Mangoes and Toothpaste

I am SO SORRY that I have let it go this long without posting. These past few weeks have been utter chaos, but I will try and do better. Here is a quick rundown on what we've been up to here at YWAM Bethelehm.

Qwa Qwa - so last time I wrote was before our mini outreach to the deaf and blind school at Qwa Qwa (with a click in between the q and wa). Let me just tell you, we were only there for two and a half days, but that was by far the most amazing time I have had since I have been in South Africa. We got there on a Friday afternoon and were instantly best friends with all of the kids there. I would say the vast majority of the students were deaf, with just a handfull blind, so we learned lots of sign language and were even given all of our own face names! (Mine, you make the shape of an L and then swing it over your hair - they really liked braiding my hair, for some reason). Saturday began with team devotions where we talked about "Let the little children come unto me..." which I gained whole new insight into during my time there. After devotions, I spent most of the day in the creche, just playig with the kids and a few other team members. Saturday night we performed one of our lighter dramas for them, which they loved because it was all mime. Then we had a dance party! It was amazing to see how they could move to the music just by feeling the beat, and not being able to hear anything. Saturday night we were all exhausted, and it was an early night for the team. Sunday morning we got to host church for them. David from Houston gave the sermon, and some of the team performed the more serious Evanesnce drama (it's amazing, if you haven't seen it you should youtube it). It was really sad to leave on Sunday, but I will admit that it was nice to come back and get some downtime in before classes started again on Monday. We are all hoping to get back to the school though sometime before the DTS is over.

Monday we had a new speaker in from Pretoria who spoke on the Father Heart of God, and the Plumbline (Amos 7:7-9). It was very interesting to hear about the different kinds of rejection, and how to minister to them, especially in Uganda when we come across people who have faced such serious rejection.

Because we had a mini outreach before we were given this past weekend off from Friday to Monday. One of the other YWAMers on the base is from Pretoria, so he invited some of us to his home for the weekend. It was such a nice break beging off the base and getting to see more of South Africa. Pretoria is a beautiful city, and his family was so gracious and hospitable!

This past week's topic was Community Development and our speaker was Dr. Graham Catto, also from Pretoria. This was, for me, the best week so far. Dr. Catto was such a wise man and I just felt like I could sit there and soak in all his Biblical wisdom for hours. I took about fifteen pages of notes, and everything he spoke on was practical, and things that I know we will use. He talked about how our worldview plays a role in how we see our spiritual lives. He taught a lot on how a biblical worldview should be, and how while we're on outreach we're going to need to be very aware of the different worldviews in order to minister to them. For us, he focused mostly on the animistic worldview since that is what we'll come across in Uganda. He spoke on the difference between aid, relief, and community development, and on all the different kinds of poverty. Hearing him speak got me so excited to go on outreach!

This past weekend we were invited to a local Afrikaaner farmer church, which was very nice, but in all Afrikaans. We performed the Evanesence skit again and it was really nice to get feedback from the community. This week we have a team from Argentina visiting, with our speaker - Jorge Rios. This man has an amazing testimony. He grew up in Peru, and when he was seventeen he joined a group of guerillas fighting for the communists in his country. He has only been speaking for two days, but so far it has been amazing to hear this man's testimony and how the Lord has changed his life. He is now leading a YWAM base in southern Argentina. I will try and write more about him in my next post since he'll be our speaker for these next two weeks. His topics are the Lordship of Christ and Spiritual Warfare. Colossia

Just a quick footnote - I am definitely going to be going to Uganda for outreach and I will leave at the end of April. There are fifteen other people on the base that feel the Lord has called them to do their outreach there as well, but of course, money is an issue. We have to have our money for our visa and plane ticket in by the end of March ($550 or R5500) so if anyone is interested in helping sponsor a team member you can e-mail me at cshanley89@hotmail.com or my Mom at j.shanley@cox.net

Well, sorry again about the long break in between posts. I'll try and write again this weekend since we'll have Saturday off. Please continue to keep this base and team in your prayers. Love to all!!

Clare
Romans 12:2