First off, I apologize, to those of you who have been following the blog, you have obviously noticed that there has not been anything posted since before I left. Literally blogging while I was there was simply not possible, and it has taken me quite some time to process 10 life changing days and write them into a few short paragraphs.
So here it goes:
Upon arriving Saturday night in Capetown we were me by some staff from Southpoint Church (this is a Strategic partner of Northpoint ministries, and we coordinated our trip with them) where we got in decent cars, drove down decent roads, and checked into our very nice and clean hotel. It certainly did not give us the "this is Africa" feeling. Day one ended still not knowing quite what to expect.
Sunday morning we got up before 6 a.m. to help Southpoint set up for service. They do not have a large enough facility to meet on Sunday mornings, so they use a nearby office park. Each week they literally build their WaumbaLand (preschool) and UpStreet (elementary) environments from scratch. The Volunteers for this church are incredible. We later went to a place called "Signal Hill" which had one of the most amazing views of all time. CapeTown is literally one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Monday was our first day with MetroKids. MetroKids is an INCREDIBLE organization that runs VBS type camps, sunday schools, and other ministry to children. We were working in the township of Khayelitsha about 20 minutes outside of CapeTown. Monday was a meeting with all the staff and volunteers to get to know each other and plan for the Camp which began Tuesday. One cool part of this was being able to walk through the township as we advertised the camp to the children. We were able to see the way they lived. Many of the volunteers were from this community and they showed us where they lived.
Tuesday - Thursday These days were all about MetroKids camp. After an unfortunate car break in where we lost our craft supplies, this turned out to be arguably the greatest kids camp of all time. The staff and volunteers at MetroKids were absolutely mind blowing. Their energy and passion for what they did was UNBELIEVABLE!!! It did not matter that they did not have the best resources, or the largest facilities or whatever, they had close to 600 kids having an awesome time and learning about God. Having to say goodbye to everyone who was a part of this camp kids and leaders alike was so tough and I already miss them a ton.
One thing we were able to do was provide meals for the kids everyday after camp. This was especially moving because for many of them, it would be their only meal that day. It was amazing to watch how nearly every kid cleared their plate to nearly the last drop. It was just a simple reminder of what we have to be grateful for every day.
The last few days of our camp were spent taking the 8-12 graders from Southpoint Church on a weekend retreat called Vertical Reality (similar to a DNOW type retreat). This was incredible! It was just awesome to be able to put on a camp for students on the opposite side of the world and get to know them. I was able to partner with their 8th grade small group for the weekend, and it was just awesome seeing a community of people in South Africa worshiping the same God, that I worship in Atlanta. I loose sight of just how big God is, and this helps that perspective in check. This was an awesome 3 days, and saying goodbye was almost as hard as saying goodbye to MetroKids.
Then we boarded 2 LONG flights back home :(
Well, that was the week. I could probably go on for another 100 paragraphs about how incredible this trip was, and ill probably have a post up in the next few days with pictures and "things I forgot".
Ill close with this: Your donations, prayers, love, and support helped transform SO many lives during those 10 days including my own. I simply can not put into words how much your support has meant! Thank you SO much!! If you would like to continue to support what we did there please check these sites out:
MetroKids: http://www.metrokidsafrica.org/
SouthPoint Chuch: http://www.southpointchurch.co.za/
GoGlobalX Missions: http://goglobalx.org/
Thanks Everyone,
Alex
So here it goes:
Upon arriving Saturday night in Capetown we were me by some staff from Southpoint Church (this is a Strategic partner of Northpoint ministries, and we coordinated our trip with them) where we got in decent cars, drove down decent roads, and checked into our very nice and clean hotel. It certainly did not give us the "this is Africa" feeling. Day one ended still not knowing quite what to expect.
Sunday morning we got up before 6 a.m. to help Southpoint set up for service. They do not have a large enough facility to meet on Sunday mornings, so they use a nearby office park. Each week they literally build their WaumbaLand (preschool) and UpStreet (elementary) environments from scratch. The Volunteers for this church are incredible. We later went to a place called "Signal Hill" which had one of the most amazing views of all time. CapeTown is literally one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Monday was our first day with MetroKids. MetroKids is an INCREDIBLE organization that runs VBS type camps, sunday schools, and other ministry to children. We were working in the township of Khayelitsha about 20 minutes outside of CapeTown. Monday was a meeting with all the staff and volunteers to get to know each other and plan for the Camp which began Tuesday. One cool part of this was being able to walk through the township as we advertised the camp to the children. We were able to see the way they lived. Many of the volunteers were from this community and they showed us where they lived.
Tuesday - Thursday These days were all about MetroKids camp. After an unfortunate car break in where we lost our craft supplies, this turned out to be arguably the greatest kids camp of all time. The staff and volunteers at MetroKids were absolutely mind blowing. Their energy and passion for what they did was UNBELIEVABLE!!! It did not matter that they did not have the best resources, or the largest facilities or whatever, they had close to 600 kids having an awesome time and learning about God. Having to say goodbye to everyone who was a part of this camp kids and leaders alike was so tough and I already miss them a ton.
One thing we were able to do was provide meals for the kids everyday after camp. This was especially moving because for many of them, it would be their only meal that day. It was amazing to watch how nearly every kid cleared their plate to nearly the last drop. It was just a simple reminder of what we have to be grateful for every day.
The last few days of our camp were spent taking the 8-12 graders from Southpoint Church on a weekend retreat called Vertical Reality (similar to a DNOW type retreat). This was incredible! It was just awesome to be able to put on a camp for students on the opposite side of the world and get to know them. I was able to partner with their 8th grade small group for the weekend, and it was just awesome seeing a community of people in South Africa worshiping the same God, that I worship in Atlanta. I loose sight of just how big God is, and this helps that perspective in check. This was an awesome 3 days, and saying goodbye was almost as hard as saying goodbye to MetroKids.
Then we boarded 2 LONG flights back home :(
Well, that was the week. I could probably go on for another 100 paragraphs about how incredible this trip was, and ill probably have a post up in the next few days with pictures and "things I forgot".
Ill close with this: Your donations, prayers, love, and support helped transform SO many lives during those 10 days including my own. I simply can not put into words how much your support has meant! Thank you SO much!! If you would like to continue to support what we did there please check these sites out:
MetroKids: http://www.metrokidsafrica.org/
SouthPoint Chuch: http://www.southpointchurch.co.za/
GoGlobalX Missions: http://goglobalx.org/
Thanks Everyone,
Alex