Time Travelling

     A week or so ago I met some 'strangers' in Cape Town with a vaguely familiar accent--it almost sounded Canadian, or American, one of the two (sorry for any unintended insult to either party!).  This group of 'stranger' students were the Discover team from Prairie Bible Institute (PBI).  They were here for ten days or so, helping with kid's work at Jubilee, visiting metro kids in Cape Town, and helping set up for the new, enlarged Jubilee Health Centre (to read some of their stories, check out discoverourglobe.prairie.edu).
     It was neat to meet the Discover students, as well as spend some time with Kendi, who is also very much involved with the GlobeTREK program at PBI.  But that was an expected emotion--to enjoy hearing some news from 'home' and seeing the excitement of the Discover students in a foreign land.
     Some of my feelings as I met them were more unexpected:  I felt a sense of belonging at Jubilee--that it was my church and I felt excited to show these 'newbies' around.  I hadn't realized how much I had learned about Jubilee and Cape Town and how many friendships I have developed in the three months I have been here so far.  I was also surprised by the fresh perspective the Discover team gave me.  I think I am becoming more proficient and natural at living here.  I don't stand out so much when I go to the shops--at least until I open my mouth and my Canadian accent falls out :)  But when they arrived, I re-noticed things that have become 'normal'--such as security guards zooming down the streets on segways and the exciting array of flora and fauna.  On a hike the one day I saw a two-inch, neon red and green grasshopper that almost looked fake!  There are also the cutest little geckos in the house and springiest springbok on the mountainsides... and such beautiful flowers!  My new fav flower is definitely the frangipani :)

...  Now the reason for the title of this blog post:  Time Travelling. Prepare yourself to travel from a couple weeks ago to the present! ... And I'm sorry if that is not as thrilling as you expected when you read the title!  I just found the above paragraphs in a folder entitled "incipient blog post" and decided I had better get going and terminate this post as well.  The longer I wait to write my next blog post, the harder it gets for me to actually do it.  You can only imagine the agonies I sometimes go through in this regard!  ...What should I write about?  ...If I write about something funny that happened, obviously my life here is too frivolous.  But if every post deals with some brobdingnagian and momentous epiphany, that would be depressing for those who live mundane lives--not to mention, it would be an unrealistic portrayal of my own, often mundane, life!  I could write about my feelings, but some people want facts and couldn't care less if I suffered indigestion or feel emotional.  I could write about facts, but I do like to think that some people actually care about my thoughts and feeling... Hopefully you can appreciate a little more what is going on now when you are simply annoyed by the fact that I haven't blogged for a while so I obviously don't care about you!
  As it is, I do care about you and am actually writing this at 11 pm because I couldn't sleep while leaving this undone any longer (those of you who know me will understand the great sacrifice this is, when bedtime is obviously 10 o'clock :) ).  Part of the reason for this insomnia is because life is so good I just had to share some of it with y'all.
     Right now I am living in a house with around 12 other people, and the set-up is family style.  This means that we take turns taking out the garbage, cutting the lawn, going shopping, and cooking meals for everyone four nights a week.  It is a neat opportunity to talk about all kinds of things and get to know each other better... as well as try a variety of interesting dishes :)
     Tonight was my turn to cook, and I made a chicken and broccoli casserole with rice and a sumptious salad.  It was a good end to a good day of spending time with the moms at Sunshade in the morning and just talking with patients from the health center and volunteers at Jubilee in the afternoon.  It is a humbling and wonderful experience to see and be part of what God is doing here.  There are crazy stories of God's healing in people's lives, and how God orchestrates unexpected things. For example, through connections at the health center an unemployed man who came in for physiotherapy left the clinic with a job working for the physio's friend.  God cares about these down-to-earth things as much as He cares about all aspects of our lives--work, relationships, health, etc.!
    ... Thank you, Father God, for your provision in my life and the lives of the people around me!  I feel so blessed by my friendships here as well as those 'back home'--and all around the world!  I look forward to seeing more of your amazing goodness and work!

     Well, it really is bed-time now :)  So, I wish all my readers a wonderful day tomorrow, and thank you for letting me be a little part of it as you read this!


   
     

Anchor, Community, Anticipation and Agony

     It's been a week now since Summer Camp, but I am still thinking about it and feeling its effects so I suppose it merits another blog post.  For the sake of continuity, I am going to drape the threads of my stories on the following pegs:  Anchor, Community, Anticipation, and Agony.  The purpose of these pegs is to unite the individual stories, though the only common theme really is that they all start with 'A'... except for community, of course.  Oh well... I think I will just tell the stories and you can enjoy them as you like, whether or not they hang together or separately!
     Stories one and two come from one of the camp speakers, Pierre.  The first is about his experience as an anchor at a worship event.  He had always thought it would be the coolest job--to stand up front as the band played, and then to hand the microphone to whoever came up to speak or share next.  And it was pretty fun and important for the first bit, but then it became sort of boring... until he saw a guy coming up to share something and he felt God telling him to send this dude back:  "he's not ready yet."  Pierre didn't really want to do that, because he knew this guy was very shy and it was not characteristic of him to come up and share during the open mike time.  But he told the guy that he couldn't give him the mike yet because he felt that God wanted to share more with him before he shared it with everyone else.  Ok, so the guy went back to his place.  A while later, he came back... and Pierre felt the same way about it.  It happened three times!, and the third time Pierre felt for sure this guy would never come back.
     But he did, and the fourth time Pierre felt God confirm that the guy was ready.  This young man went on to lead worship in the Spirit's power for the next hour!
     This story highlighted for me the importance of preparation time, waiting on God, persevering, and going forth in the Spirit's power.  It also challenged me not to look down on my youth or anyone else's, because, guess how old this young man was?  He was only in 10th grade!  Wow!  God can do mighty things when give up our own wisdom and strength and rely on His power.
     Community.  In this story, Pierre shared about one night when he was with some friends.  All of a sudden, he heard a cat crying outside.  It went on and on, sounding more and more like a baby crying.  Sometimes these experiences of cats crying and sounding like babies is accompanied by a deep presence of evil, since there is a belief that evil spirits travel around at night in the form of cats.  That was the case this time, as well, and all of a sudden Pierre found himself crying uncontrollably.  He couldn't even speak!  It wasn't until his friend called out aloud on Jesus' name that he could stop.
     What struck me about this second story was how we need each other in the Christian walk.  We need each other to stand by each other, to remind each other of God's promises, and to cry out to Jesus for each other when someone is too weak or overcome to do it themselves!  We have an important ministry and responsibility to each other.
       Anticipation:  "The Kingdom of God is at hand!"  Though it is not yet here in its fulness, we get to experience foretastes of it in our everyday life.  I received one incredible foretaste at camp:  I awoke with the six girls in my dorm for group time one morning, and the one girl had such a sore throat that she couldn't speak.  It was all swollen, with white spots inside.  Through gesticulations and hoarse whispers, she asked us to pray for her; so we all sat around her, laid hands on her and prayed.  When we finished, she could talk normally and the spots in her throat were gone!  I had never witnessed anything like that before, and could scarcely believe it when it happened in front of me.  Wow!  Thank you Jesus!  Sometimes I become so inured to the brokenness around me that it doesn't even register as brokenness that shouldn't be that way.  I find it breath-taking to think of what this earth will be like when God finishes reconciling ALL things through Christ Jesus!
     Agony.  As I mentioned, I am still feeling the effects of camp.  The one day at camp, I was traipsing along past the bathrooms in my flip-flops (and shirt and shorts of course!  But the flip-flops is the important element in my story).  A heavy-duty mat lay outside the bathroom, wound together with metal wires.  One wire was poking out a little, and it hooked into the ball of my left foot, pulling the mat along with me.  My flip-flops proved no protection against this brazen prong!    I stopped abruptly and back-tracked, sliding my foot off of the mat.  It was a most unfortunate mishap, but not entirely unexpected I guess since I am incurably injury-prone.  Anyways, a week later now it is still tender.  But God has been good in that the wire was not rusted, I am up-to-date with my tetanus shot, it became a little infected but the infection has now died down, and it ensures that I fastidiously wash my feet each night :)

Summer Camp ACCELERATE 2015!!!!!

Accelerate Summer Camp 2015!!!!!!

     This past week (Wednesday through Sunday) for me included unexpected small-group leading, late-night dancing around a bonfire, 6 am prayer times, and a hectic water-fight that entailed water balloons, flour bombs, and leaders on motorbikes spraying Fanta with water-guns.  And to think I 'just happened' into this!
     This is how it 'just happened':  Hope, my house-mate, asked if I would be willing to help out at Jubilee's Summer Camp which is for youth in Grades 8-12.  I said sure, and then heard nothing until a week before when I decided I better confirm what was up.  Yes, I was still signed up for general help... I didn't find out until I arrived that I was co-leading a dorm of six Grade 12 girls with Janice and Nokwazi... and Janice and Nokwazi weren't arriving until sometime Friday evening!  Yet I am glad that God brought me into this leadership position in such a 'sneaky' way, because I would probably have never signed myself up for it and yet I was so blessed through it!  The girls are incredible, and we had such good small-group times in the mornings.
     The speakers were also very good, and God exceeded the expectations we had as leaders that He would meet with us.  As we sang in the marquee (our meeting tent), I was humbled as I watched all the youth singing, worshipping and praying silently, with leaders, and with each other.  It struck me how God delights to meet with us.  When we seek His face, He delights to reveal Himself and empower us to live for Him.
     It wasn't all easy, though.  The devil will oppose strongly wherever God's presence is strongly manifested.  The first day we battled in prayer over a camper who was experiencing demon possession.  Later that day on the way to the rock pools, a camper also slipped when crossing a stream, seriously twisting his ankle and sustaining a concussion which left him unconscious for 30 seconds and incoherent for the next hour.  Then... it rained that night and drowned the sound board system so that we had to use only acoustic worship for the second day.
     Yet God showed Himself strong in the very areas of opposition:  the experience with the first camper led to discussion and prayer with the girls in my small group.  As for the camper who was hurt, God was good in that the camp nurse and her husband, a physiotherapist, were walking right behind him when it happened, and there were some strong guys there as well to pull him out of the stream where he lay unconscious.  In the end, this actually led to an increase in faith as we prayed over him and God healed his ankle so that he went from using crutches because of the pain to walking normally for the rest of the camp and even dancing in the sessions as we sang!  Thank you, Jesus!   ...And the acoustic worship turned out great too :)
     Camp wasn't all 'serious', though.  How can it be with around 100 teenagers?!  Wally-awards were nominated for people who had the worst wallies (Wally:  something silly or embarrassing that someone has done)... like the dude who manoeuvred the soccer ball skillfully through his opponent's defense only to run into a tree and fall over!  Then there was the epic water fight where we divided into four teams equipped with water balloons and flour bombs.  If you got hit, you had to jump in the pool before you could re-enter the combat.  The leaders participated by jazzing things up with extra flour and tackling moves, and two leaders rode through the 'battle-field' on a motorbike spraying kids with Fanta-filled waterguns.  What a glorious mess!
     For me, camp lived up to its name:  ACCELERATE.  The goal was not to focus on a great camp experience but to point into the year ahead, accelerating the youth into the year with a deeper relationship with Christ.  I know that my faith was increased as I saw God act and enjoyed His presence.   Camp also 'accelerated' me into the community here through shared experiences and I look forward to what will come next :)

Camping, (post-)Christmas, and Change

     This past weekend I slept for two nights in an ancient canvas tent that is older I am.  Jess and I drove around two hours to join her parents, who have been camping the past week or so at Petervale Farm.  It is close to Ceres, and we spent a wonderful two days with them.  We had campfires both evenings, and braaied delicious things like lamb chops on it for supper.  In the day we swam in the 'dam', which is a beautiful (albeit manmade) lake and read books in the sunshine.  I read another couple hundred pages in Mandela's 700-and-something page autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom"--I have only a hundred or so more to go!  And then there were the liesurely chats with fellow campers, such as the lady who lives across the road from Jess and I in Cape Town (we had to travel this far just to meet her!), as well as a lady from Uruguay with her South African husband and others.  On Sunday morning we hiked to a waterfall on the mountain side where we swam in the pool of frigid water at the bottom.
     It is funny how camping can be so familiar half-way around the world, what with getting water from a central location, walking to the bathrooms, living in one's swim costume, not washing one's feet before going to bed, playing Take Two outside on a picnic table by the light of a kerosene lamp in the evening, and washing plastic dishes in semi-cold water.
     Of course, there were differences with camping here versus in Canada as well.  For one, it didn't rain the whole time we were there!  For another, the mountains behind us were covered in fynboos and hardy grasses instead of the usual greenery and 'conifer-y' (coniferous trees) of the Canadian Shield.  And the bathrooms were supplied with hot water through a tractor-engine-operated heater.  It was parked behind the row of bathrooms, and I'm guessing that is what it was there for since the engine kicked on whenever one turned on the hot water.

     I started this blog post earlier this week, but never actually finished it.  I am going to include some random notes now before I post it.
     The past couple days have been 'admin days' at Jubilee, as we get back into the swing of things after the Christmas break.  So much filing! :)
     This past week, the bike I have been borrowing was also stolen so I am back to hitching rides to Jubilee with friends.  Hopefully I can get another bike sometime soon.
     I can hardly believe that I will be meeting the DISCOVER students from Prairie next week.  They are going to be spending a couple days at Jubilee (discoverourglobe.prairie.edu)


     And finally, some thoughts on CHANGE as we enter the new year:

C hange is a part of what I am created for--
H eightening relationship with God and deppening insights into life and love
A nd yet sometimes in the drama of life I feel like I
N eed to be the constant, even though I may live out of harmful patterns and even though
G od is meant to be the one Unchangeable I AM, the anchor of my soul and the goal of my      
   transformation
E ach day I must remind myself that change is part of what I am created for

the silent sojourner speaks again

     I just realized with horror that I have not blogged for nearly a month!... which is actually half of the time that I have been in South Africa so far.  I would feel guilty about this awful lapse if I hadn't been having such a 'jol'  lately (jol:  South African informal.  An occasion of celebration and enjoyment; a good time).    

     So, to catch you up to speed on what has been happening over here in the last while, we've had Christmas Eve.  And Christmas... which hopefully you have all also enjoyed.  The festivities here have included Scrabble games, Christmas presents, Christmas carols, mincemeat pies, and even snowflake decorations (this must be Western influence, since the weather here was nice enough for a swim on Christmas Day!).  A family here has really included me in their celebrations, and I can testify to God's faithfulness in setting the solitary in families! (Psalm 68).  

     This past month I participated in a flash mob.  Around 20 of us danced at Cavendish and Greenmarket Square and handed out invitations to the church's Christmas service.  

     At the clinic, I met a wonderful family from the Congo.  The father has been unable so far to get a job here, but he doesn't want to waste his gifts.  So in the meantime, he has started an NGO and it has been running for several years now on God's grace.  Wow!  I colored pictures with his two young children while he was with the doctor, and they are truly delightful and well-behaved.

    I got my first South African sunburn!, sitting on the beach after a 6 am walk along the ocean-side.  Truly worth it!

     I hiked at Kirstenbosch, which is basically acres of gardens.  South Africa is a beautiful place!

     I updated my blog  (had to mention it, in case you hadn't noticed!).

     And, I am looking forward to the new things that the New Year will bring!  

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; not it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.  The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I will give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people that I formed for myself that they might declare my praise."  Isaiah 43:19-21

     

     

Prayer Items

I know I have been posting in rapid succession lately.  You either hear nothing from me, or I inundate you with posts :)  So, don't forget to read the other posts too, but I just realized that I haven't updated you with anything to pray about lately.  And I realize that prayer is so vital!  So here are some things to pray specifically about:

Prayer items:

-Thanksgiving that I have access to a pedal-bike for getting to the health center where I volunteer so I no longer need to ask for rides all the time

-Thanksgiving for opportunities to pray with homeless people who ask me for money

-Thanksgiving for the Banting craze around here.  It means that there were gluten-free pancakes at the brunch I attended on Saturday :)

-Pray for A---- who came to the clinic to get help for his depression.  He is in a rough spot, but seems educated and motivated even in his state of depression.  Pray for his family back home, and for a job and a safe place to stay.  

-Prayer for wisdom in what ministries I really get involved in and how to use my time wisely

-Prayer for good relationships and friendships

Boys to Men and Girls to Women

     I cannot remember a time in my recent past that is as book-less as now!  All I have are textbooks on my Kindle, my Bible, and "Gems from "Tozer," a little book of selected writings by A.W. Tozer that I bought at the Operation Mobilization bookstore in Hyderabad.  Thankfully, Jess said I could read some of hers, so tonight I started "Long Walk to Freedom:  The autobiography of Nelson Mandela."
     I just read the part where he speaks of the initiation rituals around manhood.  Circumcision is the main component, including rituals that symbolize purity and leaving one's childhood behind.  At the end, they receive gifts from the community members, such as property and livestock, wherewith to start their life in a new capacity.  I like how the ceremony helps them get going in life with some assets.  Mandela writes:  "I felt strong and proud that day.  I remember walking differently on that day, straighter, taller, firmer.  I was hopeful, and thinking that someday I might have wealth, property, status."
     His descriptions strike me as so different from Canadian society, where I am not entirely sure what the expectation and definition of manhood is.  I am still amazed when I see North American men in their 30s still living at home, playing video games!  
     I wonder if we have any analogous observance or 'rites of passage ' in Canada...  Not anything so communitarian and formalized.  Perhaps when a man moves out... buys his own house... gets married?   There each boy yelled out "I am a man!" after the circumcision instrument descended;  I wonder when North American boys make that transition in their minds from boy to man.  One person I talked to said that he only consciously acknowledged it when he became a father.
     On a more personal note... when did I begin to classify myself as a woman instead of as a girl?... or am I still a girl? :)  I often still feel dependent and there are so many things I don't know!  But I don't think that being a woman means being totally independent and omniscient :)  I think I realize that I am no longer a child in moments when I realize my responsibility for my own health and education and for sorting out logistical things like visas and that.  I also realize that I am no longer a girl as people entrust me with more responsibility in things that 'really matter.'
     On a side note, I find it funny that some people think I am only 19.  People have thought that for 10 years now, since I was 12!
     And finally, on a suggestive note :)  I would love people to interact with me on this, sharing their comments and observations or perhaps the moment they made the transition to being 'grown-up' in their minds.