Well where do I start!? Being back here is amazing! Everything my heart has needed. We are skipping the touristy feel of being here with the APU semester. We are staying in the township Mpophomeni, like I said, and that is just insanely awesome. It has to be like 40-45 degrees in the house every night bc the whole house is made of concrete. ha Fortunately we have thick blankets and a nice heater to keep us warm while we sit inside and watch movies or sleep. Lets just say... I will have had more hot coffee or rooibos in these two months than in all of my life. I am def going to walk away from this relating to the african people that much more recognizing how little they live with.
Being at the family center is sooo great. We just had Chiraphone aka Jubulile (our World Missions director) come through for 4 days and she helped us get the ball rolling just a little bit faster. Her Zulu, cliche phrases and go getta attitude broke the ice even more for us. It was such a blessing to have her heart warming conversations and Zulu dance moves with us. I had a meeting with her, and 2 others from the Ethembeni team and I walked away with such hope. Here is what it encompassed:
Being here for a week and a half now I have certainly noticed... a huge difference in the operation of the Family Center. It occurred to me last time here I felt like the steam in the engine for them. We gave them that extra spark... now... It is like watching the train fly by!!! Everyone has their role... everyone knows what they are doing... and there are programs set up for everything! Even down to making sure the children are empowered to learn life skills such as making their food and cleaning their dishes. There is so much life, so much color, and so much pride in what they are doing! It is amazing... but definitely an adaptation to what I was expecting based off of my last experience.
I was wondering where I was going to be making my time intentional these next 2 months... but the meeting I had with CK, and the 2 others really got my creative juices flowing. We are going to be doing some real counter cultural work. Very strategic, very tedious, and probably not very rewarding. We are going to attempt to tend to the wounds of Apartheid. Our story... APU's story... has been one of being, one of relationship, one of simply love and encouragement. This story of God honoring relationship has been a light to one of Ethembeni's director Grant Edkins (a white male S.A.'n) and he wants us to share that example of our meaningful relationships.
We have a very neutral position in both people groups and ability to relate to both parties... We don't know how we will begin to build this bridge but know that it can and will be done through God's grace. We will be targeting youth groups of white South African's and probably inviting them to come and work with us at the Family Center.... that is about all that we have thus far. Pray for strategy and discernment. We need deep insight into the hearts of S.A.'ns and more than anything a necklace of love to be our main adornment. God's favor is upon us in this time.
