Hey everyone, thank you so much for checking out my blog once again. I really must apologize for the lack of updating here. Life is so busy and so fast here, and whenever I do get free time I am often too tired to write a full entry. I have decided it is nearly impossible for me to let you know every little thing that has happened over the past few weeks. It is really hard for me to believe that I have been here for almost 3 weeks. It feels like it has only been a few days. Today is youth day in South Africa, so we have the day off and I finally got to sleep in. Currently I am sitting at a coffee shop called Mug and Bean where I just paid 12 rand for a bottomless cup of delicious coffee (that is a little less than two dollars). I have been working on other stuff here for about two hours already and I’m sure the waitress wants to spill a hot cup of coffee on me, since I keep getting refills, in order to get me to leave! And I don’t blame her, I guess I’ll tip her well.
Well let me briefly tell you about my first week here in Cape Town. I have been assigned to work with children in a township called Ocean View. The first week I would work at the Living Hope office cutting cardboard for a craft for the children. We are going to have the children paint and decorate the “Armor of God” (This is found in Eph. 6). In the afternoons, we would play soccer or do some other activity for 15 minutes to get them to calm down a little bit and to build some connections. Carly and I are the two international volunteers that are working in Ocean View along with some local volunteers named Meagan, Nathan, Alister, and Julie. There are also several 16 and 17 year old volunteers who are helping out now, but I am still trying to learn all of their names. After the 15 minutes of play we would share with the kids Bible stories, sing silly songs, and do crafts. All very new stuff to me. I am certainly not used to working with children but as the days go by I have gotten more and more familiar with the children and more and more comfortable with them as well!
Last week we spent both Monday and Tuesday preparing for the upcoming month. As I have already told you the children will be out of school for a winter break here and it has been extended to four weeks due to the World Cup’s presence here. After the first two days, we worked with our Ocean View group more specifically on the upcoming weeks. This consisted of cutting more cardboard and cutting more cardboard, and maybe cutti
ng a little more cardboard.
Thankfully Nathan had the brilliant idea to use beer trays as shields for the armor of God. So for the past week and a half I have hit up three different liquor stores almost every morning to collect from them their beer trays. The trays are the perfect shape for a shield, we will then simply have the children paint over the logos and decorate them. It is a rare occasion when you get to drive around this beautiful city, often getting distracted by the ocean and the mountains, searching for liquor stores as part of your ministry. It was very fun. Thankfully we rented a new and more reliable car to get around in. Surprisingly I am having very little difficulty driving on the left side of the road. It is easier than it sounds I promise!
Last Wednesday my roommate Ethan and I went to play basketball with some locals in Ocean View. These guys have some serious love for the sport since they have to build the hoops every time they want to play. It takes a good 15-20 minutes to set up and tear down for a couple hours of basketball. Chris Williams, a local Living Hope volunteer, invited me to come play. I don’t think many of the guys there were Christians but I was surprised at how genuine and caring they were. Don’t get me wrong, they would throw elbows and be physical while playing the game but they would be great sports about it the whole time. I got the worst cramp of my life (since I hadn’t played any sports in quite awhile) at the end of the game, so I couldn’t even move leg at all. They rushed to help out by pouring water on it, massaging, and stretching my leg. I can’t really express to you how blessed I was by the kindness of these strangers. I cannot wait to go play with them again next Wednesday and hopefully God with allow Ethan and I’s Wednesday evenings as an outlet for our ministry and His purpose! Ok this post is done for, thanks for reading my friends! Since I still have more coffee I can drink for free I’m going to stay here and write the next post and update you on the previous week here!
Also, and I feel this is pretty important, I am still short of money for the second half of my trip here. If you would be willing to help me out down here financially I would be very grateful! Here is the info if you would like to give:
Your donation IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
Please make the check out to The Church At Severn Run
And make sure to put “Josh Sheppard’s mission trip” in the note at the bottom of the check.
Please do not mail it to my college address, but rather mail it to my home address, it is:
Josh Sheppard
8203 Joshua Ct.
Laurel, MD 20708
Thank you so much for your prayers, I am so thankful for them and how God is working in my life down here. I don’t think I could see myself doing much else this summer that is so worthwhile!
God Bless,
Josh Sheppard
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