Day Camp at Shongweni Lutheran Church

Day Camp Begins!

Who is your hero? This week Shara and I were able to be involved in a day camp for the children in Shongweni Village during their two week break from school. With the help of several confirmands, and ladies from the church we have organized a day camp similar to a VBS based on the heroes of the Bible. God has been so good in providing for this! It is quite humbling to walk into a room full of children with the hopes of sharing the love of Christ in a fun and safe environment knowing that you struggle to communicate even the simplest messages in their language. This camp is for the children and we want it to be self-sustaining, so it is better for the strength of the program if the children can see one of their own fellow Zulu neighbors leading events instead of only seeing us. What a privilege it has been to already see so many of the youth and young adults willing to share their time and talents with the children.

In addition to this one short term camp, our hope is to encourage and support people in the community in their efforts to reach out to the children with the saving message of Christ. We will now focus the next several days on the miracles of Christ, and His ultimate gift of salvation won through His death on the cross and victory over the grave. It is this God that the children hear about and praise during the day camp. I wish I could share the voices of the children with you as they pray and praise our Father in heaven. It is beautiful. For all of you that have prayed for this camp or will be keeping it in your prayers I am so very grateful. It can be very hectic, as the number of children joining us is growing daily, but it’s a great problem to worry about running out of chairs or juice at snack time.

I have been doing well and learning about God’s great mercies and presences daily. It is a great God that we serve and I thank you for your support! You are the hands and feet of Christ to these children as you pray and encourage the ministry, and this journey would not be the same without it. Thank You. May the love of Christ find rest in your heart, as you see that nothing could have taken Him off of that cross on Good Friday. He would rather die for you than live without you. You are so valuable.

Love as your sister in Christ,
Julia

Former Child Soldier, Sewing, Day Camp and Worship

Sowubona! Hello! Thanks for joining me in the mission work being done South Africa! Thankfully, God has blessed me with the opportunity to meet and be encouraged by so many strong Christians since I have been here. I even had the opportunity to go to a small group Bible study that was led by a man (Yookie) who was once forced to be a child soldier in the Congo. His testimony of God’s grace and the power of knowing God’s forgiveness was beautiful and moving. His message challenged all of us not just to be believers in Christ, but also to be disciples. Simply put, believing in Christ is not a comfort zone, it is a stepping stone.

I have learned so much since I have been here. I went from knowing close to nothing about sewing, to now taking lessons and actually teaching some of the gogo’s (grandmas) in Shongweni how to sew things that they are able to sell. So far I have been part of sewing a drawstring back pack, a coin purse and make-up/pencil bag. You never know in what ways God will call and use you to build relationships… I am also preparing to do a two week day camp with Shara and some of the confirmands from the Lutheran Church for the children in the orphan project and local area at the end of this month. This will be a trial run for the proposed day camp that Shara and I will be running during the 5 week break that all of the children have during June and July due to the World Cup. Please keep this camp in your prayers as we hope to make it like a Vacation Bible School that will reach out to the people in the community.

Today was another day where I felt blessed to be able be a part of Lutheran Zulu worship. Shara and I had the opportunity to go with Pastor Thwala to a worship service for a shut-in woman who moved from Shongweni to another location. A group of women from Shongweni also came out to show support for Gogo (grandma) and participate in the service. The home that we worshiped in was very modest, one big open room with four beds, but it was a beautiful services. The Gogo was so happy to have everyone, and we started singing many Zulu hymns. Thankfully, Zulu is not hard to read so I am able to sing along even though I don’t know the meaning of all of the words. Pastor Thwala is a very dynamic speaker, and although the sermon and entire service was in Zulu it was always easy to understand how passionate Pastor and the women are in their ministry. It is such a wonderful blessing to receive communion with my brothers and sisters in Christ here. I sometimes start to smile just realizing that God understands everything that is going on and how beautiful it is to worship God no matter where we are in the world. It is nice getting to know more people from the church, and begin to get more connected to the community. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement, they remain a great source of strength for the ministry here.

Blessings in Christ,
Julia