The POWER of God In Us!!!

Why hello there friends and family!!

Thank you once again for your continued prayers for our team as we continue our service in the beautiful country of South Africa.

The latest memory verse for our group was Colossians 1:29 which says

"To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me."

This verse was very appropriate becasue we realize how God continues to give us the energy to work with the people at Living Way, the Life Skill Educators, and the Children at Overcome Heights and Capricorn. We realize that we do not have to rely solely on our efforts to show the kids the path to God's Kingdom, but rather how God works through us powerfully and gives us all the strength we need. We have bonded so much as a team because God has given us an opportunity to have us serve all the children in the kids club, the LSE's, the people at Living Way, and one another. We challenge you all to be united with us as well by memorizing Colossians 1:29 and to remember that even in times when you may feel weak, know that God will provide the strength for you.

Well here's the latest breaking news. On Wednesday we continued our work with Living Way where the girls continued the process of weeding and gardening. They have done a fantastic job in changing how the opening area of the Living Way campus looks. Myself and Mark have been creating a compost pile, moving and building furniture, and moving soil so that they can plant a new layer of grass on the campus.

Molly gave us a great analogy in terms of how the process of weeding can relate to our lives. She noted how our sin is like the weeds in the ground and that if we do not pull up fix the "root" issue, change will not be able to be made for the better. If you just clip off the top layer of the sin, then the root problem will still be embeded in you and eventually the sin will come back and hit you harder. We were all challenged and I hope you all are too to remember not to just clip off the top layer of your "sin", but rather completely dig out the root issue and therefore get rid of that sin entirely.

Also on Wednesday we returned from an afternoon running around with some crazy kids at Overcome Heights. They set up a basketball hoop and I had the opportunity to teach some of the kids how to shoot a basketball. One of the kids, Rosario, caught on real quick and began draining some deep shots! The kids are so much fun and we love going to Overcome and Capricorn. It truly is one of if not the brightest spot in my trip so far.

We added a few new members to the house that we are staying in too! Two members from last year's UD team, Amy Whitlock and Ronnie Fricke have returned to serve on a long-term basis for 6 and a 1/2 months! Also we have new friends, Nicole and Chris, from two different countries, Canada and England respectively. Over the next few weeks the team looks forward to continue the fellowship we have had with Ronnie and Amy at UD, and to start new friendships with Nicole and Chris. It's a very exciting time to be at the team house as much is changing for the better!

On Thursday we continued with the weeding and soil moving at Living Way and once again had a blast at Kids Club in Capricorn. One of the little boys, Reese, has decided to use my body as a tree for most of the Kids Club! He and about four to five other kids consistently decided that I would be a good target to cling too. It's been so much fun learning the kids stories as when they cling onto you, you have some time to talk with them. We also started with the Bible lessons for the kids and the team performed as skit of the story of Jesus coming into town on Palm Sunday. We also gave the kids a memory verse: Psalm 145:3

It says " Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise. His greatness no one can fathom"

The kids caught on quick as we even gave them hand motions to follow. The team can teach you the hand motions as well if you would like too!

We also stopped by African Hope Crafts which is located right near the Living Way facilities. There they employ women from a local village have handmade jewelry at very low prices. They started out in connection with Living Hope, but have been so successful that they were able to get a seperate store they can run themselves. It was great becasue not only was the jewelry very cool, but we had the opportunity to talk with the employees as well.

Also, Thursday night we had the priviledge of dining with the founders of Living Hope, John and Avril Thomas. They told us about how they got started with the ministry, where they want it to go, and many other stories of hope that the team definitely was encouraged by. We also were challenged with some startling statistics about the community and how people cannot just run away from the problems exposed in South Africa. It was a wonderful night and we truly enjoyed their company and learned so much from them.

On Friday, we were at Living Way working the whole day, as there was no kids club on friday. This was also the day that the memory verse of Colossians 1:29 was worked on. It was very appropriate for that day since we were working for about six to seven hours. Luckily, God kept the weather on the cooler side so we could not only be happy in the way God was using us at that time, but we didn't mind that the sun was not shooting a intense beam of light upon us!

Friday night we had a blast as we went to the youth group at Capricorn. The youth group consists of kids from about the age of 12-16 and they threw a disco that night. Now the group was a tad confused but luckily no one dressed up in 70's gear as a disco to them was just a regular dance! It was such a fun night, and we got to really meet some of the older kids in the community. After such a long day the team was exhausted and got some much needed rest.

Finally, today we're planning on taking a trip to Cape Point and Boulders Beach on the southern part of South Africa. There we'll be able to see some amazing scenery and more importantly penguins!! We're very excited to go and are sure to bring back some great pictures!

Well if you've made it this far, we've reached the end of the blog for now. But we'll be updating the blog over the next few days. Ta Ta for now!

In Him,
Rob

PS: Hi family!! Don't let Buster play too hard with Mike's new puppy!