South Africa

Apparently, Edwin and I cannot find the time to update this blog more than once a month. The length of time between posts necessitates that they be weighted more on the side of daily life updates and less on the side of theological reflection than I am used to.

This post is unfortunately not about The Supper of the Lamb, although I am still firmly resolved to write about that outstanding book when I can muster up the energy. It is about our upcoming trip to South Africa.

On June 23, Edwin and I leave for Johannesburg. We are going to spend one week doing Vacation Bible School with a mass of Chinese elementary school kids; then we move onwards and upwards to running a youth camp for a smaller mass of Chinese high school kids the second week.

This past Sunday, we met with Simon and Naomi, the other members of our team, to plan the youth camp. The four of us are in charge of all the events during that week: six messages, three workshops, morning devotions, afternoon games, and sharing around the campfire on the last day. Perhaps because there were only four of us, the meeting did not waste anyone’s time. Even though we came to the table with only a vague idea of the general theme of the camp, we managed to plan the topics of each message and divvy them up for individual preparation. It was not until the end of the meeting that I realized how surprising it was that we all seemed to have the same vision for where the South Africa youth were at and for what we wanted to share with them about the Good News of Jesus.

The theme of the youth camp is “The Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me,” inspired by the song “The World Will Never Take,” by whatever Christian band that is. Our six messages to convey the theme that having a relationship with God is the best thing that can possibly happen to anyone are as follows:

Tuesday morning: The difference between the world’s best and God’s best.
Tuesday night: Sin.
Wednesday morning: God’s radical, mysterious, and creative love.
Wednesday night: Carrying the cross.
Thursday morning: Service and community.
Thursday night: Recap and campfire.

In the past years, many of the kids to come to the youth camp have been either young in their faith or non-Christians. We hope, during this camp, to create for them a picture of lives that are completely different than the ones they are now living, in order to convince them that having God enter into their lives in a lasting and permanent way is the best thing that can ever happen to them.

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for our trip. If you would like to receive prayer requests and more frequent updates, please email us at eledlin@gmail.com

All the best,
Elanor