Monday October 8th, 2012
Last night Stacy and I had a throw down with a flying roach. We threw a towel on top of it, folded it up, and threw it out the door. Let me rephrase that, Stacy did most of it. I hid behind a door. The roach had originally been on my foot. I screamed and flicked it off and the madness began. “Not on my watch”, is what Stacy said after she threw the bug out. We laughed till we cried.
We all slept very well, with air conditioning even! We woke up to a cloudy and windy day. We met David at the other Lodge where we ate dinner last night. We first took a short walk in their treatment center. We saw African dogs and a King Cheetah that had a broken leg. The cheetah was beautiful. There are only 40 King Cheetahs in the world. They are a little bigger than regular cheetahs, and their spots kind of run together like strips. She was gorgeous. We got within 3 feet of her. We took the jeep out to the bush—on the way we saw a baby rhino and mother. We all got out of the jeep and started walking. We then got introduced to three cheetah siblings; Flopsy, Hunter, and Tombo. They were incredible. We got to pet them and pose with them. I went over to Flopsy with David. I started petting his face and chin and David grabbed my hand to scare me. I jumped back and David and Doug had a good laugh. I also got stuck in a thorn bush, which David had to help me out of. David had a much bigger gun with him today, which calmed everyone’s nerves alittle bit, especially Tomecios.
The cheetahs were amazing though—the whole game lodge gave u a completely different perspective of God. Seeing God’s creation in that way was so incredible. God has made us such a beautiful place to live. The Bush was so peaceful and it was very special to be able to walk with the cheetahs through it this morning. We even got to see them chase after a gazelle. None of us were ever scared. God really gave us an incredible, once in a life time experience today.
We had an amazing breakfast at the Lodge this morning, followed by a wonderful devotion out of John 15.
Devotion—
God chose us. We didin’t choose Him. We simply respond to his calling or we don’t. He chose us to bear fruit. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” I can not be fruitful unless I remain in Him. Apart from Jesus, I can do nothing. John 15 states a lot of “ if you do this, if you keep my commandments… then I will give you fruit.
It talked about how we are vines and branches. God prunes the bad out of our lives so we can grow and bear good fruit. Jesus is trying to eliminate stuff that doesn’t matter in your life, because it will take away from the good in life. We have the knowledge. We must educate, live the word. Our motivation should be different about serving because we love God, not because we want to be rewarded. Our team is learning that we must serve in all areas of life. We have so many resources, yet we tend to hoard them, keep them for ourselves.
We then headed to the Horizon offices in Tzaneen. We first stopped at a shopping area where I got a beautiful Africa charm and necklace. We all got really interesting things.
We got to met Nellie and Andres, their grand children, and a few of the workers at Horizon. A truck filled with food stopped and we helped unload the supplies into the building. The food will be sent out to different locations to prepare meals at Drop-In centers for children. We hurried back to Ave Maria, got all of our sponsor gifts and headed to Segkopo to the drop in center there. How awesome it was to meet all the kids and see what five years of work and relationships look like in Africa. Northview has donated a lot of time and money into this center. It was beautiful. It even had a computer room. It is kind of like what our YMCA’s are like here in America, but just for the children after school. Seeing and interacting with the kids was incredible. I can’t really even begin to describe it. A lot of the team members got to meet their sponsor children for the first time. What a neat experience that time was for them.
These kids consider their sponsors to be their American parents. They don’t have parents. It is a very emotional experience for both, the kids and the sponsors. The kids got to eat a hot meal and then we started our program. Doug introduced our team, and of course he made me do a back flip in front of all 300 people.
The choir was so amazing today and I broke down crying when they sang “This Little Light of Mine”. I need to let that light shine. Jesus has chosen me. I did not chose him. He already hand picked me—for me to be a light to the poor, the needy, the orphans. God is really opening up my heart and eyes. I want him to use me in every way possible to glorify Him and bring more people to Him. Obed, my little boy, wasn’t there today. Stacy and Tomecio’s children weren’t there either so we will be coming back later on in the week.
We came back to Ave Maria to eat dinner and we had a long team discussion on how the church’s number one mission needs to be on being the image of God. The only way we can do that is to be like Jesus.
What did Jesus do? Feed the needy, love the weary, and care for the widows and orphans. I must be a light to show to others the need for sponsorship—the need for people to be serious about saving the orphans of this world. I need to show people through my actions that serving others brings you closer to God and brings you true happiness. I am not the solution—just a catalyst. The kids are the future of this broken country.Africa needs children to believe in themselves, so they can change this hurting country! We debriefed for a while and sorted through gifts, crafts, and blew up soccer balls. We are all so excited and ready to work hard tomorrow for the children. I am in charge of games with Chris and Tim. We are so excited about them! We are going to teach them how to stretch and play relay races. Each group has 20-30 minutes at each station. We have a craft station, a game station, and a teaching lesson station. We have no idea how many kids will show up, but we are excited to love on them and have a great day tomorrow.
Lord, help us to be an inspiration to all the children tomorrow. Let your light shine through all of us tomorrow. Thank you Jesus for another wonderful day.
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