Johannesburg Day 2

Monday, January 18

We woke up early and somewhat groggy to go speak to children at a local school but the rain made setting up a large outdoor convocation of students impossible. We would have to return later in the week. Instead, we got a head start on our ministry at a Johannesburg prison. We piled our 12-person team into a passenger van and splashed our way to the prison. Security was very tight but the guards at the gate is used to seeing the Mayfair Baptist Church van there, so we got through easily enough. A chaplain led us through the maze-like prison corridors to a section where medium-security prisoners live. We fanned out in the courtyard to distribute Gospel newspapers and invite the residents to a worship service. One of the guards told us that our message would be well received on such a gloomy, wet day because the prisoners appreciate visitors on rainy days.

The mission team set up in the back corner of the section kitchen to play some worship songs, share testimonies, and introduce Willie’s message to whoever would show up. We did not know what to expect but gradually the room began to fill with men in bright orange jumpsuits. Just when we thought we would start worship, one of the men started singing, presumably in Zulu. A few men answered the song and began what would be the most intense worship we have ever experienced. This was Kelly’s favorite moment of the whole trip. Dozens of men poured into the room, singing loudly, clapping, stomping, dancing, and sweating for what seemed like hours. When it came time for us to lead worship our way, we felt inadequate in face of such devotion. We humbly led the men in some new English songs, testimonies from the team, and Willie preached. Many of the men expressed interest in enrolling in a discipleship class and many more requested copies of the Bible to read for themselves.

two similar videos of some singing:

longer video of other songs including vocal mass-prayer at the end:

After leaving the cheerful men in that dank prison, we went back to the church to make sandwiches to bring to the children of the Joe Slovo squatter camp. About 3000 people live in this dusty, crowded community of rented shacks and debris. The children were playing soccer in the street among shattered bottles, many of them in their bare feet, while a pile of burning trash constantly fouled the air a few yards away. We distributed sandwiches to the children in the most organized manner we could manage. The children LOVE to have their photograph taken and grab at our cameras to see the digital image after each flash.

A new soccer ball emerged from the van and a new circle of kicking, knees, and head butts opened up there on the street. The 2010 World Cup begins in just a few months and we can tell that the local are extremely excited to host the event. It is amazing to see how something as simple as a soccer ball instantly crumbles all barriers of color, language, race, and nationality.

We ate dinner that night at a trendy restaurant called News Café. It was emotional difficult to muster up and appetite after all we had seen: joyful prisoners who see nothing of the world but the often-cloudy South African sky and children who will dance and laugh for anyone despite their empty bellies and cold homes.