October

Well hello folks! It has been yet another crazy month, but so wonderful! We again have felt and seen the love and presence of the Lord and His people so strongly over these last weeks. Our spring has begun and things are beginning to turn green. It is amazing how fast once the rains come the grass begin to turn green. It reminds me how the Lord makes things new everyday and refreshes us with His love and mercy.

We had an amazing time during with some of our key leaders in South Africa as well as the country leaders from Zambia, David Malanga and Zimbabwe, Tarisayi Zibanayi. David spent a week re-writing the four training modules to be more consistent and updated. The training modules are Foundations, Strategy, Multiplication and Vision. These are the core of our curriculum at J-Life. Each one has its own focus of Jesus’ life and ministry and how he used his life as a teaching tool for us. The week was amazing to see each group take a module and work, pray and come together. Just watching the groups relying on the Holy Spirit to speak and lead them was a reminder of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are blessed at J-Life to be a very diverse group with the understanding that we all have a voice and different is not bad, it is just different. Different than maybe what we grew up with, race, language, religious background or social status, but that doesn’t matter. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and forgives you of your sin because we are all sinners. We walk in faith by grace. The work has begun as continues not only on the modules, but in our lives as well.

Acts Family Church Youth (Stokies) have been quite busy this month. They took a mission trip at the beginning of this month to Fort White. The youth also went to a children’s home for our service project. We were so blessed to get to spend the morning with about 10 children who ranged in age from 2 to 13. The children there had been removed from their home for some reason and stayed at this particular home for about 6 months average. One girl, Cornell, was leaving the next day after 10 months to go to an orphanage. They had had trouble placing her because of her HIV status and age. She is positive and 11 years old. She is only in grade 2 because of her situation. I believe in a stable home environment she would thrive and do very well, but like many many like her in South Africa it seems impossible for that to happen.

It is overwhelming sometimes for me to go homes or orphanages like that. I am overwhelmed by gratefulness for my own children and their health, for my parents and family, but at the same time I am asking myself and the Lord what to do about all these children? It simply just breaks my heart. I want to just sweep them all up and take them all home. Why is this the way it is? We have been thinking about and talking about grace, love, mercy, and justice this last month and I wonder to myself what these kids would say about it…To share the love of Christ with them, the love of a Father that maybe they have never known, to show mercy to those who have hurt you…To love the unlovely…to give grace, to show grace, to be grace. Grace in a world that doesn’t understand a gift that can be free.

We want to thank you for all your support and prayers! We are so grateful for all of you who send emails or Facebook messages. It is so encouraging for us to know that you are praying for us and each time we get an email or message it is the Lord’s timing and it is perfect! Thank you for your continued financial support in these continued financial hard days for many of you. We are so blessed!

Nonnie

Just going through some pictures today and saw some of my little Nonnie. They were taken mostly of when the youth were here on mission trip. She was about eight years old 'Mom' thought at the orphanage. She came to the orphanage not to long before our church, Acts Family Vereeniging and Ext 23 adopted this little orphanage. She was is bad shape. She had AIDS. She had been abandoned by her mother, like most of the children here at the orphanage. This is the case across many of the countries in Africa. Tragic to think...

For me, I cannot imagine the choices these mothers face. Grace, love and mercy have to be for both moms and babies. I look at the kids and wonder what hard-ship did those parents face? What a hard thing to do...give up your child in hope that they will find something better.

For Nonnie, it was a better choice. She did get health care and the medicine she needed. Mom did love her. We all loved her. She was so full of life. The first time I met her, she was so shy. But hello love! She wouldn't come to me and if you know me and babies, that will just not happen. I will do pretty much anything, including bribery, for them to come to me. Well, finally found the thing that Nonnie loved. Pen and paper and lotion. So, every time she saw me, she knew I would come with some kind of pen, pencil, crayons, markers, or something to draw with and on. And don't think I was taking them back with me, oh no...leaving it all there, heart and all.

Early in August, I got a phone call form Dudu that she had gone to heaven and was healed. Forever...no more pain, no more suffering. Nonnie is not the only one here in South Africa or Africa. There are many like her. We are here to change the next generation through love. Love is the answer.

Grace

I was thinking today about grace and what we as believers are doing with it and about it? And what am I doing about it?

I was thinking about grace, Africa, our J-Life teams, FBC McKinney, friends, family, and the amazing opportunities we are given every day. Our family is in a place where we have the amazing opportunities to experience growth in young people over a year that most people do not get to see. Our one year program that we have with J-Life has taken the lives of about 40 young people over the course of the last ten months and changed them and changed us.

We have the view of watching them grow and learn about Christ and what He has done for us. These young people have an intensive training for four months and then move into communities to work with local youth groups that are mostly struggling. So, with excitement we watch…

Now, to my thoughts about grace… We have all had a moment that grace has been given to us as believers. The moment that we accept that Christ died on the cross and paid for our sins, we were given grace. By the very definition of grace, it is not earned. It is not that we don’t have consequences to our sin. But, it is that we offer or are offered grace. Here in Africa the consequences to sin are apparent. The forefathers to this nation made choices that today’s generation are still paying the consequences for.

Jesus offers the words about grace, love and mercy all throughout the Bible. Does Christ say love your neighbor if? No, He says love your neighbor. He doesn’t say love your neighbor if he has the same skin color, if he has the same social status, if he doesn’t have AIDS, if he steals from you, if, if, if…There are no ‘if’ in the Love your neighbor and part of loving is extending and showing grace.

We are in this race together. So, let’s learn together…

Nana

We got a call early this morning that Nana had passed away. Nana is Andrew's grandmother, (Tracy's mom). Nana had been fighting cancer for the last several months and the last couple were a very hard struggle. She was an amazingly strong woman. We had the privilege of seeing her and Tracy in December of last year in South Africa. I only met Nana after David and I were engaged or married. I cannot remember now. She always made the effort to make me feel welcome into the family.

Andrew would go every summer to Nana's house for a few weeks to visit. He would have the best time. Once Matthew and Grace were born, she treated them as she treated Andrew. She would send them cards on every holiday and then presents at Christmas. My kids know when Nana sent a card there is always a prize inside! Even the team members at J-Life know that "Nana cards" are the best!

She will always be remembered as our Nana. She was a special lady to us all. She will be missed. We love you Nana.

Zimbabwe STeM

I forgot to tell one story of being at the soccer field and waiting on the boys to get finished playing. I looked around and all these girls were there as well. So...I thought what to do...I remembered I had lotion in my bag and began to give hand massages at the "Salon" at the Soccer field. Our salon we just sat around and I began to tell them of the love of Jesus and that they are princesses. They could receive the grace Jesus was offering them just as easy as they received the massage from me. A pretty amazing moment...

STeM-Short Term Equpping Mission...We went to help train and support our Zim guys, but as always you grow and are stretched.

Facebook

Please see www.facebook.com/elizabeth.even for more pics and info

Matthew Dancing

Matthew during stem joined the Dance team. You could choose between dance, drama or prayer. During second STeM, Matthew learned the dance that the dance team did during school visits or church services. Africans LOVE to dance. So, being in Africa, we dance. The Lord loves dancing! It is a great expression of worship. It speaks to people like music or words or other things that don't speak to someone else. Anyway, he was SO cute and actually pretty good. Anyway, we are looking forward to seeing the youth team here this next week!

Secunda Team

Liz, Samantha, James, Christopher, Justin and (in back) David

Extension 23

The Lord must of been speaking to all of us (or maybe just me) about the work that has been done and being done in Ext 23 and in SA.  Our church here, Acts Community, spends one of every 6-8 weeks on a Sunday serving in some capacity or another.  Yesterday we spent working at the church in Ext 23.  This is our plant church from Acts Community.  We also have a J-Life team working there this year.  Dudu and Thabiso are still working there as pastors under the leadership of Acts Community, Vereeniging.  

The work there was amazing!  We continued to work on some plumbing/pipe issues and got that completed.  The men mostly worked on that.  The rest of the youth and women worked on clearing trash from the land beside the church property that has become a dumping ground.  There is a fence around the church property so it is protected from that.  Anyway, the kids and church members helped in the cleaning up and moving dirt to fill in the trench.  The area looked much better and we are hoping that soon we will be able to acquire the property next to the church.  

Lorna (John's wife), Dudu, Grace, Jordan (John's daughter), Chevonne and myself went to an orphanage along with a team of "guys" to work on the outside of the house.  The orphanage is a regular house in Ext 23 that is lead by a lady named Grace.  She is mother to 20 children.  The church in Ext 23 is working with this orphanage to build on 2 rooms and have a long-term relationship. J-Life is also hoping to build a long-term relationship.  Lorna, Chevonne and I went to meet and speak with Grace to establish this relationship.  We are praying it works out. I spent some time playinjg and holding a little girl who is 5.  She has AIDS.  All she wanted was to be fed breakfast and to be held.  The other kids just played and laughed. Grace and Jordan ran and played with the other little girls.  It was great to see them all together.  The kids from the orphanage go to school if they are of age.  They get made fun of quite a bit, as you can imagine.  It breaks my heart for them. 

Later we were able to attend the service which again was wonderful and was great to hear Thabiso preach and worship together.  AND, I at the end one of the older youth/young adults (hard to tell sometimes) came up to me and said, "I know you from somewhere." I said to him that I had been around Ext 23 a lot and I didn't know where he would know me from... We talked for a bit and come to find out...He finally asked me if I went to soccer with Thabiso! It was with the soccer team in 2006 when we went and played soccer in 07! Can you believe! I left praising God that there was at least one boy whose life had been changed and I had gotten to see it! So many times you go on short term missions and you don't know, but yesterday I again met this boy face to face. I, of course, wanted to start crying.  He was beautiful young man who loved God and whose life was changed because somebody decided to play soccer and show him the love of Jesus! 

Crying now, I am praising God for all of you and the lives you lead everyday.  Thanks for praying and giving all that you do! You are the reason we can stay and live life here. I am glad to be able to share with you.

Newest Addition

Well, we did not know how to quite tell everyone this, but...

We got a dog! Did I get ya? I bet at least some of ya thought we got a little African baby. You know ya did.  Because those of you that did, know me and know that I love babies! But, at this point, we are just adjusting with the ones we've got and loving that "Andrew" got a new puppy.  He is a three month old Rotweiller cross and his name is Ranger.  After the Texas Rangers, of course... He is going to be our SECURITY.  I want him to have one of those sweaters with the word security on the back of it, but no one is going along with me. Wonder why?  

He is a boy and is a guard dog... 

Anyway, so far so good.  He is super smart and knows to stay out of the house when the door is open and is potty trained.  We are working on the gate.  He is still a curious little thing. Anyway, I hope you think he is as cute as we do. He has a very good temperment and hopefully will grow to be a good guard dog.