The day began fairly gloomy to most people, but in this country, even the gloomiest days are far more beautiful than anything we’d see at home. Luckily the rain subsided by mid-morning and gave way to the sun, allowing both teams to move out into the sun.
At Overcome, the morning was filled with movie watching and far too much American humiliation for one lifetime (singing in a South African accent is quite an impressive skill we all need to work on), but we were able to spend a lot of time dancing and playing with the kids when the weather let up for us. The end of the morning was full of sorrowful goodbyes as we celebrated our last day with the kids, it was astounding to see how much of an impact we made on these kids as all they wanted to do is hold onto us and not let us leave, even for the day. In the morning at Capricorn, we started the day by playing games and laughing with the kids. We were still able to get some energy out of the kids inside, considering they treated us like human jungle gyms. We acted out a Bible stories and also played a game and sang to teach our daily memory verse. We were very lucky as we exhausted the children a bit further by playing assorted games outside. It was a good balance of all of our past days’ activities. We finally said our goodbyes to the children, as impossible as it was.
Our two Brookwood teams then reunited at Capricorn and our trusted driver, Frans, took us to the Waterfront again, where we were chilled to the bone with nothing but our hot drinks from our new favorite bakery, Knead, for protection from the dropping temperatures (exaggeration intended). We packed up from our typical lunch spot and prepared to begin our afternoon teen camps.
This afternoon at the Overcome Heights, we opened with fierce game of soccer and also singing and dancing outside of the trailer. We headed inside to direct the memory verse lesson and to continue singing. We then resumed Facing the Giants, a movie that not only had a great Christian message for the attendees but also gave the teenagers an opportunity to make fun of our American football and southern accent. We once again said goodbyes with just the knowledge that we will see many of the people with whom we had built friendships tomorrow at career day. In Capricorn this afternoon, we were met by many new faces (most likely brought in by Paul’s riveting testimony the day before) that seemed, initially, reluctant to do much of anything other than play soccer, but after some highly competitive “icebreaker games” (shuffle your buns, anyone?), many of the participants opened up a bit and became far more receptive to us. We completed the story of Joseph and partook in more American humiliation as the story was read in numerous voice and performing styles. After teaching the Bible verse, Mrs. Barnette gave an amazing testimony that rivaled Paul’s and many of the students seemed to leave with far more on their mind than sandwiches and oranges. All in all, numbers and smiles kept growing as we did our best to lift up the staff and spread the word of the Lord.
Tonight, we were honored to have the founders of the Living Hope charity, John and Avril Thomas, join us for another delicious meal made by our cook, Nadine. They told us the story of how their ministry began and we were all shocked by the stories they told of toddlers with sexually transmitted diseases and young teenagers resorting to partying and contracting AIDS in an attempt to escape the clouds of poverty that seem to cover these two townships. It was incredibly inspiring and we all want to do anything we can to bolster this group of fully selfless volunteers. If you want to help right now, please go to http://www.livinghope.co.za/donate-now.html and donate, they need all the help they can get! Go for God/God Speed!
Stewart and Shelby
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