South Africa Adventures and Such

Blessed are the poor...

2010-08-05T08:21:00.001-05:00

There are precious moments here when I know this is something to remember. I always think of blogging those moments but I very seldom actually write those blogs. So, I’m going to attempt to write one now. This may just turn out as random ramblings…but here goes.
Actually, first, I just want to share that yesterday the boys at Eagles Rising washed my car. Just out of the blue they offered. My car wasn’t even really dirty (which is good, that means they weren’t just at a point that they couldn’t handle having a dirty car around), it was truly just a thoughtful thing to do. Wow. Really blessed me. Back to my story…
I’ve really been seeking God about what are His ways. The Bible says that His ways are higher than our ways. That as far as heaven is from the earth, that is how much higher His ways are. But scripture also says that if we boast in anything, may it be that we know the ways of our God. So, His ways are so different and yet we should get to know them…get to know Him. I really want to know God’s ways. I’m increasingly aware that my ways are not His ways. And so this week I encountered something of God’s ways…
On Tuesday I taught a Kingdom of God class at ER….I have a whole other ramble about the revelance of Western curriculum in an African context, but I’ll save that for later….let me return to Kingdom of God class on Tuesday. We were talking about being citizens of the Kingdom of God meaning that we no longer live according to this world but according to God’s Kingdom. We looked at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 as being like a constitution of the Kingdom of God which declares how things operate in the Kingdom. So, we start to go verse by verse. I’ve done this before. I’ve studied out the meaning of each word in these verses. I’ve read books about them, sought revelation from God about it. I have spent years seeking after the fullness of the Beatitudes. And on Tuesday I’m sitting with these students from so-called disadvantaged communities in South Africa, who grew up in physical poverty, who have never had opportunity before to attempt “success”, who have not spent much time searching these particular scriptures just yet. Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven”. Blessed – a word meaning supremely blessed and a condition deserving of congratulations. God says, you deserve congratulations when you are poor in spirit. And I asked the students what the word poor means. The students answer – to be disadvantaged, to not have, lack, to be nothing, worthless. They have been called poor many times, they know they are describing what the world thinks of them. These students do not need me to preach a sermon about poor in spirit, paint a picture for them, and convince them of what this means. They have lived this word “poor” and they know the world sees it as bad. For a moment I wondered how to cross the hurdle of talking about why a loving God would want anyone to feel this, to know what it is to be poor. How do I say that God does not desire that physical poverty in their lives but He does want us to know that we are poor spiritually? The greatest “shame” of their life has been that they are poor and now I am saying to them – God says if you want all of His Kingdom in your life then you will come to a place spiritually where you know you are disadvantaged, you spiritually do not have, your spirit is lacking, your spirit is found to be nothing and worthless without God. When you have truly found the truth of how poor your spirit is and you know that you are completely dependent on God for your spiritual survival then you will have the Kingdom of heaven fully evident in your life. And as I say these words I know that I actually know nothing. They know from a deep experience what is being said in this scripture, I have such a surface understanding of it.
Then, comes vs. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” I ask them what does it mean to hunger and thirst. It hurts, it physically hurts. I’ve heard the students’ stories about the pain of hunger before. How your body aches and hurts as the nutrients in your bones and muscles are depleted. It’s a physical and an emotional pain. Ultimately, one knows it can seriously damage your body and kill you. And that is how badly we must seek after and fight for righteousness. If you are really hungry and thirsty you will do anything to satisfy it for the sake of sheer survival. It is a matter of spiritual survival that we ache for righteousness and pursue it at all cost.
So, then comes Wednesday and the new Old Testament Survey class I am getting to teach. We are starting to explore Genesis and I started the class with watching the video “Indescribable” about how amazing the universe is as a creation of our God. One of these amazing students who was so involved in the previous Kingdom of God discussion just leaves during the video. I’m wondering where he has gone and why is he not in class. I head out of the room in search of him and find him in the prayer room sitting at the foot of a wooden cross that is in there. He’s on his face weeping because he is so overcome with the presence of God. This guy who the world looks at his life up until now and says he has been disadvantaged, he has been poor, he has struggled, and has not been seen as having much worth. But the Kingdom of heaven is his…he is poor in spirit and God rejoices in that. His life is changing. He will study and he will have a successful and influential career and he will put down roots in a home with a family. I think…I don’t know. I’m not sure that that is exactly what matters as I see him here in God’s presence. I think he is possibly the richest person I know right now. And a waive of realization comes that possibly I am the disadvantaged one. I come from the land of luke warm churches as described in Revelation when God says that the rich church is actually the poor one and they don’t even know it. But as I stand here seeing this student of mine weep, I know that I am poor spiritually in a way that I don’t even fully know. I just want to sit with these students and learn from them. In one moment God has made all the wisdom and theology and philosophies or years of study in my life into foolishness (according to 1 Corinthians). In what way does any wisdom acquired by us mere humans compare to this? We have no idea what wealth and success and a prosperous future really means to God. We have so many preconceived ideas and notions that cloud our vision. I’m not suggesting all our ideas are wrong or that we must entirely change the whole of everything in our lives. I’m not saying physical poverty is to be sought after. I’m just saying that God’s ways are not our ways. And right now I know that the first shall be last in the age to come. I know that on a spiritual level poverty and hunger are blessed conditions. I feel like my physical reality of having all my basic needs provided my whole life gives me a spiritual disadvantage. While these students have always been told they are disadvantaged, I look and see my own disadvantage. I see areas where I will never fully understand the depths of God until we are all fully in His presence one day. I am so thankful I did not grow up in poverty. I am so very thankful that I have not felt the absolute pain of unavoidable physical hunger. But I see how God is full of grace and mercy and He has designed things so that what was meant to be negative in these students’ lives, He now uses for their good and for them to know more of Him. What an amazing God! And in His goodness, He has made them my teacher today. Coming from the West we tend to think we have so much to teach and give others. God’s truth is that others have so much to teach and give us. Help us, Lord, to be humble and give us revelation of Your ways so that we can get beyond our own arrogance. Lord forgive our arrogance. We know so little.

God's Plans are Better

2010-06-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

The other day it dawns on me how God has really done something great in South Africa the past couple of months, and what He has done is even greater than all the World Cup activities. The focus in South Africa right now is on the nations coming to South Africa for the World Cup. With WC there are 32 nations represented and almost 6 weeks worth of games are played.
Yet, before the nations came here for the WC, they first came for the Global Day of Prayer this year. GDOP began 10 years ago and is on Pentecost every year. No person planned that Pentecost Sunday 2010 would come before the WC and no man knew when GDOP began that 10 years later South Africa would be hosting the WC. God knew. He had a plan in action long ago.
Some amazing things....at the GDOP people from over 90 nations came to pray. So, prior to the world's event of WC God first sent 3x as many nations to South Africa for prayer. In the WC one team will win. At the GDOP every nation here went home with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
GDOP may have seemed smaller than the WC, the whole world did not take as much of a notice of it, but I know that the spiritual impact of that day will resound for all eternity.
So, there you have it....God's plans for South Africa are even better than all the World Cup plans currently taking place. God is doing great things here. I am continually humbled and honored that He placed me here for such a time as this to be right in the middle of His great work at this time in this place. We serve an awesome God. We are loved by an awesome God. It is so wonderful to love Him in return and walk with Him!

Winter, the World Cup, and Vuvuzelas

2010-06-14T12:12:00.002-05:00

I drove home today looking at the snow on the mountains that surround Cape Town. It is amazing to live here. I've never lived somewhere so naturally beautiful in all my life. I'm not sure exactly how far away these mountains are from Cape Town. Maybe a 45 minute drive, but you can see them clearly from the city. When there is snow on the mountains you know that it is cold in Cape Town. Today is the first day of winter with a great deal of snow on the mountains. It is cold and rainy in and around the city. Today the real winter rains finally started. I was wondering when winter was ever going to start here. It should have started a month ago. Partially I was wondering if we might make it all the way through the World Cup with without winter rain. No, tonight with a big game involving Italy being held here in Cape Town it is now officially winter.
But I'm actually enjoying it. There is something very unifying about being a "local" and knowing how to handle this rain - just enjoy and do your best to keep your feet and neck warm!

In the midst of enjoying being a "local" for the World Cup and having rain today, I was heart broken to read one of Yahoo's lead articles today. Yahoo is my home page on-line. Today I opened up an article on their home page about everyone's frustration with the vuvuzelas being blown at the World Cup games. I'm also tired of these plastic horns. Yesterday I read a balanced article criticizing the V and agreed with it. But, wow, this article on Yahoo today was harsh and the comments people made after it were worse. As Americans we really feel this "freedom" to say the most destructive things. Really, this type of interaction does not happen from other countries for the most part. While other countries may criticize, I don't usually hear them say such hateful and heartless things. And we Americans feel it is a freedom of one person to have the right to destroy others with our speech.

I'm loving the World Cup. I am so happy for South Africa and so proud of the nation for doing a great job pulling this all together. I'm especially loving a stretch of highway that I drive every day....it has been under construction since I moved here. Then, on the day of the WC opening, this highway was complete. It is well done and I love driving on it. The infrastructure that has been built up here is fantastic. So much has been done is such a short amount of time. Things aren't perfect here but this nation has definitely risen to the occasion of the World Cup. To read comments like I saw today about the backwardness of this nation, about this still being the dark continent, and South Africa being to immature to handle the world stage for such an event where harsh. You may not like the sound of this plastic horn, but you can't judge a whole nation and an entire sporting event based on the use of a plastic horn during games. Come on Americans, we can be more constructive than this!

And for all those out there that don't like the vuvuzela....I so agree with you, but maybe its time we find some positive things to look at.

May, the Most Amazing Month...Entry 2....real life Paul's

2010-06-10T14:17:00.008-05:00

Now, for carrying on with stories from the past month. I wish I could describe to you all of the amazing things that God has done during this time, all the prayers He is busy answering at this moment in time. I tried to write some of it, it just does not sound right written out. Just suffice it all to say that God is amazing and He is revealing His glory in amazing ways right now in Cape Town. Again, I can say, it is such an honor to be here at this moment in time. I am so thankful for God's perfect timing that I was here in time to be prepared for this moment. Praise God!

In the midst of the Global Day of Prayer activities of this past month there was a special annointing oil given out to each person that attended the conference leading up to the Global Day of Prayer in Cape Town. Many nations were represented. A case of the oil was sent back to each nation there and a case mailed to strategic leaders in nations not present. This oil was at the heart of so much that God did during this time. You can read more about the oil on the website of the guy who brought it: http://www.theprayercompany.com/?gclid=CL3R29WtlqICFRyX2AodFXHTEg

One thing I do want to share about is about a real life Paul that we had the honor of praying with during the pre-GDOP conference. Aaron came to the prayer room during one of the break times and asked for us to pray for his nation. I was leading prayer at the time and I had about 15 of the ER students in the prayer room with me. Aaron began to share about his nation: Eritrea. Christian gatherings are illegal there. He told us about the senior pastor of his church who is in prison right now while his wife and children are at home. Aaron told us how he was in prison for 2 years because of his faith. He developed health problems from his time in prison and ended up in a Middle Eastern country for health care. This is when he began planting churches among doctors and other professionals in Middle Eastern nations. He has planted churches in 6 nations at this point and he only began in 2004. He is 28 years old, has been a Christian for 12 years, and is full of more wisdom than most old men in the world. His English was not very good, so he spoke to us using the Bible most of the time. He would turn to me and give me a scripture reference, I would read the scripture out loud and it would say exactly what he intended to say. I wish I could show you a picture of Aaron, he was so amazing but that would be dangerous for him.
As we began to pray for him I could tell the ER students did not know how to begin. Finally, one student simply said, "God, how do I begin to pray. I am humbled by this man. There are no words. Thank you, God, for Aaron and for the mighty Christians in his nation." God poured out His Holy Spirit to guide our prayers and we had a dynamic time of prayer with Aaron. We were all so blessed. Then, Aaron said he had never been in a gathering this large of Christians because it is illegal and dangerous in the nations he works in (there were close to 20 of us in the prayer room). The ER students began to sing and Aaron asked if this is heaven. So humbling. The students sing like this every day, but it was a once in a life time privilege for Aaron. During Aaron's testimony he told us that he has suffered from beatings and imprisonments many times. As the students began to sing God reminded me of when Paul praised in prison and the doors opened. God showed me that the students' singing with Aaron was actually intercession. This praise was going before Aaron and breaking open prison doors before he even encounters them in some places. Wow!
We all really connected with Aaron. In talking to him we discovered he had been given a wonderful hotel room to stay in, but this feeling of family with us was so special for him. The director of ER felt that we should invite him to come stay with us on the ER farm. The next night Aaron came back home with all of us. He stayed on the farm with us for 3 days. What a blessing!
The first night our students were spiritually exhausted from the prayer room. They just wanted to play games and laugh. Aaron found himself in the middle of a fast paced game of Uno. I taught him how to play and he caught on quickly. We discovered that in the past 12 years he has not played any games, not even soccer, something he loves. So, the next day was a sabbath day/ break day for us. The students got Aaron out on the soccer field and played a good, long game with him. Aaron said he was having so much fun with us that he was already beginning to think of how hard it would be for him to go back to his mission field. I encouraged to not loose sight of what God has called him to, but to enjoy this moment of rest the Lord had sent his way. That was the saturday before the Global Day of Prayer.

That night we were scheduled to pray at the GDOP venue from 6pm - midnight. Aaron joined us for this time of prayer, also. He contributed so much. Again communicating with us through scriptures, he lead us in much of the prayer time.
Then, came the actual GDOP day here in Cape Town. Wow! Amazing! So many nations were represented here. It was powerful. I wept through most of the event just realizing how God has used Africa, and most specificly South Africa, to have such a great impact on the world. I was at the first GDOP in Cape Town in 2001 and here I was back in Cape Town for the 10th anniversary. God has been so good to me!
Before the event began we gathered as intercessors to pray for Graham Power, the man who obeyed God to start this whole thing. He then asked us to go into the speakers' room and pray over the speakers who would be taking part in the day. Before we even got to the speakers' room, Cindy Jacobs came to us and asked for prayer. Then, we went to the speakers' room. These mighty men and women of God humbly allowed us to pray for them one by one. I first prayed with the dynamic leaders from Nigeria who walk in so much Godly authority. It was overwhelming to pray for them. Then, I prayed for a pastor from Jacksonville, FL who will host the TV broadcast of the Global Day of Prayer in 2011. (Every year GodTV bases the TV broadcast in a different nation. Last year it was Hong Kong. The year before it was Jerusalem. Next year it will be based in the US for the first time). Bishop Vaughn Mclaughlin will host next year and I got to pray for him and pray for next year's event with him! (Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuYxyUbj4LU&feature=related) Wow! I was so humbled and God's presence was so heavy. I felt as if I might not be able to stand and I just kept weeping...really through most of the day.
God is really doing great things in the earth right now. Don't miss it!!!!! Spend some time with Him, in the Bible, and listening to His heart beat. Now, is a time in history that we are all blessed to be here for. Don't get too distracted with all the wars and rumors of wars and natural disasters. Keep your eye on the King, keep your candle burning, He will come in the night to fetch his bride, at a time when we least expect Him. Don't be caught unaware. Keep your oil burning!

One last comment about Aaron. He was extremely humble. On the Global Day of Prayer I was in charge of coordinating the intercessors. When asked what he needed to do, Aaron was told to just stay by me and help with what I needed help with. So, he humbly did. I was embarrassed to ask him to do a few practical things for me, but he went and ran a couple of errands for me. I apologized for asking him to run errands. He said, "It is a great honor to serve you. I have heard you pray and I know you are a mighty one of the Kingdom." Wow! The greatest compliment I've ever received and possibly the most humbling moment of my life.
And on Monday, as fast as he showed up in our lives, Aaron left suddenly for the airport to fly back to his home. I think God was protecting his heart from being distracted from his call. So, God whisked him away quickly. I can't wait to speak to him again in the life to come!

And all this is just a glimpse of the most amazing month of my life!

2010 World Cup - 1 Day to Kick-Off

2010-06-09T15:04:00.009-05:00

The 2010 World Cup kicks off in 1 day. I'm so excited and so glad I'm here in South Africa right now!!!

These images are from the Cape Town airport. I went today to drop a friend off. It is crazy there. They have done so many updates it feels like a whole new airport. It is even completely different from how it was when I flew to Europe in April. This picture with the "1" is of a count down point at the airport that I have been watching since I came just to visit in May 2008. It started out with something like 600 days to kick off. I'm back and forth to the airport a lot and so I've watched it count down over the past year and few months since I moved here. Today it was so cool to see it say 1 day left!!

South Africa has the longest national anthem in the world and we are about to get to hear it all the time!!! I love it. Here it is:
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa la matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika – South Afrika.

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

Translation

The isiXhosa and isiZulu of the first stanza, the Sesotho of the second stanza and the Afrikaans of the third stanza translate into English as follows:

Lord, bless Africa
May her spirit rise high up
Hear thou our prayers
Lord bless us.

Lord, bless Africa
Banish wars and strife
Lord, bless our nation
Of South Africa.

Ringing out from our blue heavens
From our deep seas breaking round
Over everlasting mountains
Where the echoing crags resound ...

You can listen to the anthem at this website:
http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/anthem.htm

The official song for the 2010 Soccer World Cup is "Waka, Waka" an old African song originating in Cameroon. The new version is sung by Shakira and is a blast. Check it out at this website:
http://www.musicloversgroup.com/shakira-waka-waka-lyrics-and-video/
The website also shows the lyrics. There is a South African group called Freshly Ground singing on this song, also. They are a great local group here!

Anyway, as all the comercials say right now....Soccer fever...."Can you feel it? It is here!"

May, the Most Amazing Month....Entry 1

2010-06-09T14:23:00.002-05:00

I can’t believe May was only one month. I feel like I have lived a lifetime this past month. I’ve drastically neglected my blog during this time so I’ll do my best to give a re-cap. Hang in there…this may be long but if you can capture even just a small glimpse of what I’ve experienced this month then I think it will be worth it.
Here goes…
One important thing to note is that the yearly prayer event called Global Day of Prayer actually began in Cape Town in 2001, so this year marked the 10th anniversary. Therefore, Transformation Africa, the ministry that has developed out of all of this made a decision to make the 10th year a time of celebration with a conference before GDOP and an invitation to people to come from around the world to join us here in Cape Town.
The man who obeyed God and started GDOP was simply a business man in those early days who got saved and made a choice to radically obey Jesus. Today his businesses have literally built half of the infrastructure of the nation of South Africa and God has used him to do so many great ministry works in this nation as well as overseas. One of the great things he has done was to encourage two ladies in Somerset West, South Africa to pray about using some property he owns near Sir Lowry’s Pass Village to glorify God and make a difference for the nation. Today, Eagles Rising Training Center exists because of this. If you don’t know, ER is where I serve part-time in official hours and where my prayers, love, emotions, and spare time also go. I love this ministry!!
The ER students were asked to be a part of the GDOP conference this year. They always help in various ways with activities being done by GDOP and its founder. Usually they serve as greeters, parking attendants, etc. This year God chose to set them in a different place. This year they were asked to be in the prayer room at the conference which was designated as the “ministry prayer room” or the room where people should go to receive prayer. There was also a second prayer room where intercessors prayed over the conference and people could go to spend time in prayer themselves. I actually got to be one of the prayer leaders in this second prayer room. The prayer leaders in this room rotated out ever 4 hours.
Between ER’s prayer room and the intercession room I spent a lot of hours, basically the full day each day in prayer and it was great!!!!
But let me go back in time just a bit. During the time when we were preparing for the conference I was staying on the ER farm with a team from Lubbock Christian University who came to do leadership and teambuilding exercises with the students. They were a fantastic team!!! They served continually, preparing meals and covering prayer room time slots on the farm so that staff could be free to also receive teachings from the two professors who came. This team really blessed my socks off. And even though they kept me up every night and I was so exhausted I struggled to function properly….I really, really enjoyed laughing with the girls on the team. They brought so much joy to me.
But I was staying on the farm with them (meaning that I slept there with the team and was there with them 24/7) during the time when we were preparing for the conference. One night during the week leading up to the conference I landed in the ER prayer room with the students. ER has a 24/7 prayer room. The staff pray in slots through the day and the students pray through the night hours. The girls pray one night and the boys the next, then they are up and ready for their classes each day. These students are really amazing and so dedicated to God!!! One night we were all in the prayer room together. We needed to end at 9pm for the students to get ready for bed. Just before 9pm I said to them lets spend the last 5 minutes praising God and declaring His names. They began to praise. These students can pray!!! If I had told them we were going to declare the names of God for the next hour they would have done it for an hour, but I said 5 minutes and being told 5 minutes they would normally stop at the end of 5 minutes. But on this night they didn’t stop, they kept going. There seemed to be no way of reigning things in. The students have powerful voices and I do not have the voice capacity to speak over them. I went to the student praying at the loudest voice and asked him to pray to close us up. He said okay but I could tell he was then praying about how God wanted him to close the time. He came back and asked if he could end with a song. I said okay but it just wasn’t time for the song. I was concerned about the noise level of the students because of our neighbor and about them being up too late but I heard so clearly God say to me, “Don’t you dare interrupt what I am doing.” So I stepped back and simply waited for the one student to close us in prayer when the time came. The students kept declaring the names of God and praying. They grew more and more intense, louder and louder. Then, different ones were dropping to their knees and falling on their faces before God. And these young people (ages 18 – 22) just kept going and going. And going and going. And I was just thanking God that I could be in that place at that time, right in the midst of His visitation. The presence of God was so tangible, so thick.
Then before the one student could begin the song to close us up, another one on his knees spontaneously began to pour out before God the song, “I surrender all, all to Jesus, I surrender all.” That song carried on for some time. Then, 30 minutes after our time was up this amazing praise time came to and end as the students began to share scriptures God had given to them about unity and breaking dividing walls. We ended the time with the decision to re-join in the prayer room the next morning, shoes off as a sign of the holy ground we were standing on.
What a moment in time!
Okay, this really is turning out long….I’ll share my next story in another blog entry tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed this one!

Turning 21 in South Africa is a very big deal!

2010-06-05T17:45:00.003-05:00

So, tonight has been an interesting night!
One of the Eagles Rising students had his 21st today. The 21st birthday in his culture group (Khoi or Colored) is a very big deal. I had one friend tell me that the 21st birthday is more hectic even than a wedding day. That's huge!

Now, this Eagles Rising student decided he really wanted to involve all of us from Eagles in his special day. I'm not sure how this happened, but I got asked to be the MC. I know it is an important day, so I would never say no to such a request. Though I have spent the past two weeks trying to convince him that this might not be his best plan ever since I have never been to a 21st before.

In the end I was the MC and also went to my first South African 21st birthday celebration in all the same night.
It was a big deal. There was a community center rented, over 160 people there, songs were sung, sermons were preached, words of encouragement were given....it felt somewhat similar to a graduation ceremony.
All the while I'm the MC, but most of the people speaking in between my introductions were speaking in Afrikaans. So I was saying thank you for sharing to people when I actually had no clue what they just said (that was entertaining!)
But also bear in mind....I'm a white American. Sorry for the label....but that is just how its done here...labels based on color and culture all the time. But the reality is that I am a white, American. That means I'm used to calm, slow, orderly types of events. Now a 21st here is probably usually really loud and fast and hyper (that's what the student's mom told me anyway:) So, I'm not sure this kid got the same 21st he would have gotten from anyone else.
I was so uncertain as to what to do so I just took it slow and calm. Throughout the service, I just felt God say "slow and calm". It was only after everything was over that I discovered these things are usually fast and hyper.
Well, there you have it.....put a white girl from Texas on the stage with a mike and this time around they got slow and calm.
I hope he enjoyed it. That is the purpose of the day...that he enjoy it and God is glorified.

It really was quite an event and it was very nice and I gather it was nothing like a typical 21st around here!
I did get two compliments.....one from the students mom who said everyone enjoyed it and she is so proud of how she knows her neighbors are going to talk about it. I love that about South Africa!
The second compliment came from another one of the Eagles students. They have a saying, "you boxed it" when someone wraps things up nicely like in a beautiful box. Well, he said, "You didn't just box it, you contained it, you totally contained that thing." Well there you have it...beyond boxing it...and I only discovered what "boxing it" is a few weeks ago. I am so moving up in the world of teenager/young adult coolness :)

A Lion's Roar Cannot be Ignored

2010-05-04T11:44:00.002-05:00

I just had a fantastic day. I started a new class with the students at Eagles Rising today - Self Discovery. It is time to do group activities and artistic expressions in exploring emotions, how to manage emotions, discovering more about their God-given personalities, etc. I think its going to be a lot of fun.

To get the ball rolling today we just started with the good 'ol "if you were an animal what animal would you be and why". Except that they had 10 minutes to either draw, prepare a skit, or write about it. What came out of this time was amazing.
One girl said she would be a lizard because if you chop its tail off it keeps going and for her people may try to cut her down or chop part of her off in life, but she will keep going.

One of the guys wrote an amazing poem about a lion's roar. I can't give it justice here, it was so well written, but here is the jist....He would be a lion because a lion's roar cannot be ignored. A lion's roar breaks through any racial group. It can be heard over all the lying, stealing, raping, and murders. It breaks through every attempt at reconciliation and re-structuring of the nation (speaking of South Africa). A lion's roar cannot be ignored.
Wow, it was powerful.

Of course, the most humorous was one of the guys who decided he would be a mouse so he could scour through my house and see what all I had around without being known. Ha ha. Young people, they think their so funny :)

Is Anybody Reading This?

2010-05-02T08:58:00.002-05:00

So just today I was complaining to a friend about how no one ever comments on my blog. It makes it hard to find motivation to write because I don't know if anyone actually reads this thing. I made a comparison to my friend, Paige, and said how I am most envious of her blog because she gets so many comments all the time.
Then, I pop on here today and what do I find...a comment. Yeah, a comment. And a few marks of "funny" & "interesting". I now officially know that in the past two weeks at least 3 people have read this blog. Thanks to all three of you :)

Such motivation warrants some random ramblings....
I made a mistake paying my rent this month. It is another example of how I still have to transition to the different pace and ways of life here. Sometimes now I've gotten comfortable and I forget to keep my guard up always watching for something I might not be aware of.
When I moved here and got the car I quickly learned that people seldom accept cash here for large purchases. It simply is not safe to have that much cash around all the time. As a result it is common practice to pay payments in directly to the bank.
Moving into the house I currently live in, I learned that rent is also paid in directly to the bank. I also discovered (at least for where I live now) that rent is paid by the last day of the previous month. For example, my rent for May was due on April 30. I usually try to pay a bit early but due to my being sick for the past little while, I found myself trying to pay rent on Friday, the 30th. At which point I realized I had gotten to comfortable with the whole rent paying issue and not paid enough attention. The bank my landlord uses closes at 3:30pm every day. 3:30???? How do you get business done that way. My American brain leaps in and tells me how this is a ridiculous way of doing business. 3:30, Monday - Friday, just does not compute with me. But none the less, I showed up at 3:40 on Friday, wanting to make sure not to be later than 4:00 since it was a Friday (that is how it works in America, anyway.) A bank should, in my American thinking, stay open until 6pm, at least, on Monday - Thursday so people can go after work. Although, again in my American way of thinking, a bank may close at 4:00 or so on Friday to make up for the late hours the other days of the week. Apparently this is not the way of thinking in South Africa. I'm sure the banks here know the best hours for accommodating good business here in this culture, but I was not prepared for said hours. And now.....I have to be there upon opening Monday morning to deposit my rent and pray a prayer that maybe a one time late rent is not the end of the world in South Africa.

Africa Dances

2010-04-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

My favorite commercials in South Africa right now are both about how important dancing is here.

The first is a Coca Cola commercial. Absolutely amazing commercial about the first player to break out in dance after a winning goal. He did this over 40 years ago. He was an African and the commercial talks about Africa teaching the world to let go, have fun, and dance. All through the commercial it shows clips of soccer players (footballers) all over the world dancing after their goals, all different kinds of dances. It is a lot of fun and makes you want to jump up and join in.

Then there is a Vodacom commercial which is so entertaining. There are two guys fishing at the coast when they look over and see a Bafana Bafana player (that is South Africa's soccer team). They go over to get his attention and tell him how they've come up for the perfect dance to follow the next goal he scores. They commence to turn on an old boom box and dance away. Cut to next seen of this Bafana Bafana player doing the suggested dance following his next goal with the whole soccer stadium up dancing with him. The two guys who taught the dance have so much fun seeing the nation dance their dance.

Great commercials!!! Makes you wanna dance with Africa and join in with the fun.

One Interesting Conversation

2010-04-28T15:12:00.000-05:00

So on my Turkish Air flight returning to South Africa from Belgium I had a very interesting conversation. It was the Belgium to Turkey (for a layover) leg of my flight. They have this amazing cherry juice on Turkish Air. I had no idea Turkey is known for its cherry juice, but if you ever get the chance to enjoy some Turkish cherry juice, go for it! Anyway, following this lovely cherry juice it was time for a bathroom break. There were a few people waiting at the bathrooms. Somehow one guy ended up stuck in the aisle. I moved to make room for him to stand out of the aisle. So, we began a conversation.
"Hello, I am Hassan." "Hi, I am Jeanne." "Where are you from?" "America, and you?" "Saudi Arabi"
At this point in the conversation total silence stood between us for several seconds. It was clear that neither of us knew how to respond. Here we stood, two random people that somehow knew that the division between our countries was very deep. Then came his very next statement,
"I love America."
It was said in a tone that expressed layers of tension between our nations. I smiled and said thank you and then told him that usually when traveling as an American I meet people who do not like America. He just said, "Oh, no, not me. I like America."
Then, the bathroom opened and it was my turn. End of conversation.
What a crazy moment in time. It is amazing how politics and stereotypes so deeply impact how we meet new people.
Then, came the really interesting part. A few minutes later Hassan returned to his seat a few rows in front of me. He had an open seat beside him and invited me to come and sit. My friends flying with me encouraged maybe this would be a chance to show the light of Jesus...go talk. For me, I was thinking this is completely uncomfortable but what an interesting opportunity to learn more about his nation. So I agreed.
He was handsome. Just a few years older than me. A policeman who works in an agriculture imports department. He had been to Belgium visiting a friend and building up a new travel agency business he is starting. He showed me his business card (the only reason I am actually certain of what his name was :) He was very nice, but there was something inside of me desperately aware that this was a strange conversation and I just could not relax. That is not my norm at all. I talk to all different people all the time. I don't know why this barrier was so hard. I must have looked horribly uncomfortable and nervous. Finally, he asked if I was nervous that he had asked me to come talk. I said no, though that wasn't really true. He said he was glad to have an opportunity to practice his English and it was fun chatting. It was also an interesting opportunity for him to talk with an American. He welcomed me to visit his country anytime. I told him he can visit South Africa (why do people always say silly things like that when meeting people while you travel). But the interesting part was that he said, no, he loves his country and that is where he knows he will stay. I've found that so many times. People from non-Western countries are always less likely to express an interest in traveling. They have such a stronger devotion to their own nations. And then that was the end of our interesting encounter. We both acknowledged it had been an interesting chat. I said a silent prayer wondering if I was suppose to say something openly about my faith. Then I wondered if he is a Muslim or if he had any faith at all. There was never an opening in our conversation for such talks and honestly I knew this discussion would have only fueled American stereotypes rather than shine a light on the truth of Jesus. And so we shook hands, I prayed a pray inside of me for him to encounter the truth of Jesus, and I returned to my original seat.
What a fantastic conversation!

European Prayer Trip

2010-04-26T15:12:00.001-05:00

I just returned from a prayer trip with Prepare International. It was fantastic! To start, we flew on Turkish Air. Who would have thought about flying Turkish? But I’m discovering that when you start your flight in South Africa, then there are all kinds of different airlines involved. Turkish Air was great!
They gave us cute little toiletry kits when we boarded the plane. They had so much leg room that even tall people on the flight had no problem. Being a short person, I could completely lounge with my legs stretched out. It was great! Plus, they had fantastic turquoise seats. Oh, and they actually had good food on an airplane. Two thumbs up for Turkish Air. Only thing lacking was personal TV screens, but really if I had to choose between personal screens and leg room I would take the leg room any day.The prayer trip was to Europe and two South African ladies went with me. So cool to take South Africans on a mission trip to give back into Europe!!!
When we were leaving SA there was a lot of racial turmoil in South Africa. So we spent the first part of the trip reading the Word as we flew over Africa. Between Cape Town and Johannesburg I was on a marathon reading of Daniel, but I knew it was critical. Lord, raise up Daniels to influence leaders in South Africa!! As we flew over Northern South Africa and then on over Zimbabwe I was in Jeremiah. So many critical prayers in that book and there was a powerful moment over Zim. In most respects we never will know the fullness of what happens with our prayers. All I know is that for our whole team that moment over Zim struck something in the spiritual realm.
On to Europe. We had a lay over in Turkey. What an experience that was! As great as Turkish Airways is, the Turkish airport could do well with a little more order and structure….but, hey, we were coming from Africa :)
Then, came Europe. We started the trip in Herrenhut, Germany were the 125 year Moravian 24/7 prayers began. One amazing thing to me was discovering that these 125 years of prayer did not center around a specific prayer room. People prayed at home or work or where ever they were when it was their time to pray. Amazing. The prayers were going out from all over this community.
We had a great time of preparation for praying in Europe while in Herrenhut. The Prepare International team all taught on different areas of prayer, and as a former team member I was also asked to teach. It was great. I had so much fun back with the PI team. They really are my spiritual family and I felt so at home. It was really hard to leave them at the end of our training time. I’m so thankful I get to be family with them. Their whole team really are my heroes in the faith.

But anyway, back to the trip.
On Sunday we went to a local church in Herrenhut. It was fantastic. Their youth had just returned from a trip to Israel. One of the youth spoke about the first time he had to tell a Jewish person that he was a part of the German team. That must have been so hard! But they were all so humble and honest about the need for forgiveness. I sat in awe of their humility. I was also struck with how powerful in the Kingdom of God the German people must be that Satan would work so hard to cause such evil in their nation. I thought of all the mighty men and women of the faith who paid the price before us that the Word was translated into common languages, that we all as Americans and also as South Africans have a heritage of Christianity. The people of Europe paid such a huge price that I might know God. I could have been born anywhere with any heritage. God blessed me with a German, French, British heritage which means that I grew up with a foundation of Christianity. What a blessing. Satan has tortured Europe endlessly for the heritage they gave me and others like me. To this day, Europeans suffer the backlash of all they fought through. They broke through huge boundaries in Spiritual areas and now the solid foundation of Christianity has so brutally been pulled out from under them. Less than 1% of Europeans are born again Christians today. Yet, most of the world can find that the Gospel was first heard on their continent because of Europeans. They weren’t perfect in all that they did, but they served a great purpose in the earth. What a blessing to be on this continent and sow the Gospel back into it.

The three of us from South Africa were joined by two ladies from the Czech Republic during the training time. When we left our two day training we were a team of five. One lady on our SA team has dual citizenship with Portugal and one of the ladies from Czech is actually a missionary from Canada, so between the 5 of us we represented 5 different nations.
It was evident that God hand picked our multi-cultural team. Our team went to pray for one week in Belgium. This was key as the nation is the seat of the European Union (EU) and is a multi-cultural nation itself. During our trip I was told that there are well under 10,000 Christians in the entire nation of Belgium. It is a spiritually heavy country with many, many needs spiritually. On many days it was overwhelming to realize that 99% of people we saw do not know Jesus. The best thing we could do as a team was pray with and encourage the local leaders to press on with the Gospel in their nation.

We went to 8 different towns during the trip. In most of these places there is only 1 Evangelical church in the town. In one town there is not even one church at this point but we prayed with leaders who have begun small house meetings. In each place you could feel how the leaders face so much. I believe that God used our team to bring emotional healing to many people we prayed with. At different points in the trip there were different people on the team that God moved strongly through. It was amazing to see how each person on our team had a very specific purpose God had sent them to Belgium for.

We traveled multiple times a day by train and often read the Word over the areas we traveled through.

Throughout our trip my heart was so torn. In South Africa I can see the needs around me. At times over the past year I have been overwhelmed with the extent of need and poverty here. I know these are the areas that God has called me to serve in. That God sent me to Africa. But seeing the spiritual needs of Europe was even more overwhelming. I have been a part of mission work there for the past 13 years, but somehow this time it hit me so hard. I finally truly understood that God’s focus is not on our physical conditions. Physical conditions are passing, this life on earth is but a vapor. The spiritual is eternal, the consequences of our spiritual condition stays with us forever. South Africa is far from a Christian nation. I don’t know the actual stats, but only about 20% of people are Christian without incorporating pagan beliefs into their faith. Yet, there is a spiritual reality in Africa and many people are to some extent aware of spiritual matters. In Europe there is so little awareness of spiritual things. The mind is exalted, education is King, and human understanding is worshipped. How do you encounter God when you do not believe there is anything more to life than the little bit of reality you see?

But, back to prayer….another type of “prayer” we got to take part in was an evening of worshipping with two YWAM missionaries in the Brussels subway. They have gone every Thursday for the past three years. It was amazing how many people knew them, encouraged them to release the sound of worship in this place, and simply stopped by to say hello.
In all of this, the most amazing part of the trip for me (actually I think everyone on our team would say this was the most crucial part) was an hour of prayer at the Justice Building in Brussels. A guy from the YWAM base took us there. He has prayed there several times and had some insight into issues there. And, yet, God revealed so much to our team while we were in this building. For me it was critical because a great deal of the focus of justice in Belgium has to do with their relationship with Congo. I love Congo! After praying in this building we prayed in the city market square where there are also many symbols of the spiritual connection between Belgium and Congo. It was so spiritually heavy in that square that I almost could not walk. Our whole team plus the YWAM guy all felt the weight of the need for prayer in these places. We all sort of stumbled home and needed rest after that time of prayer. It was also on this evening that I broke out in fever followed by flu then strep throat then a sinus infection.
But the trip was far from over! We prayed through another city the next day. The following day some people on our team went to pray over government buildings while I laid in bed burning with fever.
Then, began our two day wait for a flight out of Europe because of the ash cloud. But God made a way for us and two days later we flew out and home again.
And that was the amazing prayer journey I just went on with Prepare International, and the amazing prayer journey that God allowed me the privilege of taking two South African ladies on.

Oh, and of course we had chocolate!!

One last thing....check out these space shuttle bathrooms on the trains in Belgium!

Easter Holiday

2010-04-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

This Easter I took my first vacation since I have been in South Africa. It was wonderful. I family that has become my family away from family invited me to join them for the weekend. We went about two hours north of Cape Town into the mountains. We stayed in this little house that sat on the edge of the mountain all by itself. It was so peaceful there. We took walks through the mountains, went into the closest towns to enjoy sights there, and we blew a shofar all through this mountain valley. What a joy the holiday was!

Cape Town for Jesus

2010-03-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

Cape Town for Jesus Prayer Event.

It is so amazing that the Body of Christ in Cape Town was asked to host a prayer event in the new Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, which was built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup to be hosted here in South Africa.

FIFA (the international football/soccer association) required three trial runs of the stadium before the world cup and one of them had to be a non-sporting event. For the non-sporting event the City of Cape Town had to consider who in this area has the influence to gather a crowd of 55,000 people who would be willing to participate in a trial event plus be respectful and patient at the stadium. As a result of the Global Day of Prayer events that began here in 2001, they asked Transformation Africa and the GDOP team to host a prayer event in the stadium. Awesome. How fantastic that a Christian group is viewed as having influence and viewed in such a positive light!!!!

I had the great honor of being a part of a team of intercessors who were in the stadium the day before covering the event in 24 hours of prayer before it began. It was amazing to be in this stadium while it was empty of people and be able to walk throughout and prayer. It was even more amazing to know that we were paving the way spiritually for the success of the prayer event itself. God impressed me with Malachi 3:3 during this time of prayer. My constant prayer was that the one true God would receive all the honor, glory, power, and praise of the prayer event. And that Jesus would be enthroned on our praises as King of Kings over Cape Town.

Then, on March 22 the largest gathering of Christians ever in South Africa joined together in Green Point Stadium in Cape Town to bless the stadium, bless the city, bless the nation, and pray over all the nations who will come here this year for the Soccer World Cup.

It was a great day.

Representatives of all the major political parties in Cape Town were present and prayed for. Youth prayed over them and one guy had the boldness to pray that when the wrong decisions might be made in government that God would make the leaders quick to respond to Him and correct the matter. The youth also prayed over child trafficking and abuse. I love that in South Africa so many peoples, tribes, and tongues are always represented! There are videos of prayers by some of the people groups at the bottom of this blog.

Another wonderful thing about the day is that as each main topic was prayed for, the massive 55,000 person crowd was asked to gather in groups of 2-3 people and pray over the issue themselves. What a challenge to not just have one person leading the prayers, but to involve such a huge crowd in prayer.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when everyone joined in a responsive prayer of blessing over the stadium, the nation, and all the nations coming for the World Cup. For one thing I love responsive prayers….reminds me of growing up in a Baptist church. This responsive prayer with 55,000 people praying in unison was awesome! Here are some excerpts:

“Ke Nako! Now is the time Christians of South Africa, to obey Christ the King!”

“Jesus, we will seek to obey you. We submit to your authority over our lives, our churches, our city and this nation.”

As the nations of the world were welcomed to South Africa, a blessing was prayed over each region of the world. Here’s the blessing prayed over the nations of the Americas:

“Blessed is the nation who trusts in God. Blessed is the nation who serves the nations of the world. Blessed is the nation who is generous and shares their food with the poor. Blessed is the nation who is the peacemaker.”

Wow! When was the last time you heard something like that prayed over America!

The closing of the responsive prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on South Africa. Bless this nation and make us a blessing to the nations. Let your Kingdom come, let your will be done in South Africa, as in heaven. Amen!”

Here's a picture of the Eagles Rising students standing with a huge group of people representing all the soccer players from around the world during the prayer time.

The day closed out with Angus Buckan speaking. He was just as dynamic and down-to-earth as I had imagined him being. My favorite things about his talk were this:

He often spoke of the privilege of freedom of speech in South Africa and that he can speak honestly as God has shown him to, in love. Each time he would say we can speak freely and honestly he would end the statement with “in love” saying that as we speak as Christians it must be out of God’s love that we are speaking. Also, he really talked to people in the stadium. It was like he was really able to see people and not just a crowd. It felt like he was talking to us personally even with 55,000 people there.

Anyway, that was Cape Town for Jesus Prayer event. What an honor to be here and be a part of it.

Eagles Rising Opening Ceremony

2010-02-12T03:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the Eagles Rising opening ceremony for this year's new students. It was so great. Below I've attached some clips of the students singing. They are truly amazing. Half the students this year are second year students and half of them are new students that just arrived last week. They had 4 hours to practice for the opening ceremony. So talented!!! I keep thinking there has got to be a way to bring half of them to Texas for a tour at different churches.

And here is Graham Power speaking to the students and encouraging them for the year. He's the guy who started the Global Day of Prayer and he is very involved at Eagles. I know it is special for the students to know that people who hold prominent positions in their country care about them and come out regularly to spend time with them.

Birthday in South Africa

2010-02-11T15:11:00.000-06:00

I just had my first birthday since moving to South Africa. I’ve actually had a birthday here before in 2001, but this was my first one since the long-term move here. Thanks to all the lovely people who sent me so many birthday blessings!!!
I had a great day. I had not expected anything for the day. My birthday was the day all the new students arrived at the community program I work with. After they arrived we loaded up in vans and headed 3 hours outside of Cape Town for a wilderness camp. I knew we had a busy day so I have a braai (South African BBQ) planned for Feb. 12.
But I was greatly surprised by all the Eagles Rising students after arriving at the wilderness camp. The students worked to put together a treasure hunt. They had me running around the camp grounds searching for one clue after the next. With each clue was a yummy chocolate. Then, I ended up in the dinning hall with cake and balloons, a small gift, and lots of singing students. What a fun time we had!
God took care of my first birthday here and made it something very wonderful and special! Thanks for all your prayers!
Now, I will have a braai (BBQ) with some friends tomorrow for a final b-day celebration. I love the South African version of a BBQ. For one thing they have really great spices here. They also braai some fantastic meats like lamb and mutton. (I've discovered the best braai in the whole of Cape Town is mutton steaks at the #17 Braai stand in Khayelitshia.) But the very best thing about a braai in South Africa is what they call a bring and braai. That means I've got good coals from a fire, you need to bring your own meat, and we'll cook it up all together. How great is that. Its easy to have a braai any time because everyone has to bring their own meat. Plus, typically, people also contribute salads and drinks for the braai, also. So tomorrow all I need to have is a fire going and my own meat. Fantastic.

Making donations to South African ministries

2010-01-31T16:07:00.000-06:00

This is something I don't usually write about...but I was recently asked by a friend and I found myself saying yes to their request.
As an American in Africa I am constantly asked to let people back home know about the financial needs of ministries here. Usually I hold back and just share with people when they ask about where or how to give. But right now is a particularly difficult time for ministries here, so I decided I would share about a couple of them here on this blog.
I had a South African friend say to me one day that having no food in the house for Westerners means there are only stables and there is nothing enjoyable to eat. For lower-income people in South Africa saying there is no food in the house means the cupboards are empty and you have not eaten a few meals.
The same saying can be said for financial difficulties in ministries. I've been through financial strain at ministries in America, but it does not compare to watching ministry staff here go without pay while praying fervently that God will provide basic food for those they serve.
When I arrived in South Africa last year America was at the peak of the financial crisis while the news stations here declared that South Africa would feel the crisis in a few months time. It seems a few months time has arrived. Today on the news I heard a report from the Global Economic Summit that one of the internationally operating banks has studied the economic crisis and estimates that 100's of 1,000's of people in Africa will fall from the edge of poverty into dire poverty this year in Africa.
In light of all of this, I would like to ask you to pray about giving into ministries who are making a difference in people's lives. There are 100's of these ministries out there. I know of a handful that are dear to me.
Since I am serving at Eagles Rising, they are very dear to my heart. This ministry amazes me. I am close enough to see when they are desparately trusting God for money to keep food on the table, and yet they have never once made a request of me in regard to finances. That is huge. All it takes is hearing my American accent to keep my days full of requests for financial help. And, yet, the leaders at Eagles Rising have kept their eyes focused firmly on God for their provision (I'm not implying other ministries are not doing this, it just surprises me that as often as I am with them I have never received a request for finances.) They work with young adults ages 17-23 to provide Bible classes, life growth opportunities, and skills development to prepare these young people to live as children of God while entering into employment and education opportunities for their future. You can learn more about them at www.eaglesrising.org.za
Another group I work closely with is Benaiah Multipurpose Resource Center. I'm on their advisory committee as we get this new ministry going. This ministry is beginning in one of the most disadvantaged areas in Cape Town in order to see complete community transformation by providing skills development and resources for developing sustainable community programs to meet the needs of all age groups in Sir Lowry's Pass Village. Benaiah is at the building phase right now. There is currently a commitment from a German-based group to match half the cost of building if finances can be raised to cover the other half.
Many people want to know about helping ministries addressing children's educational needs in South Africa. The crisis of education in this nation has recently been highlighted in a major American publication and has people's attention at the moment. Dear friends of mine work closely with Eagle's Nest Ministries (www.eagles-nest.org.za). This ministry also works in an extremely under privileged community in order to provide quality education for children who would not have it otherwise. You can learn more about them through the website.
If you have other questions about where to look if you are wanting to donate in some way towards impacting South Africa, please let me know. For those of you that support me being here, I just want to say thank you!!! What a blessing it is to be a part of what God is doing here. God is allowing me to make beneficial impacts in the places where I am serving and I couldn't do it without sponsorship to make it possible for me to live here. And several times throughout this past year I have had extra finances come in so that I could give into these ministries financially where I saw the most critical needs. Thank you for helping to make this possible!!
I hope this information helps you if you have been looking for a trustworthy place to give in South Africa.

Where I live in South Africa

2010-01-24T04:20:00.000-06:00

I just had a great question from my grandmother about where I live, so I thought I would share my answer with everyone.
First, just to explain, South Africa is extremely diverse. Every area in South Africa is very different. So let me just say that I can only explain this from the perspective of living in Cape Town.
Secondly, even within this one city the cultures and areas are extremely diverse. South Africa has both 1st world conditions and 3rd world conditions. I do community work in some of the 3rd world areas of South Africa but at this point I am living in the 1st world areas. It is where God has me right now. I really prayed intensely about moving closer to the 3rd world conditions this year, but constantly I had people encouraging me to stay in the 1st world right now. Honestly, I think I need to be where I am right now to be able to learn about all the cultures here and to see more and more how people living comfortable lives need Jesus as much as anyone else, its just that they usually don't realize it. Just a few weeks ago I looked out my front window in my 1st world area and wept for this community as I read Revelation 3 about the lukewarm church. Vs. 17 "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' - and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" The section goes on to say God is vomiting them out. We spend most of our time looking at things through natural eyes. Because one person is naturally wealthy, we forget to see their spiritual poverty. Another is physically poor and we spend all our energies ministering to them without recognizing the depth of spiritual wealth they often possess.
God has taught me a lot living in a wealthier area while working most days among the poorest of poor.
So, I stay here in this nice area. I live in the suburbs. I never intended for this. Most people who know me know my dislike of suburbs, and yet God keeps sending me to these areas. It works against all my stereo-types of missionary life. I waste many of my days trying to explain to God how this is not right and I should be living in bad conditions somewhere. And God keeps breaking down all my ideas so that I can see His ways are not our ways.
The suburbs I live in are very much like the suburbs of America...or at least Texas, since in reality that is the only part of America I know, and even then I don't even know anything about whole parts of south and east Texas....just goes to show how we make huge statements based on what is often a very limited understanding. Anyway, suburbs here in Cape Town are very much like suburbs I am familiar with in Texas, but with one huge difference. Everything here is surrounded with security gates and fences...even in the impoverished areas this is true. So in my suburb area every house is surrounded by gates and security fences. I live in a slightly smaller house, somewhat similar to a duplex. So what is done is that a whole "duplex" community of anywhere from 20 - 100 duplexes are all together inside of one gate...therefore it is a gated community. Or in South Africa it is called a security complex. I actually live in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, which is widely known as the Afrikaans speaking white area of the city. Its where middle-class families with kids live so that their kids can be in safe schools. People live here by choice (versus poor communities where people are placed without choice many times). People here tend to pay a huge rent on their house. Most houses from what I have seen are not owned. Many people pay so much on their rent to be in this "safe" area that they actually hardly afford to live. Maybe I'm a bit in that category since I definitely spend more than 1/3 of my income on rent to stay in this safe area. While things look nice and safe on the outside, most people here live month to month and they live in fear...not just because of finances but they fear the loss of their physical safety if they can't stay in this area. They fear what would happen to them if racial issues erupt here. They fear because they know the masses of people in South Africa are very poor and they don't know how to relate or help in a way that is actually beneficial. They fear because everything in South Africa today is so different than what they grew up with and they don't know how to relate to the South Africa of today. They fear for their children's future in a nation where things are changing so quickly. They fear because they are South African, they know no other home, but because they are not black they are not seen as belonging to Africa. So, then, where do they belong?
This is where God has placed me right now. I live in more comfort than I expected in the natural. But spiritually my heart is torn in two for the "wealthy" of South Africa and it breaks a little more each day that I live here among them.
The bigger situation here is so complicated. Before living in the suburbs, most of my attitudes towards white South Africans were very negative. I only knew the media version and stereo-types of these people without actually knowing the people. It is easy to find examples of people who fit into the negative image of white South Africans until you start to see the hurt and fear lying behind some of the attitudes easily encountered here. But living here I've discovered that is actually even easier to find white South Africans who do not fit the negative stereo-type. So, maybe another reason God keeps me in the suburbs is to slowly breakdown any judgments I have held before. There is enough division and judgments among people here. The least helpful thing I can contribute is to add to this.
So, there is an explanation of the area I live in here.
To my South African friends who may read this....I hope I have not offended you. If I've given a wrong account of anything, please comment and correct it.
And I hope this helps everyone at home know a little more about where I am living and working.

Totsiens, Susan

2010-01-15T13:52:00.000-06:00

On behalf of South Africa I just want to say “Totsiens, Susan.”
My former professor, Susan, from HSU back home just visited. She was actually suppose to be bringing students from the university she teaches at now. The class didn’t make, but out of her love for South Africa she came anyway and brought her son for the first time. So, they have been here for two weeks and it has been great!
The first time I came to South Africa was as a university student. Two professors helped in the process. Dan came and helped me settle in at the beginning and Susan came to evaluate the work at the end. These two professors have both been key influences in my life along the way. And over the years they have become friends.
Well, Susan fell in love with South Africa and has been here 6 times in the past 9 years. One of those times the two of us travelled here together for a fantastic summer of research.
All these years later Susan remains one of the people that God has used to have some of the greatest impact on my life.
It was her class on community practice that first opened my eyes to doing community work verses direct practice social work. Over the years I have seen in God’s Word how He loves communities and people groups. He has a great heart towards nations, tribes, tongues (i.e. people groups) and has shown me pieces of His heart towards communities and nations.
Later, after the research trip to South Africa with Susan years ago, I came home with plans of graduate school to learn more about theories around community practice. Susan always inspires me to go deeper, take the time to better understand the circumstances people struggle through, and to believe we can be part of making a difference. God has used her to touch my life many times over!
Now Susan believes her season in South Africa may be finished. She has new work to begin in a community near to here in the States.
I’m so thankful I got to spend these past two weeks with her in South Africa. I have shared so much about what I am doing here. She has once again spoken wisdom into my life and inspired me to press on. God has used her to help me in my journey again.
So, since I know she follows my blog, I wanted to take this space to say thanks!!! Thanks for all you have poured into me up to this point. Thanks for all you have poured into South Africa. You have given of yourself in a way that truly has made a great impact!! The ripples of your touch in this place will carry on.
I know you will continue to help me with questions via e-mail and you will continue to be an inspiration to me in many ways. But I’m sad to know you won’t be back here in this amazing country any time soon. I still believe one day you might come help with some group work in Sir Lowry’s Pass Village….one day. But between now and then, “Totsiens, Susan.” Thanks for your visit! Thanks for all you have invested in my life! I appreciate you so much and love ya lots, J.

Christmas and New Year's in South Africa

2010-01-11T12:16:00.001-06:00

I had a lot of people ask about how my Christmas went this year. It was fun. It really didn’t feel the Christmas holiday I’m used to. I’m visiting home in a couple of months, so it feels about like Christmas hasn’t arrived yet. But I enjoyed spending time with friends here in South Africa during the official holiday time.
South Africans celebrate Christmas in a variety of ways. I had time with two families, both of them had beautiful formal dinners.

First, on Christmas Eve I was with Jose, Glinys, their daughters, and Glynis’ mom.
They had a beautiful table set.I made sweet potato casserole (marshmallows here come in packets of white and pink together….I started to only use white ones, but I threw in the pink ones to add some South African flare to the dish : )

We had Christmas crackers.

And then watched movies.

On Christmas day I headed to Eagles Rising. Since I had packages to take the staff and a few students staying for Christmas, I had a car trunk full of presents….now that felt like Christmas!

I had a lovely lunch with the ER director and her family. She also had a nice formal table set.

This is a typical South African Christmas lunch. I took small portions to see how things were first. That meat with creamy sauce on it is ox tongue….never imagined I would eat that! It was okay. Definitely needed the sauce on it!

The desserts were so fancy!

A lady from Abilene sent presents for all the ER staff. I got to pass them all out. It was so much fun!!

Later, we went to the beach!

Then, came New Year’s Eve. I went with friends to a concert at Kirstenbosch Gardens (Cape Town’s botanical gardens). It was so beautiful and a lot of fun.

Poinsettias Year Round

2009-12-23T14:38:00.000-06:00

South Africa has sort of a tropical, Mediterranean climate. The weather is truly amazing here. And they really grow poinsettias. They grow them year round into full size bushes/trees. Huge bushes...6 foot tall sometimes. So, this year for Christmas I thought I would get my first poinsettia plant and try my hand at actually growing one. For the first time I can have this plant at Christmas and not have to throw it away after New Years. So, now begins my attempt at growing a poinsettia!

Oh, and tonight I had friends over (Glinys, her two daughters, and the daughter's friend) to help put together Christmas packages for the staff and their kids at Eagles Rising. It was so much fun! A lady in Abilene had the great idea of sending Christmas gifts. She sent toys, candy, socks, teachings, books, papers, folders, all kinds of things. Plus some herbal teas for me. Yeah!!! Oh, and of course, candy canes. It was fun putting it all together tonight and it was fun sharing the American candies. The biggest hit: Hershey Kisses. Which made me remember how much I love the Mint Kisses and cherry kisses that come out at Christmas time. Can anyone buy me some before they are all gone???? I'll be home in Feb to fetch them :)
Oh, and I don't know if you can see my new TV in the first picture. Wow, I have a huge TV. It took me two days to get past this guilty feeling that missionaries shouldn't be able to have such nice things. I literally stayed up all night for two nights thinking this just can't be right. Today, Glinys told me about how Mother Teresa shared that she had to have good food, high quality clothes, and plenty of rest to do her work. She lived so long and was able to be effective throughout her life because she knew she had to have some nice things along the way. Glinys said after knowing me it seems the thing I need most is a comfortable, peaceful, enjoyable, safe, inviting place to live in. So maybe this is a piece of quality home life for me as a missionary.
But it is a HUGE TV!!!!! It looked like a normal size TV in the store among all the other giant TV's. But once I got it out of the store I could see it is really big. But on the day that I wrote about before....when there were no more TV's of the one I went for. I asked God to please make this thing clear. On one hand it is really just a TV and who cares! But I just knew God was using it as a lesson in my life. it is really not about the TV, it is about a lot of stereo types about how missionaries are suppose to live being destroyed in my mind. So, anyway, on that day I just said, God can you point me in the direction of another TV or else send the other half of finances that I need to get the LCD. I gave an exact amount for the LCD. The next morning my mom wrote to say she was putting Christmas money from her and my grandmother into my account...it was the exact amount I had mentioned to God. Then, my mom wrote that I should use it to get the TV. So there you have it.....I've never had a really nice TV in my life. Now that I'm a missionary in Africa God sends me a big screen, flat panel TV. How do you like that. Its challenged all my images about how missionaries are suppose to live. I keep telling God that it simply does not look right. God keeps telling me He doesn't care if it looks right, He wanted to give a gift so He gave it...and it will be used well. And it puts me in a position to be more relate-able to the people I live near here. While I'm doing community work and outreach in impoverished areas, I live in a safe, nice area. People here need to know God is not just the God of poverty. They have a desperate need for God in their lives, too. Read about the lukewarm church in Revelation. God says that they think they have everything they need but they are actually the ones in poverty. That is what I am praying through right now. In so many ways the people living in physical poverty are not necessarily the poor ones here.
Okay, enough for tonight :) J

Finally a new blog

2009-12-18T16:34:00.000-06:00

Okay, so something funny/strange happened today that I thought I would blog about. Then, I got into the blog and saw I have not written since September. That's terrible. So sorry. The truth is I write funny blogs in my head every time something random happens here. Unfortunately, I simply forget to actually get on-line and really write down the blogs. My brain knows the blog has already been written, it just does not acknowledge that the blog was only written in my mind. Does that make any sense???

Anyway, for my random experience today. This was a TIA moment. I have begun to really use the TIA phrase...did you see Blood Diamond? That was my first introduction to TIA. But its true. "This is Africa" is really the appropriate response to many, many things here. So, today I had a TIA experience.

First, let me preface with this: I have had a 13 inch TV since I arrived here. (That is smaller than a computer screen!) There was an amazing lady when I first got here that gave me some basic household things to get going with. One of them was a 13 inch TV circa 1980 (or maybe even older than that). The screen color is not so bright so you actually cannot see anything when the sun is out. I have to wait until the sun goes down in the evening for everything to get dark enough to be able to see the TV screen. When I moved into the new house I finally had some ladies over for a ladies night (something I would like to do more of....great way to reach out to people). We were going to watch a movie, but we had to find other sources of entertainment until the sun went down. Then, I pulled the TV up so that it was sitting right in the middle of the 4 of us. Then, one lady had to find her reading glasses to be able to see the screen. Very humorous moment!

So, I keep debating getting an actual TV. On one hand it is money that can be used for other things. But I have ministry excuses for needing a TV....really. I've been working with another family here who has small group DVD teachings and we have a weekly meeting in their home. They have teenage kids, though, and need a break from the weekly meeting in the home. So, I need to start hosting some home groups that could use DVD teachings. Plus, a friend of mine gave me a Wii. Yes, it is great for personal enjoyment, but the purpose is to be able to have some of the young people I work with over and we can all enjoy the Wii. So, there really is a greater reason than just wanting a TV for personal use. Really.

Anyway......today was the day, I was going to buy a TV. They are about twice as expensive here as they are at home, and they are almost fully moved over to LCD here. That is amazing to me. Granted I've been gone from the States for 9 months now and a lot can change in 9 months. But when I left I only knew one person with an LCD or flat panel screen of any kind. All the rest of us still had the bulky old TVs. But most people I know here have an LCD. At the moment, I can't afford an LCD, though. (Funny that all these Africans have LCD screens. I'm treated like the rich American most of the time, but I don't have money for a TV equivalent to everyone else's. Go figure.) So, I waited and shopped around and I finally found an off-brand, mid-sized, old school TV for less than $250...that is a major bargain around here. So today I go for this TV. Well, actually I tried to get it a week ago, but here you have to pay a yearly fee to have a TV because they have 3 public broadcast channels and this is how they fund these channels. So, last week I couldn't buy the TV without proof that I had paid my yearly fee. After paying the fee, I now went to buy the TV.

Its a huge ordeal of paperwork and calling to confirm I really paid the TV fee.....all that for a TV :) But when I arrived I saw the LCD TV's. I could get the same size LCD for double the cost of the old school TV. Very tempting as I looked at those screens. How much easier to move when I need to move next. How much of a nicer screen. I know I'm a missionary and all, but really the LCD is just normal, average TV here. How tempting. I talked myself out of the TV and into saving back to be able to get the LCD in a few months.

I drove away. I was almost home when the thought comes that I will most likely not save back for the LCD. There will be a crisis of food at the ministry or someone will need help with something. I'll end up giving away the money before I ever save back for the better TV. So, off I go back to the store to buy the old school TV. Back through the paperwork. We have to call again about the TV fee and get a new reference number....another almost 30 minutes of paperwork. At this point I am 1.5 hours into this ordeal.
Then, finally, they go back to get the TV....and........their entire stock is damaged. Seriously, the stock just came in today. A whole new load of these TVs and they are all damaged. Now, at this stage almost all of the old school TVs are phased out here in South Africa. They literally have a handful of them to choose from. If I get the name brand of the old school TV, then it cost twice as much as the off-brand; which is the same price as the LCD. So, here I stand 1.5 hours later with no TV and no option of another TV to choose from. TIA......only in Africa does an entire stock of TVs come to the store damaged. Only in Africa is there only one TV to choose from. And only in Africa would they tell me that it will be sometime next year before they get more stock in, but they can't say when the sometime could be. That is my TIA story of the day.

I just want to balance this story out by saying that as frustrating as some things like this are, there are a 100 wonderful things here to make up for it. It is just that moments like this still catch me off guard. I still walk away shaking my head thinking what a crazy adjustment all of this is. But, seriously, if you could have seen the beautiful view I had during work today and been working on things to change the lives of youth in a nation that needs change then you could see how all of this is more than worth it!!! Right now during the holidays I am mostly working from home. I'm currently trying to put together a manual to help volunteers coming to help at Eagles Rising. Then, I need to put together some well-worded goals and objectives for the ministry. Then, I have a grant I want to write. Then, I need to put together curriculum for two classes I will get to teach next year. That is a whole lotta sittin at the computer!!!!! But its great. I'm excited that all these things are getting put into place so that the amazing work being done at this ministry can continue to grow and prosper. Thankfully, I just moved into a new house and the view is awesome, overlooking the Stellenbosch Mountains just north of Cape Town. This really is the most beautiful place in the world!!

I'm making a commitment to write in this blog many times during the holidays to catch you up on all the blogs I wrote in my mind :) I hope I can hold to this commitment!!!!!
Thanks for reading! J

View from my front window at home:

What Version of Monopoly Would God Play

2009-09-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

Sunday night I found another cultural experience in a game of Monopoly. Three of us at the House of Prayer gathered for a game of Monopoly. There was the friend who brought the game over who comes from a cultural group in South Africa called Colored, which is made up of many people groups including indigenous South African people, white Europeans, black Africans, and other people groups brought here as slaves in the past. The second friend was a black African. Then, there was myself….I’ll describe myself as being in the White Westerner category. (Categories of races are an every day part of life in South Africa. Its overwhelming sometimes, but for the sake of this story it is necessary).
Okay, so we began Monopoly. My African friend made it around the board first and had the first opportunities to buy property. It didn’t take long before this guy owned most of the board. Now, my Colored friend got around pretty quickly and had a fair share of properties, also. The dice was less kind to me and I came round with fewer properties but more of them grouped together. So, this is how the board stood when we had a visitor and decided to call an end to the game so that we could spend time with the visitor.
So, today I asked when we were going to play a full game of Monopoly. My Colored friend loves Monopoly, it’s his game board. He fancies himself a shrewd business man and will play to win but make his choices throughout the game based on what will provide the most entertainment for all involved. Now, for my White Western self, I am serious about Monopoly. What other reason is there for playing other than winning. I try to be nice to friends along the way, so if someone is really at the last of their money and they land on my hotel developed property then I will be nice enough to let them pay their rent by giving me some of their low value property rather than ALL their money…..if they are a friend :) But, my African friend who owned almost all the property in our Sunday night game said he doesn’t want to play Monopoly the same way again. Maybe what we can do is equally distribute the property at the beginning of the game. Then, we can play the game after we make sure everyone has a fair amount of property. Monopoly African style :) I told him I’m not sure what game that would be, but it certainly would not be the capitalist game of Monopoly. The game already gives an equal share of money to all players, but there is no capitalist challenge involved in both the equal distribution of money and property.
So, here in lies my cultural lesson through a game of Monopoly. I never thought about how culturally based games could be. This guy did not find any fun in owning more property in a game than his friends owned. Which got me thinking…..what version of Monopoly would God enjoy playing?
I don’t think He would choose my friend’s idea of equal distribution of all things Monopoly. Jesus Himself told the parable of the talents where three different people received three different amounts of money to use wisely. The guy who hid his and did not make it grow, had his money taken away and given to the richest guy. So, I’m not sure that God is an equal distribution of wealth God. Just a thought…..I know I could get stoned in some circles for saying that….but I’m just thinking right now. At the same time, I’m not sure God is a capitalist Monopoly God. His constant concern is that we care for the poor, orphans, and widows. He destroyed Sodom saying the greatest sin there was that they did not strengthen the arm of the poor (That means empower the poor….not just give hand outs! But that’s a whole other soap box). But capitalist Monopoly really doesn’t give room for God’s priorities.
So, I was thinking…..if my African friend can make up new Monopoly rules to suit his culture. Then, what Monopoly rules would God set up?
So, if you have any thoughts, let me know.
And, based on this experience, I challenge everyone to go play Monopoly with someone from a different culture…..you might learn something about their culture through the experience :)

Update, Flowers, and Newsletter

2009-08-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

First, I wanted to give you an update on the "strike season" that I wrote about. One of my South African friends has informed me that "strike season" begins around April every year when the new fiscal budgets are set for the government and businesses. People strike throughout negotiations about salary increases and benefits. Then, the "season" ends some time around September each year. So there you have it. It truly is a "season", it just happens to be about half the year every year. I have learned to appreciate one thing about all this striking. Today all the people working for non-profit social agencies held a march rather than a strike, but their purpose was to march to the government offices here in Cape Town to say that they are not okay with how low their salaries are in comparison to government and for-profit workers doing the same work. Wow! The same problem exists in America…..I worked as a Social Worker for a number of non-profits at home and now this problem very intimately. Social Workers along with all employees at non-profit agencies make ridiculously low salaries for the most part, and they know they can make more in government agencies and for-profit jobs. Yet, in America I don't know of anyone that thinks there is a solution to the problem. It is just sort of a problem that is accepted as simply being the way things work. In South Africa people have a hope that things can change and their actions can be a part of the solution. I started blogging about the strikes last week thinking they are almost completely negative. But I have to say, after a week of pondering my blog about the strikes, I have now found this amazing aspect to them. How amazing to have a society of people who don't just accept things as they are but genuinely expect that changes are possible. Hmmmm....I've got so much to learn from the people here!

My second topic for this post is the flowers I recently bought for my house. I went out to buy herbs and various lettuce plants so that I can grow my own salad. That's right, I'm growing a salad. So many people here grow gardens and I would love to plant a garden but the yard at my house is not made right for a garden. At the nursery near me they actually sell seedlings to plant your own potted "salad". That is what it says on the seedlings...grow your own salad. I like it. Anyway, now I have about 11 herbs and 4 different lettuces, which are soon to be a salad.

While I was at the nursery, I found the most beautiful flower plant I have ever seen in my life. It is a black calla lily. Really it’s a purple color, but it is gorgeous. They have lots of calla lilies here, just growing on the side of the road and in people’s yards everywhere. This is the first black one I have seen. So, it was a bit expensive, but I couldn’t help myself. Back in Texas we don’t get these things every day. So, this is my first truly South African plant for my house. How beautiful!

And, now, for my final blog topic today….here’s my August newsletter :)

Kalk Bay

2009-08-22T04:18:00.000-05:00

So, one of my favorite places here is down the East coast of Cape Town. Its a little community called Kalk Bay. They have the best coffee shop I've found so far in the whole of South Africa, which may be the main reason I love it so much. But it is this quaint little place with little shops, art galleries, and (as I've mentioned) the most amazing coffee shop.
The town is right on the coast where boats come in with fresh fish. A couple of weeks ago I went with some friends to visit this place on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday after church. The friends I went with are the most amazing family that I stayed with when I first arrived here. They've become some of my closest friends and have made me feel like a part of their family. So, here are a few pictures of beautiful Kalk Bay and our outing that day. And, you'll even see the fresh fish Jose & Glyns bought. It was thrown off the boat, a lady right there gutted it and wrapped it in newspaper, then it went home in the car with us.

God is Faithful

2009-08-22T03:57:00.001-05:00

The longer I'm in South Africa the more I see God's faithful hand on this nation. I have been here almost six months and for six months the news has had a story about it being "strike season". Now, for those of us who have no idea what strike season is....it is when people in certain industries of work strike to see change in their work places. The first time I heard about "strike season" I thought maybe this would last one month. The news does use the word "season" when talking about it. But so far this has been a six month season and I see no end in sight. So, maybe its always strike season in South Africa.
I have seen the taxi drivers strike at least four times since I've been here, the bus drivers have been on strike, then came the train strikes, (when taxis, buses, and trains are on strike the majority of people cannot go to work. So these strikes slow down all business here.), the doctors went on strike for a very long time and many patients suffered through this, the service delivery workers (That was great. There was no garbage pick up for about a week.), the workers of a chain of stores here, the laborers (That is a huge category of people and their strike caused a lot of physical damage on streets here in Cape Town), the university students at certain universities have been on strike, and now the postal workers. That's right, mail is not being delivered now.
In the midst of all this striking I really just keep thinking how faithful God has been to this nation. Things here are continuing to grow and progress. Businesses are expanding, the Rand (money currency here) has strengthened in its value since I have been here, stadiums are being built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, road development and construction is increasing. Amazing!!! I don't know how all these things keep growing with all the strikes going on. It is really a sign of God's faithfulness to see this nation grow into what He has called it to be.
South Africa is a very young nation with a very young government. The current government system has only been in place since 1994. I know God is giving this nation time to grow up. The day will come when the voices of all people in this nation can be heard, strikes will no longer be a needed tool to get leadership to hear the people's concerns, and everyone will be able to communicate with one another. What a day that will be!
In the mean time I have three motives with this blog.....1. Just to let you know more about what it is like here. 2. To show God's miraculous work of sustaining this nation. 3. To ask you to pray for people of God in this nation to step up as agents of change so that South Africa will grow in God's ways, and so that His will will be done in this nation!

July Newsletter

2009-08-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

I was just realizing some people who have read the blog, don't actually get my monthly newsletter. So, I thought I would post it here for those not getting it by e-mail.
Enjoy!

2009-08-10T11:31:00.000-05:00

It’s been a long time with no blog!!!! Sorry for the delay!
Today I thought I would address a question a lot of people have asked me about: What does it look like where I am living?
Well, right now I am staying in the house that the House of Prayer uses as their guest house. I am responsible for hosting people who come here for a visit. That’s something I enjoy doing, so it has worked out well. I’m not certain how long I will stay here, maybe until the end of this year. They have been so gracious to give me the opportunity to stay here as I get started here in South Africa.
So, what’s it like? Well, in nice neighborhoods in South Africa there are small gated communities they call a security complex. In a way it is like a little area of duplexes at home. Except that the community is full of houses rather than duplexes. The houses are a little simpler than the other houses around them. Here crime is very high so each house must have a security fence around the house. In the security complex the security fence surrounds all the houses in the complex, which also makes the houses a little more affordable (sharing the expense of a fence rather than maintaining it on your own). Here they are nice brick homes with small little yards. There is an electric gate coming in and an electric gate going out.

The street the security complex is on. The complex is mid-way down the street on the right:

The gates coming in and out of the complex where I’m staying:

The road through the complex. (The house at the end of the street on the left is where I live.)

The walk way up to my front door:

Roofs here have ceramic tiles (my dad was a roofer, I notice these things )

I get to enjoy all my neighbor’s flowers. I love it! It is winter now so not many of the flowers are in bloom. In a few months this place will be covered in flowers.

This is the most interesting tree at one of my neighbor’s houses:

The man who built this security complex wanted to see a house of prayer in his community. So he contacted Jericho Wall’s ministry and asked them about sending people here to help establish a HOP here. So this building at the front gate was built for the purpose of being a prayer room for a 24/7 HOP in the area.

A funny conversation

2009-06-20T16:09:00.000-05:00

I just had a funny conversation with some of my South African friends. It started with, "Is it true that in America people......" followed by random things people think happen in America. This is a rather common conversation only usually its not true. Today these things were really true and it was funny that my friends find them weird.
The first question was, "Is it true that in America people that come to your house can just open up the fridge or cabinets and get what they want from the kitchen." Answer - if they know you and you have told them to fell free to help themselves, then, yes. Response - "That is so rude! Who do people think they are that they can just help themselves to the things in your kitchen." Funny? Here people serve you everything. They ask if you want something to drink or eat or whatever and they make it all for you, bring it out of the kitchen on a tray, and serve it to you.....even good friends that you know well. My neighbors are the girls at the House of Prayer. I'm in and out of their house several times every single day, but I cannot help myself to my own cup of tea in their kitchen. To me that is weird and really uncomfortable that I have to be waited on, but that's culture here.
Okay next, "Is it true..." question. Is it true that it is okay for people to brush their teeth at the kitchen sink? My response - huh? Their answer - on tv sometimes you see people brush their teeth at the kitchen sink. My response - well, if the bathroom is being used and your really tired or in a hurry; then occasionally, yes, you might use the kitchen sink to brush your teeth. Their response - "That is so gross! I would rather go brush my teeth outside if I'm in a hurry than spit in the kitchen sink."
So I told them that I think its disgusting that people here sometimes just wash out their drinking glasses with hot water and no soap. Its really gross. It makes me want to wash every cup I use at someone's house before I drink from it. But I shove down my disgust and drink from cups at other people's houses anyway. Their argument is that at least it is hot water they wash the cup with and that still does not compare to how gross it is that Americans would be willing to spit in the kitchen sink.
Oh my goodness, it was a funny conversation. I wish you all could have been in the middle of it because we were laughing and laughing.
I did discover an understanding about culture, though. The reason it is so rude to walk into someone's kitchen here is because of the issues with poverty. That person really might not have anything at all in their kitchen to eat. So, rather than embarrassing them by observing their financial struggle, it is polite to stay out of the kitchen.
Maybe the no soap thing is also linked to poverty issues and having to conserve, so glasses that have only been drunk out of don't rate the use of soap.
But being so disgusted by spitting out your toothpaste in the sink still cracks me up :)

Another one of those amazing days

2009-06-18T06:15:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I had another one of these amazing days when you just sit back and say, "Thanks, God, that I get to do this!"
I was at Eagles Rising and all the other staff where out for the afternoon. So, on the spur of the moment I asked the students to come to the prayer room for a time of worship. All these students are working towards jobs or further education. Its the main reason they are at ER. Now is crunch time...we're constantly helping students with finding options and applications. It is a lot of work right now! And it is so overwhelming sometimes...there is no funding at ER to pay for these things. So, if a student wants to apply for college they must pray and trust God that the funding for the fee for the application will come from somewhere....this is where we are right now....in a month or so we will be praying about where the funding for school or work uniforms/clothes will be coming from. But every day is a day of praying and asking God to meet these needs.
So, on this one day I spoke to the students about beginning to praise God because He is already answering our requests, we are just waiting to see the answer in our lives. But even as we wait to see the answer, He is already answering and putting things in place. So we began to worship with songs of thanksgiving and declaring the goodness of God.....now these students can worship!!! So, over two hours later when some of the other staff returned we were still going strong in the prayer room. But, Johan, who leads the Sir Lowry's Pass Village outreach was back and it was time to go into this nearby township where we do outreach every week. So, we took the drums with us to SLPV. We gathered the children together that usually come for activities with the ER students, and we continued singing and playing games with the kids. Wow! It was a great day.

LCU Team

2009-06-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks a team from Lubbock Christian University came to work with the students at Eagles Rising. Wow! They did fantastic work with the students, and seeing the students respond to their activities showed even more how amazing these students are. All of the ER students are so amazing and have so much potential to do great things in life, they just have not had the opportunity to shine like God created them to shine. These past couple of weeks with the LCU team showed this even more. The team did lots of group activities and taught on goal setting, communication, overcoming obstacles, releasing burdens, and so much more. I have done these group activities in school before and I've lead these types of group activities with students in America. But I have never seen students grab hold of the purpose of the group activities and then apply it to their lives so quickly. The students have been impacted greatly and are excited about the new things they have learned. I think this LCU team has also been impacted greatly, as well. It makes me so excited to see more teams come. I can really see how fruitful the time with this team has been!!
Here's the LCU team on a freezing cold South African day when they went on a safari:

This is Jill, the leader of the team. She came with me to South Africa a year and a half ago and got excited about the possibilities of a team coming to help at ER. She has done a great job leading this team!

This is another social work professor from LCU (Tony) and his wife (Shelly) who works in admissions that both came with the team. Here they are enjoying a beautiful South African sunset.

Jordan just finished studying at LCU and is preparing to begin his Masters in Social Work. This picture is of Jordan and ER student, Ceasar.

This picture shows Marivelle, an LCU Social Work student who took the class I taught on International Social Work. I'm here in the picture with Marivelle along with ER students, Zimasa and Nomnikelo.

I love this picture! From left to right: Auntie Cookie, the cook at ER. Marivelle. ER student, Sivuyile. Jill, and in front- ER student, Andiswa.

One last random post for the day

2009-05-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to put up this one last post. Oh, and in case your wondering why so many posts it is because I can't figure out how to spread pictures out in the post so that the picture can correspond with the topic. So, I am putting up a new post for each topic :)
Anyway....I just wanted to introduce you to my new African friend. She is a little cold at times and has a heart of stone, but she's so beautiful!
I met her recently at a tourist shop. How would you like to be the tourist that tries to take this stone carving home?!

A Visit From Home

2009-05-20T10:16:00.001-05:00

Okay, this is my second blog today. In this blog I thought I would share a picture of my friend Andrea's visit a couple of weeks ago. She came as an ambassador from my life group in Lubbock. We planned her trip before I came and she made the commitment to come and help me settle and see how I am doing. It was great to have her here!!! I really enjoyed the encouragement from home and it was fun getting to show her around. She had a great half ministry, half vacation trip.
This picture is from her very first night. We tried to go see the sunset over the ocean, but these amazing clouds were out. There is an ocean under those clouds! I've never seen clouds like this in SA. We had some of my friends with us on this evening and the clouds were new to them as well. Andrea got to see an unusual Cape Town sight.
Oh, and she is really not that much taller than me. She is taller than me, but we are on a slope so I look much shorter than I really am....just had to point that out!

Laundry in South Africa

2009-05-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

Well, I had a few minutes extra today so I thought I would write up a few blogs about random things in South Africa.
First, I'll tell you about doing laundry here. This may not be a big deal to anyone else but I have finally learned to hang laundry well. Hanging laundry really has a bit of an art to it. You can't hang t-shirts from the shoulders our you'll get a pinched spot on top, but if you hang them from the bottom you have to make sure to clip them in the middle so they don't stretch on the sides. You have to space things out correctly and turn them towards the sun. Okay, maybe its not that complicated, but my first few attempts left me with funny looking clothes.
I've discovered I actually like hanging the laundry out. There is something so peaceful about it. I think South Africans must like the peacefulness of it, also. They have clothes dryers here and many people own them but they are seldom used. They are considered bad for you clothes. The people who own them just use them in the winter when it is raining for days on end. Those without just learn to do laundry often in the winter to give it time to dry in doors.
Anyway, the picture in this blog is of the first good hanging of laundry that I did all by myself :)

Brrrrr.....

2009-05-17T16:14:00.000-05:00

Here is my new winter coat!

Well, there is good news and bad news with the winter weather. First the good news, I survived the rain and it wasn't too cold! The really cold weather did not come this past week, but the rain definitely came. It was wind Lubbock style, wind that will knock you over. But rather than the West Texas dust in the wind, this wind blew rain. I'm telling you, it rained and rained. Wow! And then it rained some more and the wind blew the rain in every direction. But it was not so cold...until tonight. Tonight the rain stopped but it is sooo cold. Now for the bad news, apparently this was only the beginning. The cold is yet to come, the real abundant rain is yet to come, and the wind is yet to come. This was a small intro into Cape Town winter. As I say this I am sitting in my living room looking out the window at the most beautiful view I could ask for with mountains right outside the window. But I am shivering in the cold, bundled up in a jacket and blanket and socks and fuzzy house shoes. Brrrr.... But I think tomorrow the sun will return and I will have to keep waiting to see exactly what this winter here is all about. Praise God it hasn't gotten really cold yet, that leaves me with more time to pray and ask God to prepare me!
But, in the midst of the rain this was a wonderful weekend! I spent the weekend doing things at the House of Prayer. On Friday night we had all night prayer with a church from a local township. About 10 church members came to the prayer room here and prayed from 11pm until 5am the next morning. The church members were from all over Africa and most of them very new believers. We got to pray with them and build them up in their walk with God. It was fantastic!!! Then, on Saturday I got to go with the HOP to help facilitate prayer at a local church praying for the city of Cape Town. Awesome!

Next week will be a very busy week!!!! I will be working with Eagles Rising (community program) to prepare for a team from Lubbock Christian University that is arriving on Saturday to spend 10 days helping at ER. Also, the HOP begins the 10 days of extended prayer leading up to Pentecost Sunday and the Global Day of Prayer. Just as the disciples sought God in the upper room for ten days leading up to Pentecost, the Global Day of Prayer initiative encourages people all over the world to focus on fasting and prayer for ten days before GDOP. At the HOP I will get to help with facilitating a lot of corporate prayers times during this time beginning on Thursday. There are normally 4 corporate prayer times during the week when anyone can come join in, then most of the prayer hours in the 24 hour House of Prayer are filled with an individual person praying by themselves. During the ten days leading up to GDOP the HOP will have more than double the amount of corporate prayer times plus setting times throughout the day and night when groups of people will be praying together. If you can, look up GDOP on-line. It is so awesome how God has put this together. This initiative was started by a South African business man who owns a construction company. Now, every year people all over the world pray. The number of nations represented has increased each year. This year every nation in the world will be represented except for a small island off of Canada, but there are still a couple of weeks before GDOP so maybe a church on this island will sign up before Pentecost Sunday. But this year will be the biggest prayer meeting that has ever been held on the earth with all these nations praying together on the same day. Wow! Now that is something to get excited about! Check in your community and see if a church near you is hosting prayer on Pentecost Sunday so that you can be a part of this largest prayer meeting that has ever taken place on the earth! And if you happen to know anyone living on a small island off of Canada, let me know!

Shopping....I need a coat

2009-05-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

First of all, I just want to let anyone waiting on an e-mail from me know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and I am so sorry you have to wait so long for e-mails. I'm trying to keep up with everyone...truly...I wish I was better at that, but in all my imperfection I am still trying :)
I also have about 10 different things that I would love to blog about just to share experiences with you all. I had a friend from Lubbock here last week and we did so much that I want to tell everyone about!
For today, I'll just let you know how I finally bought a winter coat in South Africa.
In my infinite genius I left my winter coat with a team from Lubbock Christian University who is coming at the end of May to South Africa to help at Eagle's Rising. Winter should only come at the end of May and I thought it would be early enough to get the coat then. But apparently there is a cold front coming bringing in lots of rain. I'm still getting used to the idea that winter is the rainy season here...when I was here for almost a year before, I went back to Texas just before winter began, so I have never had a winter here. The cold front is suppose to be coming this week....burrrrr. So, I've known for the past two weeks that I needed to go ahead and buy a coat. My wool coat from cold winters in Lubbock will only help when I can stay dry here anyway. Going into the township with Eagles Rising will require something made better for the rain at some point anyway. So, I've been watching the shops (that's how they say it here...."We're going to the shop" or "I'm looking at all the shops for a coat"....If I'm remembering right we say I'm going to the store back in Texas...its already getting hard to remember for sure how we say everything back home.) But anyway, I've been watching the shops. I've never needed to buy anything like this in South Africa before. So, I've been doing my normal shopping strategy....look all around for a few weeks, find the best options, watch to see if anything will go on sale, then buy. Not going to work here! My shopping strategy is going to have to change :( Oh, man, this is a hard one for me. Most changes are not that hard for me, but I laugh at myself as I discover the things difficult for me. I love how I shop in America. I like to think it is good stewardship of the finances God provides. Plus it is somewhat of a sport and challenge for me. Well, I've been looking at different shops as I've had the chance for over two weeks now. This weekend I thought I better start making a decision before the cold front comes. Well........they're gone!!!! All the coats I've watched, the warm winter boats I've been pricing...they're gone. A sadness sweeps over me even as I write this ;) In South Africa clothes and shoes don't really go on sale that much. Shops get one shipment of the item and when they're sold they are sold. Sometimes the entire stock of something might be gone in just a few days. Or in the case of my desperate search for the coat yesterday, things can be gone in a matter of hours. No more strategic shopping for me!!! I really may have missed the chance for some of the best winter boots because of my delay. What?! Oh man, life is going to be different here ;)
So, yesterday Estell (leader at House of Prayer) insisted on getting me to the shops for this coat. We rushed through all the shops worth looking at for a coat in less than an hour and with her encouragement just to buy whatever is available, I bought the only coat in my size that fit me right. So there you go. Last week I probably would have had 10 more options than I did yesterday. Yesterday I had one option. And I ended up with a white coat...I've never had a white coat before. They were all out of the black coats in this style and actually only had 4 white ones remaining (fortunately one of them was the right size for me). I had looked a few hours before and seen a black one like the one I got. But when I returned with Estell's encouragement just to go ahead and buy something, the black one was already gone. So, here I go with my white coat. The good part is that it was the cheapest coat I've seen since I've been here. So, if the white doesn't stay clean enough, then I can just try again next year. In the end this coat was only $15! People layer clothes a lot here so all these coats are really just nice rain jackets that you layer with hoodies and sweaters and things. So, to me most of them are expensive...most of them are closer to $50 for a rain jacket. But, God was gracious. The one and only coat that fit me was at the cheapest store around...we'll see how the quality is by the end of winter.
But that is my story to share for now....so more strategic shopping in my world. And the reality of changing cultures has become more real to me...all over a coat :) But the up side is that shopping in South Africa should increase my prayer life and faith level. I better pray hard when I find something I'm looking for and trust God to say yes buy now or no wait because that moment of prayer may be the only moment I will have to make the decision.
More later...just like with my last blog...it is now 10:30 pm, I've been running all day, I've got a prayer slot at 7am tomorrow, I'm exhausted, and I need to get ready for bed. This 7am prayer slot is a huge challenge for me! It is not easy to get a slot in the prayer room so I'll take whatever I can get, but it is not only early for me in the morning (I know some people are morning people but 1am prayer would be easier for me) but it is also really cold outside at 7am when I walk to the prayer room. Plus I've learned two things in my month of 7am prayer. The first is that it is not fun to be in intercession at 7am when you have not had enough sleep. The second is that you really can't focus on prayer when attempting to put in your contacts and apply make-up in the prayer room :) So, I've got to get some sleep so I can get the contacts in before leaving home for prayer and so I don't waste my prayer time begging God to help me stay awake!

A Great Day

2009-04-30T14:54:00.000-05:00

Today was just a great day so I thought I would write a few comments. I spent the day with Eagles Rising community program today. I finally got to start a class with the second year students today. We've been trying to start for a couple of weeks, but with all the holidays it has gotten delayed. Today we started and we just started by telling our stories of what we've experienced so far in life. It was amazing and humbling to hear from these students and what they have experienced in life. One guy said his mom died when he was five and after that life was never what it was suppose to be again. Most of these students have been through so much!!!

After that I went grocery shopping with the cook. This morning she was preparing the last of the food they had. She had put everything in a soup and was just believing something would happen so she would have food to prepare tomorrow. I had some money that a lady in America had sent to me and said to use however I thought best. I had been praying about what to do and felt I should buy something for Eagles Rising. I had no idea about the food situation. But I arrived today with the money. You should have seen all the rejoicing!!!! So we went grocery shopping today. Three hours later with food packed into every available space in my car, we arrived back with enough food to carry them through next week (the picture is of all this food in the kitchen at Eagles Rising). Praise God. He knew the exact need. They really do experience a lot of miracles of food multiplying. There have been times when Auntie Cookie, the cook, simply prepared what was available. She could look at the pots of food and know it was not enough to feed the 27 students, only half the amount that she normally cooks with. But each time she is able to serve all the students. The food just multiplies as she dishes it out. It was fun to be a small part in seeing food provided today!

Then, after that I took one of the former students home to Khyalitsha, the largest township in Cape Town. This guy has been on staff at Eagles Rising for the past four months. But over the past month God has been burning a desire in his heart to begin a prayer room in Khyalitsha. He doesn't know of any prayer room there at this point. So, this young man in his early 20's left a comfortable stable job to follow God's call. His family is not Christian but they are supporting his choice to follow God in this way, which is really a miracle. I am so inspired by this young man who has made the choice to leave behind comfort to return to his home town and bring the light of Christ and the hope of God's ability to answer prayer to this difficult community. And it was such fun taking him home today. Khyalitsha is a wonderful township and the streets stay full of children playing and people walking about. I had so much fun waving at the children and meeting people here. A friend from Lubbock is coming to Cape Town this weekend for a visit. So, I arranged with this guy for the two of us to go with him to church in Khyalitsha this Sunday. I know it will be fun! Please pray for this young man...pray that God gives him grace to be home again, that salvation come to his family, that God provides him with a small house or shack that can be used as a prayer room.

Well, its 10:30pm now and I have been going, going since early this morning...I'm exhausted! I have a 7-9am prayer slot tomorrow but then I can rest because tomorrow is yet another public holiday. Yeah for public holidays!!

Election Results

2009-04-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I actually just have a few minutes to write, but I wanted to make sure and give you election results. The elections were amazing. Absolutely peaceful. Here they make a mark on your thumb when you vote that stays for a long time. People who have voted proudly where their mark. It is fun now to see everyone with these marks on their thumbs. Anyway, the dominate party of this nation has stayed in power but there are other parties emerging who received more votes than expected. What I've been told is that many people believe the most balanced government will take place if they are able to have four strong parties here. So, its fantastic to see some other parties growing.

Oh, and just to share a little more about South Africa. I haven't e-mailed or blogged much in the past couple of weeks because things have been so busy here. There are so many public holidays during the month of April that people sort of take a big holiday for the month. I've heard so many people make the comment that they out to just close everything down for April. Everyone goes out all the time, spends their time out doors before winter comes full force, and many go out of town on vacation. So, I've joined in the fun and spent a lot of time out and about with new friends I am meeting. It has been wonderful...but staying out doesn't give much time for sitting at the computer :) But I think Friday is the last public holiday for a while...I think. Yesterday was Freedom Day to celebrate the end of Apartheid and full freedom for all. Friday is Laborers Day when people who work labor jobs get celebrated....how great is that!

More later....when things slow down and everyone gets back to work :)

Elections in South Africa

2009-04-24T06:11:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday the nation of South Africa just held the most critical elections they have had since 1994 when Apartheid ended and every person was allowed to vote for the first time. People all over the nation acknowledge the importance of this year's elections and voter turn out was again like that of 1994 with long lines of people waiting for their opportunity to vote. I'm waiting for all the final numbers that will come out tomorrow, but it appears as if 80% of the population voted this past Wednesday. 80%!!! That is amazing voter turn out. I suppose when you've been denied the right to vote in the past it becomes more precious of a privilege.
I have to say that being here for the month leading up to this election has been amazing! So many things have gone on. Corruption has been uncovered, the problems with leaving one dominate party in power for too long has been openly discussed, tribal division and racism have been acknowledged. And yet in the midst of all of this, people and even the media have remained amazingly positive about it all. Even when a complaint is made the media has been quick to point out how the people of this nation still believe in the positive impact of a free and democratic elections no matter how many small mis-haps occur along the way. Can you imagine how peaceful things might be if the American media could just find one positive thing to say now and again!
For me the best part of this whole election process has been how the political parties campaign. There are something like 12 political parties here and almost no mudslinging. No negative words about the other parties. I actually know what the parties here believe in because they campaigned on what they are standing for rather than what they are against. I only heard one party in this nation campaign as standing against the domination of the leading party, but even with that it was not an entirely negative campaign. I did see one other group use a play on words to say if you don't want to vote for the other group then vote for us (one group here is called Congress of the People and to shorten it they call themselves COPE. So the one add said, "Can't COPE? Vote I.D.") Then, I don't know the exact process of things here but apparently representatives from each party are present during the counting of votes and these people who have just campaigned opposing each other for the past months sit in the same room and talk and chat. How nice is that? Can you imagine if Obama and McCain had sat in the same room and chatted on America's voting day???
Anyway, just wanted to share about this amazing experience of peaceful politics!
Oh, and why do they say these elections were so critical? I heard one media person say this, "In 1994 we voted to see the beginning of a new nation. This year we are voting to see where this new nation will go."

3 Weeks in South Africa

2009-04-09T04:25:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I have written a blog…I can’t believe I have now been in South Africa 3 weeks!!! Wow! I have been doing short-term trips for several years now, just traveling for 10days to two weeks at a time. So, yesterday I felt it was time to go home. 3 weeks had pushed me a week past what I have grown accustomed to. So, I went to the movies. I sat in a movie theatre just like home, in the air conditioning, and I watched a Hollywood movie. It was a bit like home except I could not laugh with anyone about the movie afterwards….so it actually left me really wanting a great girls’ night with loads of laughter. South Africans see all the Hollywood movies but don’t necessarily know what makes the movie funny to Americans. I am always surprised at the different things people in other countries laugh at in movies and they have no idea why I laugh when I laugh. But it was a nice day in the AC yesterday…..really it was well worth the $3 for a movie just to sit in the AC for two hours. It’s really not that hot here, but you know a little AC is just nice now and again…..in a month when winter is coming with no central heat, I’ll be running to the movies for a heater :)

So for those of you reading this blog so that you can learn about moving to other countries…..I have learned a lot over the past three weeks!!!!! Oh, the things I would have done just a little differently had I known.

So first, leave it to Africa, they put the wrong visa in my passport. At some point I am going to have to deal with this, but I’ve just survived all the other things, so I’ll speak to Home Affairs another month! But I have a visitor’s visa in my passport….the one visa that lets you do nothing other than visit. I can’t open a bank account or do anything that requires a visa….I have a better situation than the other guy who was at the bank trying to get an account the day I was there. This poor fellow moved here to play Cricket for a pro team. He should have a worker’s visa, but they also put a visitor visa in his passport. Now this pro team only pays the players through paycheck bank deposit because it is the safest thing here, but this guy can’t get a bank account and therefore no paycheck until they get his visa worked out. What a hectic work this guy has ahead of him to get this all sorted out.

So, anyway, back to learning the best way to do things in South Africa, at least. It’s actually a miracle but I was able to sort out finances and paperwork and everything to get a car in one week’s time. Here’s how it went. Well, actually, it didn’t go as smoothly as this will sound. At each step I kept discovering that I actually needed to back track and do something differently…..but here’s how it could go for others in the future. First, find the car. Then, I had to go to the traffic department to get a traffic identification number (or something like that)…if you go into the traffic department and tell them you are a foreigner with a passport and you need the paperwork to buy a car in SA then they will give you the correct form. Anyway, I got this form very late in my process but I will let you know you need to just get this form in the beginning. Oh, and make sure you go ahead and get your id pictures made before going to the traffic department. Apparently there are usually people set up outside to take your picture right there, but none of these people were there when I went. The next thing is while you are at the Traffic Department have them approve your driver’s license (I would get an international one before you leave home, but they also may approve your American license). I actually don’t know how this last part works because I was told about it later when I got my car insurance and now I have 6 months to get it done. So all of this took some time and I went back and forth a lot because I didn’t know about one detail or the other. But it wasn’t too bad and I got it all done in one day!

But here is the MOST IMPORTANT thing to know when buying a car here….would have saved me and people at home a lot of time and money if I had known. We did fundraisers at home to raise the money for me to buy a car with cash when I got here. If you are doing this ask the dealership you are working with in advance what their requirements are for paying in cash. I brought traveler’s checks from home and had people at home go and wire the rest of the money to me. I paid all the fees to have this money exchanged and wired because I couldn’t get a bank account so I couldn’t pay with a bank guaranteed check which is what the dealership actually requires. So, after I got all this cash they told me I actually cannot pay in cash, but I would need to go to their bank and deposit the cash in the bank and bring the deposit slip……make sure to only work with trust worthy dealerships if you must do this!!!! Otherwise find a trustworthy South African friend to put the money in their account and get the check for you. Anyway, I went to deposit all this cash…..now at this point I had probably lost close to $200 in fees and lower exchange rates for exchanging cash. In the end I discovered the easiest thing would have been to have my bank at home wire all the money into the dealership’s bank account…..total cost = $55 for the wire + best exchange rate rather than the lower rate you get at money exchange locations. A bit of an expensive lesson….but that is why I’m taking the time to write this to let you know the things I have discovered so far for being a foreigner buying a car in South Africa.

Alrighty, well, more another day…..thanks for reading…..let me know if there is anything particular you would like me to write about concerning South Africa and the moving process.

The Visa Saga Continues

2009-02-26T02:35:00.000-06:00

I never guessed before starting the visa process that it would absorb so much of my time and be such an ordeal. I even considered just going and seeing what could be accomplished once I was in South Africa. But a friend of mine who left for the mission field about a year ago tried this strategy. He left for a country where its pretty easy to get a visa and planned on sorting it out once he was there. Then discovered that it has to get done in your home country. So he ended up having to fly back home after a few months and work out the visa. This is a great story for me. Helps me remember why its better to just deal with all of this now rather than later.
So the next episode in my visa saga is actually a testimony to how great God is....
The RSA embassy called my parents' house on friday of last week. I gave the embassy their info for a permanent address, etc. My mom calls to say there is a message but she simply cannot understand the accent, but she did manage to get the phone number. By this time it is after work hours friday so there was nothing I could do over the weekend. But during the weekend I had two opportunities to share with groups about everything in South Africa. Both groups were a small gathering of people that friends of mine know. In the first group there were 17 of us in total but out of this small group people gave $885 towards the work in South Africa while we were all together that day. The second group was another round of blessings...but the finances given so generously by the first group is the key to my story here :) Anyway, when monday rolled around I called the embassy to see what was happening with my visa. Through the whole application process there was this one requirement for certain types of visas but it was not required for other visas but it never was completely clear when it was required and when not. I thought I had made a correct assessment that it was not a requirement for me. I was wrong. I did need this one requirement...I needed to send the embassy $800 immediately before they could process my application. Apparently they return it when you return home. If I get the opportunity to stay in RSA for many years to come and continue renewing my visa each time, then there is a chance I may never see this money again. So at the end of the day, this may be a donation to the South African government. But, this does not change the fact that it is a requirment or there will be no visa for me. So....as I stated before, the first group this weekend gave more than enough so that this money could be sent. I had no idea what the embassy was calling about friday but God did. Even before I knew the money needed to be sent, God provided. Wow. He's so good! What a blessing. I was genuinely amazed by the large amount of money that came in from people who had never even met me before during the gatherings this weekend. Amazing!! But now I know God had a very specific purpose for providing so generously this weekend.
I've been reading about the life of David lately. When David sinned by killing Bathsheba's husband and taking her as his own wife, God asked David if He had not already provided enough for David that he would take more from another man. Then, God tells David that if it was not enough, then all David needed to do was ask and God would have given him even more. Isn't that amazing. Someone as well taken care of as David only needed to ask the Father and God would have given him even more than he already had. I am so amazed at how God has provided for everything in Africa so far. God has provided enough people committed to monthly gifts that the monthly expenses of living in RSA will be covered now. He has provided enough to purchase a safe, dependable car. It seems like more than I could ever ask for already. But you know what. There is more I would like to do and if I ask He will provide. Even though I feel like He has already done more than I could ever think or image....He will still provide more. And He demonstrated that to me by providing for this visa expense before I even knew to ask! That is how great our God is. He guides us and protects us. He heals us and makes a way for us to succeed at everything we put our hands to....and He gives us every good gift on top of all of this. So, now I'm asking God.....for money to be able to pay income taxes, for money to buy furniture for the house I'll rent, for money to cover the expenses of traveling into other parts of Africa a few times per year to do leadership trainings, for money to help with the costs of programs and outreaches in Cape Town, for South African friends to laugh with, for supernatural opportunities to touch people's lives that I normally would not get the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with, for the opportunity to partner with Him in order to see people all over Africa rise up into the destiny He has for them.....and I may ask Him for even more :) That Psalm 67 is fulfilled "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us that His ways may be know upon the earth, His salvation amoung the nations." Amen!

The Visa is in The Mail!!!

2009-02-18T18:35:00.000-06:00

I finally got to put the visa application for my South Africa Charitable Worker Visa in the mail today!!!! I've been trying to do this for 6 months. Now, I've got my international health insurance in place, required letters from hosts, medical exams, airline tickets, etc, etc. Its all in place. The embassy claims they process visa applications in 10 days. Assuming that they mean 10 working days and that they receive the application tomorrow....I hope to hear from them before March 5!

Pink Ladies' Valentines Night

2009-02-18T14:21:00.000-06:00

So on Valentine's some friends and I got together for a fabulous night of games, chocolate, and lots of laughter. This was honestly one of the funniest nights I've had in my life. I have no idea why we laughed so much but we laughed and laughed all night. It was a great memory before leaving for Africa but it also left me praying for two things: 1. to find people in S.Africa that I can laugh this hard with. 2. To find a way to get these girls all in Africa at the same time for some great laughter.

January Newsletter

2009-02-10T23:10:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to share my newsletter from January. Check out the housing option.....I've got more news that I will share soon about housing!

About the visa....

2009-02-10T23:08:00.000-06:00

I'm learning a lot right now in the visa process. When I started I didn't know anyone who had obtained a visa to South Africa for any reason other than a student visa (which I've gotten before :)
Here's what I've learned....just call the embassy and ask all your questions. Even if they act annoyed they have to answer your questions and you don't have to give your name so they won't be frustrated with you when they receive the application.
Also, you cannot apply very early. I've wasted a lot of time trying to apply early. I actually started trying to apply in October of last year. But at the end of the day there is no international health insurance that will approve you more than 30 days ahead of time and you can't get a visa without the health insurance. So basically you can fill out all the paper work and gather everything early, but you can't apply until 30 days before departure. Even the guy I asked at the embassy admitted its pretty crazy that you have to go ahead and buy a plane ticket and arrange everything and then just hope you get your visa in time. But people apparently do this all the time. At least I can pray and trust God with it.
So that's the visa thing, it is contrary to everything in me that wants to work on things ahead of time but it is a great faith builder :)
Oh, and all the stress over the boxes I cleaned out of my closet.....well, a great friend came over and helped me throw things away. Yeah! That was a huge breakthrough. Hope is restored and I'm no longer stressed about dealing with everything I need to trash, store, pack, or sell!!!!

Its just time for a blog

2009-02-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been thinking about how I needed to blog again for the past couple of weeks. And then today I actually got a request for more blogs about what it is actually like to prepare for moving to another country (thanks Susan). So, here goes a little "journal" blogging about the process....sorry to all those who I've heard say that they don't like people who use a blog as a journal :)

I'm down to less than 6 weeks before I leave the country, 5 weeks before I leave Lubbock, and less than 4 weeks before I move out of my apartment. That means I have less than four weeks to organize everything I own. If you've talked to me anytime lately you have probably already heard this. But do you have any idea how hard it is to actually sort through every last detail of what you own. Have you ever thought about the junk drawer in your kitchen. Everyone has one of those right. What do you actually do with that stuff? I've actually settled into Goodwill or the trash for most of mine because I don't think it is worth the dime I would I have to argue with someone about for 10 minutes at a garage sale. Then, there's that box under my bed that I truly have no idea what to do with. I finally survived the four boxes in my closet where I found random CD's of old work documents, the magazine that once belonged to a roommate back in Abilene and somehow I ended up with it (I know I'm anal, but she loved that article about Bryan White and I will probably actually put this into the mail to send back to her), I also have 20 fantastic sermons on cassette tape (anyone want to transfer those to CD for me so they're actually useful again:), I have three pairs of headphones, an old pack of AAA batteries, a pack of index cards, old pictures on CD, the videos from my mission trip to Haiti, great pictures I was going to use for collages back in my artsy days in San Antonio (what happened to the artistic me?), 3 spiral notebooks of notes from my Bible minor at Hardin-Simmons, a lint roller, a small scrap booking paper cutter, a box of band-aids, the birthday card I bought for my friend Nikki last year, two sheets of stickers, 5 floppy disks (I no longer have any form of computer that will even open them), a charger that goes to some techno something around my apt, and the extra buttons from a shirt I bought about a year ago. This was all in the last closet box. I'm pretty sure the thing about this box is that someone was coming to visit and just threw a bunch of stuff in a box. Then, I put that box neatly in my closet as if it held important things and its been sitting there in the closet ever since. So, I survived pulling everything out of that box, but I still have all these things sitting in my living room. Why is it hard for me to just trash this stuff? Obviously I have not missed it in a year, yet I can't get over the thought that there may be important things on those floppy disk and that charger probably goes to something very important, also.

And if I can ever get this randomness cleared out of my living room, then I can move on to the all-important box under my bed. Now this box under my bed got put there several months ago when I first started to clean out the closet boxes. The things that I looked at and thought I would make a decision about later are inside this under the bed box. This box has things like the covers to all my music CDs. I took the CD's and put them in a CD holder book, but should I waste storage space or packing space on the covers? What if I want to give the CD to someone in South Africa and they could have a great CD but there is no cover for them to have to go with the great CD. And that is as far as I remember of what is in that box because I pulled this box out friday night so that I could finally get through all my stuff. I looked through it and thought I don't want to face it any more today than I did a few months ago. I saw the CD covers and then walked away from box and left it laying right in the middle of my bedroom. Then, saturday I proudly declared that I have now pulled out every box in my apartment and am almost through them all!

This sorting through absolutely everything I own business has left me telling God that a small fire just to burn the stuff that won't be missed would help a lot right now. But so far, no fire. I guess God wants me to endure this process. Its good though, I'm breaking off the bondage of carrying around "stuff". Woohoo!

Well, I think I've written long enough for the moment. I'll write again soon...I want to tell you about my visa. So, until I write again.....

Pastor Larry and his shotgun

2008-12-17T22:48:00.001-06:00

Well, as promised, here is Pastor Larry - the proud owner of the shotgun.

We Have a Winner....

2008-12-06T16:25:00.000-06:00

We have a winner from the shotgun raffle....

Pastor Larry Beard - Children's Pastor at Church on the Rock, Lubbock, TX.

I'll deliver his gun after church tomorrow and get a picture for you all to see our happy winner.
It was fun calling him last night....he was certain that it was a joke. When we talked him into believing he really won. He said, "That is too cool." Way to go, Pastor Larry. You are too cool!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a great fundraiser!!!! Even with being gone to Africa during half the ticket sales time, even with a crazy economy, and even with the wildness of the holday season....we still pulled together and sold 450 tickets. Wow! What a blessing to help me get started on all the expenses of moving to South Africa!!!

Gun Raffle When & Where

2008-12-03T18:01:00.001-06:00

Well the much anticipated announcement of the when & where of the shotgun raffle is finally here ;)

Terry & Sabina Shilling are a part of the West Texas Encounter the Cross team and have been a big help with the shotgun raffle for me. On friday night they are hosting a Worship Gathering at their house. They do this every once in a while and it is always great. Last time there were probably close to a hundred people gathered around their countryside home for the night.
So, I've asked them if we can go ahead and do the drawing at their house on friday night since so many of the people who have been involved will be out there.
So here's the info in simple form:

Shotgun Raffle Drawing
When: Friday, December 5 @ 7pm
Where: Terry & Sabina's Worship Night

Tambourine Video 3

2008-12-02T15:55:00.000-06:00

Okay, last video post of these amazing tambourine players! This one actually is of some of the worship at church on our last sunday in Ghana.

Tambourine Video 2

2008-12-02T14:53:00.000-06:00

Well, apparently Blogger only likes to post one video per blog post....so here is video number 2.

The Most Amazing Tambourine Players in the World

2008-12-02T10:23:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure that during this last trip to Ghana I had the privilege of hearing and seeing the most amazing tambourine players in the world. I wish I had a short video that did justice to how amazing these ladies were, but it just was not fully captured on my little camera. During our first conference one of the ladies played on the worship team, then one night our team got to visit the home church of the tambourine players. We were at their home church one evening and about 6 six ladies were perfectly choreographed playing the tambourines. The church leaders in Ghana must have noticed how amazed out team was with the ladies, because they were all at the host church on our final Sunday in Ghana. I have never heard tambourines play in such unison with the worship team....you can't really hear this on my little videos. Since my camera is so small and I was close to the tambourines it sounds like they overpower the worship team, but live they blended in perfectly with the full music sound of the team. Also, I can't even begin to explain how fast these ladies could play a tambourine. And unfortunately, none of my little videos captured a great choreographed moment. These ladies would bend down low with the tambourine flying in their hands the whole time, then rise up and play at waist level, then move up with arms high in the air, then move around some more....all the while they played super fast in perfect unison. Absolutely the most amazing tambourine playing I've ever witnessed.....actually, I'm pretty sure they have to be the best in the world!
I'm going to load all the videos and pics that Google will allow me to post on this blog so you can get a small idea of what it was like ;) I really wish you could actually experience seeing these ladies in person!

PS - I know some of these videos are side-ways but I don't know how to fix that....sorry :)

HOME

2008-11-30T19:12:00.000-06:00

I'm finally back to Lubbock now. I actually returned to the USA on monday but went straight into my last American Thanksgiving with my family. It was quite an event and I had fun, but now I'm happy to unpack, rest, and have some quiet moments.

Obviously I did not get to post a blog while in Ghana, but Ghana was great! Everything went so well. This whole trip was an experiment for me. Can I lead a team well, will the contacts I have there be able to organize things for us, will the people we work with respond well to teachings aimed at first increasing our knowledge of God and His Word (rather than focusing on primarily impacting the heart). Well....the answer to all of this is a resounding yes, yes, yes. It worked and it worked really well!!!! A lot of the success is because God sent me with a really strong team. Plus we have very diverse giftings so while I taught in a very academic fashion and had people taking notes to be able to teach others from, Gary taught from a father's heart and experience answering many questions about how to deal with the hardships of ministry, and Royce & Jennifer taught the people how to live out their freedom in Christ by leading them through personal ministry. After each of our inputs, those who joined us for each of the two conferences were impacted in spirit, soul, and body as they grew closer to our Lord. In all we were able to train pastors and church leaders from 17 different churches who are all equipped to take these teachings back to their churchs. Pretty amazing!

What a blessing to be a part of all of this. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure if I had the goods to pull this off. I know that God is the one who gifts us and equips us, and I know I have giftings from God. But I wasn't sure if I might be stepping a little beyond what God had equipped me for. But it went really well. Praise God....I was on track with Him and not running ahead of Him. I used to think I could conquer the world in and of myself. God has taught me I can truly do nothing without Him. Now, He's proving I can step out there and do amazing things when I'm in step with Him. He's really good!

I'll share some more about the trip over the next few days. For now, here is one picture from my camera that I really like. The rest of the team took most of the pictures, so when I get more pics from them then I'll write more.

Thanks for reading and keeping up with this blog!

Africa Trips & Shotgun Raffles & All That Good Stuff

2008-11-09T18:45:00.000-06:00

Well....I'm off to Ghana in the morning! It has been a whirlwind over the past month or so between missions conferences and Encounter the Cross weekends and some travel here in Texas......and now, I leave in the morning for the first Bible teaching I'll be a part of in Africa. I'm so excited!!!! There are three people going with me and we'll do Bible teaching plus feed children in villages while doing outreaches. How much fun! I'm especially excited about the Bible teaching.....I believe this is absolutely vital to seeing people and nations transformed from the ground up. The Bible tells us that in the Word their lies the power to divide between flesh and spirit. The flesh is where all corruption and eniminity towards God lies.....While the spirit of a man/woman longs after God. The absolute greatest hope of seeing cycles of violence, corruption, and poverty end in Africa is to establish a foundation of the Word of God in the hearts of every man and woman. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to be a part of doing this very thing. To partner that with the village outreaches of actually meeting practical needs is amazing. God is awesome to allow me to be a part of this!

So, as many of you know my life group leaders here in Lubbock are also in the midst of helping me raise money for the move to Africa by holding a Shotgun Raffle.....I love West Texas!

Here's the wild thing......Royce and Jennifer (who have organized this raffle) are going with me to Ghana. So in the middle of this fundraiser we are all leaving the country for a couple of weeks. You really have to trust that God is in control of a thing to be able to leave in the middle of it!!!! I believe that God is going to use our awesome friends who have committed to help with this raffle to be able to get all the tickets sold while we are gone!!!!

Here's a flyer about the raffle for those of you who want to know more. When we get back we'll choose where to hold the drawing.....I'll be sure and put up a post once we know where the drawing will be......I do know the date is Dec. 6.

I hope I can get stable computer access in Ghana....if so the next time I have a posting, I'll be writing from Africa!!

The beginning of my blog

2008-11-02T21:41:00.001-06:00

Well, after many months of being encouraged to do this, I've finally made it into the blogger world. I don't know exactly how this will go...but I'm committed to sharing my journey to moving to Africa, to adjusting to Africa, and to falling more in love with Africa. This many not be a pretty process, but I've decided to do my best to be honest in chronicling this journey. I hope you enjoy reading about all God is doing. And I hope this is an encouragement for others out there that would like to step out into new things but aren't sure if they can do it. After a while of reading about my journey, it should be an encouragement that God loves to use the least likely of us all.
Thanks for reading....I hope you'll join me on this journey...and I look forward to hearing from you along the way.