Random Pictures I failed to Post

I can't figure out how to turn off the underline and my brain is fuzzy from jet lag, so excuse the underlining of all my text.

Moppie. He's such a jokester. Hilarious little guy.

There's a monkey in this tree.

More wildlife at Tala

Beautiful Ingi

All our guys on our team were Mississippi Sate Guys. Here they are on Maroon Friday with all the kids.

Curt with sweet Essy. She is Issy's daughter.

Jean and Issy: Two women who tirelessly serve the children at Tabitha. These women are amazing.

Me with Francois: He manages the B&B where we stayed. Loved spending time with him. He's a great guy.

Panoramic pic of the kids at camp doing their time alone with God.

A giant giraffe we met. The guys named him Jeffrey.

More pics at Tala.

Day 7 In South Africa

Warning: I'm writing this post after a 16 hour plane ride, so it might not make much sense.


On Friday, we spent ten hours at Tabitha. We started off with Pretty leading some zulu worship and then Curt helped the children learn a bible verse in a creative way. Then a few of the children led us in prayers: sweet, sweet prayers. After that, we played with the kiddos for a while. Curt and I let the kids take turns playing the guitar. They love playing the guitar. After that, we split into two groups to start working. Jordan, Tommy, Tim and I packed 1,000 Christmas parcels for the child headed households. This is an extra treat they get for Christmas time. It took us around 4 hours.

Patrick, Chuck, Matt, and Curt painted three rooms that will be apart of Tabitha's school in the orphanage. In the late afternoon, some of the guys went to shower, some went to get KFC for all the kids, and Curt and I stayed and entertained the children and fed some babies. The kids LOVED KFC, which they call Kentucky. We also treated them to coke and ice cream. They were so cute. We then sang a few more songs and sat with them while they said their prayers. These kids are so sweet. There are 29 older kids, the oldest being 9. They are so well adjusted and so loved. They share with each other and help the younger kids. Sitting there talking to Issy about the condition some were in when they came to Tabitha, it's such a blessing that they have this place to nurture them physically and spiritually.

Curt with one set of the twins(there are 3 sets at Tabitha)

Brian and Sammy. Sammy was around 8lbs. when she came to Tabitha at 18 months. She is a precious, thriving little girl with the sweetest smile.

Taking a break from bike riding.

Matt and Patrick painting.

These were the contents of the Christmas parcel we packed. There is another parcel they'll get as well.

Curt and Chuck painting

Just some of the parcels we packed

Jordan and Tim packing

Singing with the kids at Tabitha the first day we were there.

On Thursday, we served with Tabitha ministry. Tabitha was started 15 years ago by a woman named Gail. Yesterday, I met her husband who is a very special man. He was looking around the orphanage and just said, "Can you believe all this started with one woman's prayers?" Tabitha has an orphanage in the city of Pietermaritzburg that houses 33 kids. Actually, on Tuesday they will be getting a two month old little boy who's mother is a 16 year old orphan herself. Tabitha also serves in the community of Sweetwaters. Sweetwaters is a community nearby Pietermaritzburg that encompasses a mountain and a valley. Between 60,000-100,000 people live in this area. I've heard both numbers, so I'll just put the range. They recently did a census in this area so they should have more accurate numbers soon. This land was originally tribal land and I believe during apartheid the black people were zoned to live there. It's a very poor community that has no job opportunities. It's estimated that 50% of the population is HIV positive or has full blown AIDS. One other ministry Tabitha offers is a care giver/hospice ministry. They have 29 women they've trained to go out into the community and walk miles to check on the very sick and dying. They also check on households that just have children as the head of the house b/c they've lost both parents. Many times, these children are vulnerable of being taken advantage of by neighbors who know they are alone. Sweetwaters is divided into ten areas and currently Tabitha ministers in the four worse parts.

In recent weeks, the average death rate in a week has been 189 people dying in these four areas. At times it is as high as 300 a week. The caregivers walk out into the community (rain or shine) five days a week and the only thing they get for pay is a small parcel of food. These women are amazing. They are so joyful. They are so loving. They are the only face some of these dying people see. So, on Thursday, we went with some of the caregivers to do home visits. I had mixed feelings about this. It was sprinkling that day and I was very thankful we were able to drive the two ladies we were with so that they didn't have to take the bus and then do all the walking they usually do. I was also thankful we were able to carry the heavy parcels they take to the homebound. It was an honor to carry those packages for these women who tirelessly care for those who are suffering. We went there in support of the caregivers and to pray over the sick, but part of me felt like it was imposing. I didn't want these very ill people to look at us as rich Americans coming in to take a tour of what poor, dying people look like. We were in very intimate settings, in very small homes and part of me felt like it was an invasion of their privacy. On the other hand, I was thinking that if I was terminally ill in the hospital, I would have visitors from the area who I didn't know. It would feel awkward, but I would appreciate it. I honestly believe the people did appreciate it. I'm not sure what is bothering me about it. My heart was sincere in wanting to pray with them. I guess it just feels strange to see someone I don't know in such a vulnerable situation. We visited five homes and all of them were HIV positive. The first lady was an elderly woman who had suffered from a stroke a couple years ago. She was precious. She was so happy to see us. She reminded me of my grandmother. I had the privilege of praying over her. One of the homes we visited belonged to a mother with a teenage son and a smaller son. She is very ill, but was able to get out of bed. She has terrible sores all over her legs and is in quite a bit of pain. When we left I asked the caregiver if she was the boys' grandmother. She answered, "No, she is their mother." I couldn't believe it. Because of the severity of her illness, I really thought she was in her seventies. She looked so ill. The caregiver told me she is 36, the same age as me. Two of the homes we visited had very sick mothers with young boys at home. In both cases, you could tell the teenage sons took care of the household. It made me think of times when I'm sick and have to be in bed and can't take care of my responsibilities. I always long to be helping my family even if I'm only out of commission for a day. It was heart breaking to know these mother's must feel so helpless b/c they can't take care of their family. It was heart breaking to know that probably soon those boys will be orphans.

After we returned from the home visits it was time to do food distribution. Once a week, Tabitha distributes a food parcel to child headed households that live in the four areas. This means there are no adults living in the house. Children are the head of the house to care for younger siblings. They walk, some for miles to get a small parcel of food that will have to feed them for a month. Zanele, the head of the caregivers said it's not enough, but it's all they have. She said if the children didn't get this they would have no food. The caregivers give the children tickets on Monday and once a month they come to get their food. On this day, I watched 270 children line up to get food. Some couldn't have been more than four years old. It really was almost too much to fathom that these little ones were carrying this food back to their home. Some walking miles to share with their siblings. To know that they had no adult guiding, protecting, helping them. It made me very thankful for these caregivers that walk miles, some over tough terrain to check on these little lives. Tabitha also has a safe house in the community. Right now they have 39 children living there. These children have been brought here b/c they were found to be in unsafe situations. They were abused, most girls raped. They are now safe. They now have a caregiver looking over them. My friend Brandy and her husband have started a non-profit organization that helps ministries like Tabitha and Ithemba. Click here to find out more: Restoration Hope

She also wrote some great blog posts on Sweetwaters last year. Find them Here. And Here.

One of the homes across from one of the homes we visited.

The view from the top of the mountain. The caregivers have to walk crazy, mountainous terrain to get to some of the homes.

Heading down a steep incline after one of the home visits.

Pretty was one of the caregivers we were honored to walk beside.

Me and Zanele. She's a legend in my book. This woman is out in the trenches everyday showing the love of Jesus.

Tabitha has finished phase one of their community center. They are waiting on funds to complete phase two. This is the "Moses Box" It has doors that open so girls/women in the community can place their baby in here instead of just abandoning them behind the gate on the ground. When finished, a bell will ring when the baby is placed so they will know their is a child in there. I love that they call it the "Moses Box" b/c Moses mother was trying to save him when she put him in the river. These mothers must feel so helpless to have to abandon their babies. Tabitha is trying to save them.

South Africa Days 3-5

We have internet access again, so I’m going to try to recap days 3-5 in South Africa. Monday morning, we woke up early and met at Ithemba to leave for teens camp. The leaders had a devotional time and then we headed out on the bus to fetch the kids from Sweetwaters. We were told that camp starts as soon as we get on the bus, so we were to sit in our groups. I met my girls. They were very reluctant to speak English to me. One little one even told me she didn’t speak English which I later found out wasn’t exactly true. So, everyone gets on the bus and it’s just like a big party. Everyone is walking around speaking zulu to one another and dancing to loud music. Occasionally, one person would just start chanting something and everyone on the bus would join in with some counter part to the chant. Our American group was just sitting there not knowing what to do. It was SOOOO loud. There was such a sense of community, it was like all the teens were one big family. Everyone was so excited to go to camp and having a blast on the bus. I’ve done a terrible job of describing it. I wish I would have videoed it, but I think I was a bit overwhelmed and just lost in amazement of the fun. So, I’m just sitting there, when one girl in my group who was sort of talking to me was long gone and so I just stare out the window at the South African landscape, which is both gorgeous and often very poor. A girl comes and sits in front of me and says, “I’ve come to talk to you.” Can I just tell you how thankful I was for this precious girl? It was so nice to have someone to speak with. So I said,"great, how are you?" She asked me where I was from and when I told her America her face lit up and she said, “Oh, do you know Oprah?” I had to tell her sadly I was not friends with Oprah and that where I live is a long way from where she lives. Anyway, we had some great conversation about America. She told me how thankful she was for Ithemba ministry and how they’ve changed the community she lives in. She is 16 and has a 2 yr. old little girl. Everyday she walks to the crèche(daycare/preschool) with her little one on her back and then she walks to school. After school, she walks back to the crèche to get her little girl and then goes home. She said her Gran looks after her and her sisters , but she’s not well, so her two sisters were looking after her daughter so she could go on camp. This girl is a precious soul. She lives a difficult life, but she is so joyful and she wants to be a part of ministry when she’s older. So, we finally got to camp and the fun began immediately. We started with a scavenger hunt with our team. It was a lot of fun, but somehow our team got mixed up with our clues, so we finished next to last, but we finished. After that we went over some camp rules and headed to the beach for more fun and games. We spent about 3 hours out there playing all kinds of team building games. This was one of my favorite times during the whole camp. It was just fun to play with our girls, to work together on games. It helped us to bond and the scenery was gorgeous. We were on the beach right next to the Indian Ocean with waves bigger than I’ve ever seen crashing onto the rocks. It was extremely beautiful. We then had free time to swim, play, water slide, and in the afternoon we played bible games where we would have to look up books in the bible and find out where they were located. It was a really sweet time for me to show the girls how to use their bibles. It was just a special time being in the Word with them. There is such power in God’s word, After dinner we played more games and each night all the campers voted on what leader they wanted to see go down the water slide fully dressed. That was a lot of fun. The kids got SOOOO excited. At night we would have worship. (which was amazing.) Zulu worship is one of the most fun things I’ve ever been a part of in my life. I took some video to share. It was so special. We then watched some dvds about values. After that we would have discussion time about the dvds and prayer time. That pretty much sums up day one of camp. Sorry about the run on sentences. Lots to catch up on.

My group of girls.

I can now say I've walked in the Indian Ocean. It was gorgeous.

Trampolining

Curt's group

Curt was with Mlo. He is a guy who grew up in Sweetwaters and did a year of volunteer work with Ithemba and is now on staff. He is awesome. Hilarious.

Sizwe is on staff with Ithemba. He led the zulu worship. He is an incredible guy. Love him.

Me and Karabo my group leader.

So, here are some thoughts on camp. Ithemba did a great job. It was a wonderful camp. Bex and Sizwe were great camp leaders. They kept us so busy and the games were so fun. The language barrier was a little harder than I thought it would be. It's funny how I want God to get me out of my comfort zone and stretch me, but often I think that that process is still going to feel comfortable. Being stretched doesn't always feel good, but I'm thankful that God is faithful, His grace is sufficient, and He teaches me during those times. I was with a zulu leader Karabo, who was awesome. It was just hard sometimes during share time b/c our group was the youngest group of girls and they were very hesitant to share. When they did share, I would have to ask Karabo to translate. I just felt like it was hard for me to bond with them, but then I realized this camp is not about me. I quickly got over myself and just prayed that God would reveal Himself to them during camp. I also decided day two I was going to be intentional about hugging them. (for those who know me it's kind of a big deal b/c I'm not a hugger). This made a huge difference in our connecting. One of my girls shared during one of the prayer times that the local sangoma (healer) was putting a lot of pressure on her. I'm not exactly sure what pressure, but I think he was telling her she needed to bring him things or make sacrifices or she'd die or something. Whatever he said, she was extremely fearful. Karabo and I prayed over her and I wrote down many scriptures that she could look up when she's fearful. I prayed that God would protect her from this man. I also prayed that God would blind his eyes when she's around so he wouldn't even see her so he couldn't harass her. God is able. It was really special time and I loved being around all the teens, some of whom come from very difficult situations. One of the girls in my group didn't have a mom and didn't live with her dad. Her grandmother looks after her. I'm so thankful we were able to be apart of this camp and I'm so thankful for the difference Ithemba is making in the community of Sweetwaters.

During one of the worship times, Sizwe asked the kids to write down what Jesus means to them.

Curt going down the water slide.

Few pics from Day 2

The sweet twins fixing my hair the first day. I don't know what that look Curt captured is about.

Waterfall in Howick.

One of the giraffes we were able to get close to.

The guys at Tala.

South Africa Day 2

I have to be honest. The flight over here was hard for me. I've never flown 15+ hours and it didn't go well. I couldn't get comfortable, I couldn't sleep, we had 10 minutes of bad turbulence during the night and about half way through I almost freaked out b/c I realized I had just as many hours left to fly as I had just flown. I just wanted to be anywhere but on that airplane and then I read this is in "Jesus Calling", a devotional book I read.

"Be willing to go out on a limb with Me. If that is where I am leading you, it is the safest place to be. Your desire to live a risk-free life is a form of unbelief. Your longing to live close to Me is at odds with your attempts to minimize risk. You are approaching a crossroad in your journey. In order to follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your tendency to play it safe. Let Me lead you step by step through this day. If your primary focus is on Me, you can walk along perilous paths without being afraid. Eventually, you will learn to relax and enjoy the adventure of our journey together. As long as you stay close to Me, My sovereign Presence protects you wherever you go."

It was very sweet for the Lord to send this message to this Lady to write this devotional and for it to be dated on a day when I needed it at the exact moment. Thankful for His love. Thankful for His provision and grace.

Today was such a great day. I love my team. Great group of guys. Godly men and HILARIOUS. We had a free morning, so we went to Tala, a game reserve. It was really fun. We got to be very close to giraffes, rhinos, ostriches, and some other animals. Very cool.

We then went to a little town called Howick and had a really special lunch outside at a restaurant near a beautiful waterfall. There were miniature horses there, some special kind of donkeys, zebras. It was a fun time on a beautiful summer day. We then went back to Tabitha ministry to the orphanage. For those who don't know about Tabitha, it is a ministry that ministers to people in the Sweetwaters community and also has an orphanage that takes care of 33 precious children. I'll talk more about their community service later in the week. It's always fun to go to the orphanage. The kids have wonderful care givers, but not nearly enough for the kids to have one on one attention on a daily basis, so the kids LOVE to hug us, hold us, play with us. It is a really fun time. So, for two or three hours we just played. During this time it rained very hard and hailed. The kids LOVED it. We watched it, then they went out after it quit and collected all the ice. They had so much fun playing in the puddles. They call the men "Baba" which means Father and they call me "mama". It's always hard to leave. After the orphanage we grabbed some South African McDonald's and headed over to Stu and Sam's house for coffee and dessert. They are the leaders of Ithemba ministry. We spent time with them laughing, talking about living in South Africa, and prayed over the camp we will be leaving on tomorrow. We'll be taking 50 youths from the area of sweetwaters a couple hours away to the beach. We will be spending three days loving on them, teaching them truths about God, and having a lot of fun. I will have 6 zulu girls and a zulu leader to help. Pray that we can communicate. I don't speak zulu. They don't speak English all that well. Thankful God's love and message has no boundaries. He can open our ears to hear what we need to not matter our language. I'm very excited though. I'm not sure we'll have internet access, so I might not be able to update again until Wed. night. We'll see. I have so many pictures I want to share, but it takes about 10 minutes to upload one picture,so I'm just not able to upload many right now. Hopefully soon. Love going to bed completely exhausted. Love South Africa.

This is the land the chief gave to Ithemba which I mentioned in the first day's post.

Our team standing on the ground that is going to be the future Ithemba community center in Sweetwaters.

Just one view of the area of sweetwaters.

Some Pics From Day 1

Ok, internet is super slow uploading pics, but I was able to upload three. Will try more later.

This is one side of the mountain of Sweetwaters. 60,000 people live in this area.

Curt practicing Zulu songs with Sizwe and Sam with Ithemba.

Debs with Ithemba, Matt and Tommy after training.

Day 1 in South Africa

We arrived at our hotel this morning around 12:30a.m. My body was completely confused. Started our day with a wonderful English Breakfast made by Francois, the manager of our B&B. We got to spend a very brief time with the Pinelake team that has been here for a week. They headed to the airport this morning. First up this morning was training with Ithemba ministry for a camp we will be helping lead Mon.-Wed. Ithemba does incredible work in the sweetwaters area to help build community involvement, to improve the creches,(pre-schools). To learn more about them click here. Definitely worth checking out. I'm amazed by this ministry. The training was around three hours. It was so fun it didn't feel like training. We played games, sang some zulu songs. I don't know what I was saying, but at one point we were walking, sitting, sleeping, jumping. Something about Jesus being better than anything. It was AWESOME. The guitar player for the camp fell through, so Curt gets to play guitar for the zulu worship songs. There will be a South African leading this, but he still gets to play which he's so excited about. After the training, we grabbed lunch and then headed into the community of Sweetwaters with some members of the Ithemba ministry to see a piece of land they were given. I have to tell the story of this land. It's so neat.

Ok, so in Sweetwaters, you can't just go buy land. The area is still considered tribal land and their is still a current "chief" of the tribe that you must go to and ask for a small piece of land to build a house. It usually costs quite a bit of money. One of the ministries of Ithemba is leading a bible club each week in a local school. They had been using the facility with no problem, when one day they went to have bible club and the school said they could no longer meet there. With no reason given. They went back to their office feeling a bit confused and Stu said, "i think we just need to pray that God will give us our own space." So they prayed. Anyway, sometime after that they were contacted by what is kind of a "deputy" under the chief that he wanted a meeting with them. They didn't really know what it was about, but he met with them and said he felt it was time for them to have some land of their own to use for the community. So, without asking for any money he gave them a huge area of land that they are going to build a school, a community center, basketball courts, and garden on. It's unheard of here. Sam really felt God was telling her this land was to be used as a school, but didn't mention that to the deputy in the meeting. When he met with her the next time, he said, I meant to tell you this land is zoned for a school. Sam shared that when she was 13 years old she was going on Holiday with her family who were both educators. She never really wanted to be an educator, but that day God gave her a vision that one day she would be part of a school on a hill. The land the chief gave them sits on the side of a beautiful mountain...on a hill. It is so neat to see God pouring out provision on this ministry. We prayed over the site where this community center will be built. Oh, and the next day the school called and said, I don't know what the problem was, you are welcome to have bible club here anytime. Sam said she felt God was just waiting for them to ask for Him to pour out His blessing He had prepared for them.

So after we left there we got to spend some time at Tabitha ministries in their orphanage. Talk about some energy. These 30 little ones have plenty of it. We had a blast. We sang songs, Curt juggled, then we just played. These two little twin girls played with my hair for at least 45 minutes. They were so precious. They kept styling it and taking my clip out and putting it back in. It was sweet time. I have pictures, but it seems like our internet connection might not be strong enough to upload them. I'll try later. My eyes are crossing. I've got to go to bed.

Here We Go

For friends and family who want to keep up with our journey to South Africa, I thought I'd dust off the 'ole family blog I never update. My plan, if internet is available is to try and update along the way, so you can know what we're doing and how to pray for us. So, here's where we are today.

And Here's where we'll be in a couple days.

Our flight leaves around 11 ish tomorrow. Our first stop will be Atlanta for a six hour lay over. Then we'll have a direct flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. We'll then fly from Johannesburg to Durban. And here's where it really gets fun...We'll drive...I say we, but mean Curt (on the wrong side of the road) for about an hour 'til we get to our destination. I'm very excited. I'm very emotional. I've never left my kids for more than a couple of days. I've never flown for 17 plus hours straight. I just wish I could turn off my brain. Anyway, just been replaying Hillsong's "God is Able" over and over again. I love the lyrics to this song.

God is able
He will never fail
He is almighty God
Greater than all we seek
Greater than all we ask
He has done great things


Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is able
In His name
We overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able


God is with us
God is on our side
He will make a way
Far above all we know
Far above all we hope
He has done great things


Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is able
In His name
We overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able

God is with us
He will go before
He will never leave us
He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never fail us

I believe it. Thank you for your prayers friends and family. Our team consists of me, Curt, and six other guys from our Starkville Campus. I'm excited. I know I've posted this on my facebook, but I just get so excited every time I watch this video. it's the ministry we'll be working with. We're going on retreat with the youth. This was the video from the children's retreat. Watch it here.