The Beatitudes
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
"the way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are the 'poor in spirit.' They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem. that is what the word poor as Christ used it actually means. These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things ... though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all thing, theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
A.W. Tozer
These past two weeks have been a crazy whirlwind. we are finishing up our time at AE. i leave tomorrow morning at 5 am for capetown. We are driving the Garden Route from here to Capetown and will be stopping each night in a new city. I am blessed to be able to see so much of South Africa. My love for this country is only growing.
i spent the last five days on safari and in a zulu village.
the couple of days leading up the safari were a bit more difficult though. we had our final days at walk in the light and spent friday, saturday and sunday with the senior youth. We spent the whole week finishing Mandla's house. We did not completely finish it, but we got close. We worked at walk in the light on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then had a debriefing day on Thursday, then Friday was our "study day" for our finals on Saturday. Saturday was finals, then Sunday was Easter. We left Monday morning at 530 for the safari. Good Friday was my favorite day in South Africa so far. I went to Haniville with tanya, Jon, and our friend's mom. We went to show Lauren's mom Haniville and Jon is working on a photo book about Haniville so he needed to go get some more pictures of the township before we leave PMB. it was the four of us Americans and the four senior youth boys. we spent the day walking through haniville and just hanging out with one another. we stopped by Mandla's and prayed and vistited for a while. as we walked, i felt at home. i felt at ease. It was the first time that i felt like i was finally able to see haniville in a different way. i was not surrounded by 20 other white americans, which i loved, dont get me wrong, it is just a different type of experience. while we were walking around the township i was able to have a great conversation with Njabulo about God. one of the things that i have learned over and over again here is that the one thing that truly can bridge any gap, and bring people together is God. We are two very different people, from completely different backgrounds. we have different joys, different struggles, yet we are bonded together as brother and sister in the name of Jesus. i am still continually so amazed by this. each day.
The senior youth continue to amaze me. They spent thursday through sunday together, praying and fasting. they all spent the night at the house of walk in the light from thursday until sunday. they are so committed to the church, to their relationship with God, and to one another. they truly are a body of christ, united under his name, and they are visible acting as his hands and feet to their neighbors. i have said this so many times before in this blog, but they are truly teaching me so much about the Kingdom of God. i am continually challenged and humbled by their love and commitment. they have chosen to follow Jesus, and they will give up anything in order to seek him more earnestly. It was cool to be able to meet the youth where they are and see them in their element. Njabulo took us to his house, where we met his whole family. i loved it. i loved every minute of that day. i am so excited for the next four months. as i was walking around haniville, i felt at home. i felt at peace. i know that sounds super cheesy but it really is how i feel. my love for this place grows more and more each day. it is surprising me. one thing that i was overwhelmed by in haniville on friday though was the alcohol. there was so much alcohol that day. it was 3 in the afternoon and i feel like every home i passed there were people out front drinking, and drunk people passing us on the streets. alcoholism is such a huge problem in haniville. it has such a strong hold on so many families. there were bottles laying around everywhere on the street.
there is so much more i want to know about haniville, and so much more i have to learn. i want to be able to truly hear from the community the root problems in that township. i am so interested in life in haniville. i want to hear more about it. i want to hear what it was like to grow up there. i want to know the joys and struggles of the township. i am so excited to continue to learn more and more about this place as my time here continues.
On Saturday we took our exams. i am officially done with my isiZulu class. praise the lord.
Sunday was easter! it was an incredible day. we went to walk in the light church. most of church was in Zulu but it didnt matter. it was just a minor detail. i feel like i saw and felt the spirit moving more in that church then i usually do in an english speaking church. worship was incredible. you could see the genuine hearts of worship among the congregation. of course, there was a lot of dancing. dancing up and down the isles, dancing in the front of the church, lots of clapping and cheering. i loved it. there is so much life in south africa. it is so vibrant. The God that i love and i seek out, and the God that meets me where i am, does the same for the people in that church. there is nothing that God does not transcend.
Sthembileh
she is one of the senior youth. she is incredible. She speaks a lot at church. she spoke on sunday. she was speaking so much truth, she was a vessel of God's words. she is 18 years old. she lost both her parents a couple years ago. she moved to haniville after that. she is going to college right now. she has a lot of big dreams. God is going to use her in incredible ways. when she speaks, people listen. she is genuinely seeking God, each day. she has chosen to live her life by his standards. She is living for his kingdom. i am so amazed by her. She speaks truth everytime she talks.
she planned the entire easter weekend services. she is an incredible woman. i love spending time with her. she spoke shortly about our time together. i didnt realize that they cared for our group of students the way that they did. she said it perfect when she said, we were all able to come together in the name of jesus and love one another, regardless of any other circumstances. i was so touched by her.
After church Sthembileh, Sipho, Sihle, Snash, Njabulo, and Tash came back to AE for the day. it was a good day. it was our last day with the senior youth. we spent the day just hanging out. when we said goodbye, it was really hard. everyone was crying. i guess i had not realized how deep the friendships we all had formed with one another really were until that night. it was a lot of emotions. watching them say goodbye to everyone made my heart hurt. i am really starting to resent short term missions. i am ready to move her. i am ready to really start ministry in the place that God has called me to. i just wish it would happen sooner. hah i am having a hard time finding patience and trusting that God's timing is better than my own.
We spent all of last week on a safari and in a rural zulu village. the past week was crazy. our group split up because we are too large. half of us went to safari and half went to the village, then we switched half way through. i went to safari first. it was so much fun. i just love being in this country. it was so nice to be able to get away and just hang out with everyone. i have grown to love each individual on this semester so much. we just have fun together. one of my favorite parts of the safari was the drive to the safari. it was a five hour drive. i love car rides. i have spent more time in buses this past semester then in my entire life, yet i am growing quite fond of long drives. i love seeing how different south africa is. it truly is one of the most captivating places. i was sick on safari with a bad head cold and cough, but other than that, it was a great couple of days. while we were on safari the other group got really sick in the Zulu village. 20 out of 27 of that group got sick. a few were hospitalized. When we switched groups, we were all extremely hesitant to go into the village, but it turned out good. I really enjoyed it actually. i think that i would eventually love to spend some time in a village. we stayed in mud huts with the local people. it was great. we spent the first night there zulu dancing. In the Zulu culture there is a specific dance that they do. They throw their leg up and slam it down on the ground. youtube zulu dancing and see it. hah. i love that song and dance is such an integral part of life here in SA. it is a part of everything. while the ladies were cooking, they sang, as we sat around the fireplace, we sang as a group. we offered a song as a thank you to them for dancing. it is incredible to see how alive the people of South Africa are. my favorite part of the night though was the stars. they were unreal. i have never seen that many stars before. i am amazed at my creator. last week, on Good Friday, i went for a run early in the morning, and on my way back from this huge hill i stopped and looked at the trees. they were swaying, line by line, in perfect rhythm. I was taken aback by this for a good 20 minutes. i was humbled. i felt like i was watching creation cry out to its creator. creation was praising him. it was unlike anything i have experienced before. i feel like i am experiencing God in so many new ways here. I am seeing him work in the smallest ways.
(brandon hook photography)
I really loved being in the village though. despite the fact that we were all scared we were going to get sick the whole time, it was really nice to be away from the business and really get to experience the Zulu culture. The next day we took a hike with a local medicine man up through the mountains. he showed us all of the different trees and plants that the Zulu people have been using as medication for generations and generations. We hiked to another village, where we spent some time with the local ladies who were doing beadwork. Beadwork is very popular in Zulu culture. After that we hiked back down to our village and relaxed for a couple hours. After that we learned a little bit about the fighting part of zulu culture. The Zulus are very big on fighting. they are known as warriors. from a young age, the boys are taught how to fight. they handed us swords and shields made out of plants. then told us to fight. it was a hilarious hour.
the next day we woke up and had breakfast then we built another mud hut. to be honest, i was not super excited about this. building those huts are hard work. it takes a lot of energy. we worked on that for an hour and half then showered and left. out showers were fun. they were just a curtain with this pully bucket thing that dumped out water on us. it was quite the adventure.
we leave tomorrow morning at 6 for our journey to capetown. we will be driving for 5 days. we are stopping along the major coastal cities on our way. on tuesday i will be going bungee jumping and then adventure cave diving. i wont have internet until next week.
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