Just to let you know I wrote this a week ago so everthing that I talk about happened a week ago:)
I'm sure ya'll are wondering how ministry is going and really what I do for ministry here. Well I think its about time I tell you! I am with a group of four people from our group, their names are Nicole, Jess, and Davie, and everyday we meet together at 1:00 and pray about where God wants us and just his guidance through out the time in the township. We pray for around a half an hour and then we walk into the township and continue to ask God where we should go. We also have families that we visit weekly now and we're building relationships with them and really understanding the people we visit is the best way to know what we're doing so the next couple of blogs will be about the families that we visit.
Please just imagine with me: You're 71 years old, you still are totally functional and capable of getting most things for your self. Then all of a sudden a stroke hits you and you are incapable of doing anything by yourself. There are no depends or bed pans to ketch your waste just the bed. So you lie in bed day in and day out in your own waste. This was how we found Evelyn the third week we were in Jeffreys Bay. When we went to her room for the first time, the room smelt of urine and she was so bundled up in blankets we could hardly see her face. But she was so overjoyed for us coming and visiting her; even though we couldn't understand her very well, the happiness in her eyes and tears of joy spoke for themselves. She broke our hearts and there was no way we were not going to continue to see her and pray for her. And that's what we did, we would go to her house and pray and sit with her; sometimes we could understand her and other times we couldn't at all. We were also getting to know the rest of her family as well, we would hang out with the kids and watch tv with them and every time we would leave we would pray for Evelyn. We thought she was getting better, one day it seemed like she could totally communicate with us and us communicate to her. Unfortunately that was only one day. I guess we should have expected it sooner then it actually happened because she was sleeping whenever we came by and she said herself that no one could help her now. But still this last Thursday came as a total surprise. When we walked into the house we found ourselves meeting one of her sisters and when we looked into her bedroom the bed was stripped and there was no one there. Evelyn had died last Saturday. It was a shock at first because we weren't expecting to walk into this but I guess God had other plans. Evelyn has been through so much and has had so many struggles, it was time for Evelyn to go home. She now can walk and run and praise God the way she is suppose to. There is no more pain and sorrow for her, just pure joy and peace. And although Evelyn is gone we are just beginning our ministry in that house hold, I believe Evelyn lasted as long as she did so we could be introduced to the rest of her family. When we found out that Evelyn had died we also were introduced to her three sisters that were still alive. They are the sweetest people ever! They all live somewhere else and so they had just gotten into town and trying to clean up the place for the funeral. The three sisters names are Nelly, Violet and I think Cynthia or something similar to that (I know I'm so bad with names). So once we were introduced we asked if we could help them in anyway possible. They told us that there was still a lot of family coming and they didn't have enough money to feed them and buy food for the funeral. So we walk down to U save (grocery store) and bought them some food. When we came back they were so grateful of the food they started crying for joy. Nelly told us that she has never had a white person help her in anyway! How amazing is that! I feel so honored that God would use our group to show that we really are equal. Then we also helped build a little shack for them to store things and when they cooked outside they could get out of the wind and rain. Oh and one of the most amazing things about this was that our team had been praying for more ways to be intentional in telling people about God and being an example and for healing for Evelyn and just for brokenness and I believe God answered all of those prayers! We were able to show Jesus to them by providing for them and giving God the glory. God is so good and its still hitting me hard how much God has a hand in everything we do. Sometimes I just forget but when things like this happen it just makes me in awe of him. So yeah we went to the funeral today and it was really interesting. The whole sermon was in Xhosa so we didn't understand it but they sing so beautiful here and that was enjoying. They also had food after the funeral and I had goat for the first time I thought it tasted good but couldn't get over the texture of itJ But anyways God has his hand in the relation here so I would much appreciate all of your prayers as we continue to minister and show Jesus to this family. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and I hope this gives you a little insight into my life right now. Be blessed!
PS I'm sorry I don't have any pictures up something is wrong with the server or something. I'll try to get some up later have an amazing day!
