Last Day: 'To be the hands and feet of Christ'

It is Monday afternoon in South Africa and the time has come for the Hopewell mission team to begin its trip back to Pennsylvania.  This final post covers two incredible days of activity in Potchefstroom.  Sunday morning we worshiped at the Apostolic Mission Church.  This service had a different feel to it as we alternated between music and testimony for two hours as small and large group of praise worship singers went up to sing and dance.  The rhythm of these worship forms bound us up into a closely knit family that swayed and rocked to the music.  Some moved up and down the aisle, blowing whistles while other stood in their place, clapping hands, tapping feet and smiling broadly as they felt the Holy Spirit moving through them.

When it came time for prayer, unlike our pattern back home of having one person pray for the congregation, here the entire congregation prays at once.  A chorus of voices, passionate and full, rose above us, ascending to the heavens, continuing for several minutes and I’m thinking God must have been smiling to hear this chorus of praise.
 
The dress of many of the women was colorful and stylish. Some wore dresses of African colors, red, black and green, while others were dressed in white, shoes, dress and gloves. Still others, more elderly, wore a formal black dress, but whatever they wore, it was clear that they loved their worship and for two plus hours they moved up and back, fully engaged in worshipping God.

We had to leave before we even heard the message as our group was scheduled to make its first stop at Mosaic, a ministry that Hopewell has been supporting for many years now. Two of our own, Jordan Ridge, our current missionary and Jen Lisowski our first missionary, have spent a total of 8 years in Ikageng where Mosaic is located. Read about this mission here.

We spent the afternoon sharing food together and then broke up into five teams of Mosaic kids and Hopewell mission members and we had a competition of talent where we learned dance steps or words to a song that were specific to their culture.  Needless to say, we had a great time, making fools of ourselves as we tried to learn our respective pieces. It was all fun and we so much enjoyed interacting with them.

That evening, we gathered for dinner at our B&B and after dinner we had our last devotional.  This was a different format as we each drew the name of one person in our group, and we were to affirm that person by highlighting aspects of them that we observed during the two weeks that we have been gone.  It was a time of laughter and tears, of moving close to God through the observance of His will at work in our team member.  Each of us was overwhelmed with gratitude at the words that were spoken. It was a holy moment to hear how God had used each of us to be that pebble in the pond, knowing that the ripples were His will at work, touching so many others whom we cannot yet see.

Today, we traveled back to Mosaic to see the “Made by Mosaic” store where artisans and craft persons are employed manufacturing various articles of merchandise including scarves, duffle bags, handbags, wallets, chutney, spices, among other items.  This is the job-creating business that was launched by our very own Jordan Ridge shortly after she arrived in South Africa nearly four years ago. After Jordan explained the evolution of Made by Mosaic, we loaded up on early Christmas presents and came out weighed down with gifts.  Meyer and Louise Conradie, leaders of Mosaic, brought us into the community center to pray for us, a tender moment for many in our group as Hopewell has had such a long relationship with both of them and with Mosaic. Later we stopped by to see Made by Mosaic’s new industrial kitchen that is located in another place where they are making and selling Rusks (a South African biscuit often dipped in coffee), cookies, onion marmalade and ‘braai’ (barbecue) spices. They have a contract with a large grocery chain here and are looking to expand to other vendors.

Our last stop, perhaps the one that brought most of us to our knees, was to visit Aunt Suzie, a woman with a mission for the elderly in Ikageng. Hopewell has been working with her for many years and she has a heart for those in advanced years. She is getting ready to turn 80 this year and still has lots of energy and goals to achieve.  Tony Brantzeg quoted her today when he reminded her that she once said, “sit down and you rot.”  She has several elderly women who help sew clothing for sale and also in the garden that is attached to the building. We visited and listened to her women sing us more than one hymn and also raise us up in prayer. Their voices were remarkable, singing in Tswana, their native language, about God and blessings and love.  We then offered our own blessing back to them as we presented them with wooden crosses made by Kayla Foster and anointed the elderlies and all the team members.  We stood there, black and white, young and old, women and men, all with a common goal, to be the hands and feet of Christ in this world.

It is impossible to sum up the last two weeks in any meaningful way. Each of us will be unpacking more than luggage when we get home tomorrow. We traveled through this beautiful country and saw sights that both were beautiful (Cape Town and Table Mountain) and heart breaking (Robben Island, Plantjies) yet filled with possibilities of hope.  We are leaving this part of our journey in God’s hands. For all those who supported us in prayer or cards and notes, we are thankful beyond measure.  We said goodbye to Jordan today, with her proud dad Jamie closing us in prayer as we laid hands upon her and prayed for God’s hands to be on her and for continued direction and support.  That prayer applies to all of us as we seek to understand God’s will for our own lives. Go with God folks. 
-Pastor John Neider