South Africa Mission Trip

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Contributed by Doug Learned

The Unsung Heroes staff serves in challenging circumstances, continually working to reverse the effects of a long history of racial and economic divisions. Up to this point in the trip, we’ve been visiting many of the townships where Unsung Heroes mentors community leaders who are making a difference for the most vulnerable in South Africa. On Friday we are taking the members of the Unsung Heroes staff on a two-day spiritual retreat north of Johannesburg in Kololo in the Limpopo province. This is our ministry to them, and an opportunity for us to further our partnership in the Gospel through Scripture study, prayer, communion, and rest. We trust this time of being set apart will renew us all for service to Christ’s kingdom. Please pray for us while we are away on Friday and Saturday.

Our Internet connection has been out for a couple of days, so we apologize for the delay in updates. For now, we’ll share our stories by posting some pictures.

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Contributed by Doug Learned

The term township has a particular meaning in South Africa, a kind of community that came into existence during the years of apartheid when the white minority forced blacks and coloureds (terms used commonly in SA) into undeveloped urban areas. Townships continue to be plagued by poverty today. The Bophelong childcare center, which Irene mentions below, operates out of a Methodist church building in the Tembisa township and has an after-school program that provides care for families when older children are left to raise their younger siblings after the parents have died of AIDS. We were given the privilege to serve lunch to the preschool children, and then set up their mats for nap time. The greatest fun was had by all when our team members got to play with the kids and sing “Jesus Loves Me,” “This Little Light of Mine,” and “Halle, Hallelujah!” The staff of Bophelong was very happy to receive some of our school supplies (more will be donated tomorrow at another project). We’re told that crayons are especially hard to come by, which made us feel so good about everything donated by our members and friends at NPC.

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Contributed by Irene Koerner

The morning was sunny and beautiful, and we started out with a very pleasant walk to the headquarters of our ministry partner, Unsung Heroes. Lance Carr, CEO of Usung Heroes, introduced us to the staff and lead us in a time of prayer and Bible study based on Matthew 5:14-16. These verses remind us that as Christians, we are the light of the world. We are to let our light shine so that the world may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Lance explained that these verses have been adopted as guidance for the ministry of Unsung Heroes, which strives to bring light in the form of love, reconciliation, support and assistance to some of the most difficult places in the Johannesburg area, believing that the tangible expression of God’s love is a light that will draw many to Christ.

After leaving the Unsung Heroes office, we had the privilege of visiting two ministry partners of Unsung Heroes in the Tembisa township. Helping Hands cares for the ill who have limited access to medical care and Bophelong focuses on caring for children, many of whom have lost one or both parents to HIV and AIDS, and who themselves may be HIV positive. It is hard to understand or adequately convey the devastation that faces the Tembisa community, where the adult unemployment rate exceeds 70% and many households are headed by children who have not yet reached their teenage years. The true heroes in this community are people like Albina, a retired nurse who heads up Helping Hands, and Mavis, the leader at Bophelong, who face daily struggle, yet radiate light and hope in the name of Christ. Today, we were privileged to work alongside these remarkable women and their staffs. When we asked Albina what keeps her going, she smiled, touched her heart, and replied - it’s the joy of seeing change in the life of a child.

At Bophelong, we were led in joyous praise songs by staff member “Ma” Anna. We helped feed the children, and played and sang Christian songs with them. Our joy in this opportunity was tempered by the realization of the uncertain future faced by these adorable children. We gained another insight into the reality of life in this community when we learned that Mavis had been called to the telephone to receive notice that Bothelong had just received funding from a government grant, six months late, and was now able to pay its rent and other expenses. Her joy and relief was evident as she hurried to share the news with an Unsung Heroes staff member.

Truly Christ is the light of the world and the only hope for restoration and reconcilliaton in this land.

P.S. Humorous moment for the day: At Bothelong, I was taking pictures of children, and they soon swarmed around me, each wanting to see their picture on my digital camera. They surrounded me in a circle, jumping up and down, waving their arms and screaming “Shoot me!! Shoot me!!”

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Contributed by Karen Greisdorf

As we arrived yesterday, Tinks, our B&B host, remarked that having a group from NPC return was like “welcoming family home.” There’s nothing like being called family to feel at home.

We left the sheltered, lush gardens of our “home away from home” and traveled by highway to the Katlehong Township to worship this morning. Six time zones away from our NPC family, we were right on time to worship with our adopted church family at Change Bible Church. After a gracious, warm welcome, we were ushered into a large, modern sanctuary straight to the front row. It was incredibly powerful to be greeted by 900 or so smiling faces with a sense that differences of race, language and life experience would not divide us when we came already united in the love of Christ.

Pastor Jones Xola Nzo’s sermon on congregational care couldn’t have ministered to our team more, and the music and prayer times were equally uplifting. Camera in hand, I ducked out at the beginning of the service to visit the Sunday School rooms with an American intern from California. Tracy had told us earlier about the program that includes 450 children and, as we walked outside, she let me know this was a “light” morning - not all the kids that could be there were there. And yet, when I stepped into the first room in which 11- to 14-year-olds were studying Proverbs 12:22, I couldn’t see how many more young people could fit in the room. The boys and girls sat attentively and responded to their leader when he posed questions on what it means to be trustworthy. Sitting still and listening when it’s a gorgeous day outside can be a challenge for those of us well past the age of 14, so I was really taken by the discipline these kids displayed. Yes, there were some gorgeous smiles when I raised the camera, but these growing disciples were all business. I moved on to the 6- to 10-year-olds who were in the midst of discussing Luke 6:38, and they too really captured my heart. But it was the last room with the 1 1/2- to 5-year-olds who looked just like some of my wee friends back at NPC. They laughed, they giggled, they said “hi” in unison and I melted. This was unfiltered joy of the Lord on a sunny Sunday morning in South Africa. I was home.

We must be way, way, way outside of the Beltway now, because the two-hour church service flew by and I don’t think one of us checked our watches. Unsung Heroes Staff Leader Julie Lama had to literally pull us out of the church for our next stop of the day, a braai (B-B-Q) at the home of Lance Carr, Executive Director of Unsung Heroes. South Africa is a meat-loving country and Lance outdid himself at the grill hosting a marvelous meal along with his wife Michelle and their children Jodi and Jordan. It was a blessing to keep the Sabbath and enjoy conversations that built further connections between our mission team and the Unsung Heroes staff. We covered everything from cultural differences of language and social customs to an introductory conversation on the response of citizens and the government alike to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. From sublime to sobering, our exchanges are drawing us closer and preparing us for the week’s work ahead.

The five of us have now been joined by my niece Christy Elliott, a 2007 graduate from the University of Virginia, who has just completed several months of volunteering at an Unsung Heroes ministry partner. Together we’ve closed the day in a fairly balanced fashion - prayer and preparation. Prayer for our NPC family and preparation of the school supplies that so many of you had contributed back home. Tomorrow, we’ll begin meeting Unsung Heroes ministry partners and sharing the supplies and note cards made by our children at the Church-as-a-Mission potluck. It really is a small world after all…especially when you find you’ve been called to a new home.

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Contributed by Keith Patman

It’s 7:30 Saturday evening, local time — 1:30 in the afternoon in DC — and we’re winding down after our travels. Our group of five flew out of Dulles around 6:00 yesterday evening. We were apparently seated in the Christian section of the airplane, as it seems almost everyone we had conversations with was traveling to do some kind of ministry. After a smooth 14-hour flight we arrived in Johannesburg, where our Unsung Heroes U.S. liaison, Julie Lama, who’d arrived a day earlier, met us at the airport.

Some of our conversation on the trip was about fellow-travelers from NPC — Mary Lou Lyon, David Wallace and Phyllis Wolfe going to minister in Poland and Emmy Lewis and Xiao Fu traveling to China. We were remembering them in our prayers and were very much aware of your prayers for us.

After settling into our rooms at the Stay-A-While Guest House in Edenvale (Gauteng Province), we gathered for a light supper on a covered patio in the garden. Our conversation revolved around the events of the past week at NPC and what we anticipate for the coming week here in Jo-burg. We are already sensing how God’s work is unfolding and learning how we at NPC and our partners in Unsung Heroes can be more deeply engaged together in what He is doing.

We trust that what we learn and experience here will help us move us forward in our vision as a congregation. Although we’re struggling with difficult issues at NPC right now, we want to remember our calling to know the Lord Jesus Christ and to make him known throughout the world. We’re praying that the Spirit will be at work in tomorrow’s congregational meeting. As we members of NPC worship in different places around the globe tomorrow morning, our thoughts will be with you there in Washington on Trinity Sunday.

Contributed by Doug Learned

I write to you from Washington on Thursday evening, the night before our mission team departs from Dulles Airport for Johannesburg. As I was leaving the office this afternoon, I felt a sense of gratitude for the staff and members who told me this week that they would be praying for the members of our team: Keith, Karen, Holly, Irene, me and Julie from Unsung Heroes. Your prayers give us assurance that we are on this mission for Christ, and that we are called to share love and care from our whole congregation with the people we encounter.

Our team is grateful as well for the outpouring of prayer, encouragement and donations we received at the Church-as-a-Mission potluck on May 4. Because of your generosity, we are delivering four much-needed and well-equipped laptops (with two docking stations) to the Unsung Heroes staff in South Africa. You also donated a large quantity of school supplies for us to give to children there (many orphaned by AIDS): 121 dozen pencils, 151 glue sticks, 7 water color palettes, 10 sharpeners, 128 children’s books, 137 boxes of crayons and 25 dozen markers. NPC children who attended the potluck also prepared special notes for us to share with the children we meet. All of these gifts are wonderful examples of how every member of our congregation can be a blessing through our mission activities, whether or not they board a plane. This is Church-as-a-Mission! We know you’re with us on this journey.

Throughout our trip I will be inviting other members of the team to contribute posts to this blog. We hope you’ll follow along each day to see what God is doing through this experience to share with our whole church.

Here’s a link to the Unsung Heroes website:

http://www.unsung-heroes.org/index.html

This is our mission partner in South Africa.