Busy Weekend

We made it to the weekend and normally for most people that is a time to relax.  Our weekend did have some relaxation time but we also had ministry opportunities on each day.  Saturday began with our family heading out in the morning to hunt again.  Now Jaelyn is the only one in our family left to hunt.  We were dropped off back at the same blind that we were in last night for my successful Kudu hunt.  We had Jabulani as our PH and we were all together again to support Jaelyn in her hunting adventure.  Although we never had the right size Impala come close enough for Jaelyn to shoot we had a great morning watching all kinds of wildlife.  Hunting as a family at times can feel like everyone sitting playing games on their phones while the PH watches for animals but really it is only like that part of the time. It has been good to be together as a family in this way.  There has been a lot of laughter in our family during this whole trip, including in the hunting blinds.  This morning Crystelle was playing cameraman filming all the animals that were coming and going.  It was a most incredible morning having over 50 animals come and go from the area we were sitting in.  We saw Guinea Fowl, Monkeys, Blue Wildebeests, Impala, Zebra and Blesbok.  What a show everything put on for us!  

Having a monkey come right to the window of our blind and Crystelle being inches apart for a few seconds before both Crystelle and the monkey startled one another was a highlight for us all.  There was some good giggles after that.  Even Jabulani was trying to hold it back.  We may of had a couple hours first thing in the morning with no action but from about 9:30 on we constantly had animals nearby with some even laying down just yards from the blind.  We virtually wore out the batteries on the camera getting video of all these animals that we don’t normally have opportunity to see.  If you want to hear another story from this day of hunting ask Jaelyn to tell your her “#1” story!  

Our hunt came to an end around noon and then we had to continue preparations for the Unite youth conference that Shikwaru was hosting for the local youth in Mokopane.  We had begun preparations for this the night before by deciding who would host each activity and planned out a service for the evening.  It felt a little overwhelming to have a big chunk of this ministry put on us with not much prep time, but despite how tired everyone was it still came together pretty well.

Basically the youth would be arriving any time after 2 pm and spending the afternoon doing various activities at Shikwaru with our team.  It included a craft table (yeah, we got to use our beads and string that we forgot to take to Zambia), “putt putt golf” as they call it here, frisbee golf, archery, swimming, volleyball, pool tables and table tennis.  We had people at all these locations supervising and willing to spend time with the kids.  At 6pm supper was served for the over 100 kids who attended.  A live worship band was playing and you could tell that the kids were having a great time.  Many of the black kids who attended started their own kinda worship time while they were swimming in the pool.  They just began singing in harmony multiple worship songs while wading in the cool water.  They have such energy and outward love for the Lord that you don’t see often in kids in North America.  It was a very cool thing to witness! 

Our team was running the service after supper that included some skits and games for fun and to get the kids excited and laughing.  Jaelyn and I kicked things off by showing the kids how Canadian girls get ready for youth conferences.  Basically, Jaelyn was the head while I was her arms  and hands.  I had to reach through from the back while hiding behind her in the same big t-shirt and use my hands to brush her teeth and hair, wash her face and do other beautifying things that girls do to get ready for big events.  I think the kids enjoyed it but I really couldn’t see much from where I was at!  The service also had a good worship time led by the live band along with Brennan and Anna who taught the kids the Salvation Poem Song.  John Wheeler had a great message for the kids of his experience being an adopted child and related it to them also needing to be adopted into the family of God.  No one came forward for prayer but it was an effective message despite the howling wind that tipped over the speakers.  John also had to battle a power outage in the middle of the sermon where lights went out and his microphone would not work but being outside with a huge fire pit burning nearby provided enough light.  

It was a good evening but I think that our team is worn out at this point.  You can imagine how the illness has been a factor as well all week.  I’m so proud of our family for working so hard this week to serve in as many ways as we could.  Many of the Centershot Team are wore out, so you can imagine how proud I am that our girls have done so well serving for an additional week prior to the rest of the team coming!  They have done so well with all the early morning and have not complained.

I should mention that around lunch time on Saturday both Crystelle and Terrace came down with fevers and were not feeling very well.  Terrace was able to perk up by supper time but she rested for a good chunk of the afternoon.  Crystelle was feeling a little more rough and needed to rest the whole afternoon and evening. The illness’ have just continued to hit our team with new members each time.  Today Danielle and Sam were also not feeling well and missed out on the youth conference.  Please continue to pray that everyone will feel better and that those who have not got sick yet will not be sick for travelling home as that could be an uncomfortable situation.  By this morning everyone was feeling better for the most part.  Crystelle was still not 100% as she seems to be coming down with more of a sinus infection/cold, but she was able to still participate in all the days events today.

Today we were able to sleep in to almost 7:30 AM.  The only thing on the schedule for today was attending church for those who wanted to go.  Some members of the team were going on the lion walk today or staying at lodge to hunt.  We went with a group of 11 from our team to attend Leon’s church in Mokopane.  Leon has been working for RaG for over a year full time but has been volunteering for them for about 10 years I believe.  He has assisted in beginning a church in Mokopane that meets right now in a tent.  I believe about 150 people attend with about 1/3 being kids.  It is in quite a poor neighbourhood similar to the neighbourhood of one of the drop in centres that we served at a few days ago. Our team helped to assist with some games for the children’s church time, which is in the first half of the service.  I kinda like that the kids come back to the main service for the sermon time.  

A couple nights ago Leon had asked if I would speak in the main service for 15 minutes as well.  Boy, I did not feel prepared to do that but I agreed that I could speak for about 10 minutes for sure.  I only had late Saturday night to really prepare anything but I could tell that God was helping to give me something to say that would hopefully fit with the theme of Leon’s message for this week.  When he asked me to help in this way along with one other team member who agreed to speak I could not help but think of 1Peter 3:15 which speaks of always being prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks about the hope that is within you.  I guess this was a test to see if I could give an answer.  Leon had also told me that his message was about “preaching Christ”.  This led me to the passage in 1 Cor 1:20-25 where it talks of “preaching Christ crucified”.  These verses talk about man’s wisdom versus God’s as well as man’s strength versus God’s.  The lesson in this for me was that I may feel inadequate and not very bold a lot of times.  For me, especially in my work place!  I also may make excuses why I am not wise enough to share the gospel.  What would I say?  It is often easier to be bold and share Christ in a situation such as this when your on a missions trip.  But my challenge was for them, and especially for myself, is to be more bold to preach Christ in my home situation (at work for me).  We cannot all go far away to share the gospel like our family did this time but we can all chose to do it close to home. Sometimes this can be the most challenging place to do it and we often feel we don’t have the wisdom to do it (an excuse).  But God wants us to be faithful and preach Christ.  He can use our words, which may seem like foolishness or unwise, to save any He wishes, and He wishes for all to be saved!

I must admit that after church I did feel a sense of relief that we don’t have any other things to prepare  for on this trip.  Our official ministry time is complete.  But who know who God may put in our path to share with while we are still here or travelling home.  Our journey seems to be winding down somewhat.  I sense in the girls and Crystelle and desire to be heading home soon.  We look forward to a couple days of activities at Shikwaru.  Sunday afternoon was spent visiting and relaxing for Crystelle, while Jaellyn, Terrace, and I as well as Danielle (who is our fellow SK girl) went out to hunt.  Danielle came along to film our hunt.  She has a passion for filming hunting and outdoor shows and is very gifted at it.  It was fun to have her along with us and we had another great afternoon of seeing animals.  Just not the right opportunity for Jaelyn yet but we are still hoping her hunt will work out soon.

This evening we had a brainstorming meeting with the Centershot leaders who are here.  It is always great to see how other groups run their ministry and to be encouraged for our upcoming Fall session of Centershot.  We are looking forward to that coming up this October.  Although, I hate to speak of Fall as if it is close already!