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!
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 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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)