My South African Journey
I’ve been in South Africa for almost four days now. It has truly been an absolute joy. I have met so many wonderful people and had so many experiences it is hard to sort through it all as I finally have a chance today to fill you in a bit.
I spent the first weekend about forty-five minutes outside of Durban in Pietermaritzburg with some lovely people who are sorting out what it means to live outside the box. We had a fabulous time sharing our pieces of the journey and they certainly had the fragrance of Father about their lives and their fellowship. I was greatly encouraged by their journeys which have taken them on a different path than most folks would understand. But they are enjoying the fruit of doing so.
Then on Monday I started my class in the HIV School at the YWAM Base in Durban. The class is being translated into Zulu, which takes a bit more work and doesn’t always allow for an ease of interaction. But we are working through it with the help of an excellent translator. It is quite a mix of people, but judging by the questions people are asking, I think it is really opening some doors for some people. Tomorrow morning I will take them for a journey of the cross and your prayers for a revelation of the cross in each person’s life will be mostly appreciated.
Through all that I’ve also had some absolutely incredible experiences. The first day I was here I went with ten people through a game reserve. It was incredible being just a few feet away from giraffes, hippos, zebras, rhinos and many other animals in the wild.
I also met a woman who was a breeder queen for a Satanist group. Against her will she was impregnated 13 times and bore 13 children. She was forced to watch 10 of them sacrificed as part of their rituals, one her 33-year-old son crucified upside down on a cross. She had escaped numerous times, but was soon abducted and returned to the coven. She has been out now for a couple of years and has been blessed with relationships with some incredible people who have walked her through an immense deliverance over 18 months and are now helping her learn to live as one of God’s kids in the earth… Amazing! Pray for her. She has so much to sort out but is doing incredibly well. Sometimes the evil in the world astounds me, but I am so grateful God is bigger still. Pray for her. She has much to sort out.
Yesterday after class I went with some of the staff into a township of 500,000 people to help a seven-month-old baby girl find the care she needed. She has AIDs. Her mom has already died of it and she lives with her grandma who was in real despair. She went to a clinic on Friday, for TB and a boil on her neck. They would not treat her since she has AIDs and want to save money on the medicine. I can’t tell you how sad this was. For a lack of $15.00 she was sent home to die. I have a granddaughter about that age and it breaks my heart to see her little life so ravaged by pain and disease and be unable to get care. She’s hardly eaten in two months and was quite lethargic today. We managed to get her into a private doctor, who was willing to help for cash payment. She is in ICU today at the hospital and we have no idea how it will sort out. Her hold on life is very fragile at this stage. Please pray for her too and her grandma!
We also visited a pregnant woman who is in the late stages of AIDs and is now separated from her three young children. There is misery at every turn here. Fifty percent of the people in that township have AIDs. But there are some incredible people here giving of their lives to care for them and share the life of Jesus. I’ll be here until Friday, when I make my way to Ladysmith for the weekend.
