Hello from Ifafi,
South Africa
and Happy late Thanksgiving! I hope
y’all enjoyed your holiday, and that extra time with the family. Living in community has taught me a lot about
the importance of thanksgiving. For the
last two weeks, we had been living on an awesome homestead. For most of the time, we lived without power,
and I became an expert at bucket baths (which if I may add feel quite nice
after a morning run). In this period of
time our group shared our clothes, food, struggles, encouragements, and etc. Our pastor in Swaziland lives everyday in
thanksgiving. In Psalm 95:2, the Lord says,
“let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and
song.� Pastor Walter gives and shares
every material possession he owns with his church family and anybody that is in
need. In Swaziland, nearly the whole country
is in need. They have absolutely
nothing. I found it incredible that
Pastor Walter would give even the clothes off his own back to the needy, and he
always stays faithful that the Lord will put enough food on his table to feed
his family (even when he has given away all his money). He has said that the Lord has always
provided. I almost wonder how I used to
be so materialistic when I was in the states.
It is hard to share your new stuff with others. I mean come on it’s your stuff right? I’ve learned this is a huge lie since I’ve
been here in South Africa! Everything I have is the Lord’s. In whatever way it comes to me I must
remember that it was Lord that blessed me with that thing, and that I should be
more than willing to share or give away that thing. It is hard to think how amazing the meals are
at my family’s thanksgiving table when there are thousands of orphans in
Swaziland that eat only 3 out of the 4 weeks in the month with only 1 or 2
small meals a day. They don’t complain
about the same meal they get everyday.
It is a starving nation that God has broken me for. I am so thankful to spend my thanksgiving
here in South Africa.
    We however
had an amazing Thanksgiving. There is a
gal that is on one of ministry teams in Swaziland that came with her team
to celebrate with us. Her parents were
on a business trip in Hong Kong, and flew in
to spend the holiday with her. So, not
only did they fly in to surprise her, but they also payed for everyone’s
thanksgiving dinner at this five star restaurant! What an incredible blessing. They served salad, mashed potatoes &
gravy, and homemade cranberries. After that,
they served us the main course. The main
course was carrots, pod peas, sweet potatoes, and a turkey stuffed with some of
the finest stuffing’s I’ve ever eaten. To
top that off we had pumpkin pie and some apple blueberry concoction. There were over 100 of us at the dinner, and
I learned how to attempt to carve a turkey.
It was such a blessing that God provided us with such a meal like
that. I only wish everybody eating that
meal had given up their spot so a Swazi orphan could celebrate a real
thanksgiving meal. I was also happy to
be reunited with the Kenya
team. It had been a couple of weeks
since we had seen them. So sharing
thanksgiving with them was more than I could have hoped for.
    The only
problem was that after the meal, the lions weren’t on tv, and I wasn’t sleeping
with the rest of my family in my Grandma’s living room. But, if that is the only thing I’ve got to
dream about, then I would say the holiday went pretty well for me. We got to go back to Alabanza after the meal,
and then we had a debrief session. It
was neat because we got in groups of 4 (2 from each team), and we talked about
our ministry experiences, our struggles, what the Lord was doing in our lives
in those last couple weeks apart. The
rest of my thanksgiving was quite relaxing.
My discipler, Wilson, went to the store and picked up all kinds of food
to cook on the brai. We spent about an
hour eating and hanging out, and then we listened to a John Piper sermon. It was a great way to end a thanksgiving. Praise Him for an amazing day even though it
is not easy being away from home during the holidays. I miss y’all at home ;)