From Red soil to Black

Yes the soil is red in the deserts of Australia. And yes the soil at home could not be blacker. No metaphor -just a cheesy visual.

We have been home for about a week and half. It took us about a week to recover from, 12 hour time difference, jet-lag. Which in my experience is a record. Matt and I experienced much ware fare coming home in our travels. Lets just say our booking agency forgot to finalize our last flight and we got to stay in New York City for night and a half. In the opportunity to despair I'd like to say "we didn't" while we were missing 2 nights of sleep but that wouldn't be true. Nevertheless we have had time to pray, recoup, and reflect so here I am.
FUTURE:
The plan for the last several months was and is that we would come home to raise awareness about missions. "How is God really moving across the globe?" and to build faith by encouraging others that Jesus taking prostitutes off the street and giving hope to street beggars in Africa is the same God that wants to move in the midst of his people our community here. That means a season of serving in our home community, and home church in practical and tangible ways also. Similarly we feel that this is a time to ask people to partner with us prayerfully and financially so that we can continue to serve in the nations. Our goal is to continue to partner Youth With A Mission, Perth, Australia and work in the 3rd world neighboring nations starting in next April (2010).

This week we were invited by the new pastor to a United Methodist Missions conference. Thankfully the focus so far has been challenging church (as a whole) in missions; not just a time for a denomination to pat themselves on the back. There have been several seminars about the 'poor' of the community and around the globe; and how the bible calls us to tangibly serve them.

I bawled to see extensive video about the suffering in Darfur, Sudan... If you do not know about the political-social-economical issues in Darfur PLEEASE GOOGLE IT!














As the rainy season gets under way in South Darfur, UMCOR has helped keep hope in the future alive by providing seeds and agricultural tools to displaced families. Here Adel Dut plants sorghum on land outside the camp.
Photo: Paul Jeffrey/UMCOR (United Methodist Commitee on Relief, from http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ )

We had met a few refugees from the Sudan while we were in Cape Town, so seeing the child soldiers on the screen immediately brought tears to my eyes; but impacted my heart to see that the global church (as a whole) is rising to the challenge in many ways and tangibly working to serve the people there.
We have gotten a few more ideas about what Matt and I can do while we home, ways we as YWAM can connect with the global relief efforts of the UMCOR, and thoughts to possibly inspire our church to become more active in in the community we are from.

Ohhh and a personal favorate.. Fair Trade Chocolate and Coffee!! AWARENESS-AWARENESS-AWARENESS!!" The U.S. imports 50% of its cocoa fromt the Ivory Coast in West Africa, where thousands of children, as young as 5 years have been trafficked into slavery to work on cocoa farms." www.equalexchange.coop/interfaith



If your interested>> two books I was encouraged to read to be more impactful as a church:
The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne

unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons

South Africa Journal- August.

I know that this goes against conventional blogging -post-posting but I wanted to share thoughts and memories from my journal that are still fresh on my mind today.

The boys home. In the community of Woodstock.
"I took you from the ends of the earth.. from the farthest corners,.. chosen and not rejected. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed,... I will strengthen you, help you, and not let you go." Isaiah 41:8-9

Before we left prayed about what God wanted to share at the Boys home on Pine Street. It was to be 5 of us, and 5 others were going to another home. These boys, from what we knew, were off the street. Some of us had a first assumption that they were put there as a punishment because they broke the law or were illegal immigrants of a sort. How wrong we were. As we prayed though we asked God to help us get our hearts right and to clear anything out of our path that would prevent these guys from healing and growing through our time with them. The scripture Isaiah 41:8-9 was shared. It hit me square between the eyes in a very personal way.

What followed was a vividly passionate and strangely surreal time with these boys who’s age ranged from 9-18. My friend, who’s heart was now healed and strengthened, spoke openly and transparently in front of these guys about her past, about how God has and is continuing to heal her fully. No more lies, no more façade, no fear of rejection. They seemed unusually soft and receptive. We then divided into groups of 3 to 4 including one of us in each group.

In my group there was young Cape Townian man and guy from Zimbabwe who quickly shared that he could relate to her in many different ways. Tears came to his eyes as he shared that he was a refugee of sorts. He never knew his father, and his mother passed away just a couple years ago. Emotion flowed comfortably out of him as he shared the rigid words of guilt he felt for leaving his younger brother behind to come to South Africa. This teenage man carried this massive pile guilt and shame that he had the opportunity to go to school. Im talking high school! He was ashamed that he had food to eat, and a roof over his head. As we finished talking and I prayed for him the tention on his face appeared to change.

The next two times I saw him he seemed very encouraged and light hearted as he spoke with me about his future plans.
Our prayers been effective in Cape Town.


I want to cry. August 20 2009
We have seen God do an amazing amount through our team as we have worked along side the churches we have been doing ministry with. It has been hard at times. I have struggled emotionally but it has been a time that I have been weakest and I have seen God pick it all up off my shoulders and lay it all on His.

As a predominantly white team, with predominantly foreign accents at least one of our team will get approached almost daily for money. Children run up to us barefoot on the glass spattered streets “rand, rand?” they mutter quickly. (Rand is the currency here.) Women in the city have approached me more than once, with a feeding infant slung to their chest they spout off frantically “I need money for my children, we sleep on the streets, and have no food.”
One boy in the city obviously tripping on ’glue’ with his eyes rolled up into his head, drool coming from his mouth, and feet stumbling to keep his balance “Don’t give me money, don’t give me money, just give me food.” His name was Michael. His face was empty and his body a wrangled skeleton. Michael was someone’s little boy, and if he had never been he needed to be. I will never forget the aerosol and gas smell to his clothes and incredibly shallow, close-to-death look to his expression. About 18 or so years old, helplessly addicted and wandering the dangerously dark streets alone,.. I wanted to take him in before he passed out again in what I imagined was a garbage filled ally somewhere.
As am finding myself more and more numb; I am therefore all the more calling out to God to soften my heart. Who said doing missions is easy? The gap between extreme poverty and extreme wealth is so huge that it turns my heart inside out to try to explain. One has to dive deep into the history of Cape Town to understand the hopelessness and helplessness that attempts to drive this curse deep into the heart of the next generation.

This past Sunday I spoke at a church many of the words that I share daily with people we meet on the street. People see our new clothes and hear our accents as clear as the Hollywood screen and often their body language reads in envy and presumption. Whether I am understanding them correctly or not; the God of South Africa is the same God of the United States, Indonesia, Germany, Brazil, and Canada. Whether I understand their pain and shame completely or not; God does. The phase I use a lot is “hopelessness is hopelessness, no matter where your from, what your back round, or skin color.”
“If a person is willing to give up, or take their life, no matter what the reason - something or someone has lied to them, and that lie is not from God.”

Common scenes of Cape Town

Looking back..Quick Post

Wow, its over... its actually over. 

This ride has been untamed and sobering. The next couple places we worked in CapeTown didn't offer much help on the internet end of things.. so sorry we dropped off the face of the planet for a while.

I'm currently going through hundreds of pictures to pick a few to post to our beloved blog readers. 

We will be home soon. Soon to see our families, soon to raise prayer and financial parters, and soon to recover from the emotional and warefareic living that we have endured and enjoyed the last 6 monthes. (Although hoping to return asap)

Love you Friends of Cape Town, and Perth...Miss you already. See you soon Venango Land (Pennsylvania).. after a goods nites rest high fives and hugs your way.

Matt and Steph signing out at the Sydney Airport- free'Optus' internet service.