see our faces
Hello everyone!
We haven't blogged in awhile because of poor internet connection at the JAM camp where we're staying, but we leave here at the end of this week and will get more updates soon.
We plan on doing video updates as well. We will shoot for 1 a week, but it may be more like 1 every 2 weeks. Check out our first one by clicking the link below!
pray for us
Today is filled with looking for a car.
We have had our eyes on one that we feel is a good deal, but we've been warned several times that buying a second hand car in South Africa is risky business. We have to be very careful in picking our selection. At times it can be very frustrating because we just want to be good stewards of the money we've been given to purchase this car for the ministry. It is tough.
Pray for us today. Pray for us to follow Him and for us to not rush into a deal just because it looks good. Pray for our patience as we move into the uncomfortable. We've never done this before and it isn't easy stuff.
In America, I feel so much more capable of buying a good used car. Here I feel like it's the blind leading the even more blind...horrible sentence, but you get my drift.
only they can make the difference
Blogging has been extra hard at the JAM base camp because we don’t get service on our cell phones to blog on site. There are 30 other people to share one computer with, so blogging has been put on the backburner because of availability.
In this post, I just wanted to let everyone know that your support is going a long way.
In our time here at JAM, we have had the rare opportunity to walk alongside some guys and girls who have gone through the different legs of The Mercy Alliance. We have seen people who have had their lives change and flip upside down because of these programs. They are working!
We believe in developing leaders NOW more than ever!
The average age of Africa is 17: We don’t need to raise leaders for tomorrow; we need to raise leaders for today. Young people are the key to this lock. Young people are the ones who are already leaders of their households. They need guidance. They need someone to help them.
There is no one else who can make this change: This is why our work in the Eastern Cape Bible School is so vitally important. These young emerging leaders have to be that change. They have a lot of cultural baggage that they need to sort through. Right now, there is no one at the Bible School to mentor these young people who are busy learning so much every day. Peniel (their teacher) does a great job of doing EVERYTHING. He is worn out at the end of the day because of everything he handles. That is why us being here is going to be so vital to the success of these young people. They NEED mentors.
Former Bible School students have told us in our time here with JAM...they needed mentors. This is such an amazing link between what God has called us to do and the need that is so present here.
how are you…i’m fine
The other day I had an awesome opportunity to speak at a school in Stellenburg. This was a different experience than I thought I would have in South Africa. It was a privileged school. These kids grow up in a culture that isn't much different than what we would see in America. The main difference is that they wear little Harry Potter looking outfits every day.
Before we went to the school, Gerhard (leader of Jubilani Africa Ministries) told us that these kids live in a bubble. He went on to explain that they don't know much, if anything, about the poverty that has stricken South Africa. They don't know about the kids who go to bed with empty bellies every night living in their own country. They didn't know that more than 2/3 of the continent of Africa lives on less than a dollar per day. They didn't know that the average age of Africa is 17.
This blew my mind!
I had never really thought about those kids and the impact that they can and could have on their country.
It was a really weird place to be, because when I spoke with them about what was going on in their own country, I spoke about the same types of things that I would in America. I shared a story that Gerhard told me about a girl he met in the Transkei. A 14 year old girl who was the leader of her family because her parents had died of HIV/AIDS. A 14 year old girl who took care of her brothers and sisters because no one else would. A girl who had no money for food. Every night she would put a pot on the stove with water in it and bring the water to a boil. She would boil it until her siblings fell asleep tricking them into thinking that they were going to get dinner. Horribly sad story, but a reality in many homes in the Transkei.
We showed them a really cool video of a boy receiving his FIRST pair of shoes. I would urge you to watch this video. It touched my heart and I had a very hard time speaking after seeing it. The boy didn't know any other words of English, except for the words "How are you? I'm fine!" He had no other way to express his thankfulness except for repeating this over and over. Gerhard said after they gave him the shoes, his excitement of just standing and looking down in amazement at this pair of shoes was priceless. He said the excitement was just bubbling out of him. Please watch this video...it will make your day.
transparency at it’s best
One of the first people I met on the JAM team was a tall, dark, slim and smiling man who was willing to share his journey with me; all the way from Limpopo (a village in S. Africa) to serving on the JAM team in Cape Town. He began his inspiring journey by telling me about JAM visiting his village in Limpopo. He explained “what a bad boy and person” he was before meeting up with JAM team members who began to pour into him. After much conversation and several visits from the team Lifter found himself on a spiritual journey. He eventually grew enough to know and accept the Lord. Later the JAM team invited him to join them during their next JAM year; learning and serving. Lifter is a beautiful spirit, full of life, welcoming, and always smiling.
One night while the entire team was gathered together he chimed in the conversation and said “I have a confession to make. I am struggling…I am struggling”. Big tears filled his eyes and rolled down his face as he went on to say “years of drugs and addiction really messed up my brain and now I cannot remember scripture. Sometimes I struggle to open this book because I can’t understand and I cannot remember. I am ashamed, I am ashamed of who I am”. He dropped his bible on to the ground. “I dropped out of school when I was in grade 11 because of my situation and now I am struggling to read and struggling to remember”. My heart burst into two. I watched so many of his brothers and sisters on the team drop to their knees while others got up to lay hands on him. Bungannie, a Xhosa team member immediately reminded Lifter of who he really is… perfectly and wonderfully made, a new creation in Him, loved just as He is, undeserving-yet saturated in His grace. I watched as Moses, another Xhosa team member, walked over and grabbed this grown man by the head-resting his own head on his friends. Moses looked him straight in the eyes and told him “I was right where you are. My first 3 months at the bible school, I avoided the bible. I avoided talking, and I was still lost. You are growing and changing, you are okay”.
We all prayed for Lifter that night, and tonight as I write, I pray again for him that He would never forget who he really is. Not a drug addicted nothing who lives in a village of S. Africa, living for no purpose… Lifter is a beautifully renewed spirit-who has the potential to change lives in S. Africa the way that his life has been changed. His road has been rough, his tragedies many. Lifter has lived a life I can’t even fathom-yet his trials are what make him such a rare gem to the people of S. Africa. He has a role I cannot fill and a connection to the people that I never will. Lifter has been changed and is bringing that to the people of S. Africa…real, raw, hard, but worth it, good, c h a n g e.
Blogroll
- Church Planting Movement
- Discipleship
- Hunt SA
- meaningfulchurch.com
- Mercy Alliance
- roymoran.com
- Shoal Creek Community Church
Categories
Archives
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009