Port St. John's

(Read Part 1)

Our first day in Port St. John's. Humid. Overcast. Warm. Meyer took us first to his friend Mike's place. Mike is a white, South African who moved to Port St. John's about 25 years ago on a word of the Lord. He took what he could carry, all the money he had, and moved to the village to live with the people, learn Xhosa, and share Jesus with the people of Port St. John's. He was well-known amongst the villagers and quite honestly, he was one of our favorite people of the trip. Mike built a hut where worship services are often held, his own little "igloo" home, an outhouse, and a shower room as well (with hot water).

 Port St. John's was definitely one of my favorite places we went to... It was so wonderful living in the village with the people. We spent just under 2 weeks in Port St. John's. The first few nights, we stayed in Mike's adopted daughter's home. It was neat to spend the first few nights in an actual village home and Mike let us walk to his hut and use his shower. They warned us not to drink the water without boiling it first and then left us alone for the rest of the night. Did I mention it was raining?

This was our friend Lumka's living room where us girls spent the first couple nights. The boys stayed in her bedroom (the doorway of which this picture was taken from), until one of the boys decided he didn't want to sleep on the floor.

We had such a wonderful time in Port St. John's. The children were always wanting to spend time with us.
They took us to the beach and played with us in the sand. They were all on holiday, so they spent a lot of time with us and we got to share a lot about Jesus with them. They would sometimes join us for our morning team devotionals.

Testimony: We also went out with some teenagers that Meyer knew and we made house visits in teams throughout the village. The teenagers came along to translate for us and the villagers welcomed us into their homes with open arms. One young woman I met was named Pumza and she had a 4 month old son named Gift. She spoke clear English and when we met her, we just began to share the Lord's heart for her with her and she broke down crying and shared what was going on with her personal life. We prayed for her and some of us were able to prophesy to her through testimonies. She accepted our invitation to join us for worship on the airstrip the next day.

Testimony: We met another Mama who was suffering from stomach pains and vomiting, due to a spirit that kept visiting her and her husband. Her husband actually suffered from brain damage because of this reoccurring spirit. We prayed for the Mama and she was healed. She then had us pray over the two rooms that consisted of their house and lay hands on about 9 children she was taking care of.

Testimony: The next Mama we visited turned out to be a Mama of prayer! A boy with us got a word of knowledge about pain in her hands - we prayed, Jesus healed. She prayed a long with us and she prayed so long, so hard, until she was in tears and she had out-prayed us! As she was crying, she said, "Many people have died here because there was no one to go pray for them." We encouraged her that she could pray to Jesus and see people healed as well... She is definitely one I will remember.

This picture above was when we did worship/devos one morning at the airstrip. We were outside for maybe an hour and my feet/ankles got sunburned. Really bad. It was weird because I always wanted  my ankle to get tan (does anyone else notice that when your legs/feet tan, your ankles don't? That always annoys me.) but it hurt to walk. Thankfully my burn wasn't as bad as some other girls from the team. Their arms were burned so bad they couldn't lift them very high and one girl's hands even swelled. I suppose it didn't help when we went to the beach with the children that afternoon...

Testimony: Lumka's Mama also took us around to multiple Ethiopian shops to pray for the owners and such. Many were healed and so genuinely thankful that we were there and willing to take time and pray for them and be with them. Mama then took us to a home where twins had been born just two days prior, Lazarus and Adonai. The twins were absolutely adorable (I may have gotten spit up on) and we prayed over the new parents. I also got a word of knowledge about a man's knee, prayed, and he was healed as well.

[Interesting fact:  Often times when people are healed, in this particular culture, they do not have enthusiastic responses because many have visited witch doctors, and if you react enthusiastic after being healed by a witch doctor, they can charge you more money.]

In this time, our team also moved into a local church, instead of Lumka's house. Meyer also tried exposing us to South Africa's favorite "cheetos."

Testimony: One day while walking down to Mike's hut to take a shower, me, a girl and boy on my team ran into a husband and wife from Germany with their daughter. They were exploring the area and asking us what we were doing there. We explained how we are missionaries with a school on outreach and asked if we could pray for them for anything. They shared how they suffered a recent loss and we prayed for that as well. They even joined us later for worship!

Testimony: After saying goodbye to the Germans, we were walking back to our home and on the way this man calls out to me and my friend. Confused, we walk over to him asking him to repeat himself and he says, "I want to be saved!" so we shared the salvation of Jesus and the simple gospel and one of our guys began to share more about the Bible with him.

The church has Trinity Broadcast Network and we had a day of rest... This is how they wanted to spend it.

Remember Lumka's Mama? Well, the day after she took us to the Ethiopians, Lumka informed us that Mama was in the hospital for her blood sugar and cholesterol - completely out of the blue! We went to the hospital to see her a few days before Christmas and this hospital (which they told us was one of the nicest hospitals in the area) was probably one of the most horrific things I have ever seen in my entire life.
The hospital literally looked like a hospital that came out of the 1920s.

We walked down a few halls in a couple different hospital buildings to get to Mama's room and the moment we stepped on the hospital premises, I could feel the darkness and oppression of the place. It was eerie. It was heavy. It was depressing and consuming. The atmosphere was so thick with all of neglect that it actually pissed me off. No one should have to be consumed in the crap when I know the Father of Love, Life, Joy, and Peace. No one should have to settle for oppression when I know that Jesus is full of Freedom and Laughter. I was not okay with this.
The beds literally looked like the picture above, but there were about 8 people to a room. There were no doctors or nurses there - they had all gone to the beach. It was Christmas holiday, after all. We walked into Mama's room and there she was in the corner, full of joy, covered in smiles and enthusiastic we came to see her! I looked around her room.
There were patients with empty IV bags that were on the floor, still attached to their arms. Unidentified fluids on the floor. Wrappers from, hopefully, sterilized equipment littered the floor. Patients covered in their own feces, struggling to get back in their bed, or even across the hall to the toilet. Patients' gowns were dirty and stained. I saw cats making homes under the hospital beds. Where were we at??
We asked Mama if we could pray for her, but she said, "I am not in here because I am sick. You did not come here to pray for me. God has brought you here to pray for the people here. That is why I am here." She then directed us to the room connected to hers, where about 8 men were lying in their beds. There was home robbery and many of them has been stabbed. We went into the room, introduced ourselves, and began praying. I had a burning inside of me. "There is no freaking way any of this is in Heaven, so there is no freaking way I am allowing earth to be this way." On earth as it is in heaven.
Within seconds the atmosphere of the two rooms had completely shifted. Holy Spirit was moving. Light had caused the darkness to flee. Life was bursting forth in a place of death. Hope was being restored.

While in Port St. John's, we also had the opportunity to give an impromptu sermon. The whole congregation of the church was about 14 women and 2 men (who were the pastors). They invited us up to share a word and sing a song. For some reason a few members on our team kept breaking out the 90's worship (to the rest of the team's dismay). So we sang "Here I Am to Worship" for them and they all took pictures of us on their phones. Now that I think about it, a lot of people took pictures of us on their phones while we were in the village... Anyway, then one of our guys got up read out John 3:16, a scripture in James, and then shared his testimony. At the end he he held an altar call and all the women came forward for us to pray for them. There was so much freedom in the room and all of the women were weeping. Holy Spirit was moving in and on them... It was lovely.

Funny story: One night a girl on my team and I decided to walk to the bathroom together. It wasn't far from the church...probably about 20 feet. There was a shower stall, a toilet stall, and then the chicken coop.
So we walk toward the bathroom and I notice that there is a light on in the shower stall and the door is open.
"Hey!" I whispered. "The light is on!"
"Hello?" She steps forward and peeks around the corner. "Psh! Ain't nobody in here!"
"Yeees. A few more minutes," we heard a deep, male voice say.
Panicking, we ran back into the church.
"THERE IS A MAN IN OUR BATHROOM!!!" We told what had happened in the last 2 minutes.
As we finish relating the tale to our team, the man comes into the church to tell us that the bathroom is free. Me and the girl quickly leave for the bathroom. When we come back inside, 2 girls on our team hiding their faces in their pillows because they were laughing so hard. I knew it had to do with the man.
"Why are you laughing?" I whispered.
"He... made... a.... bed... in... here..." She whispered back between giggles.
I looked back by the church doors and saw that he, indeed, had taken a mattress and made himself a place to sleep in our little home. He continued to do this for the next couple nights, until the leaders decided to lock him out.
We still aren't sure who exactly he was or why he was there...

Port St. John's was definitely a wonderful experience. We met a lot of amazing people, who taught us a lot. We experienced a lot together as a team: sunburns, cockroaches, mosquito wars...and baby wipes became our most important prized possession. I love Port St. John's so much.. I believe I left a piece of my heart there in the village. Even writing this blog and looking through the pictures, I almost want to cry from missing it so much. The hospitality the people shared with us was so inviting and honoring. I think one of my favorite things was seeing how Jesus truly is for every tribe, every tongue, every people, every nation, every culture, every body, etc. Living with the people and doing life with the people was absolutely amazing -something I will always treasure.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

 "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"

Revelation 5:13