Signs and Symptoms

My day included Anya (into day 2 of a temperature), Lacy and Katelyn (while Shannon was on campus), a plumber in our only bathroom all morning searching under our sink for the leak (never found it and am left with a demolished sink cabinet with exposed plumbing), a call from Lily's teacher saying she fell on the playground and looks pale and feels dizzy (loaded the kids and went to fetch her right away), a little recoup time in the sun on my porch, Lily and Anya seeming to be feeling better until our dinner guest arrived and Lily needed to throw up (made it to the same bathroom sink), cleaning up, giving baths, and now contemplating if my stomach is starting to feel "off" or if it's all in my head.

All the while on the campus of UWC...the summer project students had planned an outreach that had an AMAZING response!  They printed of SIGNS about our men's and women's Bible studies that were happening today at 1pm, and stood around campus with them.  Groups of people were coming up and asking questions about it and saying they've been wanting and looking for something like this on campus the whole time they've been there.  One guy walked up to one of our students with a sign and said "What's this all about?"  The summer project student responded "We are here to share with people about who Jesus is".  Then the UWC student said, "Well, aren't you going to share with me?" So he did, and the student said he wanted to "bridge the gap" with God, and would pray tonight!  So, all these conversations are happening, and 1pm rolls around and there are balloons and a big sign that says "Campus Crusade for Christ" Bible study at our meeting location before they head to the class room.  Hoards of excited people are coming up and asking about it!  Our newest Stinter, Kate, was just telling me that she was in the room preparing for the study and in walks 15 South Africans, then 5 minutes later, another 10, then another few...28 new South African students came to women's Bible study today! Women were SO excited to have fellowship and talk about God and assurance of salvation.  A few even came up to Kate and said "I really want to learn how to share my faith, will you teach me?".  Praise God!  Some are new believers, some are seasoned believers...praising God for each and every one of them!  And there were even more who talked to people at the meeting point saying they can't come this week but are going to make sure and clear their schedule to make it next week!  It is so crazy it just makes me laugh!  God has such a good plan and it's so fun to be a part of it! Christian said it was the best day on campus he's EVER had...no wonder!

While I was home trying to make sense of the symptoms of sickness and clogged pipes, I'm so thankful students were reading the signs that brought them to hear the truth of the exciting, joyful, abundant life we have in Jesus!  And I'm thankful the Lord has brought these faith-filled summer project staff and students to come and help!  We have PAGES of names of people who are interested in hearing more.  Who knows how long it would have taken us to gather these students if it had not been for the summer project.  Praising God!

Please pray for healing for Lily and Anya...Lily's seems like the flu.  Not sure with Anya but she doesn't have a fever anymore, praise the Lord!
Pray also that Christian and I won't get it.
Please pray for the Summer Project students as they wrap up their time on campus this week, and leave next week.  Pray that God will let the GLORY they've tasted of the Lord here remain fragrant in their hearts and minds for as long as they live, and that God will continue to use them to bring the good news of the gospel to their friends, classmates, co-workers, and everyone they come in contact with.

Please pray for us...Ironically as Christian was preaching at Pastor Julius's church in the township last Sunday (to many who live below poverty line), I was hearing a sermon at our church about how 13 MILLION people live below the poverty line in South Africa.  That is 13 Million living on $1.25/day.  We were challenged at church to live on $1.25/day for food per person for three days.  We plan to try it next week.  But already, God has been pulling heart strings and revealing my pride as I've been reading what God has to say about acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with Him (Micah 6:8).  I judge the poor more than give to them.  I was telling the Lord yesterday as I was walking in the vineyard that I don't want to leave South Africa unchanged.  I was praying for His heart and eyes for the poor.  And after seeing beautiful wild calla lilies on a trail I'd never been on, I ran into this woman and I asked for directions.  We walked the rest of the way together, and I KNOW she was sent to me as a direct answer to that prayer.  Paula is a para legal but spends every weekend with the poorest of the poor.  She taught me so much about those in poverty in just a 20 minute walk than I've learned the whole time here.  She walks/runs in that vineyard often and we exchanged numbers.  PLUS, she goes to hip hop class (I have been wanting to find one)...God knows every desire of our heart!:) I feel so blessed by another new friend from whom I have so much to learn!  I love how God brings everything together that He wants to teach me!   Anyway, the prayer request is that we would follow Jesus and respond in love to everyone we see and meet, and that He would continue to reveal the areas of our hearts that get in the way of that.  Thank you!
       

Summer Project in Cape Town's Winter

What an incredible few weeks it has been with the 37 staff and students here for summer project!  Last week we were in the township of Khayelitsha doing a holiday club, soccer club, doing some painting/remodeling of a preschool, and sharing their faith door to door with Pastor Peter and his church members.  Though Christian and I weren't as actively involved this week, it was encouraging to hear the ways it impacted our summer project students.  One girl in the summer project Bible study I'm (Mia)   in has experienced homelessness and loss that allowed her to relate in a special way to the people of Khayelitsha.  She said she "feels at home" with the people there and fell in love with them instantly!  One lady she shared with came to Christ and the next day the new believer not only shared with her family, but went door to door with our student translating while they shared the gospel!  Praise God!

This week classes started at UWC, so the whole project has been on campus sharing their faith.  Monday staff and students saw 7 people accept Christ and were able to follow up with 4 of them on Tuesday!  Another girl in my (Mia's) Bible study was excited to learn how to share her faith and become more comfortable in communicating the gospel.  Yesterday the first two students she talked with accepted Christ!  And today she sat down and talked to a couple of guys watching our volleyball outreach and after sharing the gospel with them, one of the guys accepted Christ!  Christian walked up half way through and is going to meet with the new believer for follow up on Thursday.  Summer project students are having so much fun talking about their faith, and people are coming to know the Lord.  It's such an encouraging start to the semester!

Lily started school again yesterday as well.  The first few days back are always a little rough for her, as she feels like she's missing out on "home" life (mostly playing with Lacy) by being at school.  But when I pick her up she's always in good spirits and says she had a great day.  Today is sunny and warm...it feels like spring!  I saw tulips and gerbera daisies in the grocery store the other day and it, along with the sunshine today is giving me spring fever!   Sounds like spring comes in August...I can't wait!

Please continue to pray for our time on campus- that we would all be filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit as He leads us to those who need Him!  Pray also that every new believer would meet again for follow up and get connected.  Thank you!

Prayer Requests

Our Stint teammate and friend, Rett, found out that his mom's leukemia is back in full force and final stages.  The last round of chemo was not effective.  He is resigning from his Stint year and going home to be with his family.  We are so sad for him, his mom, his family, and sad to see him go.  Please pray for God's peace that passes all understanding, and for His love and mercy to be lavished upon Rett and his family.  Pray for miraculous healing for Rett's mom, and peace for her as well.  Rett will be leaving next Saturday. Please pray for this final week he is here as he wraps up loose ends and says goodbye- that he would know he is loved and have closure as he goes.

Our team is going through quite a transition right now, as our newest Stint member, Kate, just arrived, Rett is unexpectedly leaving, and summer project (37 U.S. staff and students-including Christian's brother, Bobby and sister in law Alexandra) is here for 5 weeks.  So many emotions all wrapped up together! Please pray for our team in this transition- that we would love each other well and communicate clearly.  We've had a great first week of project!  We were in a low income area helping a church with "holiday club", which is like a VBS.  Last Sunday we were told to go and "hand out flyers" to invite kids to the holiday club.  When we arrived, we were following a marching band and were parading through town handing out flyers!  It worked!  Over the course of the week, the number of kids coming went from 110 to over 300!  They are all from impoverished homes where both parents have to work and only make less than $1/hr, and alcohol abuse is common.  Though exhausting, it was impactful and fulfilling to help feed these children not only physically (holiday club lunch was the only meal most of the kids would get each day), but spiritually and emotionally by loving them and sharing how much Jesus loves them too!  Christian shared with one 10 year old boy, Deveroix, at lunch one day.  Deveroix said he would pray that night, and the next day he was so excited to tell Christian that he invited Christ into his life!  It was heartbreaking to know the situations these kids would go home to, but encouraging to play at least a small part in loving and feeding them throughout the week.  Hope penetrates through circumstances in Christ alone.

Next week we will be serving in another township, and then the summer project will join us in sharing the gospel on campus when school resumes July 16th.  Please pray for God's continued protection and leading each day!

Thank you for your prayers!

Catching up

We had a WONDERFUL few weeks with Paul, Kathy and Jocelyn.  God blessed us with sunny days most of the time, which isn't "normal" for the rainy winter season here.  It's still definitely winter here and a chill in the air. It is warm in the sun, but cold in the shade and at night.  We got to do everything we had on our list and thoroughly enjoyed our time being tourists!  We also got to take them to the orphanage for an afternoon.  We had a special delivery for the children, as the women from Paul's facility (Water Valley Good Samaritan) had made each of them a winter hat.  There were all different colors and sizes, and it worked out perfectly amongst all the kids...Pastor J was excited to get one too!  It gets so cold at night- especially in the township where there is no insulation and no heat, so they were grateful for the hats.

Another special memory was "Tea with Queen Nana".  Have you ever read that book, "Tea with the Queen"?  It's about a grandma who invites her granddaughter, Ruby, to "Tea with the Queen", but Ruby doesn't know until the end that the Queen is her grandma.  Kathy gave the girls some fancy invitations in our mailbox, and they dressed up and went to Nana's apartment for Tea with the Queen.  It was a special time for the girls with Nana.
Paul and Kathy left first, as they were going to Kenya for a few days.  It was hard to say goodbye...especially for Lily.  She cried and cried and cried herself to sleep that night.  I was laying in bed with her trying to soothe her,  and up crawled Anya to the top bunk and she squeezed in between us.  She said "It's OK, Sissy...Nana and Papa will pick us up for Christmas!"  Then there was a pause and Anya started singing "Tomorrow! Tomorrow!  It'll be better, tomorrow!   The sun will come out, tomorrow!"  from the movie "Annie".  It was so sweet!  I didn't even know she knew that song, and here she broke it out at the perfect time!:)

Kathy and Jocelyn got to see Lily at work in her favorite class- pottery!

They served us tea while we watched them learn a Bible story, sing songs in Afrikaans, English and Xhosa, and talk about the calendar.  Her teacher, Trudi, is so great!  

Lily's class had a music program/potluck one evening.  Lily came home one day and asked me about the Titanic...and I wondered where they had talked about it.  Well, they sang some of "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion.  And they sang some of "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele!  An interesting little performance!

At the end of the music program the kids did a little dance.  After this boy chose Lily for his partner, she said she thinks he is her friend now.:)  And after this dance, each of the kids had to bring a parent up to dance with!  I had fun with it (surprise surprise:))!

What better way to spend a cold, rainy day than at the spa (especially with winter specials!). This "fish nibble" was part of my treatment.  They are a special fish that nibble the dead skin cells off and the enzyme in their mouth replenish the skin.  It tickled!!!  But it really did exfoliate.  I prefer foot scrub, but it was an interesting experience!

We went to a local little Game Reserve (Aquila) for a safari.  We got to see all the animals (hippos, rhinos , elephants, giraffes, lions, springbok, water buffalo, zebras, ostriches and more!) within a couple of hours.  Perfect for the kids!

Anya slept for most of the safari...maybe that's why young kids are free?

Another song that Anya liked to sing (and seemed to be a theme song for all of our car rides) was "Hakuna Matata" from Lion King.  Anya sang it the whole way to the airport with Nana and Papa...though she says "A tuna matata".  :)  But hey, it means no worries either way!

  

God likes candy...

It's winter break and my (Mia's) sister, Jocelyn, and Christian's parents, Paul and Kathy, are finally here!  We've been looking forward to their visit ever since we got here, and God has blessed us with three beautiful sunny days in a row to enjoy the sites!  Sunset at Camps Bay beach, check!  Beach day at Clifton 4, check!  Day at the Waterfront complete with sightings of dolphins, seals, and penguins, check!  Tomorrow Jocelyn, Kathy (both teachers) and I (interested Mom) will spend the day experiencing life in Lily's class.  It's been SO fun and refreshing to have family here...almost surreal.  What a blessing.

Today on our boat tour, Lily and Anya had to wear life vests.  Neither liked them.  Lily told us so much as she tried to comfort Anya.  Anya acted as if she wanted to crawl out of her skin having it on.  She doesn't like things to be "tight".  It was almost as if she felt claustrophobic in it.  So after a few minutes of her crying, she finally calmed down and ended up using her vest as a neck pillow....I thought she fell asleep in my lap.  She was motionless and calm with her head down on her vest the whole hour until the very end...when she started whimpering again.  When she finally pulled her head up and we were pulling in to the dock she said "Well I am NEVER doing that again!"  She was very clear about that! Lol!  Poor thing...I found out later that she was awake the whole time just trying to cope!  Hope it wasn't too traumatic of an experience for her!  I'm beginning to see "highly sensitive" qualities about Anya as well these days.   Still gaining so much insight from that book, "The Highly Sensitive Child"!

Lily has been saying some precious things as well lately.  The other day she said "Mom, guess who I love more than God?"  I said "Who?"  "No one", she replied.  She often prays the most insightful and grateful prayers.  It has been encouraging to see the Spirit's work in her life as well, as she is sensitive to tell me times when she makes a poor choice and feels conviction.  God has given so many opportunities to help her experience grace in our need for Christ.  I've enjoyed hearing more of her thoughts, and am often surprised by her understanding of abstract concepts or how she "connects" the dots of situations.  Still waters run deep...she is always thinking and observing!  She is really enjoying our visits to the orphanage as well.  She almost seems more comfortable there than at school!  We've gone the past couple of weeks to just play for the afternoon, and Lily especially enjoys the little girl she asked to be her "friend" on our first visit.  The other day she, Anya and Lacy were pretending as they played polly pockets that they were the kids at the orphanage.  I see them processing and thinking about the things they are seeing and experiencing in good ways, which is encouraging.

Anya has REALLY been wishing she were in school...or at least that she had a "class" of some sort.  Sometimes I hear Anya ask Lily "How was school, Sissy?"  The closest thing Anya has to "class" right now is Sunday school,  She'll often tell us she made a friend named "Susa", and we'll see random kids at the mall and such and Anya will say "There's my friend from class, Susa"...but it's a total stranger!  She just wants to relate.  So the other day I was getting candy ready to take to school for a benefit they were doing, and Anya so badly wanted to have a "class" to take candy to.  So she said "Mom, can I take candy to church, because we are learning about how God likes candy?"  It was almost too cute to say no to!  Especially after them learning the verse "Every good and perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17).  Lol!:) I keep promising her I will try and find a dance or gymnastics class for her...will have to be after break.

One quick answer to prayer from our last post:  God seems to be ironing out some of the differences with our women leaders at UWC...please keep praying for aligning and God's best.  We are so encouraged, though, especially by the initiative, leadership, character and honesty of one of our male leaders in helping to resolve some conflict!

Here are some pics from our adventures the past few weeks!

More fun on Table Mountain!

A special Mother's Day at Bon Amis

Lily is getting to be an expert on the monkey bars!

A warm winter picnic on the beach

Nala's birthday at Gumboot Farm

Sisters

Sunset at the beach with Nana, Papa and Aunt Jocelyn

Prayer Requests and Praises!

After next week we have our "winter break"! Christian's parents, Paul and Kathy, and my sister, Jocelyn, will be coming to visit for 3 weeks! We can't wait! Since there is no way we would all fit in our apartment, they will all be staying in a furnished apartment in our complex. It will work out well! The past couple of weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster on campus. On one hand, Christian has seen remarkable growth and fruit with the male student leaders. This week we had an leadership training time at UWC, and 9 students came...one brought a friend! After learning there how to share their faith, Christian took one of his disciples sharing for the first time, and BOTH of the guys they shared with came to Christ! It was a very encouraging day! On the other hand, we've been struggling to align some of our key student women leaders. There have been multiple hard conversations, and a definite battle against the enemy. We've learned a lot about the culture of the majority of students at UWC in this process, which has shed light on many of their views and convictions. In the end, we have come to the mutual understanding that we're not heading in the same direction. We've been sad and heavy hearted, as we truly love these women and have seen God use them in so many ways! I've learned so much through them and had been encouraged in my faith. I really can't believe it's happened...but we're trusting the Lord and His sovereign plan. All of our new believers were being discipled by these women. It feels a little bit discouraging that we are coming to the end of the new semester, and feeling like we will almost have to "start over" next semester on the women's side. But we're also going into it knowing how to better align and communicate our mission and vision from the beginning. Please pray for these student women- for teachable hearts and reconciliation. Pray also for peace, wisdom, forgiveness, humility and reconciliation for our team as well. Pray against the work of the enemy...division and unforgiveness is just what he wants! On an encouraging note, our babysitter accepted Christ today! She was a friend of a student we'd had babysit, and she has been watching our kids almost every Friday for staff meeting over the course of the semester, and the girls LOVE her! She's a freshman at a technical college here, and recently I had been realizing we hadn't even really talked about her faith. So this week before she left I asked if there was anything I could be praying for her and if she, herself, prayed. Long story short, we went for coffee (Lily wanted to join us), and I shared with her about how she could have a personal relationship with God. She had been to a few different youth groups over the years, but didn't know much of anything about who Jesus is. She said a few times "now it's making sense!" I saw her "get" it, and she surrendered her life to Christ! She's the first person I've met that has had little to no spiritual background. She went from not ever really wondering about God to having a personal relationship with Him! Praise God! It was SO fun! All the while Lily was in and out of our conversation and playing outside...but she told Christian "Mom's talking to Megan about the Bible". It was fun to include her in our conversation and celebration. I'm looking forward to meeting with Megan soon for our first follow up Bible study. So exciting! We've had BEAUTIFUL fall days here this week. I went to Stodel's two afternoons, just to let the kids play outside. I pretended it was our back yard as I watched the monkeys play:). Lily and Anya still have lingering colds...I took Anya to the doctor last week because she'd had a fever for more than 24 hours, and it turned out she had tonsilitis! She just finished her antibiotics. Two rounds of antibiotics since we've gotten here! We're still doing eye drops for her stye, and it seems to be working. Please pray it will go away so she won't have to go under for them to drain it! And yesterday Lacy (the William's daughter) came down with something similar to pink eye. Pray it will heal quickly and no one else will catch it! I got a library card this week...makes me feel like a local:). We went to story time last week, and besides being half an hour late, it was in Afrikaans! Oh well...at least we found the library:). Hoping to celebrate Mother's Day at the beach tomorrow! Yay! This week Lily and I were doing her paper doll sticker book and I asked if she was sure she wanted me to dress one of the girls. She said "Mommy, you always dress us so pretty, I know you will dress her pretty too!" It was so precious. I love my girls!

A day at the orphanage

Some of the kids from the orphanage and neighborhood (with Lily, Anya, Katelyn and Lacy)  

Last Saturday our family and team went to the township to paint Pastor J's house and play with their 21 orphan children.  I was a little bit nervous about what it would be like, especially for Lily and Anya, because I wasn't with Christian when they visited last time.  But I knew it was an opportunity the Lord had for us as a family.  As we drove in to the township, my eyes bounced (along with the car) between all the women walking home carrying water jugs on their heads, starving dogs wandering around, kids playing out in the sand (their ground), and seeing all the "life" happening in the multicolored shacks.  There wasn't really a road...more of "a way" between the shacks.  We arrived at Pastor J's property, which consisted of a three small houses (one room houses the size of a motor home)~ one full of bunk beds for the girls, one for the boys, one for Pastor J and his wife and the babies~the church (a bigger room with a small kitchen attached), two outhouses, a trampoline and little jungle gym outside.  The property is fenced in, and felt "safe" in more than one way.  There were A LOT of children, and as Pastor J introduced himself he said many of them (aside from his 21) were kids from the neighborhood.  It was a Saturday, which I later learned was a day many of the parents of the neighbor kids spent drinking.  So they come to the orphanage to be in a stable and safe place.  So many sad stories there, but made us all the more grateful for the generous love of Pastor J and his wife.  He had to go shortly after we arrived, as unfortunately one of the young elders of his church (who he was training to take over) died suddenly that week from tuberculosis and he went to help make funeral arrangements.  It was a very close friend of his.  Please pray for Pastor J, his church, and the elder's wife and kids who are mourning his loss.

Lily and her new friend :)

Most of the team went right to work on sanding, priming and painting Pastor J and his wife's new house.  Shannon, Stephanie and I hung out with the kids.  The trampoline was a main attraction, and quite chaotic:).  I quickly realized that most of the children didn't understand English, as they speak Xhosa.  It was the first time in South Africa that I've encountered a language barrier...and it took me a little while to figure out how to round up 30 kids, and what to do with them.  Thankfully Stephanie had some game ideas and so we went inside to the church and played "Duck,Duck, Goose", "Red Light/Green Light", "Boom chicka Boom", and whatever else we could think of.  The kids were anywhere from 1yr to probably 13 years, so there was a wide range of energy and attention span:).  And although I was a little bit worried how Lily and Anya would do, they AMAZED me!  They joined right in and played with the kids.  And Lily hit it off with one little girl out on the monkey bars.  One of our Cru Community staff members, Rose, said she overheard Lily ask her if she would be her friend:).  Turns out the little girl is the first orphan Pastor J and his wife had, as she was found and dropped off when she was a baby.  Lily had a great time and when we got home she said she wanted to have her new friend over to play sometime, and wants to go back again to the orphanage!

We brought and made lunch for the kids, and the Lord multiplied the hot dogs and apples for the rest of the neighborhood children visiting as well.  For those outside of the orphanage, it may have been their only meal of the day.  Anya, being a slow and distracted eater, left her half eaten hot dog and apple on her plate to come find me in the kitchen.  When she returned, it was gone.  She came back crying, of course, and said the "big" boy took her food.  We quickly gave her another hot dog, and she was fine.  I wasn't upset, as I knew my kids would be able to eat again when we left.  I'm sure the boy thought she was finished...she normally only eats half her food anyway.  When we ended up having some "extra" hotdogs after everyone had eaten, I thought we could just put them on a plate and go around and offer them to everyone.  BAD idea- a swarm of hungry children quickly came to eat.  So instead, one of the older kids that helps with his "siblings" brought a handful of kids who he knew needed to eat more, into the kitchen for seconds.  It broke my heart that we couldn't feed all the kids til they were stuffed, and wished so desperately that they'd never go hungry again.  Thankfully, Pastor J and his wife are able to keep their kids pretty well fed most of the time.  They trust the Lord to provide, and he does.  Before we left we gave each of the children a "Kinder Joy" egg, which has chocolate in one half, and a surprise toy in the other half.  They were SO excited, and the little toys kept them busy for quite awhile!

Painting the primer on Pastor J's house-

It was a long day- we were exhausted!  Christian and the team got the house painted before the sun went down.  They learned a lot about the quality of painting supplies...brushes and rollers were breaking left and right.  But luckily it wasn't a big house- more the size of a shed.  It was a rewarding experience for all.  We continue to pray for Pastor J, his wife, and their ministry to their children, their church, and their neighborhood, and we plan to go back to help regularly.  Please pray that the Lord will bring justice- There are children that have been with them since they were babies that have abusive, alcoholic parents, and they are still fighting for custody and trying to protect them.  Pray the Lord will provide a way through all the legal red tape and change hearts and minds of the parties necessary so that all the kids will be in the safest, most loving environment (the orphanage).  Pray also that the Lord will provide all that Pastor J and his wife need; emotionally, physically, spiritually, and tangibly.  God's love is SO evident in this orphanage, and God is being glorified- even in the midst of such trial and need!

Playing jump rope in the church

Anya eating her hotdog...everyone else is finished :)