Orphanage in Guguletu!

This weekend I had the honour of helping out at a local "orphanage" in Guguletu. The reason I put orphanage in inverted commas is because many people recognise it as an orphanage, but in all honesty it's not. A Pastor and his wife live in Guguletu, a local township, and run Barcelona Baptist Church. They are also the parents of 22 AIDS orphans. Yes, that's what I said.....22 children ranging from young adults to infants. Prepare yourself for this.... 18 of the 22 children are AIDS positive. No, not HIV positive but AIDS positive, meaning they currently have the disease. Heart breaking, isn't it? I cried for an hour straight when the Pastor shared their story. They have had heart breaking situations come upon them time after time, but through it all they trust God in a way I would have never ever imagined. Some of their children have been left in burning houses to die. Some have been dropped off at the gate of their home. Yet, these children LOVE their adopted ma and pa. They called them mama and papa and they don't know anyone else who fits into that category. These people are living the gospel. I had the privilege to play with these kids, work in their garden pulling weeds, serving the kids lunch, and helping the "momma" in the kitchen. A group from Athlone Baptist Church did work in the gardens also, weed-eated the high grass, cleaned the rooms for the children, and brought many many non-perishable food items for this family.

Please pray for them!
Pray for provision which comes from God alone.
Pray for safety in the area as there have been many riots because of political issues (people burn tires and block the roads with rioting).
Pray for the children's health and their parents.
Pray that these kids would know the love of Jesus through their parents love.
Pray that God would continue to raise up people to help in their area and to meet their needs.
PRAY!

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

Teaching me new games on the trampoline.

 Working in the garden.

Measuring the new carpet for the house they are going to build.

 A place where some of the kids sleep.

The items Athlone Baptist brought.

A shop in the township, and a momma with her baby on her back.

One of the local water sources.

CTBS Practical Assignment

Find out what the first year students are doing for our children's and youth ministry classes :)

Soup Kitchen

Tomorrow evening we will be going back into Woodville (a small township) and we are distributing bread, soup, other non perishables and some of the towels that the HGBC team left here in SA. Pray for the follow up process as these people and children will realise that I am staying here for good and that they can allow themselves to trust me. Pray that their stomachs won't just be full with food, but that their hearts can be full of peace and love if Christ is their Lord. Please pray specifically for 4 little girls whom we made close relationships with at Holiday Bible Club, "T" "C" "N" and "Z" as they realise I will be coming back to visit and help them regularly. Pray they open up to me and that they can understand God is bigger than their circumstances. Pray that their parents will know that Jesus can break any addiction that is in their lives. I would love if you could also pray for me and others in Bonteheuwel Baptist church tomorrow evening as we do our weekly drug outreach ministry. From 10 p.m. to around 2 a.m. we will stand at different places in the streets and invite people in for warm tea/coffee and hot dogs or soup. Pray that people won't be afraid to come into the church and that we can simply build relationships with them. Pray that as we build relationships and initiate conversations, that Christ can be presented to them in clarity and that their addictions and any bondages over their lives will be broken by Jesus' blood if they would simply ask of Him. I will do my best to post photos when I get home! Thank you for your prayers!