day 89: cold day, warm fellowship

another cold, rainy day today here in cape town!! but we, along w/ the fairview volunteer team, worshipped alongside of the new crossroads baptist church family. the church is in the township where we held camp day 1! so, we got to see several of the  xhosa helpers/translators (including the 2 i mentioned in the previous blog) as well as a few of the kiddos!

the service was from 11 (although they seemed to have started a little early!) to about 2:15 or so. i have to say, it was the most energetic service i've been apart of yet. LOTS of dancing...which is always fun to watch the americans in the group attempt to get down!!

after the service, they'd prepared a meal. they offered food to us & it would have been culturally inappropriate/rude to turn it down. so, we stayed. they went over & beyond to provide like they did - the hospitality never ceases to amaze me! we left the church around 3!

(left) the men were seated at the front of the building to "break bread" (truly the CHURCH!!)
(right) the guest speaker bringing the message from II Chronicles 20

AND...just as a follow-up, here are some reflections from camp day 1:
- 55 decision cards were handed in by the students (& pastor kwanele said he saw some kids later who hadn't turned them in. so, there are potentially even more).
- of those 55, 11 indicated that they'd accepted Jesus into the hearts; 44 said they had more questions about how to belong to Jesus
- ALL want home visits! isn't it "funny" how God already provided a woman to do some home visits BEFORE the decisions had even been made?? PRAY for planning & time management so that these students can each be visited soon! FIFTY-FIVE...& that's just day 1! :)