We somehow made it to our last homestay. I still cannot believe how fast time went by. We started this new adventure at the Strandfontein Church. Here we were able to get an idea of what our new families were like and share with them just what we had been up to these last few months.
After church, Becca and I met our new family. WE would be staying with Richard and Rachel. They had all of their family; children and grandchildren over for lunch. Despite the normal first day awkwardness I could really tell that this was a family that was filled with love, laughter and joy. Rachel had just come home from a very painful surgery. It was amazing to see how her family rallied around her in support and prayer. Throughout the week we were able to get more and more comfortable with the family and I continued to see Christ’s love shining through them.
Rodney, a man from their church did a conflict resolution workshop with us. This workshop proved to be very interesting and relevant to what we were seeing and experiencing throughout Africa as well as in our community.
The last couple of days our group had the opportunity to make a differenc ein the community. Half of our group went to work in Khayaletsha, a township in Strandfontein, painting a pastor’s house. The other half of our group, the part I was in went to a crèche(children’s nursery) to use our artistic skills one last time. I was even trusted to paint a giraffes leg. At this crèche we found a little kitten in a garbage can. She was named Princess Tinkerbell Elwierda and put smiles on a lot of our faces.
Overall this was an amazing week. I learned a lot about love and how to properly resolve conflict. I really enjoyed the service projects and am happy to get back together with our Outtatown community for the last weeks under the African sun.
Tristan Riordan
