hello! this is tayen, and i'll be sharing about our 2nd day's events:
8/11
there are those moments, during a ministry trip, in which one can see events and connections falling into place and there is a sense of peace all throughout the situation. this is not a tale of one of those moments.
last night, odett, amy, and i were frantically scrambling around for an affordable driver. we had limited information regarding the prices of drivers here in joburg, so as we sought one for ourselves, it became quickly apparent that we had under-budgeted for that expense. having errands to run and people to meet, we were desperate to find a driver which we could afford. after inquiring about the issue with many different people, we decided to hire the one driver we already knew for just one day and figure things out today for the rest of our stay.
one of the people we inquired was a particular contact, with whom we had an appointment today. we were excited to meet him, as we anticipated that he'd be vital to our ministry and essential to the forging of healthy relationships with the community in midrand. he was quite helpful, as well. he advised us on all of our options in finding a driver and even proposed a suggestion involving him coming to pick us up this morning with a driver that he knew. it sounded possible so we decided that if my team would go that route, that i would email him by the morning. otherwise, we would find our own driver and meet him this afternoon, as planned.
so the night was concluded and i emailed him our plans... well, almost. we for some reason did not have his direct email address and only had his assistant's email address. perhaps she has some sort of forwarding set up?
NOPE.
this morning was an interesting one.
in the middle of our devotional time, we received a phone call from our contact, saying that he was on his way with his driver and that he was close by. startled and confused, i explained what i wrote in my email. ever have one of those sessions of yelling, insulting, and accusing over the phone of which you don't even need to be a part? after numerous attempts at communicating my apologies for our team's part in the kerfuffle, i realized that i was not being heard. i simply allowed him to release his feelings, uninterrupted, and when i felt that the terror of his wrath had subsided, asked him what we should do. he suggested that we meet in person since he had arrived at our housing at BIMS.
may i express, at this point, how the power of God moves me? how in tarnation was i able to keep so patient on the phone with that man? any of my supporters reading this knows about my temper and about my reactions to injustice. the fact that i not only kept silent toward the insults and accusations, but apologized for our part was proof of God's mighty power to transform a person. even my team was inspired by His working. what a Jesus, no?
when we met with the man, the first thing he did was apologize for his temper and inappropriate behavior. talk about God's kindness leading to repentance. what better amo for that truth do we have than this experience?
we ironed everything out and now we have a wonderful, budding relationship, which we are praying will be the seed from which many other fruitful relationships may grow.
thank you for your prayers. we could not be doing any of this ministry without you. we felt your prayers today in and around us! we love and appreciate you!
P.S.
we have some marvelous little stories about our time at the mall this afternoon!
one of them is the one about annie and me, and our run-in with an indian, hindu mother and daughter duo who own a gloria jean's coffee kiosk at the eastgate mall. we wanted some coffee and saw a recognizable shop so ran to it, upon which tejal, the daughter, and her mother enthusiastically greeted us in appreciation of us knowing what gloria jean's is. we struck up a conversation and mentioned that we'd like to have them bring a kiosk and do business at our art show. they loved the idea, but later found they were unavailable next weekend.
however, we did sit and have a wonderful conversation, over a complimentary cake. tejal and her mother are definitely people we want to keep in touch with, as they would be great to invite to a similar event to our art show in the future. they loved that we were offering that opportunity as a means of supporting local businesses and i could see that the concept of a church wanting to do such a thing was catching them a bit off-guard. gotta love that shock and awe, yes?
prayer requests:
- team to keep walking in the Spirit at every moment
- one heart, love and vision in the team
- the art show next saturday to attract many joburg people with whom we can connect, learn, and love.
- more local joburg artists!
- our meeting with naton, the regional director of ccc in south africa, on monday to go well and for us to connect with many churches through him.
- us to follow the Holy Spirit's ways in planting this church here in joburg.
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