God’s Favor

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

Days, Weeks, Months

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

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

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

Pastor John Thomas and President Bush

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Busyness

As I write this e-mail, I am reminded how Satan uses busyness to distract us from our fellowship with the Lord. Mike and I prayed early on that we wanted to be used for the Kingdom and asked God to help us to “get involved with community”. Well once again be careful what you ask for you might just get it. We have 12 individual volunteers, our Brentwood Leadership Team, and our Missions Minister, Scott Harris, all here at the same time. We also have Living Way really starting to take off in many different aspects and we are burning the candle at both ends. It has been wonderful to have our extended family from church here and a blessing to have Scott running around with us (running us around HA!) to really see all that we have going on at Living Hope, Way and Grace. We also had the ground breaking ceremony for the new chapel and Prevention building last Friday. That was a great time some of the children from Capricorn did a choreographed dance to some Christian music and the children from Masi sang a couple of local Christian songs. We both had a tear in our eye when the kids did this. We know this is what it is all about changing these kids lives and giving them hope and a future with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It was also a testimony to so many of the people that were here when Living Hope started (locals) and allowed them to see how it has grown and birthed new ministries from it.
We are very fortunate to have Mike’s nephew Aaron, who married us, down here with the team. He came over Sunday and spent the night with us and we hope he will come again before they leave. We also had a meeting today with all of the entrepreneurs from our class that we taught about 6 weeks ago and it was great. We had not had all of them together in our weekly meetings since the class. They had not gotten their business plan together as quickly as we would have liked, but hey this is Africa! They have at least gotten a Bible verse and devotion each week that goes along with the mentoring program.
Pray for us to get some balance back in our personal life.
Update on the refugee camp. All is peaceful right now. There are now about 2600 Somalia’s and 500 other foreigners from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Congo, Mozambique, etc.
They still have no idea what they are going to do with everyone but as long as the media stays out they don’t try to put on a show. John has been able to step out of his role as the person in charge of everything but he still is very much involved on a daily basis. We have 9 of our volunteers going out every morning this week working with the children. They are singing songs, doing crafts and playing games. It is quite the opportunity for them to see such a tough lifestyle. Most of them are college students from the states and not used to seeing people in these situations. Continue to pray for these people that a solution would come soon for them.

Registration of Refugees and Blanket Sorting

Yesterday afternoon, Avril, John’s wife phoned us and asked us if we could come out to the refugee camp and help with registration. When we arrived there were approx. 500 people outside lined up to get into the gates. We first parked outside and then decided to ask the police if we could take some things into John Thomas and they told us to drive on through. When we got inside the gates, Avril immediately put us to work registering mostly Somalia’s that have been displaced. Most of these people have had their stores looted and they have been run out of the communities. It is a horrible site to see people confused and not knowing where to go next. We were told they were setting up a second camp just for the Somalia’s so the tension would not be so bad between all the foreigners. What I learned last night was that most of the Somalia’s are Muslim and trying to stick to their “laws” eating Halaal food or fasting when they are having a crisis. They had separate tents for the food and separate tents for the men and women. John Thomas was appointed to “be in charge” of the entire camp site area and this is more than a one man job. Please pray for someone to come along side or even take over, as John has asked, to take on this position. After everyone was registered John asked us to come help pass out blankets and this would help lure the Somalia’s to the other campsite. This worked and it was amazing to see how many blankets had been donated. They had organized the blankets really well and knew exactly how many blankets they had. The only problem was they didn’t know how many would show up to receive them. They had passed out some blankets the night before, but not all had gotten one. Long story short, we passed out all the blankets and there were about 10 guys that walked up and Mike said, “guys you need to make a queue” (line). John spoke up and said we are totally out of blankets guys you need to go to your Somalia brothers who have 4 or 5 and ask them to share. As they started to walk away, someone said here is another stack of blankets, and I know to most of you it won’t be a surprise because this is who God is, but the last guy was standing there and Mike asked me if we had anymore blankets and I had one more in my hand. Need I say more?
We will have more details in our newsletter in a couple of days. Pray for our safety. However, we don’t feel threatened at all.

Riots in Townships in South Africa

As I type, situations in townships all over South Africa are unfolding. There are Somalia’s, Zimbabweans, and Malawians that have moved into the country without the proper paperwork and have taken up residents in these townships. The Xhosa’s don’t like them in there because they say they are taking all the jobs away. The reality of it is the Xhosa’s don’t like to work hard and the others do. Beginning last night they began threatening them if they didn’t get out they would begin to harm them and take all their posessions. We have become friends with many of them and feel like our hands are tied behind our backs because we don’t know how to help them. Please pray that God would protect them. Approx. 80 of them go to King of Kings and they are allowing them to come to the church as a safe haven tonight but we don’t know how long it will continue or if it will ever be safe for them to move back in. It costs a lot of money for them to go back to their country which most don’t have. We are being asked for help and don’t know what to do. It is not safe for us to go into the townships because they will know we are helping them. They are desperate for help. All we can do is pray for the Lord to stop this situation before it gets out of hand. I will keep you posted

When I said no, God said yes!

The most amazing chain of events took place over the last couple of weeks and I want to share them with you. Mike saw a women’s conference in the church bulletin and suggested I attend. I went back and forth about going said I would go, then I said no. Well less than a week ago Avril, John’s wife, sent out an e-mail to about 10 ladies and yes my name was on it stating, “the ticket is already paid for reimburse whenever you can.” So you know the rest of that story. It turned out to be fabulous. I met some new ladies from the church and saw a part of town I had never been to before. But the story doesn’t end here. The two guest speakers were from America. (this conference was the Women of Faith tour) One’s name was Carol Kent and the other Anita Renfroe. Neither of which I had ever heard of I thought. Just a few days before leaving Nashville, a friend of ours Janell Fadler gave us a gift, a book titled Speaking in Public with Confidence. She knew I needed it more than Mike. I must confess I have not read the book, but I did read the testimony on the back so I knew her story. While I was sitting in the conference, and Carol started sharing her testimony I thought to myself I have heard this before but nothing clicked the first day. The second day about half way through she mentioned this book and the light came on. I could not believe the coincidence and as soon as I got home I showed Mike and he couldn’t believe it either. We had a good laugh. Anita turned out to be the Christian comedian that has hit it big with the “momsense” song on you tube and has soared to stardom. Ok it doesn’t end here either. They were giving away many door prizes and I meant to put my name in the box before we left the first night but I forgot, turns out I didn’t need to, I won something anyway. It was a start up kit for gel nails including the lamp and all. I certainly didn’t need this but the Lord knew it would be a perfect small business for Living Way to launch for a female that goes through our entrepreneurship program. I am so excited about this. Ok it still doesn’t end here! On Monday, Avril had arranged for the ladies to come to Living Hope to speak to the support group facilitators so after they had finished I went over to meet them. I took my book of course to get signed!! While chatting with Anita it turns out she knows Mark Kelly Hall, a friend of ours at Brentwood Baptist and this was how they ended up coming to Living Hope. Man it is a small world.
Ok here is the Grand Finale. Anita was asking me how long we were here and what type of work were we doing at Living Hope. I explained the Volunteer Coordinating Ministry and then told her about Living Way and the entrepreneur program. She and her husband were very interested so I went and got Mike and long story short they, including her church, are going to pray about (but she said it is basically a done deal) sponsoring some start up businesses with the capital needed to get them going. Our God is an awesome God.
I am so glad I said no because it allows me to share a testimony about how much God really is in control!!
By the way I plan to start reading the book this weekend!

Pastor John and Amos

John Thomas has been preaching from Amos the last few weeks and he has really come down on the people of South Africa in comparison to Israel. Israel did the finger pointing to everyone else but never saw them as being in trouble. (He showed us the little trick if you point your finger at something or someone there are 3 fingers pointing back at you) He is warning the locals that if we don’t turn from our wicked ways, that God could allow the happenings of Zimbabwe to happen in South Africa and all over Africa for that matter. He is challenging everyone to make a difference in the community and it has impacted a lot of people in the congregation. We have about 80 or more black people from the Masi township, (mostly Zims) that are coming to our church and he is preaching the Word of God about helping the poor. A lot of you know his heart when he comes to Nashville to share stories and he has really opened his heart to his own church. He is reminding us these people are in our back yards. Mike and I have been watching American Idol, which we never did, but this past week was Idol give back. They raised over 60 million dollars in one night to help people in Africa and other places. I can’t believe the humanitarian effort that one show can produce but if all that money was strategically placed, and people were teaching about God’s love, I believe it could bring about some change. However it is not about the money, what we have to remember is God allows things to happen for different reasons to bring His Children back to Him. God is a loving God and what He wants more than anything is for all of us to turn from our wicked ways and seek Him with all our heart, mind and soul. When we have that right relationship with Jesus, we can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. Phil 4:13
Pray for opportunities for me and Mike to make a difference and to share God’s love with someone who needs to hear that right now.

The Reality of Poverty

The last couple of weeks the reality of the poverty amongst the people that live here are
overwhelming. Yes, you see people standing at the robots (red lights) begging for money and lots of people looking for work on the sides of the roads and even people standing outside of restaurants saying, “I am hungry could you spare something for me”. This is one of the toughest things to face on a daily basis. We have been told over and over you must not give them anything or they will never learn to quit begging. That is easier said than done. Each week the maintenance man gathers up everyone’s trash and takes it to the bottom of the hill for the trash collectors to pick up early the next morning. Over the past couple of weeks on our way home from work, we started noticing middle aged men walking up and down the streets with raggedy old backpacks. We didn’t realize what they were doing until we reached our place and found a couple of guys rummaging through the bags. At first we wanted to tell them to leave the bags alone, but soon realized that as soon as that one was gone the next guy would be going through them. I was blown away by this and said to Mike, “do you realize the leftovers or things that have gone bad are being gone through?” to us it sounds disgusting to them it is a way of life. We made a decision this week that the things we throw away, will be placed in baggies (could get a little expensive but it is the least we can do) so they don’t have to sort through all the rubbish (trash).
Another reality that set in a couple of days ago is the weather. The poorest of the poor live in tin shacks where all the elements of the weather blow right through their homes.
They have sand that blows all the time and covers their floors and winds that never stop and blow coolness on them at night. 2 days ago, was the first cold, windy, rain we had and driving through the townships the next day we realized how tough it is for them to survive in the winter months. Trees were blown down and tin etc. was not where it had originally been. I can tell you how it sounded outside my concrete house with windows, but I can’t imagine what it sounded like or felt like for them. I had to get up and put a folded piece of paper in our sunroom window to keep it from rocking back and forth in its track making a loud noise. I am sure for them it sounded like a freight train coming through. All we can do is pray for them to have safety and enough cover to keep them warm.
There is yet another reality that we witnessed a couple of years ago when we were here on a short-term trip, and that was a fire in the township. They use paraffin to heat with and negligence or winds will cause fires to break out in the winter months. Because all the shacks are built against each other, it can destroy as many as 400 to 500 homes in no time. Living Hope/Way wants to have a team of volunteers in place, so as soon as a fire happens we can have the necessary supplies available to go over and help them to rebuild their homes. Please pray for us to be able to get this in place and have the volunteers available when disasters like this happen. I wanted to share some of these realities so you would have a better understanding of how to pray for them. Pray for us to continue to find ways to tell them Jesus loves them even when they are going through the toughest times.

Another Busy, Yet Rewarding Week behind Us

Beginning on Sunday of last week we visited the Anglican Church to make a presentation for Living Hope, Living Way, and Living Grace. We also had planned to be at the Masi Baptist Church for another savings club launch, for a Malawian group, after that. Do to communication issues we didn’t get to launch this one but got it scheduled for mid May. We began our first ever Entrepreneur course for Living Way on Monday and had 6 students that we knew in the community that had either started their own business or had an idea. Mike, Richard, and I met early last Thursday for a time of prayer for this group and God delivered all of our requests and so much more. We invited different races of people to the class and hoped that everyone would have unity among the group. When we see black people in America we sometimes assume they all come from the same place. Here it is quite different, just because someone has dark skin, black or colored, doesn’t mean they all get along. There is a lot of racial tension among them. One thing that sticks out about our class was at the end Mike was reviewing the course and asked if there were any cultural expectations in their neighborhood. He was really referring to the way they did business and buying and selling on credit, but one of the guys spoke up and started talking about the Somalia’s who came in and started businesses and took their customers away. This opened up an opportunity for Mike to explain why it is important to have new ideas to be welcomed into the community and also if they were to need each other say one person ran out of material or packaging they could have good relationships so they could borrow from one another instead of being at each others throats. Literally!! They all understood and I think that really made them think differently about relationships. This class also taught them how credit was not their best way of doing business, as this is part of the cultural expectation.

We also had the opportunity to share Jesus with them and what He has done in our lives. Mike started out sharing his testimony on Wednesday and by Friday morning each one of us had shared as well. We did not know who was or was not a Christian, but we told them at the beginning of the week we were a Christian organization, and we were going to open and close in prayer everyday. It turned out that all had accepted Christ as Lord and Savior over their lives. We also had the opportunity to share scripture references for teachings about business throughout the week.

After the presentation of certificates one of the ladies, Patience, got up and thanked us for giving of our time and talents to their group. She recognized that we probably had some decisions about who would be in the group and if there would be unity amongst them. How awesome is our God to provide just that for this group. You will see in the picture, the guy with his arm around the other guy is a Zimbabwean. The other guy is a Xhosa guy. He is the one who was talking about the Somalia’s coming in and taking over. He used the Somalia’s as an example but I am sure he was referring to anyone coming into the community and competing for the same customers. Everyone got along great as you can see. She like all the rest had a new appreciation for business and was excited to see how God was going to use this teaching to empower them to get out of the poverty situations they are in. Please pray for us to find the mentors that we need (business people) to come along side them in the next couple of weeks.

Busyness of Life in Cape Town

We have really gotten busy with our work here and it is almost overwhelming with all we have going on. It is a good thing though. We are launching 3 savings clubs this week in the townships and doing a week long entrepreneurial training course with 7 people from the townships beginning next week. This is a pilot course and we are using them to learn how to teach this in the fall to about 20 or more people. It is really taking me out of my comfort zone because I don’t have any background in business or marketing only common sense. (Which is not all bad)

We had a savings club that we were launching this morning and the director and a mentor from another savings club both couldn’t make it due to different circumstances so it forced me and Mike to rely on the Lord to get us through. It was quite amazing because I was uneasy and upset about it. Mike was the cool one. When we got to work two devotions popped up on my screen from 2 different sites and they were both about confidence and that Jesus will see us through. I was totally at ease from that moment forward. Phil 1:6, Matt 28:20.

The other really neat thing was that I had printed out everything that I was supposed to share in the meeting and when it was my turn to speak, the Holy Spirit just lead me right through everything. When I got back to the car to sit down my print out had fallen out of my pocket and was lying on my seat. I am so thankful that I didn’t rely on my paper to get me through.

We also are working with bringing volunteers both local and abroad to help out and all the sudden we have so many that want to come help. It is a good thing, but we have to find jobs they can do. Mike is very good at working along side the people here to see where they could use some help. Please pray for us as we are placing these volunteers that God is directing our paths for each one.
Hope everyone has a great week.

Potential for disaster turned out wonderfully with God's hand

We have had such a great week in allowing God to lead our paths with small steps.
Tuesday of this week was our second launch of a savings club in Red Hill where the fire took place when we first got here. We struggled with wanting to be involved in building houses because that was an immediate need but that was not what God had planned. He wanted us to wait to be involved in a different way. We now see the plan. When we first arrived at the church, the wrong one I might add, we couldn’t find anyone who knew about the savings club that was supposed to take place. We knew of another church in a different site so Mike took off up the hill and found another church and asked them if that was the “river of life church” they said yes and Mike came back down the hill and said he found it. We all, about 15 of us, loaded up and headed up to the other church. When we got to the other church, the person who was supposed to have cleared the church had not done it so they had no idea we were coming. I began explaining what we were doing and she was ok with letting us come in. Then we realized that the word hadn’t really gotten out, so we thought all of these people had come to help launch the club and we aren’t going to have anyone to come. God certainly had a different plan. He brought 3 people from the lower area and the lady that opened up the church to us went around and recruited about 10 more people so we have the perfect amount of people to get it started.
We have our first meeting on Monday and this will be our first opportunity to share the uniqueness of our savings club in that it is a Christian based. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us through this and that those that may not be Christians will grow from the teaching and ultimately ask Jesus into their hearts!

A quiet weekend at Home

Yes, we had a quiet weekend at home after celebrating my birthday on Thursday. Mike was so sweet. He had a birthday cake at work for me and then treated me to a short round of golf and sushi for dinner. It was a beautiful day without wind. We have a busy week this week with a daily devotion devoted to prayer each morning. We have had lots of paperwork (volunteer forms that needed updating) that we are trying to get done. We have a savings Club to attend in Masiphumele in the morning and launching our second one in Red Hill tomorrow afternoon. This will be the first one that Mike and I will be involved with from the ground up. The first one did not incorporate praying before and after their meetings nor did they have any scripture references to go by. I get to launch this “Crown Financial” concept and I am very excited yet nervous. This is what I have been waiting for so pray that the Holy Spirit will use me as a vessel to deliver the message that He wants me to share with them. There will also be 5 ladies from the Masi savings club, so pray they will want to incorporate this into their weekly meetings. Wednesday we will go to all the holiday clubs and see where volunteers might be needed and take lots of pictures. Thursday we will have our entrepreneurship training all day to get ready for the 7 people that are interested in starting small businesses. We have found out again that we won’t be going to our Outreach in Sutherland, as they are having unity issues amongst their church, so pray that if this is not where God wants us that He will find another place for us to go to. It is really awesome to see God work in our lives and to be able to share this with you all. Thanks for the friendships and may God bless you.

Waiting on results for a new President of Zimbabwe

Living in the US we wouldn’t have given this fight for Presidency a second thought. However, because we live in the country of South Africa and amongst many Zimbabweans, who have fled across the boarder illegally, we are very much in prayer for the removal of President Mugabe of Zimbabwe. This is an 84 yr old man who has been in power for 28 years and has driven out all farmers, factories, and anything that promotes advancement for the people. This means there is no food, jobs, or hope for the people of Zimbabwe. It takes 10 million Zimbabwean dollars to equal 25 cents US. He blames the Westerners for all of the problems, but in reality that is far from the truth. He rigged the last election and is working hard at rigging this one. The election should have had results on Monday, but the voting is slow leaving time for falsifying information again. We are praying that Lord will deliver a new leader and will help the people who have fled from their homes to be able to return and have a life with families they have left behind. We ask that you would join in helping us to pray for these people. They have moved into the shack townships because this is all they can afford but they would like nothing more than to get out of these places and move back home. They are kind and gentle people with good work ethic and because of their eagerness to work hard; they are persecuted by the local South African black groups. At King of Kings, where John Thomas is the pastor, there are approximately 40 to 50 that come every Sunday. This past Sunday John had a special prayer for them and for the results to be in favor of a new President. As you tune into your news this week pay special attention to the results of Zimbabwe. We covet your prayers during this time. This is also a good time for us to remember our obligation to vote and to pray for our leaders so we can live in peace.

What’s on the horizon?

For the next couple of months we are going to spend 2 days a week with everyone that works at Living Hope. We plan to learn what each person or group does and how volunteers can be utilized in their departments. We want everyone that comes to have a great experience and to do what God intended for them to do based on their gifts. We began today in Muizenberg with the life skill educators. They have a set curriculum for teaching during the school year and then they have to come up with activities for after school kids clubs. The kids are out for 3 weeks break and they are putting together 2 weeks worth of “holiday clubs for kids”. They have to come up with Bible stories, skits, crafts and a snack each day for the next 2 weeks. Mon-Fri. We then interviewed them and asked them how could we help them to be more effective with volunteers and they gave us some great ideas. All in all our first day was a success. Starting next Friday we are going to teach all the life skill educators a skit each week that we learned in Fiji so they can use these for their ministry. We are very excited about all God has in store for us. As for Living Way we are just as excited about all that is going on there. We will launch our 2nd savings club in 2 weeks and have our 1st entrepreneurial class beginning on the 21st of April. Please pray for us to be effective in our ministry and to give God the Glory.

The Containers have arrived

For those of you who have been to Cape Town on a short/long term trip, the containers finally arrived 2 weeks ago. For those who don’t know, Living Hope has been waiting on 4 containers to be used for their kids clubs and other community activities in Capricorn township since September 07. These containers are metal buildings that look like the back section of an 18 wheeler truck with doors on the side. They set them on the ground and within 48 hrs they had already been broken into and vandalized. This is nothing unusual and we can’t allow fear to get in the way of what God has in store for these containers. We must look to figuring out ways to keep the bad guys out. They had a wire fence around the area but that wouldn’t keep anyone out so now they are looking at other alternatives. Everything costs money and fencing and security are expenses they don’t have right now. Please pray for provision and for protection until they get something figured out.
Also for those of you who have visited Living Hope Muizenberg homeless ministry, they are renaming it Living Grace starting April 1st. They will have crafts again and activities for the homeless people to come in and share their stories. They will continue the morning/lunch devotion and meals. They will also continue to provide a shower and place for them to wash their clothes. If anyone is looking for an opportunity in their life to serve and their passion is homeless people this would be a great ministry to get involved in.

Easter Sunday

Sunday morning sunrise was dynamic in remembering the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We attended a sunrise service at the beach and 2 baptisms took place just as the sun came up over the mountains. Words cannot describe nor does this picture do it justice but it was an incredible reminder of what Christ did on the cross for our sins.
We then attended the 9:00 service at King of Kings and enjoyed the rest of the day with a drive around the tip end of South Africa.

The Week before Easter

First off, it has been a great week beginning with Palm Sunday. We visited/worked at Ocean View Baptist Church. This is one of the 5 communities that we are heavily involved with. We spoke about Living Hope/Living Way and asked for local volunteers to come and offer up their services from hair and nails for the patients, to entrepreneurial help for start up businesses for Living Way. While we were waiting for the service to get started we had a good idea the roof was about to be raised. They had very large speakers, a drum set without anything around it, a base guitar and 3 microphones for vocals. It was an awesome service and we both thank God for our experience in Fiji to allow us to have an open mind for the way others worship the Lord on any given Sunday!

On Monday, we began a 4 day entrepreneurial training program. We learned strategies that we have not thought about before and learned that starting out with a very small amount of Rand (South African money) is possible for a business. We are going to have our first training class at the end of April and begin with 6 students, 2 from the sewing class that was starting at Living Hope. This is an exciting time for us as we are digging in with volunteers, getting ready to launch our 2nd savings club in Red Hill, and having our 1st entrepreneurial class beginning on April 21st. I am still excited about incorporating Biblical Financial Principal’s but am waiting on the Lord for His guidance.

Good Friday was dedicated in the morning to going to church and reflecting on what Jesus did on the Cross for our sins. For our Brentwood family it was like Maundy Thursday. It was a great time of reflection and communion. The most amazing thing was that they had 2 different holidays this weekend. It was Good Friday and Human Right’s day. Everyone was off today and will be off on Monday. Since we couldn’t find anything open, we headed down to the beach to watch bodysurfing. The water was about 45 degrees and we couldn’t believe these guys were in the water surfing. We left and headed home for the evening. Stay tuned and I will update the rest of the weekend early next week.

Saturday morning we met United States Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee and Congress woman Diane Watson from California. They came to visit the healthcare facility and to tour around the Cape Town areas to see the impoverished townships. As soon as he met us he immediately said, “Will you all be staying for the tour I want to be sure and have my picture made with you.” I thought that to be really funny because I brought my camera in hopes that he would be willing to have his picture made with us. So they are going to e-mail those pictures to us. I will add them to the blog when they come in.

Lastly, we want to wish you all a Happy Easter! May we reflect on what Jesus did on the Cross for our sins? We need to give thanks and remember that the bread was broken as a representation of the body of Christ and the cup represents the new covenant in His blood, poured out for us.

Invasion of Privacy

Today, we went home for lunch to find that our upstairs neighbors had been broken into.
The intruders took just a few items, plasma tv, computer and jewelry. The police were there when we arrived and were just leaving. The older couple had only been gone for a couple of hours. Up until 2 days ago there was another couple across the hall but now they have left for a few months. We had been told that because we were off the beaten path and high up on the hill we weren’t in the everyday path of the people who make a life of crime but this has awakened our senses a lot. We had also been told that there had not been a break in for 32 years. Just 2 days ago in the evening before going to bed, we stuck our heads out the sunroom windows and asked the Lord for protection that we would not be invaded while living there. We have been blessed with a great flat and view. Well we have learned that we are always at risk and don’t need to let our guard down. Yesterday we had a new security gate installed because the one we had was bent and I couldn’t close and lock it only mike could. While I was waiting for the installers to come, I left it unlocked so I would hear them while out back hanging out the laundry. The installer actually said to me,"why don't you have this door locked". Had that been today it would have been the burglars instead of the installers because they came during that same time frame. First of all this tells us that someone was watching the place and the other thing is it had to be someone that had been in there flat previously. They knew what they were after. So with all that said, please pray for our safety and protection.

Cape Argus Cyclist Race

Sunday was such a neat day. It was hot but there is always a breeze. Cape Town has an annual cyclist(bicycles) race and there were 38,000 entries. They close all the main streets around the area and it was difficult to get to church so we thought we would make a morning of it. We got up at 5:45am and got ready and went down to Fish Hoek with our chairs and waters and waited for the leaders to come through. We learned that the race started at 6:15 and the leaders would come through about 7:00 am. This was a 109 kilometer race( 67.7 miles) At a few minutes to 7 they started appearing in the distance. I was fascinated how these folks all came together in a pack, where they could literally reach out and touch the other person. If you have ever been at a NASCAR race and all the cars are going along at 200 miles an hour and don’t wreck, you would appreciate the rush that these guys left us with. After the first group went by it was a few more minutes and then another huge group went by this went on for hours. One of the pastors from King of Kings Church, that we attend, was in it. We wanted to see him go by but with so many bikers we didn’t think we stood a chance. The only thing we knew is that he left at 8:40. We then calculated how long it took the first one’s to come through and then based on that we calculated what his time might be. With all that said and done, we spotted him gave him words of encouragement and he waved to us. (This reminded me of those silly math questions in school that we had to figure out. I’m sure you all remember if A left at 6 and B left at 8 then what time would A arrive if C happened J something like that). There were some guys who set up some really big speakers and they were playing 80’s music to get the bikers pumped up when they went by. We heard someone way down the road playing the music first thing in the morning and I said, “I sure am glad that music is way down there”, and then another bunch came up at our end and cranked it up. Turns out it was a lot of fun. This lasted until 11:00 for us but the race didn’t finish until about 5:00 pm. We found out that the winner finished the race in 2 hours and 27 minutes just about the
time Guy, the pastor from church, was starting the race. We then went home had some lunch and enjoyed going to the beach.
About the beach this is another story in itself. The water here is cold and we debated about going in but we figured once we were numb we wouldn’t feel anything. After we had played in the waves, we laid out our Sulu’s (from Fiji) and our towels and decided to lay back and close our eyes. We know we weren’t there very long before the tide came in on us and soaked everything we had. We
moved faster than you can believe grabbed up our belongings and sat on the bank and held everything up for drying out. The winds blew and it looked like we were flying flags. I know, I know you really feel sorry for us and to top it off we got sunburned.

My How Time Flies

It is so amazing how fast time goes by. I realized it has been a week since I blogged. Sorry! The team from Rolling Hills left late Wednesday night and we said our goodbyes. We don’t have another team scheduled until May so that gives us some time now to really write up our job descriptions and learn the ropes of Living Hope. It was great to get thrown into the fire to see how we can be more effective for the next group. We had a great time with them. They did a retreat for all of the Prevention team (support group leaders, lay counselors, and life skill educators.) They also took all of the home base care givers to the Aquarium. They intended on Table Mountain but it was too windy that day.

There were a couple of people on the team that went over to Red Hill where all the houses burned in site 3 and we were able to go over and see the shack (house) they built for one of the ladies who didn’t have anyone to help her build back. We also attended one of the afternoon programs, Kid’s Club, where they give the kids a snack do some sort of a craft and a Bible study each day. For some this snack may be the only meal or best meal they get. We also went over to the area where one of the staff at living hope was blessed to not have the fire come to her home. It really was amazing to see how close it came without doing any damage.

Mike and I really wanted to stay the rest of the day and work on building houses for the people and to be able to show them the hands of Jesus but we had to get back. There is a group there now (global challenge) that will be there for a couple of months and trying to do a long term plan. The 2nd day after the fire the people were told they had to go back to the land that the shelter couldn’t take care of them anymore and they had no hope as they got back to the area. There is a man who lives here now that was with YWAM from almost the beginning, his name is Floyd McClung, Mike and I met him last year and recognized he was really making a difference in some of the townships and had only been here a year. He is not with them now but with an organization called All Nations. He had been praying for a way to get into this township and this was the door that God opened. By the end of the first week, he had a team of people helping to bring hope and healing back into this community and now they are working together to rebuild Red Hill. Please pray for us as we really want to go help in this community as well but not sure this is where God wants us to be. There is just so much to do everywhere.

On a lighter note, Mike and I had our first haircuts here. Mike didn’t have any anxiety issues, but I on the other hand did. The ladies will understand this more than the men. I had been going to the same hairdresser for 18 yrs and I didn’t have to tell her anything when I went to her she knew what I wanted and just did it. We were riding down the road and I was talking to Mike about it and he said, “Well you better know what you want because you have to tell her.” I hadn’t really thought about it so I decided on just a trim until I could see how she was going to do. She did great with the trim and next week I am going to be brave enough to go for some “highlights.” Also known as “Covering up the gray hairs.”
This is all for now and I will hopefully do better. We still don’t have internet at home so this makes it more difficult to have to go to internet cafes. Please pray that we will get our connections soon!!!!!
We love you all and pray for you daily!!!

Road Trip to Stellenbosch

A couple of days ago we had a small caravan with a group of the savings clubs members from Masiphumele, the Director of Living Way, Richard Lundie, and Mike and me. We took about an hour and 15 minute drive along the coast to a city called Stellenbosch. This place is known as Wine Country and is very beautiful. There were many vineyards along the roadside. We went to visit a couple of established savings clubs to encourage the new group from Masi and to help them with ideas about running their club. I wanted so desperately to step in with the teachings of the Biblical Principals, but understand that I must wait until The Lord says, “ok it is time to put it into practice.” My devotion for the morning was Psalm 46:10. Be still and know that I am God, so with that said I will wait!!!
We carried 2 ladies with us, Beauty and Cynthia, and spent a lot of time just sharing about our families and asking it they were Christians. One spoke English very well and the other didn’t speak it well but understood. The one who spoke well said yes, with enthusiasm, I am a born again Christian that was awesome to know. Mike shared with them that he had 7 children and they were amazed their eyes got really big and Beauty translated to Cynthia and they couldn’t believe it. We had a good laugh. We are learning that we must build the relationships first. Jesus’ command to love thy neighbor is the number one priority here. We must build trust with them.
The savings clubs were very well established one had 64 people saving 1 Rand a day, mind you this is less than 14 cents a day for us, but that is all they can afford. The other had 250 but only 50 active. They only make if anything around 100 Rand per day and to us that is about 10 to14 dollars a DAY. This in itself blows our minds. How can they ever get out of the oppression if the cost of living is the same as living in America? (Franklin or Brentwood I might add) Most everyone lives in Tin shacks and desires to have a house. Overall it was great for them to see the clubs working and I believe it is going encourage them.
Richard came to me in the afternoon yesterday, and told me he talked with the ladies in his car on the way home about the Crown Information and they want to do it. So I am excited and just need to begin to write a curriculum to meet their needs. Please pray for the right person to come along side me to help me write it. God is truly at work in SA.

Our first week at Work

We arrive at Living Hope each day around 8:00 and we have a little room for us to work in. We meet first thing in the morning for devotions and then begin the week. Pat Ball, the volunteer coordinator, left yesterday for 2 weeks and Avril Thomas, John’s wife also left yesterday. This leaves us on our own for the next couple of weeks with Teams. Nothing like throwing us into the Lions Den!!!!
There is a couple coming from Releigh North Carolina today, Friday, to volunteer for 89 days. There is also a team coming from Rolling Hills Baptist Church, Franklin,Tn. on Saturday and they will be here for 2 weeks.
Pat came in to inform us that we are now on Africa time. She said don’t expect things to get done quickly. We have done pretty well at getting things accomplished. We have all of our furniture now and are trying to decorate a little. We also have been able to get contracts on cell phones, and a bank account, that usually takes a while for most volunteers who come. Mike is very persistent and it has paid off.
Mike has been made aware, but I think he knew it all along, that Pat wants to pass all of the volunteer coordinator job description on to him. I believe that I will be helping Mike as his assistant and we ask that you pray for us to get established and settled and help me see where I fit in. The Crown Financial will be slow going but I have faith that God will help me to persevere to get it into the support groups/savings clubs soon. I had a good meeting today with the director and he likes it but we have to have a curriculum for the townships because their needs are so much different from the Americans. Pray that I will learn their ways and if I am the one to write the curriculum that I will have help and the wisdom to get it done!!

Follow up to Fire on the Mountain

We went to church this morning and John, the Pastor, updated us on the fire. Ocean View had a lot of soot throughout their homes but not any damage. Red Hill has three areas and section 3 was completely destroyed. They were mostly from Zimbabwe. He told us that 2 of his staff lived there and the fire stopped just before it got to their shacks. You can’t tell me prayer doesn’t work because that was one huge answer to prayer!!

Fire on the Mountain

As I write this tonight, there is devastation just over the mountain side near Living Hope but it is in Red Hill and Ocean View. Both of these are places in which Living Hope has involvement. I don’t have information on Living Hope yet, but when we were heading home you could see the fire coming down the side of the mountain. They do not have the sophistication that America has and so they are not able to really fight it like we can. They have fire trucks in some of the neighborhoods and we saw a couple of helicopters with the water buckets, but the biggest fight they have is the wind. The wind is unbelievable here (30-40 mph gusting up to 50) and it is keeping the fires uncontainable. Mike and I realize the only thing we can do is pray, and believe that He can stop the wind if He chooses. As I know more details, I will update the blog. Please pray for the people here who have lost what little they have and that the crime doesn’t increase due to looking to replace what they lost.

A TESTIMONY

As we were preparing to leave during the last week, and the last several days, in particular, several close friends prayed with us and over us. Those are always good prayer times and you feel really blessed when so many people who you expect to be close to the Lord and active in their prayer life, stop to talk to the Almighty on your behalf. The kinds of prayer requests you hear most often are for safety, good health on the trip, ease of connections, peace, etc. A couple of the prayers on the day we left ask the Lord for us to be able to sense His presence during the entire trip! What a great trip this would be.

So, this is what happened. We had favor in our packing, were able to get 2 bags carried later by a team from our church (saving precious money), favor on the trip to the airport and had our “tip” for the baggage handler paid for us, had a friend step in just at the perfect time and paid for half of our charges for bags over the limit in number and weight. We had Pam’s brother arrange us a slight upgrade in seating from DC to Frankfurt. How much more could we see God’s hand touching us in so many ways to say, “I love you and I’m taking care of you?”

These things do not make us “able” to make the trip as we would still be in Frankfurt, Germany right now even if none of them happened. What is does do is to remind us that we are children of the King and we will be forever! He just desired to show us favor and honor the prayers offered to Him for us. We are excited to see what else the Father has in store.

Mike

The continuation of our journey to South Africa and God’s favor since we arrived

The third and final leg of our journey was the longest but we made it. Our arrival was simple we had to go through customs and collect our luggage. As we were looking for our last 2 pieces of luggage, one of the porters walks up to me while Mike was at the carousel and says, “Are you looking for a large black bag that has the name Talley on it, I think it is over on the other side of the carousel I’ll get it for you. I told him yes but had no idea how he knew who I was or how many bags we had. We didn’t ask how he knew we just saw it as God’s hand on us.
Our rental car was a breeze and away we left to come to our resting for place for a few days, Wellwood Lodge. We had a great breakfast and then knew we had to hit the ground running. We had an appointment with a Real Estate agent to show us a couple of different flats (apartments) that we had been looking at on the internet before we left Brentwood, but when we arrived there was only one, so we felt this was where The Lord wanted us to be. We did check a few other agencies but nothing was available. We made an agreement pending a few things that needed work, mainly the carpet. They agreed to clean the carpets and had that done immediately, but by Sunday when it had dried it still didn’t look great. We met a couple a few doors down and they invited us up to see their flat, when he opened the door we were amazed at the hardwood floors he had. We, of course, started asking all kinds of questions and it turned out that we had the same floor under the soiled carpet. We began praying that the Lord would allow us to show the owner the floor and consider allowing us to have it fixed back to its original hardwood. We would even do some of the labor to keep costs down.
Monday morning came and we were supposed to meet the agent and the owner, but the agent was sick. The owner was great and she loved the idea of the floors and agreed to pay for all of it and hire someone else to do the work. Since then, so much more has been done to update the 30 year old flat and we are very excited. The only draw back is that we can’t move in until Friday. After that, we left the flat and we went to see a man recommended by John Thomas, about a car. Richard had a car that was going to be traded in so we had a verbal agreement for this car. It came in later in the day but it didn’t have air conditioning or power steering so we asked him if he had anything else and he did and it was cheaper. So PRAISE GOD! We get the car tomorrow. We also found a used bedroom suite and paid a deposit to have our telephone line (this is a whole other story but I will just give the glory to Him) put in. Lastly, most of the American’s that are here, were telling us how bad the banking system (fees for everything!!!!!!!!!!) is and Avril, John’s wife, recommended Nedbank. We first went to another bank, because of a recommendation, but I was hesitant about saying yes to opening the account because the fees were so bad. We then went to Nedbank and they have a flat monthly fee ( which is ridiculous) but it was the best of what we could have gotten.
Today is a new day and we just praise the Lord for the beauty that is here and all that He has in store for us today. We are having to leave Wellwood Lodge but we have a friend that has been so gracious to let us stay with her until our flat is ready. Check back next week for Days of Our Cape Town Lives.

Our first and second legs of the flight

We are sitting in reclining chairs waiting for our flight from Frankfurt Germany to Cape Town South Africa. I want to share God’s amazing grace through out our day yesterday. ‘
First we had 7 pieces of luggage, 3 extras than allowed, and weighing 20 lbs. over the limit. We had a wonderful friend to take us to the airport in his SUV because of the amount of luggage we had. He was gracious enough to tip the porter to take them for us so we didn’t have to handle them. Then as we checked in the clerk told us it was going to be really expensive to get the luggage over there. We had some idea it would be but didn’t really know how much. Just as we were getting the final amount another friend of ours walked up and said, “Hey I’ll split that with you!” Wow God’s timing is perfect. Not only did we split it but he reduced it by $90.00.

Next, my brother is a pilot for United Airlines and we were talking earlier in the day and we thought we might cross paths in Washington. We tried to make a plan to meet between our connecting flights, but we were a little late and he had to immediately get on a flight to Orlando. I had asked him in an e-mail earlier if it was at all possible to move us to a better seatJ could he do it. I told him the biblical saying is “you have not because you ask not” so I am asking!!!! When we got to the gate they were already boarding the plane, but I knew in my heart that if it was possible to get a better seat my brother would make it happen. I suggested to Mike to go up to the check in counter and see if we had been upgraded. The man at the counter asked him if he knew a Mike, (my brother is Mike too.) and Mike said, “Yes that is my wife’s brother” and he said, “I think you are going to like these seats you will have plenty of leg room. We got moved into economy plus and had all 5 seats to ourselves across the middle of the plane, so needless to say we stretched out to watch a movie and sleep.

Speaking of movie, Mike said when we got on the plane “I hope they are showing the movie, The Ultimate Gift, our friends we stayed with for 3 months said it was a great movie”. Well again, God is so good. We watched The Ultimate Gift and it was a great movie. It is so hard to out think God and His capabilities so stay tuned for the last leg of our journey.

God Reveals Himself Daily

As we prepare to get all of our ducks in a row, God continuously reveals himself to us.
I had to have a CPR course to keep up my license and I called a friend of mine that has recertified me for about 8yrs. I wanted to get her a gift certificate to a restaurant but wasn’t sure about the amount. Mike and I felt that $40.00 was what the Holy Spirit laid on our hearts. I called her and long story short she said, “I usually charge $40.00.” However, she was so gracious and told us to go use it as a blessing to us from her.

We have been so amazed at the financial support from our brothers and sisters in Christ.
God is totally in control of our “daily bread.” He continues to blow our minds with contributions that we least expect along the way. He strengthens our Faith on a daily basis. If He were to give it to us all at once, how would He continue to build the relationship? A few weeks ago we started watching the currency exchange and the rate was under the normal $1.00 to 7 rand. I asked the Lord to increase that rate so when the money was transferred from the church to Living Hope we would get more for our dollar. Yesterday the rate went to 7.12 and we are supposed to have the money transferred tomorrow. We thank Him for the provision and continue to be in awe over His sovereignty for our budget.

Lastly, this was so awesome. Mike has to take a medication for his thyroid on a daily basis. Normally, the insurance company won’t allow more than 30 days at a time. Last year, when we went to Fiji, he was able get enough for 6mths. This time he was going to try and get another 6mth supply and worry about the rest once we were in SA. When he called the insurance company to get the ok, the guy kept asking for a round about date for our return. We didn’t really want to commit to a day but he wouldn’t let up, so Mike told him around Dec. 15th. The guy then said, “would 330 days work for you?” Mike said, “I think that would be just fine.” We recognized after it was all said and done that was just another gift from Our Father.
There are many more things God has showed his hand in but these really stood out in our minds. We wanted to share these stories with you all.

HOW WE HEARD OUR CALL

This is always a great opportunity to share a portion of our testimony. Back in October before we left Cape Town we had several meetings with John Thomas at Living Hope Community Centre. He listened to our passions and desires of our heart, but never tried to sway us in any decisions to come to South Africa. He did however, give us great pastoral counsel and advised us to be sure we had “4 lights” lined up like an airplane coming in for the perfect landing before we committed to any sort of service for the Kingdom.
Those 4 lights were Scripture, Circumstances, Counsel of the Brethren (wise counsel), and Peace.
Scripture is for WHEN things don’t go right and we face those trials and struggles. We will be able to go to those scriptures and remember how God revealed those to us before leaving. A few of those scriptures are Isaiah 58:10-11, Acts 1:8, Psalm 139: 9-10, Psalm 2:8.
Circumstances had already revealed to us that the light was on green.
Counsel of the Brethren was also set in place because we have a wonderful team that loves us and surrounds us with support and guidance. They advised us to make a decision about Cape Town before we left which forced us to really seek God’s will for us while we were there.
Peace was a flashing yellow light. We did not have peace in our hearts so we could not accept the opportunity. We had to come home without the decision made, but realized that was the best decision because it was easier to come home to family and friends without having to tell them we would be leaving again soon. It also forced us to be patient and wait on the Lord.
We had committed to apply for the IMB (International Mission Board) as another option before making a decision. As we began the application process, we realized we were a few days late for the deadline to apply for the January 2008 conference. Our missions minister said go ahead and I’ll call and try to use my contacts to get you in. Long story short that door was closed. We felt God wanted us to wait on Him and His timing so we did. Psalm 37:7
We knew John was coming to Brentwood on the 25th and 26th of November and wanted to meet with us again. We still didn’t have clarity but perhaps he would display some “flashing neon sign”. The night before we met I had a dream that involved John and I shared it with Mike the next morning. As we shared the scriptures God had revealed to us, John shared some issues about Cape Town that had been resolved. We began to have the peace that we needed. To further help us with the “peace” issue, John reminded us that God talks to different people in different ways, and he told us to read Job 33:14. It says, “God sometimes speaks to us through dreams.” I looked at Mike and said to John, “I had a dream last night and you were in it but I couldn’t understand what you were saying.” He said, “I have never used this verse before in my 27 years of counseling how much clearer can it get?” We were still not satisfied and still looking for that neon sign, so we attended a couple of more functions with him. John announced at the CEO fellowship meeting that they, as in Living Hope/ Living Way, had been praying that someone like Mike and Pam would come along side and work with them in South Africa. We knew then the call was clear.
One of the most difficult decisions we had to make was leaving our family with all of the different situations going on in their lives. Our parents are aging and not in the best health, and the children and grandchildren just don’t want us to go. Jesus reminded us in Matthew 19:29, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” Mark 10:29, Luke 18:29, Matthew 10:37 have similar messages and we understood all this to say “you must go, I will take care of your family.” We love each one of them, but must obey the call.
This last year has been an incredible journey of faith and we have been so blessed to have you all to take part in it with us. We pray you will continue to join us for the next season of our life.

God is My Provider

Today I would like to share a testimony with you about how I believe God is my Provider. I have not always believed this because I always thought I was my own provider. I have struggled with a stronghold issue of money all of my life and God is teaching me how to depend on Him instead of me depending on myself.
For most of my life I have been influenced by money. I grew up in a small town but one of the riches towns in America. I was influenced by my parents as well as my friends. We were a middle class family but the emphasis was on the need to have things. I was raised to be responsible for myself. To have a nice home, drive a nice car and rely only on self if I were going to make it in THIS world. My dad allowed me to work weekends with him at his store managing the cash register at age 10 and my mom taught me how to run a lemonade stand business to the golfers in my back yard at age 12. I would not change these experiences for anything because they were great lessons learned, however, I had no idea how they would impact me later on in life. Money became an idol for me very early in life.
With all of this, I realized early on, it played a large role in my need for security from anything but the Lord. I worked very long hours in the same dental practice for 17 years because I was afraid that I couldn’t do anything different or find anything better. I did not trust God for anything nor did I look to Him during this time. I was trying to get ahead! I ask myself now what or who was I trying to get ahead of? Mark 8:36 says, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
God began working in my life about 5 years ago. He began changing my heart for my work. (because I asked him to of course!) I didn’t love going anymore. I realized I wanted more in short term mission trips and I couldn’t work like I was and be a servant for Jesus. Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 says, “No servant 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. For all those years I finally realized I was serving the wrong master, but I didn’t know how to get away from it.
One Sunday morning while reading our bulletin in Church, the Lord pointed out a Bible Study that I felt called to be in. I talked to Mike about it and we prayed and he agreed it would be good for both of us. Little did I know it would change my life. The name of it was Crown Financial Ministries. It taught Biblical principles about money and how to manage it. One thing that most of us don’t know is that there are over 2350 verses in the Bible about the use of money and or possessions. The only issue talked about more was love. Jesus knew that this topic would be a stronghold for many and that is why we have so much scripture for Guidance. LUCKY FOR YOU GUYS I’M ONLY GOING TO POINT OUT A FEW!
They gave us 1 verse a week to memorize and then the study to go along with it.
LUKE 16:11 “If you have not been faithful in the use of worldly wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?” How we handle our money impacts our relationship with the Lord. If we don’t know how to use God’s money here on earth how can we be trusted to His true riches.
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O’ Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything. Riches and Honor come from you alone and you are the Ruler of all mankind. Your hand controls power and might and it is at your discretion that men are made great and given strength. (TLB)
This scripture has spoken to me in so many ways, but the 2 most important things for me were Everything comes from God. Riches come from Him alone and He can give it and He can take it away.
1 Timothy 6:9-10 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. Scripture teaches not that riches themselves are evil but the value we place on them can lead to our undoing.
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
Paul tells us in Philippians 4:11-13 “ I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am, I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity… I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
These were powerful scriptures that really spoke to my heart during this time.
Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
As God slowly revealed these verses to me week by week, I began to understand the need to trust Him for my provisions. I prayed for contentment whatever the circumstances and not long after that I left my job of 17 yrs (my security blanket) and ventured out into the unknown to Trust the Lord with whatever He had in store for me and Mike.
He Provided another job with less hours and more money. I was amazed! However, had a known what would lye ahead I wouldn’t have left. Thank God he doesn’t reveal everything to us. This past September, after I had only been there a year I was fired! This was very humbling to me because there was not just cause. I was bitter and didn’t understand what God had planned but I trusted Him. There wasn’t a job to be had for 3mths and Mike’s Real Estate business was not doing well and God really forced us to reevaluate our lives. Mike and I had been praying for long term mission opportunities but at the time we didn’t see this unfolding. I was on my knees at this point asking God to provide because I couldn’t do it anymore. He asked me this question, “Will you trust me with this journey?” I said yes I will!
Weeks went by and the leader from my financial Bible study e-mailed me one day and said “ Hey just thought I would remind you of your long term prayer request from 2 years ago,” God please use us for your Kingdom building in long term missions.” I knew then God had a plan for us and we were to be obedient to His call. He had to take me to the bottom to get my attention that He will always be my PROVIDER.
Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 says, then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during his few days of life God has given him-for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. These verses give me hope! Isn’t it great to know that God isn’t against rich people. Here in these verses we see God actually makes some people rich and says it is proper for man to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun. God tops it all off by enabling them to enjoy it! These people are so busy using God’s money for His Glory that they don’t worry about their provisions.
Matthew 7:11 If the heart is right and we seek it in the manner that he has chosen to give it, “How much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
This gave me a new perspective on working hard and giving from my heart.
Colossians 3:23-24 says, work diligently as unto the Lord whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men. It is the Lord Christ who you serve.
Acts 20:35 says remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
I wanted to close this with a revelation from Debra’s lecture yesterday. She shared about her grief and explained the loss of her expectations of her husband as the provider and that triggered my grief and loss of expectations of the men in my life as being the provider. I had always depended on my earthly father and yearned for my husband’s to be the provider but that was not what God intended for me. He has been trying to get my attention all of my adult life to look to Him for provision and so I turned it over to Him at the cross yesterday.