Church Leader: prayers please

Today I (Mike) want to tell you about one of our church leader's Mama B.

Every week I get to spend at least some time praying together with local pastors in a variety of settings and venues.  One of the common groups I go to is called "End Times Ministers Network". One of the members of End Times is a lady named Mama B.  She is a strong woman of prayer.  The fruits of the Holy Spirit are plain to see in her life, making her a joy to be around. She is also a student at our Hope Africa Bible school and comes regularly to Hope Africa church leadership events.

Today I want to write to you requesting prayer on her behalf.  She and her family have been under intensive demonic attack from a local songoma (witch doctor) the last few weeks.  Basically there is another family that is trying to extort money from Mama B and she has resisted their threats.  In response they have hired a songoma to attack her on their behalf.  The songoma has told Mama B that they know her prayer life and that is why they are attacking her well beyond the curses of a typical family attacking another family. 

South African songoma reading bones

The songoma has been persistently calling and messaging with death threats against Mama B and against her family.  Last week the songoma contacted Mama B with a picture of an open grave site that they have dug, telling her that it is in preparation for one of her family members who will soon be killed.  Mama B is asking for prayer from her Brothers & Sisters in Christ at this critical time. 

A few years ago she was attacked in a similar manner and she choose to do battle against the songoma alone, and sadly her daughter had a miscarriage right at that time.  This time she has come forward to request prayer and support.  Please pray with us in the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, that every attack of the enemy will be broken, and that she and her family will walk in the freedom of Christ.  Thank you for your prayers.

The missionary mom dilemma

I truly believe I've been equipped with an extra dosage of guts to accomplish these tasks God has given me in life.  Oh no!  By any means, don't think this makes me fearless.  I have as much fear as you and your next door neighbor combined.  But I don't stop at fear.  And I'm not a supper mom either.  But somehow I'll sing up to fly across the world with 2 kids by myself and not blink an eye about it...

Some people think I'm crazy.  I just think I have more God-given-guts to balance out my human super-sized fears.  I think it's a gift.  And for that I'm grateful.  But sometimes even with guts full of holy-steroids, a person can find himself/herself in a parenting dilemma that will knock the air our of your lungs: again, again and again.

This time, our return to South Africa was that air knocking phenomenon.

Coming to South Africa, meant we FIRST had to say good bye to Canada. Tearful goodbyes.  It is heart wrenching enough as adults, but when you have to watch your children break down having to say goodbye, AGAIN, it's hard not to be shaken. It's hard to not doubt and question constantly "Is this the right thing Lord?".

Because they know this time.  They know how flipping hard it is to live on the other side of that massive ocean and to count down the days until they can catch a glimpse of those faces again.  Those beautiful blood-related-faces.  Their cousins.  Their aunties.  Their uncles.  Their grand-parents.  

They know how long it will be until they walk the halls of that small country town school.  Until they see their friends again, their teachers, ...  And my Breath. Is. Taken. Away.

And for all the people who say: "This is amazing, your kids have such a cool life.", I think they have no idea the sacrifice my little ones make on a daily basis.  No amount of "cool" can make up for that. In fact, please don't EVER say that to anyone.  It's awful and not fair. No one does mission because "it's a cool life". So those comments are well... hurtful.  Because my beloved mini-me sacrifice for Jesus more than anyone probably realizes.  

And they have been sacrificing with such grace and even ease at times.  Maybe it is because children are resilient, but knowing their heart, I know it's mostly because they are madly in love with Jesus. They are so inclined to listen to His calling.

But this time, something was dramatically different.  Not their hearts.  Oh no.  Their hearts are infatuated and more on fire for Jesus than ever.  No something else.  Their desires, hopes and dreams were being shattered by returning to South Africa.

Even after a few weeks of being back, the boys were crying often and wanting to go back to Canada. We prayed and asked others to pray.  As Vincent, the youngest, got over the worse of it, our oldest, Raphael, was still really struggling.

He wanted to play hockey. You might say he was struggling with "earthly things" and this too shall pass.  But no amount of distracting him worked or will ever work with this boy.  If you've had the pleasure to know him, you will know what I mean. He usually only has one thing on the mind and it is to play HOCKEY. But as you can imagine, South Africa and hockey aren't very compatible.

He mourned this quietly.  Not with anger, but with genuine heart brokenness.  Including on Christmas morning, when he said all he wanted was to play hockey :(  It was almost too much for my mom heart.  My super-sized-guts were no help.

"What are we to do?" we asked.  The only hockey here is on Sunday mornings and we absolutely love our church family.  Even Raphael agreed all these years with our decisions.  But this time, we needed to re-evaluate, because we knew the long term re-precautions of this could be massive.

He could hate church.
He could hate mission.
He could hate us.
He could hate God.

or

He could think it's fine to not go to church.
He could fall out of love with Jesus.

So what now?  Well I don't know!!! This is the missionary mom dilemma.  And dad too.  And this is where we are at now. Seeing if we can find a different church, as heart breaking as it is.  Or other options of altering hockey frequencies.  There is no magic answer. They all have good and bad to them.  And no one prepares you for this.  So we pray and continue to ask guidance.  And ask that you please would join us!

When crime becomes normal

Turns out the things that happen here in an average week have become our "new normal,” and so since these things don’t surprise us as much anymore, we have been lacking the ambition to write about them!  Eeek, we are the "sorryest".

A significant part of “normal” life here is crime.  In the last 5 days my sister Char and her new husband Mawande had their place broken into and their copper piping was stolen so they had no water when they woke up Sunday morning.

On Tuesday morning when we arrived early for our pastors training morning, we found one of our windows at Beautiful Gate (the ministry we rent space from) had been smashed and the office broken into during the night.

On Wednesday morning we found out one of our 4 hair salons that we have built for our new small business students was broken into and her hot water tank, chairs and various items were stolen.

Yesterday night a local business in our small suburb we live in was broken into and robbed.

And as you might have read on our Hope Africa: Mike & Marie-Eve Facebook page, the Pastor I work with, Bishop Nyanga was robbed at gun point last month, as he pulled into his driveway in broad day light.  This has been a hard time for him and his family who was also with him during this incident.  Please continue to pray for them.

Listening to the Holy Spirit

As many of you know, because Mike didn't get his Visa on time, he was unable to leave to go to Malawi.  And because of that turn of event, we found some an unexpected treasure at a difficult time.  No surprising though, knowing we serve an immensely wise God. 

That week was a school holiday here in South Africa, and like we have done during the previous school holiday, we arranged a week of student ministry.  This time, it was for 3 local churches and a group of 25 teenagers (our other programs work with post high-school students).  We spent time in worship, prayer, and teachings times.  We also got to go out into the community to serve at a disabled center and do some evangelism at a local mall.  

On Friday, the last day, we took the group of young people to the beach and had a braai (BBQ). Myself (Marie-Eve) and the kids got to join and I had the opportunity to visit with one of the teenagers and hear some testimony of her week and... capture it all on video for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

It is really special to know this young lady was encouraged in her faith, together with many of the other students, and that this would probably not have happened had Mike gone to Malawi.  Thank you Lord for unexpected treasures in difficult times.

You turned my wailing into dancing

Every Tuesday, a new local church we have made connections with called Upper Room, hosts a meeting for about 20-25 pastors from a variety of denominations and backgrounds for prayer.  The time is intentionally focused on 2 things: reading the Word and spending time in prayer.

Last week Tuesday, when we arrived at the church, we discovered that just the night before the church had been broken into and robbed.  Their sound system, camera, tithe and office computer were all stolen.  The front door was smashed and the office specifically looked like a bomb went off with the thieves having ripped apart every desk and drawer searching for things of value.  The pastor of the church was devastated.  His face was downcast as he felt so violated and understandably so.  No matter how often this kind of thing happens here, one doesn’t get used to this feeling of being violated.

We stayed in contact throughout the week with the pastor and continued to pray for him and his church at Hope Africa.  

Another pastor from the meeting borrow him some equipment to host his service on Sunday.  As you can imagine, his church people were very angry.  So much so that they wanted to curse the people who had done this and take justice into their own hands.  This pastor now had a unique opportunity to speak about God’s undeserved grace and mercy, using their own church experience as an example.  

The next Tuesday, we gathered together for prayer again at his church.  The pastor’s face was beaming and full of joy, as he shared how God ministered to his congregation on Sunday, and how just on Monday he was offered a sound system for a fraction the cost that it should be!  When the seller found out his story, he immediately offered to drop the cost by another 50%, a church member came forward and covered the other 50% and another of the pastors from the prayer group offered a computer.  So in 8 days, God had provided that which was lost, even in the midst of poverty!  Praise the Lord.

And His praises we sang at our prayer meeting.

Just a little weekly pastor prayer meeting... :)
Posted by Hope Africa Collective: Mike & Marie-Eve Fast on Tuesday, September 8, 2015

You are a coward, go back to the Church!

Sometimes when we minister cross-culturally, we hear the best (and funniest) stories. This one happened recently, during a meeting with a local group of pastors at our monthly church leadership gathering.

Mike was sitting with 3 other church leaders just sharing about life and specifically about what they were learning in regards to discipleship.  One of the pastors shared how lately he has been struggling in his faith as he has not been able to get a job and so he can't provide for his family (most pastors here are not employed by the church).  Responding to him, one of the others (Let's call him Pastor A. for the purpose of this story) shared a bit of his life story.

Pastor Vukile

Pastor A. said he had been following the Lord for over 20 years, and during this time he has had countless trials.  He has experienced tremendous family pain, including having his father commit suicide, having family members lying and attacking each other and persecution for his decision to follow Christ.  On top of this, there were many times of not having enough to eat and many challenges that come with living in poverty.

However throughout this Pastor A.'s faith remained strong.  But about 10 years ago, there was a fight in his church as the woman he wanted to marry was not the one that the church wanted him to marry.  He had gone back to his home province and community and had picked a Christian woman there he wanted to marry, but the church wanted him to marry one of their members.

[Marriages here involve a whole lot more than just 2 people!]

Typical Xhosa wedding

Being attacked by people inside the church left Pastor A. disillusioned, and even after years of trials that he had overcome in his faith, this became overwhelming for him to the point of him walking away from the church and his faith.

Songoma (witch doctor)

After spending some time not walking with the Lord, pastor A. was looking for some guidance about what to do next in life.  He turned to the local songoma (witch doctor) and asked what kind of a job he should pursue.  The songoma looked at him and said, "You have the Holy Spirit, there is nothing I can do for you.  You must go back to the Church to find guidance."  Slightly annoyed at this advice the former pastor went to get a 2nd opinion from a different songoma.  However this 2nd songoma repeated "You have the Spirit of Christ, you need to search the Bible not ask me for guidance."  Pastor A. however still wasn't convinced so he went to a 3rd songoma who said to him, "You are a coward, you have already received your answer, go back to the Church!"

So he humbled himself, repented of his ways, turned to the Word, committed himself back to the Lord and went back to the church.  The pastor used his story to just encourage the other to trust in God, that even in the hard times the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS faithful and He is with us!

For all the posts that don't get written

This is a tribute to all the random things that don't get written about.  To all the things that don’t usually or often make it in a blog, all the things that are part of any missionary's life but kept "secret".  At least they aren't talked about in a mission blog, or not a whole blog of those things.  

 
Because mission blogs are supposed to be spiritual, full of stories of people’s lives being changed and of how God is using the missionary in question to do His work.  This folks is what a good mission blog is about.  

I’ve never been one to follow the rules.

 

What you get with me is randomness and truth.  Spoiler alert: Our lives aren’t always filled with ministry work, especially over the holidays.  *gasp*  I said it. 

As we take time to focus on Jesus and let Him fill us so we can keep on going, we don’t have as many stories to report back on!!!  So bear with us as we are people too ;)

We like wordly things too

 

Africans love bling + I love bling = I love Africans.  Except I love Africans for so much more than just for their bling, and their style, and their swag.  But for me those things make it even easier!!! Am I super duper shallow?  Nah!  I just love shallow stuff ;)  And I love having conversations about these very shallow things.

My co-workers love love love the bling as much as I do :)

I love making good food 

 

One of the hardest thing for me moving to SA was that I had to learn again how to make good food with the ingredients here.  I spent a good part of our first month crying over the food I was making.  I don't know why, but it was a big deal for me and I really felt like I was failing my family.  With a limited food budget (other missionaries are nodding their heads), it can be so frustrating.  But once in a while I'll splurge a little and come up with something like this.

Stuffed brie chicken breasts

And then all is right in the world again.  Perhaps I should have gone to cooking school, huh?

We pack food in our suitcases 

 

Coming back to SA this time I had at least one suitcase packed with food.  Especially with Christmas right around the corner, I knew I wanted to be ready to make things from home, deserts that I've grown up with.  This is all part of traditions I want to pass down to my kids, and it's hard to do when abroad.  But I was ready people, and I ended making 7 recipes from my maman this Christmas.  GLORIOUS.

Peanut butter chocolate covered balls

I've also had to become quite organized, which goes against my "free-spirited-ness"!!!  But with hosting lots of people over the holidays, and juggling a busy homeschooling schedule, I carved out a few baking extravaganza days where I traumatized my kitchen for a few hours.  My friend Claudia from Malawi joined me on some of those days in order to learn to cook and bake from "the royal master".  Her words, not mine.  She claims I need a cooking show.

Cooking extravaganza chiiiiiiiiiiiiicken

Homeschooling is not natural for all missionaries

 

Wait, aren't all missionaries supposed to love homeschooling and pretty much have been born this way?  EEEEEEeeeeeeeer, NO.

Homeschooling isn't for the faint of heart.  I thank the Lord every day for His strength as I learn more and more about my kids and teaching.

Fact: Boys do not sit still for their mom

And I thank the Lord every day that I get to be my boy's teacher.  I never pictured myself homeschooling.  I'm really not the organized type and I don't have much patience.  So no, I never thought I would be homeschooling.  But situations change, and sometimes life surprises you in the strangest ways.

So I get to be my boy's teacher.  And I get to teach them about Jesus.  Like all the time.  And I get to shape their hearts and pray with them as we work and discover challenges.

Is it easy?  No.  It's the most challenging thing I've ever done, besides being a mom!  This is like being a mom AND a teacher.  Yes, I welcome prayers in this area.

Homeschool work for the day.  Ready, set, go.

Sometimes we even have fun

 

Well folks, sometimes we like to have fun too.  Did you know that missionaries have fun?  Wait what.  Yes we do!!!  Life is short, ministry is stressful.  Did you think all we did was ministry?  Yikes, sorry to burst your bubble. 

So yes, sometimes we have fun, BUT we feel guilty.  And then we feel like we can't talk about it, or post if on facebook (for us social media people) or Instagram (for the MAC lovers...).  And we feel like our supporters will judge us if they knew (but like, they know right?!?).  And we pretend like all we do is Jesus-stuff.  Which is indeed a huge part of what we do.  But the real stuff that doesn't get written about is that we also have fun.  And I'm big on fun (yo, have you met me?).

Firefighting fun

We do kids outings, we go on dates and we hang out with people for pure social purposes, without a ministry agenda.  *gasp*  We iz humans too.

We hang out as a family, and sometimes do nothing at all except watch cars drive by.

We hang out with our significant others.

We like to get stuff in the mail

 

We are perhaps shallow (again), when it comes to getting stuff from home in the mail.  But the truth is, we love getting stuff.  Anything and everything.  Food, pretty things, nice things, ... we love it all.  So don't stress about it.  If you're thinking "would they like this?", the answer is YES.  And if we don't, we have many missionary friends who will like it.

Jelly Beans from Pastor Chris

We get homesick

 

Sometimes we get homesick, and it hurts, and we wish we could go home.  It doesn't take away from the fact that we are so incredibly blessed to be doing what we are doing, but we feel like if we talked to supporters about it, they would think that we are ungrateful.  And one thing we are not, is ungrateful.

Skyping with my family

Our country is beautiful and we ain't sorry

 

Our assignment country, South Africa, is ridiculously gorgeous.  Sometimes we hesitate to tell you, because we don't want you to think that it's the reason for our being here.  It's so pretty, that sometimes we don't post the pictures so you don't get the wrong idea.

South Africa is beautiful

So you get the picture now do you?  Missionaries live a double life, and it's not easy, but it's a life we are told to live and expected to live.  I'm just figuring it out as I go, and I try to be as real with you all as I know how!

Thanks for reading this crazy blog.  CHEERS.