Day 2- Sightseeing

Yesterday was long and I barely remember much of it. Although I didn't feel too 'jet-lagged' my memory loss is proof that I was in quite a daze all day. I met all of the other volunteers at the house during breakfast. There were so many and I had been in South Africa less than 12 hours so I was quite overwhelmed, to say the least. I can be extremely shy when I first meet people and I definitely worked that yesterday. To be honest, sometimes I just wanted to crawl in hole haha. But everyone has been friendly and I am enjoying getting to know the people here. The morning started out at Living Hope Community Center just down the street from our house. We began the day with song, devotional, and prayer. I was so comforted by hearing and seeing the hearts of the people I was working with, even if I didn't know/couldn't remember their names yet. I was then taken by the volunteer coordinators to do some last-minute paper work and be 'orientated' about rules and regulations. Next, I joined the rest of the volunteers working on projects for the up-coming holiday clubs we will be doing with the children in the various townships. We worked all day and I met so many people along the way. I know I won't be able to remember names. It's so overwhelming. But everyone was so wonderful! I can't wait to continue to get to know all of the workers and staff at Living Hope! What a difference I can already see this ministry has made in the community!

Today, I woke up and was invited by some other volunteers to go to the market and do some sight-seeing! Some of them have rented a car and were so sweet to invite me along. We had an absolute blast and I took a ton of pictures. This town is breathtaking. I stood at the bottom of mountains and looked out onto the ocean. I saw 2 baboons on the side of the road! The car we rode in is an old VW Bug that is quite old...her name is Betty. It was quite an adventure everytime we tried to start her up. Not to mention the fact that everything is opposite here! It's quite an odd sensation to ride on the rode in the opposite direction than you are used to. AND all the cars over here are stick shift. Apparently America is one of the only places that uses automatic a lot. And because of that, I was told we are weird haha. Today was an adventure for sure. My computer is dumb and will not allow me to upload pictures to any website right now, but when I get that fixed I will post a link so that you can see photos from today! This area of the world is absolutely beautiful!

I want to share with you an excerpt from a book I began reading right as I was getting ready to head here. My mom pointed it out in Lifeway, and I am so glad that she did. It's right up my ally right now. It's called The Hole in Our Gospel  by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision. It has pictures in the middle so, of course, this 7 year old opened right up to those pages :) To my surprise, I saw a familiar face. Pastor John Thomas. He is the pastor of King of Kings Baptist Church and founder of Living Hope! There was a caption underneath his picture that directed me to page 99. Here is what I read, and I want to share it with you.

"I recently traveled with my wife to Cape Town, South Africa, one of the most beautiful and breathtaking cities in the world. We went there to see World Vision projects and to visit Fish Hoek (King of Kings) Baptist Church to learn about their remarkable AIDS ministry. We also built in a couple of days to do some sightseeing-but found it difficult to enjoy it. Cape Town is one of those few places in the world where the worst imaginable poverty and the most opulent wealth live together, sometimes just fifty yards apart. In the shadows of luxury homes, high-rise hotels, wineries, and upscale shopping malls lie acre upon acre of run-down shantytowns reeling with hunger, poverty, crime, disease, and despair, and populated by hundreds of thousands of broken-down human beings. The "haves" live in gated communities with security cameras. The "have-nots" peer from their tin huts as Mercedes and BMWs from another world pass them by. For me it was a microcosm of the "chasm" President Carter had described (this is referencing an earlier statement). How can the rich and the middle class live like this, I wondered, forced to see the stark contrast between themselves and the desperately poor every single day?

They do exactly what you and I do: they ignore them. The only difference is that it is easier for us to ignore the world's poorest because they are over there."

I am here now. I wanted to post that excerpt a week ago, but I am glad, now, that I didn't. Because today, I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes. I drove past the township that I will most likely be working in; it's shacks of tin, metal, wood......scraps. What else did I see? (I only had a glimpse of the FRONT of this community, mind you) I saw piles of trash. "NO WAY! Are they digging in the trash?" The other volunteers in the car replied, "Yea. That's what they're doing." Let me explain further. Allow to elaborate as to WHY I was so shocked to see them digging in the trash. It's not like this township is on the outskirts of the city our out in the boonies somewhere. No. This community of poverty and scraps is RIGHT in the middle of the town I am in, less that 2 blocks from the MALL, and only a few more streets over to my HOUSE that is located in a very nice neighborhood. I was astonished. I was told the name of this township the day before and that I might possibly be working there, but I had NO idea that it was located that close to town. Richard Stearns's words became real to me today. This place is like nothing I've ever seen before.
What is even worse, is that I ignore poverty of great proportions in Nashville. In Memphis. In Olive Branch. I live live my life. And I live it as if I don't care about those that have no food. That live in houses that are falling apart. That have no houses at all. I ignore them. Which means I ignore Jesus.

In this same book, Richard Stearns talks about a project that some seminary students took on. They found EVERY verse in the Bible that dealt with poverty, wealth, justice, and oppression. Then one of them took a pair of scissors and physically cut out all of those verses. What he was left with was a Bible that was full of holes and that barely held together. Nearly 2,000 verses that deal with poverty and justice. Can we ignore it? Can I ignore it? If we took out all of those verses, the ones we are left with are probably the ones we read the most, if we're being honest. Being uncomfortable is something we avoid at all costs in America. Right? The American Dream. Success. Happiness. I have to have the best, be the best, look the best. And we apply that to the Gospel. Me. Me. Me. We sit in our pews and check off our christian to-do lists and that's enough. Many of us will do anything ministry related at church and we'll go to all of the church things, but if God asked us to give something up, heck no. That's where we draw the line. I used to believe in a Gospel that had a TON of holes in it. But let me tell you, as I have begun to let God fill those holes in, my soul has become more complete. There was so much of the Jesus' Gospel that I was leaving out because it was hard. Because it asked me to give things up, give things away. As I have begun to give, I have received double that in return. Not materialistically. No. I am filled up with Joy that the God of our Salvation has overcome this world! And I must tell people about it.
The more I allow myself to be uncomfortable for the sake of the Gospel, the more I see in this world. I see the world a little bit more like the way that God sees it. Broken, hurt, in need. And I see much less of myself. WHAT A BLESSING! My life, my wants, my needs, my future, my school, my ups, my downs, my good days, my bad days, what I have, what I don't have...IT DOESN'T MATTER! There is a HUGE world out there that needs the Love and Hope and saving BLOOD of Jesus. Who am I to think that this little college student has more important things going on in her life than to help those who have NOTHING and KNOW NOTHING about the ONLY One who can Save them and give them Hope and Love!? The ONLY one who can give them hope as they and their children are slowly dying of AIDS. The ONLY one who can comfort them in the night as their bellies ache with starvation. The only one who can give them Peace as they take care of their brothers and sisters when they themselves are only a child. We care for these people. But we don't ACT as if we care. Jesus showed us, through his life, many many things. He showed us the way to introduce a God who wants to be reconciled to His sinful children- by physically meeting their needs. It's there. Read any of the 4 Gospels and you can see, too, that we cannot ignore that fact that to spread the Gospel, we MUST get our hands dirty. We must touch the sick in order to heal them. We must go into the homes of the sinners and outcasts (yes, risking our 'good christian girl/guy' reputation) in order to build a trusting friendship with them that they may tangibly begin to understand the love, grace, and forgiveness of Jesus. We must be the hands and feet....let me say it again. We must be the hands and feet of the Spirit of Jesus. There is action involved in following Him.
Please don't mistake me. I am not saying that we must serve the poor and take care of the 'least of these' in order to earn salvation or be 'more saved' than those who do not. Haha that statement just actually made me laugh out loud. What I am saying is this. Knowing Jesus changed me. The Spirit of Jesus is now in me. Therefore, I now care about the things He cares about and I HAVE to do something about it. And I am thankful that this life is not about me.
From South Africa, with love,
AC

Deuteronomy 5:11
There will always be poor people in your land. Therefore I COMMAND you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and the needy in your land.

Luke 14: 12-14
The Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be bless. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.  


ps- tried to get a local cell phone today at the mall, but their internet service was down or something...welcome to Africa! :) I love it!