Christmas Surprises and Returns

Greetings to everyone who faithfully reads my blog and those that may just come across it for some casual reading!   Life as always has been busy, but I decided enough is enough and I had to take a few minutes to give everyone an update on what is happening in my world! Here it is:

His Ark Kids Club Christmas Party:

On December 7th we were able to bless about 200 of our most faithful attendees to kids club with an awesome Christmas party, full of fun activities- like a bounce house, dodgeball, and face painting,- food, and of course the real meaning for the whole season and the reason the were being blessed, the birth of Jesus. At the end of the program we celebrated Jesus’ birthday and each of the kids birthdays as well (since many of them don’t get cake or anything special on their day throughout the year) by eating yummy cupcakes made by Antje and I’s friends and church family.

A special SHOUT OUT to all my friends on this side of the world that helped us make this day a success!!! It was crazy and a little stressful at times, especially when some kids and even parents snuck in to steal presents, but without your hands, it wouldn’t have worked! Also a big SHOUT OUT to my friends who helped organize, collect, pack, and sort all of the 200+ presents in our little house.

Another SHOUT OUT to those of you from the USA who helped by sending donations of money to be used for a variety of uses, but especially to help make sure each of our kiddos received a shoebox filled with love and goodies!

Thanks for all the memories that you helped create through your prayers for this day and the donations that were made! The kids are STILL talking about it!!!

Land, building and a prayer:

The day before the Christmas party, I received a very interesting phone call. Well let me rewind this story. Two weeks before the party, in the middle of the last minute planning and details to sort out, Antje were just dreaming of how wonderful it would be if we would have a building of our own and how many of our issues would be sorted if we had a place of our own, so we decided to spend time in prayer focusing on our need for a safe and dry place where we can see our ministry grow and reach our kids and families daily. That night I was awakened 3 times, with the word “LAND” and a picture of a grassy field. Because I have strange, crazy dreams so often it didn’t really phase me until the 3rd time. Then I knew it was God speaking to me. Preparing me. That same night, Antje, who usually sleeps soundly through the night, was awakened and led to read in her Bible. She read passages in Jeremiah regarding the purchase of land. In the morning when we shared our experiences, we both got the chills knowing that God was about to do something HUGE.

So back to that phone call. It was a girl who goes to my church and is in my bible study, but I’ve never met. She said she wanted to help at the Christmas party, but more importantly an eco-friendly company that she works for, Klevar Brick, wants to GIVE us a hall to use. GIVE US A HALL!!! She also said she can help with some of the publicity for raising funds on this side as she also works with a television program here in SA. At this moment I began to just go crazy, of course after I got off the phone with her ( I didn’t want her to think she was giving a building to a CRAZY person!)

****** Prayer Point: We are still praying and looking for the right piece of land, the funding for the purchase of the land, and waiting for the final details from Klevar Brick regarding our building. We are ready to see what God is going to do!!!***********************

My Very Own Christmas Present:

By now, I’m sure you know that I SURPRISED everyone, including my family, by coming home for Christmas. It was  SOOOOO hard to keep it a secret for so long (as my friend Cindy and I had been planning since June and bought the tickets in October), but it was so worth it!!! If you haven’t seen the video of me surprising my family and a few of my friends, check out the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7QXpkXwlJ0 

A big SHOUT OUT to my friends in SA that helped me keep the secret, helped by buying the plane ticket and letting me pay you back, and by posting photos while I was travelling back home so my parents were COMPLETELY tricked into thinking I was travelling with you! You girls are awesome!

I LOVED my time at home!!! Even though I thought that 6 weeks would be plenty of time to see everyone that I wanted to, it wasn’t. I’m glad that I spent LOTS of time with my family and close friends and that I was blessed to see many of my supporters. Thank you for all your generosity that allowed me to come home. Until I was home, I didn’t realize how much I actually missed my family, my friends, and all the familiarities of my small town USA. I tried my best to soak up each and every moment and cherish the time I was blessed with. Here are just a few of the shenanigans I was able to enjoy:

I was also able to share with my church about all of the changes and update them on my ministries here in SA so take a look at this video as well :

South Africa Update Presentation 2014

Return trip:

While saying goodbye again was hard, I know I’m exactly where God wants me for this season of my life. It has been busy at Bizweni with the start of the new school year and some new students in my class. We’ve enjoyed some fun lessons, like building our bodies out of fruits and veggies, horse riding therapy, and an outing to the shops! Here are some snap shots of our learning adventures!

Feels like there should be more photos of the school but I’m so busy teaching I don’t have much time to snap a photo or two!

**** Prayer Points: Just at the end of March one of our students passed away. Please pray for his family, the staff and students of Bizweni for peace of mind knowing he is freely running with Jesus now. Please pray for guidance as we are looking to place a few of our students in other schools where they will be able to be pushed even farther in their academics. Please also pray for us as we are continuing to plan for the Skills Development Center for our older children. Pray that we will daily show our students how much they are loved and valued by Christ.

His Ark:

With the new year, many new activities have been added for the kids and for us! We’ve been able to FINALLY start a boys club, thanks to Jolin being able to join our team, a sports club (for the boys only at the moment, but the girls will join soon!), and Antje and I are running the girls club. We’ve also been enjoying the time with the kids and the families on home visits on Thursdays.

We had to move our location of Kids Club to the streets- literally. It has had lots of challenges like having to pick up everything and move the kids back when a big truck or car comes through, but it has opened some doors we weren’t expecting. Since we’ve started in the streets we’ve had a group of parents begin to “attend” kids club every week. They come and sit at the back and off to the side and they are LISTENING to what they are saying. One of the mothers confessed this to Jolin:

“Before you moved Kids Club to our street, that was our time to drink and smoke. Now we like to come and listen and learn what you’re teaching the kids. We want to make change in our lives. We want to stop drinking and smoking.”

We’ve longed to start really making an impact in the lives of the parents because we know that we have to rebuild and restore families, breaking generational cycles.  We are excited to see what will come in the future, especially when we have our hall!!!

We were also able to take a few outings since I’ve been back. In February we took a group of our girls to Hillsong’s Sisterhood event. Afterwards, we took the girls out for a picnic and we all enjoyed being outdoors!

Here are some photos of clubs and visits:

 

The first weekend of April we were able to bless our older boys and girls of His Ark, by taking the girls to a women’s conference, hosted by Hillsong, and the boys to a camp hosted by Friends church. All were blessed by the time and they have many stories to share.

***** Prayer points: Please pray for the safety and spiritual protection over all of our children and our staff while we are ministering in SLP. There is a big spiritual battle ground within this place but we are ready to see what BIG things God is going to do! Please pray that they will all know how much they are loved by God and that they will be the hands and feet that bring revival and change to their community. Pray for the parents that they will hear our messages of hope and turn from the drinking and drugs.

Please pray for me as Antje is away for awhile again. I’m so thankful to have Jolin on staff, but there is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders with Antje away.

Pray that our building will come to be soon as winter is coming soon. Pray with us seek the best plot for us to put our roots in and grow a place where we can impact the community.

Accident:

In March, while driving my car to trade it in for newer model, I was in a car accident. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured and I wasn’t the driver at fault, but my car had to be towed away. I’m also thankful that with the help of Uncle Stuart I was still able to get my new car so I’m not stuck without wheels. Here is Antje toasting to my new “SwaggerWagon”.  

*** Prayer points: Please pray that I can sort everything out with my insurance and the other driver’s insurance, quickly and smoothly.

PRAISE!!!! Pauline was finally able to get her birth certificate!!!

                                  

I have many other updates to share, but they will have to wait for another post! Thanks for all your love, prayers, and encouragement on this adventure!!! Big hugs!!!