IZAPHA!!!!!

"ashley!!!!! izapha!!!!!! izapha!!!!!!" ("come here" in xhosa)
i'm walking today through longbeach mall with my african parents and suddenly i hear this familiar voice claiming my attention. I turned to see someone my eyes have not seen in a long time, someone who i've missed for 5 months. some people told me she had moved to the eastern cape. others told me she was no longer alive. still others said she was just not interested in our friendship anymore.
noluvo was one of my first actual "friends" here in cape town. when i first met her, i was spending all my time either with melissa or with a group of teenage boys. noluvo was this shining light in my life for so many reasons. she lived in sight 5, also known as masiphumelele. she attended a support group i facilitated. i will never forget the first time i met noluvo.

she walked into the room with this anger dripping off of her. it was contagious and therefore a hazard to the rest of the group. she sat stiffly with her baby boy running around with the other xhosa kids. she didn't look at anyone. she definately didn't smile. she was cold and closed.
but she kept coming back and one day, amidst a bunch of clicks and sounds i didn't understand, i look up to see noluvo crying. apparently she was really hurting inside and unable to keep it in anymore. my mentor, nobuntu, spoke with her and answered question after question. by the end of the group, noluvo had repented of her sins and entered into an eternal relationship with jesus! it was the most beautiful thing i had ever seen, mostly because i couldn't understand a word that was spoken, but i understand every tear that fell from noluvo's eyes.

afterwards, i gave her a huge hug and welcomed her to the family. she smiled for the first time! the next week she returned and after the group she asked me to start meeting with her on a weekly basis. this turned into two meetings a week. i taught her about the history and origin of HIV and she taught me basic xhosa.

she was the most encouraging teacher, and really convinced me i could learn her language. i was determined and a beautiful friendship was forming.
then the winter rains started falling and noluvo didn't come out as much. before i knew it, i saw her no more. i asked everyone i knew in masi. i even drove to her street thinking i might find her. i sent letters, messages, etc. but no one knew where she was.

that was april. it's october. i've missed her so much. my heart really loved her very much.

so today, when i saw her at the mall i about squeezed the breath out of her. i couldn't let her go. i kept kissing her head and her baby's head, holding one on each side. she cried. i cried. we laughed and cried.
i'm so excited to reunite with her. we are going to start our meetings again! i cannot wait to be with her again!!! i really expected never to see her again.

i couldn't stop thanking God for this moment. afterwards i went to the grocery store and it literally took me 10 minutes to find trash bags because i was just kinda wandering around pick n' pay with this goofy smile on my face and tears filling my eyes. i thought of all my kids in moldova who christ reached in much the same way, and whose entire personality changed when christ entered their heart. i am completely convinced that there are entire parts of who we are made to be that cannot come to life with out jesus in us, bringing them out. an entirely new person emerged from noluvo's body when jesus was in her heart. how amazing is that! how alive and real is that!!! i am so honored to know this man jesus.

this morning i was reading out of the amplified bible, something my dad taught me the value in. he loves being verbose, so this bible was made for him :) anyways, i was reading colossians and this verse caught my attention and now reminds me of myself, of noluvo, and maybe you'll feel a connection to this in your own life:

"The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love..." (col 1.13)

this verse was swimming around in my head when i spontaneously saw noluvo at the mall. and what hits me like a slap to the face as i type this is that IF god were not real, alive, moving through the world "delivering" and "drawing us to Himself" OUT OF DARKNESS and putting us into christ's kingdom...if that wasn't a real thing that happens to people in this world, in this day and age, regardless of race, age, size, economic background, marital status, career, or whatever....if that wasn't a living, breathing experience being had by people all over the world, then noluvo would have just been another face in the crowd at the mall. maybe i would have been annoyed that her pants were filthy. maybe i would have thought i was better than her. maybe i would have bumped into her in order to get my trash bags faster.
but because jesus is real and redeeming, my need for trash bags turn into an eternally significant event. i cannot really explain the fullness of this whole thing, but i know some of you get it.

that's all i'm going to say! go buy yourself some trash bags. you never know what might happen!!!!