The First Week - By Nate Dreesmann

Hello again from South Africa!

It's been a week already, and already we're beginning to grow into the culture, cultivate new friendships and relationships, and see what our time here might entail. Today we spent the day with an organization called Life Community Services, and each of us was divided-up to help in different areas. Kristen got the chance to work in the kitchen with several other of the women, and afterwords worked to sort and distribute donated clothing to local children in need. Others went out to one of the food distribution centers to help with distribution as well as games and activities. I had the unique experience of starting the process of converting an 8 ½' X ~ 20' storage shed into a classroom for preschool children. I, and two other volunteers, removed as much as we could from the shed, and then began the process of filling-over one of the three window panes and removing the other two for replacement. So, I removed the plank siding on one side, cut new planking, and then (with help) re-installed the newly-cut planks over the empty space while the other guys were fitting one of the new window frames.

Today was our first day of actually spending a full day on-site. This whole month is supposed to be a litmus test for us to see where we would like to or feel led to serve, and this past week was evidence of that. We spend Monday doing preparations and getting some household assignments done. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had discussion-based lecture time with our head lecturer, Jono, and bible study leader, Jillian. Then, in the afternoons of these days we spent time playing games and doing activities with children in different townshipsbefore we helped distribute food to them. A huge problem here (in addition to the recent drought that George is experiencing) is families not being able to provide food for their children. Thus, there are several organizations, such as Life Community Services that, among other things, focus heavily on feeding children as well as providing activities for them to participate in (to keep them out of gangs or from begging at street corners).

Friday and Saturday were our “play days” for the week, and we spent the time in a staff bible study Friday morning and at the beach in the afternoon and evening. Early Saturday morning I went surfing for the first time here and attempted to body-surf some rocks on the way out to the local surfing spot... thus I got a little banged-up prior to actually getting to surf. But, in the end it was great to get out and finally experience some South African waves! That afternoon we met up with some people from our evening church to play volleyball at (you guessed it) the beach. Sundays we have generally been going to two church services. One in the morning, which is more Evangelical in nature, though I believe it is officially Non-Denominational. In the evenings, our main lecturer, Jono, leads a church call 24/7 Church in a local business center. It's a very small church (only around 30 people, max make up the body), yet it is a great community for us to be a part of.

Personally, I have been really challenged the last week or so. From different ideas about how the Holy Spirit works, to feeding hungry kids their only meal of the day before I go home and stuff myself with pasta – these experiences are challenging me not only spiritually and physically, but mentally and emotionally. “Character is not something that happens, it is something that is built over time”, one of my fellow students said, and I think that is a big part of this time for me. It's time to reflect on lessons that I'm learning, talk-through difficulties,  process complex ideas, and grow in my understanding of the world and myself. It's awesome and scary at the same time, yet it's also good.
Thanks again for your prayers and support. Keep our team in your thoughts and prayers this week as we continue to get outside our comfort zones and learn to serve those around us.
Blessings,
-nate

ps – the pics! I'm sorry be behind with pics as far as from our service projects and stuff... I'm still trying to make sure it's safe for me to bring my camera with me, find time to do it, etc... I'll post some more stuff asap!!