Beat the Drum

A small town, nestled at the bottom of a mountain, divided by race and economy was the location chosen by God for Beat the Drum. A three hour drive inland, placed us in a significantly warmer climate on Friday morning. Right away we met up with the various teams and locals that we would be working with. All teams were integrated to create one large, united, Beat the Drum team.

Training began upon arrival and our time was consumed with activities and sessions. Saturday we were in sessions all day. The sessions helped to further explain the program, while preparing us for the coming week. To give you an idea of what the program actually is, I’ll explain. Beat the Drum is more than an HIV/AIDS  initiative. Beat the Drum does more than simply promote abstinence. The program is centered on the movie, Beat the Drum. The movie was filmed in South Africa, cast with South Africans, and does an amazing job of appealing culturally to its audience. The myths, lies, and ignorance surrounding HIV/AIDS and sex are addressed while also showing God’s truth.

Each Beat the Drum week starts out with a showing of the movie. Depending on the town, it is shown to anyone and everyone including farmers, children, teens, mothers, teachers, and inmates. If it is being shown in a “community” setting, the movie is followed by preaching and calls for commitments. In the schools, the movie is followed by daily curriculum that further explains abstinence, digs into personal issues and traumas, and presents God’s views on sex and love.

So, that’s what the structure of the program looks like. The week, in and of itself, contained much more than that. For me personally, the week was extra exhausting. On Saturday, all throughout our sessions, I had a fever and was feeling pretty nauseous. Determined not to be brought down by sickness again, and especially throughout the program, I pushed on through our training and sessions. By Saturday night, I felt awful and was awakened in the middle of the night, feeling much worse. Sunday I stayed home from church to rest and try to get better. At this point I was convinced I just had some sort of stomach virus. I found out later on Sunday that two other girls were sick with apparently the same thing. We all lived in different locations and were informed that Monday we were going to the doctor. Monday morning arrived with all three of us at the doctor’s office. After being examined individually we were informed that we had some kind of lovely little bacteria. We were all contagious, dehydrated, and close to needing to go to the hospital. The doctor informed me that I was worse of than my two teammates and was just at the edge of the need for hospitalization. All three of us were given meds and a number to call if we weren’t beginning to improve by the morning. Thanks be to God that none of us ended up having to go to the hospital the next morning! After a few days of rest, we were able to join the program and head to our areas of assignment. That, my dear supporters, is the very un-detailed, “PG” version of my lovely South African sickness. Believe me, you don’t want all the details.

The weekend, the following week, and the days and weeks prior to the program were filled with stories like this. Satan definitely did NOT want us in Somerset East, and for good reason! God shook Somerset and the other two small towns that some of the team was working in. I cannot even begin to tell you how many amazing stories there are from the week. In some classrooms, nearly all students not only made a commitment to abstinence, but also gave their lives to Christ. Many students gave up addictions to drinking and cellphone pornography. So many young teens were blown away by the truths about sex, AIDS, love, life, and God. Many of us were blown away to find out the lies they had been believing. There were a large portion of students that remained silent and made no commitments. At first, that was discouraging. But then, we were reminded that we don’t always get to see the fruit and that God’s truth was still communicated.

By Friday, the last day of Beat the Drum, numerous commitments to self and God had been made throughout Somerset and the surrounding areas. Friday afternoon, the youth center was opened up for area-wide HIV testing. Men, women, and children packed the building, standing in line for hours. Though the numbers were low, some tests were positive and counseling was provided.These towns were truly changed by God, and in big ways. People were changed. Minds and hearts were changed.

I feel so blessed to have been able to see God work so greatly. I also feel extremely blessed to have been able to be part of what took place this past week. So many townspeople thanked us for what we were doing there. The truth was though, that it was what God was doing there. We were merely able to be vessels for that work.

I feel like there’s so much more I could share. For the sake of time and stress your eyes may be feeling :-), I’ll sum the rest of it up. There is a saying we have around AIM and South Africa. Some one says “God is good” and then the crowd resounds with “All the time!” That person follows with “All the time..” and the crowd finishes with “God is good!” Just stop and think about that for a second. Think about how GOOD God REALLY is.

Satan didn’t want us in Somerset East or the other small towns. Satan didn’t want God to move. God blew Satan’s attempts out of the water! God changed hundreds of lives! God changed the lives of many of my teammates! God moved mountains!

So just continue to let that settle in….God is good! .. All the time! All the time…God is Good!