Memorial Service, Dry Needle Therapy, Fusion Festival, and finally USA-World Cup

Ok, so the beginning of the week didn’t start out on a high note, but we made up for it by the end of the week. Monday we had a funeral service for, Kuki, one of our carers at the healthcare center. She was HIV positive and doing very well for awhile but then took a turn for the worse. Most of the people who live in this area come from other areas in South Africa to find work and Kuki was one of those ladies. However, when they know there health is failing they will leave and go back home to be with family until they pass away. Kuki died about 2 weeks ago and we had a funeral service in our chapel to give her a proper goodbye. Wednesday was a holiday and Mike and I just enjoyed getting up later, having our quiet time in the daylight, walking a little farther, and enjoying the day off together. Thursday I decided to be a bit more aggressive with my chronic planter fasciitis in my foot and see a physiotherapist for it. I had heard about dry needle therapy and realized that I couldn’t have this done in Tennessee so I wanted to see if it would help. “Stay tuned.” We had a big “Fusion” festival at Red Hill with a group from Australia. They go around holding festivals for communities in great need. We came along side them and did face painting, balloon sculpting, coloring, sack races, and lots of other games. Fun was had by all! Then on Friday some of us American volunteers were invited to the U.S. Consulate Marine House to watch the World Cup game USA vs Slovenia. All I have to say is the USA was “robbed” of a goal! We have enjoyed following the games but are only watching the ones that count for South Africa and the US. Saturday we walked 8 miles with a friend of ours in the morning, and then went to a great little place for lunch. They serve the best chocolate cake ever!! After the 8 mile walk we figured we could indulge a little!!

Fifa World Cup 2010 Is Here!

Ok, so the hype up to the Fifa World Cup has finally gotten here. The roads are completed, the people have arrived, and the vuvuzela’s are being blown loudly. I have watched 3 games of soccer in two days and that is the most soccer I have watched in my life. I will have to admit that it stands right up there with…….. Well it doesn’t stand up there with any sport I have watched. This is a game where it is ok to “draw” or tie, or to not score at all. It really makes no sense to us here. Perhaps it is my Americanism of competition coming out in me but someone needs to “WIN.” We had a get together with the volunteers at our flat last night and only because it was USA vs. England did we have a little enthusiasm in the place. We did however, stand up and sing the National Anthem. I think this was the highlight next to us scoring! We don’t intend to go to any games or watch a lot of them on tv, but we are supporting the South African team, Bafana Bafana and the USA. We have read in the papers that they hope the USA team doesn’t make it to the semi-finals or finals because Obama has said he will come to a game. They are afraid they won’t be able to handle the security. They went as far to say they are “praying he doesn’t get here.” I pray they do! It would be good for them to have to learn how to step up to the plate. The police/security is such a joke!!

Entrepreneurs and Baptism

Entrepreneurs and Baptism have absolutely nothing in common except both of them happened this week. We started another class at Living Way and as always we start out with some eager folks wanting to start their own businesses, but as the week goes on they realize they would rather work for someone else and have the security of earning a paycheck rather than taking the risk of running a business. Most of the reason for people wanting to run their own business is so they don’t have someone telling them what to do. I would presume this stands true for most of the entrepreneurs of the world. I believe they soon find out that they have to work a lot harder and have a lot more pressure put on them. It makes them realize how much their “boss” actually has to work. It is good that they find out now before they go out and put some money into a business that fails because of lack of ability to do it. We have always had Biblical Christian Principles but we have added Biblical Christian Principles and the alpha course to it. Most are surprised that God wants to be involved in their businesses too.
Mike had the privilege of baptizing 2 more of our Zimbabwean friends this morning at church, Blessing and Priscilla. They were going to get baptized when the guys were baptized at Easter in the ocean but the water was too cold for them. They asked Mike if he would do this for them at church. It was and always is a beautiful thing. We know that they are not saved by water baptism but understand it is a public profession of their faith and it really touched our hearts today to see them make this decision in their lives. We are really going to miss this group of people when we leave!

Pancakes on Sunday

We wanted to do something special for the group that got tested on Wednesday, so we decided to make them pancakes, bacon, pork sausages and eggs after church on Sunday. For Mike and I the pancakes were a treat because we hadn’t had any in so long. For our friends I am not sure. We know they enjoyed everything else, but they had never used syrup on pancakes. First of all let me say they don’t have “Log Cabin” here so they didn’t get the full treatment of great syrup. Truthfully, I just don’t think they could really grasp the idea of putting something sweet over their pancakes. We swayed some of them but not all. They have had pancakes before but they don’t know how to make them fluffy. We had a great time and the girls were so nice to help us clean up the church kitchen when we were all finished.

Testing Day for Our Bible Study Group and their friends

We have been meeting every Wednesday night with our Bible study group and last week was our last evening because of winter time and darkness. It is the rainy season here and our Zimbabwean friends have to walk and they don’t have ways of getting dried off or warm if they get wet. It is also dark and they are afraid to walk after dark because of all the robberies and the xenophobia scare. We asked them about 4 weeks before the cutoff date if they would like to have a testing evening at Living Hope and they all thought that would be a good idea. LH offered everyone who attended free HIV testing and counseling. The team at Living Hope together with the Desmund Tutu foundation, gave a great explanation of how HIV is spread and lots of information about ARV’s, anti-retroviral drugs, and told them if anyone was positive they would be able to get free ARV’s from the hospital because they had been tested at our facility. 21 people attended but only 13 were from our group the rest were friends or family members of the group. 4 people decided not to be tested, and 5 tested positive for HIV. This makes the percentage of people with HIV close to 30%. We found out later in the week that 2 people knew they were positive but wanted to be tested again, but 3 people got told they were HIV positive for the first time. When Mike and I really think about this we realize that these folks, without help, may not be alive in 5 years. This is the reality here in Africa. All of these people are from Zimbabwe and with the xenophobia getting ready to break out again after the World Cup they may have to flee for their lives and not be able to continue on the drugs. All we can do is to be obedient to what God has asked us to do, to teach them Godly principles and eternal life. We don’t know who the 5 people are that are positive and perhaps that is best but I ask that you would join in prayer with us that our friends would reject the cultural norm of having more than one wife. This culture runs deep in telling men it is ok to have more than one partner and it results in what we had happen on Wednesday evening.

Voice of Truth

As we look back over our last few years, or even over our lifetime, it is so easy to see God working in our lives and through our lives to accomplish his purposes and his ways. Mike and I have been going through a Bible study called experiencing God, my first time his second, and I so want to know Him on such a greater level every day of my life because of it. There is a song called Voice of Truth, by Casting Crowns, that came out about 6 years ago and it really made an impact on my life. It speaks of faith and what happens when you “step out into the water” to trust God and listen to His voice. Through this song and the real Voice of Truth I knew God was going to do great things. He has done more than can ever be imagined and I want to share the 7 segments to Experiencing God that have made such an impact in our lives. You must recognize:

1. God is always at work around you
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God Speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.

When you believe and have faith and are obedient to what God is asking you to do, you can do all things through His strength. It is a privilege to take up the cross daily to follow Him.