Cape Town, South Africa: Day 3

Here's your daily dose of South African beauty.

You're welcome.

We were up bright and early this morning for breakfast and prayer partner letters. The name of our early morning game was preparation, preparation, preparation for the sake of the people in a township called Capricorn.

This township is intense, with 8,000 people living in a very cramped space. We saw so much brokenness and addiction. Mothers who couldn't feed their children. Fathers who didn't know their children. Children who were addicted to drugs and alcohol. Teenagers who were parents before they should be. People who desperately need relief and Jesus.

Housed in a Living Hope-developed building, we started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 1:00 p.m., which felt like it equaled out to be the longest, most exhausting four and a half hours of our lives. But the payoff was amazing. Lives were altered. We were humbled. And Jesus' name was lifted higher.

We performed more eye exams, took more blood pressures, washed more feet, and added a blood sugar testing area. I was personally moved to tears to sit at the feet of people suffering through TB, AIDS, HIV, and other illnesses to wash the dust from their soles. Those are the moments in life that change your entire global perspective on the people God is so desperate to reconcile to Himself.

After packing up the clinic at Capricorn, we went back to The Team House for lunch and rest (aka naps equivalent to what you'd let yourself get away with on a Sunday afternoon).

At 5:00 p.m., we started a new venture in Muizenberg. The evening eye clinic drew a slightly different crowd—one that heard about it through 107.5 CCFM, the Christian radio station started by Living Hope. Some in line had been waiting since this morning to be tested.

This is what we saw when we got there...

When we arrived, people were lined up around the building—some having been there since this morning. Unbelievable. They were waving, cheering, and shouting, "We love you!" That probably spurred some of our stealth-like, all-star behavior until 10:00 p.m. tonight when we finished.

Have you ever watched a pit crew get to work on the track during NASCAR race? No? Me neither, but go with me on this one. Imagine it. That's exactly how our crew teamed up to make this thing happen.

That didn't mean we herded people through like cattle. Rather, it meant we didn't waste a minute of the precious time given to us in ministering to each and every person fully with every ounce of energy left in our sleep-deprived, jet-lagged bodies.

The split-screen day was an eye-opener. This morning, we wanted to hold our clients. Tonight, it seemed they all wanted to hold us. Many of them held an incredibly deep love for Jesus. We walked away talking about how much they encouraged us when we'd planned for it to be the other way around.

In the end, we still had to turn away hundreds of people and invite them back to another clinic on another day.

Here's what some of our team members said about the day.

One couple, who'd been married for 50 years, came in to get their eyes checked. The wife went to Scott Holmes and the husband went to George West. Then, they tag-teamed on the retelling of this story tonight:

"He had terrible, terrible cancer several years ago. His wife had to take care of him and he was in hospice for several years. They're both very strong Christians. What he was saying is how the Lord has kept him on earth to keep glorifying Him with his life. Then, at the end of our time together, he pointed to the left and said, 'That's my wife down there.'"

—George

"Her name was Mary. She literally gripped me the whole time and encouraged me like no one I've ever known. She told me about her husband having cancer and pointed him out at the end. She said, 'I don't pray for God to help me every day. I pray for Him to carry me every step.' I told her I was married and she said, 'You go home and hug your wife every day and love her every day.' They were really two people who loved the Lord and each other. It was so encouraging to me."

—Scott

"The whole day was overwhelming. I started the day off washing the feet of someone who was about to get tested for TB and there were sores. Then I got into a conversation with a woman whose daughter was being beaten by her boyfriend. Then a man sat down tonight and said to me, 'I'm so glad Jesus loves me that I get to be here.' It was an emotional roller coaster today. I was encouraged and blessed and broken and hurt. It was exciting and exhausting and wonderful and burdensome—all at the same time."

—Becky Gross

"This morning, I read in Proverbs. Chapter 22 talks about how to train up a child. It felt like 70 percent of my patients who came through asked me to pray for their kids—kids that were on drugs and drinking and in bad situations. I used that verse so much today. It's like God knew I would need that piece of wisdom to pass on to the people I met today."

—Chris Bishop

I love our evening debriefing sessions and devotional times at the end of the day. Tonight, Michael Russell challenged us with this: Sometimes, serving the Lord is uncomfortable. What could you do in your community to make yourself less comfortable and minister to someone in need?

Good word. We'll take it.

P.S. Pray for us tomorrow as we go to Living Way for our fourth eye clinic of the week.

Posted by Kaylan Christopher.

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Cape Town, South Africa: Day 2

Let's start today's post of with a little bit of this...

I know, right? Drool, sigh, melt into a pool of happiness. That's how we feel too. And we get to see this every day for a week.

What we've heard is true, though: This is a first world area with third world issues. It's a topic we've rolled around back and forth since we arrived, trying to figure out what to do with it.

Today was like "drinking water from a fire hose," as Natasha, our tour guide and Living Hope Teams Coordinator, said. It's true. It was full, rich, emotional, and exhausting.

We started off at the main campus of Living Hope and got the full overview. Let me try to translate in a few short paragraphs what we learned.

John Thomas, pastor of King of Kings Baptist Church in the Cape Town area, heard a statistic that revealed the HIV infection rate in Masiphumelele, a nearby township, was 42%. It broke his heart and moved him to action.

That was in 1999. And that's when Living Hope took off.

Today, we learned that the ministry has four different arms that minister to the greater Cape Town area:

• Living Care – The health care center with 22 beds and home-based health care with 50 carers.
• Living Grace – Originally reaching the homeless and now offering a substance abuse recovery program and feeding program.
• Living Right – Offering support groups, health counselors, and life skills for both children and adults.
• Living Way – The job creation arm that offers soft skills (keeping a job), hard skills (what you need to get a job), and business development training.

Want to hear another cool part about this ministry? Five of our Brentwood Baptist members are serving as missionaries at Living Hope in each of the four break-off ministries.

Amy Helms is a nurse at Living Care. Ashley Lovell works with Living Grace. Danielle Schneider and Courtney Lankford work with Living Right. And Joey Lankford works with Living Way.

Don't worry. I plan to post more in-depth stories on what each person is doing, more about their roles in the ministry, and the lives they've already touched. Stay tuned.

Our tour included township drive-bys through Masiphumelele, Ocean View, Overcome Heights, and Capricorn.

And we were able to fit a small run-through of Living Way in there.

It finally ended with lunch, prayer, and a pep talk from John and Avril Thomas.

This afternoon, we set sail for our first stop in the week-long eye clinic journey—Red Hill, a small, rural township of about 2,000 people. The pictures speak for themselves regarding the poverty they live in.

But don't be fooled by looks alone. Those we served were kind and grateful we came to visit. And God is up to something there.

Along with the Living Hope crew—who set up tents for glucose, TB, and HIV testing—our crew rotated through various roles. Two took blood pressure, one ushered patients through, three tested eyes, two washed feet, and the rest volleyed between one role and the other helping out where it was needed.

Here are some remarks from the team after the fact:

• George West: "Gordon, our bus driver, said, 'You have no idea what that meant to them. Nobody washes their feet—especially a white person. It was something they've never seen before.'"

• Chris Bishop: "A mother and her son came through. I gave the little boy a piece of gum and you could tell it put him at ease. I asked if I could pray with them and he put his head against his mom like they'd done it before. You could tell they prayed together at home."

• Troy Brown: "One lady came to get glasses and I asked if I could pray for her. She was hesitant at first, but finally admitted that she'd been to the doctor and found out she was pregnant. She hadn't told any of her family members yet and was concerned about how they would take it. I'm glad we got to pray through that."

Becky Gross led a powerful devotional tonight based on Romans 8:28: "We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him."

She encouraged us to hone in on "in everything" and what that looks like. Because it looks like both good and bad times. And it doesn't mean that we always see the good that comes out of what we do right then and there—and we may possibly never see it. But, nevertheless, in everything.

Tomorrow is a rough neighborhood in the township of Capricorn. It's going to be another long day for our team. But God has already proved His faithfulness again and again, going before us, behind us, and surrounding us as we take the gospel to this nation.

BONUS MATERIAL...

Prime footage of Red Hill and this afternoon's eye clinic.

Quote of the Day:

"Most of those women had no idea what the word 'tickle' meant."

—George West,

Resident Foot Washer, Mission Journey Fashionista, & Professional Napper

Sharon Fairchild, whom we like to call "The Baby Whisperer"

This verse was posted on a sign in the tunnel run by the hard work of our Brentwood Baptist missionary Joey Lankford and others at Living Way.

"Listen to what I am tell you. Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest."

—John 4:35

This was a preschool on Living Way's campus. The kids loved showing off their skills for us.

Post by Kaylan Christopher

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