Another Great South African Week!

I think I’ve gotten to the point where I’m so accustomed to Southern Africa that I’m forgetting a little bit what it’s like to live in the United States haha. Don’t worry though, I’ll be fine when I get back. In Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa my team is working with an orphanage where they have kids that are babies to almost kindergarten age. They do some curriculum some days (preschool) and other days we’re there to share Bible stories and the love of God! We are not allowed to take pictures of the children, which will make for less pictures this week, however we have more than just that ministry here in South Africa. I spent one day down with the preschoolers on the main level. The main level had one plot of land that is rectangular in shape with a small school type building off in the corner. So their play space is L-shaped around the school building. They love to play outside with their toys that they have, there’s a couple bikes and a lot of dump trucks and other construction trucks as well (of course they’re all toys, not real ones haha). I spent the other two days we were there up in the nursery with the babies and the lady who takes care of them 24/7. She is truly an amazing woman who volunteers her time in retirement to these babies. Some of the stories of how these kids got to this orphanage are seriously mind blowing. I loved being with the kids all week. I loved getting a chance to hear the story about the lady who cares for the babies, and am eager to share more about me and hear more about her. I got to hold, feed, change diapers, etc with all the babies and we watched Peppa Pig as they fell asleep as well. I’m going to be very well versed in Peppa Pig by the time I leave South Africa! One of the babies (about 1.5 years old) stayed up the whole time during nap time (remind you of anyone???) and just wanted to watch Peppa Pig, so I stayed up with him and held him for hours. It was amazing. After ministry our team goes out and has team time/Bible study and we found a nice coffee shop to do so at. One of the baristas that greeted us is named Nick, and he’s not currently a believer, but he’s a really cool person that seems to have a little interest in God. So we plan to go to that coffee shop and continue to build a relationship with him and share more about why we’re here and why we love God! There’s a picture of me in there talking to him and building up a relationship! Stay tuned for different ministries and adventures. We got to be a part of the school’s track and field day on Friday! We helped set up and ran some of the events for the kids there. Addisyn and I ran a “survivor” event where the kids had to balance a ball rolling down a board to the other side and also a memory type game where they had to send someone to memorize a pattern and relay that information back to their team! It was quite a fun day, and the kids seemed to love it. I also got a chance to go out into the areas of Jeffrey’s Bay that aren’t as reached with one of the locals and the rest of our guys that does ministry there often. We did some street evangelism and I got to speak to a boy who didn’t know Jesus and we told him all about who he is and what he did for us. We asked him if he wanted that kind of love and grace in his life and he said he did! We taught him how to pray and then we prayed with him and he ended up praying to God in his own language as well! That was super cool to see. I apologize again for the lack of pictures, but I will hopefully get more in the weeks to come.