Sawubona (hello in Zulu) from Johannesburg, South Africa! Ahhhh what a week it’s been. My team and I ALL tested negative for COVID-19 (praise the Lord) Wednesday the 9th and landed in South Africa Thursday the 10th. Our host is an organization in South Africa called Impact Africa. They have a group of interns here (all around my age from the states) that have made us all feel so welcomed and been our guides over the past few days as we started ministry.
Impact Africa is absolutely incredible. They have many different branches of their organization—Impact Baby Rescue, Impact Kids Preschool, Impact Students, and Evangelism&Discipleship. My team and I get to work with each branch during our time here.
This week we partnered with the Evangelism&Discipleship team, and got to evangelize in Kyasands, within the squatter camps. The homes (shacks) here are built very close together typically out of reused materials such as wood and plastic. What we do is we break into small groups and get paired with a translator (most people in this location speak Zulu). Then we go out into this community and spread the Word of God (much easier said then done)!
This may look like sitting with women and helping with laundry or dishes, praying over a sick individual, playing checkers with a group of men, or even holding a baby while talking with their mother. It was a lot to take in. I experienced a lot of emotions and spent a lot of my evenings journaling to try and process it all. Here is a bit from my journal after my first day on the field…
//09-14-21 “ I’m sitting here with tears as I try to find the words to write and describe what I’ve just experienced. How do I tell people that have fought so hard to stay alive that it’s so much better in Heaven? How do I say God‘s got you to a women who has lost ALL her children? I don’t know what to do other than pray for hope. What I learned is that I encountered some of the strongest people today. I saw women and children with so much joy in their eyes and so much love in their hearts. I know that God is in that place working in each of them, loving every single one of them just as much as He loves me, and watching over each of them weather they know Him or not. I was able to meet some of the most joyful people that have such incredible stories that display a type of strength that I’ve never seen in anyone. Lord, thank you for opening my eyes today.”
My team came across a young boy, about 10 years old our second day in the squatter camps, with a drawling of uJesu (Jesu in Zulu) on his lap. We sat down with him, his ugogo (grandmother), and a neighbor as he told us about his schooling and passion for art. As we were wrapping up the conversation, we asked how we could be praying for them. Lethabo (the boy) looked as his ugogo, said something in Zulu, then they both disappeared. They came back a minute later carrying a small boy. This little boys name was Peace. He was Lethabo’s little brother who was born 5 years ago. Lethabo wanted us to pray for healing over him. We sat and heard his story told by the grandmother. His birth mother went into labor before the ambulance had arrived. She tried to do anything she could to prevent delivery until a medical team was present. Peace was born handicapped. He cannot walk, he cannot talk, and his eyes can’t focus steadily on an object. His mother wanted nothing to do with him from birth, which is why his ugogo is his caretaker in addition to her watching over 3 other children. In this moment, I was reminded of Jeremiah 1:5…
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Peace is a Child of God, with such a calming nature. He just wanted to be held and loved on. I was reminded in that moment, that the Lord knows what we need far better then we know, even if we don’t understand His ways. I was also reminded that I need to find peace, and just rest in God’s goodness instead of questioning it. We aren’t meant to understand everything. On our way out, we asked Lethabo if he wanted to be an artist once he was out of school. He told us no, that he plans to become doctor so he can help heal his brother (ohhhhh my heart). What a blessing those two boys are.
Lethabo with his drawling
Peace on his ugogo’s lap
On Friday we redirected our ministry to partnering with Impact Students and spent the day classroom hopping at a high school. This day our focus was on 10th graders. We learned that many of these students are falling into negative peer pressure, which was leading to a high increase in teen pregnancies and suicides. My team and I put together a lesson plan filled with games, a bible story, and a personal testimony all addressing these issues in their communities. It was such a good day being able to work along side these students and hear what they had to say. (In more then one classroom, a student would yell out that they didn’t understand my accent, oops!) They were so engaged with what we had to say and asked a lot of questions.
After, we relocated to another school where my team planned out an assembly for some younger students. It was such a fun day. It was so interesting seeing how similar the drama and issues are in high schools on the other side of the world. Not going to lie, high schoolers intimidate me, but I had to tell myself “what would 15 year old Brenna need to hear” and even “what would I tell my 15 year old sister right now?” It was amazing to see how interactive the students were and how much they appreciated my team coming to work with them. I am so excited to go back! 
In addition to ministry days we had the opportunity to go to an African church (Rema) which was a very neat experience, shop at Four Ways Mall (it’s HUGE with soooo many stores), take a Zulu language class, had many game nights, ate fantastic meals, and have grown closer as a team. I can’t wait to see what the rest of our time here in South Africa will hold 🙂
Please be praying for my team and I as we head into this next week. Prayers to soften those hearts we encounter and prayers to let us all be slow to speak and quick to listen. As well us finding peace and beauty in all things, even if we don’t understand them.
Blessings,
Brenna 🙂
~many more pictures can be found under the “view my photos”tab!
We’ll just have you share some of your journal everyday. Love these words 🙂 (#kya sands)
So awesome to hear all the opportunities God is giving you to minister. What a blessing. You will never be the same. Praying for you.
WOW! This is so much to take in! It’s one thing to see pictures and read about a place. But to actually be there must have been life changing (as you’ve said). I can’t even imagine the amount of emotions that you must’ve been feeling. The community is so down, but yet many are so happy. The home, school, and community lives are much different than our own. As you said, we can rest in God. Many of the stories you said were definitely difficult (I can’t imagine actually facing them in person), but He gave you an amazing opportunity that you took advantage of 100% and I’m sure you had such a positive impact in each of those aspects of their lives.