This weekend has been one of the craziest weekends I have had yet. Most of it was pretty humorous but some was very frustrating. As I have tried to point out in previous writings, in South Africa, anything could happen at anytime. There is just no knowing when you could either win 1,000,000 Rand or get car-jacked. I left the last message saying that we have a trial with a PSL team, called Jomo Cosmos, on Monday, which is now in about 12 hours. So I will pick up where I left off...
Well right now, our missions side of things is very simple... We are kind of on our own. School is out for summer (remember that its summer in the southern hemisphere) and the prison is on lockdown because the prisoners get ancy because they want to go home to their families and security is really tightened... which essentially means we are NOT allowed in. (However, I did get good news about the prison: I am going to be allowed to take a camera in and take pictures!)(Also, I am working on putting pictures up.. The internet here in Polokwane is tricky and you buy it differently than in the states, plus I am dealing with limited internet, so thanks for the understanding and patience!) So our ministry is the team that we currently train with, anybody we might encounter, the boys academy (2 boys teams), and church. That being said... Here I go again
Friday night, Church. We got there at around 645 to help set up the sound system. People start rolling in (on Africa Time of course) anywhere from 30 min before to 30 minutes late. Church officially started at 7 and didnt officially end until 1 am. During the course of those 6 hours, many things happened. First of all, the pastor did not like the "level" of worship (sorry for lack of a better word) and he made everyone sing louder and get more into it. He got up there and started singing into the mic... now you have to imagine this 50ish man with an extremely deep voice singing into a mic and emphasizing every syllable so it comes out a resounding FFFFFFFFF... all the while "dancing." I say "dancing" because he looked like a soldier marching back and forth about 15 yards in total, one way. Then the whole congregation, at that point, about 15 people total, started marching as well arms and legs all in unison. I thought I was in boot camp for a second. After the first couple of songs, no one could think of anything to sing, so me, being a leader stood up and offered to teach them one. I taught them a song called "Undignified" which is about David dancing before the Lord when the ark came back in. There is an interaction part where I sing na na na na.. and they yell HEY! they got a big kick out of it and it was a ton of fun. I sat back down and started reading the bible because they started discussing church issues of which I am basically not involved. I was reading acts and got to chapter 20 when I realized how long I had been reading. At around that same point, Sam started talking about how I have a passion for kids and I was nominated for being the new Youth Pastor. So as of now, I am the youth pastor! I remember all the crap I used to do in youth group... Help Dirk!
The next morning, and 5 hours after church, I got to talk to my mom on skype for the first time since I have been here. I kind of planned it that way so I could actually give her a "birthday present." Anyways, Happy Birthday Mom! After I was done talking, B and I went to train the kids and they actually trained hard. It is encouraging to us because if you could have seen the level from when we first got here to where it is now, you would be amazed. I am proud of the boys for changing their attitudes and for actually listening to us and getting better as people and players because of it. Praise God.
We walked back to our flatt thinking our day was done and we could simply relax and watch some English Premier League.. that idea was squashed when the manager of the team (Peace Lovers) called us around 11 and said he was picking us up for their game. This was confusing considering he hadn't communicated with us for 2 days straight. He keeps telling us, we want to sign you but we have to figure out the work permit. We will do it next week. This is now the start of the 3rd week. We would be great additions to the team and give them a little "Color" (meaning more than skin). We traveled about an hour and a half to watch them kill this team 5-0. It was about 10 pm when we got back. Long unexpected day! (The funny story that happened here was instead of a donkey on the field, it was goats along with random dogs that would rush out from under a fence when the ball got near!)
Lastly, today, Africa time struck again.. It is very frustrating when your ride comes early. We got to church plenty early and set up fairly quickly which allowed me to "meditate" before the service started for an hour. Luckily, it wasn't 6 hours. After church, I got to make some very cool relationships. I met and had lunch with some guys that play in the Vodacom League (the league that Peace Lovers is in). We went to KFC and got sit around and like the verse in Proverbs says, "As Iron sharpens Iron...," It was awesome to have fellowship. Another thing that was really cool about it was that 4 different nations were represented. Needless to say, our skin color, joy, and praying caused many onlookers to wonder what was going on!
As I look back over this extremely long, hard, grueling weekend, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed, like I am not in control. There are so many things seem so far out of my control that I have no idea where the breaks are. Some of the things that I am talking about that are going on are cultural, some are unfortunate, some are divine. I am not saying they are problems but they do make you think... I have to believe that God is ultimately in control and I do not have to do anything other than "put myself out there." Jeremiah 29:11 says that He has a plan for everyone... I have to believe that even though I cannot see what is going on behind the scenes, that God is working and seeds are being planted. I do not know what is going to happen while I am here, all I can do is pray that I grow and my faith grows too. I am going to leave this blog with a quote from Nelson Mandela (also found in Coach Carter) which describes my ultimate goal here in South Africa:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
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