Church (2nd part to update)

What is Church? What does it mean to you personally? Since living in South Africa I have been thinking about that a lot. Our community has a big emphasis on being the church in all we do in everyday activities. It's really great! But, it has been hard to think of church outside the box and not just a Sunday thing. Today we had a Good Friday service (we will also have a day of reflection on Saturday and a service on Easter Sunday). Although I have enjoyed all of our Friday "church" services, this one really moved me. We had a lot of people joining us tonight: friends of staff, others who are involved with our community regularly, apprentices from 2005 who were here for the conference, and about 10 twentyish year olds from the township who are mentored by one of the staff members. It was a really moving service...probably one of the best ones I have attended for Good Friday recently. (I actually helped lead a worship song for the first time...it was great!) However, after service about 5 of us took our leftover food out to some of the people who live on the streets in our city's town center. That was really moving! They were so grateful! After that the township boys took over the piano. They were singing and dancing and just showing off. It was pretty great! After those two things I thought, "This is what church is really about: being a community while serving your community...both in giving food out, giving those in our "community" a safe, welcoming place to come to, and worship our God together." Just some thoughts I was having on Church. I hope it was interesting to read and think about. :)

manda

Conference and Listening

Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve updated. Well, not too long but I guess a lot has been going on here. So…sorry in advance that this will be a long one again!

On March 7^th, we started receiving our guests for the NieuCommunities conference, and they were all here by March 9^th. This began 3 days of service on the part of the apprentices. We were allowed to attend the conference when we were able to…as it was held in our house…but we had odd jobs to attend to as well, like babysitting and getting lunch prepared. I was on the transportation team so I got to put my driving skills to the test! I made countless runs to the airport between arrivals and departures. I also drove some of the conference attendees around town throughout the afternoons. I can’t believe that just 2 months ago I was picked up from the airport and everything was so foreign! Now I can get there and back no problem! Except for the time I turned out of the gas station onto the wrong side of the road!!! It took me a couple of seconds to realize why it felt so wrong to be in that lane…yet so right at the same time! I guess the car turning onto that road into my lane clued me in real fast! Luckily, I was able to get out of that one with no problems. I think that’s the only main flaw in my South African driving record so far!

Hosting the NieuCommunities conference was awesome! It was such a bonus…and blessing… for us apprentices that it happened to fall on our year and in South Africa. We got to see the bigger picture of CRM and NieuCommunities and get a good feel for the bigger family that we are apart of. We met some amazing people and got to hear some great stories. Some of the men and women working for CRM have been at this for awhile and not all of their stories are good ones. One of the main themes of the conference was that we are all called to be Apprentices of Jesus and that this comes with a cost. It really made me think. What will my cost be? Will I be ready to pay it? What will my future hold? Sometimes it makes me really excited to see what’s ahead in following God on this journey and other times I’m scared. But, I just keeping taking this one step at a time. Right now, I am in South Africa still enjoying every second of the journey I am currently on…well, almost every second. The president of CRM was at our conference and gave a wonderful talk about suffering and the cost of following the Cross. One thing he gave us to think about was, “If I had been spared ____________, I would have missed out on God’s best for my life.” That’s an interesting statement to think about. I had a really difficult last year of teaching, but if I had been spared it I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Has there been a tough time in your life that you can now see as something God has used for good?

Although the conference was good, I did have a few days of feeling really down. I wasn’t sure why though…which can be very frustrating. I am still learning to listen to God more and work through those times. My usual routine is to just push past those times and not think through them. It’s tough to get down to the root of things sometimes! I think one of the things making me sad at odd times is just feeling homesick from time to time and really missing my family and friends! Another thing that upset me was that Petunia, the woman I spoke of last time, lost a sister very suddenly last week. This was the 4^th sibling she has lost! There are now 3 of them left! Please pray for their family that they would find comfort in God through this time of confusion and pain.

Next week we will be concluding our Listening posture. It’s been a great 6 weeks, though pretty tough at times. In the beginning, I felt like I was truly emptied so that I could be built back up the way God wanted. I started out feeling like I had nothing to offer and I constantly focused on what I did wrong instead of seeing areas in which I was gifted or maybe just needed to work on. That was tough! Now, I am beginning to see more and more how God has gifted me…thanks to a bunch of personality tests we have taken (among other things)! Although they can be draining they are very insightful! One of the main verses I continue to hold onto is Psalm 139, especially the part about being wonderfully made. I now see that God has made me just as he wants me. I don’t need to be jealous of other’s gifts in my community. I have something unique to offer. The other great part is that I am definitely beginning to feel more bold and courageous through His strength. When we read a book on spiritual temperaments I scored high in the Activist category but I was only medium-low in the practicing of it. I think a part of that was not feeling worthy, that I didn’t have anything to offer, or that I wasn’t a leader in that way. Now I feel like God can use me and I have the courage to take some steps I may not have in the past.

Because of these feelings, I am much more excited to start my ministry work. I am going back to talk with the girls’ home in downtown Pretoria called the Lerato House…which I know I have spoken of before. I really feel like this is where God is calling me. I am also excited to get involved with the anti-trafficking movement, which the Lerato House is apart of. Human trafficking hurts my heart so much and I want to be apart of stopping it! So, as we exit the Listening posture we will enter the Submerging posture and really dive into our ministries. I look forward to giving you updates soon on how things go in that area!

Today began our celebration of Easter. For Holy Thursday we celebrated the Last Supper with the traditional Sedar meal. It was really interesting as I had never done that before. I recommend everyone celebrating this at least once! It’s really fun to remember where we all came from as a Christian community by looking at Jewish history/traditions. Tomorrow we will be having a Good Friday service at Pangani (my home) as well as a day of reflection on Saturday and an Easter service on Sunday morning…followed by a community breakfast. It should be a wonderful weekend! I pray that you all encounter Jesus in a special way throughout this Easter weekend.

Here in South Africa we are entering into Fall. From last Thursday night through yesterday (wed.) we had pouring down rain and really cold weather! It was crazy! Just \ days before we had hot, beautiful weather. Because of that rain though, Fall has set in. We had a gorgeous day today but it wasn’t too hot out, which was really nice! Winter might be a bit tough here since there is no central heating, but I think this Southerner will survive.

Ok, I think that’s all I have…for now. Thanks so much for reading and keeping up with me…if you are still reading. I hope all is well on your end of the world!

Much love and prayers!

manda

Sunday in South Africa

Today was my second church experience in South Africa, the first one being on Ash Wednesday. I have been anxious to try some of the churches around here to find one that might fit. I have a feeling I might do some church hopping this year, but that's ok for now. Today's experience was quite different from the norm. But, it reminded me of the church service I went to the last time I was in South Africa, so that was neat.

We went to Beaula Tabernacle Church, which is in the township Soshanguve. The service was quite lively...but very hot!!! It was indoors but the sun just beats down on this church and there is not much reprieve from the heat! (But it didn't affect the people and their spirits one bit!) The people at this church, which is fairly new, are wonderful! They had all the guests stand up and introduce themselves and then they played this song and everyone went around to give you hugs. I absolutely loved how welcoming they were! It gives you a great image of what church should be like. You could tell that all cared for each other like family. They all helped take care of the children...you never knew who was the mom of who! :) They also announced that they were having wedding showers for different couples. What a community! I could tell that these people loved the Lord whole heartedly! You couldn't help but feel lifted up upon leaving that place of worship!

There were five of us who went with our friends Luc and Petunia (and two of their guests). Luc was on staff with NieuCommunities the past few years and has recently moved over to InnerChange, which is another organization of CRM. (click on InnerChange to learn more.) It's a ministry that is focused on the poor and lives in and among them. Luc and Petunia have been married a couple of years and have 2 daughters, Moskey and Bahati. Luc is actually a refugee from the Congo and Petunia is from South Africa. They are an amazing family with a huge heart for God and His people. I know God is going to do amazing things through them as they join the InnerChange "family". They are actually starting the ministry here in South Africa so the team is just them. I believe they are having some apprentices come soon, so hopefully the team will be growing larger! If you have a desire to support this group or Luc personally, let me know! Luc and Petunia currently live in a house on Pangani's property, but they will be moving to Soshanguve very soon. They will be missed very much!!! However, it's going to be awesome to have InnerChange and NieuCommunites both in South Africa! I think it will make a great team!

Personally, things continue to go well. There are times when I really miss my friends and family still, but I truly love the people I am getting the chance to do life with right now. I am still trying to seek God with my all. I am finally getting better at spending some time alone and with God. It's hard to get that time when there are so many people around! You really have to make an effort! I am still praying about my place of ministry but still feel called to the Lerato House for Girls. I will hopefully get to go back and visit next week. Please pray for me in that area and that I would heed to God's calling.

I hope all is well on the other side of the world! I would love any prayer requests from you as well!

Much love and prayers!

manda :)