It has been about a month
since our last blog update and for that I apologize. We had a 3 week break for
holiday and started back on January 7th. I know we sent out our
newsletter at the beginning of January, but we are so excited about this New
Year and all the opportunities we have in the future. Things in Red Hill are
going great! We have been back doing club for the kids and teens for three
weeks and they are excited as ever to be back and learning together. We have
been blessed to have a team of four ladies with us the past month helping us in
Red Hill. They are from Australia and have been such a joy to get to know.
Their names are Velma, Kim, Simone, and Mikalya. They have been doing a lot of
the health clinics during the morning and joining us for club in the
afternoons. This past Saturday they hiked Table Mountain and Nathan and I were
able to join them. Even though the hike was incredibly difficult, it was so fun
spending the morning with them conquering all 3,800 feet of that beautiful
mountain! They leave this coming Saturday and we will be sad to see them go,
but blessed and thankful for the time we have had with all four of them.
In our Red Hill team meeting
today we went over some of our goals for the New Year that we want to implement
and it made us all very excited. We are going to be looking at different ways
to make club more fun for our kids and teens. We are going to be having one day
where we have a sport club where the kids will be able to choose a sport they
want to do. We also want to go on hikes with them and let them take more
ownership in the afternoons by teaching or leading crafts. We are also going to
be seeking out the leaders in both clubs and giving them a little extra
responsibility when it comes to serving their friends during club. Nathan will
be keeping a close eye out on those kids and teens that show a sense of
leadership within club. We are really excited for all of them to take more
ownership this year and bring their ideas to the table for all of us to share.
We have a lot of awesome leaders and we can’t wait to see them shine in
different roles.
As most of you know, Nathan
and I spend most of our days, all day, in Red Hill. We do have a small window
of time that we are able to branch out and be apart of some other ministries
within Living Hope. Tuesday and Thursday mornings are when we get to have a
couple of hours outside of Red Hill doing some different things. Nathan is
gearing up to start the numeracy program in one of the local townships called
Masi. He has been asked to lead the grade 5 kids and is very excited about this
new role. He will be coming up with lessons and teaching them to the other life
skill educators in Masi where they will be tutoring kids one afternoon a week. He
did a lot of math tutoring back in the states and so he is excited to take what
he has been gifted with and help these sweet kids. I on the other hand am not
gifted in the area of math so I am spending my mornings at Living Grace. This
is a ministry within Living Hope. I have been spending my mornings helping the
ladies cook in the kitchen, sorting clothes, and sharing life with the amazing
people that work there. It has been such a blessing being there on Tuesday and
Thursday mornings. Living Grace also runs a rehabilitation center upstairs. The
people that I have met in the program are simply incredible and have beautiful
stories of our Father’s grace and sovereignty. I was approached last week to be
in prayer about maybe leading a discussion group upstairs with them one day a
week. I am really praying this works out because I would love to get to know
the clients on a more personal level and hear more about how they got to where
they are today. If you could pray for both Nathan’s numeracy program starting
and the possibilities at Living Grace coming up we would greatly appreciate it!
We are happy to say that we
have found a church that we absolutely love here. I know I have talked about
Commonground in previous posts, but this is a little more exciting news. They
are launching a new site closer to where we live. The first Sunday service is
this Sunday and we couldn’t be more excited. Nathan and I have talked about
church planting a lot and we are blessed and excited to see this church from
the beginning phases. We have both been praying for ways to step in and serve
in a church community here and the Lord is opening doors for us. The guy who
was going to head up the youth ministry is moving back to the states and so
they need hands in this area to get it started. Nathan is excited to jump in
here since he has a lot of experience with youth from interning at Rolling
Hills the past 2 years before moving to Cape Town. I am excited to jump in and
help with the children’s ministry and find a place to serve whether that is teach
a class or just be extra hands to help do whatever they need! If you can
remember to pray for these new opportunities coming up and where the Lord wants
us to jump in that would be great!
Life here continues to be
exciting and fresh! We feel like we are completely settled into life here and
are continuing to love it. We are anxiously awaiting our home church, Rolling
Hills, to arrive in 3 short weeks. We can’t wait to serve alongside them and
share all that is happening here. The Lord is teaching us new things daily and
we are always blown away by his answers to prayer and constant encouragement
through his word! We will be sending out our January newsletter this weekend so
keep your eye out for that! Thank you for your prayers and constant
encouragement via e-mail, Facebook, text messages, and care packages! We are so
blessed to have so many people praying for us daily and supporting the amazing
work the Lord is doing here in Cape Town. May God continue to get the glory for
everything we do day in and day out! Love you all!
