Presidential Election Today!

Please be praying for South Africa, as today is the national election. As you might know, South Africa has had a history of corrupt politics. Just 15 years ago, South Africa had its first fair election, in which the Apartheid regime (white supremacy, more or less) was broken down and Nelson Mandela, the leader of the ANC Party was elected President. The ANC is still the dominant party, with some dozen or so other political parties vying for various positions in power and seats in the Parliament. While the ANC has done many great things in bringing freedom and equality to many people in South Africa, it seems that their rise to power has bred corruption within their party. Just a year ago, the leader of the ANC and President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, was removed from the presidency. The current leader of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, is presently on trial for major charges of corruption, although the trial continues to be postponed, and the ANC seems to be paying all the right people in an attempt to get the charges dropped. Zuma is expected to win the national election today in a landslide. Where else in the world would you find a President elected while concurrently facing major federal charges? Crazy...

You might be wondering, "Why in the world would people vote for this guy?" That's a great question...I'm glad you asked. 

First of all, Zuma represents the ANC Party, the same party that brought them their freedom only 15 years ago. Despite the corruption that has crept into the party, they are still riding the coattails of their victory in overthrowing the Apartheid regime. The masses are simply not ready to hand the power to anyone else, mostly out of fear, I would presume.

Second, Zuma is a charismatic leader. His seventh-grade education (this is no joke) would seem to suggest that he's not qualified to lead the country, but somehow he has captured the hearts of the people.

Third, Zuma is a Zulu. The Zulu people represent the largest ethnic group in this incredibly diverse country. In the township a few weeks ago, I asked a man who he was voting for. He responded in broken English, "I am Zulu. I vote ANC." Overwhelmingly, people here seem to vote more along ethnic lines than considering policies or even the moral conduct of a party or its leader.

After being here in SA for only a few months now, I don't presume to know everything there is to know about South African politics. Quite the contrary. However, it has become apparent that this election will be HUGE in terms of the future of South Africa, and as believers I think we need to be praying. Please take a few minutes today to pray for South Africa!

One of the funniest guys I know...

...is my buddy, Bronson. We've gotten to know each other quite well over the past few months, as we've been in a small group together, competed in sports against each other daily, and done a lot of ministry together. The following is a brief conversation we had a couple days ago, which made me laugh harder than I've laughed in a long time...

Me: I think I might shave my beard pretty soon.

Bronson: Yeah, it's hard to tell how fat your face is behind all that beard!

Ha! And that is why I love this kid so much...

Bronson and I performing a drama together at a youth 

camp this past weekend.

Poverty

I've seen more people driving BMWs in South Africa than I've ever seen before in my life...

I've seen more poverty in the past three months in South Africa than I've seen in the rest of my 24+ years of living combined...

Anyone see a problem here???...

Email

It's been great to hear from so many of you recently! Just wanted to give you all a heads up that my church email with St. Mark (acramer@stmarkmissionary.org) accidentally got deleted recently. Therefore, if anyone has sent an email to that account anytime within the last couple weeks--basically since I sent out my last email update--I never got it! I know I had a handful of unread emails on that account before it got deleted. So anyway, if you think that might apply to you, please forward those emails onto ACkosmo22@aol.com. And if you haven't emailed me recently to catch me up on your life, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!?!?!

A Few Random Facts...

• I ran over 40 miles last week...marathon here I come!
• My first 21 days in Africa were without a hot shower.
• I recently read the Bible, the entire OT and NT, in 27 days...it's a good book! (More on this later).
• I have not washed my hair in over a month...don't ask.
• Poverty sucks.
• I have not cut my hair or shaved since arriving in Africa.
• It gets cold in Africa.
• It also gets REALLY hot in Africa.
• I got thrown off a horse three days ago.
• I am convinced that there is no greater bond than that of the body of Christ.

I can't think of any more random facts, so I guess I'm done for now...

Latest Update

The following is my most recent email update that I sent out to my prayer partners. It sums up a lot of what I have been up to in recent weeks. If you'd like to be added to my email list, just let me know!

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Hello Family and Friends!

Greetings from South Africa! By now, you might have begun to wonder if I was still alive, but have no fear, I AM ALIVE!!! Probably my biggest frustration since arriving in SA has been my inability to communicate well with everyone back home. Let’s just say that “high speed” and “internet” are not words that are commonly used in the same sentence around here! Still, I apologize for such a long gap since my last update. Hopefully this letter will bring you all up to speed on what I’ve been up to...

Training

For those of you who may not have known, my first four months here have been devoted to ministry training. I am living on a farm with a group of about 40 other trainees, most of whom have very little ministry experience, who are being trained to plant disciple-making youth ministries alongside local churches in Africa. We have now entered our last month of training. I am going through the training along with the rest of the trainees, while at the same time I am striving to learn how I might train others in disciple-making ministry in the future. I have been very impressed with both the content of the training, as well as the methods used for learning. The training is very experiential. For example, we did a course on evangelism, and then we immediately went out into a local community to practice sharing our faith with others. The constant commitment to combine the practical with the theoretical has really proven to be invaluable as we go through the training.

Ministry

Although for the most part we are stranded out in the middle of nowhere at the training center on Driefontein Farm, like I mentioned before we are often given opportunities to practice ministry. Just last week we left the farm in three different teams for a whole week of practical ministry. My team went to Duduza, a township about an hour away from the farm, where black people were relocated during the apartheid regime. We might more commonly refer to it as the “ghetto” or the “slums.” What we found there was an active, growing church with lots of potential. We stayed in host homes there, which was quite a rustic experience (ie. bucket baths!). We partnered with a youth pastor in the township, Jeff, who helped us plan ministry each day. Our team performed dramas and testimonies in several of the schools in the township. I was able to preach the gospel to an entire school assembly, some 1500+ students at a secular school. God definitely had his hand of blessing on our team the entire week. We also spent quite a bit of time with kids at a local community center/food kitchen, mostly doing sports ministry. We partnered with 10 other local youth ministries for an all-night youth event (7PM-7AM!!!). We had tons of fun that night, combined with some great discussions surrounding many topics in regard to our faith.

Much in the same way that we had been taught during our training, we spent an afternoon training Jeff’s youth leaders in evangelism, and then we went out with them to help them practice sharing their faith. I was paired with two young girls named Thuli and Bali, and it was exciting to see them come alive as they began to share their faith with others. That afternoon I was able to help lead two boys, Sifiso and Mko, to a personal relationship with Jesus and get them connected with Jeff and the local youth ministry there in Duduza. Praise God! It was incredible to join together in ministry with other believers from such a different cultural context. The bond that we had in Christ was clearly evident all week, and we left feeling as though we had a new family in Duduza. It was easily the most impactful week for me since arriving in South Africa nearly three months ago.

Even on the farm, I am consistently involved in ministry. I am weekly helping to lead a Zulu service, mostly for young children, where I often preach (with a translator) or lead the singing (my Zulu is improving daily!). I stick out like a sore thumb, being the only white person there most weeks, but I love it! I have also had the opportunity to preach to the farm workers, and I lead worship for the Sunday service with the trainees. Such a variety of different ministry opportunities and experiences is part of what has made this such a unique and impacting experience for me.

Relationships

As I candidly shared with you before leaving for South Africa, my biggest fear in coming here was that I was coming alone. I asked you all to pray that I would build solid relationships here, and I have felt those prayers! This community that I live with is now my family. We have gone beyond the superficial and have shared life on a deep level. I meet daily with a small group of guys, Bronson from SA, Vusi from Zimbabwe, and Praise from Malawi, and we are constantly challenging each other. We are currently going through a harmony of the gospels together, and each day typically turns into a debate of some kind in which we sharpen each other. That group has been a blessing to me. I have also tried to take some of the younger guys under my wing. I have begun to mentor a young guy named Duane, a former drug dealer and self-proclaimed “gangster” whose life was radically transformed when he found Christ just a couple years ago. I am always encouraged by his desire to learn and grow, and somehow I find that when we get together and talk he mentors me right back with his young and pure faith. I could share so much more about all of the incredible relationships that God has blessed me with, but for now I’d just like to thank those of you who prayed specifically that I would have meaningful relationship here...God has answered that prayer!!!

Challenges

Again, thanks to all of you who prayed against any homesickness that I might be attacked with. I have yet to find that to be a challenge! Probably the biggest challenge I face daily is being constantly confronted with so many needs around me and not knowing what to do. God is developing in me a heart for Africa, but at times the need here seems overwhelming. Two areas that God has especially placed on my heart are the poverty here and the lack of education and opportunities for young people to succeed. I have no idea what the next step in life after this year will be for me, and that is a challenge as well. However, my hunch is that my burden for Africa will draw me back here at some point in the not-so-distant future.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for the church in Duduza. More specifically, pray for Jeff as he works a full-time secular job, while also pouring his life into and discipling the youth of Duduza.
• Please pray for Sifiso and Mko, the young boys who gave their lives to Christ last week. Pray that they would get plugged into the church there and that the gospel they heard and received would fall on “good soil.” Pray that they would grow in their newfound relationship with Jesus.
• Please pray that I would continue to be challenged and growing in my own relationship with Jesus.
• Please pray that our community on the farm would continue to grow together in unity.
• Please pray for me as I consider where God is leading me for my future.
• Please praise God for your prayers which have already been answered!!!

Thanks again for all your prayers, love, and support. I would not be here if it wasn’t for all of you! God Bless!

Serving in Africa,

Adam


P.S. I’d love to hear back from all of you to know what’s going on in your lives and how I might better pray for each of you! Feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me an email at ACkosmo22@aol.com. Thanks!

Fun Nights!!!

Thursday nights around here have been appropriately deemed "Fun Night." Every week, two different team members are the hosts for the week, and one of their responsibilities is to create a fun activity for Thursday night. A few weeks ago, our fun night activity was a "dance off" between the four dorms. To add to the chaos that came with a dance competition, teams were encouraged to dress up in crazy costumes. Here's a picture of me chilling with some of the guys...and yes...these are all GUYS! Thought you might get a good laugh out of this. Enjoy! 

Sabin (Congo), Vusi (Zimbabwe), AC to the Max, Nic (South Africa), and Anthony (Malawi).

I'm Alive!!!

I recently received an email from a friend back home. He didn't even write anything in the email, but the subject line on the email simply read, "Are you still alive?" That's when I realized that I have not communicated with all of you back home in a REALLY long time. I apologize for that...things have been a bit crazy around here, and they are about to get even more crazy! 

This morning we are heading off the farm for a week of practical ministry. We have been split into three teams that will head into three different local communities. My group is heading for a local ghetto called Duduza, where we will be doing some street ministry, sports ministry, and a VBS for the kids. I'm excited to get my hands dirty in practical ministry again and to get to know some new people.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support! Sorry for the lack of communication, but I'll be sure to send out a more in-depth update after this week!

AC

Bush Challenge Champs!

One rainy day early on in training we did a bush challenge. We hiked out into the bush, were given a map, and we had to follow a series of clues all over the place. After wading through a river, scaling the side of a steep mountain, and hiking through an abandoned mine shaft, about four hours later here were the bush challenge champs!

I Hate Snakes!!!

I would consider myself somewhat of an animal lover, but one thing I am certainly not is a snake lover. In fact, I really can't stand those slithery creatures. As much as possible, I try to avoid them, but in my current situation that's a little more difficult than I'd like.

During my first week here in Africa, I went out for a run with a few of the other guys. We got to talking as we ran, and I became distracted and lost focus of the path ahead of me. I almost didn't see it. A bush snake had crossed into the path just ahead of us. One of the guys behind me yelled just in time, and I took an I-used-to-be-a-collegiate-track-athlete jump over that creepy snake just as it was lashing out to take a bite out of my calf. I kid you not, that thing lunged for me, and I missed it by inches. That same week, we ran across another similar snake on a hike (pictured below). Needless to say, I now keep my eyes peeled when I'm out running around, especially when I head into the tall grass. 

In the words of Indiana Jones, "I hate snakes!"

Camp Eden

My home away from home here in South Africa is Driefontein Farm, also known as Camp Eden. As I shared before, Camp Eden is thousands of acres of beautiful mountains, rivers, forests, lakes, and wildlife, all in our back yard. I figured that instead of trying to explain it to you, I'd just show you a few pics...

Bush Camp

We started right out of the blocks with training from day 1 in South Africa. That first day, they sent us in groups out into the bush with machetes, a plastic tarp and rope for building our shelters, and just enough food for three days. The goal: survive! 

We were in more of a rainforest area (think more Hakuna Matata, less Pride Rock), and man did it rain!  My team built pretty much the sweetest shelter in history, and we were so sure that it would keep us dry. I'll never forget waking up at 1:00AM that first night and hearing the rain begin to tap on the plastic tarp that served as the roof of our shelter. That soft tapping soon turned into knocking, and by 3:00AM we were all running around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to repair holes in our leaky roof and dumping water out of our shelter by the bucket-load. I'll never forget laying there in my drenched sleeping bag that night and wondering, "What in the world have I gotten myself into?" It was such a surreal experience, sleeping out in the forest with a group of guys I didn't know, on a continent that was brand new to me. Looking back, though, it was a really neat time of bonding with and getting to know some of the other guys on the team right from the start.

Here are a few pics of our bush camping experience...

Working on our shelter.

Justin showing off his machete skills!

Best shelter ever! (Disclaimer: not water proof!!!)

My team at bush camp.

Some Introductions...

I'm actually in town tonight with a decent internet connection, so I'm going to try to post as many pictures tonight as possible. This picture goes way back to my first day here in South Africa, meeting the other trainees who have since become dear friends of mine.

(Left to Right): MaxAC (USA!), Sabin (Congo Brazzaville), Praise (Malawi), Shegz (Kenya), Christian (Kenya), Justin (Kenya), Anthony (Malawi).

J-Life Summit Revisited

The J-Life International Summit ended nearly a week ago, and it was a great success! Thanks so much to all of you who were praying. It was an awesome experience for me to be able to connect with so many incredible leaders from around Africa. The following are some quotes that I pulled away from the Summit.

"Focus on the Source, not the resource" -Patrick Britz, J-Life Namibia Leader

"Obedience is God's love language" -David Mulonga, J-Life Zambia Leader

"Don't be a shooting star minister." -Philip King, J-Life Nigeria Leader

"Finances produce employees. We don't want employees, we want people who will rally behind the vision." -John Abrahamse, Founder of J-Life

"Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you want, but you can only spend it once."  -Bernie, J-Life Board Member

"Seldom resist the urge to be generous." -Dann Spader, President of GYI

Besides rubbing shoulders with and soaking in wisdom from all these great leaders, I also had a lot of fun with these guys. We got to spend a day as a group in Joburg. Here's a picture of the entire Summit group outside of Mark Tittley's church in Joburg.

When Reality Sets In...

Back in the day, when missionaries were headed for Africa, they used to send all of their belongings over in a casket, knowing full well that they would probably breathe their last breath on the red soils of that continent. And, more than likely, it would be an early death for those pioneers. Well, times have changed quite a bit, and I'm a pretty optimistic guy, so I sent my belongings over in two suitcases, fully believing that I would be coming back in a year right along with those suitcases. Now, I'm still here to tell the story, so you know how it ends, but I promise you every bit of this story is true. I don't want to be overdramatic, but it got very, very ugly this week. This is how it went down...

To put it bluntly, this past week I experienced hell on earth. Sunday night, after attempting to Skype chat with my family, I spent the whole night with a fever and the chills. I slept in a bit the next morning, and then went to a training session with some of the country leaders that were still here after the Summit. A couple hours into that, I felt sick again. Some of the guys laid hands on me, but in the middle of their prayers I had to rush to the bathroom. I spent the rest of the day in bed. Anything I tried to eat was almost immediately coming back out, one way or another...if you know what I mean. Then, late Monday night I was in the restroom, still terribly sick, and I could tell that something was really wrong...that this was not the normal flu. I could feel my entire body just heating up, and I was near the point of passing out. I dragged myself to John's house, and he rushed me to the hospital. I was diagnosed with a gastro-intestinal virus, and I had a temperature of nearly 105 degrees, which is obviously crazy high. They gave me an injection and also set up an IV pumping some fluids and antibiotics into my body. I was still very sick that whole night. They said I couldn't eat anything for about 36 hours, and I could only drink water, so that it would flush the virus out of my system. Even then, the next day every time I took a sip of water I would either vomit or almost immediately have to use the toilet. So I've been on some strong antibiotics this whole week, which has really zapped my energy and kept me in bed most of the week. I've also probably lost 15 pounds or so, which might actually be kind of hard to gain back on our diet here. Please just be praying that I would come to a full recovery soon and that I would regain my strength. It's at times like these where it's really no fun at all to be far away from home! And it's times like these when reality really begins to set in...this is Africa (TIA), God called me here, and preparing me for His service might mean that He runs me through the flames a time or two. But like I said, I'm still alive to tell about it...God is good!

Goals for 2009

The following are some of the goals that I have set for myself for this year:

Personal Goals:

• Run 3-5 times a week
• Run a marathon (yikes!)
• Build two long-lasting friendships with Africans (a month later, this goal seems to be way too low)
• Read 12 books (1/month)

Spiritual Goals:

• Read through the Bible twice.
• Memorize at least 1 whole book of the Bible (probably James or Colossians).
• Spend time alone with God daily
• Fast once a month

So far, I am doing great at keeping up with these goals. Granted, it is only February, but at least I've made it this far! Just yesterday, I ran over 9 miles...and not just any 9 miles...mountain miles! I have already read one book, Great Commission Companies, a good read on combining business and missions, and I am currently halfway through the book Love and Respect. I am building many strong relationships here. I am also consuming more Scripture than ever before in my life, and I'm sharpening my memorization skills (nearly done memorizing Romans 8). I will try to keep you all posted throughout the year as to how I do with these goals!

Say Hello To My New Friends...

Hangin' with my friend, Mxolisi, from Swaziland. (Don't even try to pronounce his name...you're wrong...trust me!)

I Love Rugby!!!

J-Life International Summit

This week has been a very busy one, as we are currently having the J-Life International Summit here at Camp Eden. Eleven different countries are represented here by their country leaders: Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and the most recent addition to the J-Life team and only non-African nation, J-Life USA, which is based out of New York. We are also privileged to have Dann Spader here, founder of Son Life Ministries and President of Global Youth Initiative, as well as Steve Hudson, a long-time Son Life guy as well, and currently on the GYI staff with Dann. The country leaders are being trained in things such as recruiting and coaching leaders, developing boards, developing budgets, funds development, team building, team cohesion, and overall improved communication.

I have been lucky enough to be able to break away from the normal training this week to join in the Summit. We have been hearing exciting reports from all of the countries represented about disciple-making movements sprouting up all over the continent. Next week two leaders will be sent into Tanzania, where leaders from the tribal bush area have already been chosen to be trained to lead disciple-making movements in their regions. Other efforts are spreading into Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, and Madagascar. God is moving on this continent!

How you can pray this week:

• That God would continue to provide vision and leadership for J-Life
• For spiritual and physical renewal for the country leaders
• For a sense of community and cohesion among the different countries and their leaders
• That the Spirit would continue to move as workers are trained and sent out in His Name!

Sweet-Action Sunset

So a couple weekends ago we went on a men's retreat to this place outside of Joburg called the Vaal Dam. Besides having an incredible retreat (more on that later), I saw some of the sweetest sunsets I have ever seen! Here's a sneak peak...