Rustenburg, South Africa Week 1

So after we finally arrived to south africa we went to the YWAM base in Rustenburg to stay for 2 weeks. We arrived late friday night and I had to jump the fence and walk around the base to find someone to be able to open the gate that was closed. The next day we just relaxed, slept in and went to the mall. At the mall there was a great amount of England fans and also U.S. fans for the U.S. England game was that night. We also had to help plan for our teammate mohapeloa to be sent back to lesotho. That night we went to watch the U.S. vs England game at a friend of a friends house. It was a huge house with a nice t.v., pool, hot tub...you name it. I felt like I was back in the states and visiting a rich friend. It was great to see the first half of the game there...but everyone wanted to go back to the base to see the second half so we quickly left and tried to make it back in time for the second half and although I was a bit nervous we would miss some of the game we did make it in time. On sunday we went to the mall again and watched Robinhood...yeah it just came out here I dunno about the states but probably has been out for awhile! That night I went to Mcdonalds with the team...something I would never do in the states but outside the U.S. its not that bad. On Monday we went to a orphanage I guess you could say...except none of the kids live there...its mainly kids who come there after school or anytime they can..so they can be away from their houses. I think a few do live at the house but most do not. For the whole week outside of tuesday we planned things for them each day (11am to 3pm). These consist of teaching about a country of the world, a bible story, a craft, and a few games. After we are done with that we just go back and relax most days..or on tuesday we had a 2 hour intersession time which we are not used to. At our base we have a lot of intersession time but try to split it up into different days. On Tuesday we went to a squater camp to pray for the clinic's patients there. If anyone has seen District 9 that is basically what these people are living in. The government allows people to rent these shacks but gives them basically nothing else and they are surrounded by barbwire..its horrible. We prayed for about 6 different people that day including one lady that got stabbed in the face because a guy wanted her cellphone and attacked her for it. It was har to see these people in these kinds of conditions. Also many of the people living there are actually from Lesotho. What happens a lot of the time is the man goes to work in the mines and then brings the kids and wife and then he either loses his job and is stuck there or never finds a job. Also sometimes the lady and the kids come to live with the father then he leaves them and they are stuck. Instead of sending them home to their countries (most of the people aren't even from South Africa) they force the people to live in these camps. That night we had an intersession meeting and prayed for about an hour then as it got quiet the Rustenburg team tried to help to continue the prayer time by asking if any of us needed prayer and I asked for prayer. Over the past few weeks I had been looking forward to going home but at the same time feel like I will be in the same place I was before...eventhough I have changed as a person. As they prayed one of the staff members told me she kept getting the words, leader... This wasn't the first time people have felt the lord is calling me to leadership. I feel the Lord wanted to reiterate to me that yes he does want me to be a leader and I should keep looking down on myself. It was nice to hear that and it brought my spirits up. On wednesday through friday during the day we went to Martha's house, which is across the street from the Fifa stadium, which is the orphanage as we went to on monday. We again had a similar agenda and have been starting to get to know the kids better. On saturday we went on a second safari...yeah God is spoiling us. This time the safari was a bit different for we drove our own car and there where many many people there because of the world cup. Instead of having hippos charge us like last time..we actually saw a dead hippo, a bunch of wildabeast, a few giraffe, and a rhino (which we didn't see at the other place so that was cool). We also had a warthog come right up to our car and give it a love tap. It was funny that this warthog was just walking around the parking lot in the center of the park. Although it was fun...it wasn't the same as the park in Maun. Outside of those things this week we have been hanging out with a staff member named Ryan and watching as many of the Fifa games as I can. Our time in rustenburg has been luxury compared to the other places for we have a bed, a kitchen and apartment that we can use (which was for our base leader but didn't come..story coming..) Also can watch fifa with ryan..so its been quite relaxing and fun...So originally nathan our base leader was suppose to come for both weeks here but because of visa stuff that got changed to one week...then because mohape came back to lesotho he had to plan for his two weeks before we all came back and so it looked like he wasn't going to come.... We hadn't seen nathan for 3 weeks because he left when we where in the bush to go to a leaders meeting, but something we didn't know till a few days ago was that when he got back to his house he started to be hurassed by someone. For the past 6 days he found slaughted and mutulated animals on his doorstep. it seemed like it was witchcraft or something, which is everywhere in lesotho, and someone didn't like that God was with him. Because of these different animals that where placed on his doorstep he decided that it would be best for him to stay home and not come visit us in Rustenburg. On sunday we went to church and didn't have to plan it which was very nice and took the whole Rustenburg team out to lunch. On Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a short hike up to a prayer chapel on the mountain and had a great quiet time. Our time here so far has been a lot of fun and looking forward to next week but I am and have been for a bit counting down the days till I head back to the states I am ready to go home and be with my family and friends!