God’s Favor

We have been so blessed to have been able to take a week away from our ministry to regroup and have some quiet time together. Mike had seen a place on the east coast called, hole in the wall, and we decided to take a week and drive 16 hours up the eastern coast of South Africa. What I would consider the eastern coast would have been equivalent to leaving Miami and going towards Hilton Head. Because Africa is so big we hardly made the turn north from Cape Town. We were hoping to go far enough that we would find some warmer weather, but we really didn’t get far enough. We only had a couple of days that we were able to wear shorts. We left out with the only agenda of staying at a friend’s house for 3 days. The rest of the time we trusted God for His leading. Our 1st day of driving we went to the very tip of Africa called Cape Agulhas. (This is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet) The first night we reached a place called Mossel Bay. We had no idea where to look for a place to stay, but we saw an information sign (i) and pulled in there. They gave us a couple of places and the 2nd place we looked at was great. The receptionist told us how much it was and Mike said the lady at the (i) told us it was a lot cheaper and she gave us the rate from (i). The next place we headed to was Plettenberg Bay where our friend has a house. On our way there we stopped by an Ostrich Farm where Mike and I sat on an ostrich, separately, of course! You could ride them if you wanted to but it looked very difficult so we passed. We stayed at Richard’s place for 3 days. It was nice, but cold, so we built a fire in the fireplace, read, hung out and played games. We left from there heading to Coffee Bay where hole in the wall was located. This was the longest part of our Journey it took about 10 ½ hours. We had a little car trouble, not mechanically, but finding a place on any of the roads for help was almost never, including gas stations. It just so happened where we had the trouble we were coming into Port Elizabeth, where all the car makers were. We got off at the first exit and found a repair shop right away. Unfortunately, the part that flew off our car was not in stock, but they assured us that we would be ok. We continued on our journey and arrived just before dusk. Again we didn’t have a reservation but figured we could find a place. There wasn’t a lot of choices and the first place was nice, but I thought we should go out and check the other hotel to have a comparison. When we walked back out to the car we had a flat tire. Two things here; first we decided this was where God wanted us to be and 2nd we were so taken care of because we drove about 61 kilometers off the main road and there was no place for us to have had it fixed. The hotel arranged the next morning for one of the workers to take the tire to his village and have it plugged. It was all fixed in no time! We did go over to hole in the wall, but after seeing it, Mike wasn’t sure that this was the place he was thinking of. It was still beautiful and worth seeing. It was a large rock formation with a big archway through the middle of it where the water gushed through.
On our 3rd day there we had not booked the room for that evening and we found out our room wasn’t available about 12:00. We had the option of another room but we decided that we would start back and drive about 4 hours to the next city. We asked for ideas about where to stay and one of the guys at the hotel made a suggestion, called ahead for us, and gave us a map. We packed up quickly and headed south. We arrived in a town called, East London, and the place that he suggested was a little pricey for our budget. The girl at reception told us she would give it to us for less than ½ price and we told her we would take it. We have just been so amazed at how God’s favor has been over us and as I write this we are on our last nights stay at a place called Knysna. We again didn’t have a reservation but planned on visiting the (i) for information and suggestions. The (i) was already closed and so we began driving around the area. We found a beautiful place but again it was too much so we asked the reception if she knew of another place. She told us but we weren’t sure we could find it. We headed towards the direction she told us and we got out and started walking. There just happened to be an (i) internet information and I said lets go see what this (i) is all about. Turns out the (i) came through for us again. God has a new sign (i)! We have truly been blessed and are rested and ready to get back to work. This time away has given us the opportunity to go through a Spiritual Guidance book together and allowed us to see where we need to set boundaries and focus on more specific ministries. Thanks for following us through this journey. We appreciate your prayers and support.

Days, Weeks, Months

I am so amazed at how quickly the time goes by. 2 weeks ago the Brentwood Music Team was getting ready to catch a flight to Cape Town and as I reflect on this past week they have been gone 5 days and already back at BBC on Sunday. We had a great visit with the 5 guys and had them over to our place one night for internet/phone connections. They worked very hard while they were here and did some incredible work in Belhar and Muizenburg. They, along with Avril, put together a South African Idol (almost like American Idol) in just 5 days. It was awesome. WE are truly blessed with the talent in America, Nashville and specifically in our church. Until we don’t have something, we can’t appreciate what we’ve got. We miss this soooooooo much!!!!!

We have another team that arrived on Saturday from Seattle Washington, for a week and a half, and this is their first time here. The team leader came in May 2008 to see where they would best fit at Living Hope. We have adopted a new township in the last 6 mths, in Overcome Heights, and this is where he felt God calling them to be. Mike and Avril lined up the itinerary for the team over the last couple of weeks and their first day today was incredible. They went door to door knocking inviting people to a free AIDS testing with our support group facilitators and lay counselors from Living Hope. Along with the invitation to come to the Aids testing they prayed with people and asked them if they wanted to have a relationship with Jesus and led 5 people to the Lord. They also had some crafts available for the adults and then for the afternoon they had kids club with puppets, crafts, a bible story and a snack. Mike and I joined them at the beginning of kids club and they had about 85 but by the end there were at least 135. The team brought 150 t-shirts to give away but they weren’t sure they had enough so they are going to reward those who come on time tomorrow and pass them out at the beginning!!!!

Mike and I have now been here for over 6mths. We can’t believe it! We have things we are still trying to put together for our team that should have been done months ago but things just take more time here. Like our phone and internet connection. Ha! Another thing that takes so much time is relationships. Every Monday morning we meet for devotions at the main office. We have a rotation among the employees each week and Mike and I finally got asked to participate in the rotation after 6mths. Mike spoke about two weeks ago and today was my day for devotions. God used me to talk about healing a wounded spirit. There are so many folks dealing with so much pain and unforgiveness here, and the issues here are much greater than we could ever imagine. We continue to thank God for allowing us the opportunity to share some of the things we learned in Fiji and ask Him to continue to use us as his vessels to share of God’s healing and His love and to continue to build our relationships. Thanks for sharing in our partnership here and we continue to ask that you pray for us as we seek to do God’s will for our lives.

Pastor John Thomas and President Bush

On July 15th 2008 John Thomas, founder of Living Hope, got to spend 25 minutes with President Bush in the Oval Office. The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funds about half the running costs of Living Hope and President Bush was keen to meet John when he visited America. No matter what people think about the way the country has been run, we have a moral President in office right now that truly cares for the poor.
Living Hope is the only church-based charity which is funded by Pepfar: Pastor John thanked President Bush for his vision in creating Pepfar and told him he believed it would be his legacy. Pastor John encouraged him to consider setting up a foundation which would continue the work of faith-based organizations, particularly Christian organizations, which would empower the church to reach out further; with less political influence. “He responded very warmly to that.”
President Bush spoke of his former alcoholism and how “he never went through a 12 step program, but a radical 1 step program where God changed his life. John said, “The words he used to describe his conversion were real and significant. John told him about Living Hope’s strategy of reaching one child at time, and about the enormous problem of vulnerable children-from aged three upwards-being sexually active. He also spoke about how “Aids is rooted in poverty and that we had to deal effectively with poverty and morality.” When John got ready to leave President Bush said, “It was his desire to come to Fish Hoek Baptist Church and Living Hope, after his Presidency.”
John also told President Bush about the strong connections Living Hope has with churches in America, especially Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

The other picture is Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee, who visited Living Hope March 2008, Easter Weekend.