Cape Town 2026: Days 1-3

Cape Town 2026: Days 1–3

We started this trip with 28 hours of travel. A drive to Nashville, then a flight to D.C, then to Newark, then a long 14 hours to Capetown with a 25 minute drive to Sacred Mountain. Other than slight turbulence and a little motion sickness from Anna Cate it was a pretty smooth voyage. We enjoyed some takeout pizza and had a short but awesome conversation with Austin.

Friday morning, we had a great breakfast then got up to Living Hope’s main campus. We enjoyed a tour of the hospital wing guided by THE Avril herself. A group from Campus outreach was with us, and we sang a song to each of the wings. It was cool to see the way God is moving there. Through the rough physical and mental conditions, the patients were filled with the joy of Christ. I had a quick conversation with a man who came in blind from the hospital and was sent to Living Hope. He cried out to God to heal him, prayers were said daily but there was no physical change. They were forced to send him home. On the way home he was miraculously healed. I ponder how many times Jesus healed by the same process (See Luke 8, Matthew 8, John 4, Mark 1). How might someone explain this man's story without the miraculous power of God. He was in the facility for mental complications, but his joy was otherworldly. It helped that South Africa had just won their world cup match. The group from Campus outreach went back in and talked and prayed with each patient while we went to the Oceanview township where we will be working this week.

We met our wonderful leaders. Chantel, who was our head Life Skills Educator (LSE). Rudolph, a very kind man with 6 kids who will be in charge of the age groups 8-12. Jeremiah, a 24 year-old man who was brought up in the care of the Life skills program at Living Hope and will now lead a group for the first time. And Luke, a music and dancer lover who is Jeremiah’s best friend. All the workers were born and raised in Oceanview. We helped with final preparations for the camp, which was not much as they were super prepared and on top of things. After that we had a fun time drinking coffee and playing Hacky Sack in this park. As dinner rolled around we went to Bluewater Caffe and got delicious pizza. We had an amazing view of the mountains and had dinner with all the Keims, playing on the playground and had an awesome sunset.

Saturday was full of sightseeing. We went around the City as Amock, our really awesome driver, pointed out a bunch of cool things in the city. We went to the District Six museum where we learned the tragic history of Apartheid and the horrible conditions forced on the people of South Africa. We then went to the Old Biscuit Mill where we shopped all the shops and had some really wonderful food. Then we went to Hout Bay and shopped at their market where I heard some awesome live music. South African Pop culture is similar to America, so I got to jam to a bunch of the songs with natives. The bay was really cool to experience too. God was flexing his skills when he crafted this beautiful water and mountain. For dinner we ate at Marcos African Restaurant. The food was super authentic. I had sheep's head and it was surprisingly good. There was more music there, and on our way out they invited us to play with them. We were off beat like crazy but it’s the thought that counts. Sunday we woke up and went to King of Kings Church. The experience was really awesome. Despite a power outage from the storms, the church didn't miss a beat. After the sermon there were a few baptisms, and despite the cold water the baptisms were overjoyed. One story in particular stood out. A man by the name of Mr. Mickey, who was at the church for the first time and a very recent christian. His former life was troubling, he looked for every outlet to satisfy the God sized Gap in his life with everything from drugs and alcohol to satanism. He found Christ about 13 years ago and slowly started to rebuild his life and attended church for the first time today. After churched, we ventured into the rain storm to see the penguins at Boulder beach. We then went to Bertha’s where I enjoyed some awesome fish and chips. The storms put a hold on our afternoon activities but allowed for a much-needed post church afternoon nap. We hung out for the night playing some Mahjong and getting into the Good Samaritan story (Luke 10). God has shown up in really cool ways and I am so excited for the ways that he will this week. Tomorrow is our first full day with the Holiday Club and we couldn’t be more excited!

-Sammy D

Youth South Africa MissionMissions