Week 31

It's been forever awhile since I last did a weekly update, and somehow it's already week 31! Time flies (or crawls, depending on the day and attitude).

Monday was fine, without much to report, until that night. I. Couldn't. Sleep. A. Wink. Not at all. This had never happened to me before, and I laid in the dark, and read, and wrote, and stared. Eight hours is a really long time to be by oneself. Anyway, we figured out the next day that I was severely dehydrated, and that was the cause. It made Tuesday interesting.

We went to the preschool on Tuesday morning, and I can't really remember that much about it (I wonder why?) I know that they practiced Christmas songs for the Christmas program they are having in November (before summer break), and it is easy to figure out who learns phonetically :)

Wednesday's highlight was the youth program, where we read the stories of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. The kids decorated hearts that said "God always loves me." Forgiveness and grace may not always be emphasized, and we want to make sure that the kids know they cannot earn their way to eternal life, but that they must receive it as a gift of grace.

Thursday we had the mommies meeting, and it was a great time. They are learning so much, and are grateful for the chance to learn, which makes leading a pleasure.

Friday brought about the highlight of the week: a sleepover with 2 of our youth group girls. These girls are so precious and full of potential, not to mention fun! We watched movies after youth group, and then spent the next morning making and distributing PB&J sandwiches to kids in Block E. It was simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking; heartbreaking to see them exposed to so much poverty, but beautiful to see them showing Christ's love.



On Sunday we had another special event: a missionary family came down from Windhoek to accompany some students from the Namibian Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS). One of their students, who is from Rehoboth, preached at a local church we had never been to, and we went to support him. Unfortunately his message was in Afrikaans, but we got the gist of it, and he did very well (it was about racism versus unity in the body of believers). Afterwards we had the chance to have lunch with his family and spend time with the Windhoek group.

Ministry Update

I realized it has been quite a while since we have given an update on our specific ministries, so here they are:

Preschool
We are still involved with the preschool in Block, which serves children aged 2-7. Recently a short-term team that came to Rehoboth donated money for land for a new school, and the land has been purchased. We are working on building plans and fundraising. We are also planning a Christmas party/”graduation” ceremony for mid-November.

Youth Center
Although we are still involved in the youth center, it is no longer the project that consumes the majority of our time. The building is now up to usable standards, and we are no longer working on construction. Sadly, one of the windows we replaced has already been broken. It is located near a couple of bottle stores, so we regularly have broken glass bottles left in front of the center. A group of community members has been meeting periodically to discuss the center; it is great to see local citizens taking ownership. We continue to lead the youth program with Kitty, and regularly have anywhere from 15-50 kids (with only the 3 of us to keep order). We hope to expand soon to include another day of the program each week. One need we are still praying about is local volunteers.

Hope’s Promise
Although my primary focus is counseling, we have tried to help out in other ways, too. Josh and I have been working together to construct a sign for the bead shop the organization maintains as a fundraiser. Although they already have a store, there is no sign, and it’s easy to miss. Also, we had the opportunity to work at a craft market for a couple of days, also for fundraising. As far as counseling, things are going great. I am doing group counseling with the kids on Saturdays, and that’s going really well. Unfortunately, I can’t see all of the kids on an individual basis, but this way I maintain relationships with them. Additionally, I hold weekly meetings with the foster mommies, and am developing a curriculum for this from scratch. I am actually really enjoying this part of my job, and it seems to be going well.

House Ministries
One of the unexpected pleasures of moving to the house is that we are able to serve more. On Fridays, a group of teenage boys comes from Block E to hang out for the afternoon. We feed them, play games, read stories, do crafts, and just spend time with them. Also, we have had the opportunity to house some visiting missionaries, and it has been so fun to get to know them. Lastly, we have also found ministry on our doorstep. We often have children come to the door begging for food. We ask them to do simple jobs, like water the flowers, and then pay them with food. They want to work, and they don’t want to be dependent. It’s great to see the pride they take in their work, if only given the opportunity.

Girl’s Bible Study
I have continued my study with high school girls living at a local hostel. We are currently learning about spiritual disciplines, and how to have a relationship with Jesus. I hope to do a sleepover and a volunteer day with them in the new year. They will begin exams soon, and I will not see them until January- I will miss them terribly.

Prayer Walks
Josh has recently begun doing prayer walks around Rehoboth, something that is SO crucial. There is a spiritual oppression here unlike any we have ever experienced. It is truly a battle for souls, and I am so proud of him for taking this on.

Youth Group
We continue to be involved with the same youth group we have been with since the beginning of our time here. They are currently undergoing a change in leadership, as the youth pastor is stepping down and a member of the youth board is taking over. As far as new events, we will be working a camp with for them for a week in December. We see so much potential in many of these kids, and hope to nurture that in some small way. Last weekend I had a sleepover with 2 of the girls, and the next day we took them to do outreach in Block E. One of them had been there only once before, despite having lived here her whole life. This generation can be the change in Rehoboth.

Block E Outreach
We have been doing Block E outreaches more often, in which we give kids apples or sandwiches or something else to eat. It is such a difficult situation. On the one hand, we don’t want to create a dependency, but on the other, we cannot sit by and watch them starve. After praying about it, God recently brought me to this verse, which is what I would like to leave you with:

“Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God…As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ.”- 2 Corinthians 9:11,13

God, may it be so.

I'm Gonna Soak Up the Sun

We get a lot of questions from people at home about the weather here.

A lot.

I can't really blame them. Not only is Africa a mystery in so many ways, they are fascinated by legends of temperatures so hot that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk, that aerosol cans will explode, that mercury thermometers won't register, etc.

Maybe that's an exageration. Maybe not.

The forecast for the temperature today is around 93 degrees. Now, I know that isn't that impressive, but we also have to consider the fact that summer doesn't really start until December. For you northern-hemisphere folks, it would be like you having 93 degree temperatures in April, and just getting hotter from there.

An AIM missionary that we know has a T-shirt that describes the exact type of heat found in each region of the country. Examples include "sweaty hot," "muggy hot," and "burning hot." What was Rehoboth? "Hellish hot."

The other weather issue here is the humidity. Well, the lack thereof. It is dry, dry, dry all the time. So dry my skin flakes off if I scratch it. So dry I have to put vaseline inside my nose every night because otherwise it spontaneously bleeds. So dry that we try to water our flowers when the sun goes down because otherwise the water just evaporates- within a few minutes. So dry that Visine has become our new best friend. So dry that you don't sweat- actually, you sweat all the time, it just evaporates immediately. The telltale sign? Salt residue on your skin.

In all reality though, the fact that the sun shines nearly all the time here makes it all worth it (we'll see if I still say that in 2 months). I am so much more productive and energetic with sunshine, and it just makes me smile. My mom calls it "solar power."

I was inspired to write this post after hearing they got 2 inches of snow last week in our hometown. I don't really mind snow, but when you have it for 7 or 8 months straight, it loses it's splendor. The cold that comes with it doesn't win my favor, either.

But now? I am pretty sure it is something I might just dream of at times.

Luckily, God gave me the foresight to take a few pictures during a quiet time last year, and now I can make myself feel cold just by staring at them :)

Josh's 2nd Appearance

“Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” -Acts 16:6-10

When the Spirit didn’t permit Paul, Silas and Timothy to go somewhere, they just kept moving. They went on to the next place and continued like this until Paul had a vision that lead them to Macedonia.

I think, as humans, we think God wants all of us to follow some pattern, but Jesus said “follow me.” He didn’t say give this much money, or preach only to your neighbor, or go to a different place, or wait, or go. He said “follow me.”

So there will be times to wait on the Lord and times to “go into all the world and preach the gospel,” but the key in all of it is to follow Jesus.

Raindrops and Bare Feet

Written 9/24/09
Week 28

We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it- Mother Theresa

Today I felt a raindrop- it hit me right on the side of the nose. There was also a spot every 3 feet or so that had evidence of a raindrop- yes, a single one (this was a light rain). Allegedly it rained last week, but this is the first I have seen or felt rain since April, making the seemingly mundane newsworthy.

The “bare feet” referred to in the title aren’t ours; Josh would faint if I ever went out without shoes. It’s a bit risky, with broken glass, thorns, hookworm (only in moist places, so not in dry season), and scorpions (which is not to say kids don’t go barefoot, like, all the time). Instead, they belong to an 11-year-old boy we have befriended, D. He was supposed to leave for [farm] school 2 weeks ago, but we saw him walking along the street in town. We stopped and asked why he wasn’t in school, and he said it was because he doesn’t have shoes.

It’s true; countless kids are kept out of school due to not being able to afford school fees, shoes, or a uniform. They are born poor, so they shouldn’t be educated? How much potential and human capital is being sacrificed by condemning these children to a life simply focused on survival? Growing up in the U.S., I just took it for granted that education was free and mandatory.

How many pairs of shoes do you have? This includes casual shoes, work boots, athletic footwear, dress shoes, slippers, sandals and flip-flops, etc. I did a search, and found out the average American woman owns somewhere between 19 and 27 pairs of shoes (no results for men). If we each cut back to just 5 pairs, think of how many kids we could send to school with the money formerly allocated to footwear.

Josh and I know we cannot single-handedly support every kid, but D was so close to being able to go. We bought him some shoes (costing less than 20 American dollars), some socks, and some school supplies. Although he was thankful, he’s an 11-year-old boy, so he wasn’t super-enthusiastic about getting school supplies. But his grandma? She looked at us as if we had gone crazy (I love that look!)

We were so grateful for this opportunity. Sometimes it is really difficult to know who to help, where the legitimate need is. Remember that when we say “yes” to someone, we are essentially saying “no” to someone else, as there are limited resources. We have been praying for God to show us very specific ways in which to serve others, and He has blessed us abundantly.

Recently, we were listening to a song by Chris Rice, and these lyrics really touched us:

See you had no choice which day you would be born
Or the color of your skin, or what planet you’d be on
Would your mind be strong, would your eyes be blue or brown
Whether daddy would be rich, or if momma stuck around at all

So if you find yourself in a better place
You can’t look down on the frown on the other guy’s face
You gotta stoop down low, look him square in the eye
And get a funny feeling, ‘cause you might be dealing ...

How did I find myself in a better place
I can’t look down on the frown on the other guy’s face
‘Cause when I stoop down low, look him square in the eye
I get a funny feeling, I just might be dealing
With the face of Christ

How did I find myself in a better place? I ask God that question every single day.

On Blessings

This was part of my devotion the other morning:

"Some of us are troubled, wondering why the Holy Spirit doesn't fill us. The problem is that we have plenty coming in, but we aren't giving it out to others. If you will give the blessing you have received to those around you, then you will quickly find that the Holy Spirit is with you. He will bestow blessings to you for service, giving you all He can trust you to give away to others." -Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Cape Town Photos