LEAP OF FAITH

Live By Faith Not By Sight in 2012

2012-01-02T14:49:00.001+13:00

Wow what a year this has been for us! As we look to 2012 with hope of new opportunities, we are excited to see how God will show His Glory once again in our lives. We have been through peaks and valleys and God has been so faithful. We began our year in Atlanta with Extreme Response and really believed this was where God planned for us to be for the next 5 to 10 years. We bought a house and saw God at work and expected to build relationships and find an awesome church to attend. It was shortly after we got settled that we realized that the financial support it was going to take to live in the states was not going to be easy to attain, but we did receive what was needed. We lost two big supporters but believed that it was not about them, that God could use anyone to fill that gap, and that He did. This process started in March when a friend from Iowa sent just what we needed for the month of April. From then on, until the end of December we received notes that individuals had sent us just the amount that was needed for the month… never the same person never the same amount but always just what we needed! We are so grateful to each one of you who listened to the Lord and followed His lead. We were reminded through the circumstances with our car that He will remain faithful! That was a miracle in itself. He sold our house in September within 48hrs. of putting it on the market, even in a down market, without losing any money and provided us a place to live in the Chattanooga area. We have been blessed to be close to Mike’s children and grandchildren and able to spend time really getting to know them as adults. This has been a wonderful Christmas season with our families and we are looking forward to a joyful New Year. We are still looking for a church where we can get connected and serve. We are also excited to see how the Lord provides on the career front. Mike starts a new sales job next week, working mostly in North Alabama, so he will be away several nights each week. This will be a big adjustment for us. Pam is still waiting for her opportunity!! Please continue to pray for us to seek and follow the Lord’s perfect will for our lives.
We want to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year! May God bless you use you in 2012.

Fountain of Life Team 2nd Week

2011-08-10T04:06:00.001+12:00

We have just finished working with the Fountain of Life Team from Kernersville NC. Their ministry time here serving at Pan De Vida, meaning Bread of Life, was amazing. We worked alongside serving over 400 meals to the poorest of the poor, took the children to the amusement park and zoo, and started a bathroom to help accommodate all the people who come each week to hear the Word of God. We weren’t able to finish the bathroom project but the maestro and his team will finish it in a few weeks after the concrete has cured. This was a disappointment to the team because the normal for us Americans is if we start something we want to finish it. God has a plan and it is in His timing. As we ended our second week with this team, there were many whose lives have been changed forever. Again, ER is about changing lives for both the people we partner with all over the world and the people who come on a short term team. It is a step of faith for those who come on a mission trip and we want to encourage all of you who read this to have this experience of a lifetime. It might not be Ecuador but it could be with any of our other places we serve around the world. Many times you may ask God why am I here and not get an answer, other times He may answer with a clear understanding. Mike and I are so blessed to be a part of this ministry and pray we can continue to see lives changed in the future.

Macas, Shell and Banos

2011-08-10T03:47:00.001+12:00

Between our two teams we had some time set aside to visit a partner of ER’s in Macas, near the Amazon jungle. Part of the staff drove down on Monday and the rest of us flew down Tuesday afternoon. There were 8 of us all together. We visited Emmanuel Christian School where Robin and Wendy, local missionaries, are teaching over380 students to learn English, computer skills, basic courses and most of all learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Most of these students come from Catholic backgrounds so the opportunity is abundant to reach out to them. Only 20% of the students are Christians. ER has a wonderful partnership with them and we are excited to see what God does through them in the future. We stopped over in Puyo for lunch at this quaint little restaurant called El Jardin, which means the Garden, where the scenery was magnificent, including the parrot in the photo. We then continued on our way to Shell where Nate Saint and four other guys flew into the jungle to try and evangelize a particular tribe of Indians. There was a movie titled End of the Spear made about them. The end result turned into them being martyred. Fortunately this tribe has turned to Christianity, because after many years one of the sons returned to the village and lived among the tribe and forgave and discipled the man that killed his father. We visited an orphanage/foster home, Casa De FE, where a lady felt called to help the children of this area and since then they have had rapid growth in the need for volunteers to help serve with them. ER is looking into a possible partnership with them, so it was great to visit this ministry. After Shell we headed towards Banos. In Spanish, Banos means bathrooms but this little town was very tranquil and didn’t meet up to its name at all. Thank goodness!! We spent one night here and attempted to ride quad bikes the next morning up to one of the active Volcanoes. Unfortunately, we had bike trouble all the way and had to call the company to come and get the bikes. We decided to call it a morning and pack up and head back to Quito. One of the most incredible things about this trip was the gas/diesel prices. We paid $1.03 for a gallon of diesel fuel and regular gas costs $2.00 a gallon. There is something to be said for using your own resources! On our way back we stopped by one more partnership, For His Children, but didn’t go in. We will be going back with a team this week for a couple of days before we leave to go back to the states. This was a great opportunity to get to know the ER team in Quito better and to see Ecuador and the beautiful country side.

Kitchen Duty

2011-08-09T12:42:00.005+12:00

I have found myself on a number of different occasions serving in the kitchen on our short term mission trips, but a lot of you know this isn’t my favorite place to be. This time it has been in Quito with the Fountain of Life team at Pan De Vida. The team had planned for all of their members to be doing VBS, but didn’t realize they needed to have some people in the kitchen. Mike and I and a few other locals were in the kitchen for most of the time over the last two weeks. The team was able to help when they weren’t doing VBS. When Mike and I arrived in Fiji, we were all given assignments for 4 weeks at a time with different opportunities to serve. For whatever reason, this was the one place that I didn’t want to work, but it seems God really had a plan. I ended up having kitchen duty for the entire 3 months. I did my normal complaining behind closed doors of course, but God knew my heart. Four years later, my heart has been transformed for working in the kitchen and I am so thankful for it. We met a wonderful lady named Roceo (see picture above) and she taught us a few tricks in the kitchen. She was sad to see us go and told us we would be missed very much. I was reminded of my attitude again with a couple of people on this team where they felt the same way I did four years ago about their job and I shared my story about how God can use us even when we don’t like the work we have been assigned. It may not have made much sense to them now, but I know it will in the future. Jesus always has a reason for the discipline needed for the moment. (Hebrews 12:7-11)

Glory to God

2011-07-31T01:37:00.000+12:00

Every day we have seen the Lord at work and we just want to give him all the Glory!! On Wednesday for instance, our bus was running 45 minutes late and “we” thought we would not make it in time to get breakfast fixed and served to the children. However, with it out of our control we were able to get there and get breakfast prepared and serve the kids right on time. We also prepared lunch and dinner for that day and ended up having just enough food for the dinner feeding. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, Pan De Vida has a church service with praise and worship and a feeding program for the adults and children. Wednesday night we fed about 160 people and ended the last meal with the last person standing in line. I am so amazed at how many times this continues to happen to me and Mike on the mission field. This has been unique team in that only a few of them have ever been on a mission trip much less out of the country. We love to see God at work changing the lives of the people on the team in such a short period of time. We have had to pray on a number of occasions for the rain to go away, for the gatekeeper at the dump to let us come in and serve the night workers, and for someone living on the street to be available when we are driving home to give them the extra food we have had left over from our dinner. God has certainly shown up in so many ways and we still have another week to go.

Fountain of Life Team in Ecuador

2011-07-31T01:28:00.003+12:00

We have had our first week of VBS at Pan De Vida ministry and it has been a wonderful time with an average of 57 kids each day. Most of the children that come each week really get there stability from the Pan De Vida staff because they have so many issues at home. They see this place as a safe haven and get lots of TLC from them. The FOL team has brought a lot of love and support for the staff and kids for this 2 week period and Extreme Response is so grateful for this partnership between Fountain of Life and Pan De Vida and we are thankful to be a part of it.They have had a drama each day, played games outside, made crafts, and memorized Bible verses. They have also been fed breakfast, a snack, and lunch. For most of these kids if they get one meal a day they are very fortunate. There are 19 on the team and they have been a really big help in coming alongside the ministry to help further the Kingdom through VBS, and a construction team. The construction team is working alongsidethe maestro (foreman) and 3 co-workers to build a bathroom onto the side of the building. Fountain of Life has 3 guys that are helping with the project but it is sometimes difficult for a construction team from the states to come and work in a foreign country because so many techniques are done so differently. However, it almost always has its rewards even if you don’t see them right away. God always has a plan in place and the team usually ends up gaining more from the experience than the project itself.Thursday evening we fed the night workers at the dump and this was an opportunity for the team to meet some of the poorest of the poor in Quito. On Friday, we took the kids on a field trip to a small amusement park and had so much fun with them. For most of them it was their first time to go and it was great to see so many smiling faces when we know they have very challenging situations at home.I was lucky enough to have the oldest kids so they wanted to ride all the “big” rides and play some of the games. Two out of the 7 won stuffed animals and they were very happy to be taking a memory home with them. Through the Lord’s provision, the FOL team really blessed these kids and gave them a wonderful week.

USC nursing team at Zambiza Dump, Tosagua and Mindo

2011-07-25T07:07:00.001+12:00

On Wednesday last week, we took the team out to the Zambiza Dump where we did medical screenings for about 40 children in the morning, then fed them a meal. These children are cared for and go to school at the dump daycare while their parents are working sorting out the recyclable materials. In the afternoon, the children have a little play area built by another team and we entertained the kids with face painting and loving on them. We left for a while to go have dinner and then came back to the dump to do medical screenings for about 70 of the night workers. The USC team wanted to do something special for them so they bought two huge pots of Chinese food and we distributed that about 8:30 that evening. There were a few out of the box thinkers that wanted more, so they took 2 liter coke bottles and cut off the top and filled them up with left overs and took food back to their families that stayed back to continue to shuffle through the trash. Jose and Theresa, the Pastor and his wife, who have been working with the people at the dump for about 4 years, always use this opportunity to share the Gospel with the workers and to build relationships with them. Extreme Responses ultimate goal is supply the need and be able to come along side and support the local pastor and his ministry.
The next day we left early for a 9 hour journey to Tosagua with a short stopover in Santo Domingo to teach CPR to a local church group. Dr. Moss and a few other team members instructed them with a Red Cross video and mannequins. They were very eager to learn and were very appreciative. From there we drove through the rainforest to Tosagua. The first day we did medical screenings for about 92 people in the village where they didn’t have any electricity or running water. One lady accepted Christ and that was the biggest highlight of the day. We are always so amazed at how the local people bless us when we want to come to be a blessing to them. They managed to serve us a home cooked meal, Ecuadorian style of course, and provided all kinds of fruits throughout the day. They were very thankful for the team coming out and it was a great opportunity for the team to see how people live on very little means. The next morning we had a screening from 8:30 to 11:00 at the church and saw 80 people. We left for Manta, on the coast, and then caught a plane back to Quito. This was a wonderful experience for all of us and a wonderful opportunity to see more of Ecuador.
The last day we drove to Mindo where the team had a little R&R before flying back to the states. They got to go on 11 zip lines over another rainforest and then stop over for shopping at Mitad Del Mundo, middle of the world. The team came back to the team house for a wonderful dinner and debrief and then we took them to the airport for the red eye flight.

God is still in the Business of Doing Miracles

2011-05-13T04:51:00.000+12:00

Nissan came through for a transmission for the car! We have been persevering diligently with Nissan and trying every avenue we know to get Nissan to replace a faulty transmission in our "new to us" car. We received word from Nissan that they would be willing to grant our request for providing the parts for our car if we still agreed to pay the labor. We agreed and the car is in the shop today getting a new transmission. We still have to pay $1000.00 for the labor and we are trusting God for that too, but we are excited that we will be able to travel now with peace knowing we won't be broken down on the side of the road somewhere. We know this is a miracle from the Lord and there is no other way to say thanks to Him except to give Him all the glory. We have patiently waited for His timing and His orchestration and it has come to fruition. Don't ever give up on all that God can do when you think there is no hope because we are living proof that His promises are real. It just requires faith in believing He will do what He says He will do!!
James 1:2-4 NLT says, "Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested,your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.

Who would have thunk it!

2011-04-09T02:17:00.000+12:00

Trying to understand what the world is coming to is an unraveling nightmare. Glad I know there is an eternal life with Christ where we won’t have to deal with these issues. For those of you have health insurance with your company Thank God every day for it. I mean this literally. I never thought I would see the day when it would cost more for health insurance per month than it would to own a house. Not to mention you have to carry over a $5000.00 deductible before they will even pick up a claim. What would it cost if you were sick? Obama care has every health insurance company running with their tails between their legs instead of fighting for the people. Of course we all know they are getting kick backs as well from the administration!!! I don’t know how much longer America is going to be able to stand on the expectancy of the government for everything. It appears that it is crumbling before our very eyes. God is giving America every opportunity to look to Him and to trust Him but we, including myself right now because we have just been hit hard, aren’t getting it. They continue to raise rates for innocent people who are healthy and just go for an annual physical every year and charge a lot for the location in which you live. Yes I am upset right now and voicing my opinion. Oh how I would love to be one of those people who can just head up to Washington and start telling people what I think, however that isn’t me! I am the peacemaker Is it just me or is there anyone else fed up with higher health insurance premiums?

Jesus Calling

2011-04-05T05:02:00.000+12:00

Jesus calling is a devotional book that we received at Christmas this past year and has been such an amazing source of strength in some difficult times. This book by Sarah Young was written in the context as if Jesus is speaking to you, so I wanted to share a couple of days that really spoke to my heart and thought it might touch some of yours. Open up your mind and ears to hear and allow Jesus to speak to your heart!
March 1st
When something in your life or thoughts makes you anxious, come to Me and talk about it. Bring Me your prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, saying: “Thank You, Jesus, for this opportunity to trust you more.” Though the lessons of trust that I send to you come wrapped in difficulties, the benefits far outweigh the cost.
Well-developed trust will bring you many blessings, not the least of which is My Peace. I have promised to keep you in perfect Peace to the extent that you trust in me. The world has it backwards, teaching that peace is the result of having enough money, possessions, insurance, and security systems. My Peace, however, is such an all-encompassing gift that it is independent of all circumstances. Though you lose everything else, if you gain My Peace you are rich indeed.
Philippians 4:6; Isaiah 26:3.

April 2nd
I have promised to meet all your needs according to My glorious riches. Your deepest, most constant need is for my Peace. I have planted Peace in the garden of your heart, where I live; but there are weeds growing there too: pride, worry, selfishness, unbelief. I am the Gardener, and I am working to rid your hearts of those weeds. I do my work in various ways. When you sit quietly with Me, I shine the Light of My Presence directly into your heart. In this heavenly Light, Peace Grows abundantly and weeds shrivel up. I also send trials into your life. When you trust me in the midst of trouble, Peace flourishes and weeds die away. Thank Me for troublesome situations; the Peace they can produce far outweighs the trials you endure.
Philippians 4:19; 2 Corinthians 4:17.

Blessings

2011-03-15T04:43:00.001+12:00

God has been so gracious to us and has blessed us with so much. We have a wonderful home and all that goes with it. We had a lot of fun, just like we did in Cape Town, running around Atlanta purchasing all of our stuff through craigslist. Little by little we have been able to get things accomplished but not without some trials. As you know, if you have followed our steps along the way, we have had car issues since we went on the mission field. Probably better to have car issues than health issues!!! We waited patiently to purchase what we thought was the perfect car and still probably is, but there is a lesson and a blessing that we are still trusting God for. My parents have both been moved to an Alzheimer’s Care Facility and even though it has been hard for them it has been a blessing for my mom because she just wasn’t able to take care of my dad anymore. Mike and I have moved into our new positions at Extreme Response and are blessed to be a part of a great team. Mike is learning how to handle all the teams and I am learning how to handle all the administration, but this doesn’t come without some frustrations. We have visited a few churches but have not found a place we can call home. We continue to pray for the right one where we can begin to make friends and get involved locally. We are beginning to see signs of spring in Atlanta and from what I have heard they are incredible. Mike and I have been in winter for 9 months and I am ready for some heat!! Mike is getting his summer now as he leads a team to Manila. Pray for us to get our car sorted out as this is a very difficult decision for us. To fix the car right, it is $3600. We could try to sell it “as is” but would probably not get enough out of it. Jesus is calling on us to rest in His presence and to wait, trust, and hope in all He has for us. Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that I am God and that is where we are, resting in His Presence.

6 months of Chaos

2011-03-15T04:41:00.001+12:00

Well since we got back in September we have been moving, setting up house, starting a new job, taking care of elderly parents, buying used cars with problems, and trusting the Lord for our provision. It has been a tough 6 months but we are beginning to settle in. Today I am sitting in a hospital room waiting for my mom to be taken in to surgery and Mike and our boss, Jerry, arrived yesterday evening after a 24 hr flight to Manila Philippines. Mike is learning the ropes of how Extreme Response does teams so we will be able to continue the service they provide when teams go to serve with our partners. They have a team of 9 from Hawaii that arrived about 2hrs ago. Everyone is tired but looking forward to seeing the ministries they will be working with tomorrow. We ask that you would pray with us about continuing to get settled in.

Final 3 Days in Ecuador

2010-12-09T02:35:00.000+13:00

Our last Christmas Party was approximately 1500+ with another amazing partnership called Remanso De Amor (Haven of Love). They are truly doing Kingdom building in their community and it is wonderful to come along side them as an ER partner and help them in their ministry. Mike and I have been truly blessed to have been able to come on this journey and see what all ER does in person. Thank you to those who helped us to get here through your prayers and support. Last night the Church for Life group that was staying on our floor asked if they could pray for us and it was such a refreshing time. They lifted us up in all areas of our lives and we were extremely humbled. Chris, one of the pastors, had a vision while we were praying that he sees us as a bridge between the people who want to help and the people who need to help. This is right in line with the same vision John Thomas had when we left living hope that we would be a conduit or a channel for which thousands would serve others. We believe God is ever present in our lives and we give Him all the Glory. We are so blessed to be able to fulfill our calling and excited to get started serving Him in January with Extreme Response.
We had a little contest on Friday called the Great Cheese War between the men and the women. We set up an assembly line and had to make 3000 cheese sandwiches for the party on Saturday. Call it what you want but the women won. We made 1800 sandwiches in 1 hr 30 minutes. It was really a lot of fun as there was a lot of “jawing” going back and forth between the teams.
Our final day here in Quito was a day of rest and we got to go have a little fun. We went to a little tourist town outside of Quito, called Mindo. There we got to go on a canopy tour, better known as a zip line. This is 11 cable wires strung out through the trees in a rainforest and you are harnessed in and they attach you to the cable wire and send you flying across the rainforest above the trees. We had a lot of fun but were worn out from excitement. Mike and I both got to be strapped in on one of the zip lines so that you actually flew flat on your stomach and your arms out. They called it Superman style. From there they took us to this great little restaurant then loaded the bus and brought us back home.
We are waiting to board the plane in Quito which signals the end of this journey and our re-entry into life in the states.

Party, Party, Party, Party

2010-12-05T15:22:00.004+13:00

We have had 4 parties over the last four days and served lunch one day at the dump for the people who work there. We have reached almost 6000 people and have one more party to go. Tomorrow’s party should be 3000+/-. This has been an incredible week of ministry and we have been stretched as usual. The enemy is always at work when you go on a short term mission trip and this week has been no exception. Our Canadian team arrived in time for the second day and their luggage is still arriving but we have managed to have just what we needed for each day. God is so faithful in His provision.
We have been challenged this week about being a Good Samaritan and following Jesus’ parable to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind and love our neighbor as ourselves. (Luke10:25-37) Yesterday Russ Kline, part of the management team, gave us all a 50 cent coin and told us to find a way to utilize the coin as a reminder to pray for the people of Ecuador and to bless someone with it. It will be interesting to hear how the Holy Spirit led people to be a Good Samaritan on Monday.
Our second party at Carman Bajo Church, the pastor asked us all to get into the center of the church after clean-up and the people from the church that helped us clean up surrounded us in a circle and prayed for us it was such a humbling experience for us.
We have used our morning times to prepare the crafts and bags for the next day of parties and this has been an opportunistic time of getting to know so many new people. As I sat and threaded a lot of cross medallion necklaces to be painted at the party, I wondered if the kids would really appreciate the hard work that was put into the preparation when they sat and colored their medallion and strung their beads. The answer is yes! But not the way I thought. We were cleaning up at the end of a party and this man was helping me pick up trash, when all of a sudden he laid down his bag and picked up one of the necklaces on the ground. He was so excited and stopped what he was doing until he had succeeded at getting the necklace around his neck. God shows up and reminds us of His presence when we least expect it.
We have 2 more days before we head back to the states and I am excited to see what else God is going to do with our team. There have been so many great stories I wish I could write them all but you’ll just have to come on a trip with us next Christmas!!

Christmas in Quito Ecuador

2010-12-01T16:40:00.001+13:00

We arrived on Saturday evening and got to spend the day indoors on Sunday as the whole city of Quito was shut down for a census. It was a great time of fellowship with new friends and co-workers and some much needed rest from the week before. Monday we began preparing for the week and learning our new roles at Extreme Response. We will be “Shepherding” a team of 25 for the 10 days we are here and learning how they run their Team programs. Today we spent most of the day setting up one of the locations where we will be having one of the Christmas Parties and we have had our volunteers coming in from various places around the world to participate. Unfortunately, we have 15 Canadians stuck in Atlanta due to bad weather and they told them they couldn’t get them here until Friday. Please pray with us that they will find flights for them tomorrow as we have parties planned for over 3000 people/children before their new arrival date. They are not only coming to serve with the various parties but they are bringing a lot of the supplies that we need. We know that Satan doesn’t want us to deliver the message of Jesus to all these people, but we also know that Jesus has already conquered Satan and we must go on. We will be severely handicapped but will continue to persevere during our trials and sufferings. It is going to be an amazing week to see how the partnerships on the ground and ER work together to further the Kingdom. We are excited to be a part of this ministry. Please pray for safety and many people to accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour this week.

Tough Love

2010-12-01T16:12:00.000+13:00

I am sure everyone has gone through some sort of tough love in their lifetime. Whether you have been the recipient of it from your parents, or have had to be the one giving it. Either way, it is never easy. Mike and I have had to be on the tough love giving end and I think it has been tougher on us. My parents have had their living situation turned upside down. Mom fell and broke her hip on Sunday and had surgery to replace the ball of the hip on Wednesday. We had a mission trip booked for Quito Ecuador for 10 days leaving on that Saturday. We went down early to get their accommodations sorted and to pack clothes for them to go and my brother came in after the surgery to put my dad into an Alzheimer’s care facility and handle their finances. All over Thanksgiving holiday of course. We had to leave on Friday to drive back to Nashville but it didn’t come with a blessing. We knew God called us to serve in our new positions with Extreme Response and we had to go. It has been tough I know for my brother and nephew to have to handle the difficult circumstances but it also gave them an opportunity to see how tough it has been on my mother to take care of my dad for so long. A scripture that comes to mind is (Romans 8:28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. I believe prayers have been answered in a very difficult way but my parents can now have a much better quality of life. It certainly may not seem that way at first but God has a way of bringing about His perfect will for their lives. I was able to call the care facility where my dad is and they say he is doing well and fitting in with all the other folks there and my brother has some peace about all of it. Perhaps someday there will be forgiveness and understanding. Please pray for our family during this holiday season.

“Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some”

2010-11-19T12:35:00.000+13:00

As I was reading through John 21:1-14, I was reminded again of how Jesus’ words just make everything seem so easy. The disciples had been out fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything. Early in the morning Jesus was standing on the shore and he called out to them, “Friends haven’t you any fish?” No, they replied, He said, “then throw out your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul in the large number of fish. What a story about provision and how Jesus will supply our needs. This is certainly easier said than done. I was talking to Mike about this story and discussing our need for our support and I said I wonder if we are casting our nets on the right side of the boat. We are six weeks in to our 12 week journey of meeting with friends and family and sharing our story and raising the support that we need for 2011 at Extreme Response. Satan creeps in to those little spaces where we begin to second guess ourselves even though we know we are called. We are to trust Jesus and follow Him and it sometimes means we have to wait. We have total faith that God will supply all that we need but the provision is coming in slowly. We know His timing is perfect and He allows this so we will acknowledge it came from Him. The hardest part of waiting is we want things done quickly. For example (throw the net over the side of the boat and bring in the fish.) God has been so good to us and has proven Himself time and time again. Pray for us to continue to be a good steward of time and that we will continue to meet with as many people as we can while we are in Nashville. Pray that we listen to the still small voice about guidance and where to cast our nets!!

Home, Friends, Family and Technology!

2010-10-26T15:43:00.000+13:00

Wow it is hard to believe we have already been home 4 weeks. We can’t really call it home because we are in transition to move to Atlanta in January to work with a ministry called Extreme Response but it is home for now. We are so blessed for the time we are in Nashville because we are able to reconnect with so many friends that we haven’t been able to see over the last 3 years! God is just opening up the opportunities for us to catch up and tell of all the wonderful things He has done and is doing in our lives. We have also been blessed to visit our family there are some we have yet to see but are trying to make all the rounds. Big family!!
We are continuously amazed at the technology and the gadgets that are available. We feel like we have stepped into a time warp and we are totally uneducated about all this new stuff. However, we are catching up quickly!! We are excited about unlimited bandwidth in the USA we can upload and download all we want. What “free wi-fi?” not a chance in South Africa. We are a very blessed group of people. Freedom means so much more than most people really can comprehend. God truly has blessed America!

Our Final Words from South Africa

2010-09-21T18:23:00.002+12:00

These lasts few weeks have been a great time for reflection and preparation for our move back to the states. We have continued to knock out our bucket list and managed to do all we hoped to do. We have managed to get all but one suitcase back before us, but our home church comes on Thursday and they will bring it back with them. We have prepared our presentation when we get back to the states, and we are saying goodbye to all our friends that we are leaving behind. Words cannot describe the way we feel about leaving this place. We are leaving such wonderful people and a majestic country, but we know our time has come to an end here. God has blessed us beyond what we could ever have imagined and we give Him all the glory for the accomplishments we have made. Thank you for being a part of our Leap of Faith journey and for praying for us. We will be on furlough in Nashville for 3 months while we raise support for our move to Atlanta to work for Extreme Response International. We are again very excited for what the Lord has planned for us next but we are out there in that “deep water” where we are totally dependent on Him. Please pray with us as we prepare for the next phase of our journey. Some specific needs are a loaner car for the time we are in Nashville, to find the right house outside of Atlanta and to find the right cars once we have moved.

Our Farewell Covered in Prayer

2010-08-30T01:02:00.001+12:00

We finished off our time at Living Hope on Friday with an awesome farewell and a time of prayer. We have had incredible opportunities and been really stretched by God during our time here in South Africa. We have been blessed to work with such humble people and been able to share the Lord and all His goodness to so many people. The prayer time was such a special time as all the pastors prayed for us at the end. We know we have been covered in prayer for the next part of our journey. We will spend the next few weeks preparing for the 3 months furlough in Nashville before moving to Atlanta. I wish I could say this will be idle time, but it will be far from it. We will be doing lots of fundraising and getting together with people to share our story. If you are interested in us coming to share either individually or in a group please let us know so we can put it on the calendar. We would love to encourage others to step out in faith and see what God has in store!

The Final Countdown

2010-08-22T03:03:00.000+12:00

Our last 2 weeks have kept us on the run so we haven’t had much time for the reality to set in for the end of our time at Living Hope. Now I can’t say I haven’t thought about it, because we have been training our replacements. We had a team here this past week from Sparks Nevada, Summit Christian Church, and they worked in the community of Masiphumelele. The outreach on Thursday was our last outreach and it was great to see 10 people accepting Jesus into their lives. We also got to see a lot of people that we haven’t seen for awhile and to tell them we were moving back to the states. This was a sad day for both us and them. They were asking us if they could be stowed away in our suitcases and brought to America!! On Friday, we had a farewell with the Life Skill Educators and that was very special. We work with them the most because they work with the individual volunteers and the teams. We will surely miss them. OK, so perhaps reality is setting in. We have a friend here this week that will be moving here in October and we have been showing him around. Seems like it was just yesterday that we were the ones being shown around!! God has big plans for us and we are excited for the next chapter in our lives, however, South Africa and the people of South Africa won’t be forgotten quickly.

Teams and Outreaches

2010-08-09T02:25:00.002+12:00

August, for the last 3 years, has been the busiest times but the most rewarding times for us. We had a team here for the first time from Danville Arkansas working in Ocean View, and Overlake Christian Church (photo) from Seattle Washington returned working in Overcome Heights. Both of these churches were such a blessing to the people of these communities and to us at Living Hope. They came with people ready to be obedient to whatever God had for them and He really gave them more than they could ask or imagine. We had numerous people accept Christ over the last couple of weeks and thankful for these 2 churches because they are helping to build relationships between the local churches and Living Hope. When international churches come along side local churches it is a win, win for both. When someone says yes that they want to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior the local church then follows up with discipleship and encouragement. The international church connects with local people through door to door evangelism and invites them to the local church for the community celebration. On the day of the celebration, which is the last day the team has outreach, we have various testing’s including HIV, plus games and crafts. This past Thursday, we had over 150 tested for HIV. This is one of the many things we enjoy about our ministry, watching God at work through all the volunteers that come to Living Hope.

Volunteers, Volunteers, Everywhere

2010-07-30T07:44:00.000+12:00

We have had our normal winter in South Africa, summer in the USA, of volunteers and we are slowly but surely decreasing them each week. I made an interesting comment long ago about it being easier to raise an 18 year old than it would be to have a baby. Well, God loves to humor me and uses it quite often when I make silly statements like this. Having one 18 year old was all I was referring too, but as always I usually eat my words. Over the last couple of months we have had as many as 20 volunteers between the ages of 18 to 23 at the same time. We are very thankful that we are only given what we can handle! By the end of this month we are always ready to see what’s in store for August. This is our 3rd year for winter/summer break and I must be getting older because it is getting harder. This is always an opportunity for stretching and being able to give all the glory to God for seeing it through. Philippians 4:13 says it best, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

World Cup, Check! Holiday Clubs, Check! Huge Soccer Tournament, Check!

2010-07-17T01:23:00.000+12:00

The last 4 weeks have been exciting yet tiring for most of us at Living Hope. We had 4 straight weeks of Vacation Bible School along with soccer almost every night the first week and then tapering off as they got into the finals. We did get to have a little fun going to the U.S. Consulate to watch the USA games and it was such a blessing to be around a lot of Americans during this time. We had about 60 volunteers, both local and international, during this time and we also had 3 teams here helping with the clubs. We watched a lot of “football” (soccer), but nothing compares to American Football. Last Friday was the grand finale with about 750 kids playing matches for 3 hrs. We wrapped that up with the final game on Sunday. Mike was pulling for Spain, so he was happy with the finish of the World Cup. Most of the people in South Africa were for the Netherlands because of the Dutch background in this area. It is all quiet now and you can’t believe that all this took place over the last 4 weeks. We had covers for our side mirrors on our car and today we decided it was time to take them off. So everything is officially over!! Whew……..

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

2010-06-23T19:57:00.000+12:00

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!

2010-06-14T02:34:00.002+12:00

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

2010-06-14T01:57:00.004+12:00

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

2010-06-12T05:25:00.001+12:00

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

2010-06-12T05:10:00.001+12:00

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

2010-06-03T21:25:00.001+12:00

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.

Reunited with some friends from Fiji

2010-05-21T20:38:00.002+12:00

A few months ago we learned that a couple of the leaders from our YWAM Crossroads Discipleship Training School (CDTS) in Fiji, were leading a team here to South Africa. We don’t normally plan for YWAM teams because there are so many teams coming here and they have transportation issues to get to our locations. However, we chose to help Jeff and Ann with their ministry because we wanted them to have an awesome experience working with Living Hope. They came as a soccer ministry but ended up only getting to play a few times due to rain. They spent the mornings at our homeless ministry, Living Grace, and afternoons at the children’s clubs. They had an amazing time and didn’t want to leave as they were just beginning to build relationships. This is true of all teams that come for 8 to 10 days, but hopefully they made some impact for the Kingdom in the short time they were here. It was great to see them and we got together Sunday evening, before leaving on Monday, and reminisced about old times. This part of the journey is where I see God’s hand in so many things. He uses each of us to accomplish His will. Had it not been for us going to Fiji and meeting them 3 years ago, they would not have had the experience they had here in South Africa. God is good!!!

Disturbance in our Bible Study

2010-05-19T19:11:00.001+12:00

We knew the time would come when our cultures would collide and it happened last week. We started a new topic on marriage and Mike was talking about keeping the marriage bed pure (Hebrews 13:4) and this caused quite the stir. One guy in our Bible Study that says he is a Christian and believes it with all his heart, soul, and mind, began to argue this point. He has a belief that adultery is only considered in a marriage if there is an exchange for something (paying for the goods like prostitution) If no money is exchanged then it is not adultery. He has been taught this by a pastor or someone with some authority because he had so many “loaded guns” or verses in the Old Testament that he used on Wednesday night. It came up right at the end of our study, so Mike wasn’t going to get started in detail because of the amount of time needed to discuss it. We have since talked with all the other guys in the study and they all agree one woman, one man when you get married. I know it is not up to us to change the way he thinks, because that is the Holy Spirit’s job, but pray for us to be able to clearly deliver the message God intends for us to use this week. Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict him so that his family will be drawn closer to Jesus and he will see changes in his life from living this lie he has believed.

Worker Readiness class at Living Way / Handling Money God’s Way

2010-05-18T01:27:00.003+12:00

I finally got the privilege to put together a program for our worker readiness course at Living Way to help folks learn how to manage their finances from a biblical perspective. I really believe this was something God laid on my heart when we first started talking about coming to South Africa. But up until this year, it hadn’t come to fruition. Early March I felt like God was pushing me to do a 4 week Bible Study for our Zimbabwean group so I did and we finished that in mid April. Then Richard, the General Manager, at Living Way asked if I could facilitate about a 1 ½ hour presentation for the worker readiness which I completed on April 28. We have now decided to incorporate it into the Entrepreneur class that will be starting next week, and finally, one of our co-workers has invited us to come to their Bible Study in July and facilitate the same program with them. I am very excited that we are getting this opportunity to share God’s love through finances because I believe there is so much that people don’t understand about God and money. Please pray that the people who hear this will be eager to know Christ more and be a good steward of what has been allotted to them for this time.

An Unfortunate Accident

2010-05-14T21:17:00.002+12:00

Brighton, the young man in the middle that Mike baptized Easter weekend, had a very unfortunate accident just a few weeks ago. He was working in a plant using a table saw, when the blade slipped off and hit his left eye. He is from Zimbabwe so the healthcare for him was not going to be the best, but like any other place in the world they have to treat him. They did surgery on him to sew the cut over his eye lid, but a blood clot remained behind the eyeball causing him his loss of site. He went back for a check-up only to find out that they told him there wasn’t anything else they could do for him. He came to our Bible study with a patch on and we talked about his situation a little bit. We wanted to disciple him in the correct way and help him to understand when you accept Christ in your life and make the decision to follow him, everything isn’t going to be easy. He understood and said that some of friends had already been giving him a hard time and telling him he should have gone to visit a “Sangoma”, a local witch doctor. He recognized immediately that this was probably a test from God and told his friends that he was choosing to trust Jesus for his healing and health not the sangoma. We were so thankful that he understood this, but know that he still has a long road ahead of him of trials and tribulations. Please pray if it is God’s will that Brighton’s blood clot would dissolve and he would regain his eye sight. We believe this can only come from a miraculous healing that only Jesus Christ can do. This would give him such an awesome testimony. We also understand that this just may be God’s plan for his life but we would like to believe that he will be healed.

God’s Creation

2010-05-14T01:57:00.003+12:00

A few weeks ago Mike and I, and some of the volunteers, took a little road trip to Sutherland South Africa. This is supposed to be the coldest place in South Africa because of the altitude. This, however, was not the main reason for us going. We went so we could say we saw the 2nd largest telescope in the world. Unfortunately, we still can’t say we have seen it because they use it in the evening hours for research. We opted to view the stars through a couple of very high powered telescopes and one of our highlights was seeing Saturn, not the car To see the big telescope we had to wait until mid day the next day and we didn’t really have the time or finances to do both. We really enjoyed our time and had such an encounter with God. When we arrived to do the tour, we could see the clouds were rolling in and the tour guide told us that she wasn’t sure we would have time to see everything. It was so amazing it was if the sky stood still and the clouds stopped moving. We made it through the whole tour including taking the photo of Saturn through the telescope. We returned to our cars, drove down the hill and stopped for another look. Within 5 to 10 minutes the clouds rolled in and the sky was covered for the remainder of the evening. God really showed off for us big time!
The other photo is the sunrise looking out of our front window. It was so beautiful I just wanted to share it with you!

My Birthday Weekend

2010-04-12T04:32:00.002+12:00

My birthday weekend, also Easter weekend, was so much fun we decided to start working on our bucket list and do the touristy things around Cape Town. On Friday, 6 of us hiked up Table Mountain again, but this time from a different starting point. The day before Mike and I were exercising and I thought to myself “well I probably won’t be hiking Table Mountain again” and then later that day one of our friends invited us to go and we didn’t want to say no. This route took us about 3 ½ hours including a wrong turn going back down the mountain, but it was a great challenge and I am glad we agreed to go. I will say this again, 3rd time should be a charm, I shouldn’t need to do this again! Saturday was my birthday and we went down to the waterfront to go to the Aquarium and to go to my favorite little restaurant. After all if this we stumbled on this coffee shop that had the best cheesecake we have found here. Yes, we cheated again on our diet since it was a special occasion!! Easter Sunday is always a special time here as we go to the Sunrise service on the beach. This one however was even more special. The Wednesday before Mike and I shared the Evangicube in our Bible Study and all the guys recommitted their lives to Christ. 3 of them that had not been baptized were baptized by Mike at the Sunrise Service on Sunday morning. We are so blessed to be able to share these special moments with our Zimbabwe friends and I ask that you please pray for them to be able to stay committed to all God has in store for them. Lastly, on Monday we took the Big Red Bus tour that drives around the city and talks about the history and takes you to all the highlights. I have wanted to do that since we got here and Mike was eager as well since it was still my birthday weekend, technically. We had 4 days off and used up every bit of our time taking in the sites. We ticked off a couple of things on our list. (They say ticked instead of checked)

Our Trip by Train

2010-04-12T03:43:00.002+12:00

In our newsletter we wrote about going to Beaufort West to check out another ministry and a good time was had by all, meaning both of us. Our car has still been a thorn in our side, or better yet the biggest LEMON any one could ever imagine. We weren’t able to drive it because that week it had issues of its own. We had already planned the journey to meet up with our friend, so we checked into taking the train. It turned out to be the cheapest way to travel and it took a lot longer but it was worth it. We were like 2 kids running back and forth from window to window checking out the scenery. We got to eat in the dining car and because we got to go off of our diet for a couple of days, I had a toasted cheese sandwich (grilled cheese in the US). Man it was good. Mike and I have been trying to stay away from bread and sugars but I was ready to cheat and that I did. I even had one the next day at another little hole in the wall and it was even better!! It was an awesome journey and this time I am so glad our car wasn’t co-operating.

Swimming Upstream

2010-03-24T02:30:00.000+13:00

It seems like sometimes you take 2 steps forward and 1 step back when you are working in ministry. You want so much for the people to be able to get out of there tough situations, but the truth is they are generally there because that is the way they choose to live. Other reasons for their lives of poverty are cultural issues or what we “westerners” would call laziness, but we are still learning that sometimes it is not that at all. Sometimes it’s just lack of education or resources. Over the last few weeks, I have been asking locals about different cultural issues and I am amazed at the ideas that people have different from ours (this doesn’t mean ours are all right but this is an example). We learned from the black culture a long time ago the children are responsible for their parents and they work and support them until they die. Now when these children have children they also have to support their children so how can they possibly get ahead? We just learned last week that the same goes for the colored culture. The colored culture has a desire to go to school but can’t be all that they want to be because the parents will not have income while they are in University (College) so they don’t allow them to aspire to be Doctors, Lawyers, etc. These world views differ all over the world but no matter what we do or say they are still the people’s values and beliefs and we are swimming upstream if we think we, without Jesus Christ, are going to be able to change any of it. All we can do is plant the seeds that God gives us and hope that the Holy Spirit will touch their lives and help them to be true disciples of God with Biblical world views. This really hit home when Mike and I went to see the movie, Precious, Saturday night. We knew this movie would be hard to watch, but we didn’t realize how hard. This is real life all over the world and it will break your heart to know that people who are supposed to love you abuse you for selfish reasons. Here in South Africa that abuse happens every day and no one cares. Just last week, one of our healthcare workers was called to come home because her 3 yr. old daughter had just been raped. This is horrific news and it is only getting worse in these communities.
The other issue that makes things so difficult here is the stigma for HIV/AIDS, it is unbelievable. Living Hope is hoping to promote a new program to try and figure out how to Stomp Out Stigma (S.O.S.) People are dying all the time with complications of AIDS but the families don’t know the patient, family member, is infected so it appears they died from Tuberculosis or some other ailment. It is like breast cancer was 20 years ago, no one would talk about it and thought it was a bad thing, but we have now learned to have the awareness so we can save lives. I have been reading a book titled, “A Hole in our Gospel” by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, and there are a lot of challenges to the things I am writing about here. He states, “We are not to judge others by their culture or the state of how they live” and I truly have to ask God for forgiveness in this area. It is difficult when you live it out day to day. Please pray with us to help stomp out the stigma of HIV/AIDS.

Cape Argus, Lance Armstrong, and the Capricorn Celebration, wow what a week!

2010-03-23T07:38:00.000+13:00

Last Sunday was the 110 kilometer annual event for 35,000 cyclists from around the world. The roads around our area are always closed, so we decided in 2008 that we would make the Argus an annual event and we have thoroughly enjoyed it every year. This was our third time and Lance Armstrong came for the event this year. Now I can’t actually say I saw him because they came by in a flash. There was one guy that was way out front in the colors that we knew Lance was wearing, but it turned out not to be him. We got some great photos of that guy!! We had the majority of the volunteers camped out with us in the middle of the road so we could see all the bikers coming down the main road in Fish Hoek, for most them it was their first time and great fun was had by all. Lance wound up coming in 9th and took home the grand sum of R1000 equivalent to about $130. He left immediately from the race in his private jet, almost an oxymoron.
We had a team here from Birmingham at the same time as the Argus and their team leader actually rode in it. The team manned a water station and this kicked off their week of ministry to Living Hope. The remainder of the week the team visited Capricorn Community and went door to door knocking, praying with people and inviting them to do testing on Thursday, including HIV, diabetes, blood pressure etc. They had a huge success and tested about 100 people and 68 of the people for HIV. They also invited them to come Thursday evening for a community celebration including a meal and there was close to 350 people present. Children and adults were singing praises to the Lord and thanking Him for all He has done for their impoverished community. This was our largest turnout event yet for Capricorn and we had 5 people that accepted Christ into their lives. Overall, this was a huge success for this team and they are planning on bringing back two more teams this year. Praise God for what He is doing for this community and may we see others come to know the Lord through Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Birmingham Ala.

Life goes on

2010-03-10T01:19:00.000+13:00

The weeks just seem to run together and before you know it 6 weeks have gone by. We have been consumed with working on our car and trying to get our new budget with Shepherd’s Staff worked out in detail. We have had our second team come and go and that has been an awesome experience for all of us. The last team from Franklin Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, left on Saturday and we are expecting another team from Birmingham Alabama on Friday. The outreach that they do with the communities is so rewarding and it really gives both locals and internationals an opportunity for God to work in them and through them. The Rolling Hills Team built a cover over our medical clinic and re-leveled the buildings where the ground had shifted. They also fed about 200 people at the celebration. We had a Nashville songwriter “celebrity” and his family on the trip and they jumped in and participated in all the activities. He only sang one song at the celebration but is sure makes us miss country music!!
We had an opportunity this past weekend to attend a “Lobola” with our Zimbabwean family Brian and Blessing. This was the couple that got married last year, January. The Lobola is the ceremony where normally the future son in law would pay a “bride price” for his future wife to the family. We did it a little backwards because the mother and father allowed them to get married last year before Brian had the money to pay them. We were thankful that he allowed them to go ahead and get married but we really thought they had forgiven the Lobola. Unfortunately for Brian, they had not and it cost him a lot of money (used to be cows and goats) to make it true with the family. I know this doesn’t seem right to our Western way of thinking but it gives them a lot of security in the community as a whole. It lasted about 2hrs but an experience that will last a lifetime.
Lastly, we have started to listen to God’s lead for the next season of our lives as our visa’s run out at the end of the year. We are praying and seeking God’s will for direction. This is always a stressful time as we want to be sure we do what He wants us to do, not what we think we should do. Please pray with us as we need wise counsel and guidance for this next course in our lives.

Update on the Car

2010-02-10T02:52:00.000+13:00

Wow is all I can say when I think about how God rescued us from mouths of hungry lions. With lots of perseverance, we were able to find someone that had a rebuilt car part and we saved 2/3 of what the original quote was going to be. In the states we are very fortunate to be able to go to junk yards and find parts to replace the one’s that break down. Had we not been a seasoned shopper for parts they would have taken us to the cleaners!! Sorry about all the clichés, but I know you all understand every word I am writing. We got the car fixed in a couple of days and someone from Living Hope loaned us her car so we wouldn’t have to pay for a rental. We were truly blessed and give God all the glory for all of the repairs and provisions.

Getting back into the swing of things

2010-02-01T01:46:00.000+13:00

This past couple of weeks has just been getting back into the swing of things. We had lots of catching up to do and decisions to be made. While we don’t always see God’s plan, we know that He has one. We have not raised all the support needed for us to be here, but we don’t believe it is time for us to leave. We believe He brought us here for a reason and that we will stay until He calls us to do something different. He is our Provider and He will supply our needs. Speaking of meeting our needs, we went to Table Mountain for a hike yesterday and when we got ready to park our gear shifter “went whonkey” that is the term they use here for totally messed up. We had to tow our car back to Fish Hoek, about 20 miles, and will have to deal with car repairs all next week  It doesn’t matter where you live there are always car challenges it just seems our car has been more than the usual for folks around here. Join us in praying that it won’t cost a lot to get it fixed. We have NO budget for car repairs this year and this car cost $1600.00 last year. We hope everything has broken that is going to break.
I have wanted to do a Bible Study with our group about Biblical Financial Principles for a long time, and it is finally coming together. We started last Wednesday and will continue on for 4 more weeks. I am very excited and challenged at the same time. This has been a passion of mine. I hope that we can continue to use it at Living Hope and anywhere else it is applicable. Please pray for me to gather the material and information needed for their cultural differences. It is very different from the way Westerners think. Mike has been “snowed” in with e-mails from volunteers wanting to come and serve in the ministry. We know this is going to be a very busy year with the World Cup Soccer coming here and people wanting to visit and serve at the same time.
We hiked Table Mountain again yesterday, but we weren’t sure we were going to make it. We huffed and puffed all the way up. It was great to get to the top, but I have decided that I won’t do it again. I can say I have done it twice and that is enough. The other 3 folks that went with is hiked it up and down. We rode the cable car down. Ahhhhhhh!!

Our Celebration Dinner for Bible Study

2009-12-03T02:16:00.001+13:00

We wrapped up our Bible study last week with some really great prayer time and plans for next year. We always like to give our friends some sort of celebration at the end, mostly food, and for tonight the celebration will be the same. The only twist is that instead of a home cooked meal it is going to be KFC. Yes that means Kentucky Fried Chicken. To them this is like going out to a nice restaurant for their favorite meal. We really thought we would take them somewhere that they have never been but we had a conversation with a couple of them on Sunday and they told us they love to have a piece of chicken with the bone and chips (fries as we say in the states). They told us they just don’t get this unless it is a special treat, so we are making it a special treat. The things we think are so simple mean so much to folks who have nothing. We are excited that we have been blessed to be able to provide them with some comfort food and always remind them that it is not from us but from the Lord. We are excited to see what God will do next year and I am especially excited because they are keen to do a study on Biblical Financial Principles. It is going to challenge me because I am finally going to get the opportunity to put together a 4 or 5 week study for them before we return in January. This has been my prayer for a long time and it looks like it is finally going to come together. Please pray for me to be able to find the time to put the study together.

God is Able

2009-12-03T01:49:00.000+13:00

We are counting down the hours now and I just want to share this story before we get on the plane tomorrow headed for Nashville. The Lord has truly blessed my mom with 2 wonderful ladies to help them get their breakfast and pills sorted each day. Being this far away always seems like a challenge to get anything done, but with God’s help anything is possible. A couple of months ago we were headed down that same path again with my mom and the medications seem to have quit working. I began to pray and ask God to show me how I could help. Through all of this I e-mailed the Pastor of my parents’ church asking if he knew of anyone looking for a part time job. My parents live in the country and the chances of finding one person that was willing to drive seemed slim. This is how big our God is, He sent 2 ladies that live 5 minutes from their house. One lady comes Monday through Friday and the other on Saturday and Sunday. My mom has done a 180 and is better than she has been in a long time. I am always reminded of the scripture about leaving family to do what God calls us to do, (Luke 18:29)but this just reaffirms that what He says in His Word is truth. I didn’t share with family that I had been the one to make all the contacts because I wanted to give God the Glory, but my mom asked one of the ladies last week how they found out about them needing some help. Kay finally said, “I was wondering when you were going to ask” and she told them that I had arranged everything. I just happened to call just as they were finishing up that conversation and my mom really was appreciative of me helping to make all of this happen. I was very excited that all was revealed before I got home and I believe it will put a new light on our relationship. Praise God for what He has done and able to do.

Our last few weeks before coming home for Christmas

2009-11-20T20:02:00.000+12:00

Last week we had a team here that took out some old cabinets out of one of our buildings. We were asked by the head of maintenance if we had any use for them to help people in the community. We told him absolutely! So we made a plan last Saturday to work on one of our friends shacks. This particular girl has a shack that is about an 8 x 10 and she and her sister and baby all live there. They cook on the floor, keep everything on the floor and her sister has to sleep on the floor. We took a half day Saturday and got some other folks to help and we put in some cabinets and shelves for her. Her shack also leaks so Mike put in a beam across the top to try and raise it so the water would run off not in. She was very happy and thankful for what she was given. We were very blessed to be able to help where we were needed. The needs are never ending we received a phone call this week from a lady just asking for some help because she is hungry. Another lady stopped me in the office parking lot to tell me her shack burned down on Sunday and she had to start all over. As if she had a lot to start with! These are very tough times here and we just ask you to pray for us for discernment as we know we can’t help everyone.
We started back with our Zimbabwe Bible Study 4 weeks ago and we have really enjoyed our time with them. We haven’t had as many people, but we have had more intimacy with the ones who have been coming. This means more to us than the numbers!! One of the prayer requests this week was for the group to continue Bible Study while we are away. We ask that you help us pray for that request, as this is what we are trying to get them to do. Disciple each other!!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we will have 18 volunteers over to our place for food, fun and fellowship. Everyone is quite excited as we will watch a taped football game and then follow it with the Charlie Brown Christmas DVD. We couldn’t get pumpkin pie fill last year so Danielle had a team bring some so we will have traditional pumpkin pie, I have ordered up a cheesecake, and we found green asparagus in a can for a short period of time so we bought a couple of cans to make an asparagus casserole. Everything else we have managed to be able to find. This is a potluck of course, but as hosts we will provide the turkeys, dressing and casserole. A good time shall be had by all!! We will only have 1 week left before we fly out. We must be excited we have already packed a couple of bags

Fun mixed in with Ministry

2009-11-11T08:11:00.000+12:00

Over the last few weekends we have managed to have a little fun. We did another amazing hike that was even more stressful than hiking Table Mountain, Halloween weekend. We also went to see the Michael Jackson movie. We thought it was very well done and enjoyed watching him dance, sing, and be a normal person for a change. We have also been doing some Christmas shopping and sent a bag home with a team so we won’t have to pay for extra luggage when we come back for Christmas.
Friday night we got to dress to the “nines” and attend the 234th birthday ball of the US Marines. When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was here, we met a lady through this event and have made friends with her and her family since then. Her husband is a US Marine and they invited us to go with them to the ball. A couple of months ago we were invited to meet the U.S. Consul of South Africa and have now been added to their list to attend some of their functions and we attended one on Thursday.
Sunday we did a 5K walk for Living Hope Awareness, but it didn’t work out like we planned. It rained the whole time forcing us to cover our shirts with our rain gear. After completing the 5k, we walked 5k more because we left our cars at the starting line and decided to walk back instead of taking the train. A good time was had by all!
Sunday evening we were invited to a church across town to share our testimony about how God called us to Cape Town and what we were doing with Living Hope. We only spoke about 10 minutes of a 2 ½ service but had a really good time in a diverse culture. God has really blessed us with a balance of ministry and fun this year. We look forward to seeing what He is going to do in 2010.

Our last team for the year!

2009-11-11T08:10:00.000+12:00

This week and next will wrap up all the teams Mike and I have for the year. We have had back to back teams the last few weeks and we have 3 vision teams that will be here over the next 3 weeks but they won’t be doing any ministry outreach programs. They will be looking to next year to see if they see their church fitting in with what we do. We also have a team coming after we leave that does Christmas parties for all the staff, but this does not fall under us. We have had an exciting year and look forward to what God has in store for next year. These teams have had great responses with door to door knocking and praying with people. We learned how to do this from our time spent with YWAM in Fiji. This plan has really opened doors to the communities. Last week we had a team here from Kentucky and they helped our Life Skill Educators to get into areas of the neighborhood that they have not been in before. They brought portable soccer goals and balls and reached a new group of young men that really need the Lord. One of the Life Skill Educators gave his testimony about being a gangster and a drug dealer and these guys really listened to how God had moved in his life. This one event truly opened up the door for Shagmie and the others to go into this particular neighborhood now and minister to them each week. Praise God for the freedom we have here to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people.

Table Mountain High

2009-10-19T07:07:00.005+12:00

After yesterday we can tick (check) off Table Mountain as one of our biggest milestones. It took us 2 hrs and 15 min to go vertically 2500ft. There were 6 of us that decided to take on the challenge. 2 of them were 18 so they put the rest of us to shame. There were some people actually running up the mountain and I was doing all I could to put one foot in front of the other. We had a great time and really felt great when we finally reached the top. One of the most amazing things was how cold it was when we reached the top. We all brought jackets because we knew it was cold but I just didn’t realize it would be that cold. We decided earlier that we would ride the cable car down. As we fast approached the bottom of the cable car ride, it occurred to me that our car was about 1 ½ miles away. We all just laughed and said this is nothing it is flat we won’t have any trouble hiking this. I really thought we would be sore today but we are fine. We actually got out and walked again today.

Shocking Prices

2009-10-13T01:57:00.000+12:00

Ok, so I almost fell out of my chair the other day when Mike came home with the receipt for windshield wiper blades. They were R450.00, translated that is $60.00. That got me thinking about what we paid for our oil change and 15,000 Kilometer check up on our car R895.00, translated $119.00. This makes Jiffy Lube prices look really good. Most things here don’t cost as much in the states, but I think we call this highway robbery! I was in a conversation today where a local South African was talking about getting ripped off in the airport and I thought let’s talk about getting ripped off. When I told him what I paid he shook his head and said he buys his wiper blades for R27.00 at the pick and pay (our Wal-Mart if you want to call it that) I’ll be checking that out today!! He also said that kind of price for an oil change is crazy. I happen to agree. Unfortunately this is one of those things that we have to accept as a foreigner and move on. Just another few examples of price gouging at the grocery store: tortillas $8.50(we don’t buy them), laundry soap, $11.99 for ½ gallon, Campbell’s soup $3.99 per can, Kraft Mayonnaise, $3.99. These are just a few of the shocking prices that keep going up. Never do they have buy one get one free!! We truly understand why the staple food for the poor is bread and a type of porridge similar to grits because there is no way they can afford to have anything else. The oppression is so great here and no way for them to get ahead. We like to surprise some of our friends with something that we know they can’t afford and it really makes their day. (Obviously nothing mentioned above) Thanks for your continued prayers and support as we are able to pass on some of your blessings to the poor.

Blog, Blog, Blog

2009-10-01T23:16:00.001+12:00

Journaling has never been a big thing for me, but I know when we look back on our Journey it will be great to have all of these stories to read about and reflect on what we did along the way. I wrote a blog and it turned out we would use it for a Newsletter article, so I thought I would post this along with Miracles still Happen. We have been waiting for the weather to get better and the sun to set later in the day so we can start back with our Bible Study. The Zimbabwe ladies asked us yesterday if we could go ahead and get started. We are excited about this and plan to start next week. We will only have about 8 weeks before we head back to the states for the holidays. How amazing another year will have gone by. We continue to help Khumi with the bag business as she is still recovering in the Healthcare Centre. We continue to have a steady flow of teams but the individuals have slowed down some. We actually are getting longer term volunteers which are great for the ministry. We have 12 here now that are for a year or more and expect another 5-10 next year. We are also expecting 2 families next year. It is great to see God at work in all of the lives of these people.

Miracles still happen

2009-10-01T23:15:00.001+12:00

We had a team here from Knoxville, Faith Promise Church, and we did the standard outreach where they go door to door for the week and invite people to testing day and a celebration with Praise and Worship and food. This time we had to have the celebration in a different location and had to bus the people there. We were told that a lot of people wouldn’t come because of the distance, which was less than a mile, but those that told us that were wrong. We packed the church and had an awesome time. When it came time to pray for people, the team made themselves available. I was standing at the back observing. This young man came up beside me and asked me to pray for him. I asked him, “How I can pray for you and he proceeded to tell me that he was a homosexual living with another young guy and he found out 2 months ago that he was HIV positive, his mom had passed away and he didn’t have any way to get any help because he doesn’t have any identification. So how do you pray for all of that? I prayed for him and he moved on but I told one of our support group facilitators so she could follow up with him. This is one of many young people living this same lifestyle and on top of everything else they are hooked on “tik” Chrystal Meth. It is no different in America, but God has called us here to help these folks. Just 2 days ago, I took a class that Living Hope is asking all of its employees and volunteers to attend. Mike is going on Tuesday. It is a substance abuse training course to understand how we need to help with addictive behaviors before “we” (lots of people who are here because God called them here) can fix the HIV problem. We also have to address the “poverty of the mind” issues before we can fix the HIV problem and we are doing that through Living Way. There is a lot of work to be done here! Here is where the miracle part comes in. Because we were told that we wouldn’t have that many people, we only fixed food for 250 people. As the box dinners began to dwindle, Mike, Danielle and I looked up and there was still a very long line of people to get food and we began praying Lord please let there be enough food for everyone. We just repeatedly looked at each other saying, “keep praying, keep praying!” So as the line started to dwindle down, yes you guessed it, the very last box went to the very last person in line. In the Bible (Mark 6:30-44) Jesus talks about feeding the 5000 people on 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, I believe in this day and age Miracles still happen!!

Beauty For Ashes

2009-09-15T22:18:00.004+12:00

Isaiah 61:1-3 was the signature scripture for the conference
61 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
It is amazing that we are 8000 miles away and an American Author, Angela Thomas, and Christian Singer/Songwriter, Nicole C. Mullen, come to the Women’s conference here in Cape Town. Now what is even better than that is we got to meet them and have our picture made with them. In the states, this doesn’t happen. We were ministered to and sung to and had or “tanks” filled up. Nicole had airport issues in Atlanta so she didn’t actually make it for the conference. However, she did a make-up concert for us and so the guys were allowed to come. Hence, Mike in the photo! I think he must have prayed really hard for some way to get to go and as a result she had to postpone until Monday night. We really enjoyed her singing. We have had a great week with a Team from Shades Mountain Baptist Church from Birmingham Ala. and had 1 man give his life to the Lord during the celebration. The team goes out door to door each morning for 4 days and prays with folks and invites them to a celebration on the last day. We have testing for HIV, blood pressure, diabetes, etc. and then have crafts for them while they wait. In the evening we have some worship music, people share testimonies and then provide a meal for them.
This past Friday evening the US Consulate General, Dr. Alberta Mayberry, invited many of the American Volunteers working here in South Africa to her home for a celebration. Yes it was 9/11 and we did have a remembrance, but it was also recognition of our duty to serve. Then on Sunday we got to go over to a couple’s house that we met earlier who works for the Consulate and watch “American” Football. It was live and everything. This is a blessing when you don’t get to see football but once or twice a year.
This week we have started our second phase of the entrepreneur class and will finish this on Thursday. We also have another team here from Knoxville Tn. doing the same thing that the team did last week. We are looking forward to the celebration on Thursday. Please pray for more seeds to be sown.

Live in the Faith Zone, not the Safe Zone

2009-09-01T00:51:00.001+12:00

For most of us, we live life in the Safe Zone. I always had a steady job a place to live and a car to drive. Until about 7 yrs ago I thought I had all I needed, but changes in my life and moving into The Faith Zone has given me more than I could ever have imagined. I took my first step of Faith when I went on a 2 week mission trip to Honduras with Mercy Ships in May of 02. I didn’t know anyone, but as I stepped out in Faith God placed a couple in my path that were from Nashville. We met before we left but they were only going to be joining the dental team for the second week. This was my first step towards trusting God in all that I do and it has been an adventure ever since. I went on a couple more trips alone, but soon after that God gave me a wonderful husband to share my life with. We began living in the Safe Zone again and did not have the fulfillment that each of us had while serving God independently. We began praying that God would move us in to the Faith Zone and that is exactly what He did. The Faith Zone requires some risk and it makes us leave our Safe “comfort” Zone. So these are some words of encouragement, from John Maxwell, for everyone who is ready to live in the Faith Zone.
• “We do not naturally leave the safe zone. Most people don’t want to have changes in their lives, but without changes you will never experience anything different. Just because you don’t want to do something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t!”
• “Growth begins when we leave the safe zone. Yes I had a lot of security in my job and owning my own place, but not until I let all that go did I learn what was really important. I also discovered a lot about me and became remade by God. You can’t stay the same and learn at the same time. If you want to grow, you need to go.”
• “The safe zones rob us of our greatest moments and memories. Many people are so afraid of risks that they spend their lives in the land of just enough. God wants us to leave the wilderness and enter the land of more than enough. Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the risks you didn’t take than by the ones you did.”
I must say that leaving my safe zone has allowed me to enjoy God’s blessings to the fullest. Moses was taken out of his comfort zone in all aspects of his life beginning at birth and we are challenged by his story to Live in the faith zone, not in the safe zone.
This is Moses’ Prayer for us
Lord God, the God of my fathers,
Give my friends a healthy discontent. Draw them out of the safe zone so
that they may live every day in the faith zone. Make them wholly dependent
on You, so that they can do things greater than themselves.
Amen

Time Back

2009-08-26T19:49:00.000+12:00

In South Africa if you work overtime you get time back and most people use that time here and there. Mike and I took some time back over the last week in the form of a holiday. It was a very blessed time for us and we have been rejuvenated and are ready to finish off the rest of the year. Monday was our first day back to Living Hope and we have been non-stop since then. Monday evening we had an incredible light show behind our flats. The fire department burns mountains around the area to keep fires down during fire season so the area behind our flat was the target area. It went on for about 6 hrs. The point where the flames were so intense was unbelievable. It was like a tornado the fire was spinning and the winds seemed like they were about 40 mph. All the neighbors were out back watching the firefighters working hard to keep it controlled. We found out a little later that the fire was actually out of control for a short period of time right behind our place. One of the ladies didn’t see Mike and she said is Mike inside praying because it was a miracle that the fire didn’t shoot across to one of the houses on the hill. I told her he was watching the fire from upstairs but he had prayed previously for our safety. It is good to know that our neighbors see us as praying individuals

Date night with Hillary Clinton

2009-08-10T01:06:00.000+12:00

Yes we did spend time with Hillary Clinton on our date night, but it was for a very short period of time. Here is how it all went down. Mike and I were headed to our favorite little restaurant that we like to go to at the V & A Waterfront Mall for date night. Living Hope/Living Way were invited to bring items to sell, Khumi’s bags and Vusi’s candles, in the 2 hotels where Secretary Clinton and the media were staying. Pat Ball, one of the American Volunteers at Living Hope was asked to man the table. She called us before we left home and asked us to bring some Living Hope brochures to the hotel. By the time we got there Mrs. Clinton had already walked through and said hello. We figured we had missed our chance and went on about our day. After dinner we thought we will walk back to the hotel and see if any of the bags or candles had sold. They hadn’t had a lot of business, but after a few minutes someone came in quickly and said here she comes, here she comes! So yes she came into the little vending room and the room got very quiet. It was really difficult for her to shop because we were all just staring at her not knowing what to say. Hillary began to ask questions about particular items and I spoke into Pat’s ear and suggested that when she gets around to us start telling her about Khumi’s bags and Living Hope. Mrs. Clinton took one of the rugs and started moving toward us. Pat moved in for the kill and when it was all said and done she had bought one of Khumi’s bags. When Pat mentioned Living Hope, Hillary said, “wow you guys are all around” Pat said, “Praise the Lord”, Hillary said, “Praise the Lord”. We had a fun time and left them shortly after and headed home.

Toyi Toyi

2009-08-08T08:01:00.000+12:00

No, this isn’t something we give to the children here in South Africa. This is the local word for a public demonstration or protest. Last week, we witnessed our 2nd uprising in the last couple of months. There are issues going on in the community of Masiphumele where the government is promising to build concrete houses to the people who have land if they will tear down the shacks on the property. They want to put in 1 house for one family, but the way it is right now there are 6 or 7 shacks with 4 to 6 people in each one. When it is all said and done it would leave about 10,000 people without a place to live. Most of the people that live here are not from here but see this as a place of opportunity. They are coming here from other places in South Africa and other countries in Africa. This is causing much controversy and strife amongst the people. We found out this past Monday that John Thomas has been asked to be the interim chairman of a group to work out a compromise for all the people involved. As he puts it, there is no solution right now. They are building some flats (apartments) that were donated by an organization from England. It has forced some of the people off of this property but promised them they would get first dibs at the flats. These people are upset about this because they have to pay rent for these places. They are being asked to pay R30 per month (about $5.00 dollars a month) and they normally don’t pay rent because they get income from the people living on their properties and paying rent to them. This “thinking” is way over our heads of understanding!!!! We work across the street from all of this and know when things are getting out of hand. As volunteers we are all advised to stay clear when they are demonstrating. Please pray for resolutions to these issues. We, as humans, may not be able to understand all that is going on but God has a plan and we have to trust Him for it.

Christmas in July

2009-07-25T20:39:00.000+12:00

Yes, we celebrated Christmas Eve last night with all of the volunteers. My apologies for not blogging sooner, but it has felt like December in Nashville with all of the running around and hustle and bustle of the holidays. We played white elephant gift giving and had all the eats that one would have for the evening, including a year round Christmas tree at Pat’s place. July has been crazy!! The children have been out of school for three weeks and the teams and individual volunteers get involved to try and keep the kids off the streets. They spent about 4 hours each day playing games, feeding them, loving on them and sharing the gospel in their own kind of way through drama. Then the last week we brought in a new ministry called Upward Sports. It is a very big program in the states and we kicked it off here last week. It lasted only a couple of hours each day which left Mike and me to figure out what activities we could do with the volunteers for the remainder of the time. We had some afternoon work projects where we worked at Living Way and then the last day we cleaned up the inside of the Masi Baptist Church and rehung all their curtains. We had someone come in and clean the carpet but unfortunately that will be an ongoing problem. They have lots of sand around and no way to get rid of it. We have had as many as 4 teams here at one time and that means lots of hello’s and goodbyes and how’s it going and are you happy with what you are doing with your team? Then we have had some emotional college age individuals that want freedom from authority yet want someone to come and check on them so they are not forgotten We are grateful for all God has given us to do here but we are ready for a little R&R in mid August. We are planning a little get away so we can unwind and get ready for the next whirlwind of volunteers. Speaking of Christmas it is right around the corner and we will be making plans soon to be coming back early December. Please pray for us for the coming year as we know God has someone in mind to take over as Volunteer Coordinators but we haven’t heard from them yet.

Who am I to Judge?

2009-07-06T05:00:00.000+12:00

I opened up my computer this afternoon to find another shocking story of a person who has died long before he should have. Steve McNair seemed so much closer to home than Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett, because of his ties to the Tennessee Titans. I am saddened of the loss but it reminds me of how important it is to live my life in obedience to what God would want me to do. As I look back over the last couple of weeks at the people we have lost, I am reminded of the lives these folks have lead and it seems that no one has a testimony of a relationship with Jesus Christ and where they might be now. I believe it is so critical to know what you believe so that if your life should end so abruptly that you are at total peace with where your soul will be. Michael Jackson was not at peace with himself and Steve McNair was a married man. I believe God can take our lives at any moment and it is in my best interest to trust that the Bible is right, that Jesus is the only way to have eternal life in heaven(John 14:6). I choose not to take my chances, miss the boat and live in eternal hell. I don’t want to be critical or judgmental about these folks but their public lives did not lead me to believe they were people of God. I hope that when I die that people will say she was a person who was faithful and lived for the purpose to serve “An Awesome God.” When I am in heaven I hope to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matt 25:21)

UPS and DOWNS

2009-06-20T21:45:00.000+12:00

We have had a lot going on this week and I will do my best to give the short versions. Tuesday was a public holiday, youth day, but we had a team here and the Life Skill Educators wanted to hold hygiene day for the kids. They taught them how to cut their finger nails and toe nails and also how to wash their hands and feet. I was privileged to be asked to teach them oral hygiene instructions. I have also been blessed to have met a Colgate Rep. here that is supplying me with toothbrushes and toothpaste for the kids. We saw about 60 kids that morning.
Wednesday night was our Bible study and while we were waiting for everyone to come we heard screaming from over the wall. Mike and Tafadswa ran out of the gate only to find it was 2 of our girls that had been robbed. Fortunately, they didn’t have their phones on them and one of the girls had put her money in her mouth so they didn’t steal anything. They realized that Blessing wasn’t screaming and started trying to figure out what was in her mouth, about that time the other guys came around the corner and they took off over the wall. We spent most of our evening praying for peace and protection for them. Thank the Lord no one was injured.
Friday was another eventful day in one of our communities. Living Hope had an open day, which people can come to our facilities for free testing of HIV, diabetes, blood pressure, and to learn about the love of Jesus. For those that were tested we gave them food and an opportunity to spin a wheel for a prize. It is difficult to say how many people were seen because of the stigma associated with being tested. We do know most of them go to different communities to be tested for HIV so that the people in their community won’t know their status by their attitudes when they leave the site. Also in the same community of Masiphumelele, Living Hope paid to have a zinc building erected for the kids club about 4 weeks ago and the corrupt counsel of that area didn’t like it being on the property and ordered it to be taken down. The community of ladies was on our side and they were yelling at the counsel telling them to leave the building that the children needed Living Hope’s presence. Unfortunately, the end result after 4 hours of trying to negotiate resulted in having to take it down. There is much needed prayer for this community.
We had another grandson born last night his name is Landon Ross Talley. 45 minutes after Karen had him, Jordan had his computer set up at the hospital so we were able to see him on our computer here. Jordan had also sent a camera to us via Cooper, so everyone was able to see us too. Technology is wonderful. Thanks for your prayers and support!!

Great visit with Cooper

2009-06-13T19:01:00.001+12:00

The last 2 weeks have been spent with Mike’s youngest son, Cooper. He graduated from high school on a Friday night, boarded a plane for Cape Town on Saturday, and arrived late Sunday evening. Mike and I made a promise to ourselves that we would try to spend as much time with him doing what tourists do but that we were also at our busiest time with volunteers. It has been an awesome couple of weeks he has seen all of the tourist attractions, including shark cage diving, and seen one of the most beautiful places in the world. Cooper has also been able to see all that we do and it has given him an understanding of our “call” to be here. I pray he will be able to convey this to his siblings. He has had the opportunity to work in the communities in kids club; he helped our maintenance guy by hanging a door and fixing a generator and lots of other small jobs. (This was right up his alley) Lastly, he had the opportunity to hang with the 11 volunteers on several different occasions. It has been quite the experience for him to be able to be with people from all round the world that were here because this was where God called them to be and the bonus was they are all close in age. Today is our last day and we are taking him, along with all the volunteers, to a Rugby game. It has been great for Mike and I know it has been great for Cooper too. As soon as Cooper arrives back in the states, he will embark on the next season of his life. He will be heading to Nashville to Diesel Mechanic School. We are very proud of him and pray this transition will be easy for him. Mike’s sister is going to let him live with them so he won’t have to get an apartment. That is a huge blessing from God!! Please pray for traveling mercies for him, the transition of leaving his family and friends(girlfriend), and for his mind to be focused on school.

The Ups and Downs of the Week

2009-05-23T22:49:00.000+12:00

This week has been filled with ups and downs and we have been grateful that none of these things are left up to us, but to the Lord to handle. I have been battling with planters fasciitis for at least a year and I finally got some relief. I kept thinking it would get better on its own, but I finally saw a doctor a couple of weeks ago for a cortisone shot in my heal to help with the inflammation of the ligament. It helped about 97%, but I went back last Friday for another one to take care of the other 3%. It worked!!! The only issue left was that I had changed the way I walked for so long that my knee was messed up. After lots of prayer and retraining my walk, these last few days have been great. Praise God for needles!!
We have asked for prayer for our friend Khumi because she has been so sick the last couple of months. We found out she had gone off of her medications and developed lots of other problems. It is too soon to ask her why, but if she had not agreed to Mike forcing her to go back to the Healthcare Centre on Tuesday she could have died. She lives in a tin shack with cold damp floors and air that comes through like she has a window open all the time. She has lost close to 50lbs and can’t eat anything. She was diagnosed with Tuberculosis of the stomach. I spent some time with her on Friday and she is doing much better. Please continue to pray for her!
We have 2 teams here this week working in the communities and spreading the love of Jesus. One through a Sports Ministry and the other is helping out at Living Way and the Children’s afternoon kids clubs. The sports ministry has a net ball game planned for this afternoon against some of friends who are in our Bible Study. This should be an exciting afternoon. The Zimbabwe girls invited us to come on Wednesday night, so we will have a tough time deciding who to pull for!
Unfortunately, for our individual volunteers it has not been such a great week. One of the guys got mugged, at knife point, walking home for lunch. Mike and I had not agreed with them wanting to walk but they insisted it would be ok. We have been suggesting that they move to a new location because it just is too close to the township that we work in. Yesterday we got everyone moved and they are much happier. This goes back to young people who come with their own ideas and agenda’s then get taught hard lessons by God. We had another issue with a new volunteer whose expectations were way over the top. She was ready to get on a plane and go home but Mike and I spent about 1 ½ hrs talking to her yesterday to suggest to her to allow God to work in her life to see what He might be up to. She called us last night apologizing and telling us she would give it another try next week.
Ending a positive note, we went to the grocery store yesterday and one of our local volunteers, who started at the Healthcare Centre yesterday, had a wonderful experience and was so encouraged and excited to see how God had used her nursing abilities to take care of the ladies. We never know how people will respond in tough situations and we just seek the Lord’s guidance for each one and are grateful for His hand on their lives.

The Calm before the Storm

2009-05-16T21:57:00.000+12:00

Last week was supposed to be a time for us to prepare ourselves for the next 7 months of Volunteers. Unfortunately, time to prepare rarely happens around here. There is so much to do and things just creep in on us. This past week, we finished our entrepreneur training at Living Way. We now have to mentor these folks to help them write their business plans etc. so they can get capital to start their businesses. Next week starts the “storm.” We will have two teams here at the same time involving 33 people arriving on Monday evening. We also have an individual volunteer arriving with them. They are all from the Nashville area, so we are excited to hear some good southern slang. One group is a sports ministry and the other is an Academic Study Abroad group. This will keep us very busy for the next 13 days. From this time forward we have 25 teams coming to do volunteer work and 26 individuals that will be here anywhere from 30 days to a year. We are excited to have them come but it can be tricky in getting everyone organized where they feel the most useful in the ministry. Please pray with us as we seek to place each one where they are the best fit. Also, pray for them to be content. We have a lot of college age students that are quite set in their ways and we know God wants them to be obedient and content in whatever job they are doing. This can be difficult when you have 3 or 16 people here at the same time all doing different duties thinking they have it tough and want to do something different. This was one of the main reasons we had to keep their stay to a minimum of 30 days. It usually takes 2 weeks for them to adjust.
I hope the “storm” isn’t like the storms that rolled through here last night. We had wind gusts up to 35 miles an hour and about 6am this morning we heard this crash of glass, and of course our first thought someone has broken in, but after we got ourselves awake we realized it came from next door. We proceeded to put on our rain gear and check it out. Turned out our neighbor had left his window open and the wind blew the window off. We are expecting more rain today, so this has turned out be a good day to stay indoors get prayed up (this is a joke of course we stay prayed up) and catch up on work. We are beginning to get into winter here but it is usually rain with wind instead of freezing and snow. It is quite different from Tennessee. Thanks for your prayers and support because we couldn’t do this without you!

Where did the last 2 weeks go?

2009-05-08T03:48:00.000+12:00

We have begun another entrepreneur class with 5 people attending not as many as we would have liked but the percent of entrepreneurs here is about 3%. There are a lot of people that think they want to be their own boss, but they soon realize they don’t like all the hard work that goes along with it. We will have 3 more days next week and that will complete the class.
We also had to take our car in for service, which seems like a monthly event lately, and they were going to charge us R6000.00 to fix it. Mike asked the guy is there any way this can be fixed without having to order a whole new shifter and the mechanic said “no”. Well we sometimes don’t like to take no for an answer, so we prayed about where we could take the car and we have a friend that recommended someone. We called him, took the car over to his house and he fixed it in a couple of hours for R400.00. We obviously won’t be taking our car back to the dealership for service as we realized last month we probably got ripped off for R4900.00. It always pays to have a second opinion but being in another part of the world you have to be careful.
We completed our 1st home cell group (Bible Study) course last week and had a celebration dinner for everyone last night. Mike made homemade potato soup and I made the main course, heavenly hamburger. We set everything out and had bread and soup for starter, then salad and casserole for main course and doughnuts for pudding (dessert). They were all talking in Shona, their native language, and we could tell they were talking about the food. Mike said to them, hey, we have an agreement that you all are going to speak English so we can understand what you are saying, so they told us what they were saying. One of the guys said, “I have never had this much food in one meal. I might get some bread in the morning and a small dish for lunch and then something small for dinner, but never have I had this much at one time! He then proceeded to ask, is eating this much a sin? We explained the difference and told him he was ok to be able to eat all of his meal at once. They loved every bit of it. We have really been blessed to be able to give them food and provide a meal for 13 of them. Thank you for supporting us so that we can give to others!
I completed my last presentation for the Life Skill Educators today in Ocean view and it is such a delight to be able to teach them the proper ways of brushing and flossing so they can teach the children that they reach each week. Next week is hygiene week for them and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Please pray for me to be able to secure some products from the Colgate representative so we will have items that we can give to the very poor and needy folks in the communities.

ANSWER TO PRAYER

2009-04-29T06:28:00.000+12:00

We thank you all who have prayed with us and we praise the Lord for an answer to our prayers for Pam’s parents. Pam has been on “stand-by” for the last couple of months because it seemed like her parents would not be able to continue to live independently. Pam’s cousin, Anne, has been an absolute lifesaver, handling all the daily details that normally fall to the children. Being in South Africa, it was almost impossible for Pam to be there. Pam’s brother, Mike, even with the hectic traveling schedule of a commercial airline pilot, made numerous trips to handle issues and search for solutions. Anne, however, has gone far above and beyond the call of duty. At any rate, both Mike (Pam’s brother) and Pam have been waiting for the call that they would have to go home and make very difficult decisions.
We have prayed and have asked you, many times, to remember this situation in prayer. We have prayed for a miracle that the Lord would enable them to have the capacity to continue to live in their home and avoid the move to assisted-type living for as long as possible. This situation would be much easier to navigate after we have moved back to the US, so we have struggled with all the decisions and implications.
Most of us face many decisions like this in life, and we pray for wisdom and even relief, but the Lord is Faithful. So faithful, in fact, that He usually does not respond the way we want, and that’s usually the good news. This situation is not different, but we praise the Lord for the best possible resolution.
We were touch-and-go for about 30 days, trying to decide if and when Pam should return home to help handle various details. Then, the phone call we had waited for came, Pam would leave in just a few days to meet her brother in Cedartown. The situation had deteriorated, and it appeared Pam’s mother would not be able to care for her dad at home any longer. We had been praying for her mom to regain the stability in her memory and stamina, but her dad had gotten worse, so there did not appear to be any other options. We just did not know how the Lord was working.
When Pam’s mom realized that Mike and Pam were on their way, she was blessed by the Lord with an all new sense of independence and determination to give her very all. Her progress on memory, stamina, and appetite has been amazing and nothing short of a miracle. What looked like some very difficult decisions for her parents and a 30-day trip home for Pam, was not what it appeared. What looked like a bad situation from our perspective, the Lord turned into a blessing for all.
We know God answered prayer, and He is continuing to do so as things continue to improve. Please continue to inquire of the Lord with us for them to be able to remain independent for as long as He has planned, and for Him to use this and every situation to draw men to Him. Thank you for your partnership with us.

“Son”rise Service on the Beach and the rest of the week

2009-04-20T04:06:00.001+12:00

What a beautiful morning our Father created on Easter Sunday! I wanted to share a couple of photos and just express my gratitude to the Lord for such a glorious day. The service began at 6:30 am and the sun arose about 7:10. We then went back home got in a quick 30 minute brisk walk and got ready for church at King of Kings. The rest of the day we spent just hanging out and enjoying the day.
We had a great evening with our Bible Study on Wednesday. The time spent last Wednesday talking about forgiveness really paid off for one of the guys. I asked Mike to ask them if anyone had a testimony to share. One of the guys that asked for prayer for forgiveness spoke up and shared a situation that happened to him over the weekend. We shouldn’t be amazed when we hear stories of how God works, but it was truly an answer to prayer for him. Another stepping stone is that almost everyone is memorizing scripture or asking for prayer to help them. Only one person out of all of them had ever memorized scripture before and it is great to see them building up confidence in themselves. Finally, as we finish up each week, we ask everyone for prayer requests. One guy asked to receive Jesus as his Saviour and Mike walked him through the sinner’s prayer. Of all the things we are doing in this place, this is the most important reason of all. We praise God for what He is doing in the lives of friends from Zimbabwe.
We have been praying for a miracle for my mom and it looks like we may have had a small break through. It is too soon to say definitely, but Thursday night I was preparing to get on a plane this weekend and fly back to the states. On Friday morning, my mom seemed to be doing better. I spoke with my brother and my cousin and they both said wait! I feel like this is part of that “test” where God says, “Be still and wait on me”. I covet your prayers and ask you to continue praying. The new medication regime may finally be kicking in.
Finally, Saturday evening we had all the volunteers over for Mexican night! Not only did we have the tortillas, guacamole, rice, Pico de Gallo, chicken, sour cream, cheese and refried beans, but we played Mexican Train Domino’s! A good time was had by all.

Baby Steps with our Bible Study

2009-04-10T18:10:00.000+12:00

We had an awesome night in our Bible study! A couple of days ago I had suggested to Mike that we spend some time on forgiveness in our work book. I knew there was some unforgiveness and because we were studying it this week, it made perfect sense. Mike, being led by the Spirit, really opened up their eyes to what Jesus said about forgiveness. Matthew 5:23-24 talks about if you have an issue with someone you must be reconciled with your brother before you can go to the altar. Matthew 6:14-15 says, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Mike went through a scenario with them asking them if a certain situation happened to them would they forgive and 4 of them said “No!” but after we had both shared short testimonies and lots of scriptures in the Bible they changed their minds. When we went around asking for prayer requests 3 of them stated they needed to forgive someone and wanted everyone to pray for them to be able to do this! We have also been encouraging them to memorize scripture and to do their homework. The first couple of weeks we struggled to get them to do this, then Mike came up with an idea to buy some food, because they are sooooo hungry, and reward them for good behavior. They have started doing their homework and memorizing scripture, resulting in confidence and growth. It is wonderful to see them taking these baby steps and becoming better disciples.

Praying for a miracle

2009-04-09T07:45:00.000+12:00

Well, all I can say is we are praying for a miracle. My father has had Alzheimer’s for a couple of years, and my mom has been his only caregiver during this time. It has been very difficult on her, but it has also kept her sharper because she has had to be so responsible. Unfortunately, the last few weeks my mom has gone through some major changes in her medications and she has taken a turn for the worse. She has developed a lot of the same symptoms as my dad and my cousin and nephew are becoming overworked by all their needs. My cousin suggested I come back for a month to either spend time with my mom while she still knew me or to help come up with a plan for them. This has been a heavy burden on me and I am really seeking the Lord for wisdom and guidance. My prayer is obviously for her to get better so they can remain in their home but also for her spiritually to trust God for her needs and to ask Him to help her. He is ultimately the one in control and if it is His will she will recover. Mark 11:24 says, “All the things you pray and ask for, believe you have received them and you will have them.” If things do not improve I am going to have to fly back to the states and meet with my brother and figure out the next steps. I know God has a plan and he says in His Word “That he will not leave me or forsake me,” so I am trusting Him that He will show me the way. Please join me in praying for a miracle!

Balance

2009-03-30T02:45:00.000+12:00

I know in the game of life we are supposed to have that perfect balance between work, family, and recreation. For most people, it is never a complete circle it usually looks like a broken wheel. In one of the Grassroots classes we took, we had to place a dot on a line in each category on the wheel and then draw the circle connecting the dots. Needless to say it looked worse than a broken wheel. There is a line in a movie that said, “All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy.” We have really been struggling with feeling like we have to work 24/7 because there is so much need, but it has finally caught up with us. We have an every Wednesday night Bible study that is going great and we have a set date every Monday with some friends to get together. Today Mike and I hiked about 5 miles around a mountain top and looked down on the beach and the community that we live and work in. It is so breathtaking. These are the moments when we just want to Thank You God for allowing us to work here. We have the beauty mixed in with the poverty. The last few Sundays we would come home after church and work and then our evenings would be filled with answering e-mails etc. for volunteers. We have some decisions we have to make about how much we are trying to take on and we ask you to pray for us to make the right ones. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by telling them we can’t take on anymore work load, but the reality of it is we can’t do it. The volunteer teams have increased again for this year we had 19 teams last year and we have 31 teams committed to coming this year. We also have 39 long and short term vols planned for this year and it is only April. To top it all off my parents are not doing well and this puts a lot of stress on family. Please pray that the medication that they have switched my mom to will help her with her early to moderate stages of Alzheimer’s. My dad is already under 24 hour care with my mom so if she progresses, it will force us to have to make even tougher decisions. Thanks for your prayers and support we feel them here.

Days Gone By

2009-03-21T22:33:00.000+12:00

As I realize how long it has been I am amazed at how quickly the days have gone by. Last year Avril asked me if I would give an oral hygiene presentation to all of our prevention staff and it finally came to fruition over the last couple of Friday’s. I spent a lot of time writing the presentation on Power Point and it was awesome the way God hooked me up with a local hygienist to help me get the brushes, toothpaste etc. to give to them. I was very much in my element doing this even though I had never done a presentation like this before. They were excited to learn so much about their dental health and didn’t realize how much the health of their teeth and gums related to the rest of the body.
We have also been working diligently at getting the new website up for Living Hope. We have had a volunteer here for a week helping us to set it up and put it together. She is going to maintain the site for us back in the States and this is such a huge answer to prayer. We also had another volunteer that came in to serve wherever she was needed and it turned out she works for World Vision and has worked with streamlining over 30,000 volunteers. Needless to say we have asked her to help us put together the volunteer portion of the website to take it to the next level. The website is www.livinghope.co.za
We have to consider some tough decisions with my parents so please pray for us. Pray for wisdom and guidance. My mom had to get off the medication that she was taking for memory and within a matter of days she has digressed quickly. My Father already has Alzheimer’s and needs my mom to take care of him. Financially there are some big issues at hand. My strength comes from the Lord and I know that in His timing he will give me the direction I need.

God usually knows how to get our attention

2009-03-03T07:52:00.001+12:00

Sometimes we don’t understand why God allows things to happen in our lives, but looking back on situations we generally get the picture that He was looking out for our best interest. As I watched the Dow Jones Industrial trickle down like a time bomb today, I can’t help but wonder what God is up to? There are so many elderly people including my parents and mother in law who are losing so much in the stock market and they are asking should we pull out before it hits rock bottom. Most investors and people our age say, “You can’t pull out now there would be no way you could ever get back what you lost.” The truth of the matter is it was never ours to begin with. It is all God’s! His desire is for us to be good stewards of what money he has entrusted to us for the short time we are on this earth. I learned this lesson about 2 ½ years ago that God will use whatever controls us the most to turn us back to him. We have friends and family who are losing their jobs, homes and everything they have invested in the stock market. God is trying to get our attention!! We must turn back to Him and ask for help in time of need. This is what He is up to! Most of us think we can make it in our own power but the reality is we can do nothing without a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. America is serving money and I believe God is taking drastic measures to turn our eyes back on Him. He will allow the United States to fall to its knees and ask for forgiveness so that His ways are made known to all. He will use people, including people like President Bush and Obama, to get the attention of His People. Mike and I learned through the Crown Financial Bible Study that we did about 4 years ago, that there are over 2350 verses in the Bible about money or possessions and the only thing talked about more is love. Jesus knew that there would be many issues over money and that is why we must look to the word of God for instructions on living a life the way God would have us live. He promises us in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” I am so passionate about this time in our lives and I pray that God will use this to draw His people back. If you are one of the many that are struggling in these tough times, may you turn your eyes upon Jesus! God disciplines us for our good. Matthew 6:25-34 gives the best advice. Do not worry about tomorrow.

We have answered the call to starting a small group with a group of people from Zimbabwe.

2009-02-21T17:30:00.000+12:00

After much prayer, and the decision to get started, we finally answered the call to starting a Bible study with the Zim group. Wednesday night was our first meeting and we had 12 people show up, 9 men and 3 women. We talked about the guidelines and the expectations and asked them how many more might join us next week. They said maybe 3 or 4 more. The truth of it is it could be a lot more than that. We asked them if we should close the class once we get started and one of the guys said, “No, God’s house should be open to everyone.” We must be prepared to take on that challenge. We have a small building on the Living Way campus that we have named our Chapel and intend to use it every Wednesday at 11:00 for prayer and service and in the evenings for our Bible Study. It will hold about 50 people but we don’t have that many chairs yet! Our first study will be from a book that we got from Brentwood Baptist titled, The Call to Follow Christ.” It will give them something tangible to work from and it guides them through an everyday commitment to memorizing scripture and praying. We also asked them how many didn’t have Bibles and 4 people raised their hands. We have the awesome opportunity to give 4 gifts of Bibles next week. I also praised them for having 9 men to show up for the group. I told them it is the men who are to be the leaders for their families and they were setting a good example. They were encouraged. Please join us in praying for this group of people only one out of the 12 has some sort of steady work and she only has 3 days. The rest are desperate to have jobs. They moved here from Zimbabwe to get away from the horrible conditions but there just isn’t enough work to go around. We hope they will go through our training classes at Living Way to give them a head start into the work place.

A Visit from President Bush’s Press Secretary

2009-02-19T17:12:00.000+12:00

We have been told for about 8mths that Dana Perino, President Bush’s Press Secretary and Assistant, would be visiting us here at Living Hope to see all the things we have going on and to write an article for one of the major magazines. Well Saturday evening during our Valentine’s dinner, John Thomas calls us to say, “Dana and her husband Peter will be arriving on Sunday evening could you please make a plan for them for the next 2 weeks and give them the VIP tour on Monday.” Well first off everyone gets the VIP tour when Mike does it, but we told him we would do it. It turned out to be a tour for 9 people. They specifically wanted to come and visit as “Dana and Peter” and didn’t want to be considered as anything more than that! It always amazes me when I see people on TV, I think wow, they have it all together or wow, I could never be like that person. The truth of it is we all can be anything we want to be if we set our heart and mind to it and seek the Lord for His wisdom and guidance. Dana told us a story about how she got to where she is now. Starting at the age of 8, her Dad made her read 2 political articles in the newspaper every day after she got home from school. When he arrived home from work and they all sat down for dinner, she would tell him the 2 articles that she read and this would be their topic of conversation around the dinner table. Now to me that sounds “boring” but for her it helped to put her in the White House. They have had a great time so far and plan to stay for 2 weeks total. We have many opportunities to spend time with them during the work day at Living Hope but they invited us to go out to dinner tonight and we are looking forward to it!

Living Way Campus is coming alive

2009-02-15T06:24:00.002+12:00

A lot of us have worked like crazy to get the campus to a place that is presentable for our community open house in a couple of weeks. Richard, the general manager, and John Thomas the visionary, have been in the states fundraising for us like crazy. We had a college team here from Delaware that spent lots of hours moving everything imaginable and cleaning about 6mths worth of neglect. We have had 10 locals’ to work alongside of us for the last couple of weeks and it has been great being able to pay them when most of the time they are sitting along the side of the road looking for work or at home in their shacks because there aren’t enough jobs available. Unfortunately all that must come to an end. We have shot our “wad” as they say in the states. We want to ask you to pray with us to find the provisions needed to keep up the site and the right people for the jobs. We need to be able to have a couple of people full time to keep the grounds maintained and a cleaning person so that we don’t have to go back in a few months and start all over. Maintenance is so much easier!! We have a couple of individual volunteers one from Georgia and one from the UK. Jeremy, from Dalton Ga., has felt called to be the site manager for the time he is here that is a big help to us right now. They have been awesome in working with us to be mentors to these guys and girls and sharing the love of Christ through prayer and just spending time working with them. I am always amazed at how God provides for all of our needs and I have faith that He will do so once again. Thanks for your prayers and support.
I added a photo of our computer classroom because I found it so amazing that the colors already painted in the room were the Living Way colors. God has team spirit! That was one room we didn’t have to paint inside!!

Hat’s off to the Ladies at Steeplechase

2009-02-15T06:15:00.000+12:00

Hat’s off to the ladies who have spent many hours making toboggans for the poverty stricken people of South Africa. Hat’s on to the people of South Africa who will be sporting a new toboggan come winter time. Mike’s mom lives in a retirement facility in Tennessee and she was telling the ladies about her trip to Cape Town last October. One of the ladies, Jackie Ogilvie, had an idea to make toboggans for the folks here who can’t afford warm things especially for their heads. They have been working hard to make them just in time for the winter season coming up. We are excited that they have partnered with us to show the love of Christ through the works of their hands. May God bless all the ladies and continue to give them the gifts and abilities to serve Him in all they do. Thanks to Monna, Mike’s mom, for sharing the need to all your friends.

A New Twist in Our Schedule

2009-02-02T05:50:00.001+12:00

The new twist is only for a day. We are having a party at our place that doesn’t begin until 10:30pm. Yes, it is Super Bowl Sunday, but we will be watching the game live at 1:00am on Monday morning. We have 4 individual volunteers here now and we are going to make chili and have chips and dips just like we would do in America. We are able to get similar foods here; however, rotel and ranch dressing (Hidden Valley of course) were brought over from the states. Danielle is bringing the rotel and the Ranch dressing she is obviously in charge of the comfort foods. Of course, one of the main reasons everyone looks forward to the Super Bowl is the commercials! We are not sure we will be getting them but we hope to. Some of our South African friends, co workers, are over for the conference at Brentwood Baptist and they are going to get to see what all the hype is about. They will be telling us about the commercials if we don’t get to see them. We had planned to take a short nap but that didn’t work out so we will have to make it for the duration. Mike and I are rooting for the underdog! Hope everyone enjoys Super Bowl Sunday.

Three weeks at a glance

2009-01-30T07:42:00.000+12:00

As most of you know, when you go away for a holiday you come back with stacks of paperwork on your desk from being gone for a week or two. Well with us being gone a month you can only imagine. We have been backed up with work since we arrived. We had a team from Delaware already on the ground and we have managed to work every day since we have been back. We did get the new property at Living Way and because the college knew they were leaving they left us with a huge mess to clean up. Luckily this team of students has had lots of energy and provision to employ some locals to come along side and help us get it cleaned up and painted so we can focus on getting the classes started. Mike will be talking about all of the details of the property in the newsletter. We did get to celebrate Mike’s birthday. I gave him a surprise birthday party at the office and then we cut out a couple of hours early and went to a restaurant that was rumored to have great cheeseburgers. I must say they were good!
The wedding that God orchestrated was a huge success! It was this past Saturday and the bride and groom are still smiling. It is sad to see them living in such poverty, but at least they got to have a “real” fairytale wedding and honeymoon night. We picked them up the next day and took them back to their shack and it wasn’t long before reality set in. Blessing decided to walk by herself to her dad’s and was wearing her engagement ring and band, when three young men came up to her with a knife and demanded her rings. She refused to give them to them and took off running. She ran to one of the shacks and began banging on the door and the people that lived there let her in. The boys and some girls were laughing because they knew how scared she was. It is awful to have to live in these townships and have to deal with stuff like this every day. Brian had given her the engagement ring the week before and I asked her why she hadn’t been wearing her ring and she said, “Because someone will steal it from me.” I thought surely not, but I was proven wrong, it took less than a week.
This coming Saturday we have an all day seminar on training trainers in thinking skills. This is the last of the Grassroots classes that began back in October. We are looking forward to implementing the course at Living Way. It is designed to help us help the locals how to write affirmations, build up their self -esteem and see beyond anything they could ever imagine. Of course, we always reap some of the benefits.
We are looking forward to the next few weeks as we will begin getting our classes ready to start. Please pray for us to get all of the curriculum written and that we will find other people to help us train. We want to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us and it all starts with the right people for the jobs.

Stuff

2009-01-10T08:26:00.000+12:00

I am presently reading a book titled, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, by John Ortberg. When we were packing in Nashville we were 12lbs. over weight in our luggage and had to leave some “stuff” behind. (Jif to be exact!) When we arrived at the Nashville airport, we realized our scales were not exact and in order to keep from paying overage for every bag, we put all the extra “stuff” in one. This cost $50.00. After all, this was our “stuff” and we didn’t want to do without it. Now we are being asked to pay a penalty in London for our extra “stuff” to board South African Airlines. The fee here is 259 pounds, translated into $ 417 US. Ok, now is my stuff really worth it? Yes! We must make it home with the rest of our “stuff.” The ticket agent advises us we can take a purse/backpack, in addition to the one’s we already have on our back and save the $417 fee. Now we have bought more “stuff” to keep our “stuff” in, ($30 US) but we didn’t have to pay that ridiculous fee!!! This is supposed to be a funny story but at the same time it’s a sad one. We all think we need so much to make us happy but the truth is all that we have won’t go with us when we die. The book is based around playing the game of Monopoly, but it is really about the game of life and when we finish the game those pieces go back in the box. I am reminded that it is not about “stuff,” but it is about keeping our eye on the true prize, Jesus Christ, and looking forward to eternal life.

The Time has come to an End

2009-01-06T01:30:00.000+12:00

The last 2 weeks have been spent with our families for Christmas and New Year’s and we have had a wonderful time with everyone. Now our time has come to an end and it is sad to say its time to go. We have met new friends, enjoyed seeing old ones on New Year’s Eve, and look forward to what God has in store for 2009. We are actually leaving today and want to say thanks to everyone who made this trip such a success. We couldn’t have made it without the support of friends and family. We were blessed to stay with friends in their beautiful home with great hospitality. We were blessed with a car to use for the entire month from a couple we had never met. What a witness and inspiration they are! We were blessed with gift cards from various places, Cracker Barrel for one; you can’t get that kind of cooking in South Africa! We were blessed with our team/church that surrounds us to have great fellowship and plans for the future and we were blessed to meet some people from a small church in Alabama that may consider supporting us this year. The list goes on and on! We have especially enjoyed being at our home church for a month. The candlelight service on Christmas Eve touches my heart every time. Just knowing that Jesus is alive and living within us gives me great peace and joy in my heart!! We will miss everyone and be looking forward to next December, but we know that God is in control and will take care of all things. Much love to all and we ask that you pray for our safety as we travel back to Cape Town.

A Prophet Without Honor

2008-12-23T04:14:00.001+12:00

Being home with family and friends for the holidays has been such a blessing for us. We have had time with my parents and brother and nephew and a new addition, Kaylee, who is 2 ½. We have had Christmas with Mike’s children and some one on one with a couple of them. We intend to spend some time this week with Mike’s mom and sister and their family, and we will go back to visit and begin the rounds again on Christmas Day night. This becomes a difficult time because this is our last visit until next Christmas and we love our parents, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, children and grandchildren and realize how difficult it is on everyone. For us the hardest part about being home is the pressure from our families wanting us to be next door. We have family scattered in 3 states and each one wants us to be there for them. We must be where God wants us to be no matter what the cost. In Luke 18:29-30 (“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”) We are reminded that we are to follow Christ for the sake of the kingdom of God and Mike and I know we are to be obedient to His calling. Make no mistake, Jesus promises His followers a hard time: deception, war, disasters, persecution, treachery and death. But it is hope that enables us to resist and stand firm. Mark 6:4 says, Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor. Even Jesus struggled in His hometown. Please pray for us during this time that they would be renewed by God’s love and grace. Pray they would realize their void isn’t us but it is the relationship with Jesus they are missing. Jesus is the only one that can fill the void they all are longing for. When they have this right then all of the other relationships will fall into place. Thanks for your prayers and may God Bless you this holiday season.

Our first week and a half back, and all the foods we have missed!

2008-12-18T16:15:00.000+12:00

Wow, I can’t believe it has already been a week. Our first night, we were blessed with “pepperoni” pizza at Mike’s sisters house. Sure we can get pizza and even make homemade pizza’s but we can’t get pepperoni so that was one of those must have’s on the list. Of course the next thing was “Las Palmas” for lunch on Saturday. That was sooooo good! We took Mike’s mom with us but she didn’t understand how much we had missed this place. We met with our team on Saturday night and that was combination of many things we couldn’t get in SA, including a honey baked ham, everything was so yummy! Sunday we left after church to go to visit the kids, grandkids, and my parents. Mike and I made our usual stop in Murfreesboro at Krystal’s. We still have a few favorites in Nashville to visit when we get back but for the most part we have satisfied all those cravings. Being at my parents place for a week we have also fulfilled some of those ice cream cravings; Blue Bell, dutch chocolate and moose tracks. We still need to visit our favorites; marble slab and maggie moo’s but we have some time to do that before we leave in January.
Our visits this week have been great too! We stopped on the way to my parents to visit with all the kids and grandkids. We can’t believe how big they have gotten and some we had to take a double look to be sure they were who we thought they were. Everyone looked great and are doing well. We came on to my parents and have had a great time with them. My nephew was also with us this week and he introduced us to a new addition to the family, her name is Kaylee. Mike and I are now a great Aunt and Uncle. Mike left and went back on Wednesday to spend a couple of days with his kids while I stayed and visited with my family. My brother flew in on Friday and we had one night where we were all together. We drove back to Nashville on Saturday and have stayed put for a couple of days to handle all of our personal stuff this week. We will leave tomorrow to go have Christmas with the kids and grandkids and then return on Saturday. Pray with us that our time here with friends and family will be peaceful and enjoyable as this past week and a half has been.

Almost Home

2008-12-07T03:49:00.001+12:00

I am writing this on the London to Chicago flight, on our way back for Christmas. The first flight from Cape Town to London flew by. We slept almost all of the way. London to Chicago has been quite the challenge. We have watched all the movies we want to watch and we still have 4 hrs to go. It has been a day flight which makes it seem so much longer. Our last 2 weeks have been spent training for business in agriculture and learning about training our minds to have positive affirmations in all that we do.This is part of the grassroots training that we plan to use in Living Way to train others. We celebrated Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. We had about 13 people, 10 Americans, 2 South Africans and 1 Canadian over to our place and we had a fabulous time. We made a couple of turkeys, and sides and everyone brought something to go with it. We also got to watch a football game (it was a week old but that was ok) and then Danielle brought A Charlie Brown Christmas just to help us kick off the season. We didn’t have black Friday, thank goodness, but we did go Christmas shopping on Saturday. We have had a couple of Christmas parties this week and everyone was telling us that we better come back. We got an awesome letter from Khumi, she runs the bag business , and I laminated it in order to preserve it. It made us want to cry. She has been such a light for me and Mike and a joy to be around. We also said our goodbyes to our Zimbabwean friends and gave them a box of traditional “crackers” for Christmas. This is a South African family tradition. You get these cheap gifts wrapped tightly in a tube, then everyone pulls on the wrapper,like a piece of bubble gum, and the crackers make a popping sound when you open it and a silly gift falls out of the package. It sounds so simple, but we know this will make about 24 people who can’t afford gifts at Christmas very happy! We got all of the volunteers sorted before we left and look forward to some new ones when we get back. We both have to have strategic plans in place for 09, so we have been working on this while we fly. By the time you read this we will have already had a pepperoni pizza from Roma’s and been to Las Palmas for lunch (neither of these can you get in South Africa). We have been looking forward to this for a couple of months. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and being at home for the holidays. The hardest part is we left a beautiful summer day to come back to winter. As we land in Chicago, there is snow on the ground. Oh well, it wouldn’t seem like Christmas if it wasn’t cold and snowing.

“God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called!”

2008-12-07T03:48:00.001+12:00

We can be tempted to say, “This is what I do for God,” and stay there. Some people are called to a specific task for a lifetime, but God may call us to a new work. When He does, we can learn from the church at Antioch: A church that runs members off is one that follows the Spirit’s direction.
If we stay in the same place for a lifetime that is ok, as long as we are in God’s will, but if He asks us to move we must be obedient to the call. I am so thankful He called me to a new work. When God intersected our lives in 2006 I knew our lives were about to change. How much? I didn’t know. Looking back I can see now a lot. Brentwood Baptist has been instrumental in helping us to achieve all God has for us, it certainly is a church that follows the Spirit’s direction and we are very grateful to be a part of it.
I have been asked to take the lead for our Savings Clubs in 2009 and don’t feel that I have the qualifications to make this happen. I know with Christ, I can do all things and realize I must lean on Him for all of this to happen. A friend of mine told me this quote, at the top, a while back to remind me that He does the calling and I must trust Him for the equipment. I believe in my heart that this is exactly what He is doing with me for 09. As I talked this over with the manager of Living Way, Richard, a couple of days ago he basically made the same statement in a different way. He said 5 years down the road when you look back on your accomplishments here in South Africa, you will be amazed at all the things you learned that you didn’t ever dream of doing before. This is so true, I have been given so much opportunity for growth outside of my realm of dental hygiene and it truly brings joy to my heart. Who would have ever thought I could learn how to do so much with a computer, but I have. I had no intention of ever going into farming, but I am learning. I never dreamed of managing a bakery, but I am going to. I never thought I could take the lead to train trainers to present Savings clubs to churches and support group facilitators, but I intend to. The list goes on! I was certainly not equipped when God called me to do these things but I was willing and obedient and for that He has blessed me with so much. I ask that you pray with me as I have lots to look forward to in 09. Pray that he will equip me with all I need to serve Him.

Answered Prayer

2008-11-07T04:05:00.001+12:00

We have great news to tell. We have a new home for Living Way! We have been praying earnestly for this land and Pastor John and The general manager of Living Way, Richard Lundie, met with the board on Monday to decide on who would get it. The school for the handicapped was the other main player in the decision. Initially, when negotiations first started, they wanted us to share the property equally with the school. We both knew that we might be able to share right now but within a year or two both parties would be able to fill the site. This would have left someone having to look for another space. During negotiations a couple of weeks ago, the school for the handicapped told the city council they would fight hard to get access to all of the property and did not want to share it with us. This left us all feeling like we might need to look somewhere else because they had brought a group of people from the Western Province Dept. of Education to back up their proposal. On Monday when they met, the school for the handicapped miraculously withdrew their offer and we were awarded all of the property. Richard and John were very surprised but very excited. We did agree to help with some work creation for some of the handicapped but they would only take up 1 or 2 classrooms. There is no other explanation except God heard our request and answered our prayer. We have asked so many people to help us pray and we want to thank you for your support. We now have begun the real challenge of putting the property to work for the Glory of God. It is His to give us and we want to be good stewards of what He gives. We have 1 more hurdle that could take up to six months and that is for the city council to decide on the length of time we can lease the property. We want to begin making it our home with tidying up and putting some root downs, so pray for them to come up with that decision quickly.

How God has Answered Our Prayers

2008-11-03T01:59:00.002+12:00

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5 (NIV)
Lord my God, You have done many things—Your wonderful works and Your plans for us; none can compare with You. If I were to report and speak of them, they are more than can be told.
—Psalm 40:5 (HCSB)

This was one of the devotions from Brentwood this week and it got me thinking. As we are preparing to come back for Christmas, we are reminded of all the things we are thankful for and how God has answered our prayers in the last 10 months. Our blog has become our journal so I will look back over it and sum it up in one. As the scripture speaks above, there are more than can be told. This will be longer than normal because we couldn’t fit it all in a newsletter.
• Provision-God has been so faithful in providing all of our needs. We have been blessed that he has raised up people in our church, people outside of our church and members of our family that have supported us either financially or in prayer. He has met every need just as He promises.
• Relationships- This has been one of our biggest prayer requests. We wanted to have meaningful relationships with the local people. We could get involved with the church and be in a cell group, but this isn’t the group we felt God wanted us to be in. We felt called to building relationships in the townships. We thought we would be building relationships with the Xosha speaking people from South Africa but God has had a different plan for us. When we moved in to our flat we needed some help getting our furniture up the stairs, and so we asked someone at our church if they knew of anyone. The maintenance man told us of a young man named Washington from Zimbabwe, who was helping him, some at the church. We met Washington and asked if he had someone that could help him. He said he would get his brother-in-law, Brian, who was really not his brother-in-law by marriage as you will read later on. We picked them up at the church and brought them to our house. We didn’t know anything about them but quickly learned they were hard workers and desired more for their lives. We have had weekly acquaintances with them and about 15 to 20 others every week since then. About a month ago, we learned in most of the African cultures that couples that want to get married have to pay a “bride price” to the girls’ parents in order for them to get married. This has resulted in most people living together and having children because they can’t afford the price. At church last Sunday, the Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart the need for this particular couple, Brian and Blessing, to get married. They have a 3 yr old son, Keith, who we want to see grow up in a home with parents who are married. As we stood in the atrium after church, I talked with them about work and they told me they wanted to earn extra money so they could pay their “bride price” so they can get married. I shared with them about the Holy Spirit impressing that same thing on my heart and we are moving forward to plan a wedding for them in Jan 2009. We have asked them to make a list of all the things they need. I spoke with Pastor John today and asked him if he would be willing to perform the ceremony. He said sure and we can find a dress, and have a reception at little or no cost to them. God is so good. I don’t remember “wedding planner” in my list of gifts, but I am really excited. I believe they will be the model for the marriage God intends for all the Zimbabweans that are living together in these same situations. We may also begin a cell group with them after the first of the year. We are still seeking the Lord for the answer to that prayer.
• Protection- In a place where people are fleeing because of all the crime that takes place, we have been protected and secured by our Loving Father. We faithfully ask for this in prayer every night!
• Blessings of friends and family from the States- We have had multitudes of people from the US here working with us, not only from our home church but from all across the country. We have had many special requests sent to us via the Brentwood Teams that have come. Last but not least, we were very fortunate to have Mike’s mom and sister come to visit us for 10 days in September.
• Beauty- Words can not describe the beauty of Cape Town, South Africa. We prayed for God to send us somewhere near the ocean or where we could at least see the water, and he gave us 2 oceans to look at! He has given us a beautiful place to call home for now.
• Ministry-We initially prayed for separate ministries, but soon realized after we got here that the Living Hope ministry would take both of us to get it running smoothly. I believe God has answered that prayer for us as we are fine tuning it in preparation for someone to take it over after the first of next year. The Living Way ministry has so much potential for each one of us to flourish in our own capacities and we have been using our gifts and talents to get Living Way off the ground. As you read our newsletter, you will see all of the accomplishments of this year with both ministries. We are still praying for the property for Living Way and they have a meeting this Monday to possibly determine the outcome. It isn’t looking good for us to gain the entire property because they want us to share it with a handicapped school. We feel like we could use the whole property. God knows what we need and don’t need and it is in His hands. Please pray for Living Way and for us on Monday. The scripture says I couldn’t begin to tell you all the things God has done for us and this is so true. The individual blogs that have been written since we got here tells most. We are just so thankful and so blessed that God is using us in a mighty way for His Kingdom and His Glory. We are looking forward to visiting the states in December and hope to see as many people as we can. May God bless each of you that reads this!

Jesus tells us to have faith in God and to pray believing that it will be answered. I will be the first to tell you if you are in Gods’ will and you are asking according to His purposes they will be answered. Mark 11:24 says, “All the things you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” These are just some of our answered prayers.

What’s going on in our World?

2008-10-27T04:22:00.000+12:00

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

2008-10-16T05:54:00.000+12:00

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

2008-10-09T01:54:00.002+12:00

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

2008-10-09T00:51:00.000+12:00

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.

Mike’s mom and sister have come and gone and BBC is here

2008-09-30T07:46:00.000+12:00

We had a great visit with Monna and Shay. The weather held out for us. When we planned to be outside sight seeing it would be a beautiful day and when we needed to rest it would rain. They got to visit all the local spots and see all the places where we work. Now they really understand our ministry here and know how to pray for us.
When we took them to the airport on Friday, we walked them over to the departure gates kissed and hugged goodbye and literally turned around and walked over to the arriving gates and met the Brentwood Team arriving for a week. We have had a great time when them so far and today was their first day of ministry. We have a construction team that is redoing the kitchen in Muizenberg at Living Grace. A landscaping team at Living Grace, a smaller construction team at Ocean view working on repairs, a retreat team taking the healthcare workers overnight for some TLC, 2 IT guys working at all the branches and about 20+ Vacation Bible School teachers working with all the Life Skill educators during holiday (kids) clubs this week. There are 31 people in all.
Once again it is always such a blessing to have our extended church family here in Cape Town. It is so neat to see God at work in the lives of the people who come here for the first time. They are so amazed at what they see. I get just as excited about seeing God at work around us and we have been here 8mths now.
Our entrepreneur class is turning in their assignments this week and we are getting geared up for the next class in a couple of weeks. We still haven’t heard about the property for Living Way, but we are still praying for it. Great things just keep happening. One of the team members brought us 10 laptops to be used for our mobile computer training class that we will now be able to get started. He also brought 2 other computers to be used for volunteers that come and for Living Way. We serve such a cool God!!!!!!! Thanks for believing in us.........until next time.

Seems like forever

2008-09-16T06:36:00.002+12:00

Ok, so it seems like forever since I wrote anything. I know it has been 3 weeks or so. After returning from our long adventurous drive, we jumped right back into our ministries head first. We have had 3 teams here and another individual volunteer to come in during this time frame. Pastor John had asked me if I would cover for his PA while she was on holiday for 2 weeks and I told him I would. What I didn’t foresee was all the work that was about to come over me. A US AID conference was planned while Tracey was away and I was the person who had to be sure all the I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed. It was a 3 day conference with some high profile people and needless to say the pressure was on. With the help of a lot of people it was a great success. The conference itself was helping to network existing HIV/AIDS organizations with the funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and US AID. It also gave some of the smaller organizations an opportunity to link up with bigger organizations to begin sharing the same information on a new database that would help them to gain knowledge and understanding of how the funding works. All of this ended last week.
This week we have started our second Entrepreneur class. We learned a lot from the pilot class we completed in August. We have 10 people in our class this time and we are setting different boundaries with them to be sure they really want to be entrepreneurs.
The biggest news for Living Way right now is we may finally have a place we can call home. (This is the work creation, & economic empowerment program for those that don't remember) We are in prayer for this awesome property that has been put before us but we have to go through a lot of hoops to be able to call it ours. It is unbelievable and words cannot describe it! The fire marshal came to our offices at Living Hope last week and sited us for numerous things but one of the big ones was the sewing class and computer class that we have in the multi-purpose centre. They basically shut the class down because of the wooden flooring and all of the extension cords running to the computers and the sewing machines, but we at Living Way, wanted to work hard at figuring out a way to allow them to still be able to have class. Mike and Richard have worked diligently with John to try and get temporary residency for these 2 classes at the new property. We received the go ahead today to move in temporarily. However, this doesn’t mean that we have the property because there are other people still trying to bid on it. For those of you who know the history of all the buildings of Living Hope, this would be another one of those miraculous stories that we tell on our tours. Richard, Mike and I have already picked out our offices, so you could say we have named it and claimed it!!! We will keep you updated but right now we need your prayers for the property. They will let us know in 4-6 weeks.
Lastly, Mike’s mom and sister are flying in this Wednesday to stay for 10 days so we will be flying under the radar at work and spending some time with them. We are very excited to see them and look forward to sharing with them all of the things that we love about Cape Town. We thank you for your continued prayers and support. Blessings!!!!!!

God’s Favor

2008-08-26T01:33:00.001+12:00

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

2008-08-12T07:50:00.001+12:00

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

2008-08-03T01:54:00.002+12:00

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.

The Volunteers are dwindling, but not without seeing amazing changes in peoples lives.

2008-07-23T19:47:00.001+12:00

We have had as many as 15 individual volunteers and 2 teams, one with17 the other with 7, here at the same time. We have been very busy making sure they get to where they are suppose to go and happy with their assignments. It has been a great journey for us thus far. We had 3 individuals in particular who were scheduled to go to Zimbabwe through the partnership that we work with called ACTS. Because of all the trouble that was going on there, ACTS had to relocate them about 2 weeks before they arrived. They asked us if we could find some work for them to do. Mike received a phone call from one of the volunteers out at the refugee camp just days before this and asked if we had any teachers available. As you may know where I am going with, it just so turned out that 2 of the 3 girls that were supposed to go to Zimbabwe were teachers from Tennessee! God had already arranged a place for these girls to work. (not a coincidence). They had a great 2 weeks and one of the girls was really allowing Jesus to work in her heart and He was revealing so much to her. She had been sprinkled as a baby but had never been baptized and really felt like the Lord wanted her to do that before she left. She asked Mike and me if we would help to make that happen. We spoke with the associate pastor at King of Kings and he suggested Mike do it since he knew her. Mike asked her if she would like to do it and she was thrilled. We made a plan and had the baptism in the tidal pool in the ocean where we had Easter Sunrise service. It was a new opportunity for Mike and a new beginning for her! What an awesome mighty God we serve.

Just the little things God does

2008-07-16T08:06:00.001+12:00

Writing these blogs helps me to be reminded of the little things God does. It is like keeping a journal that I can look back on and see where He has worked in our lives each week. Over the last couple of weeks, we have really been discouraged with the car we bought because it was not the right car for the ministry we are doing. We initially thought we would need 2 cars going in 2 separate directions with 2 different ministries as it has turned out we are working together in both ministries. The first car we bought was a very small 2 door that would have been just fine for me but not for Mike. Once we realized we weren’t getting a second car we decided we needed something with 4 doors and a little bigger to transport people around in and easier for Mike to get in and out of! We thought we found the perfect car, but it was sold out from under us even with a contract! Last week we went into our friend that sold us the first car and he had another car that he thought we would like, and we did, but we realized that wasn’t the right car. The next car he wanted us to look at was what we would call, a mini-mini van. John Thomas has one similar to it and we drove his car one day and put 6 people in it comfortably, so we thought maybe we should look at this one. After test driving it we knew this was the car but it was a little out of our price range. We turned it over to the Lord in prayer and in just a couple of days we had 3 people to step up and offer to help pay for the shortfall of funds for the car and we got exactly what we needed. Time and time again God reveals himself through so many different things but especially in His provision for our needs.
As of today, we have taken possession of our new (used) car! Thanks to the folks that the Holy Spirit nudged to help us to get this car!

How grateful we are for YWAM’s teachings

2008-07-10T06:46:00.001+12:00

We are so amazed at how often we use something that we learned last year while in Fiji.
Being exposed to different denominations was so difficult for me last year and I really dealt with some rebellion and unbelief about their teachings, but as always God was just preparing us for what lies ahead when He takes us through these trials. We are visiting other churches in different communities and it is so much easier for us to be able to go into these churches praising the Lord with an open mind.
We dealt with other tough situations such as leadership skills and strict guidelines and now we find ourselves in the same situations with handling volunteers and recognizing that we don’t want to be to controlling of what God has planned for them. This forces us to remember how we felt and to be sensitive to their needs while they are here.
Each week, I plan devotions for our entrepreneurial support group. 2 years ago I would have told you there is no way I can do this but because I had to do things like this in YWAM, it makes it easier for me to do this now.
When were first got here we were meeting with the Life Skill Educators each week and teaching them a skit to use at kid’s club. We haven’t been able to go for about 6 weeks, but we really didn’t feel like we were making a difference. Well just today, we went to one of the holiday clubs and as we were getting ready to leave, one of the LSE’s asked us if we would do a skit for the kids and off the cuff we taught them a skit and performed it in front of 50 kids. It was great and when we got in the car. I said now that is what it’s all about. Mike knew exactly what I was talking about. God used us for His purpose! We tell people almost on a daily basis, if they have an opportunity to do a DTS (discipleship training school) with YWAM, do it! It will change your life. Thanks again for your continued support and prayers in this awesome time of our lives.

4th of July in Cape Town

2008-07-05T06:20:00.002+12:00

Well it’s not fireworks and hotdogs or even a day off. We are having the heaviest rains we have had all year. Even though we are working today we did take a day off this week.
This past Monday we spent the last day with the first group of volunteers, mostly from Nashville, going Shark Cage Diving. Now this isn’t something Mike and I would have suggested for things to do, but they were young and adventurous and we said, “so are we let’s go.” We started out at 6 am and we rode about 2 hours up the East coast. We watched the sun come up and got to the place for breakfast and briefing before heading to the boat. They were telling us there would be a good chance that people would be sea sick because of the rough seas. We were prepared we had pills left over from Fiji and took them when we left home. I did bring more incase they were needed. Thank goodness we didn’t get sick. The seas were choppy but it was a beautiful day about 65 degrees and we all had a lot of adrenaline pumping. We were headed to see Great White Sharks! South Africa is one of the Capitals for Great Whites. Upon arrival we dropped anchor and they advised us to go ahead and get our wetsuits on while they chummed the water to draw in the sharks. We were only there a couple of minutes when the first shark swam by. Normally it could take up to 45 minutes to see the first one. It was unbelievable! They were about 15 ft. long and the dive master was saying these were babies! We had a great time and a few got sick but all in all it was an awesome adventure. The pictures are a reflection of our fun and excitement and how Mighty is our God to create such a fascinating creature of the sea.

Reality of Life and Death and Eternal Life

2008-06-26T06:15:00.000+12:00

It is reality of life here on earth that we will attend funerals while living here. Mike and I attended our first funeral last week. It was a coworker’s husband who passed away. We worked with her in the same office and wanted to go. We didn’t know him but it was a very sweet celebration of his life and his death and this began to make me think about the importance of eternal life. We then had our friends who are missionaries in Liberia, Africa; send us an e-mail to say they had to fly back because his dad had only a few days left to live. Lastly, Mike’s ex father in law, the kids’ grandfather, passed away on Friday. With all of the deaths this past week, it made me realize how important it is to be sure people we know and people we don’t know have the opportunity to know who Jesus is and that He died on the cross for our sins and that He is alive now and desires to have a relationship with all of us. Fortunately, every one of these people had a personal relationship with the Lord so they know that they may have suffered in this life time but now have eternal life with Jesus in Heaven. For a lot of people they don’t have that assurance. I have never been afraid of death even when I was not living my life to serve God. I should have feared Him but I didn’ I knew in my heart when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior that I would spend eternal life with Him. What I didn’t really understand until I rededicated my life back to Him in 2000, is that He asks us to be obedient in all we do with our lives and wants us to be in His will not in rebellion. For those years that I rebelled, I made wrong choices and had to pay the consequences for them. God allowed the bad things to happen so that I would grow in my character and be who He created me to be and for His purposes. As death is so prevalent here with people dying of HIV/AIDS, it is so important to share the Word of God with people and let them know that they are forgiven for their past mistakes, that God is a loving God, but that they need to turn from their ways and allow Him to work in their lives. I know as we continue to build relationships with the people here that have HIV/AIDS that we will probably attend one or more of their funerals. We ask that you pray for the Holy Spirit to use us as His tools to deliver the message that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) and that we are the vessels by which lives are changed.

Driving Lessons

2008-06-19T05:00:00.000+12:00

Who is the best person for the job? Apparently, not me. (Pam) Last week, Danielle Schneider from Brentwood Baptist, asked me if I would teach her how to drive a stick shift. She is planning on being here for 1 year and realized she is going to have to get a car but will need to learn how to drive a stick and drive on the other side of the road. I told her sure we will look at doing it on Monday. Well Monday came and I took her over to an isolated dirt road and got out of the car and pulled up the emergency brake so the car wouldn’t roll on us. I said, “Danielle don’t let me forget the brake is on.”
She gets in the drivers side which is on the opposite side of the way we are used to getting in a car in America. We both started laughing and then she realizes that the mirrors were all backwards; the car was on the left side of the road, the floor had another pedal to deal with and she had to place her left hand on a gear shift and try to get the car going in a forward direction. We attempted many 1st gear starts and she got it going a couple of times but we didn’t get as far as we would have liked in our first lesson. We had a lot of laughs as many of you who know her could imagine. We then attempted reverse and I got a phone call right in the middle of all of this. I told her just keep trying while I take this call. I knew it would be hard because we were laughing so hard. While I was talking I looked down between the seats and realized the parking brake was still on. I was hysterically laughing at that point and told Danielle we might have gotten a lot further in our lesson if we had “taken the emergency brake off”. The little car was huffin and puffin and I couldn’t understand why! Now we know, I probably wasn’t the right person for the job but we had great fun and fellowship trying. I am going to persevere with her to the end but we are trying to trade cars and I don’t want the car to have to huff and puff too much. The car was making some weird noises and it could be like a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. I will keep you posted............

Update at Soetwater, the refugee camp

2008-06-10T22:28:00.002+12:00

The latest update from John is that the camp has gone on a hunger strike but not by choice. There was a lady that came on Saturday disguised as a UN person, but later found out she was from the Red Cross. This is what triggered some of them to take drastic means to try and get someone to listen to them. The Somalia’s have taken over the camp and want action to take place from either the UN or to be sent back home (repatriation-high cost to the govt.) or help to get back into their old communities. (This also is a high cost to the govt.) They don’t want either of the last two. They want to be sent to another country, such as America or Australia. The government doesn’t seem to want to have any involvement and so the people are trying to use desperate measures to get some attention. They have said no more volunteers aloud to come into the camps to provide food or help with medical attention. (This is a threat to outsiders) The women and children who don’t have a fight aren’t getting any food or medical attention and this is horrible for these folks. We have had special prayer times and heard news yesterday that there have been a lot of people coming to know the Lord because they have some pastors who have started worship and bible study and prayer groups within one of the tents set up out there. We know God allows bad things to happen in order to draw His people back to Him. Of the 3,100 hundred people out there 2,600 are Somalia’s, who are Muslim; the other 500 are from various countries. We pray that a revival would take place amongst all the refugees and lives could be changed. The newspaper yesterday, controlled by the government, reported yesterday that the UN had visited the camps and found people were trying to commit suicide by jumping into the very cold Atlantic waters. They said 4 people are missing but John said none of this has been confirmed yet. There was a picture of a man that had been pulled from the waters but don’t really know the whole story.
It is really difficult to understand what is right for everyone the refugees are here illegally and that is why the govt doesn’t want to spend Rands (Dollars) to incorporate them back into society. However, the moral issues and the Biblical Instruction in Isaiah 58: 6-10 tell us we must help the poor.
Mike and I have really been convicted about the issues concerning the illegal immigrants in the USA. It puts everything into perspective as we have witnessed first hand the oppression that they receive from other human beings. They are people too! I see now how our President, George Bush, has compassion for the people who have nothing to go back home to. They have no hope in life and struggle with sending them back to shacks and poor govt. and tough times in Central America. We don’t have a solution either but we can serve where we can and pray that God will’s is done all over the world.