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My Dearest Family and Friends,
I
am finally back in Jeffreys Bay after a long, but good, week in Somerset East.
The whole week was bathed in prayer, and God did some amazing things through us
at Somerset East through Beat the Drum. But first before I tell you about my
experiences and about what God did, I would first like to tell you about the
Beat the Drum program.
Week of the 13th
Beat
the Drum is based off the movie Beat the Drum. Beat the Drum was a movie made
here in South Africa about a little boy called Musa, whose parents die of AIDS
and goes to Johannesburg to find his uncle… but in the process finds out about
what is killing his parents and community, and learns about the lies of AIDs. I
am sure if you wanted to rent the movie from a movie store, you probably could…
I just have to warn you that it is a little graphic, and has a few awkward
scenes in it. I have to say that it is a VERY good representation about the
lies here in South Africa like having sex with a virgin will cure you from AIDs
or that condoms give you AIDs. It is more relevant for South Africa than it is
for America, but if you are interested, I would suggest you watch it.
So
the program Beat the Drum first goes into schools and shows the movie to the
kids. Then in the days after, we have lessons that teach and talk to the kids
about AIDs and how it is spread. There are five lessons that talk about the
movie, what happened, what is going on in the kid’s lives, and how they could
change their lives for the better. It is
a Christian program, so we mostly taught Abstinence and saving yourself for
marriage. And in between, depending on
the Spirits leading, we are able to bring them to Christ.
So
we went to a place called Somerset East on the 10th of October to
start preparing and training for the program. The training involved teaching a
lot of ice breakers and how to handle certain situations, and how to talk to
the kids about a life of abstinence. It involved a lot of sermons, a lot of
going through the book, and a lot of prayer. By the end of Sunday, I was
exhausted, and on Monday we showed the movie to the schools. There were about 4
different schools, and another group that did the program with the community.
My school was a black school called Arival. Out of all the schools we had,
Arival was probably one of the most frustrating schools. On Tuesday, the school
went on strike because of a new principle. So we decided that we would go to
the Hostel that the kids were staying in. “Some of them live 20-50 kilometers away
from the school, and it is cheaper to keep them near the school in the Hostel.”
We talked to them about sex, and the lies that are spread about AIDs.
Then
on Wednesday, we had an opportunity to show the movie to 7th and 8th
graders. So most of us went to the hostel near Arival to talk about the movie
and sex, and the smaller group, “I was in this group,” stayed at the small
school to show and talk about the movie. That evening, we had a youth night
where we showed a very graphic film called “In Your Face” about the effects of
AIDs, the steps, and even showing pictures of other STDs! I think the kids
really got something from that movie, and a lot of them that night gave their
lives to Christ and chose a life of abstinence! It was an amazing night, and so
many kids came to Christ that night. Then Thursday, Arival opened up again. So
we went in on Thursday and Friday to talk to the kids about abstinence. There
are so many lies about sex, and I don’t think this blog should ever go into all
of the lies, but if you ever think about asking me, go ahead and write to my
email address.
In
between this week, God was working so much in my own life. On Tuesday, God
spoke through my team-mate Faith, telling me that though He gave me my music
ability, He wasn’t going to use it on this trip, and that He was going to grow
me up as a leader. Then she said she had a vision for me that she couldn’t
explain. The vision involved Jesus holding my hand taking me to the edge of a
cliff, and then Jesus told me to jump of the cliff. Then I jumped, only to find
that Jesus was at the bottom waiting to catch me. She couldn’t understand this,
but shortly after that, I saw physically what that cliff was. So in between
“Beat the Drum” I was dealing with a life of sin that I was involved in, and
God had told me that I needed to confess all these things to my leader… being
the things I never had told anyone in my life, and being afraid of what would
happen if I did jump. After finally writing a four page letter and telling
three of the guys about my sinful past, I gave the letter to my leader and
spiritually, “jumped off the cliff.” As the last part of the vision foretold,
Christ was at the bottom to catch me, and had put the loving people in my life
that I needed to be able to jump off this cliff.
As
the last part of the week came to a close, we all were so thankful to finally
be “home”. “Home being UCSA, and really, I do feel very at home here. I
probably realized that more when I finally was able to get on to my bunk and
just felt at peace and, home. ” And our ministry started up again.
Week of the 20th
It
was so wonderful to be able to go back to our own ministries. Our group,
“working at Talhado,” decided to do something interactive in our lessons with
the kids. We decided to teach them a name/attribute of God, and then go out and
see how this name applies to our everyday life. This week we decided to do God
as a provider, so we told them the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and then
took the kids out into the slum communities and had them give out food to the
people, having God use us to provide food to the poor community. Towards the
end of the week, we were very discouraged because things weren’t going as well
as we hoped. First off, whenever we would get outside the gate, we would have
thirty kids from earlier in the day crowding around us to get food, when it was
supposed to be for the community. Then some of the kids were so dishonest and
would take a Narchi, “a little orange, which is what we used to give to the
community,” eat it, and then ask for another one, eat that one and come back
for more. We were hardly able to get a 500 ft. away because of all the kids
that crowded us. In between this, we found out that Talhado was closing for the
summer, and would be done the next Thursday, the 30th.
Pretty
much by the end of this week, we were very discouraged. Then we had thought
that maybe it was because we had spent so much time trying to teach them
something, and hardly any time to actually get to know them and play with them.
So we decided to take the whole last week we had with the kids and just play
with them, have fun with them, and have “intentional” free time where we would
ask the kids questions about their life, and try to get Jesus into the
conversation. This sparked new hope, and a lot of fun because we decided to do
food crafts with the kids.
In
between this time, God was teaching us a lot about how we see Him, who He REALLY
is, and how He sees us. Through our discipleship teaching the topic, Christina,
“the person who was teaching this week,” showed us that how our parents treated
us often changes how we see God. For example, if you come from a family who you
have to do things to get attention, you will often do things to get Gods
attention. If you come from a family who abandons you, you will see God as
someone who could possibly abandon you. If you have a parent who is abusive,
you will have trouble with feeling secure in God’s love for you. How your
parents treat you can also come out in how you treat others. So many of us have
come from abusive homes, and so many of us need healing over all these
emotional hurts. Please pray for us through this.
We
also went through a section of changing how God sees us, and how we need Him to
be our identity. It is so refreshing to find out how God created us to be just
how we are, and how He loves us so much beyond all reason. One quote, “that I
absolutely adore,” is a quote that was taken from a short clip. And it goes
like this, “He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, because
He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, because that is who
He is. It is His nature!” Wow, He loves us, because He loves us… saying that over and over again
just doesn’t allow for anything else. And He does love us, beyond ALL
understanding.
Another quote mentioned was, “I am He that
loves you outrageously!” God loves us so much, and He created us to have a
beautiful relationship with Him. So often we don’t take time for Him out of our
lives, don’t even spend the time we should with Him. I have found myself
soooooooo many times giving God my left-over times. Even in my prayer life, I
have just left too many phone messages on an “answering machine” with just all
requests and thanks, never giving Him a REAL chance to talk back to me. I am so
sick of this and my selfishness…. I am not trying to be a hypocrite, but I need
prayer and support from the body, just as we all need support from the body. We
all need to give God the FIRST PORTION of our day, to actually wait for a reply
from Him, to show Him how much WE desperately Love Him… have I really loved him
with all my heart, I don’t know if I really ever have. Showing love is often
spending time with the person. I defiantly need to do more of that.
I hope I haven’t
bored you all. I just have so much to say, and I put it off more than I should.
Love you all and miss you all!!!
Love,
Andrew
