Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Now that we’re home, we’ve continued processing all the thing we saw and experienced in South Africa. The first couple weeks were a little difficult in that our minds and hearts were still mulling over everything there.
It is kind of ironic that we went to South Africa and while there God spoke to our hearts about our home town, but that is indeed what happened. God really reinforced in our hearts what a privilege is it to be on staff at our home church and that while every “job” has it’s quirky things, we are so blessed to be called to serve Him in the Vail Valley.
Rudzanni is one of the ARTSA staff members, and her commitment to serving is amazing. She moved from Zimbabwe to work for ARTSA, and like us as we traveled to S.A., she didn’t know exactly what she was in for. Our week working with her was her first week living in Freedom Park. When I asked her why she was looking so tired, she confided in me that rats were in her house and were falling on her at night. It is her story and stories like hers that are a constant reminder to me of how blessed we are.
Along with that lesson, we learned how easy it is to isolate yourself and chose to be ignorant about issues. In S.A., there are giant mansions which overlook Freedom Park. From a critical viewpoint, you could say, “How can they see that devastation every day and do nothing about it?”, but on the other hand, we individually overlook the obvious needs of people around us all the time. The part of our community that God has put heavily on our heart is those who are spanish speaking. Here in the Vail Valley, just as many other communities around the U.S., the spanish speakers are isolated or have isolated themselves and we all go on acting like the other group doesn’t exist. So, as a first step in reaching out to that group of people, we are learning Spanish! Some of you know how awfully I failed at learning Spanish in college, but I’m just going to count on the fact that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
