Sawubona!!!
I’m excited to be back to my good ole blog. I know, I’ve been a lil MIA. Well,
it was for a very good reason. Remember I was talking about going for missions
during summer time in some of my blogs? Yeah, I went for a three-week missions trip
in South Africa! :-) I returned a week ago, and like usual, I had to take some
time off to rest before getting all busy with blogging. Lol Oh, and ‘sawubona’
is an isiZulu word in SA which means ‘greetings’! (Putting my SA vocab to good
use, eh? ;) Anyway, I have a lot to update you guys on and it’s going to be
mostly pictures in the subsequent blogs. Cool? Good.
Yurp, I got the window seat. ;)
To be part
of the trip is such a blessing and an answer to a prayer I said to God. He is
such a faithful God! My going on the trip is a testimony in itself. I’m so
thankful to all the people who supported me. I pray for
God’s blessings over your lives. So much happened and my experience throughout
the trip is one I’ll always remember. :)
My dinner on the plane. Main dish was noodles with chicken. Yum, yum!
The chocolate pudding was delish!
The sun rising in Jo'burg.
The view of Jo'burg from my window before landing.
Finally at OR Tambo Int airport after the 6 hr flight.
The Potter’s
House church in Boksburg hosted us. (God forever bless them & oh, btw they have no connection with T.D Jakes church.) We ministered in
schools, in the streets, we held camps, we had a number of Jesus marches
throughout some communities and did a number of awesome things.
The Potter's House, Boksburg
The street infront of the Potter's House- Commissioner street
South Africa
is such a beauty! The streets are artistically designed, the buildings are
beautiful, the food is quite healthy and in abundance, there are quite a number
of parks around and some amazing lakes. We went to Swaziland to minister there
during the second weekend of my stay in SA and it was such a lovely time. I met
some amazing people in Boksburg, Johannesburg and in Big Bend, Swaziland. I
soaked in all of the things and scenes, never wanting to miss anything. Haha
One of the malls
Posing while the others waited at the counter ordering our meal.lol
One thing
though, SA was extremely cold cos it was their winter time. The temperature
could drop especially at night to as low as the negatives. It was that cold! I
could layer up with four tops, two cardigans and a jacket, but the bitter cold
still got to me. Wheew! The sun would come up during the day alright, but the
wind blowing is terribly cold that you don’t feel any warmth from the sun. So
the sun was more of a light giving element than a warmth giving one. There were
times when I saw vapour pouring out of my mouth when I spoke. I began to think
how bad it could get if it had snowed. I really missed the warmth back in
Ghana. Smh
We visited Care Bible Church and I met Serena there.
The change
in weather even made me ill. It made most of us ill to be honest. I suffered a
fever for a number of days. I had chills, headaches, tummy aches, I was
nauseous, I threw up a couple of times, I lost appetite. :( But by His
stripes, I was healed in time for the Swaziland missions. Isn’t God awesome?!
The beautiful man-made lake which was near where we lived in Boksburg.
On the
contrary however, Swaziland was way better. We stayed with a host family there
in Big Bend for a weekend. It only got cold in the early mornings and evenings there. Day time
was as warm as Ghana.
By the lake.
South Africa
honestly taught me never to take the sunshine back home for granted but to be
very grateful for it. To feel a little warmth in SA was great joy for me. I
knew SA was going to be cold but I guess I underestimated how cold it could
actually get.
Apartments overlooking the lake.
There were a
number of things I observed which were a bit of a culture shock like the fact
that they still drive on the right. That took a little getting used to,
considering that we drive on the left in Ghana. The oranges there are actually
orange on the outside, unlike the green-looking yet sweet ones in Ghana. And their
oranges are seedless! Like, you find no seed in them. That was surprising to
me.
Also, one of their common dishes is rice with soup! Lol I’m used to
eating rice with stew/sauce so that one too took a lil getting used to. Meat/chicken
is always in plenty though. Truth is, they love meat! Haha
One of the cute houses on the way to Reigerpark.
Yeah, that's a glass gate on the far right of this house.
In terms of
morality and spirituality, there’s so much work to be done. Most of the youth
smoke and drink...it’s so sad. Some mothers even smoke and give the cigarette
to their babies to smoke too! I still can’t process this bit. Too horrible! The
gay guys aren’t embarrassed in the least about their sexuality. They’re so open
about it and even dress like females. Smh
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for abortion is found everywhere on their streets! I was so shocked when I saw
them... I just pray the Godly seeds we’ve gone to sow in the land will grow by
God’s grace and the people held captive by the devil will be set free in Christ
forever. A teenager getting pregnant and giving birth is no big deal there. It’s
more like the norm. Hmm, it’s so sad.
Cool building huh
There was an
incidence that really surprised me. During the last Jesus march we had, a guy
and a girl were busy smoking through some pipe thingy right before our eyes.
They looked on at us with our Jesus placards, music and all but they couldn’t
be bothered. Some of us went to talk to them, they seemed to listen but they
continued smoking anyway. I stared at them for the longest time, wondering how
they got to this point in their lives where the life giving message of Jesus
meant nothing to them. My heart broke and still breaks for them. All I can do
is keep praying for the lost in SA. Please do too.
So
basically, this is the sum of my experience on missions field in SA. I’ll blog more
about it using more of pictures. :-)
Jesus loves
you, yes you! Keep believing. xoxo
Delali.
