We’ve been in South Africa for two weeks now adjusting to what life and ministry look like. While we’re in South Africa our squad has been split up into three smaller groups and sent to different places. My team has been paired with another team in the squad Rivers and our ministry has been partnering with circuit riders and traveling around South Africa.
For our first week here we were blessed to be able to have a couple of days to really just rest up after all of our traveling. We really didn’t have a ministry but we did get to go to church and met a lot of really kind and welcoming people. We got to meet a really sweet family and got to spend Christmas with them which was super special! I’m not gonna lie it was really hard not being home for Christmas and missing everyone but I was really grateful for that family and the kindness and love they showed us!
The day after Christmas we headed to Liv Village a children’s home that we’d be working and staying at for 9 days. This was the first real ministry we’ve had in South Africa and it was honestly a lot. Our role there was to be running a Holiday club with the kids and keeping them busy. We were in charge of planning and executing the whole thing each day. The day was split into two sections and two groups of kids. The first two hours we spent with the younger kids and then after lunch we’d do another two hours but with the older kids.
Each day for holiday club we would start out with a little game to get the kids engaged and then we would do some songs and a little skit/message with them. Since it was right after Christmas we decided to slowly do the nativity story with them each day. When we first started at the beginning of the week it was definitely hard to get the kids engaged, but by the end of the week most of them would be dancing to the songs with us and really engaged. After we did a message and songs we would do a craft and then spend the rest of the time playing lots of games with them. These kids were kinda crazy and they loved running around and playing basketball. I’d never played basketball before we went to LIV and even though I was really bad at it (trust me the kids let me know) I still played every single day and I like to think I got a bit better by the end.
The afternoon with the older kids was similar to that of the younger ones. We would do some songs and then do a little message Bible study time with them and then play lots of games. I’m not sure I’ve ever run around or played so many games before in my life but it was so so mucin fun! I laughed and had so much fun with the kids all week long! Even though it was just 4 hours a day I was absolutely exhausted in the best way at the end of each day! At the end of the week we planned a big day with lots of water games and just fun, we called it our birthday party for Jesus but it was such a sweet way to end our ministry there!
While ministry at LIV was really sweet and good it wasn’t without its hard parts. One of the things about working with kids that come from such hard backgrounds is the restrictions we were given. When we first got to the village we were told not to really touch the kids, no hugs or holding hands, no picking up the little ones or letting them sit on your lap. They honestly sounded really harsh but there were a lot of really good reasons behind it like teaching them what normal healthy boundaries are. I think the thing that made it so hard was coming to that environment out of the one we had in Guatemala. Because of the language barrier in Guatemala a lot of our ministry with the kids did involve picking them up or hugging them, a big way to show love was through physical things like that; so coming from that environment to one that was completely different was a hard adjustment at first. If there’s one thing that I learned there it’s that there’s so many different ways to show love to people whether that’s just through words, through a hug or high five, or just by doing something (like basketball) that you might not enjoy but that you get to do with someone else.
Our time at LIV was really sweet and special and I learned a lot there! For the rest of the time we’re in South Africa we’re headed to a place called Kloof to do some ministry there which I’m super excited for!
This blog post was meant for the last week of December/beginning of January so I’ll admit it is coming out quite a bit late. With that said, thanks for taking the time to read this!
Love,
Emilee
We weren’t allowed to take pictures with or of the kids at LIV so I don’t have too many pictures from this week but here are a couple of the ones I did get!
Leave a Reply