Nobody Told Me There Was Going to be Math...or a Coup

Last week marked our first month in South Africa. What a whirlwind preparing to move life to another country, continent, and culture. We arrived in time to participate in the Four12 conference, albeit a bit jet lagged and shell shocked. It was amazing and overwhelming at the same time. Even though we were reconnecting with old friends and many established relationships, there was definitely a sense of new beginnings.

Everywhere we go its math, math and more math…Converting dollars to rand, miles to kilometers, Fahrenheit to Celsius, pounds to kilograms, ounces to liters, and so on. The learning curve is more significant than I anticipated, even having been here several times. We are learning all the time….at the grocery store, the bank, on the road, the coffee shop, the cell phone store…learning, learning, and learning.

We’ve settled into a cottage at a beautiful Joshua Generation Church property in the town of Wellington called Provence. The church has two congregations based here— in the morning they conduct services in English and the evening in Afrikaans. We have had the opportunity to attend church, meet people in the church for meals and coffee, visit community groups, and even preach in the morning congregation. I’m not up to preaching in Afrikaans just yet. We have also had the chance to connect with Timothy Ministry Training, a discipleship school based here. I’ve taught classes and Carly has made some friends. Our dog, Honey, made the journey safe and sound and she too has made friends on the grounds.

We started working with Ikhaya Le Themba's ministry into the poor township of Khayelitsha. We are extremely excited to be working on a strategic partnership with Kids Around the World and some Orange County churches and friends. Our aim is to build a playground in the local primary school in Khayelitsha. The playground would give us increased visibility in the area and would be used by roughly 900 children, many of whom are orphans. IKLT already serves and feeds this community

with great impact. It is exciting to add to the work.

The coup…my son Nick and I traveled to Zimbabwe this week. We arrived in Harare on Tuesday evening and were awoken to the sound of explosions in the area. The military took control of the capital and television station. We had the opportunity to connect with some of the local church leaders and people but decided to cut our trip a bit short because of the unrest. We were there for such a huge moment in history that we won’t forget.

On our way back to Cape Town we had the chance to visit the Almond Tree Baby Home. It has experienced incredible growth in the three years since it began. We are so excited to partner with them in providing resources to save the lives of at risk babies.

Some of the challenges include…Carly and I have been hit with hay fever and she picked up a virus while doing ministry in a children’s school with the TMT students. We’ve struggled to understand the heavier Afrikaans accents and names. Registering the older, small car that we purchased was an education in Africa and a bit of a mission. We appreciate and miss the conveniences that we took for granted back home. Still on the hunt for the perfect coffee beans…the search continues.

Overall, we live with a high level of expectation for what God wants to do in and through us here. We are certain that we are right where God has led us and we are His.

Prayer items:

Playground for Khayelitsha – please pray that God will raise up a point person in the US and a team to join in coming Cape Town to install the playground and minister to the kids who will use it. We will also need to raise approximately $12,000 to purchase and ship the playground.
Nick and Carly are in the midst of preparing for the next year and need wisdom and direction for their studies.
We purchased a small car and will need a second, larger car at some point in the future. Please pray that God will provide one.
We are in Wellington until January but are not sure if that is where we’ll stay. Please pray for direction and a home. Our resources are limited, but His aren’t. We have received a few promises about receiving real estate so we are expectant that God has a home for us.