A day in the life of J-Life training
Michelle and I stayed the night last night at the training center as the evening seems to be the best time to connect with guys on a more personal level. Unfortunately a team member got sick and I spend the whole evening at the hospital. Earlier in the day I lectured on “postmodernism and youth ministry.” It is sometime I really enjoy because it involves a lot of history and it was great to try and make that stuff come alive for the guys. It really sparked some good conversations such as how the church should respond to worldview changes in society.
It’s cool to see how creative the team is this year. Whenever we give them something to teach or present they really get into it and they always seem to create some brilliant presentation. Yesterday one of the groups came up with a musical in 30 minutes… and it was actually really good. We are excited to see what they are going to accomplish on the road this year.
Last week the guys went through something we call “African Realities.” They learn all about the issues of the continent facing young people. We talk about wars, diseases, abuse, malnutrition, education etc. But the thing that makes it so impactful is that they actually live it out. They live on $1 a day and sleep on the floor in really tight quarters. They cannot use the showers and they cook their food over a fire. They even have to walk 6 miles and catch a taxi into town to buy their food. This year we also had them go to the hospital to be tested for HIV. It’s a very emotionally draining weekend but an experience I’m sure none of them will ever forget. You can really see the passion they have for these issues coming out through the week, even as they are hungry and tired.
On a personal front, Michelle and I are settling into our new apartment in Vereeniging. Our neighbors are flight school students from India and Nepal. They are great guys! It has been nice to be closer to friends and our church as well. My parents and my little brother are coming up from Durban to visit us this weekend. They came up last year when I was in the hospital so it will be nice to be able to hang out with them more this time.
Some prayer requests:
With about a month and a half left of the training some issues within the team start to come up making things stressful. As the novelty wears off there is more conflict that comes out with the guys. We have also had some problems with stealing over the past couple of weeks. This is something we deal with a lot in South Africa and is such an ugly problem when you are trying to create an atmosphere where community can grow. It causes people to be skeptical of the person next to them. Please pray that this would be figured out so that we can deal with it and move on!
Michelle and I have had such good opportunities this year to invest in peoples’ lives. Pray with us that this would continue into the rest of the year.
We are still deciding when to come back to the States for furlough. Please pray for us in this!
Posted by michelle at 06:47 AM. Filed under:
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