For my birthday this year, I asked for a silver necklace that has a charm with a depiction of the African continent and a heart on South Africa. I just got it today and it is appropriate that the charm falls right above my heart.
I left my heart in South Africa.
As my journal entry from the night before I left South Africa reveals:
"It's our last night in South Africa, and I cannot help but look back on all of the memories with a twinge of sadness. It has been an INCREDIBLE two and a half weeks...
I will miss participating in some of the awesome service opportunities we got to do- like Hillcrest Hospital, El olam (Hope Valley Farm School), and Orphan Aid.
I will miss the glorious, relatively untouched beauty of South Africa- from the Durban beachfront, to Drakensberg, and the Makaranga gardens.
I will miss driving on the left side of the road, laughing at South Africans' funny pronunciations of things (like zebra), drinking Rooibos tea, and eating my weight in South African cookies (excuse me, biscuits).
I will miss doing my devotions with sloping South African hills and bright South African sunshine as my backdrop. I will miss hearing the sound of African voices, raised in worship, reverberating across the landscape.
But most of all, I will miss the believers of Hillcrest Baptist Church...these brothers and sisters have become so dear to me and it's been such a blessing to see the Lord working in His church and His people, thousands of miles away from my own home and church! "Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth; her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth; one holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food, and to one hope she presses, with every grace endued."
I remember during the fall of 2009 and the spring of 2010 I had "somewhat" of a desire to go on a missions trip. The Lord knows the mixed motives behind this desire. Ironically, I was going through one of the lowest points in my spiritual life and was not living a completely sold-out walk for Christ. But I applied for an STM (my three preferences being Brazil, Malawi, and South Africa) and when my parents' good friends the Zekvelds chose to lead the team to South Africa, it was decided. South Africa it was.
The Lord really shook up my world as a result of my trip to South Africa. My two and a half weeks there awoke in me such a burning clarity and passion as to what I am supposed to be doing with my life, whether in the states or abroad: living for Him (a rather basic conclusion, but it is one thing to know that and another thing to live it)!
"...Through God's mercy we have this ministry," 2 Corinthians 4:1. It makes me smile to think that when I was wayward, apathetic, dull, and lukewarm in my faith, when my team was so low on funds it didn't seem like we would be able to go after all, the Lord put me on that team and the Lord provided for us to be in South Africa. The trip was all of Him. The ministry was all through Him. And our subsequent growth was all by Him.
I hope someday the Lord directs my path back to South Africa. I would absolutely LOVE to go back to Durban and see all my friends at Hillcrest Baptist and minister alongside of them once again.
We will see what the future holds and what the Lord ordains. I am praying for the GCC 2011 South Africa STM as they prepare to embark in about 3 weeks. They have no idea what a rich, wonderful, stretching, unforgettable, and blessed time they are in store for. I am not gonna lie, I am a tad bit jealous ;)
If you ever get a chance to go on a missions trip to South Africa. Don't pass it up. The country is absolutely stunning and the African people are so endearing- but most amazing is the dedication of believers and their love for the Lord in South Africa. Such a testimony. Such a challenge to my own walk with the Lord...to this day.
There are so many spiritual needs in that country, and I pray the Lord supplies those needs with the vessels He chooses. And if one of those vessels might someday be me, soli deo gloria. "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!' " Isaiah 6:8
If and until that time, my team is planning a reunion with lots of Rooibos and Milo and reminiscing on the menu. I can't wait to relive what I will always consider to be one of the best and most growing experiences of my life.
As a plaque in my room says: "May the African sun always shine on you. May the rhythm of its drums beat deeply in your heart. May the vision of its glory fill you with joy, and may the memory of South Africa be with you always."
Here is the 2010 World Cup Song that always takes me back to that wonderful country and my unforgettable time there last summer...
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