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Team ministers in South Africa.
by Leah Meyer –
In an effort to emphasize the importance of World Services and begin a relationship with its new sister division, the Intermountain Division recently sent a team to the Western Cape Division in South Africa. We were asked to join them in their integrated mission—going into communities, building relationships and focusing on education with a goal of empowering people to improve their situations.
During our two weeks in South Africa we experienced many overwhelming moments: witnessing the lingering effects of apartheid—extreme poverty, pervasive crime, rampant drug use and human trafficking—in the midst of great material wealth; seeing the hope that words of encouragement and a moment of prayer can bring to a battered woman in despair; being greeted by wide smiles, children’s hugs, hospitality and the heavenly harmonies of a cappella voices lifting melodies to the Lord in a one-room cinderblock corps in Kayelitsha; walking through a township in which 1.2 million people live in shacks and small cinderblock homes in an area less than eight square miles.
Two weeks in South Africa is time for only a glimpse of what God is doing there, but it is clear that The Salvation Army has a vibrant and energetic presence. This was evidenced by the 102-year-old man who was saved at age 99 and enrolled with 11 junior soldiers, five other senior soldiers and one adherent at the small Matroosfontein Corps one Sunday.
It is safe to say that each team member came home with a new perspective on the amazing things that God is doing daily in the lives of people all around the world.