Back from the eastern cape...

Finally back on the internet after a month traveling east of Cape Town into the Transkei or "Wild Coast" region.  When I left Cape Town on a big yellow truck a month ago, I had no idea what to expect.  Gradually green mountains and vineyards gave way to arrid rolling grassy hills.  Monkeys became more and more common and english no longer the main spoken language.  Life lived out in the eastern cape is simpler, less complicated and more relational.  The main people group there is the Xhosa people, who speak a unique language know for it's clicks and pops.  Our leader, Rodger Galloway of "Cross Country Missions" gave us a crash course in Xhosa when we stopped in Jeffrey's Bay a few days into our trip.  While in J-Bay we were introduced to the Joshua Project, a program that offers education and mentorship to street kids.  They have already sent a graduate of their project on to higher education in youth ministry.  He has now returned to work with the boys and coach a soccer team for them.

The next major town stop was Port St. Johns, a beautiful beach town in the mountains.   There we were involved in street ministry, running a church service (which we were asked to do when we walked into the church) and several other things.  One of my teammates, Sarah, organized a massive soccer game with the kids in town.  Later we met up with Solomon, who runs a ministry to the youth of Port St. Johns.  Someone recently donated a building to them, which they will use for skills training, tutoring, and just a hang out spot.  If anyone would like to be involved with bringing skills training and christian mentoring to the youth of Port St. Johns, they can e-mail Solomon at portstjohnsyouthministry@live.co.za  Solomon is also praying for a woman to come and work with the young girls.  With the youth, we grabbed a taxi and headed out of town to the rural area where the free government housing is.  There is a large community of people living out of town who are 90% unemployed.  We taught them to play ultimate frisbee and tug-of-war, a change from their usual soccer games.  We were also able to give a message to them and have prayer with whoever wanted it.