Village Visit

Today I had an amazing opportunity! I got to visit the Nobumba village located about 45 minutes outside of Grahamstown with the local missionaries, the Morris family. It was one of the most interesting things I have experienced since being here. I felt like I was able to experience a small taste of true African life, something I haven’t been able to do at a private boarding school.


Every week Bob goes to a few of the surrounding villages and meets in a home for a Bible study and fellowship type thing. In each village there is a resident who is in charge of where and when to have the meeting, etc. with the idea being to eventually start a church that would be led by the locals.

Upon arrival we went into a one room hut where we successfully packed 8 adults and 16 children in to hear God’s word…it was awesome! There was even one teenage girl who came on her crutches and everyone was so excited to be there. Although I did not understand anything that was being said (they spoke in Xhosa) it was such an overwhelming feeling of awe. They were so welcoming with huge smiles on their faces the entire time, especially when Bob introduced me.

Afterwards one of the ladies told Bob about the death of one of the village members yesterday. It is custom for people to go to the house where the person died to visit the family, say prayers, read scripture, and sing some choruses; that is exactly what we did! Upon entering the house, there were 4 ladies seated around the room and we walked around to each one and did the traditional handshake (which I quickly learned) and a kiss on the cheek. We began by singing while one lady used a chair as a drum followed by everyone kneeling on the floor to pray. Bob read some scripture and said a few words to the family as well. The “service” lasted for about 30 minutes and then we left.

This experience definitely opened my eyes to the reality of life as a missionary. Of course we are all called to be missionaries every day but this was different for me. Although I have been on mission trips and things before I had never experienced anything as raw as this before and I really enjoyed it. The love and the excitement that those people possessed was compelling as well as contagious!