Cape Town Chronicles: Halloween and other adventures

We have 27 days left in Cape Town, and so much to do! The last few weeks on campus were full...full of encouraging leaders with "vision plans"(a written encouragement of strengths and suggestions for growth), of prayer, details and "lasts". A couple of students were experiencing some intense spiritual warfare, but after much powerful prayer and posting and claiming scripture, it has subsided. In fact Halloween was a sort of "dark" time here. It is WAY different in South Africa than at home. Mostly because it is an actual spiritual holiday, and therefore is not recognized or celebrated by Christians here. There are many forms of witchcraft and Satanic worship that are practiced in Cape Town, but between October 22-Nov 1st, it is more intense. So needless to say, we not only saw some out workings of the darkness of those days, but also experienced some tension between "tradition" of how we usually celebrate Halloween, and the culture and reality here of Halloween. We ended up fighting the spiritual battle through prayer and the Word, and continued to rest in the power of Jesus and security of knowing our King reigns. And we did a little American "dress up and trick or treat" time to our apartment, the Williams apt., and to the apartment of the girls on our team. We didn't make it a big deal. Lily came in to our room that morning before school and said "Mom, I've decided not to dress up like a ballerina...instead, I'm going to be the Tooth Fairy. I'm going to dress all in white, like a tooth, and carry a purse that I can take on and off that will have a tooth on it" I was so surprised! Not only did my daughter (who normally doesn't like costumes or dressing up...or the thought of the tooth fairy coming into her room at night for that matter) want to dress up, but she also thought of her whole costume! I was so impressed! That afternoon the girls were anxiously anticipating their opportunity for getting candy, and Shannon was decorating their apartment to make it more festive. Lily came back from their apartment and said "Mom, Shannon is decorating. We need to do something. Why won't you help me decorate? Let's make some pumpkins to hang up or something." Another sign that Lily is my daughter...first thinking about what to wear, and now decorating! So we did. We "carved" pumpkins out of paper and stuck them on her bedroom door. It was really a fun and special time with Lily. I know she was confused as to why we weren't totally into celebrating Halloween all of a sudden. She asked me why I didn't like it anymore. I was just wrestling so much in my mind with the difference between "commercialized" Halloween in the States, and "spiritual" Halloween in South Africa. We didn't always know what to say or not to say about it. We prayed. We asked the Holy Spirit to help us discern. In the end, Lily and Anya's innocence and excitement in the day made it fun. But honestly, I was just glad when Halloween was over!

Lily, Noel, Lacy, Nala, Katelyn and Anya

All year we've driven by this place down the street from us called "Cool Runnings". It's a toboggan track and it said it's fun for the whole family...but we didn't really know what to expect. Our staff team decided to check it out a couple of weeks ago. We prepared ourselves by watching the movie "Cool Runnings" the night before:). It ended up being a blast! Lily and Anya rode with us, and they squealed and laughed the entire time! They each rode down at least 10 times! So glad we didn't leave Cape Town without experiencing Cool Runnings. In fact, we might have to go again before we leave!

Last weekend our friends, Catherine and Ernst, invited us to come to their parent's beach house in Kleinmond for the weekend. We first met Catherine and Ernst in the hospitality room of our church (Common Ground) the very first time we came, back in January! Catherine and I both felt like we'd met each other before...it was the strangest thing! We quickly became friends and joined the small group they lead. They have two children, Arden (3) and Nina (almost 1), and we had an awesome weekend with them! The weather was a little cool and windy, so we didn't get to play on the beach like we'd hoped, but it was a relaxing weekend away. They made us a lamb "potjie", which is kind of like a stew made in an cast iron pot over the fire. It is an art form.:) Though we were too hungry to let it simmer for the full 3 hours, it was still delicious!

This week we have been meeting to evaluate and debrief our Stint year. Praising God in remembering all He has done and will continue to do! We have excited spirit-filled students in place to lead on all three of the campuses we've been working on. Praise God! We also found out that over the course of the year, we (our team, students, and summer project) have presented the gospel over 900 times and seen 85 students accept Christ. I'm so grateful for the many ways the Lord brings people to himself.

These last few weeks Lily will continue to go to school, and we will start packing, tying up loose ends, sell our car, saying goodbyes and visiting the orphanage for the last time. Please pray for time management; that we would leave well and prepare physically, spiritually and emotionally for home!