by Lenice Bullock, 3-Month South Africa Immersion team member
The South Africa Immersion team has just started their time serving in the community of Olievenhoutbosch. They are currently living with host families and learning to live the local way in South Africa.
So much has happened. This time last week I was staying up late talking to one of my best friends who joined another team with Experience Mission. Fast forward one week, I'm in Centurion, South Africa, currently about to go to sleep. My team members and I have been staying at our team leaders' house until we go to live with our host families. The greatest blessing is we are all like one big family. All 11 of us. There are six people on our team (including me), two guys from previous Immersion teams, and our team leader, his wife and their son.
We left Indiana Friday evening and got to Johannesburg late afternoon on Saturday. 17 hours total of flying time is probably what I would consider its own twisted form of torture but we made it! Then we took a train to Centurion and met up with a great couple that brought us to our team leaders house. They have been amazing!
Spending time with them and the team has been an incredible time, but today our team leader took us to Olievenhoutbosch ("Olieven" for short) for the first time to see where we would be working. Wow. I can't wait to be there next week. We went to Olievenhoutbosch Christian School where we will be working as teachers aids for 4 weeks. The kids were precious and so bubbly! Not long after we got there I found myself playing Hide and Seek with a group of kids. How awesome is that! I tried my best to get their names but I'm sure I butchered them in my American accent. But hey, I'm trying! We also went to the community center where we will work once a week and the disability center where we will work for 4 weeks as well. I can't wait to see how God will teach me over the next 8 weeks in these places!
Most of us have heard this story but it's such a great reminder. In Luke 9, Jesus asked some men to follow him and all three came back with some kind of excuse. One wanted to bury his dad first, one wanted to say goodbye to his family first, and He even told one to expect homelessness. Jesus was simply and boldly making it clear from the start that if you follow him, you abandon everything—your needs, your desires, even your family. That struck a huge note with me. Christ asks us to totally and exclusively follow him and only him. It doesn't matter what sacrifices we have to make. So I want to follow him. I want to live so that I don't even worry about my desires or needs and just follow him.
Great things will happen in this season of my life in South Africa. I'm so excited to learn them and share them along the way.
Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." - Luke 9.62
LEARN MORE | Spend 6 months in Africa starting this January!
Site developed and hosted by Skycog, Inc.