A Week in the Life...

I tend to take my days in stride, taking on both the expected and unexpected as they come. It's amazing what quickly becomes "normal". I continue to learn and grow, becoming daily more accustomed to the work and ministry here as well as the subtle-and not so subtle-differences involved with living in Africa. However, it's come to my attention that regardless of my family and friends' general understanding of my work and ministry, and my (hopefully) consistent emails and updates, very few really know what's involved. I was recently brought up short when a couple friends and acquaintances asked what a typical day looks like for me here. After I finished laughing my head off, the thought struck me that it might be fun to share a day-to-day look at what a "typical" week is like for me. Because basically, anything can happen! So here's a look at recent one...

Monday-26/04/2010

Pretty standard. Did some admin at home and picked up 2 car seats Baby Safe purchased. PRAISE GOD! We've been sharing 1 between the three of us as need arises and it's become ridiculous. Today Bethany and I had our regular Baby Safe meeting over lunch at a favorite spot, The Farm in Noordhoek. By some miracle I'd completed most of the tasks I've been working on and B had few to add, which means I'll have lot's of leeway for anything that comes up! And things do come up…

I am the Baby Safe safety family coordinator, so after lunch I ran to our office at King of Kings Baptist Church (praying for an office of our own soon!) to use the phone line in order to make reference calls. We have a new family willing to take the potential long-term placements with children who come our way that may need longer care. I had no idea how soon this might be necessary though!

Tuesday-27/04/2010

Today is a public holiday-no one here knows what for! For me a day off means I can get stuff done. But most exciting, today I meet one of my TOP clients from last week who changed her mind and is keeping her baby! So I picked her up and took her to the prayer room at Africa House-because of course EVERYTHING else is closed-to listen to her story, assess her needs, and explain how we can help. Moments like this make everything else worth it! I helped her make a resume to find a job, explained our mentoring program and that we'll be matching her up with someone, encouraged her, prayed with her, and shared the love and hope that is Christ.

That night there was a massive braai at our friend's the DeHaans, with all the longtermers and the CPx teams who are doing Outreach Phase in Cape Town. In these gatherings we both share inspiring stories concerning ministry, or try to talk about anything but! ;) There's no end to food and laughter though. I must say a braai is one of my favorite South African traditions and we indulge often.

Wednesday-28/04/2010

This is always my crazy and draining day, but I love it. Wednesday morning is TOP counseling at the Hospital, but this day is unlike any other! I had 2 girls too far along, one in crisis mode and the other comes in and says, "I want you to help me place my baby for adoption." Then, I have one tender young woman change her mind when I sense her uncertainty and explain how Baby Safe can help. The rest are on the fence and I go in to full-on ministry mode exploring every feeling, circumstance, and option. Throughout all of this, the Baby Safe phone keeps going off (I'm on call this week) concerning an abandoned baby and I'm taking information and calling Bethany in between clients.

That afternoon is my regular meeting with Nichole, a young girl who placed her baby for adoption and who I am now pursuing a mentoring relationship with. It is always the sweetest time, her heart is so tender toward the LORD. We have coffee and cookies, talk about her thoughts and feelings, read the Bible, and pray together. In a situation where so many women and girls struggle to cope, Nichole simply asks Jesus for understanding, and thanks Him for the joy that He has given her. Amazing!

During this time, B called to see if I will take the abandoned baby for the night before we take her to a safety family in the morning, so after I drop Nichole off she brought Abigail over. The poor baby was filthy, fussy, had a cold, a fever, and the runs. Everything I've ever learned in caring for children was put into practice that night and then some. When I bathed her I discovered a talisman bound around her waist, which got flushed and thoroughly rebuked! By the end of the evening I was covered in poop, pee, formula and vomit, baby wash, and my own dinner (trying to juggle). But I got her bathed, fed, medicated and sleeping, while managing my own shower, all this time praying over her in the Spirit, praying scripture, and interceding for her life and destiny.

Thursday-29/04/2010

Discovering new levels of utter and complete exhaustion. Abigail literally woke up once every hour, sometimes twice, coughing and crying and needing nose-wiping, meds, formula or fluids. I never made it past a semi-comatose state and when I dreamed I dreamed about Abigail. But she got COVERED in prayers. I never knew it was possible to pray in the Spirit while sleeping but I did! As soon as we were both ready for the day I took her to the safety family I'd recently followed up on and gave instructions to have her taken to the clinic.

The afternoon was both a disappointment and a relief. Thursday and Friday are my Vulnerable Children days, and Thursday I meet with one of my girls to teach english. However, after driving into Masiphumelele, making phone calls and waiting for an hour, I had three no-shows. TIA!! However, at that point I felt sick from exhaustion, so took it as God's favor and went home. My house church group were apparently all in the same state because that got cancelled as well and I went to be at 8:30.

Friday-30/14/2010

Today is the regular bi-monthly Vulnerable Children meeting with all of us who volunteer in our "free time" to make up the team. Today's subjects are many and varied, and as I am the administrator I have to take careful notes in order to organize information and tasks and email everyone later. Two key subjects of interest today are as different as they are important. One is the possibility of changing our structure and support system with the ministry and seeking to double our sponsors. The other is that there have been several rapes and sudden deaths in Masi recently, so don't go into the Wetlands alone!

That afternoon I have another cancelation. My friend Thandi and I are doing a Discovery Bible Study with a family in Masi, but today she is sick. As the family is predominantly Xhosa speaking and Thandi is my translator, I shoot them an sms to reschedule, pray they get it, and go home to get a jump start on the VC admin. This consumes my time until I go back in to Masi at 4 for Kids Club. Every Friday we gather all of our Vulnerable Children for an hour of songs, games, a Bible lesson, and prayer. It is organized chaos but the kids love it! We teach them our songs and they teach us theirs, now they've learned to sit quietly for the story and answer questions about it, afterwords they offer their prayers to the LORD themselves.

The Weekend!!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Because of our crazy schedule and workload Baby Safe allows us to take both days off instead of only one, and Vulnerable Children accommodates this. If they didn't I think I would swim home at this point. These are my days to sleep in, do laundry, get groceries and run errands, and have fun! This usually involves braais and dinner with friends, movie nights, excursions around and outside of Cape Town, or cloistering myself in my flat for some R&R. Sundays my friend Alison comes over in the afternoon for coffee and tea, rusks, and accountability, prayer and visiting together. It's usually just enough rest for me to prepare and start the week all over again!

The Measure of Success

"It is not important to succeed but to do right; the rest is up to God" -C.S. Lewis

Nine different faces. Different colors, languages, ages, backgrounds. Nine different stories, with only one thing in common. Each of these women, regardless of age, race, and circumstances, were seeking a quick solution for a situation they could not face. Because there were eighteen heartbeats involved, nine of which were intent on ending another one.

This is the situation I face now every Wednesday morning, when Bethany and I do the Termination of Pregnancy counseling at False Bay Hospital. But any preconceived notions I had before taking this on have flown out the window completely as the LORD has brought about a complete paradigm shift-I'm not there simply for the heartbeat that might end, I'm there for the one that keeps beating and is breaking. Every week these women come, most of them from difficult circumstances hardly able to take care of themselves, much less a child. Many are afraid or in denial, most are weeping, confessing they know each child is a gift from God but they have no way to care for it.

And this is the message God has given us for them, two truths that we share. The first is we know that God creates all life, He has a plan already and a story written out for this child, and when you take that away it does hurt His heart. But the other is this, there is nothing we can do that will make God love us less. He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to take our punishment; He has forgiven all our past and future sins, and there is nothing that will prevent our coming to Him.

So how do you determine success? Last week I had a woman change her mind, now looking for full time work to support herself and continuing with the pregnancy. This week I held an little eighteen-year-old punk as she cried-broken hearted over her actions and situation, professing a belief in an unconventional god she finds in flowers and art-and I told her of the love and forgiveness of my God and His heart for her. The next day she went through with the abortion. But a seed was planted of hope, healing, forgiveness and love that she might otherwise never have encountered. Both are success in my mind.

God doesn't ask us to "accomplish" something but to be faithful in what He has given us to do. He has given us a seed to plant and HE causes the growth. Both these mothers and their babies are God's children and He cares for them equally. It's not easy to sit and fight for two lives, knowing most won't change their minds and will continue in the same patterns. But it is a privilege to be in that position, to offer hope where most find none and share the love and gospel of Christ. So we continue to obey and believe that the God we serve is big enough to redeem every situation. To Him be the glory!

Faithful

"I have made you for this. You were shaped for this work and I have placed you here. My favor is with you, and I will provide for and take care of you. You are in My will and I will make a way." The LORD has whispered these things to my heart and daily confirms them. In everything I feel both His blessing and stretching, as every experience is a learning experience causing me to grow. Africa is making a self-sufficient woman out of me! But in all things He continues to care for my heart as well, through His provision and through the community here.

March has been a month both of great challenges and great benefits. So much has taken place it feels like two months instead of one! I was blessed to be able to take a Basic Counseling course through a local organization over three weeks time. It was an enriching experience and I learned so much, especially through the practical application. It proved to be quite the learning curve in more ways than one, as I had to drive over an hour and all over the place to get there! I am now able to navigate throughout Cape Town and surrounding areas quite confidently, even getting lost and finding my way without a map.

In both the Baby Safe and Vulnerable Children ministries I continue to understand and take on more. Every day the LORD gives me new perspective and greater joy in my work, and I have a great love for my teammates and the people we serve. I've been taking over some counseling duties, making job re'sume's and promoting them for women in the communities, visiting families and doing Kid's Club in Masi, driving babies between foster families and parents, and LOADS of admin. Thank God for weekends!

One area of tremendous blessing and excitement is that I have purchased a car!! A friend in Pretoria found a beautiful 2005 Toyota Tazz, negotiated the purchase for me, and then drove it down to Cape Town himself and delivered it. It's perfect! Now the fun begins as I learn how to drive it-I've never driven stick before in my life. It's been an experience in itself, like being 16 all over again only this time you're more aware of how undignified you really are-driving round-and-round the parking lot. But I seem to be getting the knack pretty quickly! My friend Alison is teaching me and we have graduated to roads and hills in the neighborhood.

Another area of great blessing and provision is Tersia's and my living situation. We moved once more, but this time we are settled more permanently, staying until after she gets married in September. Floyd and Sally, our All Nations directors, very graciously opened their guest flat for us to rent until that time. We are now staying in Kommetjie (sounds like comb-a-key), one of the most beautiful areas around. From my windows I can see both the sea and the mountains, and am able to hear and smell the salty waves. Even more fun, three of my best girl friends in SA live in a flat within walking distance, and we are constantly taking advantage of the fact.

I think above all else though, the relationships have been the greatest blessing of all. The LORD has been deepening the ones previously formed, and providing wonderful new ones. Every week is filled with times of encouragement and fun-through our house church gatherings, movie nights, braais, and more! I walk away from every gathering feeling encouraged, challenged, and uplifted. I've usually laughed myself silly at some point in the exchange as well, no matter how serious our purpose. God is good! Every day has both it's ups and downs but I rest in the peace of knowing I am where He wants me. He has made me for this, and I would not choose anything else.

Vulnerable

It is amazing to me the things which so quickly become common. To see poverty and suffering accepted so naturally, simply a way of life. I've been walking through Masi, my friends and I wandering the streets, weaving in and out through the various roads and back streets of the different divisions. The dirt paths are littered with broken glass more common than pebbles, garbage everywhere, over which the children run barefoot. The drainage ditches are clogged with every imaginable object and reek of sewage. Homes range everywhere from ramshackle tin shanties with no amenities, to comfortable little houses with electricity, water, and fenced yards. But our wanderings took us down the back roads and into the marshy wetlands to hunt for the forgotten. The vulnerable.

Vulnerable Children, a ministry of All Nations begun in 2008 by a CPx student, seeks to address the needs of children either without parents or with parents who are ill and unable to support their families. Due to a shortage of help, part of my work this year will be dedicated to this ministry. VC matches sponsors with families to provide a monthly food package and school uniforms, while the volunteers pursue mentoring relationships with the children and their families. And it was for these families my friends and I were searching.

One by one we found them, some with up to eight people sharing a one room shack barley 10 feet square and a single bed. One family of five was headed by their 23-year-old sister. Simply finding the house was treacherous, threading through narrow alleys and walking across broken boards and tiles. Their home was built on a rotting platform over the marshes, a tiny room with two filthy mattresses and a small cupboard. Their sister couldn't speak enough english to understand us and didn't have a job. Later we sat with two sisters, one with HIV and the other a rape victim. My heart broke as we prayed and wept with them together. The presence of the LORD came and wrapped itself around us, and He gave me the verse in Isaiah 61:1, "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners." I told them how Jesus wanted to heal their hearts and set them free.

This is why we're here. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10b) Sometimes it seems overwhelming, hopeless, impossible. And then you sit with the least of these and one day you see a light come in their eyes, and hope where there was none. We cannot change anything but there is One who can, and so we follow Him where no one else will go to share His love with His children, and watch Him change their lives.

A Full Heart

We have left the mattresses from hell behind us and haven't looked back! Last week Tersia and I moved into the home of our friends Simon and Marieke for a month as they visit their family in the Netherlands. We are sleeping on real mattresses, drinking real coffee, and reveling in the space! It is a beautiful home and so peaceful, every morning as I have my coffee and rusks, I sit on my bed looking out over a breathtaking view of mountains and sea. The LORD looks after His children, and He is taking care of our hearts as well as our needs.

This weekend the new CPx students are arriving. I can't believe a year has gone by already! Never would I have guessed at that time what the LORD had in store for me now. My "orientation" with Baby Safe started out with a bang, it seemed I was going to experience everything at once! I was exhausted-mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually-and I've never been happier in my life. So often we are under this bizarre misconception that if we surrender to God's call it will be all struggle and difficulty. But our Father's desire is for us to live out of our hearts, for our glory is His!

On Wednesdays I accompany Bethany to TOP (Termination of Pregnancy) counseling at the hospital, and soon will take on counseling half the women myself. I am getting into a rhythm of administration and meetings, and will be taking on the Baby Safe finances. This past week we visited another children's home run by an Afrikaans couple who wanted to install their own baby safe. After hearing their hearts and seeing their work, Bethany informed them they would not only receive a safe, but a sponsor had donated enough to pay for it. Our own hearts were full to see their joy as they broke down and wept, so much that we wept with them.

My first Baby Safe meeting there was a baby abandoned in Masiphumelele, so Allison picked him up and brought him with us until he could be taken to a foster family. For two hours I held this beautiful baby, feeding him and holding him as he slept, praying in the spirit over his person and future. The following day, his mother returned for him! After reuniting her with her son, we sat and listened to her story and encouraged her in the LORD. What a blessings to see a happy ending come where there is often only heartbreak. Another exciting experience was a Baby Safe first, even for Bethany. A young mother with a month-old baby came to us in order to place him for adoption. A mother has NEVER asked to place a baby post-birth, and no pregnant women have gone through with an adoption after. We were able to take her to the baby house and sit with the social worker as they visited about the circumstances and heart issues. Both of us learned a tremendous amount.

Thank you for your prayers! Please lift up my team members Alli and Bethany as well as myself, the enemy has really been coming against us. These past weeks as we have been fasting and praying, we have all been troubled with nervous sleep, nightmares, even pain. I know it is a direct assault because of the damage we are doing to his kingdom, and he shall not prevail! With this lifestyle there is great struggle, but the rewards far surpass it. I am thankful every day that Jesus called me here, to this work and these people. He is filling my heart and my life. To Him be the glory!

Home

Back in South Africa! Already it feels like home. It‘s funny the things which quickly become “normal”, like a baboon trying to crawl through my window the first morning here, or a band of homeless men live within sight-and earshot-by the side of the road who can be heard conversing quite boisterously at all hours of the day and evening. Home currently consists of a single room about 4 by 5 meters in which fits two beds, a large cupboard, a mini fridge and microwave, and a small table and chairs. Good to be back!

One huge blessing is my roomy. Tersia and I lived all of CPx together last year and she became a sister and dear friend, so when we both made the decision to commit to All Nations it seemed only natural to continue the journey together. We picked up where we left off as though no time had passed- laughing, crying, swearing and praying together, sharing and pouring into each other’s hearts.

I am terribly excited to be here! Already the LORD has been so faithful, in confirming this move and providing for my needs. This week was At Home Week with All Nations, taking the mornings to worship, pray, and catch up on what is taking place in everyone’s lives and ministries. I have been connecting with Bethany and Allison as well-my Baby Safe “boss” and fellow team member- hearing what has transpired and the work about to begin. My heart is so stirred by what is taking place! This is intense battleground and we are at war with the enemy every day, but the fruit is incredible. I cannot wait to see what the LORD has in store. Please keep us in your prayers as we start up this new year.

I hope to have more information soon concerning my work with Baby Safe, and a sister ministry called Vulnerable Children (more on that later). My orientation begins in earnest next week. In the mean time, it would be a blessing if you could lift these items up in prayer. I am about to begin the hunt for a car. Pray for favor in the overall process, in finding the right vehicle, and the funds. Also, Tersia and I do not have a permanent place of residence. We are renting from All Nations until next month when CPx begins, house-sitting for friends through February, and after that we do not know! Please pray for direction and favor in finding a safe, inexpensive, and hopefully permanent place to share. Praying and believing! Matthew6:25-33

Calling Me Back

It's autumn in the states. The foliage is turning brilliant shades of every color, the weather is crisp and chilly; visits to the pumpkin farm, pumpkin carving, pumpkin lattes-pumpkin Pumpkin PUMPKIN! It's my favorite time of year and I'm enjoying every minute. And yet...
I'm dreaming of a place where summer is right around the corner-my LEAST favorite season. Where many of my friends will spend Christmas braai-ing on the beach in their bathing suits. A place filled with breathtaking beauty and heartbreaking poverty. God is calling me home to South Africa.

When I set off earlier this year I had no clear vision or purpose, I only knew I had been called and so followed. In my six months in Africa learning and serving, God taught me so much about His love and character, and my own heart. This January I am returning for a years commitment to All Nations, to work with their ministry Baby Safe.

From the time I was old enough to comprehend God has place in me the desire to be a mother. Through years working with the Crisis Pregnancy Outreach He has given me a heart for broken women and children. He has "anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted...to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners" (Is 61:1). And now he has opened the door to live this out. Baby Safe was founded to prevent the infanticide through baby dumping taking place in South Africa. They provide counseling, infant care training and donations for new moms, adoption opportunities, and more; including the baby safe-an anonymous and legal drop box where a woman can safely leave her baby instead of "dumping".

I am excited by this opportunity to learn and to serve, exploring and growing in the gifts and desires God has given me. I will be working as an intern under Bethany O'Connor, the young woman who is pioneering the ministry. God has also brought two other beautiful young women to partner with us, Lelanie Steyn and Allison Scarlett, creating the first full time Baby Safe team. Through my time in Africa I am blessed to already call these women my friends. He is so faithful! As we set out to love and serve in the familiar and unfamiliar alike, your prayers and support mean more than I can say. Thank you for walking with me on this journey and partnering in the LORD's work! I cannot wait to see all He has in store.