We woke up to a bright beautiful morning in South Africa, although we were all feeling a little worse for wear. Ben, the head coach of the Cape Town branch of the Ambassadors, lead another devotional for us that focused on the third part of "How to Love Like God". Ben pointed out that God does not love us because we behave or because we do things to glorify Him- those things are only the results of our love for Him. He does not expect us to do anything for Him or to earn his love, Jesus already took care of that. It was a little hard to hear that we did not truly understand what it meant to love someone. Furthermore if the way we have been showing love is wrong, then most likely the way we received love was also flawed. We had to look to God and His word to discover what love should really look like. Jesus loved all people no matter their deeds. He did not expect anything from them he just loved them. For an example of this we can look at those of whom he chose to be his disciples: a tax collector who (most likely) sinned by taking more money from the people to keep for himself, two fishermen who had very little education, if any, and then there was Paul who was the most educated but who needed the most convincing before he followed Jesus. From this we can gather that we are not perfect and, therefore, should not place expectations on those we love. Ben pointed out the nasty cycle we put ourselves through: expectations placed on another person leads to disappointment, but your disappointment leads to their guilt and shame because they think they are not worthy of your love, which often leads to them wanting to please you even more and then more disappointment. We naturally want to hear that we are good enough, so when we do not meet those expectations then our self-worth plummets. This lead back to the conversation we had about identity. As christians we put our identity in Christ, so Ben asked us why we feel unworthy when God tells us he loves us. The truth is we are all worthy of God's love. God took special care when he made us all and God does not make junk.
After our devotional time with Ben, we went to visit Roberto's church, the Urban Edge Church. Urban Edge started off as an Assembly of God but then split off after they felt the Lord leading them in a different direction. Their target audience is the new generation. They focus on connecting with these individuals and helping young adults come to know Jesus. They have an amazing kids program as well. They care just as much about the spirit of the children as they do about the spirit of the attending adults. They separated the children into age brackets based on the way they learn and process information. Each ministry is tailored to these children, but they learn the same lesson that the adults receive. This is done so that after church the children and their parents can share what they have learned and explore the bible together. Each of the children ministries have their own worship, service, prayer time, and connection group time. They are also just as invested in developing a sense of responsibility. Like the adult worship team, the children's worship team has a roster of kids who want to participate in worship and they rotate who performs for each of the services. This keeps things new and interesting in all levels of the church. It was amazing to see how a non-traditional church is impacting the community and developing their relationship with God.
We traveled across Cape Town to Hillsong Church and received instructions on safety before heading out to Mitchell's Plain where we worked with children in after school programs. Coach, Jordyn, Lindsay, and Melia were dropped off at one site where they played with the children and got to spend time showing them love and compassion. Kat, Sammie, Kristin, and Megan where taken to another site with Roberto where they joined a hip-hop class and impressed the kids with their fly moves. Trish, Emily, and I went to a third site with the director of Hillsong's outreach program and their Argentinian intern, Thomas (he turned 25 that day!). We played soccer with the boys and caught them off guard because, yes, girls can play soccer. It was very humbling to see such joy in the kids even though they lived in an area overcome with crime. They were all so sweet and such a blessing to get to know.
Following these activities we went with the Hillsong group to their after school soccer program where we met the coaches Keith, Miguel, and Daniel. The U-16's had a game the next day so they were running through conditioning drills, therefore, we all migrated to the U-14,s and U-12's. At this point we were well versed in over running a soccer program with our players, so we jumped in laughing and smiling and then took off with the rest of their team. Communicating through soccer is by far the easiest way to truly get to know a person. You can't hide who you are, and for us that was an amazing blessing. God has blessed us with a language spoken by every country and almost every child.
We did get some time to be young women. Game faces on and eyes alert, we headed to one of the wildest places we knew: the mall (da-da duh duh)!! Now this sounds like it would be fun and relaxing, but for soccer girls this is one of our biggest challenges. It really is a love hate relationship that personally confounds me every time. I mean seriously, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHOICES IN THE FOOD COURT?!?! I never know where to look, then when you feel as if you're at your breaking point they put the Chinese take out next to the Mexican take out and you break down in tears because the decision is too hard. I'm pretty sure we spent most of our time deciding what to eat.
Mean while coach was presenting her lecture on team culture and how to foster it. I would have really liked to hear that... I might make her re-do the entire thing on the plane ride home if we're near each other. Ben, Rahel, Juju, Buja, Christina were all in attendance (and if you don't know by now, they were the very special individuals from the ambassadors who kept us entertained for the past two weeks). Coach would also like to add that they ate Debonair's Pizza- the official best pizza of South Africa (as told by Roberto).
We are all so thankful to be apart if this trip. The people have been a blessing to us in ways that can not be described. Please still pray for us for as we prepare to travel home!
Lots of Love from Cape Town,
(HRH) Corrine La France
P.S. Hi Mom, Dad, Aimee, and Jeanette- as you can tell I'm still alive! LUMU
P.P.S in case you didn't know "P.S." means "post script"!! The more you know!!!
After our devotional time with Ben, we went to visit Roberto's church, the Urban Edge Church. Urban Edge started off as an Assembly of God but then split off after they felt the Lord leading them in a different direction. Their target audience is the new generation. They focus on connecting with these individuals and helping young adults come to know Jesus. They have an amazing kids program as well. They care just as much about the spirit of the children as they do about the spirit of the attending adults. They separated the children into age brackets based on the way they learn and process information. Each ministry is tailored to these children, but they learn the same lesson that the adults receive. This is done so that after church the children and their parents can share what they have learned and explore the bible together. Each of the children ministries have their own worship, service, prayer time, and connection group time. They are also just as invested in developing a sense of responsibility. Like the adult worship team, the children's worship team has a roster of kids who want to participate in worship and they rotate who performs for each of the services. This keeps things new and interesting in all levels of the church. It was amazing to see how a non-traditional church is impacting the community and developing their relationship with God.
We traveled across Cape Town to Hillsong Church and received instructions on safety before heading out to Mitchell's Plain where we worked with children in after school programs. Coach, Jordyn, Lindsay, and Melia were dropped off at one site where they played with the children and got to spend time showing them love and compassion. Kat, Sammie, Kristin, and Megan where taken to another site with Roberto where they joined a hip-hop class and impressed the kids with their fly moves. Trish, Emily, and I went to a third site with the director of Hillsong's outreach program and their Argentinian intern, Thomas (he turned 25 that day!). We played soccer with the boys and caught them off guard because, yes, girls can play soccer. It was very humbling to see such joy in the kids even though they lived in an area overcome with crime. They were all so sweet and such a blessing to get to know.
Following these activities we went with the Hillsong group to their after school soccer program where we met the coaches Keith, Miguel, and Daniel. The U-16's had a game the next day so they were running through conditioning drills, therefore, we all migrated to the U-14,s and U-12's. At this point we were well versed in over running a soccer program with our players, so we jumped in laughing and smiling and then took off with the rest of their team. Communicating through soccer is by far the easiest way to truly get to know a person. You can't hide who you are, and for us that was an amazing blessing. God has blessed us with a language spoken by every country and almost every child.
We did get some time to be young women. Game faces on and eyes alert, we headed to one of the wildest places we knew: the mall (da-da duh duh)!! Now this sounds like it would be fun and relaxing, but for soccer girls this is one of our biggest challenges. It really is a love hate relationship that personally confounds me every time. I mean seriously, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHOICES IN THE FOOD COURT?!?! I never know where to look, then when you feel as if you're at your breaking point they put the Chinese take out next to the Mexican take out and you break down in tears because the decision is too hard. I'm pretty sure we spent most of our time deciding what to eat.
Mean while coach was presenting her lecture on team culture and how to foster it. I would have really liked to hear that... I might make her re-do the entire thing on the plane ride home if we're near each other. Ben, Rahel, Juju, Buja, Christina were all in attendance (and if you don't know by now, they were the very special individuals from the ambassadors who kept us entertained for the past two weeks). Coach would also like to add that they ate Debonair's Pizza- the official best pizza of South Africa (as told by Roberto).
We are all so thankful to be apart if this trip. The people have been a blessing to us in ways that can not be described. Please still pray for us for as we prepare to travel home!
Lots of Love from Cape Town,
(HRH) Corrine La France
P.S. Hi Mom, Dad, Aimee, and Jeanette- as you can tell I'm still alive! LUMU
P.P.S in case you didn't know "P.S." means "post script"!! The more you know!!!