Greetings! We cannot believe our time here is almost up! This weekend we had amazing times of fellowship and worship with friends. We had a beach day on Saturday with another family that is here from Indiana. That night we went out into a community called 3 de Feverero and had a Jesus film showing. The crowd continued to grow throughout the movie and there was an altar call afterwards where we were able to pray over the people. You could certainly feel God's Spirit there. We ask that you join us in praying for all of these new believers.
On Sunday we were invited to worship at a church that Kristen visited a few years ago. She had gone to the service of celebration for their new church building. Up until that point, they had been holding the church services under the cashew tree on the property, so it was very cool to go back and see how the church is growing and recognize familiar faces from the congregation. (Although we did get rained on a bit through the holes in the thatched roof). :o)
We gave a children's message again as well as played special music. Our style of music is certainly lacking compared to the melodious acapellas that they sing out with SO much passion. And during every service, they offer a time of testimony...at least 5 people go up and tell of the little things God has done in their lives this past week. It is incredible!
This morning we finished up pictures of the Bible College staff and students and attended chapel there again. We are about to head back to the school to help Sergio in the Audio Scripture studio. Some of the students also asked if we could record us singing and playing a song, so that will probably happen today or tomorrow.
We're not sure if we will be able to write again until we are home, so we ask for your prayers for our return trip. We leave for Maputo on Wednesday and fly out Thursday morning. We will be home, God willing, sometime on Friday. We've gotta run right now, but our prayers are with all of you at home as well. Also, please pray for Jason as he has not been feeling well the past few days. Thanks! We'll see you soon!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
NEW BLOG POST!!!!! FINALLY!!!!
So you may be wondering where we've been and why we haven't given an update in a while. We apologize, but the internet connection is at a different house than what we are staying at and we have minimal time on it when we get there.
Anyways, as we had expected, our plans have changed. The maintenance work that Jamison was supposed to do was on a house that Jason and Rachel (the missionaries we are living with) are in the process of purchasing on behalf of their organization, Unitas International. It is intended to be a permanent residence for them, as well as a temporary housing facility for the numerous work teams that come into Xai-Xai. When we were in Kruger, they got word that there are some issues with contracts and legal disputes about the purchasing of this facility.
Since there are issues, they decided it was best to halt the construction until things smooth out. So, this left Jamison with other tasks. One of them, believe it or not, was babysitting Tristan, the 2 year old son of Jason and Rachel. He is having so much fun with him! They love playing dinosaur; basically, they just run around the house acting like a t-rex and hunting one another, it's pretty entertaining to watch! For a while, Tristan was only referring to Jamison as Mr. Dinosaur.
We have also been working on developing a curriculum for an Intro to Christian Education class for Rachel. She is teaching a 3 week module on this topic in a few weeks. Also, it is customary here in Africa that whenever you get invited to go to a church, they expect you to preach at the service. Not just give a testimony, but actually give the message! So, Jamison had some experience preaching today at chapel. :o) He did great! On Sunday, we gave the childrens message. Rachel thinks she's going to turn us into pastors before we leave. Not so sure about that. :o)
Jamison also planted about 1,000 pepper plants with Jason yesterday. He also helped till and weed a large section of the garden in preparation for planting.
We worked in the audio scripture studio with our friend, Sergio. We took some players along with us to Mozambique that we were able to purchase from the extra money we raised. We loaded the whole Bible in Portuguese onto them for distribution. We were able to load 22 in one afternoon- and I think he said he needed 100 done total for a distribution trip he is going on right after Easter. It is a very time consuming process! It was great to catch up with him again as well.
Kristen has also been doing a bunch of different activities. She has been assisting Rachel in cleaning and selling chickens, peppers, and narchies (tangerines) from their garden project to a bunch of resorts along the beach. There has been a large influx of South African tourism into this area in the past few years. A bunch of families are coming from SA and trying to start up beach resorts and other businesses, so Rachel has extended her outreach to these families...especially the women. We have been visiting with them, praying with them over particular struggles in their lives, and just befriending them. The devil is certainly trying to break this group apart through gossip and other issues, so we really have been interceding with prayer over the whole situation.
Kristen has also been going to the Bible College each day with Rachel. Last week she helped her grade some projects that her students were working on and got a feel for how the children's ministry was run. This week she led the children's worship time on Monday and Tuesday (Jamison joined in on Monday). The kids are so precious!
Today she took photos of the whole Bible college- staff and students, then some photos of each individual student and their families. Hopefully she'll be able to make up some thank you cards to send to the donors who support each student's tuition.
We have done special music a few times...the students in the chapel today loved that we both played guitars! We had so many cell phone cameras on us it was ridiculous! :o)
We cannot finish this post without saying a word about the food. We are eating good! We have had a few South African braais (barbeques), a Russian cookout, an Indian restaurant experience, and a traditional Mozambican meal with a family that Kristen got close to on her last trip. Mmmmm. Oh, and the weather has been sunny and in the 80s. Today it feels more like 90's. :o)
We are seeing a lot and having a GREAT time. We can see God at work in this place, but we are also really seeing how the devil is trying to ruin the good things that are happening. But we know that the enemy has been defeated and that the Word of the Lord prevails! And the people here are hungry for it!
Thank you so much for your continued prayers!
Prayer requests:
-Thank God that we have stayed healthy so far
-Thank God for all of the blessings that he has given us
-Pray that the issues with the house Jason and Rachel want to purchase will be resolved and that, if it is God's will, they are able to raise adequate funds/get loans soon
-Pray for the Bible College- that the students stay healthy and are open to learning about spreading the Word
-Pray for the staff as they empower the students in their learning
-Pray for Sergio as he prepares for a distribution trip with players
-Pray for healing for all the Mozambicans and South Africans who are struggling with malaria
-Pray for blessing over the garden and the plants that were planted
-Pray for the South African group and the tension between them
-Pray that the hunger for the Word will continue to grow and that people will continue to be called up to meet this need
-Pray that racial tension would cease both in South Africa and Mozambique. There is huge tension between South African whites and blacks, as well as some between South African whites and Mozambicans.
Thank you for sticking with us for the longest post of time, but it was past due that we let you all know what's been going on. God bless!
Anyways, as we had expected, our plans have changed. The maintenance work that Jamison was supposed to do was on a house that Jason and Rachel (the missionaries we are living with) are in the process of purchasing on behalf of their organization, Unitas International. It is intended to be a permanent residence for them, as well as a temporary housing facility for the numerous work teams that come into Xai-Xai. When we were in Kruger, they got word that there are some issues with contracts and legal disputes about the purchasing of this facility.
Since there are issues, they decided it was best to halt the construction until things smooth out. So, this left Jamison with other tasks. One of them, believe it or not, was babysitting Tristan, the 2 year old son of Jason and Rachel. He is having so much fun with him! They love playing dinosaur; basically, they just run around the house acting like a t-rex and hunting one another, it's pretty entertaining to watch! For a while, Tristan was only referring to Jamison as Mr. Dinosaur.
We have also been working on developing a curriculum for an Intro to Christian Education class for Rachel. She is teaching a 3 week module on this topic in a few weeks. Also, it is customary here in Africa that whenever you get invited to go to a church, they expect you to preach at the service. Not just give a testimony, but actually give the message! So, Jamison had some experience preaching today at chapel. :o) He did great! On Sunday, we gave the childrens message. Rachel thinks she's going to turn us into pastors before we leave. Not so sure about that. :o)
Jamison also planted about 1,000 pepper plants with Jason yesterday. He also helped till and weed a large section of the garden in preparation for planting.
We worked in the audio scripture studio with our friend, Sergio. We took some players along with us to Mozambique that we were able to purchase from the extra money we raised. We loaded the whole Bible in Portuguese onto them for distribution. We were able to load 22 in one afternoon- and I think he said he needed 100 done total for a distribution trip he is going on right after Easter. It is a very time consuming process! It was great to catch up with him again as well.
Kristen has also been doing a bunch of different activities. She has been assisting Rachel in cleaning and selling chickens, peppers, and narchies (tangerines) from their garden project to a bunch of resorts along the beach. There has been a large influx of South African tourism into this area in the past few years. A bunch of families are coming from SA and trying to start up beach resorts and other businesses, so Rachel has extended her outreach to these families...especially the women. We have been visiting with them, praying with them over particular struggles in their lives, and just befriending them. The devil is certainly trying to break this group apart through gossip and other issues, so we really have been interceding with prayer over the whole situation.
Kristen has also been going to the Bible College each day with Rachel. Last week she helped her grade some projects that her students were working on and got a feel for how the children's ministry was run. This week she led the children's worship time on Monday and Tuesday (Jamison joined in on Monday). The kids are so precious!
Today she took photos of the whole Bible college- staff and students, then some photos of each individual student and their families. Hopefully she'll be able to make up some thank you cards to send to the donors who support each student's tuition.
We have done special music a few times...the students in the chapel today loved that we both played guitars! We had so many cell phone cameras on us it was ridiculous! :o)
We cannot finish this post without saying a word about the food. We are eating good! We have had a few South African braais (barbeques), a Russian cookout, an Indian restaurant experience, and a traditional Mozambican meal with a family that Kristen got close to on her last trip. Mmmmm. Oh, and the weather has been sunny and in the 80s. Today it feels more like 90's. :o)
We are seeing a lot and having a GREAT time. We can see God at work in this place, but we are also really seeing how the devil is trying to ruin the good things that are happening. But we know that the enemy has been defeated and that the Word of the Lord prevails! And the people here are hungry for it!
Thank you so much for your continued prayers!
Prayer requests:
-Thank God that we have stayed healthy so far
-Thank God for all of the blessings that he has given us
-Pray that the issues with the house Jason and Rachel want to purchase will be resolved and that, if it is God's will, they are able to raise adequate funds/get loans soon
-Pray for the Bible College- that the students stay healthy and are open to learning about spreading the Word
-Pray for the staff as they empower the students in their learning
-Pray for Sergio as he prepares for a distribution trip with players
-Pray for healing for all the Mozambicans and South Africans who are struggling with malaria
-Pray for blessing over the garden and the plants that were planted
-Pray for the South African group and the tension between them
-Pray that the hunger for the Word will continue to grow and that people will continue to be called up to meet this need
-Pray that racial tension would cease both in South Africa and Mozambique. There is huge tension between South African whites and blacks, as well as some between South African whites and Mozambicans.
Thank you for sticking with us for the longest post of time, but it was past due that we let you all know what's been going on. God bless!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Here we are in Xai-Xai
Friends!
We are finally able to give you an update after being away from a computer/internet and having no power due to a lightning storm (very cool!).
Our safari was absolutely amazing! We saw many animals in the wild: elephants, zabras, girraffes, lion, wildebeast, kudu, even saw some exteremely rare animals such as black-back jackyl and wild dog! South Africa is a beautiful country and seeing God's great animals up close was amazing! It's a very humbling experiense when you are surrounded by a heard of elephant, cape buffalo, or impala and the warm wind is rushing over the plains and all you hear is the wind and the animals moving around in the grasses. God is amazing!
Well, we made it to Xai-Xai with essentially no problems. No mechanical issues, no diseases or bug bites, and no problems at the boarder. The family we have been traveling with and are staying with in Xai-Xai, the Helms, have been very helpful and we have been learing alot from them about the different cultures, customs, etc. about South Africa and Mozambique.
The past couple of days, since we arrived from our safari, we have been following the Helms around and learning about missionary life and all of the things that are goin on in Xai-Xai. We will start doing more work tomorrow.
Well, that's all for now. Keep praying for health, safety, and that God's Word will continue to spread in Mozambique. Until next time! Caio!
We are finally able to give you an update after being away from a computer/internet and having no power due to a lightning storm (very cool!).
Our safari was absolutely amazing! We saw many animals in the wild: elephants, zabras, girraffes, lion, wildebeast, kudu, even saw some exteremely rare animals such as black-back jackyl and wild dog! South Africa is a beautiful country and seeing God's great animals up close was amazing! It's a very humbling experiense when you are surrounded by a heard of elephant, cape buffalo, or impala and the warm wind is rushing over the plains and all you hear is the wind and the animals moving around in the grasses. God is amazing!
Well, we made it to Xai-Xai with essentially no problems. No mechanical issues, no diseases or bug bites, and no problems at the boarder. The family we have been traveling with and are staying with in Xai-Xai, the Helms, have been very helpful and we have been learing alot from them about the different cultures, customs, etc. about South Africa and Mozambique.
The past couple of days, since we arrived from our safari, we have been following the Helms around and learning about missionary life and all of the things that are goin on in Xai-Xai. We will start doing more work tomorrow.
Well, that's all for now. Keep praying for health, safety, and that God's Word will continue to spread in Mozambique. Until next time! Caio!
Friday, March 12, 2010
And...here we are!
Ladies and Gents!
A quick update before we head off to bed...suffering a bit from jet lag.
We have made it! Our flights were great and very smooth with only very minor turbulence. Surprising (or not surprising) the worst flight was from Grand Rapids to Chicago. We sat on the plane waiting to take off for about 2 hours before we finally got off the ground. Praise God the only challenge so far has been navigating the South African streets...and driving on them as we have a manual transmission (haven't driven one in many years), and the drive on the left hand side of the road...quite weird! Oh yeah, and the toll roads aren't cheap...we dropped about $20 on our 4 hour road trip from Johannesburg to where we are now in Nelspruit, which is on the Eastern side of South Africa.
Some highlights so far:
-warm and beautiful weather...low 80's, partially cloudy, sunny!
-petting lion cubs and feeding giraffes at a small park
-eating zebra, kudu, impala, and crocodile at Carnivore restaurant (all were way delicious)
beast feast...eat your heart out! (for all you Overisel folks)
-the beautiful scenery on our way from Johannesburg to Nelspruit. Think Utah meets Iowa
meets Hawaii...if that makes any sense
-all the awkward moments due to us not being able to understand people with a thick accent
-finally meeting up with the Helms, the family we will be staying with in Xai-Xai
-a cold shower...it's pretty warm
Prayer requests:
-that we stay healthy!
-continue safety
-that we get some r&r time in Kruger National Park and see lots of animals
-that we are able to cross the border into Mozambique and make it to Xai-Xai without any
major hassles
-praise God for the amazing creation He has made! It is so amazing to see other places that are
just so blessed with natural beauty such as South Africa!
-Praise God for all of His many blessings to us thus far on our trip!
More updates to come in Xai-Xai...tomorrow we leave for our 3 day safari, then off to Xai-Xai.
God bless!!!
A quick update before we head off to bed...suffering a bit from jet lag.
We have made it! Our flights were great and very smooth with only very minor turbulence. Surprising (or not surprising) the worst flight was from Grand Rapids to Chicago. We sat on the plane waiting to take off for about 2 hours before we finally got off the ground. Praise God the only challenge so far has been navigating the South African streets...and driving on them as we have a manual transmission (haven't driven one in many years), and the drive on the left hand side of the road...quite weird! Oh yeah, and the toll roads aren't cheap...we dropped about $20 on our 4 hour road trip from Johannesburg to where we are now in Nelspruit, which is on the Eastern side of South Africa.
Some highlights so far:
-warm and beautiful weather...low 80's, partially cloudy, sunny!
-petting lion cubs and feeding giraffes at a small park
-eating zebra, kudu, impala, and crocodile at Carnivore restaurant (all were way delicious)
beast feast...eat your heart out! (for all you Overisel folks)
-the beautiful scenery on our way from Johannesburg to Nelspruit. Think Utah meets Iowa
meets Hawaii...if that makes any sense
-all the awkward moments due to us not being able to understand people with a thick accent
-finally meeting up with the Helms, the family we will be staying with in Xai-Xai
-a cold shower...it's pretty warm
Prayer requests:
-that we stay healthy!
-continue safety
-that we get some r&r time in Kruger National Park and see lots of animals
-that we are able to cross the border into Mozambique and make it to Xai-Xai without any
major hassles
-praise God for the amazing creation He has made! It is so amazing to see other places that are
just so blessed with natural beauty such as South Africa!
-Praise God for all of His many blessings to us thus far on our trip!
More updates to come in Xai-Xai...tomorrow we leave for our 3 day safari, then off to Xai-Xai.
God bless!!!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
We are off! Well, Almost.
In just about 8 hours, we will be loading up and heading out to the airport. We are still running around getting last minute stuff done, so hopefully we'll be able to get at least some sleep tonight. :o) If not, we should have ample time tomorrow to sleep on the plane. We will be in airports and on airplanes for about 28-30 hours tomorrow and Thursday! Hopefully the airplane food is good and there is a lot of leg room for Jamison's sake. Please continue to pray that everything goes smoothly with connecting flights, luggage, customs, and all the other little details that go along with travelling this far. Thanks for all of your prayers already- we really do feel them! Until next time- on African soil!! :o)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Only a few days left!
Yes, friends, we are totally stoked that we will be in Johannesburg, South Africa one week from now! Thanks to everybody who was, is, and will be praying for us. For those of you who don't know where we are going, we will be flying in to Johannesburg (just South of Pretoria).
We will be there for one night, then driving East and meeting up with our friends/missionaries from Mozambique for a 3 day safari in the Kruger National Park. After that, we will be heading over the border into Mozambique. Our destination is Xai-Xai, which on the map is just North-East of the capital, Maputo. Xai-Xai is pronounced "Sh-eye sh-eye". We will be there for about 3 weeks where we will mostly be working with local mission organizations with bases there.
Until next time!
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