Our last few weeks before coming home for Christmas

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.