Saturday, May 20, 2006
DTS Outreach - Ongwediva
We are now almost on our way to Ruacana which is on the border ofNamibia and Angola. We will go and stay at a frontier mission base.We'll stay in tents get water from the river and all sorts of funstuff. Not only will we live in the bush but we will also be workingwith the Himba people. I can't say that much what we are going to dowe'll see when we get there. Just to let you know that because wewill be in such a remote place the communication will be very scarce.Please keep on praying for us eventhough you don't hear from us.Will keep you updated when possible
Sunday, May 7, 2006
DTS Outreach - Windhoek (2)
Well we've done 3 adventure camps in 10 days. On each camp there were about 40 kids. It really went well and we experienced God's hand of protection on all our activities. No one got hurt while swinging like Tarzan or hopping on poles and things like that. With the second camp 4 girls gave their lives to Jesus and with the third camp we could really talk to the kids about taking responsibility for their own lives and making their own choices and making the right ones. We could encourage them and pray for them as their circunstances are really not what you would wish for any child. You can really thank GOd with us for the past 3 camps!!!
So we are moving to Ongwediva Tomorrow morning for 2 weeks. We will be staying at a YWAM base and be involved with their ministries in the villiages, schools and churches. Please keep us in your prayers.....
So we are moving to Ongwediva Tomorrow morning for 2 weeks. We will be staying at a YWAM base and be involved with their ministries in the villiages, schools and churches. Please keep us in your prayers.....
Monday, May 1, 2006
DTS Outreach - Windhoek
So we have finally arrived here in Windhoek, Namibia. Our trip up here has been blessed and we had no problems, we could even cross the border without any problems in a record time (according to African standards). Well because of a delay at the office of Home Affairs here in Namibia, we couldn't get Charles' visa on time. So it was a difficult desicion to make, but I left him and Mario in South Africa while the rest of us came to Windhoek as our ministry responisiblities required it of us. No don't worry I didn't leave them there, after 3 days they got the visa and joined us. What a happy feeling it was to see them get of that bus.
We are currently in Windhoek working with Beautiful Gate, a ministry that workls with AIDS orphans. We are running adventure camps for them. We will do 3 camps in one week. Hectic, but fun. We already did the first camp, and somehow survived. The camps are really busy because that is the only way too keep the kids out of trouble. Every single minute is filled. There are about 40 kids on each camp and we divide them into 4 families. So they are the kids we are the parents of the family. We have to take care of them for the whole time, even go and sleep in their dormitories when they are here. Throughout the morning and in the afternoon we do a lot of adventure games with them. Swinging from ropes, climbing on and over poles. Of course each game has a valuable life lesson they can take with them on their journey in life. We also have worship and teaching times . We sit in our families and have our meals. If they have torn clothes we give them new ones. If they don't have blankets we give them some. We want to create a "family atmosphere" for them. It's really hard work to be parents of 8 - 10 kids. Always keeping an eye on all of them. Making sure they go to the toilet, taking showers, drinking enough water, don't fight with each other. But at the end of the day as we go dead tired to bed, we all go with a satisfied heart.
We will do 2 more camps for ages 11-13 and then 14-17. Next Monday we will go to Ongwediva for our next outreach stop.
Oh and yesterday , Tim, Per and Martine went hiking in the mountains here on the base and as they were walking Tim stepped on a snake but apparently as he step he also jumped (I wish I could have seen that) God was really good to us because as we told some of the staff at the base what has happened they told us that from our description of the snake it must have been a black mamba - only one of the most poisoness snakes in Africa....
We are currently in Windhoek working with Beautiful Gate, a ministry that workls with AIDS orphans. We are running adventure camps for them. We will do 3 camps in one week. Hectic, but fun. We already did the first camp, and somehow survived. The camps are really busy because that is the only way too keep the kids out of trouble. Every single minute is filled. There are about 40 kids on each camp and we divide them into 4 families. So they are the kids we are the parents of the family. We have to take care of them for the whole time, even go and sleep in their dormitories when they are here. Throughout the morning and in the afternoon we do a lot of adventure games with them. Swinging from ropes, climbing on and over poles. Of course each game has a valuable life lesson they can take with them on their journey in life. We also have worship and teaching times . We sit in our families and have our meals. If they have torn clothes we give them new ones. If they don't have blankets we give them some. We want to create a "family atmosphere" for them. It's really hard work to be parents of 8 - 10 kids. Always keeping an eye on all of them. Making sure they go to the toilet, taking showers, drinking enough water, don't fight with each other. But at the end of the day as we go dead tired to bed, we all go with a satisfied heart.
We will do 2 more camps for ages 11-13 and then 14-17. Next Monday we will go to Ongwediva for our next outreach stop.
Oh and yesterday , Tim, Per and Martine went hiking in the mountains here on the base and as they were walking Tim stepped on a snake but apparently as he step he also jumped (I wish I could have seen that) God was really good to us because as we told some of the staff at the base what has happened they told us that from our description of the snake it must have been a black mamba - only one of the most poisoness snakes in Africa....
Monday, April 24, 2006
DTS outreach - Kakamas
Well I've got a little time to tell you about our week we had in Kakamas. For those of you who has no idea where or what Kakamas is....well it's a very small town in the Northern Cape. On our way here we drove for hundresds of kilometers with just the open spaces of African fields. So we are in a very remote but 'hungry for Jesus' little town.
We arrived here after our 2 weeks we spent in Kamieskroon, an even smaller town than this. We are camping in tents and cook our own food on one gas burner. We have our meetings in our kombi (minibus). So what our lifestyle is concerned we've had a very very basic life, but also a blessed one. As I'm writing here some of the team are doing their laundry by hand.... Another thing, is that with al the 'excitement' we have here in Kakamas we also found ourselves in each other's company more than ever before. We did have our occasional differences of opinions but I'm glad to report to you that our team is still doing good and our unity is even stronger than before. I'm so thankful towards GOd for doing this in our team.
So enough about camping, let me tell you about the ministry we did here in Kakamas. ONe day while we were still in J'bay (during the lecture phase) preparing for outreach, I got this idea to ask the 2 high schools if we can maybe get the opportunity to teach their life orientation classes. At first I thought it was a bit shaky, but now it seems like it was really a God inspired thought and our obedience has brought us much fruit. Both schools welcomed us and gave us the opportunity to teach formal classes. Well you may wonder now about our cirriculum. Well, we used our cultural diversity in our team as a starting point. So we would teach the students a little about his/her own country like Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands, the USA, Nigeria and I thaught about South Korea. The kids (and teachers) were very interested from the start but then we would go on and start talking about the major religions in the different countries and then bring the teaching to our own testimonies of how we have found Jesus, challenging the kids about making a commitment to Jesus too. At first we just taught the Life orientation classes but then on the second day other teachers also wanted us to teach their students so we ended up teaching in Science, History, English, Math (and many ) classes. We also taught students from grades 7 to 12, where we initially thought we would only see the grades 7 - 10. In the 4 days we were teaching we taught about 60 different classes all together. I once had the grade 12 History class to teach and I started out by asking them about their future plans and what came as a real shock to me I found that many of them haven't even started to make any plans for next year. So then I shared with them that GOd has a spesific plan for their lives, a plan to bring them fulfillment in their lives and they can only get to know that plan through a relationship with Jesus Himself. I also pointed out the things that can keep them from reaching their GOd-given dream. The students were dead quiet and I had their full atttention the whole time. I belief GOd has used me to make them think about Him and I know GOd is faithful and will help them to find Him too.
In the evenings we taught a mini-DTS (discipleship training school) at a church in the community. We covered the basic DTS topics like hearing the voice of God, Father heart of GOd, Worship, Intercession to name a few. It was reall blessed, some people came t o Christ and other came to our Lord again. We prayed with some of them so that they can forgive other people, we prayed with them to be filled with the Spirit, we've prayed for them become committed intercessors. I believe that everyone who attended our teaching were toucehed by GOd Himself in one or another way. I'm really impressed by the team and we have a couple of really gifted teachers.
From here were are going to go to Namibia where we will be involved with adventure camps for AIDS orphans. Please keep us in your prayer especially as we will travel about 1100km tomorrow. GOd is with us, and He is using us. We are thankful and blessed....
We arrived here after our 2 weeks we spent in Kamieskroon, an even smaller town than this. We are camping in tents and cook our own food on one gas burner. We have our meetings in our kombi (minibus). So what our lifestyle is concerned we've had a very very basic life, but also a blessed one. As I'm writing here some of the team are doing their laundry by hand.... Another thing, is that with al the 'excitement' we have here in Kakamas we also found ourselves in each other's company more than ever before. We did have our occasional differences of opinions but I'm glad to report to you that our team is still doing good and our unity is even stronger than before. I'm so thankful towards GOd for doing this in our team.
So enough about camping, let me tell you about the ministry we did here in Kakamas. ONe day while we were still in J'bay (during the lecture phase) preparing for outreach, I got this idea to ask the 2 high schools if we can maybe get the opportunity to teach their life orientation classes. At first I thought it was a bit shaky, but now it seems like it was really a God inspired thought and our obedience has brought us much fruit. Both schools welcomed us and gave us the opportunity to teach formal classes. Well you may wonder now about our cirriculum. Well, we used our cultural diversity in our team as a starting point. So we would teach the students a little about his/her own country like Canada, Sweden, The Netherlands, the USA, Nigeria and I thaught about South Korea. The kids (and teachers) were very interested from the start but then we would go on and start talking about the major religions in the different countries and then bring the teaching to our own testimonies of how we have found Jesus, challenging the kids about making a commitment to Jesus too. At first we just taught the Life orientation classes but then on the second day other teachers also wanted us to teach their students so we ended up teaching in Science, History, English, Math (and many ) classes. We also taught students from grades 7 to 12, where we initially thought we would only see the grades 7 - 10. In the 4 days we were teaching we taught about 60 different classes all together. I once had the grade 12 History class to teach and I started out by asking them about their future plans and what came as a real shock to me I found that many of them haven't even started to make any plans for next year. So then I shared with them that GOd has a spesific plan for their lives, a plan to bring them fulfillment in their lives and they can only get to know that plan through a relationship with Jesus Himself. I also pointed out the things that can keep them from reaching their GOd-given dream. The students were dead quiet and I had their full atttention the whole time. I belief GOd has used me to make them think about Him and I know GOd is faithful and will help them to find Him too.
In the evenings we taught a mini-DTS (discipleship training school) at a church in the community. We covered the basic DTS topics like hearing the voice of God, Father heart of GOd, Worship, Intercession to name a few. It was reall blessed, some people came t o Christ and other came to our Lord again. We prayed with some of them so that they can forgive other people, we prayed with them to be filled with the Spirit, we've prayed for them become committed intercessors. I believe that everyone who attended our teaching were toucehed by GOd Himself in one or another way. I'm really impressed by the team and we have a couple of really gifted teachers.
From here were are going to go to Namibia where we will be involved with adventure camps for AIDS orphans. Please keep us in your prayer especially as we will travel about 1100km tomorrow. GOd is with us, and He is using us. We are thankful and blessed....
Monday, April 10, 2006
DTS Outreach - Kamieskroon
We have the first week of outreach behind us now, time really flies. To give you a short update. We left J'Bay last Monday at about 8:00 am. We really had a blessed trip, just one small unfortunate event. We stopped at Storms River for a short break and Jana and Zubeida went for a walk on the bridge. Along came a truck with an abnormal wide load and as it passed Jana on the bridge it hit her on her shoulder ripping open her shirt leaving her with a bruise. It could have been so much worse, after one week she is healed; just her shirt still has some stitches.
It took us two days to travel to our first destination : Kamieskroon. It is a very small town in the Northern Cape only 65 houses in our small community. We are living in an orphanage at the moment, together with 44 kids aged from 8 – 18 and some staff. It took the team a day or two to get adjusted to the new surroundings and culture, but it seems like everyone is settled in now. We have divided the kids into 4 groups and every morning we have small groups with them. Then we can have some individual contact with them and do some Bible study and have time to connect with t hem and to make friends and to build trust. Then after that each one of us does our own thing with the kids. Usually Par goes to the soccer field followed by a couple of kids and spends some time with them. Mario will take his sketch book and go sit in the dining hall, soon after that some kids will come around him and try to copy the pictures he has drawn.
Martine will get her things to make bracelets and soon some kids will join her. So that is how we will spend our mornings. In the afternoons, we usually take some kids for a hike in the field or chat with them and play with them. It's a very relaxed atmosphere as it is school holidays. Some kids have opened up to us sharing some of their stories, crying on our shoulders. We listen to them. We pray for them. We dry their tears and give them hugs…. Yesterday we held the church service in the small reformed church in town. Charles preached a sermon on salvation. Mario gave his testimony. I translated. At the end 6 people came to the front and ask Jesus to become Lord of their lives. Par prayed with an old man leading him to Christ. Tim prayed for a family and the girl started to cry. The Holy Spirit convicted her and she also gave her life to Christ. We are humbled and thankful to be used by the Almighty God. Tonight Zubeida will give a teaching on the Father heart of God. All the kids will be there as well as some people from the community that we will invite. On Wednesday Evening Menno will give a teaching on dreaming God's dreams for your life. Friday evening we will have a talent show for the kids. We'll make it big, getting judges from the community, decorating the hall so that at the end we can make the kids feel very special and see them having a fun time…
Martine will get her things to make bracelets and soon some kids will join her. So that is how we will spend our mornings. In the afternoons, we usually take some kids for a hike in the field or chat with them and play with them. It's a very relaxed atmosphere as it is school holidays. Some kids have opened up to us sharing some of their stories, crying on our shoulders. We listen to them. We pray for them. We dry their tears and give them hugs….
Yesterday we held the church service in the small reformed church in town. Charles preached a sermon on salvation. Mario gave his testimony. I translated. At the end 6 people came to the front and ask Jesus to become Lord of their lives. Par prayed with an old man leading him to Christ. Tim prayed for a family and the girl started to cry. The Holy Spirit convicted her and she also gave her life to Christ. We are humbled and thankful to be used by the Almighty God.
Tonight Zubeida will give a teaching on the Father heart of God. All the kids will be there as well as some people from the community that we will invite. On Wednesday Evening Menno will give a teaching on dreaming God's dreams for your life. Friday evening we will have a talent show for the kids. We'll make it big, getting judges from the community, decorating the hall so that at the end we can make the kids feel very special and see them having a fun time…
So this is our lives for now, I'm very proud of my team. I must admit having orphanage food every day is not what they are used to and Mario even have his meals now without asking for tomato sauce every time and Tim has made peace with the fact that there will not be any second helpings. We are doing good growing closer to each other and to God.
So this is our lives for now, I'm very proud of my team. I must admit having orphanage food every day is not what they are used to and Mario even have his meals now without asking for tomato sauce every time and Tim has made peace with the fact that there will not be any second helpings. We are doing good growing closer to each other and to God.
Thank you for your prayers and please keep on praying for us.
It took us two days to travel to our first destination : Kamieskroon. It is a very small town in the Northern Cape only 65 houses in our small community. We are living in an orphanage at the moment, together with 44 kids aged from 8 – 18 and some staff. It took the team a day or two to get adjusted to the new surroundings and culture, but it seems like everyone is settled in now. We have divided the kids into 4 groups and every morning we have small groups with them. Then we can have some individual contact with them and do some Bible study and have time to connect with t hem and to make friends and to build trust. Then after that each one of us does our own thing with the kids. Usually Par goes to the soccer field followed by a couple of kids and spends some time with them. Mario will take his sketch book and go sit in the dining hall, soon after that some kids will come around him and try to copy the pictures he has drawn.
Martine will get her things to make bracelets and soon some kids will join her. So that is how we will spend our mornings. In the afternoons, we usually take some kids for a hike in the field or chat with them and play with them. It's a very relaxed atmosphere as it is school holidays. Some kids have opened up to us sharing some of their stories, crying on our shoulders. We listen to them. We pray for them. We dry their tears and give them hugs…. Yesterday we held the church service in the small reformed church in town. Charles preached a sermon on salvation. Mario gave his testimony. I translated. At the end 6 people came to the front and ask Jesus to become Lord of their lives. Par prayed with an old man leading him to Christ. Tim prayed for a family and the girl started to cry. The Holy Spirit convicted her and she also gave her life to Christ. We are humbled and thankful to be used by the Almighty God. Tonight Zubeida will give a teaching on the Father heart of God. All the kids will be there as well as some people from the community that we will invite. On Wednesday Evening Menno will give a teaching on dreaming God's dreams for your life. Friday evening we will have a talent show for the kids. We'll make it big, getting judges from the community, decorating the hall so that at the end we can make the kids feel very special and see them having a fun time…
Martine will get her things to make bracelets and soon some kids will join her. So that is how we will spend our mornings. In the afternoons, we usually take some kids for a hike in the field or chat with them and play with them. It's a very relaxed atmosphere as it is school holidays. Some kids have opened up to us sharing some of their stories, crying on our shoulders. We listen to them. We pray for them. We dry their tears and give them hugs….
Yesterday we held the church service in the small reformed church in town. Charles preached a sermon on salvation. Mario gave his testimony. I translated. At the end 6 people came to the front and ask Jesus to become Lord of their lives. Par prayed with an old man leading him to Christ. Tim prayed for a family and the girl started to cry. The Holy Spirit convicted her and she also gave her life to Christ. We are humbled and thankful to be used by the Almighty God.
Tonight Zubeida will give a teaching on the Father heart of God. All the kids will be there as well as some people from the community that we will invite. On Wednesday Evening Menno will give a teaching on dreaming God's dreams for your life. Friday evening we will have a talent show for the kids. We'll make it big, getting judges from the community, decorating the hall so that at the end we can make the kids feel very special and see them having a fun time…
So this is our lives for now, I'm very proud of my team. I must admit having orphanage food every day is not what they are used to and Mario even have his meals now without asking for tomato sauce every time and Tim has made peace with the fact that there will not be any second helpings. We are doing good growing closer to each other and to God.
So this is our lives for now, I'm very proud of my team. I must admit having orphanage food every day is not what they are used to and Mario even have his meals now without asking for tomato sauce every time and Tim has made peace with the fact that there will not be any second helpings. We are doing good growing closer to each other and to God.
Thank you for your prayers and please keep on praying for us.
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