I'm back!

Hello all!!

Well, I have safely made it back to Sydney safe and sound. I actually got back Jan.16th but we've been busy since and I didn't have time to update my blog. Please forgive me I haven't forgotten about you.

Outreach was ... I would like to say amazing but that word can only start to describe God. Outreach was wonderful. As I look back it feels like a dream. After Christmas things started to pick up ministry wise. But let's see...New years....

New Years was good, different but good. It is the culture to bring in the new year with worship and prayer and since we were under the covering of the church we were expected to join in. The days leading up to new years our base and school leader, Etienne who is from Cape Town, really wanted to take us into the city and let us experience the south african new years. The day before he learned that the city isn't the same as it was 10 or even 5 years ago and the 'fun time' he experience was that a person who was on the party side...when he was younger. It was too dangerous for us to go so we joined the church and brought in the new year with prayer and worship. It was a good time, even when the speaker would break from english into afrikaans at the climax of the story. ... we learned who to sit next to in order to get a translation. Then January 2 Etienne took us into the city to see the Koons (sorry that's spelled incorrectly) celebrations. This festival dates back to slavery when slaves were only allowed 1 day off all year and that was on Jan. 2. On this day they were free from work and were allowed to go into the city or other cities to enjoy the day and evening. Their typical thing was to dress up, play music, dance, and drink. Now the traditions have been carried on. The youth and adults come together and do parades down the main streets of Cape Town. They are all dressed up with faces painted, marching bands playing, and dancers dancing. The celebration happens for 2 weeks. The first week is the parades which is practice for the following week when they have a competition for the top performing group. They are judged on music, costume, and dancing...much like when I did marching band and drumline...it brought back many memories. Being in the city was fun but I think the best part was actually getting there and getting home. We drove a truck, called a uht (pronounced you-t), and 10 of us sat in the back...no truck top, low sides, and down the freeway, going about 70 mph (sorry mom and dad but it was soooo fun!).

Ministry wise we stayed pretty low-key until the week before we left but we were able to go and clean the park that was just down the street, a couple of days we went out on all 4 sides of the church and planted bible versus all over the city. The week before we left was probably my favorite week. We were able to go into a detention center and spend time with 16 girls, being able to share testimonies, dances, and a short sermon. Afterwards we hung out and made bracelets, hearts, and chatted. We were able to make some really good connections. When we left something was stirring inside me. After I prayed about it I talked to Jennelle and shared the idea of making the girls a Christmas gift. They had shared that on Christmas they had no visitors, no phone calls, no special dinner and here we were on Christmas sharing our favorite memories from home, getting a wonderful dinner from the church and for a few excited about the Christmas presents that are at home waiting to be opened. The idea was to make them each a shirt, with encouragement and bible versus on it. I shared it with the group and we were able to make them and give them to the girls who, almost all, cried. God had opened a door and we were there to step in. The connections with the girls that we made hopefully will last a life time and we hope and are eager to see the impact we made. We also visited an elderly home, an AIDS hospice, townships (basically slums - people who live in a shack made out of trash they find), and went to the Leons Dale flats to say goodbye. The Friday before we left we held a thank you dinner for all those who made our stay so comfortable. For the family that did our laundry, to the church members that made us feel like family. The Monday before we left the church the church members held a goodbye dinner for us at the pastors house and it was really fun. We left the church, Tabernacle of Praise, on Tues and drove to Muizenburg for our remaining days in South Africa. There we were able to see another base, do worship on the beach with the outreach team from England, and only be a 5 minute walk from the beach...that's including traffic. Our flight back was good, there was some turbulence but nothing too bad. I sat next to a 3 year old girl who was hilarious and a little chatter box. She loved to sit next to Bethani and I and it was fun to talk with her.

Since we've been back in Sydney we have tried to get over the jet-lag and these past few days were spent in Canberra (said Cambra) for the 50th Celebration for YWAM. Loren and Darlene Cunningham spoke, the founders of YWAM, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. God really spoke to me...stuff to pray about.

As for the coming weeks, this week we are staying at the base until Friday, doing some outreach with Muslims and relaxing before we head to Tingha for the grand opening of the FIRST youth center started by an indigenous aboriginal in the communities. It's a HUGE thing! The media will be covering it and the 'founders' brother, John who is a student with me, who plays in the National Rugby League will be there. Then that Friday we will be going to another aboriginal community and the last week is up in the air before we are back at the base for our last week which is lecture on debrief - re-entry into our lives.

Should be good.

PLEASE PRAY!

Cheers,
Sarah