"What did you do over the weekend?"















This is always part of our conversations with the kids at the hostel on Mondays. The only answer Hendrick has is "FISHING! Of course!!"

Today, Nathan had a hankering to put his line in and try again and guess who was at the pier...? Hendrick and a friend. A God inspired appointment for bonding!

They started out on a mission to catch a huge fish that Nathan and I saw at this very point last week... but as soon as the cuttlefish started chasing Hendrick's bait, the game changed. 1/2 hour into the chase, Nathan brought in the choka (cuttlefish). The rest of the day Nathan asked me again and again... "What did your husband do today?"

He caught a fish! FINALLY!! :-)

While Nathan was 'in prison'...
(ha, ha, see next blog!)

I was off to the Concordia Hospice group with Mendy after supervising homework time at the hostel. Our teaching topic the last few weeks has been 'Created For a Purpose' using the movie "A Bug's Life" as a starting point for conversation. Since the movie ended last week, the conversation really got underway this week.

After a wild game of Upset The Fruit Basket we settled into a time of discussing the future goals and dreams of these students then delving into the obstacles/challenges that are blocking their goal from realization. Some of these obstacles are self imposed... sharing my own story, they heard the hope of restoration that Jesus offered Peter in John 21. Some obstacles are as a result of the sin of another... sharing the story of Joseph and God's favor as Joseph was faithful in all circumstances, God put him in charge over and over!

Our (Nathan and my) day ended with a nice meal out as we caught up on all the events of each other (including the baboon that visited the house this morning!) excited about the purpose God has planned for us!

"I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
...Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'
(Matthew 35:35-40 Message)

Recently Nathan has been longing to be involved in the local prison ministry again. Hearing his heart, God organized an invitation to an "Empowerment Workshop for Spiritual Care Workers" through his YFC buddy Nico DeVoss.

Representing 9 correctional centers, spiritual workers gathered to sit under the teaching of Pastor Amanda Buys. With a goal of reaching the inner 'spirit-man' with the healing the Lord offers, Amanda introduced a "Soul Care" program.

The Holy Spirit used the workshop to convict, cleanse and heal the souls of the spiritual care workers as they pulled the beams out of their own eyes before helping inmate with splinters. Nathan came home emotionally exhausted, full of peace, and expectant to see how God wants to use him in the Knysna prison literally down the street from our house.

Home group in Hornlee,

Invited by the hosts, Maurice and Rita Borchards, we visited these members of The Island Church on Wednesday. The answer to transportation challenges for church members in the Hornlee community is meeting mid week in a home to hold each other up in their walk with the Lord. After some worship Nathan brought a message to encourage what has started and to continue listening to the Lord's voice and direction and then with the strength of their conviction, boldly obey.

Like Paul we are "...Traveling through the country, passing from one gathering to another, he gave constant encouragement, lifting their spirits and charging them with fresh hope." (Acts 20:1 Message)

A day in the schools...

So just what do we do on Mondays? "No Apologies" Abstinence teaching! With an early start, we pack up the car with all the technology and pick up Mendy our assistant from YFC and drive 40 minutes to a rural school. Upon arriving at the school, Mendy and I set up for an outdoor assembly while Nathan finds the principle to check in. Assemblies are fun just to watch the faces of the younger kids. This week Nathan told the story of Jonah and explained that God is a god of second chances... always willing to give us another chance when we come to Him and ask for forgiveness. With hands raised, the children agreed to give God the opportunity to forgive their sins and accept His help to behave right the next time.

In the classroom, this week was Grade 7B (next week 7A). Starting out with a challenge to the boys to respect the girls, Nathan took them aside while I had a girl to girl chat. After watching a video giving testimonies of the spiritual, physical and emotional consequences of premarital sex... Nathan quizzed them on what they learned. They told us that if they use a condom they have a 50/50 chance of contracting HIV or getting pregnant and that is their biggest concern... well, now we know what to put the emphasis on! We spent the rest of the day involving them in activities to improve their self esteem, get some understanding of the difference between lust and love, learn how to say no to negative peer pressure, obtain knowledge of the consequences of premarital sex, and sign a pledge to abstain from sexual relationships until marriage.

During the break Nathan had the pleasure of serving lunch and just hanging with some of the students. Building relationships with them for the next time we teach. This school is funded by an overseas NGO, and so food is provided for each child.

Our final message... just like Jonah, if any of them have made poor choices, God gives us second chances and from now we are able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

"What would you do/think if Tigger had bounced a friend one too many times?"
a) "I don't know - that friend was probably me."
b) "Tigger just doesn't know what he does to others sometimes."
c) "I would ask Tigger if I could bounce next!"
d) I would sit Tigger down and go over all the dangers involved in wild and uncontrolled bouncing.

With the focus on relationships this week at Crossings (inter-denomination youth group), we did a teaching on temperaments and understanding ourselves and how we interact with each other. (You can take the test online at http://winniethepooh.disney.co.uk/funtime/poohsonality_test/game1.swf)

In addition the following clip on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doLifRJsJs0) shows how our jealousy of the gifts that God has given others steals the joy in knowing that God created us with our own gifts/personality because He knows us best.

We are each fearfully and wonderfully made... created for a purpose!

I am Pooh, through and through... Nathan is Rabbit... who are you?

p.s. Sorry the links don't work, you will have to copy and paste... :(

A celebration of life...

"A 12 year old pregnant girl can walk into a hospital in South Africa and request an abortion without her parent's consent. As she leaves she picks up the free condoms in the lobby with instructions stapled through the package (and through the condom)... but it is illegal for her to kiss her boyfriend in public until she is 16 years old!" From the perspective of a teenager, this was shared at the "Africa Cares For Life" national conference in Durban South Africa last week.

With a vision to impact the destiny of pregnant women and their children. Africa Cares For Life exists to initiate, equip and develop new pregnancy care centres that render preventative and curative services to women, children and families affected by crisis pregnancies and related issues such as rape, miscarriages, abortion, STI and HIV/ Aids.

"Fifty percent of all pregnancies in South Africa end up in abortion and more than 500 000 women have had the procedure done since the introduction of the new laws in 1997." (The Star, South Africa March 9, 2007)

Funds were donated/raised for 10 ladies of the Options Crisis Pregnancy center to attend this year's annual conference. I was blessed to be part of this year's contingent attending. My involvement with Options to this point has been helping develop curriculum for the schools team and also visiting classes at one of the high schools. My understanding of the great need to share God's love with girls facing the above crisis' was expanded and I left with a stronger desire to find other ways to assist Options in their ministry.

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:13-16)

Like father, like son...

In answer to a deep desire of Nathan's heart, the Lord brought Dane to spend a week with us! Their time together was filled with memorable experiences. Since Julianna was in Durban for 4 days of the visit they were left to fend for themselves. Little did they know that they would find them selves stranded on the highway with a blown out trailer tire and nothing to remove the nuts when they volunteered to drive to Port Elizabeth to pick up the YFC Options ladies from the airport! They did discover that Dane is a better fisherman, when on the second cast, Nathan made such a mess of his line that it took literally 2 hours to untangle the mess! Lately Nathan has been fascinated by personality/temperament tests, so he tested Dane and found out that they share the exact same temperament traits... they think alike and we laughed as we looked at Nathan's high school pictures and saw that they could be twins! They visited many of the local sights, by car, bike and foot with Dane taking pictures of all the golf courses to convince his chummies to come back for a golfing holiday. Today we sent Dane back home with a prayer of the Lord's favor and protection... excitedly expecting another future visit!