South Africa 2

Greetings from South Africa! Sorry for the delay; internet access can be very difficult to come by in Soshanguve! We've been doing various team-building activities thus far in preparation for the coming weeks, and have moved into our respective homes with the locals. Pastor Selepe that I'm living with came as a surprise, as I had assumed that it would be Mr. and not Mrs. Selepe who would be the pastor in the house.

Bucket baths take me back to my first mission trip in Nepal, where there were showers, but the water was so cold, and warm bucket baths served as a much better alternative!

Please pray:

For my bronchitis that I discovered I had late at night the day before leaving for South Africa. I'm medicated and believe I'm slowly recovering, but it makes things difficult like a simple game of tag today with some neighborhood kids in the back of Luke and Petunia's yard. (I've now recovered!)

That you, my team, and I would be able to rest in the grace of the Lord more often no matter how rough our physical circumstances. For the Christian hospital in India and for the leader there. The hospital was attacked by a mob of radical Hindus around a month after I left after I spent 5 weeks there last summer. The evangelical nature of the hospital and the desire to celebrate the Dhalit (untouchable caste) people were the main reasons for attack. http://christiansincrisis.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=720&Itemid=39 Please thank the Lord: For the aboundance of medical supplies available in the 21st century, and my ability to acess them prior to getting to South Africa; For my need to miss very little through my bronchitis. Thank you all for your support in prayer. Adam

South Africa

I can't believe it's Friday and today I'll be leaving for South Africa! l am requesting your prayers for the next 40 days while l work there. My trip is fully funded, my schedule is set, but there are still so many uncertainties... My dream to serve in Africa predates my first mission trip to Nepal when I was eleven. I will be going with a group of seven people through the ministry Innerchange to Soshanguve, South Africa. We will be spending 40 days in South Africa ministering to the locals through relationships, service, and helping local churches in their work.

One of our main purposes is to help heal racial relations, and since I am white, I am excited to be part of the first group of Americans from any organization to live within the context of the township, where it used to be illegal for white people to live under the oppressive segregationist laws of Apartheid. Even if the laws of Apartheid are gone, much of the cultural segregation that were stimulated under it are still alive and well. In many cases, the church is no exception, often times divided as well between racial and even tribal lines. I pray as God ministers His love to the people of South Africa through my team and I, He will break the hatred ingrained through Apartheid and replace it with the love of Jesus Christ in the lives of many. The church in South Africa cannot stand if this hatred is incessantly pulling it down.

I will be living in a rather poor black area, and developing relationships with my neighbors as well as working through church programs. Some of this may be through sports, possibly including soccer, rugby, and maybe even boxing, three sports loved by this nation. My group will help evaluate whether Innerchange can establish a longstanding Innerchange presence in Soshanguve in the future. To learn more about the ministry, you can check them out at www.innerchange.org

The most important thing I need is a lot of prayer for God to work. The power, importance, and ultimate necessity of prayer, is far too often under-emphasized in much of our world. Please don't forget me in prayer during the summer, realizing that nothing even close to God's great plan for Soshanguve will occur unless He's preparing the way and working immensely. Thank you so much for your continued friendship and prayer! Adam Garrett