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I've done it! My time here in Africa has officially come to an end. I still can't believe how fast these past 5 months have FLEW by!!
The past 3 mondays me and my team mates have been doing our own soup kitchen and delivering our meals to the parking guards and various homeless individuals in the town. This has been such an amazing experience as we've been able to have some interesting conversations with these people. God is definitely working in ways we can't necessarily see, but the outcome is so powerful. My goodbyes to the children and teachers i've been working with were very emotional. If you know me well you would know i'm not a huge cryer but i am happy to announce I shed some solid tears! The kids made me some adorable cards, letters, crafts and many gifts that i will cherish forever. I don't even know where to begin to talk about the lessons and God moments i've had. What i can say tho is that volunteering is hard work. I had a different vision in my head when coming to South Africa, but God used me and bent me in ways i didn't think possible, but now I can see a complete change in maturity in my faith as well as a person. Some days I truly felt like giving up, walking away and going back to my own home where i knew everything was safe and in my comfort zone, but God had other plans. Sometimes God doesn't change your situation because He's trying to change you, strengthen you, push you and mould you through that current circumstance. I'm in England right now waiting to board my final flight home. Coming to South Africa was one of the best decisions i've made. I'm not sure what the future holds for me but i do know who holds the future so trusting in Him to guide me in the right direction. As many of you already know I found a man in South Africa!! Him and I go way back, 7 and a half years to be exact. We met in Aussie and have stayed in contact ever since. I stayed with him and his family for the first 2 weeks of my time here and saw him most weekends. All I can say is that God is good!! When He brings the right man into your life everything falls right into place. These next few months are going to be crazy hard as were forced to be in a long distance relationship but we both know this time will strengthen our relationship with each other and also with God. I'm so blessed to have been able to stay with him and his family so many weekends and holidays! Thank you guys! Lots of love sent your way from Canada! XOXO See everyone soon!
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I hope everyone had an amazing Easter Weekend and remembered the amazing sacrifice of Jesus Christ so we can be free and have a chance to live in glory with Him forever and Ever. How mind blowing is that eh! To think He would die for us sinners, and then continue to love and forgive us on a daily bases, never mind the fact that we are constantly sinning and messing up! Now thats a love so strong that can truly conquer all. A love that proves to us that God wants to be our friend, our father, are everything. This past Easter weekend I was at a Christian camp with about 100 or so other teens and all i can say is that I have this new outlook on everything. If you've been to a camp before you probably remember leaving on a "spiritual high" but this time it's different. My life is not normal right now as i'm here doing mission work on a daily basis while everyone else is struggling with school, friends, pressures from parents, and everyday life. Me on the other hand am busy doing Gods work...but to be completely honest sometimes you loose focus on the actual task at hand and get carried away with the fun of the activities...or your just too tired to even think of the work that God is doing right in front of your own eyes. One of the speakers talked about our life being like a compass and how if were trying to get somewhere you don't just check it once, you must check it ALL THE TIME! Our life with the Lord is like a compass. We can't just check it every now and then and hope for the best, hope we get to our destination. We must read the scriptures, dig deep into the word, and ask for guidance everyday. God says that if your a "lukewarm" christian He spits you out of His mouth. What a scary thought eh! This gave me a huge wake up call, reminding me to start my day off with the Lord because He's the one that gave me the day to live. We don't know how long we have here on this earth, so why be embarrassed and live life in the shadow of sin when we can live it completely for the glory of God. The weekend before i was on a road trip with my team and another volunteer team here in South africa...and guess what! The girls were all from Canada! So nice to have fellow friends here in Africa :) We did a safari, got to walk with lions, saw baby cubs, went to an elephant park and monkey jungle as well as stayed in some beautiful hostels. All in all the past few weeks have been amazing. School's are on holiday till next week so my programs have been put on hold until the kids come back. I'm still at the orphanage and will be attending Hillsong church to do some behind the scene work there as well. It's unbelievable how much i miss my kiddies! They truly give me a brand new joy for the Lord seeing how happy they are even when they have next to nothing. God is using them to change my actions, behaviours, outlook, and my whole life. I pray everyone has a blessed week! I'm going to try to update you guys more often on what's happening here in Africa and upload some pictures as well!
Lots of love, han XOXO Howzit everyone!
I know its been awhile since I last blogged but at first I was having writers brain freeze and then got sick so i've been out of commission for 3 days now. Its nothing serious, just a chest infection which has put my projects on hold so I don't infect any of the children. My weeks have been busy and full of fun mission projects! I started a new program in the township near my house. We start out by feeding the kiddies some delishious concoction then tutor them in different subjects. Most of the kids are in grade 1 or 2 so thankfully its nothing brain intense because my math isn't the strongest on a good day!! Were trying to work on their english skills as most of them only speak Khosa. Theres one little boy named John who speaks both english and Khosa and translates for me. He's only 9 or 10 years old but full of life and spontaneity. The program runs from 12-4 which is a great way to spend my afternoon. In the morning i'm either at the disabled school or at the safe house working with the babies. I was volunteering at the orphanage/safe house on friday morning and my heart broke in two when I heard some of the stories of how the children came to the house. Just 4 days ago a mother came to the house to ask for some water with her baby boy. While the owner was fetching her the drink she ran away, leaving her baby at the house, abandoned. I couldn't stop thinking of the mother and her story behind her reasons for leaving her child. She knew her baby would be looked after here but I can't stop thinking about what she must be feeling right now. Her baby is the cutest thing ever, even tho he threw up on me 3 times while i was feeding him haha! Totally worth every minute! Another boy who came with broken arms and broken legs because his mother abused him actually got adopted by a Hillsong family last week! Such a bittersweet feeling. I'm so glad he's safe and happy in his new home but he will greatly missed!! This friday i'm participating in a poetry slam event with the township girls I help mentor every friday evening! I've never done this before but thankfully I have 15 beautiful African teenagers backing me up! Lots of amazing God moments have been happening, even while i'm sick at home. Its been a great time to reflect on just how much God has been working in my life and the lives around me. Sometimes when your busy with life its hard to see the small things that God is constantly blessing you with. God is good eh! In Christ, Hannah Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever- present help in trouble." Hello everyone! Sorry its been so long since I last updated but these past weeks have been harder with homesickness and other events that have been happening. I got to meet some Canadian friends here in Cape Town from my church which was SUPER AMAZING! They brought at least enough hugs to last me until I see my family! Last friday at Kidz Club I got to lead 400 children in the opening songs! I guess all the sunday school band dancing came in handy! It had been awhile since I taught kids actions for various songs, but God is good and all the actions just came flowing back and turned out to be a great afternoon! As many of you already know theres been huge fires here in Cape Town. The mountain right outside my window has been in flames for 3 days now. Yesterday I had the opportunity to head up where only special rescue teams are allowed and see first hand how HUGE these flames are! At least 5 stories high and uncontrollable. I was able to offer food and water to the firefighters who have been working day and night trying to contain the flames. Some of the guys I was talking to have worked 40 plus hours straight, no sleep! Don't worry i'm all safe here in my home but theres been talk of evacuating our neighbourhood due to the amount of smoke and ashes. its actually physically hard to breath as everything, I mean everything is covered in small pieces of ash. I hear it's snowing hard in Canada right now, and for us its raining ash. Please keep this devastating event in your prayers as people are still being evacuated from their homes. The tragedy all around is unbearable. I'm going out this morning with a few people to see what we can do to help. Whether thats helping people pack their homes, feeding others, helping the wildlife that is in great danger, or simply cleaning up the streets. Life is full of surprises eh! Waking up this morning and seeing all the flames and everything devastating about this disaster hit something deep inside of me. The song from Jesus Culture "Set a fire" popped in my head. Some of the lyrics are..."Set a fire down in my soul, that i can't contain that i can't control. I want more of you God, I want more of you God." The fire on the mountains is out of our control... uncontainable... mighty.. dominant... strong... and leading. Does that remind you of someone? possibly Jesus Christ?? AH YEAH! Our God's love is as immense as firry flames. We should want to have that kind of passion inside of us, overflowing with a burning intensity for Him. That is my prayer for all of us today, that we can grow in our faith and "start a fire down in our souls" so others can see something different about us and we can let it grow! God bless you all! Much love, Hannah Howzit/Molo everyone! I'm learning the languages pretty well and apparently sounding more South African everyday as people regularly ask me where i'm from in Africa! Don't you worry tho...I set them straight and tell them i'm Canadian as I'm very patriarchal :) I just want to apologize for the late post. South Africa has this thing called "load shedding" where they cut off the power in specific towns for a few hours at a time and I never know when its going to happen. The last 2 times I was all ready to blog, had my tea made, PJ's on and christian music playing, the power just dies...meaning no wifi or any use of technology...just my luck eh! Anyways i'm on now and so far so good! No power cuts yet! YYYaaaaaaaYYYY!! This past week has been awesome (as is every week!) I went to the Hillsong opening Church service last Sunday in one of them most dangerous townships in South Africa. God is going to do some amazing things there! The paster was preaching about facing our Giants in life. We all have them, whether big or small but he said something that really stuck with me this week. He said something along the lines of... don't tell God about your big "giant" in life, tell the "giant" about your big God because God is BIGGER, STRONGER and more POWERFUL then any trail in life! (Thats my speal for the week lol) This past friday was a very fun filled crazy day! I started in the school for disabled kids, then got driven to a kids feeding program in another township then got to be apart of a mentoring program for young teenage gals. Boy oh boy this was quite the experience! There were about 150-200 children there, although normally theres 300, give or take. I absolutely fell in love with the children! Some were shirtless, bleeding, starving, happy, depressed, in need of love, or just simply content. Every child touched my heart in a VERY special way. The program is another NGO (non government organizing) and is full of loving volunteers who are totally on fire for the Lord. The vibe was beyond anything I can describe! We sang songs in both english and Khosa, although i physically couldn't move because I had so many children stuck to me, holding me from every angle, touching my pony tail, moving my arms around their necks for a hug, touching my legs (I may have forgotten to shave so they were probably VERY confused) and trying to get my attention any way possible. Cutest thing ever tho. You would think that being around kids all day is totally draining, and to be honest some days I have zero energy, but on Friday seeing the children's happiness in the midst of their poverty and seeing their smiling faces amongst their desperation filled me up more then I can ever imagine. Who needs energy bars or red bull when you can dance and sing with little kids for hours!! I have a quick story that I want to share, so i'm sorry if this is a long blog but theres just so much to share and I wish I could tell every story, share with you every touching moment, but unfortunately I can't write well enough to describe the preciousness of the children and capture the joy that the kiddies bring to me...and you would be reading a blog all day with horrible spelling and confusing sentences! Once upon a time...haha just kidding! The pastor was teaching about trusting God, even when in the midst of desperation, and putting your faith in Him. He picked this little girl to come up to the front. She was very quite, not rowdy like the others, and had a very sad look on her face. When he called her up she slowly made her way to the front of the room...very quietly and anxiously. When she arrived at the pastors side he asked her if she trusted him. After a minute she nodded her head in approval and he then pull out 10 rand (1 Canadian dollar). The whole room broke out in "ouse" and "ah's." Half those children would never see that much money, let alone hold it! The little girl was so shocked she froze, didn't beleve it! The pastor then explained that when you trust God He will provide you with something special, He will meet your needs. The little girl was still standing at the front, trying to grasp the idea that she was "rich" and then all of a sudden a boy from the audience runs up to her and robs her! He was only about 6 or 7 and takes off with the money!! The room laughed and someone chased him to get the bill back but the thought is scary. Even in sunday school on a friday afternoon, in front of group of people, the little boy had the nerve to steal from this girl. Just goes to show how desperate people are, even from a young age. We got the money back to the girl and I helped her put in safely in her pocket and told her to leave it in their until she was safely home. She spent the rest of the day by my side, or in my lap, too nervous to leave for fear of getting robbed! It was funny at the time, but also sad to think about their way of life, because in Townships robbery is part of your everyday life. For example friends of mine in the surfing program were suppose to teach youngsters how to surf but it got cancelled due to a gun fight from a robbery in so they couldn't enter because of safety reasons! Scary eh! Today (Monday Feb the 9th) I spent the morning and afternoon teaching students from another township to swim. We had a buss load of girls come then a buss load of boys, both groups full of energy and "swagga!" Some have never swam before and others have but weren't very comfortable or secure in the water. I got placed with the students who have never swam before and the experience was super awesome! The girls were a little more timid but very giggly and fun, where the boys were more competitive but hilarious to work with :) Every monday i'll be working with them and the goal is to get them surfing in about 5 weeks time. I've been surfing 3 times now so thankfully I have some experience to attempt to help them out...although I can't make any promises as its a lot harder then it looks! Everytime I get up and start riding a wave I get too excited and lose focus... resulting in a face first blow into the salty massive waves! (I'm working on my ADD for this) Heres 3 Hillsong songs that we've been singing in church and they've truly touched me this week and have played at least 15 times each day! If you need a good song to let loose too I highly suggest blasting these in the morning! Such a good way to start your day :D God bless! Heaps of love XO First day at Hillsong and it was AMAZING! The church is located in another Township about an hour from where I stay so my driver dropped me off and away to work I went! Their actually in the midst of starting a new church which will actually be opening THIS SUNDAY! Super cool to be apart of the team! Everyone is beyond friendly and SO in love with the Lord!
Might sound funny and insignificant but there were 2 guys climbing ladders trying to hang posters and banners and the one is apparently deathly afraid of heights so his buddy was saying that "Through Christ anything is possible" and the way he said it so freely and openly just blew me away! I know as Christians were suppose to openly talk about our faith and not be ashamed, but can I ask when the last time you did that was? I'm not trying to point fingers because i'm just as guilty, its just a thought that was on my mind. It has really challenged me to consciously make an effort to mention Jesus Christ in my everyday life because He should be glorified in everything we do, right? My youth pastor would always tell us that if people aren't making fun of you or questioning you then your not doing the whole Christianity thing right. Were not meant to fit in and hide in the back ground...were suppose to be different, be a LIGHT, share the word, and love your neighbour as your self. I'm challenged with this everyday. Sometimes while i'm painting with the kiddies or feeding a child with autism it doesn't feel like i'm impacting that child's life too much because i'm not building them a better home or buying them a car to get around. I have to remember that I can't help everyone. I can only give what I can and I must keep my eyes fixed on the Lord and let him show me daily what He wants me to learn or what He wants me to teach someone. It can be a simple comment to a child that he or she may never hear at home. My work IS significant even if i'm just mopping the floors or cleaning windows at the Hillsong church because I know that on Sunday so many people will hear God for the first time and lives will be changed because of the willingness of so many volunteers. Every morning this is what I ask God to show me...a small way I can make a difference. This week has been very spiritually awakening and eye ball opening! WOW God is doing so many amazing things here! Yes, the townships are dangerous but so far i've been blessed beyond measure and have been kept safe in the hands of God. Thank you for all your prayers! You are all so amazing and I couldn't have gotten here without you or even continued to move forward without your love and support as being away from home can be tough at times. Miss you all! In Christ, Hannah I truly believe everyone should have a chance to do a mission trip or at least move out of their comfort zone and throw themselves into something (not a buss or anything dangerous hahah but a volunteer project or organization) because it's amazing how much it changes you for the better! Already I feel like i've matured greatly! Just thinking ahead and buying groceries and tooth paste and walking to the laundry mat and figuring out what I need for the week. I was blessed to have a daddy at home who let me borrow his car (although he called it stealing with the amount of time I had the wheel...love you dad!) but now if i wanna go somewhere I walk...no busses or taxi's as that's just asking for trouble so my feet take me everywhere. I've learned to "walk by faith" and trust that God's hand is watching over me 24/7...even while buying banana's at a market!
I even had lamb 2 nights ago in a curry and went for thirds! if you know me then this has never happened...lamb is a no go! But man alive our house momma sure can cook! I've had to start running on the beach daily to burn off all the amazing food i'm constantly consuming! Although it hit me tonight...i REALLY REALLY miss timmies! And ranch dressing! Africa doesn't get it and its funny how often you actually use something without realizing...for example ranch and pizza crusts! yummmmmmmmmmmy Anyways as I was saying, my routine has been great so far! The beautiful sights have made me an early bird so i'm up with the sun doing my devotions and preparing my heart for the days works. God really has a way of using his creation to create such peace inside of us eh. On Wednesday I was able to spend the morning at a township called Masiphumelele (don't worry! I can't say it well yet either) where I spent my time in a classroom with 2-3 years olds! They don't have much to work with but from what i've been told they have improved their state greatly...even with gathering books and school supplies. The kids were beyond adorable! They were constantly touching my hair and face and comparing skin colours. One little boy was petting my head then started petting his bold head and looked sad as he was trying to tell me with his facial expressions that he wanted soft hair like mine. I then took the dolls skirt off that he was playing with and put it on his head so he could have something soft to touch on top of his noggin and the smile that came off his lips was beyond words could explain! He kept that skirt on his head for the rest of the day! What a cuttie pie! Unfortunately the children don't speak english in the townships, or at least most of them...but then again i had the toddlers so they don't really speak anything besides gibberish anyways...so i found the language barrier quite hard. So tomorrow i'm going to dive into the books and learn as much as I possibly can so I can attempt to at least ask questions and maybe get the jist of what there trying to tell me. Even though I couldn't physically talk to them I had something they loved which you don't need words for...I had Canadian hockey to back me up! they didn't have sticks or anything but i improvised and used logo sticks and a small soft ball and taught them our epic sport! There loved it and couldn't get enough! the teacher was quite impressed how well they slept at nap time as well...so all around it was a win win situation :) Today I was at a school called Sinethemba which is directly for children with disabilities. This was a whole new different kind of amazing! I was put in a classroom with 8 children around the ages 2-4 who all suffer different forms of struggles. Each child was extremely precious tho! Especially the little girl who was named precious! She was born with feet that were clamped up so she crawls around...and boy oh boy can she ever move! Children are incredible but pheewww what a work out in every way! I just wanna take a minute to thank every mom out there that raised kiddies...GOOD JOB! give yourself a pat on the back because its hard work...but the reward is SO worth it! Having 8 children in one tiny classroom with only me and a teacher who was away a lot of the time doing other errands was a huge learning curb. I was constantly running around chasing the 2 years old to make sure they wouldn't escape and keep them occupied while on the other hand I was dealing with 2 big boys who have autism and don't understand what "no" means. For example whenever I told the one not to chuck heavy objects at other children's faces he would get VERY upset and walked away. At first I was like "ok cool, that was easy" until he got to a certain point in the classroom where he would then turn around and just charge at me and hit me full on with his body!! Now, me not being a huge body builder, took the hits quite drastically! Long story short it was exhausting but totally worth every minute. There was another little boy names Sima who has SP and was in a wheelchair. I was blessed enough to have the chance to feed him and what goosebumps it brought me! To see a child so stuck in his body but as happy as can be was beyond me! Every time he would finish a mouthful he would give me the biggest smile I have ever seen to let me know I could fill up his mouth again. The children are a gift from God and so incredibly talented in their own unique way. A friend told me today that God will give me the energy I need to continue doing His work, and how true is that! God doesn't bring you to a storm to leave you...He happens to be the best life guard out there who walks on water so we're all set if we surrender ourselves to Him, completely, holding nothing back! I was told today that I can't post photos of the children on social media as it can be dangerous due to child trafficking and other horrid events, but i'm going to possibly ask their parents if it's ok and see what i can do because i would love to share their beautiful faces with you! Heres a quick verse to keep in the back of your head that stuck with me today. Phil 4: 4-5. "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again- rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do." God bless you all! heaps of love! Hannah Good afternoon! it's nearly 10pm my time so bare with me on the spelling! The sun has this crazy power to drain every bit of energy i have! Normally i won't have time to blog everyday but because my program is at a stand still for the time being i have some more free time to catch up with everyone. This morning I had the opportunity to visit a township with a friend of mine who works for an organization called "Emergency Disaster Responce." Him and his wife run the program and visit the townships often due to unfortunate incidents such as fires, medical attention, floods...you name it! As you can see in this picture their houses are purely made out of scrap metal and any bits they can scalage up! Seeing this brought tears to my eyes! Just thinking of the huge house I have back home, my own bedroom that is bigger then this families entire living space, and food beyond abundance really makes me excited to start my mission but also extremely nervous because I know that I can't help them all. I can't provide them a nice home, i can't provide them hot meals or lots of clothing, but i can bring joy, friendship, and my relationship with Jesus Christ. Heres a picture of their bathrooms. Just let this sink in for a second... Half of them are out of order so their down to about 15 functioning washrooms. This is devastating enough but once I found out that over 2000 people use these daily i got chills all over my body. At night it's also too dangerous to visit them as crime is escalated intensely so they resort to a bucket in the corner of their home and empty it in the morning. Please let this be a reminder to all of us, as it has been to me, that God has our back! Things might be tough with relationships, work, schools, tests, families...but we are beyond blessed! Please continue to pray that i can find a way into theses people's hearts and bring a new outlook into their daily life! (first i have to attempt to learn their language! wish me luck!) So just a sub note i think i'm going to become an official vegetarian! like LEGIT this time! As I was driving through the township I saw this poor...huge... helpless... innocent sheep lying on the side of the road and guess who was beside that poor animal? 2 men sharpening huge daggers getting ready to slaughter it so they can cook it right there and sell it in a tin hut! Oh my glory I nearly passed out! Hahah the look on the little boys face is priceless tho! Ewwww!! yuck!! Blahhh no thank you! poor little thing. Anyways heres a picture if your brave enough to look! The next few weeks i'll be in and out of schools, orphanages, townships and many other places although the danger level is quite high so prayers would be much appreciated!
i've also posted some pictures of my day in the "pics" category on the side! P.S. thank you for all your blog comments! I love reading them before starting off my adventures in the morning! In Christ, Hannah...the new vegetarian (at least for a day or two) Holliday vacation with family friends is officially over and i've started my first day at Hillsong! Unfortunately school here doesn't start till the end of the month so my program is on hold until then. Currently my team consists of 2 other guys and hopefully theres more to come by the end of the month. Today we had a surfing lesson tho! I thought i would spend the whole time doing summer saults in the waves, but I actually managed to get up and ride some! The company was roxy so they fixed us up with some cool body suits, boards and t-shirts.
The program is a little different then I had in mind. One of the guys is doing a sport coaching program while the other is doing a surfing program, so i'm the only one going to the schools, orphanages and local communities. I know this is where God has placed me so i must trust Him with the schedule, people, places and activities. I am very excited to start in at Hillsong and begin working in the townships teaching, tutoring, feeding children, providing aid and anything else i can do. The weather is plus 35 degrees here right now...so a snow pile sounds quite good at the moment! Although i'm sure your all thinking a sandy beach is the way to go :) Yesterday I went hiking up Table Mountain with some guys and wow! what an adventure! The weather was really nice, a wee bit cloudy, but we thought it would be fine to hike up, but about half way up everyone we passed told us to turn around, to go home before its too late because the whole mountain was covered by a huge cloud. It sounds all nice and pretty, but when your walking through a cloud, extremely high up in the sky it is actually very dangerous! The whole way up is very steep and sore on the legs as it takes about 2 and a half hours to get to the top. About half way up the mist and hale and wind started picking up pretty bad. It got so windy that one of the guys gave me his big t-shirt to wear because I physically couldn't stop shaking so bad from the cold! Funny thing was he was actually holding onto the shirt i was wearing like a leash as I kept blowing to the edge of the cliff! Thankfully we ended up finding a cave to hide in as we attempted to warm up before making the slippery trek back down the mountain. We got 5 minutes from the top but figured there was no point in getting hyperthermia when the visibility was zero anyways haha. It was still great fun and a much better story to blog about then "we hiked a mountain and it was pretty" LOL I'll keep you updated as to what i'll be doing until my program starts. There's a few community projects in the making here that i'll be doing, although i'm not 100 percent sure yet what those will consist of. Thank you again for all your thoughts, blog comments and prayers! I've replied to all the blog comments although i'm not sure if they actually send due to the website i'm using. God bless! XO |
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June 2015
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