Let me tell you about one of our students

Hello Friends & Family,

In this blog I (Mike) wanted to share with you the story of one of our recent students.  I will call her Faith (not her real name) as she has been growing so much in her journey of faith with the Lord!

Faith comes from a very broken family background, like most of our students, with an absent father, neglectful mother and trying to survive living in poverty.  For years now she would say that she has been desperate for hope.

As she came to Hope Africa to go through our job training program she met Jesus in a radical way through FDG (Faith Discovery Group, one of the programs I oversee in our church related ministries).  She shared how she was in the midst of a serious crisis, both personally and in her marriage.  She was feeling very discouraged, lacking identity and looking for peace.  In her marriage her husband was repeatedly cheating on her, saying he was sorry, but then falling back again into another affair.

In FDG she discovered that Jesus is the one who brings real life, life to the full.  At first this was hard for Faith to accept as she had gone to church for a long time and nothing good ever seemed to happen.

Faith then started to meet regularly with Bishop Nyanga (one of our pastoral staff) and he helped her to understand that going to church is not the same as choosing to follow Jesus with her life and growing in a relationship with Jesus.  He presented the gospel to her and explained how even people who go to church can still have a hole inside if they are not walking with Jesus.

Faith’s heart was ready to make a change and she accepted Christ as her Lord & Savior!   Mawande (our FDG teacher & my brother in-law) encouraged her to surrender trying to "change" her husband but to instead trust in God that He can change her husband.

Over the next few days the joy in Faith’s life was so contagious that the other students started asking her: "What has happened to you?".  Faith was growing rapidly in her new life in Christ, learning to trust in God and growing in her knowledge of Scripture & prayer.  As she was learning these things, each and every day she would go home and tell her husband what she was learning.

These conversations start to grab her husband’s interest.  One of the days she got home and asked her husband a question from class that day: “What is church?”.  He said something about singing and preaching.  Faith then took her notes from class and helped her husband to see from the Scriptures what the church is really meant to be.  The husband got to the point that he realized that he had also been missing out on following Jesus, but he continued to resist making changes in his life.

Over the next few weeks Bishop Nyanga kept encouraging Faith to invite her husband to church, even if he doesn’t want to go.  Then the husband came to Hope Africa to learn about our new Trade Skills (carpentry, metal work, plumbing, and electrical) program.  That afternoon, Faith and her husband met with Bishop Nyanga and he led the husband to Jesus, and they begin some marriage counselling!

Over the next few weeks Faith was easily the person with the most joy walking around the Hope Africa campus and her life and her husbands lives have been radically changed!  Together they came and celebrated Faith’s graduation from Hope Africa and now they are continuing to attend Bishop Nyanga’s church.

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.

Meet Portia

Meet my friend Portia.  I met her in March during street team.  She was helping her neighbor who is renovating her house.

Portia has been coming to our Hope Africa office for some time now, visiting our prayer room for much needed prayers, counsel and love.  She told me: "I always feel so much better after [they] pray for me and can sleep."  She also said how she feels "happy and able to not focus on everything that is going wrong for a few hours" after receiving prayers from our staff.

Portia has a 6 year old son, who's father chooses not to be in the least involved.  He wanted nothing to do with the child since he found out Portia was pregnant.  You see, dads don't have to help their children financially here as they do in Canada.  They can just pretend they don't have them, leaving the women to take care of their children alone.  

Portia lives with her son in a small shack with no running water, no fridge & hardly enough space for the double bed they share.  When I visited her, there was no place to sit inside, so we ended up chatting outside, sitting on the ground.

Without a job or a way to make money & desperate to be loved, this leaves Portia at the mercy of not-good-for-you-men.  It's not hard to understand why a woman like her would stay in an abusive relationship(s) "just not to be alone" or for the few dollars this person might provide.

Helpless situations birth hopeless choices.

For Portia, her life is at a cross road right now.  We have offered for her to join our programs at Hope Africa, so that she can learn skills and get a job.  During her time with us, she would also grow as a person, and learn to stand on her two feet better.  She would meet Jesus in a new way as well.  But for many students like Portia, when their lives have been in pieces for so long, it's not as easy as one would think for them to take hold of the hand that is trying to help them. Truly help them.

There are always more obstacles than we can foresee.  Some real, some not.  People like Portia are so used to things not going their way, so used to failure, that sometimes it's easier not to try at all. Especially when it sounds too good to be true.

After discussing our programs and having her promise to come on the following Monday, the day our Life Direction course started, we left at peace.  I felt confident that she would come, despite the obstacles, which we had talked through (I thought).

But Portia didn't show up on Monday.  And it is hard for a person like me, who's never ever faced the kinds of challenges she has faced, to understand why not?  I want so bad for her, and many like her to know freedom from poverty.  To be able to stand on their 2 feet and tell those no-good-men to get lost.  To hold their heads high.  To feel loved by the King of Kings.

Because they are indeed loved.  And completely loved.  And as I write this I sigh.  A LOT.  Because I don't know the answers to my questions. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.  To my knees I fall and pray and ask my Papa for help, on behalf of all the people, like Portia, who are suffering, feeling their obstacles so heavy on them they can hardly see past.

With hope I say this story is to be continued.  Because you bet I will storm up to heaven's door for this woman and I know you will too!

Seeing new things or seeing differently?

It was a Thursday afternoon when I met her in the streets of Philippi, during one of our street team outing.  She looked at me and I looked at her, trying as hard as I could to hide the many questions popping into my head as to why she had a yellow-looking-mask all over her face.  And why, if it was indeed a mask, was she out of her house walking around as if nothing?

credits:https://misseuphony.wordpress.com/

But our street team stopped and started talking to her. She never mentioned it, and neither did I.  I used up all of my missionary politeness on this one, for I am very curious in nature.  And honestly, if I had met someone in the streets and invited them into my house while wearing a face mask, I would have certainly explained myself to my guests.  "Sorry guys, it's a bad time for my skin so I must..."  But this lady, nothing.

She was completely unapologetic.  I had to sit on my hands with the question burning up in my throat, trying to focus on what she was saying.  She was speaking in Xhosa, which makes it 100% more difficult for me to follow!  She did use hand gestures a lot, so it helped greatly, as she spoke to a fellow staff member (Sam).

One hand waived to the stairs and she made a lot of "BOOM" sounds, making me believe that she had fallen down the stairs and her repeatedly pointing to her sound system, while shouting and flailing her arms, made me believe that someone had possibly attempted to rob her recently. Having been here over 2 years now, I have stopped assuming that someone is mad just because they are yelling.   It did take me a full 2 years (and even now and then) to realize that Xhosa people just like talking very loud and even though they sound mad, they rarely are.  And this woman was proper-yelling!

All in all, I was only guessing, and now hearing the word "surgery" and perhaps "infection", I was gathering enough to know that this woman needed prayers.  I first thanked the Lord that Xhosa is sprinkled with English-like words that help me follow along in these types of situations, but also thanked Him that He knew her needs more than any of us ever could!

And as the Xhosa staff listened and ministered to her, I quietly prayed and cried out to God on behalf of this woman and her family.  She was an important woman in the community, I found out, while she dashed out of her home to go get her neighbor lady who had a terrible illness.  She described it as something similar to tuberculosis.

And then it happened.  Her neighbor was also sporting the same facial mask as her.  I had to double bite my tongue again and well...

Let me completely honest, as I have grown accustomed to be with you, when I say that in that moment I also prayed for my own safety and physical strength against this terrible disease.  I felt guilty for my own selfish reaction, although very human, and resumed my prayers for this frail lady.  As I prayed and sensed an overwhelming darkness, I feared her ailment was possibly more spiritual than physical and in my soul I began to pray and intercede on her behalf.

I have often prayed for God to give me wisdom, to give me eyes that see what He sees.  For Him to give me a heart like His.  Yet for some reason, every-time a moment like this happens, where I feel like the Father is showing me glimpses into a person's soul, showing me how He sees this person, somehow I'm always surprised!  Did I not just pray and ask for that very thing?  Then why, oh why, am I surprised that my Father is answering by showing me these things and allowing me to feel such deep emotions and compassion?

Our Heavenly Father is so good and so compassionate, and loves deeply and freely.  He lavishes His love on us.  And when I'm overcome with a flood of love for a complete stranger, I know it's from my Father in Heaven.  He gives me words that I could never know to speak in such foreign situation. He gives me insight that I wouldn't have on my own.  As a girl from a far away land, I shouldn't dare speak up yet He empowers me.  He makes me bold.  He speaks through me when I choose to completely abandon myself to Him and trust Him.  I sometimes feel foolish, like I might not be saying the right thing, yet time and time again I see light and understanding from the other person.  That can only be from God.

So today I praise Him for the lady who had a strange facial mask on, who brought her sick friend over [to perhaps do another facial?].  For I have seen the Lord work in mysterious ways and perhaps it was more to minister to my soul than to theirs, but I doubt it.  He is so good.

Oh, and it turns out it wasn't a face mask.  It was...  a mix of white clay and Umemezi, that Xhosa women [especially older women from the Eastern Cape], apply to their faces to protect them from sunburns and harsh weather.  It is also used a "makeup" and regarded as a symbol of beauty by the women.  Now since our students are younger, I wasn't familiar with this practice, but now I know!

I'm not only seeing new things, but with the Lord's help, I believe that He allows me to see people differently.

Good kind of whirlwind

The last few weeks have also been packed with ministry events, times of teaching and speaking in local Xhosa churches.  There is so much to talk about, and I find myself lacking words to describe the whirlwind we find ourselves in!

Add to that the arrival of our family from Canada, and you've got yourself a beautiful chaos of laughter amidst profound ministry time that we have been having together.  It is so beautiful to share with them what we do here and to get to do it with them!

Boys on their way to go see our their cousins for the first time in AFRICA!

(We found a house walking distance from our place to host Mike's brother (Randy), his wife (Joyce) and 3 kids.  It's been a blessing to have them close by and for the cousins to bound together.)

Getting "new" hockey stick just the right size

Visiting the aquarium

Getting introduced to our Hope Africa staff

More staff, more people to love

Seeing on the map the areas where we drove through or walked through (in the township of Phillipi)

Seeing our hair school at Hope Africa

We had an amazing time walking the street of Phillipi, praying for people but of course I do not have pictures of those moments.  It is hard to describe how powerfully the Holy Spirit is working in and through our family during this time together in Capetown.

Another highlight was visiting Mawande's family in their home in a neighboring township called Mfuleni.  The hospitality we received was like nothing we had experienced before.  How beautiful seeing our 2 families, from completely different countries, background and life, come together for a meal.  That is real church guys!

Mom Fast helping getting the meal ready

The mamas and bride-to-be

Tata (grandpa) and auntie

Real tough Jets' loving boy

Mama and Mawande having a chat

The kids hanging out with the neighbors

Mike, Mawande's uncle & Mawande

Uncle Randy keeping the troops under control

Our beautiful host!

We have also started taking some very early steps to connect some of the white churches and Xhosa churches which is very very rare here, with the goal of building up and equipping the churches.

Who knows what next?!?  We await with such expectation!

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!

There are tears in my kitchen

It was a cold winter day.  The kind of cold day where you wonder if the Earth is still part of the Solar System (did you hear Pluto isn't a planet??).  The kind of winter without snow, however, cold enough that heat inside your home wouldn't just be a luxury.  The kind of winter South Africans know about and yet still build these uninsulated houses with bricks and mortar... and without adding central heating.  (It's gotta be a prosecutable crime by now?)

And there I was,
bundled in 100 layers,
crying in my kitchen.

Heat was emanating from my electric oven.  Which meant at this moment, we had electricity.  For that, I was grateful.

Still.

Tears where streaming down my face,
hands covered with flour,
unable to shake the feeling.

The smell of bananas pungent in the air.

My hands were moving along like a well-oiled machine.  My movements were rehearsed.  My work unaffected by the tears.  Peel bananas.  Mash bananas.  Beat eggs.  Measure the flour.  Cut down the sugar, no one will notice.

Tear drop.

Wipe face.

Mix the batter.
Smile.

Tears of gratitude streaming down my cheeks like white rapids.  I was standing on Holy Grounds, in my very own kitchen, listening to God whisper to my soul "well done servant".

I found myself, serving my Lord, with something I actually loved to do.  God had asked me to bake muffins (for pastor leadership training).

BAKE!!!

Making others go "oh! yum!".  Making their tummies happy.  Filling their bodies with nutritious food and perhaps some indulging too.  He had asked me to be part of setting a feast for Him.

And He had equipped me for this moment.  All these years bare-foot in the kitchen (which HAD heat...) were just practice time.  In fact, my God-given talent, had grown with years gone by.  And not because I'm awesome (although a factor?), but because this wasn't a talent I had buried in the sand.  It was a talent I have put to use, even when it wasn't so awesome.  And those are the talent the Lord chooses to increase, the ones we use again and again in faith that He can use anything for His glory.   And so this is the talent I cherish because I've put a lot of work, dedication and sweat into it.  I tuck it away in my heart and pull it out to bless others.  

Add vanilla.
Fold in the butter.
Chop the chocolate.
Mix until moist.

I was crying because as "little" as we sometimes make these things out to be, they are far from little. Our God, our Lord, calls upon us to serve.  YES.  That is a good reason to cry and be thankful, in the most basics of ways.  No shame in my game.

I'm baking for the King of Kings.  I rebuke the lies that it's not important.  The Creator of the Universe has equipped me with good hands, fabulous taste buds and a knack for baking.  So don't mind if I cook up a storm and bless others in this God-given way, while not even bothering to wipe the tears streaming down my face.  I'm standing on Holy Grounds.

What talent is the Lord wanting to increase in you today?  Because there are tears in my kitchen for you too, for when He whispers into your soul "well done my servant".

This actually really worked

Well folks, we went from “this isn’t gonna work” to “please Lord help us” to “wow God, this actually really worked!!!” in a matter of weeks.  Now that’s a lot of "..." So if you are a little confused I’m going to try to help you [*disclaimer: I am in no way liable by means of this blog for any harm caused to your brain as you try to follow what I’m saying].

So in our last blog “this isn’t gonna work”, we discussed how the retreat had gone from 25 people to now 80+ pastors and leaders wanting to attend.  We had to find a new location to host our retreat and fundraise money in a very short time.  We were blown away by the quick response and generosity of God's people.  So thank you!

First of all, praise God for bringing his church together!  What a privilege to join with local church pastors and leaders and spend time worshiping God, hearing from his Word and meeting Him in prayer. We believe that God used this weekend to grow the partnership of our ministry with the local churches and we look forward to witnessing how God will use this unity in the church (John 17:20-23, the world will believe that Jesus was sent by God when the world sees the unity of the church).

On the day the retreat finally began, we had over 100 pastors that wanted to come and join us.  Sadly we had already booked the biggest venue we could find and had to limit to 70 because that’s all the beds we had.  Another 10 still came out just to be part of the sessions during the day (I mean why not?  The truth is some of them "might" have stayed and slept ?!? But at this point we really weren't sure.  Welcome to Africa :)

The retreat was meant to start at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 30th 2015, but...  Meet my friend "Challenge". Because transportation can be very difficult for people here, instead of starting supper at the planned time of 6:30 p.m., we ate at 10:00 p.m. when everyone was finally there!  

But the pastors weren't just hungry for the good retreat food, they were hungry for the Word as well. So even though it was already really late, they asked us to still proceed with the evening’s sessions and so we did. (I can't imagine that would work in Canada!  These guys are hard core.)

Our theme for the weekend was “Lead Like Jesus,” and we looked at 3 passages:

Matt 16:21-28, 1 Peter 5:1-6, 2 Cor 4:5-12.

We had them time of quiet reflection in-between each passage to mediate on the Word.  

Mike finished the first session at 1:00 a.m, and promptly went to bed.  However, he was the only person at the retreat doing this...  Most of the pastors stayed up until 3-4 a.m. visiting and laughing! You would think this was a youth retreat.  Anyone?!?  Amazing.

Here is also a short video of Mike's speaking to the group: 

The next day was filled with times of worship, prayer, scriptures and times to respond to what God was doing.  Many came forward with testimonies of being challenged by the Holy Spirit to not just talk about leading like Jesus, but start putting these things into action in daily life.  

We spent an hour of alone quiet time which is very counter-cultural in Xhosa culture, giving room for the Holy Spirit to minister to us.  

Finally as the day drew to a close around 10:30 p.m., most of the pastors decided they wanted to have another braii (what we call a BBQ in Canada) and so a fire was built up and meat was put on as another late night began. One thing is for sure, Africans love meat and a lot of it.

African Boerewors, which us Canadians like to call coiled sausage...

On the final morning people were moving a bit slower (even by African standards), but we felt encouraged in the Lord and challenged by his Word.  

At lunch time, Mike was speaking to a pastor he had not met before and asked him his thoughts on the retreat.  He responded by telling him that he had been very suspicious of leadership in general and he had decided he would come the first night to hear what was spoken, but fully expected to leave the next morning.  He shared that he was surprised by what he heard and felt very challenged about what it really means to lead like Jesus.

Now what?

The weekend is over and we want to praise God for all that happened.  Thank you so much for everyone who prayed for the weekend, we needed your prayers!  Thank you as well to those who gave towards the weekend, and continue to pray for these relationships we are making.

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.