Creches on Monday Morning

School is starting next week and things will be getting more and more crazy by the day so I need to get moving on this blog!

Monday was the longest day for us- for many reasons, but one was that I was really feeling awful.  Coughing, coughing, and coughing and aches and general luckiness.  My chest was starting to hurt, so the cold was now turning into more as the day went on.

We woke up early and divided our team into several small groups- Positive Ray, hospital, Care Center, and  creches.  Russ and I decided to go help with the creches that day.  A crèche is basically a daycare for ages 2-4 years.  The parents pay a little something to drop their children off at this facility so that they can go work and then they pick them up before it gets dark.

The first creche we visit was in Murchison.  Being a mom and a teacher, I was shocked when we pulled up.  This creche had about 20 children and one adult to supervise.  The facilities were horrible- cinderblock building with a cement floor, no toys or  equipment to speak of, a jungle gym that was very old and too big for this age of child, a swing set with no swings, an outhouse- all surrounded by a barbed wire and electric fence.  (The electric was turned off though at the time)  Later when I was talking with a few ladies that have been on this trip multiple times, they were so excited about the Muchison creche and how great it was looking- they explained that in the past, it was covered with trash and overgrown with weeds.  Last year they cleaned the place up and painted the outside of the building so apparently it's a lot better than what it was- even though it was still horrible in my opinion.

The children were so excited to see us.  They ran to the fence, waved, and stared.  We brought stickers and a lot of balls, frisbees, a parachute and other play things to play with the kids.  They loved soccer.  My little friend and I kicked the ball back and forth for a while.  They soaked up the individual attention.    Many times, they just wanted to be held.  After playing for a while we went inside and tried to do story time.  A little difficult, since they didn't speak English very well, and one little boy really wanted to go outside and play some more.  We found a translator and talked about how God's word is true.  Our friend Brooke was leading the story time, but all of her materials were lost in the shuffle of our many bags of luggage, so she had to do all of this without her supplies.  She did a great job though.

After story time, we had crafts.  The kids created little cross necklaces out of stickers and craft foam.  They really love that- and they minded very well.  After craft, we gave them all tshirts, and new shoes.  The shoes were such a blessing to give away- many didn't have shoes and their feet were so cold.  It was a little challenging for about 6 of us to put shoes on 20 preschoolers who don't speak any English, but it worked out great.

After playing with the kiddos some more, we had to leave to do the same at another creche.  This creche was a completely different experience.  The creche is sponsored by a family here in the States which pays for teacher training, materials, and upkeep of the buildings.  The children greeted us with songs and Bible verses.  Their teachers were awesome. The children were so well behaved!  We sang songs and talked about God's word while everyone was fitted with tshirts and shoes.  The teachers asked our friend Brooke a lot of questions about teaching and were receptive to all of her suggestions, but we spent a lot of our time encouraging the teachers and letting them know how awesome they are doing.

We met up with the rest of our team for lunch and then traveled to Durban.  The day had just begun- and what a day it was.

Murchison Hospital

After the church service, we went to Murchison hospital's pediatric ward.  This hospital looks like it is still 1930 or so- absolutely no computers or other technology to speak of.  The walls were painted with cartoon characters and there was a small TV in the corner playing "football."  There were about 20-30 kids there while we were.  The nurses do a great job with what they have even though they don't have many resources.  We were there to throw a party for the children at the hospital- to love on them, hold them, play with them, and minister where we can.  We brought bubbles, stickers, coloring books, beach balls, play dough, and balloons.

Some of the kids were too sick or hurt to get out of bed, so some stayed with those, and then the others, we gathered into one of the larger rooms to play with.  The kids ate up all the attention! It was awesome.  It was horrible hearing stories of how some of these children got hurt- a grandmother dipped her granddaughter in a pot of boiling water because she didn't want to watch her anymore- and other horrifying stories.  We stayed for several hours and were able to minister to a lot of people.

On this mission, there were several projects going on at once and Russ and I basically did a sampling of most of them.  Other people on the team that have been on this trip for several years, had one project they they headed up the entire time were were there.  Russ and I weren't able to come back to the hospital this trip, but several others on our time did.  Quite a few came back and painted a waterfall scene in the room where new mothers and babies stay.  They also tutored these new mothers on infant and postpartum care and gave them a gift of bottles, washcloths, blankets, and soap.  One new mother, who had HIV, begged one of our ladies to take her baby with her to the USA.  Of course, that couldn't happen, and the mother wasn't being unloving- actually just the opposite.  She knew that her baby would have such a greater chance of surviving in the US that she was willing to give her baby away.  What a demonstration of ultimate love.

After leaving the hospital at about 5pm- we were exhausted! Those kiddos wore us out- or maybe it was the jet lag.  We were able to go back to our homes and take a nap and prepare for the work of the week.

Sunday! Zulu Church service

Sunday, I (Jessica) awoke to sore throat, congestion, and cough.  So disappointing since I was supposed to help lead worship at church that day.  I tried to sing a bit, but not much was happening.  I was upset because I would be letting our team down. Word gets around that I can't sing and on the bus ride over to the church, our team stops to pray- yesterday Alfons and Yvonne reminded us of the power of prayer and the team decided we needed to pray for the service we were about to participate it.

The church is the most meager of buildings- unfortunately we didn't get a picture of it- I'm hoping someone on our team will send us one of their pictures.  We drove on a very steep, windy road past homes that are basically shacks.  The church building is a one room cinderblock construction with a concrete floor about 15 ft X 20 ft.  There were windows and possibly electricity, but I'm not sure.  No pews, just plastic lawn chairs for seating.  The women sat on the left, and the few men in attendance and children were on the right.

As soon as we arrived, they began to sing- and boy do they sing!!! It was amazing to see how they belted out their praises to God.  They sang a chorus in English, and then they would sing it in Zulu.  Mostly sang chorus, and everyone joined in and danced and raised their hands- crying out, shouting their praises.  It was amazing to see that these people have nothing, yet they praise so freely.  We sang for quite a long time- not exactly sure how long maybe 45 minutes.

One member of our team was asked right before the service started to give a children's message.  She did an amazing job sharing the story of Daniel in the lion's den.  Then it was time for our music- Russ and I went up to the front, and just prayed inwardly that God would use whatever happened for good.  We told them that we had a new song to teach them but we needed their help to sing it.  We taught the chorus to them, phrase by phrase.  My voice was there- barely, but enough to teach them the chorus to two songs.  By the end they were joining in with us singing.  A team member gave a stirring testimony that hit home with several members of the congregation.  One lady gave her life to Christ during the service and everyone rejoiced with her.

As the service was drawing to a close, the congregation made a huge circle and went around singing and greeting every single person, with a handshake or a hug.  We moved outside and talked with them for about an hour before we had to leave for lunch.  Russell was playing "football" with a bunch of boys and I stayed around a group of teenage girls.  It took a while, but I was able to get them to talk with me.  They asked how old I was and couldn't believe I was that old- they thought I was much younger.  They asked how long Russ and I were married and when I told them 5 years- they couldn't believe it- you would have though I had said 50 by their reaction.

We met a young boy named Magnificent.  Magnificent is 16 years old and became a believer last year.  He has such a spark and a joy in his life that radiates from him.  He leads the youth choir and has become an example to his community.

That morning was a service we will never forget- I hope to be so uninhibited in my worship like the Zulu people in Murchison.

Travel and Rehoboth

From Dallas to Africa we flew to 2 hours to Atlanta, 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, 1 hour flight to Durban, and a 3 hour bus drive to Port Shepstone.  Needless to say we were a little exhausted when we finally arrived Friday evening... or was it Saturday morning?!?

Saturday we were able to sleep in a bit and we went to visit an orphanage that our church helps support, Rehoboth.  The orphanage is for children diagnosed with HIV and who have absolutely no family members to help care for them.  It is designed to be a mini village, with 4-5 children in a house with a house mom.  There are 10 homes currently with varying ages of kids.  The goal is to provide these children a stable, loving, and healthy environment where these children can thrive.  Upon arriving we saw a generator and other amenities that our church provided the village.  The grounds are modest, but beautiful- macadamia nut trees nestled among the hillside.

The view from Rehoboth

We were greeted by Alfons and Yvonne, the couple that run Rehoboth.  They had tea and coffee set out for our team and gave us a brief update on how God has been moving in Rehoboth this year.  Alfons told us how God told them that they needed to build another village of equal size on the adjacent property, even though they had only money for one house.  So after lots of prayer and heart searching they found a builder that would build for them- even though they didn't have the money for the entire project.  They encouraged the builder to "walk on water" like Peter in the New Testament and trust God to provide.  Later when times got tough the builder reminded Yvonne to "walk on water"even when full of doubt.  It was truely amazing to see and hear their incredible faith.

the first house built at Rehoboth's second village

In order to have another village, they were also going to need another water well- which would be expensive to drill and could possibly be done incorrectly and be a waste of money.  In the Zulu culture, whenever they were to drill a well, they would send for witch doctors to perform and tell them where to drill.  Obviously this wasn't an option.  Science was a valid option- they could hire professionals to come take readings and measurements and tell them where to drill.  However, Alfons and Yvonne knew that this was God's project and they new He had a plan.  So they gathered the entire village to pray near an old dried up water well and asked God to show them where to drill.

After praying collectively, they spent time to just listen to God.  Listen to the Spirit... and then share what they heard.  Yvonne felt God telling her that the well needed to be drilled right where Alfons was standing.  She thought that was a little absurd, but then someone else heard the same thing from God- drill right where Alfons is standing.  Someone else heard God say "3 meters"... when they measured 3 meters from where that person was standing- it was right at Alfons' feet.  They knew that this was the spot.

Later in the week, several people felt God telling them they needed to drill 150 meters deep.  They hired the people to drill the well, and they were very skeptical- after all, they were the professionals and here are people telling them where to drill and how deep to drill- all without science.  They drilled for several days and the day that they were to make it down to 150 meters was a Sunday.  They left for church and when  they returned, the drilling had stopped.  This could be a very expensive mistake or a great manifestation of God's provision.  Sure enough- not only was there water at 150 meters, right at the spot Alfons was standing during the prayer, but it was water in abundance! The drilling people couldn't believe how much water was coming from that well.  So powerful.

It is amazing to see the wonderful things God is doing at Rehoboth.  We saw pictures of the children when they first arrive at the orphanage- malnourished, neglected, hopeless and now they are healthy, vibrant, and full of life.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the kids- Russ was tackled by about 5 boys and they wrestled for a couple hours- until they were all worn out.  We gave t-shirts out to the kids and just played with them.  They had a blast and so did we.

russ playing with the kiddos

Rehoboth village and our mission team

Once our entire team was worn out, we headed to our rooms to rest and recover before dinner.  After dinner we had a short devotional and planning with the entire team before heading to bed- exhausted.  Russ and I were blown away by Rehoboth.  If it's God's will, we'll be returning someday- possibly for a 3 month short term mission.  We'll see what God has in store for us.

Adventures in Africa

As many of you know, we just returned from our first overseas mission trip with our church to South Africa.  Since we've returned, many people have asked "Well, how was it?"  That's almost impossible to answer in one conversation, so we decided to create a blog... and hopefully we'll continue to update it throughout the year with other family news.

We're completely new to the blog scene so it may not be the most beautiful blog out there, but you'll get a taste of our experience in Africa.

Russell and I both knew that God wanted us to go on mission for several years, but we always found an excuse to not go.  We knew about the church's involvement in South Africa and both felt a stirring about it, but never explored the possibility of going.  Last year Pastor Trevor, a pastor from the church we're partnered up with in SA, visited our church and gave life changing message.  Actually we don't remember what the message was about, we just remember his passion and excitement about our God.  On the way home Russ and I both realized that we needed to be a part of that.

There were a few things that God had to work out though.  #1 money... the entire trip for both of us was going to be about $7000.  That was way more than we could ever afford.  #2  Leaving Lucas.... Lucas would be 15 months old and mommy would be halfway around the world.  I couldn't even talk about it without tearing up.  Finding someone we trusted to watch him and being ok with being halfway around the world was going to take a lot of work on God's part.

Amazingly, of course, God made it all happen.  We saved and scrimped as much as we could, many of you contributed through our support letters, and our Life Group at church helped fundraise as well.  God took care of the entire amount.  As far as being away from Lucas- he really helped me through that.  My trust in Him took an incredible leap, but He provided family members that we knew would do an awesome job with Lucas while we were away.  While we were gone, we didn't worry about him at all.  I know there were several of you praying about this with us, and God is good- it is amazing to me still that  He calmed my spirit and showed me how much he cared about us and our son.

So that is the quick version of how we came about to go on this mission.  We can't wait to share more about our journey.