Amanda: Living Grace

On Tuesday my dear friend, Amanda, returned back home to the United States. We have been on this journey together for the past two months, beginning in Mozambique and ending in South Africa. In fact, she's the reason that I came to Cape Town. Amanda is a school teacher and has the summer off of work. We were both committed to going to Mozambique but Amanda decided to extend her stay in Africa and travel to Cape Town afterwards. I was excited for her and wished her well. Three weeks before our departure to Mozambique, I was talking to Amanda about her trip to South Africa when it dawned on me - I had to go too! So long story short, Amanda paved the path to bring me here to Cape Town and now she has returned home... and here I stay. ;)

I joined Amanda on her last day at Living Hope. Her work assignment is much different than mine so I was super excited to experience "a day in the life of Amanda". And boy oh boy, was it a great day!

For the past 5 weeks Amanda has been volunteering her time at Living Grace, which is a division of Living Hope. Living Grace is a homeless shelter/soup kitchen that provides lockers for belongings, a shower and place to wash and dry clothes, food parcels, social services, pensions, etc.

Here is what our day looked like:

We arrived at Living Grace around 8:15 am and immediately joined in for the morning worship music. Our friend, Rob the Rockstar, jammed out on his guitar while Amanda did the motions to the songs and the rest of us participated with our voices. Every morning after worship music there's a devotional; this is usually given by one of the volunteers (Amanda and friends). The "clients" that show up for breakfast must be present for the devotional in order to recieve coffee. Otherwise, they are treated only to bread. This provides an incentive for them to get to the shelter early. There were about 20+ people that showed up for breakfast this morning (Monday mornings are usually less busy b/c of the weekend - binges, paychecks, etc.).

After breakfast we cleaned up and started preparing the meal for lunch (which is always some kind of soup or stew). This was a great time of story telling, laughs and deep conversation. Amanda and I worked alongside other volunteers as well as the homeless people that came to the shelter. I really enjoyed getting to know the unique personalities of the "regulars" and was surprised at their openness towards me. We served about 50 or so people that day.

As the afternoon progressed, I could really see the light in Amanda as she interacted with the people at Living Grace. She fit in so well in the environment and really connected with the people. She not only "ministered" to them, but she loved on them, befriended them, and became "one of them" during her time here in Cape Town. It was really amazing to see Amanda move in her giftings. She truely has a burden for the brokenhearted and I believe God will use her to do great things for these people.

I don't want to make this blog too long, but the day included many other memorable moments. If you run into Amanda, please feel free to ask her about:

*Alastaire bringing us to the abandoned building where he used to live - drugs, prostitution, and rubbish galore...
*Amanda and I being mistaken as homeless (which I enjoyed)
*Claire (that says enough...)
*Leading Gail to the Lord
*Amanda getting bit on the nose
*The list goes on.....

www.livinggrace.co.za