Life tends to consist of ups, downs, struggles, resting, storms, peace, curses, blessings, longings, frustrations, disappointments and joys…life is raw. So is this year any different being on the world race? No, not really. In fact it could be argued that it’s a season in life where everything just gets sped up and thrown together…a sort of a spiritual growth spurt. I find myself even now reluctant to put the term “spiritual” in there just because of the connotation of spirituality around the world and particularly from many Christians. The fact of the matter is that I have been extraordinarily blessed and humbled to be here this year and it is only by God’s grace and your generosity that I am. The greater truth in it all is that God has been using this year to both refine and pursue my heart this year while also using me to refine and pursue the hearts of others around the world and even possibly some of you back at “home.”
These past couple months I have seen and experienced so many things that I can’t quite write them all out for you on here. Both of us are probably thankful for that but I want to give you a bit of a glimpse of it all. The rest will have to wait for my return. As many 
of you know our team was in Malawi for the month of July with Tikvah and had a ridiculously great time there. It has been my favorite month thus far for so many reasons. One of those reasons was the lake. I’ve always been around water and I really haven’t spent as much time away from water as I have had this year (not including my youngest years in Canada.) Living around fresh water again even for a matter of weeks was refreshing in more ways than one. Every morning I would wake up to the sunrise over the lake and every night I would sleep in my tent on the beach out under the starry night. During the day I found plenty of manual labor to make me feel useful and quite a number of kids to love and play with. These kids were special to me and you know what…I’m just going to have to write a blog about some more of the things He has been teaching me through children…again 🙂
of you know our team was in Malawi for the month of July with Tikvah and had a ridiculously great time there. It has been my favorite month thus far for so many reasons. One of those reasons was the lake. I’ve always been around water and I really haven’t spent as much time away from water as I have had this year (not including my youngest years in Canada.) Living around fresh water again even for a matter of weeks was refreshing in more ways than one. Every morning I would wake up to the sunrise over the lake and every night I would sleep in my tent on the beach out under the starry night. During the day I found plenty of manual labor to make me feel useful and quite a number of kids to love and play with. These kids were special to me and you know what…I’m just going to have to write a blog about some more of the things He has been teaching me through children…again 🙂
In Thailand, I missed out on an experience of being in a village where the people had only seen white people onec before by a day. It was a rough one to swallow for the part of me that loves experiences but I am grateful that He knows the desires of our 
hearts and is into finding ways to redeem things. In Malawi, we had the opportunity to be the second white people to ever visit them and it was a pleasure and honor for me. Likewise we went out to a fisherman village for church one sunday and had to get there by boat. While there, we did some baptizing and I had an opportunity to pray over and baptize a young girl that morning. (more to come about that in another blog) Needless to say this month was filled with a lot of things that did my heart good.
hearts and is into finding ways to redeem things. In Malawi, we had the opportunity to be the second white people to ever visit them and it was a pleasure and honor for me. Likewise we went out to a fisherman village for church one sunday and had to get there by boat. While there, we did some baptizing and I had an opportunity to pray over and baptize a young girl that morning. (more to come about that in another blog) Needless to say this month was filled with a lot of things that did my heart good.From Monkey Bay, Malawi we started our trip over to Pemba. Along the way we stopped in at the Shrum’s in Milange. Last year when I was counseling at Cedar Campus, I had the opportunity and blessing of couseling their only daughter Maggie Jo. It turns out that we needed to head through their city and they became a Godsend to 
us in our travels. We were able to help them with some things around the house and their SIL office while they were able to bless us with transportation and direction. It was quite the enjoyable time and it was good to see Maggie Jo again!!!
us in our travels. We were able to help them with some things around the house and their SIL office while they were able to bless us with transportation and direction. It was quite the enjoyable time and it was good to see Maggie Jo again!!!
From there we took multiple buses up to Pemba andarrived just in time to go straight to Heidi Baker’s 50th Anniversary. After a
series of strange events and ridiculous grace, we were asked to join a group of Mozambiqan pastors, a couple (with their two children) and a church group from California on a bush outreach. Once again we were blessed considerably more than anyone deserves with the opportunity and the quality of people we got to become a team with.
series of strange events and ridiculous grace, we were asked to join a group of Mozambiqan pastors, a couple (with their two children) and a church group from California on a bush outreach. Once again we were blessed considerably more than anyone deserves with the opportunity and the quality of people we got to become a team with.
For ten days we did so many things I don’t know where to start. We put in more than our time in driving and were days away from pavement. We saw a lot and experienced a lot. I now have a taste of what it is like to be literally surrounded by a crowd of people pressing in for a chance to hand over a baby to be blessed or healed. Mostly mothers and children stepped forward and waited for a chance to receive prayer. Our last village something different happened though. As soon as the one speaking mentioned that some there had problems with alcohol, most males immediately walked to the very front of the crowd and formed a line to confess it, repent of it and ask for forgiveness…(side note: I am not saying drinking or not drinking is sin for all…this was about those who have problems being serious alcoholics)
We had opportunities to buy land for the first church ever in a community, have a feast where we killed and prepared the goat, pig and chickens for another and got to love and pray for a number of others. What we didn’t lack was experiences. Likewise, we had unusual unity as a large team which was a direct answer to our prayers. Those of you who were a part of CLEAN team…I already miss you guys and look forward to seeing you all again!!!
After being dropped off in Nampula by the team, we started another few days of trusting God one step at a time and watching how He protected and provided for us all the way back down to Nelspruit just in time for some much needed rest. The training in trusting and waiting with our Vietnam experience came in handy with how we handled the situation of getting back down to South Africa safely, efficiently and “affordably.”
