You are the God of this CITY!

Hey All!

I hope you have been following the excitement of the World Cup!!  It is really exciting around here.  Every game is unpredictable and it reminds me a lot of the NCAA Bowl season or March Madness in Basketball, except with billions of people watching!  My ears are probably permanently damaged from the noice of the vuvuezelas, but I love it.  I think Texas Tech games should adopt this deafening instrament!  AYOBA!  The Bafana Bafana (South Africa's Team) is out of the World Cup, so the locals are pretty bummed, but at least the Bafana jersey's are now half price, so if yall want one...let me know :)!

So ministry during this time has been so crazy.  This is the first time I have actually had time to sit down and process what I have seen.  Last week, we ran a school program for kids ages 5-17, this was a great time of ministry, but the reality of their situation was shocking.  Many of these kids live in shacks with 20-30 other people.  Most of the children are being sexually abused by the men in their family and neighbors, and a lot of them are living with AIDS.   The boys in this area usually start taking drugs around the age 12 or 13 and join in gangs during this time as well.  The relationships we built were amazing during this week.  Some of the stories I have heard from these children that should still have their innocence was heartbreaking.  One mother even opened up to me saying how hard she has tried to protect her daughter, but the area is so dangerous.  Her daughter was recently gang raped by 8 men, and the pain from a situation like this I could never understand and pray I never will. It has been really great to speak truth into these kid’s lives who have never heard that they are loved or that they are fearlessly and wonderfully made and not a mistake or unwanted! 

Besides the school program, we have done outreach into the public viewing areas and around the city,  I have met so many interesting people this week and loved getting to just share life with people from all over the world.   Soccer really is a universal language and it has opened up so many conversations.  I am amazed at how open people are regarding their life and need for Jesus.   God’s timing has been perfect and has placed a lot of us in situations at the exact moment they have needed his touch.  It is so humbling to know that God is using me to make His name known among the nations.  Sometimes I really think, why me?  Why do I get to be apart of this?  I don’t deserve it, but I’m so thankful!  This week, we have soccer clinics all week, Girls detention center, Prison ministry, Township and village outreach, and going to AIDS orphanages and holding babies.  These babies are probably going to die, so they aren’t ever held to save time for the care workers to spend time on the other children.   So much darkness in this city, but God’s light is shining through, and his truth is being made known here.  

Dondi