In South Africa, we did VBS with kids in the squatter camps. Impact Africa has a 5-day curriculum that we used, so each MIG did VBS one day of every week. While in Texas, we had to learn the curriculum for our day. My MIG was assigned Day 2, which is about sin and included a skit of the fall. Naturally, Nazar, our one guy, was Adam. We practiced and practiced and wondered if we were ever going to get it right and practiced and drank some water and practiced. It took a lot of work and a lot of letting go, but it was... okay by the end of training.
During training, we heard that Nazar and his sister Suza might not be able to go to South Africa with us. They were still short on funding and, on top of that, they are originally from Russia and their visas hadn't arrived yet so they could go to South Africa. Much prayer ensued and we contributed to their accounts. Nazar, being the sweet big brother he is, gave all his money to Suza so she could go.
It didn't seem to be enough, though. When we got on the bus and left campus for the airport, Nazar and Suza didn't come with us. Reality didn't really hit until our first full day in South Africa - training for ministry. The MIG's were all supposed to practice their VBS day. Our MIG got together and we realized there was nothing we could do. We had lost our Adam, we needed some serious help, and we didn't understand why God let that happen. Our MIG couldn't even go anywhere without a guy over the age of 16. So, we circled up to pray and as soon as "Jesus!" had escaped our lips, Brennen (our Project Director) said, "Meet your new MIG member!"
Eyes fly open, minds churn, smiles burst out. "This is Adino."
Adino lives in South Africa. His sister is best friends with the daughter of the founder of Impact Africa. You can imagine how glad we were to see him.
We got back to work and figured out how we were going to do our curriculum now that we had another Adam. And it went really well. And the kids loved it. And it was easier than we thought. And it wasn't nearly as scary as we thought. And kids came to know Christ.
But that's not the end.
Nazar and Suza made it to South Africa! A few days after we got there, but they made it. God had a better plan all along and it included stretching our faith. We were devastated when Nazar was taken from us, but then God sent us Adino and gave back Nazar after that. They were our double blessing.
Before Nazar and Suza made it to South Africa
Front: Me, Lacy
Back: Mikaela, Bones (our translator, actually Bonghani), Ellie, Jannell, and Adino
The whole team :)
Front: Me, Ellie, Adino, Jannell, Mikaela, Lacy
Back: Nazar, Bones
I know half of us are wearing the same clothes in both pictures, but they really were completely different days haha :)
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