What a privilege!

This sentence I've heard a lot the last few weeks. Since our team from the Netherlands arrived in South-Africa on the 10th of July, almost every person we've met said this sentence at least once to us. But that's not the way we see it. We came here to serve the people we were going to meet. So it's not a privilege for the South-African people that we came here, but it is a privilege for us to be here and see how your country looks like.

And I can tell you: we are amazed by your kindness. Everywhere we come, doors are going widely open for us and we can have supper wherever we are. So you can understand that it's really great to be here at this moment. There is only one thing we don't understand: during the day we have the feeling that it's summertime, but you South-Africans still wear a lot of clothes and have blankets all around you! It's so strange to see and experience that difference.

Till this moment we've met a lot of interesting people from different backgrounds. Last week we were in Eersterust, Pretoria where we were connected to a local church. During the week we did a sportsprogram for al the children and youngsters in and around Eersterust. At the end of the week we've showed them 'the Jesus movie' and gave them the opportunity to choose for a life with Christ. It was so great to see that many of the children accepted Jesus that night!

As I already mentioned, we've met a lot of interesting people with totally different backgrounds. For us as 'Dutchies', it's difficult to see the differences between rich and poor people. It is also hard to see that there are areas with a lot of HIV-infected children. But on the other hand we've met children and youngsters at Grey College for example and spent a lot of time with them, telling them about Jesus.

To come to a conclusion: it`s our privilege to be here and serve the country of South-Africa. It's great to see that a lot of you already know the Lord. But there is stil so much work to do in South-Africa for God's Kingdom. And that's why I want to encourage you to join Athletes in Action or any other kind of missions organization to share and spread the Gospel through your country!

Niels Norg, teamleader of the Dutch team.

Picture: "The Dutchies in Bloem!"