Oceans Kingdom Encounter

Mike Verkaik does a great job leading the Kingdom Encounters here on Oceans’ Campus. This team included 3 boys and 7 girls along with leaders Kelsey and Greg. It is a blessing to see each one impacted by serving, being surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, and growing in their faith by experiencing other cultures.

A few students share their thoughts on their time here:

Church in Masiphumelele

Our first Sunday in Africa, as expected was a much different service than back home. The drive there we were all quiet as we took everything in. We drove down a very different part of town with people all over the roads, and with little markets and shacks made from whatever people could find. We parked the van and entered into a small white building where the church was held.There was music on full volume and people dancing up and down the aisles.  The service was around 3 hours long filled with singing, dancing, testimonies, and preachings.

Oceanview CareCentre

Today we woke up and had breakfast before heading off to the care center. For those who don’t know, Oceanview Care Center is a place where the kids can come to get away from their unique family situations. There we met Johann who told us a little about the Care Center, how it runs, and some of the stuff that they have gone through. After talking with Johann, we were assigned to classrooms. The classrooms are metal shipping containers with plastic chairs and tables in them. Throughout our day there, we were able to love on the kids and we were shown back a huge amount of love from them! You wouldn’t see many kids come running at a stranger in Michigan, but these kids sure did. I even got a kiss on my hand.

Prayer Meeting In Fish Hoek

After dinner we headed to a praise and prayer service at Overflow Church. This service began with worship music that was familiar to us.Then Pastor Ryan called our team up to be prayed over, but it was different than you would expect because he asked the congregation to pray to themselves to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in what God was saying to them about us. After they were done praying, Pastor Ryan asked if anyone had something that the Holy Spirit was leading them to share with us, and many people from the congregation said many different things to several of us, which was very powerful.

Township of Jim Se Bos

Today we met Pastor Raymond and he shared how he started Love in Action ministry. In the township of Jim Se Bos I experienced so much. I saw all the joy these kids had and how happy they were even though they don’t  have much. It was hard to see the conditions they lived in with garbage everywhere, bathrooms consisting of buckets with maybe a little door hiding them. The kids were running around by themselves, and the buildings were not built of much. But it was also amazing to be at a this safe place where kids could come twice a day to get food and the love of Jesus and attend church on Sundays. I was glad we could provide, prepare and serve a meal to the people in this community.

Later in the evening during our “family time” where we share our “highs and lows” of the day our team reflected on what might happen if Pastor Raymond is unable to keep going into Jim Se Bos. It’s a daunting thought, because he brings THE LIght, and is the up-bringer of the next generation, truly a Kingdom Builder.  But then we were reminded that Pastor Raymond has a team who stands with him and is making  “disciples” who follow his every move and love the LORD with the same passion. Together they speak hope and change lives by their love in action. They feed the community and are celebrities for Jesus because of their generosity and genuine care.

Table Mountain

Over the last couple of days, we’ve seen and experienced a multitude of blessings and adversity. We have explored God’s wonderful creation through hiking Table Mountain, beautiful people, a vineyard, animals, and community.

Table Mountain was a grueling hike filled with many pauses and water breaks. As I reflected on the top, I realized that this was similar to the path that we find ourselves on in life. God puts us through challenges, and at the moment, it feels like your world might literally be ending. However, once we all made it to the top, we marveled in the glory that filled our sights over the Cape Town area. God has a plan for us and puts us through difficult things in order to get us to the view at the top. But after that, we headed back down on the gondola and entered back down to “regular life”. But the difficulties didn’t stop there. All of us carry baggage that is individual to each of us, and we were able to share that with one another.

Oceans Retreat Center

Our last night at ORC we took time to open our hearts to one another and share our “takeaways”, which is what we will take away from our time here and what we will bring back home with us. The theme of the night was thankfulness for the many many blessings that our Father has given to us. Experiencing and witnessing what life can be like here in South Africa was heartbreaking and inspiring. I can speak for everyone when I say that we are more grateful people because of the works done in us. We ended the night by taking Communion, which represented our bond as believers and resembled the early church after the Holy Spirit was given to them. Our mission is to share and proclaim the GOOD NEWS that we saw and heard here and to be changed by the grace of God.