Servanthood Teaching Week - by Lyndah

30 March – 3 April (by Lyndah)

For the week of 30 March through 3 April, we had a teaching on Servanthood. Our teachers were 2 of our DTS Staff, Mitch and Sarah, a married couple. The first part of the week we had two classroom sessions. We covered things ranging from how service is truly “not about me” and the differences between self-righteous service and true service. We also learned about living from the Kingdom of God not just for the Kingdom. This, as students, gave us new knowledge and wisdoms to apply on the latter three days of the week, which were scheduled opportunities to demonstrate practical service.

On Wednesday we went to a community called Luka which lies on the outer skirts of Rustenburg. There we met up with a woman named Sebongile who is a part of YWAM Rustenburg and facilitates a kresh, (kindergarden/ preschool) in the Luka Community. We were able to serve them through completing yard work- cutting grass, sweeping the side walks, raking leaves and picking up trash. We also cleaned the inside and outside of the large windows. We did other indoor cleaning, especially the bathrooms! I (Lyndah, a student with YWAM) even got to experience the joys of scrubbing the communal urinal! (Which I don’t think was something done often!) For us as students and staff, it was a time of laughter and service not just to the school, but to each other.








On Thursday, we went to an Afrikaans retirement home. We were each given biscuits (cookies in South Africa) and the opportunity to go within the campus and visit with any of the residents. I was able to visit with two elderly women there sitting together in the common room. It was wonderful to hear their stories of their lives and travels in South Africa and to have them in return ask me questions of why I’m in South Africa, where my home is, etc. At the end of our stay there, two people in our group had met one woman who acted a lot like a tour guide and she insisted that we stay long enough for tea – which we did and thoroughly enjoyed all that she had to talk about. The conversation especially became interesting when she told us of her world travels. She talked about going to a museum in Canada and seeing a real half mermaid half boy and she went into deep description of it. Oh the unexpected things we encounter in ministry. We all left that afternoon feeling joy at the relationships and conversations had.

On Friday morning we prepared food for the staff (about 10 people) at a nearby Hospice. Our time at the hospice was two fold, one to visit with the patients and the other to bless the staff with a picnic lunch. First, we walked around to visit the patients. The girls went into the women’s side and the boys went into the men’s side. We handed out juice and newspapers to them. They enjoyed getting something from us as visitors. Then we served a lunch of chicken pot pie and beetroot and a loaf of bread to each staff that cares for the patients. They were so grateful for the gift of a hot lunch and to be thought of when most people don’t see how hard a job it is to care for the dying.






But our time there was so much more than that. The patients really touched my heart the most. I wrote an email to a friend and here is a portion that I think explains it best.

"It’s what people envision when they think of the horrors of AIDS in Africa. Its true and real, and lives are shaking and feverishly sweating in deathbeds. The women I met with today make my heart yearn so widely to be with them. Almost all of the women were skin and bones. The first woman I spent time with could only mumble in Tswana, and I struggled to get her to speak even in that. Just to see this woman shaking feverishly trying to say a single word. Watching her trying unsuccessfully nibble at a marshmallow, that was already marked in red, probably blood from cracked sores in and around her mouth. Her pointing at the ceiling. Her sunken, scared eyes. Her inability to communicate that she needed to be turned over because her back was in pain. Having to slowly pour water into her mouth when she was thirsty, watching her tremble, and trying to pour so carefully, as its not unlikely she could die just from choking on too much. Trying to read a newspaper to her. Seeing her half clothed, with her bedpan next to her, unsure what to do if she would actually need it. This was just my first woman. I think her name was Martha, but it was hard to tell, because her whispers weren’t really English. Words don’t explain it. It was powerful. It made my heart big. If I study medicine, it will be her that gets me through the schooling. "



On the whole, this week really filled us as students with a love and enjoyment of being involved with the community here in Rustenburg. Also to practically apply a learning heart of service through different opportunities and ministry styles this really benefited us each in being able to operate each in our own giftings.