South Africa Outreach – Week 3 Summary

Yesterday marked 3 weeks since we left Kona for our outreach and Sunday marks 3 weeks in South Africa. We’ve been located at a YWAM base in Worcester, South Africa, which is a smaller town near Cape Town which is the most rural we’ll be. The view of the mountains every morning is breath-taking!

Tomorrow, we will leave the base in Worcester and move on to our second location in Fish Hoek. Fish Hoek is a suburb of Cape Town and is right on the coast! The view of the ocean is incredible! I know because we visited 2 weeks ago when we did beach evangelism and it looks gorgeous! Definitely different than Worcester but I’m ready for a change! I’m looking forward to moving on in our outreach and starting ministry somewhere new!

Here are a few things we did in week 3!

- The focus theme for this week from the 7 Call2All themes has been 4K Mapping. It is a technology that involves mapping areas for the purpose of reaching every area of the world and completing the Great Commission. It is also useful for data collection so that other teams that come here can see who we’ve connected with and follow-up with the people that short term teams have made contact with. Hopefully it will make Call2All increasingly effective in this community from outreach to outreach!

- The last team focused on mapping churches. We have felt led to map businesses and support the businesses and store owners. It’s been really fun to do something totally different this week than last. I’ve been enjoying sharing Jesus with businesses more than the children’s VBS we did last week. Children’s ministry is exhausting though rewarding! I commend those who have a gifting for children’s ministry! We need you!

- It was such a pleasure to watch my husband lead someone back to the Lord and pray with them! This is awesome stuff to do together!

- The 4K Mapping/Business Evangelism has been the focus in the mornings and the hospital visits have continued to be a part of our afternoons this week. We had so much life doing them last week that many of us wanted to do them this week too! It has been such a highlight for me personally. I love caring for people in the hospital, bringing them some joy and prayer and supporting those who are hurting. The babies who have been abandoned by their parents and are in the hospital without a parent are the ones many of our team members have really bonded with. It was sad to say good-bye today =(

- One-on-ones have continued and I am so encouraged by the girls I get the privilege of meeting with each week! I’m so thankful for the chance to spend time one-on-one with them! God is doing great things in the lives of our team members!

- We enjoyed joining the base for Monday morning worship, just like they do in Kona. A lot of the songs played were older Vineyard songs from back in my Winnipeg Centre Vineyard days and I felt like dancing! I haven’t danced in a long time and when I mentioned to Shane that I felt like it, he thought maybe it was because it reminded me of my dancing days back at the Vineyard =) It was fun to step out in a new location and be bold and dance!

- Shane and I really clicked with one of the girls from the LA team that has been on base. Saara is from Finland and reminded us of our lovely Stephanie! It’s not every day you meet someone that you feel is like a kindred spirit =) We were sad to say good-bye on Tuesday when the LA team left =(

- I got a date with my husband! How glorious! We had lunch at the mall nearby all by ourselves and it was lovely to connect!

- Our outreach host is friends with a man who owns a game reserve nearby! We got an awesome deal and on our day off on Wednesday, our team went to see the Big 5! The animals were gorgeous!

- On Thursday, our team asked the Lord if He was asking us individually to go out that morning or stay and commit the morning to prayer, the Word and connecting with Him. I stayed on base feeling really spent after giving out a lot and needing some refreshment from Jesus. It was wonderful to have 4.5 hours alone with Jesus! I’m so thankful for this time!

- Today we went to a school, where the teachers were meeting before school starts on Monday. We gave a word and prayed over the teachers and principal. There were many wet eyes in the room and the principal started to say thank-you but left the room crying because he was so touched! It was great to move with the Holy Spirit!

- We also went to a drug rehab center and sang songs, we did our skits and Cam shared his powerful testimony. All 19 people in the room gave their lives to Jesus! There was hardly a dry eye in that room! So powerful!

Random details and blessings:

- I am super thankful to report that the heat wave has passed! Now it is just the normal warm temperatures but not psycho hot! Praise the Lord! I had a tough time being sick in the heat wave!

- I’m happy to report that my stomach is better and Shane is breathing fine again! (The smoke made his allergies and asthma really flare up!). His toe is getting better and he can almost walk normal again. Thankfully, he hasn’t needed the crutches for the last 2 weeks or so! Please pray that the healing is complete before we start our soccer and surf camps next week because at this point he can’t run or kick.

- Toilet paper and soap are hard to come by in South Africa or so it seems. During the hospital visits, it’s hard to find both in the bathrooms and it’s amazing how little soap is on the wards too! They all have dispensers that don’t work! And, after coming from a hospital where there is hand sanitizer on every wall, it’s so weird that there is none here! At night on the base, sometimes there is no toilet paper in all 3 stalls in the girls’ bathroom! It drives me a little crazy and I get Shane to give me a roll from the boys’ bathroom =)

- Our little friend with long legs whom we named Stephanie 3 weeks ago is still with us. We have a spider in the corner of the ceiling that has joined us for our time in Worcester and is still with us. I guess she’ll be staying and will be ready to welcome the next couple who sleeps in this room =)

God is doing great and marvelous things! It’s a pleasure to partner with Him in what He is doing in South Africa. It’s so true that the harvest is plentiful!

There are challenges in leading a team and in pouring out day after day. Please continue to pray for refreshment and refilling for us. It’s a good kind of tired at the end of the day =)

As we move this morning, we will likely not have internet access where we are staying. So, I don’t know if I’ll be able to blog or email but we’ll try to get to an internet café or something from time to time.

Here’s a few prayer requests:

- More salvations and power for healing!

- Protection for our team in Fish Hoek

- Wisdom and discernment in making decision as leaders

- Grace, patience and love for our team members

- Guidance about the future

- And whatever else the Lord may highlight to you as you pray!

Thanks and we love you! Hello from South Africa!

South Africa Outreach - Week 2 Summary

2011 is now here and we have been on outreach for over 2 weeks already (including all that travel time). We’re on day 14 in Worcester, South Africa and so much has happened already! And we still have 2 months to go!

Here’s a brief rundown of what we did in week 2!

- Worship and prayer as a team – I led on Friday by guitar for the first time in years because there isn’t a piano around! And I started to write a song one afternoon!

- Started one-on-ones – These are an important part of DTS where we get time weekly with our leaders by ourselves to process how things are going. Because Shane and I are helping as student leaders, I am doing one-on-ones with 2 of the girls and Shane has all 4 boys to meet with each week. I was so encouraged last Sunday when I met with the girls! I hope this part of the week continues to be so encouraging for me!

- I got to share my testimony for the first time! – On Sundays we attend local churches (last week was a colored church that had really good worship and a great heart and today we went to a black church. They really know how to make a joyful noise and dance!)

- We’ve been doing our two dramas a lot! (at churches, children’s ministry, the beach, street evanglism, etc). I have the main part in the one drama that we do all the time and I’m hoping I don’t get too sick of doing it by the end of outreach =) I don’t have the chance to get shy here…I just have to go for it!

- Beach Evanglism last Sunday – dramas, praying for people, sharing the Gospel!

- Saw penguins at Boulder Beach!

- Vacation Bible School/Children’s Ministry at a squatter camp (Avian Park) in the mornings for 2-3 hours.

- Hospital visits at a local state hospital in the afternoon – this was a big highlight for me this week! We prayed for people for healing, encouraged people, prayed for staff, played with babies, shared the gospel and led people to Jesus (~8 people throughout the week!)

- Lunch with the team on our day off at a restaurant! Sadly, I was sick after that experience. I don’t know if it was related but myself and another guy that had the same meal were sick by that night =( I spent 4 days sick this week and had to miss some ministry which was disappointing =(

- Street evangelism downtown – dramas, testimonies and praying for people in front of a grocery store! People got saved and rededicated their lives to Jesus!

Random details and blessings:

- We’ve noticed that what seems like all the dogs in the neighborhood start barking at 10:30pm each night. It was pretty annoying at the beginning but now we’re getting used to it. Thankfully, they settle down after a little while!

- I can no longer say it’s nice and cool in the mornings and evenings with weather I like better than Kona. We experienced an African summer heat wave this week and temperatures were almost 50 degrees! It was unbearable!

- During the heat wave, the wind is even hot!

- The Christmas break is over on the base and students arrived this week. Now the place is full of more people and the kitchen has opened up so we don’t have to prepare our own meals, which is a real treat!

- As we’ve gotten to know our neighbors in our building, we really like them! Many families in our building are from Brazil and the ones on either side of us are from Brazil and Madagascar! Our neighbors from Madagascar have said they want us to stay =)

- I’m guessing there is a beehive somewhere near our window because I’ve been killing a lot of bees in our room. I definitely think that screens are very convenient! The flies and bees buzzing against the window have managed to wake me up from a nap and from a night’s sleep even with ear plugs in!

- Safety is an issue if you go off base without a group and in certain places so we are careful. The base has a wall or fence around it with barbed wire around the top. It doesn’t freak me out because it was just the same in Haiti at the base we stayed at.

My favorite part of week 2 was having the incredible pleasure of leading someone to the Lord for the first time in my life! I’ve been a Christian for a long time but I’ve never been a part of someone coming to know Jesus right before my eyes. I’ve longed for many years to be a part of this and it has been on my hopes and dreams list at the beginning of the New Year for years now. Well, it was written there again when I wrote my little list of what I wanted for 2011 on December 31^st. By January 3^rd, my hope and dream came true! And not only one, but 3 people came to know Jesus!

We were visiting the hospital for the first time. There was a very sick 13 year old girl who was having a really hard time breathing, oxygen mask, IV in and such. Her mom was with her and Shane and I asked if we could pray for her. Her mom said she needed prayer for her liver, swelling in her legs and her lungs. We began to pray for healing and the little girls situation looked pretty serious to me. The nurse in me counted her respirations, which were 48 per minute! I was thinking about how this girl needed Jesus if she didn’t know Him.

It was incredible but right them, a lady who sometimes visits the patient appears at the bedside and translates what I’m saying in Afrikaans so the mom could understand and the daughter could understand more clearly. It was a divine appointment and I’m so thankful that lady appeared of what seemed out of nowhere! I inquired and found out that the mom and the daughter did not know Jesus. I shared the Gospel with the girl and asked if she wanted to know Jesus as her personal friend and pray with me. I led her in a prayer which she repeated “Yes Jesus” after every sentence through her oxygen mask, because she didn’t have the strength to repeat all the words because her trouble breathing. We welcomed her into the family and told her that now we are brothers and sisters in the family of God! The team ended up coming in and gathering around her bed. They sang over her, prayed over her and it was a party welcoming a new sister into the Kingdom of God!

Then, her mom and the lady in the next bed both came to Jesus next! It was an incredible honor to share Jesus and meet receptive people who just needed to hear the Gospel and had ready hearts!

I don’t know what ended up happening to this girl because they were transferring her to Cape Town but I know on January 3^rd, there were divine appointments at Worcester Hospital that exploded into eternity! And I’m just so pumped that I was included! God didn’t need me, but He wanted to use me and He did! Amen to that!

Be encouraged! God is on the move and souls are being saved! Woo! Hoo!

Farewell 2010!

At the end of each year, I love looking back on the year and counting my blessings and doing my personal inventory of what happened in my life and what the Lord did. I like to go back to the wish list I made at the end of the previous year and see which of the things that I had hoped to happen actually came true the same year!

Being in South Africa at this time of year means that I don’t get to do my usual inventory because I don’t have my old journals and day planners here =) So, a brief one by what I can remember will have to do!

There were some AWESOME blessings in my life in 2010 and some sad parts too:

- Went on an “internal” vacation and had some breakthrough and freedom!

- Went on a sister trip to Kansas City in February for my lovely sister’s birthday – I’m especially glad we did that now that I see that we would be apart 8-10 months =(

- Went to Haiti in March and felt the passion for missions awakened in my heart again

- Got my first (and hopefully last) parasite from Haiti which we named “Keith” and lost 10 pounds in a few days! I don’t want to relive that experience!

- SHOP had a conference and we brought our friend Justin Rizzo out for it in May. We had the pleasure of hosting his fiancée, Naomi at our place and really enjoyed getting to know her!

- Call2All DTS entered our conversation on June 1 while walking in the park.

- Had a wonderful 6^th anniversary in Kansas City. Went to the Awakening Services to seek the Lord about our 7^th year of marriage! Also got to spend a night at a hotel, which we hadn’t done since our honeymoon!

- Steph moved in with us for just over a month before she left for her DTS. It was so wonderful to have that time together!

- My baby sister left for YWAM at the end of July and this transition was tough for our family. We are so close and it’s so hard to be apart =(

- We got accepted for the Call2All DTS on August 31^st, while house-sitting for my aunt and uncle.

- I quit my job at St. Boniface and embarked on a new adventure!

- Shaun moved in with us 2 weeks before we left for Kona. I’m thankful for this time with him too!

- SHOP moved locations for the first time in it’s history.

- We left for Kona, Hawaii on September 28^th and flew in an airplane together for the first time since our honeymoon!

- Grandpa Ross, a dear friend and grandpa, died while we were in Kona on our lecture phase of DTS and we couldn’t come home for the funeral =(

- We landed in South Africa on December 26^th!

- God provided for ALL of our needs this year! He provided in incredibly awesome ways for His glory!

Thinking back at this year, a neat fact is that I’ve slept in 10 different cities/places in 2010! I’ve spent the night in Winnipeg, Kansas City, Council Bluffs, Miami, Haiti, Hawaii, South Africa, Steinbach, Rock Lake and on an airplane! Wow!

2010 was a year full of blessings, challenges and lots of growth. I am so blessed by what the Lord has brought into my life this year. I have probably met more people this year than any other year in my life. I’ve been surprised by the Lord’s gifts to me. I’ve cried, been pressed and molded more and more. I’ve grieved more than many other years. I’ve loved deeper as I’ve been a part from the ones I love. I’ve had to trust God more and be willing to take jumps that I haven’t had to before (and it’s been worth it). I’ve been more uncomfortable than the last few years as I’m not in the familiar anymore. I’ve dreamed more.

So many good things have happened this year and so many hard things have happened that have been incredible opportunities to lean into the Lord and grow into the woman of God that I am created to be more and more. I am so thankful for this year of my life and the Lord did so many good things, even though 2010 wasn’t a walk in the park =)

Good things are in store for 2011 and though I don’t know what it will hold, it’s going to be a great journey as we continue saying yes to all that the Lord wants to draw us into and do in us and through us!

Happy New Year!