Yesterday was a full day! We started our day by saying goodbye to the YWAM Orlando team. This team was in vase for about a month, went to Mozambique, and then came back for three days. These were some hard working young people with big hearts for Jesus! I will most definitely miss the love and compassion of this group!
Next, we went to one of our team members home to fix the roof for his mom. She has had a stroke and is blind in one eye. The roof had 13 cracks! This is the rainy season and I'm telling you we've had some gulley washing, frog strangling rains! This poor woman needed her roof fixed. So, off we went, all 11 of to do whatever needed done!
The guys in the group headed up onto the roof and started working at getting it clean and prepared to fix. We ladies started cleaning the house, hoeing the garden, weeding the garden, washing some clothes, and cleaning up the yard. We also gave mamma Ronny a massage! She informed us she wasn't tired but we continued to treat her like a queen, and truth be told, she loved it!
Sifiso and Mzwandile fixed lunch for us which was beef curry stew and pap (pop). It's spelled pap but its pronounced pop. For us southerners, it's a lot like grits only really thick. Anyway! The fun came when we realized that we were going to eat African style...no spoons or forks! You eat with your hands! Now at first I was a little unsure about this, as I had never done it. However, I asked for some help and hints from Ronny, he explained what to do and, if I say so myself, I did pretty good at.
With lunch in our bellies, the house clean, the garden hoe'd, and the roof fixed, we said our goodbyes and headed for the feeding in Dwaleni. This is where we were face with a challenges!
Dwaleni is a community where there are many orphaned and vulnerable children. We feed approximately 300 children there weekly. These children are pretty much left to their vices to survive and when at the feedings it shows. These children can be rough and rowdy on a good day, but some days, rough and rowdy can turn into violent and hard to handle very quickly! Yesterday was just such a day. We tried out very best to keep order amidst the chaos, but it was extremely difficult. This community and these children need your prayers! The ladies who volunteer here need your prayers. They see the need and want to fill it, but they get weary in well doing. They need encouragement. Please pray for....Sophie, Joyce, Liz, Felicia, Rebekah....pray that God will give them the desires of their hearts for these children and that they won't get weary in well doing. Pray that while they are filling up the bellies of these children, that God will provide for their families.
Even on days like this....when the task seems too big, the children are being hard, and the food runs out....you will find that one sweet face that looks up into yours and starts to sing a song you taught him a month ago. A song that says My God is so BIG so STRONG and so MIGHTY there's NOTHING MY GOD CAN NOT DO! And you think to yourself "this is why I'm here. If I don't get anything else down in their hearts but that, then it's a good day." Because my God is so BIG so STRONG and so MIGHTY there's NOTHING my GOD CAN NOT DO! THAT'S TRUE!!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Life
It's been a while since I posted and I finally got a moment to tell you what's been happening and what's going to happen. Ready?!
Brett and I have been in class for the past six weeks learning many different things. Some highlights have been watching a movie about crossing cultural lines called The Mission. I highly recommend, if you can find it, that you take the time to watch it and contemplate what is the right way and the wrong way to do this. This movie had a great impact in me.
We've studied compassion and what it means to show Gods love. This is pretty important since our DTS is a Compassion DTS. I encourage you to go and read the parable of the Good Samaritan. Read it again and again until you get down in your heart what God is saying about compassion here.
We have learned about our identity in Christ. We are adopted by Him. Being adopted means that we get the same benefits as His Son. Everything the Son has then we have access to. During this teaching we also learned the meaning of humility...being known not only for who you are but also for who you aren't. I want to be known for who I am but it's important to be known for who you aren't.
We learned how we learn! This was a great class for me because I was pretty sure I knew but this class confirmed it! I am a kinesthetic learner...someone who likes to move, listen to music, fidget when they are learning. Since this is the way I learn, it's also how I hear from God. Brett on the other hand is audible and visual. He learns by having a quiet time in the garden, just him and Jesus pulling weeds is where Go talks with him.
We've learned how to study the Bible. Now let me say this... I don't care who you are, I don't think anybody can make this subject come fully alive. Mainly because its very cut and dry. The teacher was good and I love studying the Bible, but teaching how to, I wouldn't want that class!
Every Wednesday we have student led devotions. Today it was Lafo from Australia and it was really funny. She had us split into teams and pick one person to be the captain, one to be the assistant and the rest of us were the team. The captain got blindfolded and the assistant had to lead them, by voice only, through an obstacle course. The rest of the team could either help her or try to get the other team off track. We made sure our captain knew what voice to listen to and we won. Brett and I were chosen next and he was blindfolded and I was the only voice he listened to. We blew them out of the water! Moral of the story? Always know what voice you are listening to because if you don't you are easily distracted.
Next we learned where we are going on outreach! We will be going to the following countries...Swaziland and Malawi. The approximate dates for this are Swaziland-April 8-26 and Malawi-April 27-May 25. We know a little about lies ahead in each location but not a lot. In Swaziland, we will have no running water or electricity. Our host family is Petrus, Elizabeth and their 13 children that they have taken in. In Malawi we will be staying at a YWAM base that is doing work similar to what we are doing her in South Africa...feeding programs and building homes.
I would like to ask that you begin to pray over these areas and over the DTS team and staff. Pray that God drops words of encouragement into our hearts for each other and the people we meet in both areas. Pray for unity among the team and health among the team. As we learn more about our outreach, I will update you and you will have more to pray. As always, pleas pray in the Spirit so that the perfect will of God is prayed. If you feel The Lord is speaking a word to you for us, please don't hesitate to let us know what it is!
DTS students
Brett
Wendy
Lafo
Rebekah
Avelina
Ncobile
Sifiso
Gugu
Mswandile
Ronny
Mimi
DTS leaders
Michael and Lindsey (third baby coming any minute now)
Raines and Maresi
Marcelo and Melina
Thank you all for your continued prayers and if you would like to support us while we are here in South Africa, please follow the link on the right side of the page.
Brett and I are in need of funds for our outreach, a car and basic living expenses. We are in a place where we do not receive a salary, but depend on people like you to help support us while we do the work God has called us to. Please playfully consider what God would have you give. No amount is too small and we firmly believe that God will richly bless you for opening up your heart and your hand to us so we can open our hearts and our hands to the orphaned and vulnerable children I South Africa.
Love to all of you!!!
Brett and I have been in class for the past six weeks learning many different things. Some highlights have been watching a movie about crossing cultural lines called The Mission. I highly recommend, if you can find it, that you take the time to watch it and contemplate what is the right way and the wrong way to do this. This movie had a great impact in me.
We've studied compassion and what it means to show Gods love. This is pretty important since our DTS is a Compassion DTS. I encourage you to go and read the parable of the Good Samaritan. Read it again and again until you get down in your heart what God is saying about compassion here.
We have learned about our identity in Christ. We are adopted by Him. Being adopted means that we get the same benefits as His Son. Everything the Son has then we have access to. During this teaching we also learned the meaning of humility...being known not only for who you are but also for who you aren't. I want to be known for who I am but it's important to be known for who you aren't.
We learned how we learn! This was a great class for me because I was pretty sure I knew but this class confirmed it! I am a kinesthetic learner...someone who likes to move, listen to music, fidget when they are learning. Since this is the way I learn, it's also how I hear from God. Brett on the other hand is audible and visual. He learns by having a quiet time in the garden, just him and Jesus pulling weeds is where Go talks with him.
We've learned how to study the Bible. Now let me say this... I don't care who you are, I don't think anybody can make this subject come fully alive. Mainly because its very cut and dry. The teacher was good and I love studying the Bible, but teaching how to, I wouldn't want that class!
Every Wednesday we have student led devotions. Today it was Lafo from Australia and it was really funny. She had us split into teams and pick one person to be the captain, one to be the assistant and the rest of us were the team. The captain got blindfolded and the assistant had to lead them, by voice only, through an obstacle course. The rest of the team could either help her or try to get the other team off track. We made sure our captain knew what voice to listen to and we won. Brett and I were chosen next and he was blindfolded and I was the only voice he listened to. We blew them out of the water! Moral of the story? Always know what voice you are listening to because if you don't you are easily distracted.
Next we learned where we are going on outreach! We will be going to the following countries...Swaziland and Malawi. The approximate dates for this are Swaziland-April 8-26 and Malawi-April 27-May 25. We know a little about lies ahead in each location but not a lot. In Swaziland, we will have no running water or electricity. Our host family is Petrus, Elizabeth and their 13 children that they have taken in. In Malawi we will be staying at a YWAM base that is doing work similar to what we are doing her in South Africa...feeding programs and building homes.
I would like to ask that you begin to pray over these areas and over the DTS team and staff. Pray that God drops words of encouragement into our hearts for each other and the people we meet in both areas. Pray for unity among the team and health among the team. As we learn more about our outreach, I will update you and you will have more to pray. As always, pleas pray in the Spirit so that the perfect will of God is prayed. If you feel The Lord is speaking a word to you for us, please don't hesitate to let us know what it is!
DTS students
Brett
Wendy
Lafo
Rebekah
Avelina
Ncobile
Sifiso
Gugu
Mswandile
Ronny
Mimi
DTS leaders
Michael and Lindsey (third baby coming any minute now)
Raines and Maresi
Marcelo and Melina
Thank you all for your continued prayers and if you would like to support us while we are here in South Africa, please follow the link on the right side of the page.
Brett and I are in need of funds for our outreach, a car and basic living expenses. We are in a place where we do not receive a salary, but depend on people like you to help support us while we do the work God has called us to. Please playfully consider what God would have you give. No amount is too small and we firmly believe that God will richly bless you for opening up your heart and your hand to us so we can open our hearts and our hands to the orphaned and vulnerable children I South Africa.
Love to all of you!!!
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