Falling in Love with Venda...

There's a song by Johnathon Butler that says "Falling in love with Jesus, Falling in love with Jesus, Falling in love with Jesus, is the best thing I've ever, ever done..." I heard this song in 2008 while with Grace Mokete. It was shortly after this that we went to Venda for the very first time and both of us fell in love. On the way back from Venda one night Grace and I began to sing "Falling in love with Venda, Falling in love with Venda..." The people of Venda are so hungry for God. They know how to pray and they know how to worship. It's as if you hear God more clearly while you are in Venda. Such an atmosphere and a manifestation of God's presence should happen way more often every where that we go.

That was in 2008 and the same thing is still happening now. We just went to Venda Jan.7-Jan.9th and I am telling you I have now fallen more in love with Venda. I love the people and the culture there. On Saturday we taught the youth about sharing their faith and then we walked through the village and door to door to give the opportunity to do just that. As we went to the houses we would greet the people and they would go and get chairs and we would sit and spend time talking with them. They are such sweet spirited people. I can't wait until I have the opportunity to go back again!

Recap of this weekend: On Friday we went to a village and distributed 34 food parcels to families who have HIV/AIDS. These ladies were so excited! On friday I wore my traditional Venda skirt and as we pulled up to these ladies and I stepped out of the car, they all began ululating (shouting and clapping). It was so funny. People really appreciate it when you try to adapt to a part of their culture.

Saturday was quit adventurous! It had been raining the whole of Friday so the mountain was very muddy. Pastor Jeremiah said our vehicle probably would not make it and advised us to walk. So we hiked up the mountain in our tekkies (tennis shoes) and skirts. We were slipping and sliding everywhere it was so funny! After 30 minutes we made it up the mountain to the church where we started the first service. After the first service Sarah spoke to the youth about evangelizing, and then they went out and practiced this first hand.

Sunday was even more adventurous then Saturday! Why you ask? Well, it began raining around 9a that morning and at 10:15a we were ready to go up the mountain. Pastor Jeremiah insisted that we drive up the moutain and knew for sure that we would make it. Well... about that... we made it a little bit but then we came to our first hill (which was straight up), we made it part way up and then that was it. We couldn't make it so we had to back down, then we thought we could pull into someone's house and turn around. Once we pulled in we couldn't get back out, we were stuck. Grace and I even got out in our dresses in a last attempt to push the Fortune out, but we were not successful. So hiking up the mountain in the rain it was. Oh yes! Our nice dresses with our cute muddy tennis shoes. Bahahaha! The whole time Sarah, Grace, and I are praying that the rain will stop so we can get out later and the more we prayed, the harder it poured. At one point during the service, I looked out the window and just started laughing. I really thought we were staying the night in the village. After about 4 hours the service ended and the sun began to shine. We were so thankful. So we hiked back down the mountain praying that we would be able to get out. Sarah jumped in the Fortuner, as Grace, Pastor Jeremiah, Enoch, Rodney, and I pushed the front of Sarah's car and after a little effort she managed to get out and we made it home.

This weekend was a great weekend, because of the mud it gave us the opportunity to spend more quality time with the Venda people as we hiked up and down the mountain together. So I end this with singing "Falling in love with Venda, Falling in love with Venda, Falling in love with Venda, is the best thing I've ever ever done!"