This past week has been the most exhausting week yet, however it has been so awesome to see thew ays God has been working within our team and the people we've been reaching out to. Yesterday, I went with about 10 people from our team to Atteridgeville which is about 5 kilometers (Iyeah, I don't really know about this whole metric system thing :)) away from our house. Atteridgeville is basically a huge squatter camp, but it is my favorite place to do ministry here in South Africa. Me, Michelle J, and Michael spent all day with our new friends Shipo, Denzel, and Johannnes. We had a blast playing Murabaraba, walking through pouring rain, and then sitting in Shipo's house as we talked about God. TO be honest, this is really the first time I have been frustrated when talking with the locals about God. I spent a lot of time speaking with Denzel, adn he began by telling me that he doesn't believe in any religion, but that he does pray to God. I asked him if he could explain who God was to me, and he explained God as his creator, but then asked me who Jesus was. I told Denzel teh story of Jesus being God's son and how he became a man and died for us...of course I elaborated more than that, but you get the point. :) Anyway, Denzel proceeded to ask me if I believed in the Bible, which I responded with a "bery much so", and then he said "oh, well, I don't". He said that he did believe the story of Jesus in the Bible, but that is the only story he believes. "The stories of Daniel, MOses, and NOah...I do not believe" he continued to tell me. After much confusion between our languages I began to understand what he was telling me. He doesn't believe the other storeies because he believes all stories of the world should be told. "What about Africa? What about the people in Africa? THese men who wrote the stories about Daniel and MOses have not lived everywhere or lived in every time. They do not know what they are talking about." Denzel was adamant in saying that there was no reason he should believe the authors of these stories because they have never lived in Atteridgevill, South Africa. This was hard for me to understand because my mind went straight to "Why does it matter if they have lived here or not? It doesn't change the truth...." It's so much easier for me to grasp the truth of the Bible and for me to have hope, than for Denzel, because I don't live in a situation that seems hopeless. It's so hard trying to explain and trying to reason why someone should believe the word of God is truth, because it requires faith, and faith does not involve logic or reason. This may seem like a jumbled mess (and with our language barrier it actually was), but that's how it here. To our American minds, it seems so simple and straight forward, but between communication being limited because of language barriers and our cultural differences ( no matter how hard we try to realate), there is only so much we can say sometimes. It's really hard to try and explain this and why it is frustrating, because it is nearly impossible for our minds to comprehend the kind of life someone like Denzel lives. Pray for Denzel, others in his position, and for our team to learn how to understand and how to be compassionate instead of frustrated.

Thank you so much once again for your prayers and your support. I am still working on raising money as I still have $1200 left to raise, but we serve a God of provision who is always making sure our every need is met.

You guys rock my world. :)

In His Grace,

Elisa