Beat The Drum… the most exhausting week ever!
Wow… I don’t even know how to begin this one. Let’s start
with day one, Friday morning, our whole team rolled out of Jeffreys Baii, but
we didn’t all leave at the same time. We had to leave in shifts. A 5 am crew, 6
am, and the lucky 8 am people. I was blessed just to be leaving at 6, but God
is good and faithful and made it easy for me. So, after a 3 hour drive, my van
load arrived in Somerset Oos. After everyone arrived, we had our first
welcoming meeting: basic information, dinner, meeting with our teams and
worship. Day 2 was just training, and Day 3 was church and that evening was
opening ceremonies of Beat the Drum. The entire community was invited and so
many people showed up!
Day 4, MONDAY, was the big day… time to teach! But the
problem was… I did not feel ready! I was teaching a class of 11th
graders at an all black, Xhosa school. I had one other person teaching with me,
Max. Funny story, he has the same birthday as me, but is 2 years younger, so he
was born on the same day as Stephen! CRAZY! But that’s besides the point. So,
we have this class together, and the first day wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good.
We got to show the entire school this movie called Beat The Drum. Then we had
an hour with them to start through the workbook and beginning our AIDS
awareness program where we preach abstinence.
Day 5, TUESDAY, was interesting. I didn’t feel like Max and
I made much of an impression on these students after day 1, but as we came in,
the students were so welcoming. They were ready to learn and remembered all we
had talked about the day before. They weren’t responsive during teaching the
day before, but I guess they just had to gain our trust before they could open
up. This was a big thing. We didn’t get to finish our lesson from the day
before, so the principle let us have an extra hour with the students! PRAISE
THE LORD! It was so nice. Max and I finished talking about values with the
students, and somehow the Lord was changing how they think. Then for the second
hour, we split the guys and girls up for this lesson. With the girls, we dealt
with issues that girls struggle with, and he moved in amazing ways!
Day 6, WEDNESDAY, God decided to take me way out of my
comfort zone. I thank Him so much for that now. I was asked Tuesday night to
lead worship for the entire BTD team. We met for devotions and worship every
morning. I am still terrified of leading worship… but God thought I was ready
apparently. So, I led! And I don’t remember how it went exactly, because when I
get in a moment like that, I just let the Spirit lead. It was so refreshing to
let him really let go in me too! Then after that, my team prayed for one
specific thing among our school: courage for our students to speak out. Let me
just tell you, Satan decided he did not want that and attacked the school. They
had no water, and normally they would send all of the kids home. The principle
decided this was too important for the students to miss out on. PRAISE THE
LORD!!!! So, we start teaching, and they opened up and became completely
vulnerable with us. We explained purity and abstinence in a new way. They asked
me if I was married. I said no. Then if I had a boyfriend, and again I said no.
Lastly, they asked me if I was a virgin, and I said yes! I have never seen a
group of students so shocked. Completely befuddled by that fact, they asked
Max, and he said that was a virgin too. They didn’t know how to react to this.
These students have been told and believed a lie that if a guy didn’t have sex
the sperm would go up his spinal cord and into his brain. Once it hits your
brain, you become mad! We told them truth and broke that lie from their lives.
They also started thinking about abstinence. It was a rollercoaster of a day…
and it still wasn’t over. That night we had a youth rally for all the students
at all the schools we were at, and over 500 students showed up. I was in a
drime that night, there was amazing worship, and amazing teaching. But none of
that matter. Hundreds of decisions were made to give their lives to Christ, and
there were also soooo many decisions to remain pure from that moment on. God
moved in awesome ways.
Day 7, THURSDAY, was a good day with my class. Again, we
went to the school and there was no water. We actually wnet early in the morning
to teach so they could go home early because of the water crisis. Satan tries
to defeat us, but in the end he got walked all over by the glory of Jesus! So, Max and I went in knowing exactly
what we were supposed to do that day. The Holy Spirit led like crazy. Our
lesson was talking about what true love was, and the difference in lust and
attraction. We added onto what we talked about the day before and then gave a
call to salvation. I’m not putting numbers out for numbers sake, but to bring
God glory in this. He did everything. 9 out of the 15 students gave their lives
to the Lord! God is so good! Let’s just say I had a party that day celebrating
new brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Day 8, FRIDAY, was mass chaos. Nothing got done the way it
was supposed to. We didn’t get to teach our class, and I had a horrible
headache. Max had to leave a day early, and Satan decided to attack in another
way. So, nothing got done on this day for any class, but from what I heard, God
had already won the battle on the days before! There were multiple calls to
salvation and to abstinence! This day wasn’t even really needed! That afternoon
was free HIV testing and hundreds upon hundreds of people showed up for this!
It was a hard day, because there were some people who were positive, but in the
end… there was so much freedom in knowing the truth. So to end off the week, we
had a closing ceremony and it was precious. God showed all that he did, for HIS
glory. So many entered into the kingdom of heaven, and so many chose abstinence.
God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!
This was my long exhausting week in the beautiful town of
Somerset Oos(East). I loved every minute of it. And I pray that God brings me
back there. This is a very brief version of what happened here. Beat The Drum
in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed reading!
Love Y’all!
-Roth
