Summer Camp

For lack of time in the year-end rush, I'm gonna double-publish bits of our upcoming news e-letter: Because of your prayers, last week's retreat/camp was a wonderful success! From Monday through Thursday we brought 47 orphans from the Philippi township to a beautiful retreat center in Stellenbosch. Each day was filled with games, crafts, sports, singing, lessons, meals, and some free time. We ended the week with a Christmas party at which the kids decorated cookies, ate McDonalds (a special treat), blew us away with their skills in a talent show, and received a Christmas gift (brand-new backpacks!) along with personal Christmas cards from kids at Rolling Hills Covenant Church in LA.

On Thursday evening, I, Melinda, felt a deep sense of loss and emptiness. After sharing every meal with 60 others for a week, dinner for two left us feeling a bit like a funeral party. I missed our kids already! We are so grateful to be able to work with these incredible children. We remarked to each other several times throughout the week that we work with the most amazing and precious children in the world. We really believe this!

We both had sweet opportunities to talk one-on-one with some of the older kids. They deal with such heavy burdens! Please pray that God would continue to pursue them over this vulnerable holiday time. Most adults, young and old, drink excessively over the holidays--crime and neglect are rife.

[This is precious Thandile beading a bracelet.]

I (Melinda) am particularly grateful to have spent some one-on-one time with many of the girls. I also learned that they speak better English than previously expressed. Many of them were silent before because they were shy, not because they couldn’t speak English! I now look forward to getting to know them better each week with our new-found ability to communicate well. I, (Matthew now…) talked deeply with several of the boys—one in particular whom I hope you will pray with me for. His Xhosa name means “I have a hope.” Whenever I see him, I tell him in Xhosa, “I have a big hope for you!” God really broke him and opened his heart at camp. He carries a heavy guilt for his mother’s death and a deep distrust of God. She died during a time of rebellion in his own life. Why should I give Him my life now that my mother is gone—I can’t bring her back? Can I even trust Him with my own life? I trust that God gave me and the pastor of St. Paul’s (in Philippi) the truth to speak into his life. Please pray with me that God would relentlessly pursue this young man. I have a big hope for him—and I, perhaps selfishly, want to be around to see God redeem and remake his life!

[Hector and Azolile at the Christmas Party, stoaked for their new backpacks.]

Please pray with us that God would protect these precious hearts over the holidays, that He would continue to remind them that they were born to be a blessing--that they wouldn't shy from dreaming big dreams!