Africa Mission Trip

On September 4th thru the 15th a group of six went on a mission trip to Africa, Sherri , Debbie ,Kay, Bro;Paul, Tom and Doug meet up with Kristy a missionary from our church serving in Africa.

This is a Journal and pictures of some of the day to day things that went on in Africa.

September 4th

Leave Nashville to Africa 25 hour flight arrives on Friday we thought we would never get there.
                    

Saturday September 6th

We are up on the go to our home in Rustenburg.  We have company after we get there the Putnam, Mary and others are coming over for a cook out, Chicken, burgers, sausage and more.  We had a lot of food and a lot of fun and good company.
                   

Sunday September 7th

We didn't sleep well it not like home.  We had wonderful breakfast.  We saw a baboon off in the valley.  Church was such a wonderful experience, they were so happy to have us.  They hugged and greeted us so warmly.  They truly worship in song and spirit and dance and whistle yes whistle.  Paul sermon came from Matthew's.  We could smell the lunch they had prepared while we worshiped it smelled wonderful and tasted even better.  Fried chicken, rice, potato salad, beet salad-beet gravy and chocolate crumpets for dessert.  They had a farewell service for Kristy and Stacey that was very moving; they had gifts for them both along with hugs.
                   

Monday September 8th

We begun the work we have come to do, we are going with our health care buckets to the squatters camp.  The buckets are five gal and are filled with home health care needs.  We meet Dorothy the health care worker and find out exactly what they are dealing with.  The families we meet with have HIV.  We begin our walk throw the camp to our first family and it is quite a hike.  We meet lots of children curious to see us and they wave and smile.  Our first family warmly accepts us but the tin house is so small we take turns going in.  We see a witch doctors house and we pass a few ladies with witch doctors paint on their faces.  We want the people to know there is hope and yes some know Jesus and are grateful to receive tracts written in their language.  We hear gospel music coming from a house across the way and we made our way over and she invited us in we told her we love her music and she turned the volume as high as it would go.  We ask her if she knew Jesus and she said yes we ask her is she had asked Him into her heart as savior she said yes.  Later that day we visited a day care filled with little children with big smiles.  We went in and sang with them and made their pictures and gave them candy.  They are beautiful children filled with hope.
                   

Tuesday September 9th

We are up early because we are going to school, lots of smiling faces kids in uniforms ready to start.  They line up for assembly they sing songs for us, Bro; Paul reads scripture and they recited the Lord prayer.  The children like to dance and put movements to their songs.  They to have their picture taken.  We are now going to meet some ladies at the social work clinic; Kristy had devotional with them as she does every Tuesday.  The men leave us and go on a work assessment to help do repairs on a small church that they had just moved.  We meet up with Jen Putnam and go to Freedom Park squatter's camp for a Bible study.  Again we are surround by children, people are curious and look out of there house to see what we are doing.  In the next camp we make a lot of friends Jen and Kristy and the ladies go in a home to Bible Study and Pray.  Debbie stepped back outside to be with the children to play and more and more children come, we teach them that Jesus loves them and we sing a song Jesus Loves You.  And play Simon says and hand out candy to the children and some to their mothers as well.
                   

Wednesday September 10th

Our first stop is to go too Hospice care, the facility is a beautiful place full of life vegetation all around it.  Beautiful flowers, herbs and vegetable gardens all around.  There are gardens for the patients to set out in the yard, fresh vegetables for their nutrition and flowers to rest their eyes upon.  We meet Anna she is 18 with 2 mouth old twin girls at home, we visit with her and she speaks some English.  We gave her a Bible track in her language and ask her if she knew Jesus and she said Yes.  Each wing at the Hospice had a word in the floor in the tile Faith-Hope-Peace-Love.  There is a memorial wall on the site some high school and collage students were bringing up to date with the names of those who had died.  We drove by the cemetery where so many are buried and graves being prepared for Saturday funerals.

Thursday September 11th

We return to Freedom Park to unload the food parcels we have brought.  At Dorothy office she has a little girl and boy sitting on her door step that she wants us to meet and pray for.  The little boy is HIV positive and motherless his father and uncle are caring for him.  The little girl has a mother but she is not taking care of her needs for HIV as she should.  The little boy has been very sick but is better; we pray for them and gave them candy.  We meet up with Jen and her helper and gave them the baby bag we have gathered for her and Kay and I go with them to various ladies Bible Study thru out the area.

Friday September 12th

We are up and on the way by 8:15, we are going to deliver another 15 food parcels to  the ladies at the social work clinic and they are so thankful.  On our way from there to meet Jen, John, Mary an Essau to prayer walk phase 2 at Freedom Park.  After our prayer together we divide into teams and head off walking.  There are homes as far as you can see but these are made of blocks and not tin, some are neat and tidy, flowers gardens swept yards and some are not.  We have Bible tracks in the various languages and English as well, Bro; Paul knocks on the door and Essau says Co Co (which means knock knock) Essau is translator so we can speak directly to them about the Bible tracks.  He also tells them about the ladies group and invites them to join in.  Next we went to the Orphanage, we to take the little ones out to play, swing and run about.  They are precious little people that are there for various reasons.  No parents, aids taken from their parents, the facility is nice and clean with flowers around.  You get the sense that the children are well cared for and loved. Kristy thinks they do have a high adoption percentage, but there will be more to come.

Saturday September 13th

"Pilanesberg Game Preserve" on the road by 7:00 with our picnic lunch.  We have a 45 min drive to the game preserve and it is a beautiful drive out there.  We see a lot of  different animals but we didn't get to see one of everything.  Paul, Stacy, Mary (missionaries) come and have pizza with us and we download all the pictures we can.  We said a prayer for them all and their ministries here before they left; all three are very dedicated to this work and are loved by the people.

Sunday September 14th

We are up early again we finish loading all of our worldly goods in the trailer and head out to the preserve for the last time.  We are headed to a lion and rhino park for more animal watching.  We do get to see a lot on our driving around and we stopped and looked at the Zoo Park before leaving.  Off to the airport 4:30 we arrive at the Johannesburg airport for our 6:40 flight.  We get checked in and go to wait for our flight home, we watched movies and slept a lot.

Monday September 15th

25 hours later Home Sweet Home !!!

By clicking on this Audio of the Africa Mission Trip you can hear in there owe words about the trip.                                                    "Mission Trip To Africa"