hat. I smiled and carried on walking but then decided to stop, hold the rim of my hat, tilt it down and thrust my waist a couple of times, like all the kids round here like to do! Got the best reaction ever - “Wooooo, we like the way you move!” I smiled again then turned and carried on walking. For a split second I actually thought I was just a little bit cool. Didn't last long though! Love that about this place – I could never get away with doing anything like that back home! Simple pleasures. Something else that you just never get back home – spontanes worship times. They're the best – we were just all chilling in the living room the other day and before I knew it someone had grabbed the guitar and people were dancing and singing and just altogether making one joyous noise. Sweet times.
I was walking (again!) the other day but I hadn't gone very far before I rounded a corner to be greeted by five girls, two of which shouted “Matttt!” and ran up to me for a hug! 'Awww' I thought, it taking me a couple of moments to realise that I actually did recognise these kids – think I'd chatted to them the other day. It's so lovely how kids express emotions so freely though – felt way more appreciated by all of them than I ever do by the rest of my team, which may be because that is in fact the case, or it may just be because us adults don't like to show our emotions quite so readily. Not really cool is it.
Friday evening was insanely cool though – we had a youth meeting which a whole host of people came to and during the response time at the end about ten people seemed to genuinely give their life to the Lord, or at least make a recommitment. Was so exciting – the atmosphere was incredible and we were all just singing and dancing. I've always internally-rubbished it when people say the biggest miracle they've ever seen is someone give their life to the Lord – I've always taken it to mean that they've never actually seen a “proper” miracle but now I know what they mean – it's genuinely awesome. Like with the lady who was healed a couple of weeks back, the healing was exciting but her recommiting her life to God as a result was even better in a way! At the end of this meeting we were all taking loads of photos and this girl who I'd said hello to earlier came and put her arm round me, intending for Sam to take a photo of us but he, quite oblivious to us, was looking through his photos. She refused to let go however, so were just standing there like lemons, arms round each other, waiting for someone to notice and take a photo of us so I could escape! Awkward turtle.
So last week we got back to the house we're staying at one evening and I was just chilling in the living room when the lady of the house came in , clearly a little frustrated and said in a stern voice, “Matthew, pick up that toy!” Now I was slightly taken aback considering I hadn't long been introduced to this lady (I was surprised that she even remembered my name!) and yet here she was bossing me around the house! I assumed it must be a cultural thing and sheepishly bent town to pick up the toy in question before realising that just behind my left shoulder sat her 10 year old boy who also goes by the name Matthew! Ahhh. All made sense!
Sunday saw us take a 8 hour minibus ride across the South African outback. The roads were amazing – completely straight for as far as the eye could see with barren waste-land either side, never seen anything like it. Huge expanses of land that don't seem to have been trodden on for decades. Was cool though, felt like we were on some mass road-trip. Which I guess we kinda are.
Okay. Timecheck? 7:11pm Wednesday 21st December. Just going to keep writing this one til I find internet. We're in Kimberely now for two weeks – a city (famous for diamond mining apparently!) in northern South Africa. This place has impressively large shopping centres – allowed me to go bible shopping the other day. Found the nicest bible ever, leather bound and all, 40 pounds down to 15. Bargain! Took it to the till and they only charged me 9 for it! Isn't that just the best feeling ever? Thought as much.
I know what you're thinking... 'Don't you have anything more interesting to talk about than bible-shopping?' Aha, glad you asked, in fact I do! The place we're staying in this week is self-catering, giving us all a chance to demonstrate our wonderful culinary abilities. Jess and I were in charge of preparing supper yesterday – macaroni cheese. Simple enough. Or so you'd think but somehow we both managed to screw things up big-time. I don't know what it is with me and kitchens but I seem to jynx every one that I step foot into. I just seem incapable of making a good meal. It's all a learning curve though, isn't it?! I think our most costly error involved the addition of the cornflour to the sauce. I'm told cornflour is used to thicken and so I kept adding until the sauce got thick. Fair enough, right? Next thing I knew I was scraping the bottom of the box and the sauce still wasn't thick! And then we didn't even think to taste the sauce before pouring it all over the macaroni. Error. Big error. We didn't give up on it though – we laid on hands and said a quick prayer before going to put it in the oven only to find the oven wasn't in fully functioning order. Not functioning at all in fact. We thought it could be a blessing in disguise though – we'd have to cancel supper, blame it on the oven and no one would ever know that the food was actually inedible anyway! It was the perfect plan until Raymond (now our leader) told us to just whack it all in a pan and put it on the hob instead. Nooo. We did what he said but after rinsing it through with milk and then water and still having it taste like pure gloopy cornflour, we decided to call it a day, raising our hands in defeat. Everyone was like “Don't worry guys, you tried your best...” which really only made things worse – felt bad tipping a whole tray's worth (and this is no ordinarily-sized tray!) in the bin. Oh well, we ordered pizza in the end which quite frankly tasted better than any macaroni ever could. All's well that ends well.
Today we went to two high schools – our first visit to schools since they've only just gone back after the holidays so none of us really knew what to expect. Reminded me quite a bit of Monkton actually – these were posh school with team-photos lining the corridors and green blazers being sported by all. Their cricket pitch – which consisted of a few tufts of straw-like grass – couldn't really compare to Longmead though. I was due to share a message at the first school's assembly (you have no idea how much I was wetting myself at the prospect of talking for 15 minutes to about 600 boys and girls not much younger than me. I actually felt physically sick beforehand and wasn't entirely sure whether it was just 'cause of the nerves of whether I was actually ill. Not going to lie – I was hoping with all of my heart it was the latter!) – but when we got there we found someone else setting up their projector in the hall! What a shame, we'd been double-booked! Thought we'd have to just go back home but then an opportunity arose to speak to the CU – a group of about twenty 16-17 year olds. Much more manageable, the only problem being I had a prepared a message aimed at non-Christians. Raymond told me to just change my message. What?! It's enough of a challenge for me to prepare and share, but attempting to change my message 25 minutes beforehand! I prayed and yet again God just took over – he laid on my heart another message to share, he calmed my nerves and when it came to doing the actual sharing God just came through in a way I hadn't even hoped! All the kids were engaged and attentive and they laughed at all the right moments which always helps. I shared with confidence I didn't know I had! PTL! I think I definitely prefer the smaller, class-room type of situation where you can interact with the guys a little more than just standing and preaching to a big audience. Safe. The guys there were all really cool as well – got chatting to about seven of the lads outside afterwards. In a way I want to stay here and disciple them properly. It takes time but discipleship is way more important than any preaching ever will be. I've just got to trust that I've planted a seed and that someone else is going to come along and water it. I was getting discouraged about that when we first came on outreach actually – I was thinking that we don't stay long enough in any one place to properly make an impact – but then I read something in 1 Corinthians were Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth”. Both are needed – people who plant seeds and people who water them – and I just need to rest assured that this season of my life is one where I'm planting seeds in people's lives. I need to trust that other people are going to come behind and water that seed but most of all I need to trust and pray that God's going to give the growth because ultimately it's him that does the work. Amen!
Monday, 12 July 2010
There's only two type of people in this world...
Three points to the person who can name the song I nabbed that title from. Anyone? Or not so much?
Anyhows. I have precisely nine minutes left online. Not gone well. Shortest blog ever. We've left Ladismith after three emotion-filled weeks and it turns out we had all formed a stronger attachment to the small town than any of us thought! We met some lovely people - the kindness from our host family was particularly striking - making us lunch and dinner daily for three weeks, always greeting us with a smile and never complaining if we ran out in a hurry leaving plenty of dirty plates. Amazing people. We ran a mini YWAM course with about eight of the young people - they faithfully turned up every afternoon for two weeks to hear each of us talking about hearing the voice of God, the bible, relationships etc - allowing us to give them a little of what we learnt during our DTS. It was really encouraging, just how keen they were to learn, getting to know them and forming friendships. And then, on our last night they really stepped up to the plate and led one of the evening services that we had previously been running for the community. Seeing those 17-year olds, who we'd invested a fair bit of time in over the three weeks, sharing their testimonies that evening was really touching, even if it was mainly in Africaans! A tear-filled farewell followed the next day. Now we're in a slightly bigger town (apparently the largest in SA!) called Oudstroom (many struggles pronouncing that one!), just for a week. Had our day off today, found out only too late that there's a golf course just down the road! If only I'd noticed earlier this morning the day could have been slightly more eventful than it has been. Oh well, either way my batteries are now re-charged and I'm ready to face the week!
Alright. Times up. Peace.
Xx.
Anyhows. I have precisely nine minutes left online. Not gone well. Shortest blog ever. We've left Ladismith after three emotion-filled weeks and it turns out we had all formed a stronger attachment to the small town than any of us thought! We met some lovely people - the kindness from our host family was particularly striking - making us lunch and dinner daily for three weeks, always greeting us with a smile and never complaining if we ran out in a hurry leaving plenty of dirty plates. Amazing people. We ran a mini YWAM course with about eight of the young people - they faithfully turned up every afternoon for two weeks to hear each of us talking about hearing the voice of God, the bible, relationships etc - allowing us to give them a little of what we learnt during our DTS. It was really encouraging, just how keen they were to learn, getting to know them and forming friendships. And then, on our last night they really stepped up to the plate and led one of the evening services that we had previously been running for the community. Seeing those 17-year olds, who we'd invested a fair bit of time in over the three weeks, sharing their testimonies that evening was really touching, even if it was mainly in Africaans! A tear-filled farewell followed the next day. Now we're in a slightly bigger town (apparently the largest in SA!) called Oudstroom (many struggles pronouncing that one!), just for a week. Had our day off today, found out only too late that there's a golf course just down the road! If only I'd noticed earlier this morning the day could have been slightly more eventful than it has been. Oh well, either way my batteries are now re-charged and I'm ready to face the week!
Alright. Times up. Peace.
Xx.
Monday, 5 July 2010
I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want...
Yes. Good week. God is good.
Almost everyday this week we've done door-to-door evangelism in the local community, which has been our focus for the week. As you can imagine (or might have read about in a previous blog), door-to-door isn't exactly my cup of tea but this week has actually changed my perspective on it quite considerably. Most of our visits this week happened to be to Christian homes so instead of awkward and pressurised conversations we had many wonderfully edifying ones and words of mutual respect and encouragement for the different work that we're doing. And then one of the few times we got invited into a non-Christian home, we were met with the most honest and open lady that you're ever going to meet. She was only in her early twentys but she started pouring out her heart, how she longed for direction and passion in life, shedding a tear here in there. Was really powerful, and now she's coming along to these mini-discipleship classes were running in the afternoons so that's awesome! Speaking of which, I'm supposed to be teaching a two hour lesson on the Word of God tomorrow! Feel totally unqualified but thankfully it wont be on my own strength... prayers greatly appreciated thank you!
We had an open-air meeting on Saturday morning, same as last week, and at the end we just opened it up for a time of prayer. One lady who was prayed for found it very difficult to walk - she had problems with her back and was fighting against having to use a wheel-chair but God just came and completely healed her there and then! You should've seen the smile on her face - she was so happy! She grabbed the mic and told everyone what had happened there and then but she said she wouldn't be shutting up about this for a little while! Was so cool to see God come through so powerfully. Before Saturday I had been thinking, "We've been praying for people but they haven't been healed, what's going on?" The day after I had these questions my quiet time notes lead me to read about Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego - when they were going to be chucked into the furnace for not worshipping false idols they said "Our God can save us from the fire but even if he doesn't, we will still worship him. And that really struck a chord - God's a God who can heal, who is all powerful but even if he doesn't then I still need to be giving him all the glory 'cause he's got everything under control! Mmm, sho (which is what you say if you agree with something in a sermon over here by the way - you make a really loud "mm" grunt and then follow it up with a "sure", pronounced "sho". Not sure I'll be bringing that one back to HTCD though!).
Something else that I've been thinking about recently - a sermon someone preached a while back talked about how Jesus visioned big but built small; He used twelve men to change the course of world history. He had a big vision. He may not have seen the world 'changed' during his time on earth but he invested so much in those twelve disciples. If we truly impact people, go beneath the surface and help to instigate change, our influence will be greater then we could ever imagine - they will impact others who will impact others and so on. Build small, vision big and impact knowing that you're impacting people you don't know in generations you're not a part of. That's the plan at least! Hmmm. Potench.
It's decided - I want to be a lawyer. That's the latest idea anyhows.
Dances continue to provide much cause for amusement - the stage was extremely slippery at our service on Friday evening and I was wearing shoes with less grip than the stage itself. Recipe for disaster - I was slipping and sliding all over the shop, much to everyone's amusement. Not gone well. Had to dance solo on Friday morning in front of about seventy kids as well - that was err, an interesting experience! I'm slowly learning that there's worse things in life than making a fool out of yourself!
Alright. I need to go prepare for class tomorrow (have been waiting a long time to be able to say something like that!). Sorry this blog was far too serious! Enjoy your weeks....
X
Almost everyday this week we've done door-to-door evangelism in the local community, which has been our focus for the week. As you can imagine (or might have read about in a previous blog), door-to-door isn't exactly my cup of tea but this week has actually changed my perspective on it quite considerably. Most of our visits this week happened to be to Christian homes so instead of awkward and pressurised conversations we had many wonderfully edifying ones and words of mutual respect and encouragement for the different work that we're doing. And then one of the few times we got invited into a non-Christian home, we were met with the most honest and open lady that you're ever going to meet. She was only in her early twentys but she started pouring out her heart, how she longed for direction and passion in life, shedding a tear here in there. Was really powerful, and now she's coming along to these mini-discipleship classes were running in the afternoons so that's awesome! Speaking of which, I'm supposed to be teaching a two hour lesson on the Word of God tomorrow! Feel totally unqualified but thankfully it wont be on my own strength... prayers greatly appreciated thank you!
We had an open-air meeting on Saturday morning, same as last week, and at the end we just opened it up for a time of prayer. One lady who was prayed for found it very difficult to walk - she had problems with her back and was fighting against having to use a wheel-chair but God just came and completely healed her there and then! You should've seen the smile on her face - she was so happy! She grabbed the mic and told everyone what had happened there and then but she said she wouldn't be shutting up about this for a little while! Was so cool to see God come through so powerfully. Before Saturday I had been thinking, "We've been praying for people but they haven't been healed, what's going on?" The day after I had these questions my quiet time notes lead me to read about Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego - when they were going to be chucked into the furnace for not worshipping false idols they said "Our God can save us from the fire but even if he doesn't, we will still worship him. And that really struck a chord - God's a God who can heal, who is all powerful but even if he doesn't then I still need to be giving him all the glory 'cause he's got everything under control! Mmm, sho (which is what you say if you agree with something in a sermon over here by the way - you make a really loud "mm" grunt and then follow it up with a "sure", pronounced "sho". Not sure I'll be bringing that one back to HTCD though!).
Something else that I've been thinking about recently - a sermon someone preached a while back talked about how Jesus visioned big but built small; He used twelve men to change the course of world history. He had a big vision. He may not have seen the world 'changed' during his time on earth but he invested so much in those twelve disciples. If we truly impact people, go beneath the surface and help to instigate change, our influence will be greater then we could ever imagine - they will impact others who will impact others and so on. Build small, vision big and impact knowing that you're impacting people you don't know in generations you're not a part of. That's the plan at least! Hmmm. Potench.
It's decided - I want to be a lawyer. That's the latest idea anyhows.
Dances continue to provide much cause for amusement - the stage was extremely slippery at our service on Friday evening and I was wearing shoes with less grip than the stage itself. Recipe for disaster - I was slipping and sliding all over the shop, much to everyone's amusement. Not gone well. Had to dance solo on Friday morning in front of about seventy kids as well - that was err, an interesting experience! I'm slowly learning that there's worse things in life than making a fool out of yourself!
Alright. I need to go prepare for class tomorrow (have been waiting a long time to be able to say something like that!). Sorry this blog was far too serious! Enjoy your weeks....
X
Monday, 28 June 2010
One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war...
So, havent't written for over three weeks now - apologies to all of those who check this thing reguarly (thanks Mum) - to be honest there wasn't much to write about for a while and now I'm on outreach finding internet has proved somewhat problematic. I'm here now though, tapping away in an internet cafe in Ladismith
(http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ladismith,+south+africa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.716225,56.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=South,+Ladismith,+Western+Cape,+South+Africa&ll=-34.461277,20.742188&spn=3.85846,7.020264&z=7)
Where to start then? We finished off lectures with the 'Relationships' topic followed by 'Spiritual Warfare' for the last week. 'Relationships' was a top week - far less intense than some of the others have been and really rather amusing. A couple led it so we got the male and female perspective on things and overall the week provided some good laughs. As we drew closer and closer to outreach however, it became evident that some guys in the team were not going to be able to pay for outreach. They just didn't have sufficient funds, for a variety or reasons, so after much huffing and puffing about what to do we decided to split the team - half of us are continuing on the original planned outreach and the other half are doing a cheaper, locally-based outreach. It was kinda weird to say goodbye to half of the team at such short notice but I think it was a good move, there are seven of us here, including two leaders - anymore and things would just get way too stressful!
On Monday we went to a small village called Patensie, just for one night, for some team-building and dance-learning activities. Joyous. Was good though - we were accomodated by a lady there who treated us very well - she moved out of her room so that Andy, Janeal and I could sleep in her double bed! She lived in a wooden house with a corrugated tin roof, couldn't have been bigger than about 6m by 8m total, split into four rooms. There was no running water and the toilet was an extremely smelly, nappy-filled long-drop outside. I needed the loo at one point so i opened the front door in search of it only to rip the woodent thing off its hinge! Not gone well at all! It was really good though - the more poverty I experience and not just see the better I think, in terms of eye-opening and heart-softening.
On Tuesday we travelled over to Ladismith, a small town a few hours north east of Cape Town. We're staying in a boarding school here for three weeks and doing various things around the town. So far we've visited the prison, the hopsital, the OAP home, led an open-air service on the high-street, and held a youth-service. We go to these places, do a drama, have some worship, someone shares a testimony, someone preaches and then we pray for people. Cool beans! The OAP-home was a particularly interesting experience. We started off one of our dance routines, in front of about forty of these old-biddys, and I don't think I've ever felt like such a spoon in all my days! The expression on most of their faces was really rather off-putting - each of them looked as if the person on their left had just passed the most awful wind. Maybe that was the case, you never know with these old people's bowel control, but short of that it seemed they were just really rather bemused as to what on earth we were doing up the front. They genuinely were all scowling at us (with the exception of one lady at the front who seemed to be enjoying herself) - I do wonder why we do these dances. Do they add anything? Does anyone enjoy them (apart from that one lady)? Nope and nope... didn't think so. Hmmm. I stopped myself during the dance (not literally) and just thought to myself, 'Wow - three months ago if you'd told me I'd soon been dancing in front of some old folk I woulda told ya to get on ya bike'. Somehow though, this is what I'm doing. We finished up our programme and were readying ourselves to go and mingle with them all before one of them put up her hand and requested a time of testimony sharing. Really? Wasn't really feeling it myself but that didn't seem to come into consideration! We all shared our testimonys with them, I came up with something but mine was slightly shorter than everyone else's - everyone tells me to stop being ridiculous but I still feel like I don't really have a testimony to share. Everyone else goes forward and tells of how they were addicted to drugs, with an abusive father, having attempted suicide on numerous occasions before Jesus appeared to them in a vision with bright lights and a booming voice and immediately they were set free from all their problems! Okay well not quite, but it sometimes feels that way in comparison to my, "I grew up in a Christian family..." story.
Okay, my internet time's running low so I better wrap up here. Apologies. I did preach my first sermon two days ago though - that was exciting! Wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be - God really did give me strength. After Sports Dinner last year I decided to carry a note-book in my hand as opposed to just sheets of paper - I find it's not nearly as obvious when you're shaking like a dog out of nervousness!
Alright. Will try to write again soon. Peace.
X
(http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ladismith,+south+africa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.716225,56.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=South,+Ladismith,+Western+Cape,+South+Africa&ll=-34.461277,20.742188&spn=3.85846,7.020264&z=7)
Where to start then? We finished off lectures with the 'Relationships' topic followed by 'Spiritual Warfare' for the last week. 'Relationships' was a top week - far less intense than some of the others have been and really rather amusing. A couple led it so we got the male and female perspective on things and overall the week provided some good laughs. As we drew closer and closer to outreach however, it became evident that some guys in the team were not going to be able to pay for outreach. They just didn't have sufficient funds, for a variety or reasons, so after much huffing and puffing about what to do we decided to split the team - half of us are continuing on the original planned outreach and the other half are doing a cheaper, locally-based outreach. It was kinda weird to say goodbye to half of the team at such short notice but I think it was a good move, there are seven of us here, including two leaders - anymore and things would just get way too stressful!
On Monday we went to a small village called Patensie, just for one night, for some team-building and dance-learning activities. Joyous. Was good though - we were accomodated by a lady there who treated us very well - she moved out of her room so that Andy, Janeal and I could sleep in her double bed! She lived in a wooden house with a corrugated tin roof, couldn't have been bigger than about 6m by 8m total, split into four rooms. There was no running water and the toilet was an extremely smelly, nappy-filled long-drop outside. I needed the loo at one point so i opened the front door in search of it only to rip the woodent thing off its hinge! Not gone well at all! It was really good though - the more poverty I experience and not just see the better I think, in terms of eye-opening and heart-softening.
On Tuesday we travelled over to Ladismith, a small town a few hours north east of Cape Town. We're staying in a boarding school here for three weeks and doing various things around the town. So far we've visited the prison, the hopsital, the OAP home, led an open-air service on the high-street, and held a youth-service. We go to these places, do a drama, have some worship, someone shares a testimony, someone preaches and then we pray for people. Cool beans! The OAP-home was a particularly interesting experience. We started off one of our dance routines, in front of about forty of these old-biddys, and I don't think I've ever felt like such a spoon in all my days! The expression on most of their faces was really rather off-putting - each of them looked as if the person on their left had just passed the most awful wind. Maybe that was the case, you never know with these old people's bowel control, but short of that it seemed they were just really rather bemused as to what on earth we were doing up the front. They genuinely were all scowling at us (with the exception of one lady at the front who seemed to be enjoying herself) - I do wonder why we do these dances. Do they add anything? Does anyone enjoy them (apart from that one lady)? Nope and nope... didn't think so. Hmmm. I stopped myself during the dance (not literally) and just thought to myself, 'Wow - three months ago if you'd told me I'd soon been dancing in front of some old folk I woulda told ya to get on ya bike'. Somehow though, this is what I'm doing. We finished up our programme and were readying ourselves to go and mingle with them all before one of them put up her hand and requested a time of testimony sharing. Really? Wasn't really feeling it myself but that didn't seem to come into consideration! We all shared our testimonys with them, I came up with something but mine was slightly shorter than everyone else's - everyone tells me to stop being ridiculous but I still feel like I don't really have a testimony to share. Everyone else goes forward and tells of how they were addicted to drugs, with an abusive father, having attempted suicide on numerous occasions before Jesus appeared to them in a vision with bright lights and a booming voice and immediately they were set free from all their problems! Okay well not quite, but it sometimes feels that way in comparison to my, "I grew up in a Christian family..." story.
Okay, my internet time's running low so I better wrap up here. Apologies. I did preach my first sermon two days ago though - that was exciting! Wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be - God really did give me strength. After Sports Dinner last year I decided to carry a note-book in my hand as opposed to just sheets of paper - I find it's not nearly as obvious when you're shaking like a dog out of nervousness!
Alright. Will try to write again soon. Peace.
X
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Let's Get Ready to Rumble
In less than three weeks I will be stuffed in the back of an African minivan weaving my way up through South Africa on a three-month mission trip. It's crazy, it's come around quickly but then again it does seem like several years ago I was saying goodbye to friends and family at Gatwick airport. We are still fairly clueless as to what the three months will involve but I know we will be visiting various schools and churches along the way. I've got the feeling there'll be loads more dances and dramas to learn in the coming days so there's always that to look forward to.
Things have gotten way better since I wrote about scales and dinosaurs. Being a Christian's awesome - nothing in the world is better in fact. Ha, I knew this already but sometimes it doesn't quite seem as true as it is.
So I was sitting on the beach a couple of mornings ago doing my quiet time (as you do. I could get used to this...) when I looked up and saw something black poking out of the water. 'SHARKK...' was my immediate thought but then I looked again and saw lots of little fins coming out of the water, really close to the shore as well. Dolphins! Was so lovely - there must have been about ten of them chill-caking in the water, just a matter of metres away from the beach. They were so close, I really wanted to swim with them but I didn't have any of my stuff. It wasn't going to stop me though - I stripped down to my boxers and waded into the water. However, I had a traumatic experience a couple of weeks back where i got completely white-washed by this wave - I tried to swim underneath a break and the wave just took hold of me and pressed me against the sea floor. Was only for a couple of seconds but seemed like forever as I just couldn't move at all! And so yesterday I desperately wanted to go and swim with the dolphins but unfortunately for me they were just the other side of the flebbing swell breaking and I couldn't pluck up the courage to swim through it again. Bad times. Overall though it was a success story - the dolphins were so cool and my wallet, phone and camera were still in a pile on the sand when I got out. Bonzer.
So we've had our long-weekend just now - had Saturday through Wednesday off and its been really nice to just relax a little before the intensity that outreach will no doubt bring. I was going to go on a road-trip with Sandrine and Jess but I just felt I shouldn't be going and when I told our leader Sam his face lit up with excitement! Apparently he'd been praying and got the feeling I shouldn't be going but then he felt God say that He would speak to me Himself and that he should leave it. And God did speak - I got a really strong sense that I shouldn't be going, so I guess that was pretty cool, even if I did miss out on a fun-filled weekend. My batteries are now some-what recharged and ready to go though.
It's really rather interesting sharing a dorm, never actually had the pleasure of it before on a regular basis and it's proved an altogether enlightening experience. Every so often I wake in the morning to the sound of laughter as five lads eagerly wait to tell me what I was saying in the early hours of the morning! Turns out I sleep-talk more than I realised. The guys' favourite is something I said a couple of weeks ago - "Before you go, tell Chelsey she's worthy". Chelsey's a girl here so naturally they found that one quite amusing. What I can't work out is how they all hear it though - do they just not sleep? Thankfully I seem to have shaken off the other noise I used to make in my sleep (you may or may not know, it usually sounds like I'm constantly trying to eat something throughout the night) so at least that's one thing that's gone well.
Okay, supper calls. I may well think of something I've missed out in which I'll be back. Next week's talks are on relationships - could be interesting! Love...
P.S - Can't believe I'm missing BGT (Britain's Got Talent for the older generation)! Seriously bad times.
Things have gotten way better since I wrote about scales and dinosaurs. Being a Christian's awesome - nothing in the world is better in fact. Ha, I knew this already but sometimes it doesn't quite seem as true as it is.
So I was sitting on the beach a couple of mornings ago doing my quiet time (as you do. I could get used to this...) when I looked up and saw something black poking out of the water. 'SHARKK...' was my immediate thought but then I looked again and saw lots of little fins coming out of the water, really close to the shore as well. Dolphins! Was so lovely - there must have been about ten of them chill-caking in the water, just a matter of metres away from the beach. They were so close, I really wanted to swim with them but I didn't have any of my stuff. It wasn't going to stop me though - I stripped down to my boxers and waded into the water. However, I had a traumatic experience a couple of weeks back where i got completely white-washed by this wave - I tried to swim underneath a break and the wave just took hold of me and pressed me against the sea floor. Was only for a couple of seconds but seemed like forever as I just couldn't move at all! And so yesterday I desperately wanted to go and swim with the dolphins but unfortunately for me they were just the other side of the flebbing swell breaking and I couldn't pluck up the courage to swim through it again. Bad times. Overall though it was a success story - the dolphins were so cool and my wallet, phone and camera were still in a pile on the sand when I got out. Bonzer.
So we've had our long-weekend just now - had Saturday through Wednesday off and its been really nice to just relax a little before the intensity that outreach will no doubt bring. I was going to go on a road-trip with Sandrine and Jess but I just felt I shouldn't be going and when I told our leader Sam his face lit up with excitement! Apparently he'd been praying and got the feeling I shouldn't be going but then he felt God say that He would speak to me Himself and that he should leave it. And God did speak - I got a really strong sense that I shouldn't be going, so I guess that was pretty cool, even if I did miss out on a fun-filled weekend. My batteries are now some-what recharged and ready to go though.
It's really rather interesting sharing a dorm, never actually had the pleasure of it before on a regular basis and it's proved an altogether enlightening experience. Every so often I wake in the morning to the sound of laughter as five lads eagerly wait to tell me what I was saying in the early hours of the morning! Turns out I sleep-talk more than I realised. The guys' favourite is something I said a couple of weeks ago - "Before you go, tell Chelsey she's worthy". Chelsey's a girl here so naturally they found that one quite amusing. What I can't work out is how they all hear it though - do they just not sleep? Thankfully I seem to have shaken off the other noise I used to make in my sleep (you may or may not know, it usually sounds like I'm constantly trying to eat something throughout the night) so at least that's one thing that's gone well.
Okay, supper calls. I may well think of something I've missed out in which I'll be back. Next week's talks are on relationships - could be interesting! Love...
P.S - Can't believe I'm missing BGT (Britain's Got Talent for the older generation)! Seriously bad times.
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