What’s going on in our World?

Last week after we finished with our entrepreneur class on Wednesday, we spent 3 days in the classroom. We thought we would be learning how to help change the mindsets of the underprivileged and poverty stricken people, but what we found out was like being in Fiji all over again. It was about first changing ourselves and the way we think. Fiji was considered heart surgery where we had to forgive anyone that had done us wrong or caused us to have bitterness or anger in our hearts. As we were able to break down all those walls around our heart, we were able to mend those relationships and then able to have the relationship with Jesus that He truly desires for us to have. This last teaching is mind surgery and helps us to change the way we think so we can then help others. It is 3 mths of training, both classroom and at home, and it so amazing how much negative influence we have all around us. We first have to see the negative self talk in order to appreciate the positive that will come out of it. It is part of a course called Pacific Institute out of Seattle Washington and this particular course is called Grassroots. I would highly recommend it if you want to see the glass half full instead of half empty!
Now this past week we have had a team here from South Carolina and spent time with them. Thursday we spent the day checking out a small bakery that is being set up for an entrepreneur program. They invited us, Living Way, to become part of their program. We would first be trained on how to make the bread etc. and then we would train others to run their own bakery. This organization called Siyabonga Africa (www.cpcsa.co.za)
actually donates all of the equipment. It is an absolute gift from God but we are waiting on His timing for an answer for the property, so we can get projects like this started. I will keep you posted!! Starting this past Friday we have begun different work projects in the community to help fix peoples shacks that have started falling in. Some of us worked on a single woman’s bungalow where the ceiling was falling in, and some of us put in a small garden for her so she would have some vegetables to eat during the summer. The garden got finished but the ceiling did not. It turned out to be a lot more than we expected so we are going to go back tomorrow and try to complete it.
As I write this Ephesians 2: 8-10 comes to mind. We are God’s masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works, but thank goodness we are saved by grace through faith and this is not from what we do, but is a gift from God. When we are in God’s will we want to serve Him, and all these things we get to do are privileges to further the Kingdom.

The Entrepreneur class this week

We began our week with 5 of the 9 entrepreneurs from our last class. Mike and Richard met with each person over the last couple of weeks to help them strategize how to run their businesses. Doing it this way helped us weed out the other people who realized they didn’t want to be entrepreneurs. Every time we teach the class we improve on our skills as facilitators. We have had a great week and today is the last day of Phase II. In the class each day we opened with prayer and shared a devotion. Throughout the class we used Biblical Christian Principles to back up our teaching. The first Phase (one month ago) we found that our Christian brothers and sisters in the class, including a Pastor, were not fair in negotiating amongst each other during the game. Two of the groups bankrupted and the third one won out of greed, but would have eventually bankrupted had we continued playing. Our last game we played yesterday, everyone worked together and came out as winners. As leaders, we are very excited to see they had learned how to negotiate and rely on God’s ways to run a business. I believe that Living Way has truly made an impact on the lives of these 5 people and they will in turn share these teachings with others in their communities. Join us in praying for this class to succeed and that they will impact their communities and change behaviors.

USS Teddy Roosevelt visits Cape Town

The aircraft carrier, USS Teddy Roosevelt, was docked in Table Bay last week and the first of this week. Mike and I drove downtown Sunday to see the carrier only to find it was anchored about 5 nautical miles off shore. The photos don’t do much for it but it was great to see it sitting out in the bay. The helicopters were transporting supplies from the shore to the ship and I took a few photos! Ok, a lot of photos. They are on there way to Iraq on active duty for 7mths, but stopped over here to do some PR. One of the things the Navy planned to do while they were here was to allow a group of guys to come and serve at Living Hope for a couple of days. However, due to windy conditions they couldn’t get off the ship so they only got to come for a couple of hours on Tuesday. Some of them helped out on the grounds moving heavy bricks and concrete blocks and some of them toured the healthcare facility and Masiphumelele. (One of the townships we work in) While the guys were here the Consulate General, Alberta Mayberry, showed up to say hello and thanks for all they were doing. She is the new appointee for Cape Town and is from Texas. It has been great to see lots and lots of Americans this week and we felt really safe having them all around us!!!!!!

It was great to have the Brentwood Team here

The last of the Brentwood Group leaves on the 15th of Oct, which is Walt and Marsha Miller, but the majority of the team is back home and back into the normal routine. We enjoyed being with them and watched each one work in their designated ministry assignments. It was great to have the returning construction/destruction team. As always, when Bill Bedi comes he comes to destruct and construct. They were supposed to put on new cabinet doors at Living Grace but instead they tore out the old kitchen and put in a whole new one. It was great to see the faces of the people that worked there they were so excited. Also, the landscaping team finished the patio out back in the garden. They put in new pavers so the homeless people will have a place to call their own. They are still waiting on some tables to be placed, but these will come in God’s time. The VBS (vacation bible school) team did something new for the first time; they trained all of our Life Skill Educators in 3 days how to have the same kids club for the week. They did a great job!
We took the team leader, Steve Galloway, around one day to all of the locations and it was great to see all of the kids and teachers having a wonderful time. On our Journey we stopped at the bank so Steve could get some cash (Rand) and the machine gave him R400 more than he asked for. The receipt and the amount were correct but Steve said I didn’t need that extra 400. I said to him obviously God thinks you need it for something so let’s wait and see what He is going to do with it. Steve asked if we could buy some Bibles for the homeless guys that helped work on the patio at Living Grace, so we stopped at the Christian book store on our way back to Living Grace. The original price for the Bibles was R129 each but the lady knew me and knew we were missionaries and told us she would give them to us at cost. Ok here’s the fun part of watching God work in our lives. She sold us the Bibles for R80 each and we needed 5 when you calculate 80 x 5 you get R400. Anyone have an extra R400? I think Steve does!!!!!! The other amazing part was he didn’t want to spend more than $10.00 and the going rate for US dollar to Rand was 8.1 that means each Bible cost him $10 bucks. Our God is an awesome God. It made for a great testimony for Steve and me. Many people would call that a coincidence but that is the work of the Mighty God we serve. It was sad to see them go but we know we will be in Brentwood in 8 weeks for the holidays and we will be able to see everyone then. We are excited.