Wow. Where to begin? Suffice it to say that God showed up this week in so many ways and I’m so thankful for all He’s done. I started off the week slightly apprehensive, not really knowing what was coming up or what I was in for. We were informed that the week was going to be pretty intense spiritually, but that was about all I knew! On Monday morning we left the house to climb a mountain as a team, but low air in the tires of one of our Kombies prevented us from getting there. Instead we spent the remainder of the morning in Cape St. Frances, another little town along the coast. We went down to the ocean, where there were amazing rock formations, with huge, foamy waves crashing on them in stunning sprays of water. It was breath-taking.
We all just sat on the rocks appreciated God’s beauty and spent some time just sitting in His presence. I never ceased to be amazed at the beauty of God’s creation. Especially here in South Africa… it’s so diverse and every part is beautiful in a different way.
On Tuesday we finally climbed the mountain, which was a really good experience with God as well. It was super challenging… I’d climbed the mountain before, but the bushes and trees had grown seriously like 3 feet which made for some difficulties. It was also kind of a surrender walk, and it was good just to get some time alone with God and deal with and release some stuff that I’ve been going throuh.
Wednesday was a hard day…. hard, but good. Some of us had the opportunity to visit the Algoa Frail Care Centre, which is a full care center for both the elderly, and mentally and physically handicapped adults and children. It was by far the hardest thing I’ve seen… we visited over a hundred children who had disabilities and deformities like I’ve never seen before. First we went through each ward and talked and touched each child, and afterwards, we split into 2 groups and played guitar and sang for them. I was definitely more blessed by these children than I blessed them. One precious boy, who was very smart, but couldn’t move his body, couldn’t stop laughing. The kid was seriously permanently smiling, and laughed at every single thing. I loved to see his joy. And just to be able to coax a smile from some of these children brought a ray of sunshine to my day. They brought me joy as well as making me incredibly grateful for the blessings God has given me. There’s something special about those children. I think it’s because they have no inhibitions. They’re just themselves, open and vulnerable for you to take them as they are and they give love unconditionally it seems. I think we can learn alot from them.
Other than that, I’ve also had the opportunity to help out with painting murals in the classrooms at Ithemba, which has been so fun for me. It’s been good to have a week that’s been different than the usual. On Monday, I start at the Joshua Project once again for only four more weeks, and I feel ready to pour everything into these last few weeks of ministry. God is good and I’m excited to see what He has planned for my last days here.
