A typical day at the office...
A beautiful thing we do every morning is staff prayer. We pray for our president and our nation of South Africa and then we pray for our own lives and our day ahead. The rest of the day in the office never looks the same. Sometimes it’s a desk day and sometimes it’s a get your sweat on kind of day. In general I became physically strong in the office as it often required carrying and packing tables and chairs and moving bible school classrooms around, I could initially carry one chair at a time and now I can carry 3. One time we sifted heaps of sand to fill over 200 sandbags to place under the auditorium stage to absorb base from the instruments. Often times we are planning something, and that ranges from slipstream races to graduations or big trips. This means there’s meetings everywhere and we are in different groups focusing on a specific area and it’s amazing to see it all come together, I still don’t know how exactly it all comes together but it does and it’s amazing to witness. We also then get a lot of teaching and impartation and we study and enjoy the Word, we are very blessed in this regard. The office is an interesting place as sometimes it’s laughter and noise and other times it’s extremely quiet. Sometimes it’s bicycles everywhere or bedding as we prepare for trips. It’s so wonderful to work in an open office where we are all together enjoying each other to the fullest. There’s also the general housekeeping including kitchen and dishes duties for each day, sweeping and mopping on Fridays which normally turns into the most jolly activities. We also have a lot of spreadsheets and this is very necessary as we are quite a few people who need to be organized in one direction and I think everything is cataloged to the tee. I have never had a “bad” day, it’s always a joy to come to the office. Lunch time goes like this: “who’s going to Woolies?, please get something for me too”. “What are you eating?”. And then the que to wash your dishes, Lol. Oh and then there’s the airconditioner, 50% of us want the airconditioner on and the other 50% run for their jackets. By 3pm it’s the time to start hunting down anyone who has snacks!! It’s safe to say it’s a joyous place.
Miskills
The skills I have learned while being at Mixchange, which is totally new to me, is being on my computer. I have always been used to the medical field thus I always had a patient but now not so much. Thus far I have learned how to build a website(the one you are seeing now), edit videos and audio on DaVinci and I have learned how to design many wonderful things on Canva. Initially, this all seemed very intimidating to me but now that I know how to do this it is a wonderful skill to enjoy. I have also learned how to edit pictures which I really enjoy. I have also spent some time on the GoPro and started learning what footage is valuable and what is not useable. I have also been introduced to Google Drive and Chrome. I recently joined the CamOps team and which involves live filming of Sunday services and I have some insight into what that entails.
We have also learned the ins and outs of hosting and organizing a running race and we had a wonderful time with the Waterlectric Trail Race.
Recently we also started to do some vocal training and how to sing together. We have done a few background vocal recordings together and it is on the recent Heritage Worship album: Intertwined.
Breakfree building project
This project was a wonderful opportunity to assist in building a church on the breakfree property that will serve the people living there. This involved painting what seemed to be 1000s of wooden panels. We laid them out on a big area outside and started the process. We then cut these wooden panels according to building plans and sized them correctly, firstly starting with the frame or skeleton and then the shell. It was so wonderful to do this for them as it saved them months in time if they had to do this without us.
The fellowship we had together as a team was wonderful as we were together 1,5hrs driving there and back and then with working together on the projects. We had many laughs and it was great to get dirty and then to enjoy a sandwich at lunch in our dirty clothes.
The purpose of this was also to sow seed into many building projects we might need for our own expanding of the church. It’s so wonderful how God provides the seed as you need it. It is also wonderful to have seen and experienced breakfree as they assist and help people in rehabilitation from substance addiction.
This experience gave me great insight into the journey addicts walk and how getting set free from it is one of two roads being either rehab (physically and with God’s miracle power) or death and destruction. I am grateful to God for sending Jesus so that people can be freed and saved both on the earth and for eternity. I did draw a parallel between Mixchange and rehab in the way that as they physically chose to exchange substance for a sober life so we too chose to exchange walking in darkness and deception for walking sober in the light that is Jesus. We all have to humble ourselves in recognising that we can’t do it on our own and in our own strength but by the power that God gives us. Praise God he gave us the blood, the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ to help us and give us the grace and ability to walk free.
Them and us alike have to take the responsibility and crucify the flesh, taking up our cross and say “not my will but Your will be done.” This will come with kick back from the flesh and withdrawal but thank God His resurrection power has given us the victory over the old man and the new creation can dominate the flesh.
22 & 23 May 2023