Men's outreaches

This week I finally got to do something for the men’s ministry that I’m apart of that didn’t involve printing off survey’s or sitting in meetings! On Wednesday we had a booth in the middle of the mall where we were handing out surveys and testing for HIV/TB. We set up 4 different tents right in the center of the mall in front of one of the only grocery stores in the area. I honestly thought not many people were actually going to get tested. But my western ways and thoughts proved me wrong; we had plus or minus 70 people get tested! There were 4 health counselors there, 3 of them did the assessment before hand and just told the people their options of support groups in the case that the results turn out positive and then one of the women did the actual blood test. It was a rapid test so everyone that got tested found out their status within 10-15min. Well I had only met the two guy counselors briefly in our men’s outreach meeting and had never met the two girls before. So when I first got there it was a bit awkward but that lasted all of 2 seconds. We had a table with some pamphlets on it to give to anyone that wanted more information on things and I passed out surveys to men getting tested. I had a lot of fun actually. Talked to anyone and everyone that came by, even informed some people about the symptoms of TB! Learned about some new phone app that’s called what’s up by some guy, he told me you could use it to talk to anyone in the world so I should look into it. It was a fun day of people watching as well as getting to know random people in the mall I would have never talked to. Eric and Anele, the two guy counselors are fantastic and hilarious when you least expect it. Eric is a bit intimidating at first because he shows no emotion when you talk to him then Anele is a sweetheart and has one of the best smiles in the world. But throughout the day Eric opened up and talked to me a lot and he is hilarious. So safe to say I now have two more people to add to my African friends list 

 Eric 

outreach in Fish Hoek 

   At the end of the day I had to leave early to make it out to club in time and the lady that did the actual test came up to me and asked if I was coming to the outreach tomorrow. When I responded yes she seemed quite excited. The next day we had an outreach in a taxi station in Fish Hoek. Talk about some interesting people! That day was so much fun because I got to talk to even more people many of which lived on the streets. One guy that was quite the character, I think he was like that because he had a few of his buddies with him, let me know that he would come to Texas if he could stare into my eyes all day. Got quite the charmers in Africa ladies! All in all both days were really fun, got close with 4 people I may have never met if it weren’t for this ministry and they want me to come to all their outreaches! When I was leaving Eric told me he wants me to come because I’m very useful and he’ll make sure Avril hears about it.

When I thought this day couldn’t get any better…I was at club sitting on the floor with all the kids listening to the lesson being done. Now I’ve said this before but I always end up having a group of boys that hangs around me. They steal my heart the first day and have it for forever…and naturally they are usually the ‘trouble makers’ of the group. ANYWAYS I was sitting there and during the break one of them saw my ring on my hand and asked if I was married. I then proceeded to say in America you can wear rings on your ring finger without being married. Then he asked if I had a boyfriend and I said what is with all these questions? He then smiled REAL big and looked over at Denzil and then back at me and said Denzil wants to marry you!!! Haha Denzil looked super embarrassed which led to hitting and all that nonsense but it was too sweet. I love these kids!

Hope everyone is doing great back home. Miss you all! Can NOT believe that it is almost May. Time has flown by and I’m sure it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. Hope everyone is happy && healthy

Everybody can be great.  Because anybody can serve.  You don't have to have a college degree to serve.  You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve.... You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve.  You only need a heart full of grace.  A soul generated by love.  ~Martin Luther King, Jr.