'Thank you, Lord, for Your Blessings on Me'
'In Jesus Name I Press On'
The Lord broke our hearts and our lives were forever changed that day at Blikkiesdorp in Cape Town, South Africa. It was in part because of the impact of this mission that MCM was born.
'In Jesus Name I Press On' was written by the granddaughter, Morisha, of a wonderful Auntie in Cape Town, South Africa, with a sharpie marker she borrowed and later asked if she could keep. She wrote it, along with many other messages, on the fences and other items outside her "home" during a welding skills training mission in an impoverished area called Blikkiesdorp (also known as Tin towns) outside Cape Town.
Auntie we called her, was a beautiful Christian woman who graciously allowed us use her tiny yard for our welding training when no other space was available because the electrical wiring had been stolen out of the makeshift community building we were supposed to be using.
God had a different plan for us.
Her home consisted of a small structure with only a single room. It was furnished with an old table for the kitchen counter, a makeshift shelf to hold her belongings and kitchen items, a broken chair and one old mattress on a dirt floor. There were no windows, only a leaky tin roof, tin and wood board walls, and a broken door. There was no air-conditioning, plumbing of any kind, or running water. Black garbage bags lined the inside walls to stop the wind and rain, turning it into a stifling little oven in the hot sun. She had electricity only when she could afford to buy it from the local drug lord of her area. Auntie had practically nothing, yet she desired to give us everything she had; to be a gracious host and to serve us lunch while we trained several local men outside her broken front door.
They blessed us more those few days with them than they could ever know. Auntie was a beautiful living example of the genuine love of the Christ Jesus, and Morisha's unshaken faith was beyond inspiring. Our Lord's fingerprints were on every moment of this mission; in Morisha's marker, Auntie's sandwiches, and our broken hearts. If Morisha could still have so much faith and trust in our Lord despite their situation, and Auntie, along with a constant smile and prayer for us, could give us all she had despite haven't practically nothing...what reason could I possibly have for not stepping out in that same faith and doing more?
It took a bit more time and several more missions, but God never stopped calling, and finally...
we listened.
Auntie and her granddaughter, Morisha, prayed for us every single day were there!