This past Thursday families gathered to celebrate one of the best days of the year, Thanksgiving. We cook food, spend hours baking our favorite treat, and even watch a little football. I love this holiday and all that it entails. This year Nathan and I spent our first Thanksgiving as a married couple thousands of miles away from our family and friends. We missed all the traditions that we were used to and spending time with those who mean so much to us. While it was hard, it was nice getting to know people here in South Africa. Thanksgiving had a different feel this year, but it was a good one. Before I talk about that, I want to share something else that we get the opportunity to do every Wednesday.
"Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:26-28
Every Wednesday morning Nathan, Lumka, Kennedy, Phyllis, Nadine, and myself all gather in the office in Red Hill to take communion and pray for the community of Red Hill. The first couple of weeks that we did it I loved it, but it wasn't until this past week that I realized how special this time was. As we sat there and prayed for our kids, teens, and the community as a whole, I couldn't help but think how very blessed we all are. Yes, of course we all have needs, but when hearing the needs of Red Hill compared to ours, they seemed so small. Sometimes we make the biggest deal out of something that isn't that big, and I'm definitely guilty of this myself. Sitting there this past Wednesday and hearing the prayers sent up to our Father brought peace to my heart. Knowing that we have someone there everyday of every week listening to our requests and blessing them as we continue to follow him in our daily lives. Prayer is so powerful and sometimes that is so easily forgotten. Life speeds up and it seems to busy to sit and have that time with the Lord. I am challenged every week during that time because I see the impact of prayer everyday in Red Hill and how the Lord is continuing to move in that beautiful community. I love the mental picture I get when I think about talking to my Father. When I close my eyes to pray I picture grabbing my favorite green and brown blanket, reaching out my arms, and our great God picking me up and sitting me on his lap in a big comfy chair. I picture sitting there with him and just sharing my heart. The good things that are going on and the not so good things. He listens to every word that comes out of my mouth and with his gentle spirit lets me know the things he wants me to hear. I pray that one day when I get to heaven, my Father and I can share this moment together. I am so thankful this season that I work with a group of people who know the importance of prayer and who want to share in the blessing of communion in the middle of our crazy hectic weeks. It is truly a blessing to remember the blessing of Christ giving his body and blood for us, so that we may be forgiven of all the times we fall short.
Thursday morning we woke up and it didn't feel like Thanksgiving outside because it was 75 degrees, but we were excited to celebrate later that evening. We were invited to a get together of a bunch of the wonderful Americans that we have gotten the privilege to know in the past month of being here. Joey and Courtney Lankford had around 40 people over to their lovely home where we fellowshipped and ate a meal that left me full for at least the next 24 hours! Nathan and I were able to meet a lot of new people and get to know those better that we had met in the past month. Something that we have struggled with the most since we have been here is finding community. Thursday night was very good for us. When we left we talked about how for the first time since we have been here, it was finally starting to feel like home. What a blessing it is to meet new people and make new friends. We have been praying for that feeling since we got here, and it is finally starting to feel that way. Even though we missed spending Thanksgiving with our families, I couldn't imagine being anywhere but here for this holiday season.
"Enter his gates with Thanksgiving, and his courts with PRAISE! Give THANKS to him; bless his name!" Psalm 100:4
One night last week Nathan made a suggestion to me. He told me we should write down all the things that we are thankful for. I knew that I could write for hours about all I was thankful for, but took out my journal and starting writing.
I'm thankful for:
1. My Father's unconditional and steadfast love
2. My loving husband who serves me daily
3. My mom and stepdad
4. My amazing in-laws
5. Meme, Pop, MeeMaw and Wally
6. Rachel, her friendship and her life
7. Curt and Sanghyun all the way in China
8. Rolling Hills Community Church
9. All my wonderful, supportive friends
10. All of Nathan's incredible friends
11. My health and my families health, the ability to wake up this morning
12. Living Hope and the vision that they share
13. Red Hill community- Lumka and Kennedy
14. My country and the freedom that we have thanks to our amazing troops serving all over the world
15. Our cozy little flat in Cape Town
16. The food that we eat everyday
17. Divine appointments with new people
18. New friendships
19. The ability to communicate with family back home, via. e-mail, Facebook, Skype
20. Spiritual growth that only YOU can provide
21. Moments of loneliness when you draw me back to you Father
22. The future you have planned for Nathan and I
23. YOUR constant LOVE and ENCOURAGEMENT
Father,
Today is a slow day in Red Hill. It is cold and rainy and I'm just sitting here in the office. I know I have told you that I'm feeling tired and I guess you heard my prayer and have given me a slow rainy day. Thank you for hearing my prayer. As I write down all that I'm thankful for today I realize how loved and bless I am. Father, the past month has been a whirlwind of emotions. I know that you know my heart and the things that I'm struggling with, but I just want to take a minute and say thank you for all of your blessings. This season of our lives is new, but you have continued to reveal yourself to me time and time again. I know you know my uncertainties and when I want to be at home, you quickly remind me of why I'm here. Whether that be a hug from a child, or a smile from someone I don't even know. There are so many things that I am thankful for and I just want to say thank YOU for this life and the opportunity to bring your Word to the nations. It is a blessing to know that you are in control always and you are always looking for ways to bless us. I pray that I can be this kind of blessing to those around me. You are ALL KNOWING and I pray that in my moments of loneliness you remind me how vast your love is and how you've gone before me and know my next step. Happy Thanksgiving to my loving Father. I am SO very thankful for you and how you have transformed my life. I love you.
This Thanksgiving was a beautiful reminder of all the things that are most important. I am thankful to be where I am during this time of the year and praying for God to use both Nathan and I in ways that we can't imagine. For the first time we aren't surrounded by the craziness of Christmas in the states. I pray that we can focus on the true meaning of this special season and remember to give thanks during it all knowing that everything comes from our gracious Father.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 11, 2012
I'm gonna make this place your home
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.." ~ Psalm 127:1
Today we visited our new church here in Cape Town, King of Kings. In the middle of their Family Month, today's sermon was from Psalm 127 and focused on the importance of having a loving home rather than simply having a house to live. Being newlyweds and looking forward to raising our own family (no, we aren't pregnant), this sermon was really encouraging and honestly got me very excited to have a family one day. However, it was the first verse of this Psalm that we studied today that has constantly been in my mind all day long, and as Claudia and I start this new season of life in ministry, this verse hit home on so many levels, no pun intended. This flat in Noordhoek is our first home together, and we know the importance of having Christ as the center of our family, but this also hit me on a broader scale. In ministry in general, if the work we do isn't God-ordained and God-inspired, then our work is in vain. Without God, all skill, strength, and effort is worthless - this definition of vain that the pastor used today just rocked me and Claudia and I had quite the gut-check moment. It was such a great reminder of why we're here. It's through that lens that we will gain perspective on all our work here, whether planning or singing and dancing with our little ones, we must continue to rely on the Holy Spirit for the remainder of our journey.
This was our second week of Kids and Teens Clubs, and our second full week to work alongside Lumka and Kennedy and the other LSE's. I can't begin to describe how amazing it is to work alongside brothers and sisters from across the world who have the common goal of making Christ known to the kids, teens and parents of their community. It's truly a privilege to get to partner with them in ministry, and when you listen to the hurts and cries of their hearts for the lost kids in their communities, you can't help but be encouraged because regardless of where they are in life, they are sold out to making God magnified in their communities.
In Kids Club this week, we continued to focus on watching our words. "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" Psalm 19:4 was our memory verse this week. We wanted the kids to see how their words are important and should be used to lift others up and not tear them down. The highlight of the Kids Club for me was seeing my wife read The Little Engine That Could to these little ones. For 15 minutes, you could hear a pin drop in a room where every other minute is organized chaos. These kids were completely fixed on every word and picture on every page. It's humbling to think that most of these kids don't get read to before bed every night like I and many of you were when we were their age. It was the most beautiful picture in the world, getting to see Claudia make many of these kids' days by just taking time to read them a story.
Our goal this week for Teens Club was to encourage them to Finish Strong. This time of year school is winding down for them, and we wanted to just give them a push to finish the race with momentum. But also, we wanted to gain momentum into this week, which is our Wait 4 Me event (we called this True Love Waits). We read in Matthew 12 where Jesus said "out of the abundance of the heard the mouth speaks." We talked about how the things we put into our hearts and minds are what will ultimately be how we speak and act. Much like kids in the USA, these teens are exposed to so much more than I was as a teen, and with the technology that they do have, they have access to much more than was available 10 years ago. But even with all this evil surrounding them, there were glimpses of hope. One girl asked "So if I think about sex, does that mean that my heart and mind aren't pure?" Claudia was able to share with her that though we may have bad thoughts, that doesn't mean we're impure, and even though we are sinful humans, we were bought by Jesus' blood on the cross, and we don't have to live in bondage to these desires. God is moving in these teens!! Please continue to pray for opportunities like this one to proclaim Christ to these hurting kids and teens.
Our weekend was very relaxing, and Claudia and I got to spend time getting Christmas presents for our families and also spending time with Matt, one of the new volunteers here. We went on a date Friday night and caught up on laundry on Saturday. I already shared about church today, but we had a great time experiencing community this weekend, and we're looking forward to the relationships we'll make here. As I wrap up this post, I just want to let you in on some ways to continue to be in prayer. First of all, our landlord, Dieter, had a heart attack on Friday night and has been in the hospital for 2 nights. I'm not sure just yet if he and his wife are believers, but I was able to pray and offer condolences to Jennifer. She said he'd had a heart attack once or twice before, but the doctors were even more afraid this time because it seemed he had a stroke as well. Keep Dieter and Jennifer in your prayers this week for healing and strength. Pray that Claudia and I could be a positive influence in their lives as well. Along the same lines, John Thomas, the senior pastor at King of Kings and founder of Living Hope is having surgery tomorrow morning. I'm not certain on all the details of the surgery, but I know it's serious. Pray for his family, Avril his wife, and children. Pray also for the doctors and nurses and surgeons who will be with him tomorrow. Finally, we're still fundraising for this rest of this year and next year, and I'm anxious to see how God provides. He's blown us away in the last month with generous gifts from friends and family and even people who don't know us, but support God's mobilization of his people.
Thank you all so much for your texts, messages, and emails. It is so encouraging to hear from you all and your support has been so meaningful to us as we continue to venture on this journey.
Cheers
Today we visited our new church here in Cape Town, King of Kings. In the middle of their Family Month, today's sermon was from Psalm 127 and focused on the importance of having a loving home rather than simply having a house to live. Being newlyweds and looking forward to raising our own family (no, we aren't pregnant), this sermon was really encouraging and honestly got me very excited to have a family one day. However, it was the first verse of this Psalm that we studied today that has constantly been in my mind all day long, and as Claudia and I start this new season of life in ministry, this verse hit home on so many levels, no pun intended. This flat in Noordhoek is our first home together, and we know the importance of having Christ as the center of our family, but this also hit me on a broader scale. In ministry in general, if the work we do isn't God-ordained and God-inspired, then our work is in vain. Without God, all skill, strength, and effort is worthless - this definition of vain that the pastor used today just rocked me and Claudia and I had quite the gut-check moment. It was such a great reminder of why we're here. It's through that lens that we will gain perspective on all our work here, whether planning or singing and dancing with our little ones, we must continue to rely on the Holy Spirit for the remainder of our journey.
This was our second week of Kids and Teens Clubs, and our second full week to work alongside Lumka and Kennedy and the other LSE's. I can't begin to describe how amazing it is to work alongside brothers and sisters from across the world who have the common goal of making Christ known to the kids, teens and parents of their community. It's truly a privilege to get to partner with them in ministry, and when you listen to the hurts and cries of their hearts for the lost kids in their communities, you can't help but be encouraged because regardless of where they are in life, they are sold out to making God magnified in their communities.
In Kids Club this week, we continued to focus on watching our words. "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer" Psalm 19:4 was our memory verse this week. We wanted the kids to see how their words are important and should be used to lift others up and not tear them down. The highlight of the Kids Club for me was seeing my wife read The Little Engine That Could to these little ones. For 15 minutes, you could hear a pin drop in a room where every other minute is organized chaos. These kids were completely fixed on every word and picture on every page. It's humbling to think that most of these kids don't get read to before bed every night like I and many of you were when we were their age. It was the most beautiful picture in the world, getting to see Claudia make many of these kids' days by just taking time to read them a story.
Our goal this week for Teens Club was to encourage them to Finish Strong. This time of year school is winding down for them, and we wanted to just give them a push to finish the race with momentum. But also, we wanted to gain momentum into this week, which is our Wait 4 Me event (we called this True Love Waits). We read in Matthew 12 where Jesus said "out of the abundance of the heard the mouth speaks." We talked about how the things we put into our hearts and minds are what will ultimately be how we speak and act. Much like kids in the USA, these teens are exposed to so much more than I was as a teen, and with the technology that they do have, they have access to much more than was available 10 years ago. But even with all this evil surrounding them, there were glimpses of hope. One girl asked "So if I think about sex, does that mean that my heart and mind aren't pure?" Claudia was able to share with her that though we may have bad thoughts, that doesn't mean we're impure, and even though we are sinful humans, we were bought by Jesus' blood on the cross, and we don't have to live in bondage to these desires. God is moving in these teens!! Please continue to pray for opportunities like this one to proclaim Christ to these hurting kids and teens.
Our weekend was very relaxing, and Claudia and I got to spend time getting Christmas presents for our families and also spending time with Matt, one of the new volunteers here. We went on a date Friday night and caught up on laundry on Saturday. I already shared about church today, but we had a great time experiencing community this weekend, and we're looking forward to the relationships we'll make here. As I wrap up this post, I just want to let you in on some ways to continue to be in prayer. First of all, our landlord, Dieter, had a heart attack on Friday night and has been in the hospital for 2 nights. I'm not sure just yet if he and his wife are believers, but I was able to pray and offer condolences to Jennifer. She said he'd had a heart attack once or twice before, but the doctors were even more afraid this time because it seemed he had a stroke as well. Keep Dieter and Jennifer in your prayers this week for healing and strength. Pray that Claudia and I could be a positive influence in their lives as well. Along the same lines, John Thomas, the senior pastor at King of Kings and founder of Living Hope is having surgery tomorrow morning. I'm not certain on all the details of the surgery, but I know it's serious. Pray for his family, Avril his wife, and children. Pray also for the doctors and nurses and surgeons who will be with him tomorrow. Finally, we're still fundraising for this rest of this year and next year, and I'm anxious to see how God provides. He's blown us away in the last month with generous gifts from friends and family and even people who don't know us, but support God's mobilization of his people.
Thank you all so much for your texts, messages, and emails. It is so encouraging to hear from you all and your support has been so meaningful to us as we continue to venture on this journey.
Cheers
Sunday, November 4, 2012
First full week complete!
We can't believe that we have already had our first full week here in Cape Town. It has flown by but has been absolutely incredible. A week ago today I was in a completely different place then I am today. The first couple of days it was really hard for me. I guess in my head I thought this was going to be a lot easier then it really is. I have experienced many changes in the past couple of months. From graduation in May, getting married in September, and moving to another country just 10 days ago, it has been a whirlwind. I was feeling very sad last weekend into the beginning of this past week. I missed home, family, friends, and the life that seemed so normal to both Nathan and I. I knew that this move wouldn't be easy, but I wasn't expecting to miss the things back home so much. I realize now that a lot of that emotion came from a lack of sleep we were getting, but we are thankfully caught up now and that has helped immensely. Through all the tears a couple of days ago, I was quickly reminded by our God and my loving husband that He is never far from us. In the times where things seem so far from normal, He is right there ready to comfort any emotion we may be feeling. It has been so neat to see how much different I feel from last weekend. A big reason for feeling the way I do now is being able to go to Red Hill this past week.
When we pulled into Red Hill everyday this week it's like every worry and fear goes away. It's such a beautiful place that brings so much joy to both of us. When we drive to ourcontainer office, there are so many little things that make my heart overflow with happiness. The smiles of the people we pass, the random animals running around, the women filling up her water bucket for her family, and of course the children that run along the gravel roads. All of these things will never get old seeing day after day. This week we did a lot of observing; seeing how Lumka and Kennedy run things day by day in Red Hill. Lumka and Kennedy are the Life Skills Educators that we get the privilege of working alongside each week. Lumka is such a beautiful women inside and out. She is more of a quiet spirit but has a huge love for the community of Red Hill and so many ideas to make kids and teens club better each week. I can't wait to continue getting to know her. Kennedy is such a fun spirit to be around. He and Nathan enjoy talking about a lot of things and he is a great leader in the community that many people look up to. We love being able to do kids and teens club with them this week.
Kids club this week was crazy and upbeat, like usual! On Monday's the kids meet in upper camp and on Wednesday's the kids meet in middle camp. We start off each kids club with singing worship songs to our Father. It is such a blessing to hear these children sing praises to our great God. They get so excited and sing at the top of there lungs. We loved getting to jump around and sing with them on Monday and Wednesday. Monday we talked about ways to use our words in a positive way. We looked at James 3:5-10 and talked about how the tongue is a fire and we have to control what words we say to each other. We explained how the tongue can be a blessing and a curse and how we need to really look to uplift people with the words that we say. On Wednesday we had a movie day at kids club. We watched Despicable Me and the kids loved it. I have to admit, I probably laughed just as much as they did. Before kids club started though we were able to play with the kids for about 30 minutes. Some of them were playing soccer, others were dancing to music, and some were looking at books. I had the opportunity to read a children's book to about 5 kids before club started on Wednesday. One of our sweet girls, Iyaka, asked me to read a book to her. As I sat in the corner with 5 kids trying to sit on my lap I couldn't help but think how normal this was back in the states. Most parents read a bedtime story to there children each night before they go to bed, but for these kids, that was anything but normal. They were so grateful and happy to just sit and listen to a story being read to them. Sitting there reading that story to the kids my eyes filled with tears and my heart grew heavy. In that moment I remembered how big our God was and how blessed I was to share a story with His beautiful children.
One thing I love about Red Hill is how Lumka cooks the kids and teens a hot meal each week. On Wednesday and Thursday the kids and teens both got a hot meal after club. I asked Lumka one day how many of the children get fed well that came to club and she said about half. That meal might be the only warm meal that these kids and teens get in a week. That is really hard to wrap our minds around. We are so blessed to get hot meals everyday. Something that Nathan and I want to stop saying so much is "I'm starving." It's a saying that we throw around a lot when we are hungry and even though it seems so simple, to these people it is completely different. Yes, we may be really hungry, but we will probably never know what it means to be starving. It is truly a blessing to get to serve these kids and teens food each week. To see there faces light up and gobble up there food is such an incredible thing to be apart of.
We weren't able to make it to teens club this past Tuesday, but on Thursday they also watched a movie. We watched Alvin and The Chipmunks! There were only about 10-12 teens there on Thursday. It was so cool to just sit with them and be able to enjoy a movie. Nathan talked to me on the way home on Thursday how much alike the teen guys are here and back home at our church. They both struggle with a lot of the same things and want to be accepted by there peers. At the same time though, they love to just get together and hang out. Despite all the things that these teens are struggling with and going through in Red Hill, they are still kids at heart. They enjoy being able to come and watch a movie in a place that is safe and be accepted by the people around them. Like the kids, the teens received a hot meal on Thursday. We loved being in Red Hill this week and serving this beautiful community. We can't wait to see how the Lord is going to continue to move in that place.
Friday was a really fun day for us. Every Friday we will have a meeting at Living Hope from 8:00-12:00. We will gather with all the other Life Skill Educators and volunteers and talk about the week and start preparing for the next week. Nathan and I were able to share a little bit of our story this week and lead everyone in a short devotion before we started. It was really cool getting to hear all that the Lord is doing in the other communities and get to meet the other people we will be working with. Halfway through the meeting we split up in two groups, kids and teens. I stayed with Lumka and Nathan went with Kennedy. Lumka and I were able to start planning for this coming week and talk about different ideas that will keep the children engaged and excited about coming to club. I feel like together we have a lot of good ideas and it will be cool to see them come together in this next year. Nathan and Kennedy went and met with the people that work with teens in the other communities. He shared with me later how they spent about an hour addressing the needs of the teens and praying that God would show up in big ways in there lives. Nathan told me how open the other life skill educators were with the things that these teens are struggling with. A lot of the stuff is extremely heavy and he was very broken for these teenagers. His past two years as an intern with the youth at Rolling Hills is going to help him in a lot of different ways when it comes to encouraging and talking to these teenagers. I'm very excited to see the Lord work through him and the lives of these sweet guys. Tomorrow morning, Monday, Nathan and I will meet with Lumka and Kennedy in Red Hill and continue planning for this coming week!
Friday afternoon we had off so we went to the beach for a couple hours and then went up Chapman's Peak! It was so beautiful and such a fun time together. This place is truly breathtaking and I wish everyone could experience the beauty of this place. This weekend has been pretty relaxing for us both. We went to dinner at the Waterfront in downtown Cape Town with some friends yesterday. It was really nice being able to spend time with them and catch up. When we got home we were able to Skype some special people for a couple hours. It was great to see family and friends! It brings a little sense of home to us both! We have been able to catch up on sleep, read, and do laundry this weekend also so that's always good. We are still getting used to hanging our clothes on the line after we wash them, no dryer for us!
As I wrap up there are a few things you can be praying for this week. Continue to pray for Nathan and I as we continue to settle in and adjust to everything. Pray for Red Hill and all that the Lord is doing there. Pray for the kids and teens that there minds would be filled with positive things and that they would use there words wisely this week. We are continuing what we were teaching last week so praying that they will understand the things that we are trying to teach them. Pray for Lumka and Kennedy as they continue to lead and that they would be encouraged by Nathan and I and feel a overwhelming peace each day. Pray for the other communities, Masiphumelele, Capricorn, and Ocean View, that Living Hope work with and for there kids, teens, and leaders. We can't wait to see all the Lord is going to do this week and to share with all of you! So thankful for our great God and his GREAT love!
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39
When we pulled into Red Hill everyday this week it's like every worry and fear goes away. It's such a beautiful place that brings so much joy to both of us. When we drive to our
Kids club this week was crazy and upbeat, like usual! On Monday's the kids meet in upper camp and on Wednesday's the kids meet in middle camp. We start off each kids club with singing worship songs to our Father. It is such a blessing to hear these children sing praises to our great God. They get so excited and sing at the top of there lungs. We loved getting to jump around and sing with them on Monday and Wednesday. Monday we talked about ways to use our words in a positive way. We looked at James 3:5-10 and talked about how the tongue is a fire and we have to control what words we say to each other. We explained how the tongue can be a blessing and a curse and how we need to really look to uplift people with the words that we say. On Wednesday we had a movie day at kids club. We watched Despicable Me and the kids loved it. I have to admit, I probably laughed just as much as they did. Before kids club started though we were able to play with the kids for about 30 minutes. Some of them were playing soccer, others were dancing to music, and some were looking at books. I had the opportunity to read a children's book to about 5 kids before club started on Wednesday. One of our sweet girls, Iyaka, asked me to read a book to her. As I sat in the corner with 5 kids trying to sit on my lap I couldn't help but think how normal this was back in the states. Most parents read a bedtime story to there children each night before they go to bed, but for these kids, that was anything but normal. They were so grateful and happy to just sit and listen to a story being read to them. Sitting there reading that story to the kids my eyes filled with tears and my heart grew heavy. In that moment I remembered how big our God was and how blessed I was to share a story with His beautiful children.
One thing I love about Red Hill is how Lumka cooks the kids and teens a hot meal each week. On Wednesday and Thursday the kids and teens both got a hot meal after club. I asked Lumka one day how many of the children get fed well that came to club and she said about half. That meal might be the only warm meal that these kids and teens get in a week. That is really hard to wrap our minds around. We are so blessed to get hot meals everyday. Something that Nathan and I want to stop saying so much is "I'm starving." It's a saying that we throw around a lot when we are hungry and even though it seems so simple, to these people it is completely different. Yes, we may be really hungry, but we will probably never know what it means to be starving. It is truly a blessing to get to serve these kids and teens food each week. To see there faces light up and gobble up there food is such an incredible thing to be apart of.
We weren't able to make it to teens club this past Tuesday, but on Thursday they also watched a movie. We watched Alvin and The Chipmunks! There were only about 10-12 teens there on Thursday. It was so cool to just sit with them and be able to enjoy a movie. Nathan talked to me on the way home on Thursday how much alike the teen guys are here and back home at our church. They both struggle with a lot of the same things and want to be accepted by there peers. At the same time though, they love to just get together and hang out. Despite all the things that these teens are struggling with and going through in Red Hill, they are still kids at heart. They enjoy being able to come and watch a movie in a place that is safe and be accepted by the people around them. Like the kids, the teens received a hot meal on Thursday. We loved being in Red Hill this week and serving this beautiful community. We can't wait to see how the Lord is going to continue to move in that place.
Friday was a really fun day for us. Every Friday we will have a meeting at Living Hope from 8:00-12:00. We will gather with all the other Life Skill Educators and volunteers and talk about the week and start preparing for the next week. Nathan and I were able to share a little bit of our story this week and lead everyone in a short devotion before we started. It was really cool getting to hear all that the Lord is doing in the other communities and get to meet the other people we will be working with. Halfway through the meeting we split up in two groups, kids and teens. I stayed with Lumka and Nathan went with Kennedy. Lumka and I were able to start planning for this coming week and talk about different ideas that will keep the children engaged and excited about coming to club. I feel like together we have a lot of good ideas and it will be cool to see them come together in this next year. Nathan and Kennedy went and met with the people that work with teens in the other communities. He shared with me later how they spent about an hour addressing the needs of the teens and praying that God would show up in big ways in there lives. Nathan told me how open the other life skill educators were with the things that these teens are struggling with. A lot of the stuff is extremely heavy and he was very broken for these teenagers. His past two years as an intern with the youth at Rolling Hills is going to help him in a lot of different ways when it comes to encouraging and talking to these teenagers. I'm very excited to see the Lord work through him and the lives of these sweet guys. Tomorrow morning, Monday, Nathan and I will meet with Lumka and Kennedy in Red Hill and continue planning for this coming week!
Friday afternoon we had off so we went to the beach for a couple hours and then went up Chapman's Peak! It was so beautiful and such a fun time together. This place is truly breathtaking and I wish everyone could experience the beauty of this place. This weekend has been pretty relaxing for us both. We went to dinner at the Waterfront in downtown Cape Town with some friends yesterday. It was really nice being able to spend time with them and catch up. When we got home we were able to Skype some special people for a couple hours. It was great to see family and friends! It brings a little sense of home to us both! We have been able to catch up on sleep, read, and do laundry this weekend also so that's always good. We are still getting used to hanging our clothes on the line after we wash them, no dryer for us!
As I wrap up there are a few things you can be praying for this week. Continue to pray for Nathan and I as we continue to settle in and adjust to everything. Pray for Red Hill and all that the Lord is doing there. Pray for the kids and teens that there minds would be filled with positive things and that they would use there words wisely this week. We are continuing what we were teaching last week so praying that they will understand the things that we are trying to teach them. Pray for Lumka and Kennedy as they continue to lead and that they would be encouraged by Nathan and I and feel a overwhelming peace each day. Pray for the other communities, Masiphumelele, Capricorn, and Ocean View, that Living Hope work with and for there kids, teens, and leaders. We can't wait to see all the Lord is going to do this week and to share with all of you! So thankful for our great God and his GREAT love!
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39
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