Life after South Africa

I am settling down in Glendora/Azusa again now. Getting ready for the next set of adventures God has for me as I finish up my senior year at APU. Follow me on this period of growth and adventure if you like! http://ypjohnny1.blogspot.com

Recap

Hey all,

I was prompted by my mom to finish up the blog and do a recap, so my apologies for leaving the blog so open ended for the last couple of weeks. I landed back in LA on Friday, July 23rd. There was definitely some culture shock upon returning. I had a nice big coffee drink in the Washington Dulles airport and that was totally a mistake. My stomach revolted against the sugary goodness. Ironically, the barista was South African, ha. It's taken almost the entire two weeks I've been back to get adjusted back to America. There is something in the food here (preservatives???) that just destroyed my stomach right when I got back. I still get a meal every once and a while that just gives me the worst stomach aches.

I have been confronted with this question a lot since landing, "what is the one highlight from South Africa?" One!? jeez, I was there for two months, can I give you one for every day cause I feel like there's that many awesome moments! Over the last couple weeks though I have been able to digest the impact of my trip enough to pull out some meaningful things to share:

1. The power of prayer. I don't think I've ever been involved with a ministry that was more committed to prayer. We constantly had all night prayer sessions and there were tons of teams doing 24 hour prayer movements for the whole duration of the World Cup. It was really awesome to see so many believers committed to committing our work to God! Was this ministry of prayer powerful? I met three ministries who had been praying against the sex trade in South Africa for a year prior to and for the whole duration of the World Cup. At the end of the Cup, CNN published an article reporting that the brothels in SA saw an 80% decrease in normal business during the month. They had been preparing for an increase in business, God is good.

2. God is mind-bottling, yes bottling, like when your mind gets trapped in a bottle. I met people from everywhere, from every walk of life and watched those particular people fit confusingly but perfectly into this HUGE movement that God orchestrated for the World Cup. I mean, I was there... an American raised on football and far more interested in rugby... leading soccer clinics for kids... yeah. It was a beautiful mess that only God could pull off, and I think he planned it that way so that the glory could go only to him.

3. Enjoy the small things. All my favorite moments are the small ones that God gave me the privilege of being a part of. When people ask for the best part about South Africa, I start to think of all the amazing little stories that I have to share. Raymond on the streets of Cape Town, the witch doctor family, etc. Sometimes we get so focused on the big picture, which isn't completely bad, we got to have that vision. But, it's important to rejoice and celebrate in the small moments. God puts us in them to enjoy watching us enjoy them.

4. "I can dream." Since returning from SA I have talked with countless friends who are having a difficult time with the job hunt. The American dream is quickly slipping from reality in my opinion. Live it up for the kingdom. JAM is a team with an average age of 21 years of age. Git founded the ministry when he was 18. Many of the JAM team members have visions of starting their own ministries after their service year with JAM. Never let yourself be pulled down to mediocrity for the illusion of "security." Live like a radical for the kingdom of God, do things that the world will call you crazy for. Start ministries at the age of 18, travel across the world to do ministry, chop up a dead donkey with a machete, I promise that even though it may be difficult you'll find joy and contentment in that.

I want to once again thank all of you who have supported me through your prayers and financially. This trip wouldn't have been possible without the loving support of my wonderful friends and family. I encourage you, go out and be a part of what God is doing in this world! "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it spring forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the wilderness." Isaiah 43:19

Sermon on the Mount

So, when I was in Mavhusa Git taught one night out of the Sermon on the Mount. I really felt God convict me to memorize the Sermon on the Mount. It's been a challenging but awesome experience so far. I can recite chapter 5 vs. 1-16 pretty well now. I stil have a good two and a half chapters to go till I reach this goal (good luck to me). I really wanna encourage any of the blogs followers to spend some time in Matthew 5-7 in the next couple of days. Pick out some of Jesus' teachings and really digest what is going on. I bet you'll be rocked by Jesus. Much love!

Last week of World Cup!!!

I can't believe that it is the last week of the World Cup already! It seems like the last month has truly flown by. God has been doing so many amazing things all across this continent, I wish that I could truly express what an amazing season this has been. People reading scripture on loaves of bread and giving their hearts to Jesus. Forty little kids making a profession of faith in one day in one village alone. It has been a truly crazy month! I feel like I have had such low expectations of what God can do. After seeing the way He has worked in South Africa this season I so strongly desire to have faith in what God can do in Southern California and in the U.S.

In regards to this last week, it's been rough at times. I was super tired on Monday. Hit the brick wall after Mavhusa. Luckily I had off on Tuesday so I got to sleep in and relax and then go into Cape Town to watch the Netherlands vs. Uruguay game. It was a lot of fun eating all you can eat sushi for super cheap and sitting in a bar with people from all over the world to watch the game. Today I went back to Sir Lowry's Pass which I just love. That place is so cool. We had an awesome kids ministry and I painted South African flags on so many little kids today it is crazy. I was covered in paint afterwords. I only have one more outreach day during this World Cup time. Wow. I come home so soon as well. I am mind blown at how fast this summer has gone by. I miss everyone back home a lot though and am excited to back and finish my last year at APU.

Haircuts, Witch Doctors, and Dead Donkeys

It is July 3rd and I have arrived back in Cape Town to the cold winds and crazy pedestrians! It's good to be back but Mavhusa was definitely a highlight of the trip. It was an amazing two weeks with amazing people. We were so welcomed by the people of the community. I can't count how many times we were told by people that they viewed us as angels walking their streets. They would constantly call us in to sit with them and pray for them. The children were really cool too. Unlike the crazy kids in Cape Town who mob us and can be super disrespectful, the kids of Mavhusa were really attentive during the children's ministry. Mavhusa itself is a really neat place. Almost everyone lives in round huts with thatched roofs. The roads are all dirt and every article of clothing gets super dirty within five minutes of getting out of the car. I have some really dominant memories from the trip

1. I got a haircut on the streets of Giyani. Giyani is the biggest town near Mavhusa in the district of Limpopo. I walked up to a tent on the side of the road with two other Americans and a colored guy who was with us named Davey (Davey himself is a fond memory of the trip). The guys looked at us like we were crazy. They proceeded to attempt to cut my hair, having probably never cut a white persons hair before in their lives. One young boy just sat in front of me with a look of pure concern on his face the whole time. At one point Davey decided he knew better what to do then the guys so he took the trimmer and went at my head jabbing and poking me with it. Then my buddy Nathaniel came in and helped trim it up so it's sort of neat... it looks pretty funky but it'll manage. I'll try to put up a picture.

2. Donkey Day. The mission station in Mavhusa where our JAM team is based at in the area has a newly finished bathroom, which is awesome. We were the first team to have flushing toilets and running cold showers. The one thing was that we needed some maggots to throw into the french drain that is a little down the hill from the camp. There was a dead donkey on the side of the road and we decided to go hack it up and get some maggots off of it. I of course volunteered for the job, not wanting to pass up the opportunity to make any memories. Needless to say, there was the malungu "white person" on the side of the road hacking at a donkey carcass with a machete. Oh the life of a missionary.

3. In America, Satan turns away the generation with materialism. In Africa, he turns the generation away with spirits and witch craft. To be politically correct I should call them traditional healers, but I don't care about that, they are witch doctors. We were inside praying for this lady who was deathly ill and there was a witch doctor graduation ceremony going on across the street from her hut. For half an hour we are talking with this woman and praying for God's healing over her body and spirit with the sounds of drums and chanting ringing in the background. Their ceremony lasted all night as well. I learned a bit about it. During the night they go through the village led by the spirits trying to find the heart of some dead animal which is buried before the ceremony. If the spirits lead them to the animal heart they have graduated and become witch doctors. There were times where it sounded like they were marching up right over the hill into our camp. It was pretty crazy. Even more crazy is this. There are dozens of reports of the witch doctors saying that Christians are completely untouchable with their magic. They say they see walls of fire protecting around the Christians. Crazy. God is powerful.

4. Zone 2. Zone 2 is another village that we worked in close to Mavhusa. It was by far the poorest community that I have ever seen. Git said that in all his travels across SA, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and parts of South America that Zone 2 is the poorest village he has ever been in. The huts are all falling apart. What is left of them is held together with a mortar combination of mud and poop. The whole village wreaks of human feces because their is no proper sewage or longdrops (you can figure that one out). Zone 2 has no running water so the kids have probably never bathed. They smell, they are dirty, they have open and infected sores. Their school is a roof held up by rotting wood with mesh net around it. It is truly a crazy place to have seen in my lifetime. I am so thankful for the experiences that I have been a part of out here but Zone 2 will forever be burned upon my memory as an image of the brokenness of this world.

5. JAMmers. Jammers are the young people in the community who the ministry of JAM disciples as young leaders. I loved these guys. A handful of 12 young men and woman who shared so much of their culture with us as we taught them about following Christ. I was able to really teach this group of guys and because of that Mavhusa felt like a place where God really truly used me this summer. I was able to impart of a lot of what I have learned about who God is and the relationship between Jesus and man with them while they taught me how to sing and dance like a real African. It was an awesome time and they are people I will always remember: Gift, Vincent, Jabulani, Clement, so many amazing young men who will change Africa.

This is all I can say for now. I am still lost in thoughts and very tired from the long travel days, but wanted to give some sort of update on the trip. I drove for about an hour today, the last leg of the trip from Stellenberg Church to Apostle Battery. It was my first international driving experience, I was pretty pumped on it. Much love everyone!

World Cup Updates

Hey all. The World Cup is well on its way. Last night was the start of the second round of each pool. South Africa got murdered 3-0 by Uruguay... it was pretty depressing. The outreaches are going well. This week I worked in the Hout Bay and Imizamo Yethu outreach. It consisted of a lot of Soccer clinics, childrens ministry, soup, house visits, and screenings of the matches. There were a lot of younger folk from Stellenberg Church. They are grade 7-9 Afrikaaners from a pretty nice community. Needless to say some of them had some difficulties on their first outreaches. I don't think I've ever been on a ministry team that had so many people cry during an outreach. I realized that I really don't enjoy soccer all that much, so it is a stretch for me to really be into running soccer clinics. Tuesday night we were hosting screenings of the soccer match that night. I was at a church in Hout Bay helping set up and I just happened to glance across the valley and saw flames shooting up out of Imizamo Yethu. The fire was 100-150 yards from the community hall where the other half of our team was hosting a showing. They had to evacuate our team from the community hall. Fortunately no one was harmed in the fire but an estimated 20 people lost their homes. I was going to go into IY wednesday to help clean up but got caught up in a bunch of other stuff on the otherside of town. That is just how this ministry goes. We have come under so much attack from the enemy this week it's been crazy. But amidst all that God continues to show how he is faithful and good. In about an hour I start to make the long journey to Mavhusa. The trip will take us two full days of driving, and I mean full days. It will be much more rural then Cape Town and we won't have much access to internet so don't be expecting a post until after July 4 (Happy Independence Day for everyone back home!). Much love for everyone!

No Greater Love

There are some moments in your life when there is no doubt in your entire being that there is a divine God who is good, who loves his children and provides in such an amazing way. Tonight was one of those nights. I was in the City Center of Cape Town doing some street ministry with Git. If ya'll know me pretty well you'd probably know that street evangelism is one of my LEAST favorite things. It just seems so shallow to me. Tonight was completely God ordained though. We were standing on a street corner and there was a young man standing about 20 feet from us leaning on a wall watching the crowd pass by towards the new Cape Town Stadium for tonight's soccer match. Git began to talk to him. He didn't really feel comfortable talking in english so I stood by and smiled and prayed while Git conversed with him. Later on in the night I was able to pick up some bits of his story. His name is Raymond. Today is his 25th birthday. He was standing waiting for his shift to start at a restaurant he works in. As he waited he was watching all the people going by to the stadium celebrating, blowing their vuvuzelas, laughing and having fun. He was reminiscing all the birthdays he had as a youth when his family would celebrate and laugh with him. He has only seen his family once in the last three years. He moved to Cape Town in search of work to support his family back home and has only been able to accumulate enough time off to visit home. Tonight he was thinking about how alone he feels on his birthday. He has no friends in Cape Town and has spent a lot of time lately questioning his existence, questioning God. Tonight we were able to celebrate his birthday with him. Though it was brief and only consisted of a can of Coke and a muffin from the 7/11. It meant something to him. He said that tonight was an affirmation of the questions that he had been asking. God cares about him. God desires relationship with him, and he wants that relationship. Thursday and Friday are his days off so we are going to pick him up Wednesday night and bring him out to stay at Apostle and come along our outreaches. God is so so good. Not the we have done much for him, but that God had divinely appointed us as a blessing in his life tonight. Greater love has none than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.