Power Camp @ Mangwaneni

This is the fun part of my missionary work!!!

Power Camps!!!

Wednesday we had Power Camp @ Mangwaneni CarePoint!!!

And boy did we have fun!!!

We learned how powerful God is with the story of Jesus walking on the water and the disciples being scared like they saw a ghost!

They learned to keep their focus on God as He

protects them by making a visor that protects them from the sun and helps them keep their focus straight ahead.

They dug for treasure and learned Matthew 6:33 from a puppet friend. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."

And they jumped and danced for joy as they celebrated how much God loves them!

For those of you who help fund power camps Thank you!!!

If you want to help fund Power Camps you can donate just $10/child at

Childrenscup.org and click on the "donate now" and choose "Kids camps".

If we work together we can change a generation to rely on God as their source of strength!!

And for those that remember my sweet friend Pepe when she was so sick, here is a picture of her and her brother. Even though she looks 8 she is now 15 years old and in grade 5! She is doing great in school and is sooooo healthy (for those that don't know she almost died in 2008)!!!

God is AMAZING!!!

I love my job!!!

Full Discloser

I have been praying about posting this blog. It is difficult to live off of the income others work so hard to earn and not be able to get a "paycheck" for the work I do. There are no merit raises or anyone who holds me totally accountable for my hours (Children's Cup would if they needed to) except for God. I try to follow the scripture in

Colossians 3:23

"Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people."

So you are my bosses, per say, and I need to ask for a raise, which is not easy to do. But I love being God's hands and feet here and I want to continue working hard.

What is different than if I had a regular job and a regular boss is I feel you deserve full disclosure on how I live my life here. Am I asking for money because I live too lavishly and am reckless with my funding? I want to be honest and lay it all out there for you to decide.

I live in a nice cottage in the backyard of a larger home of other missionaries. I have running water and electricity. I do not live in traditional Swazi housing not because I do not think I could live in a cold mud hut, even with running water and electricity (although I probably couldn't) but because for a white person living here, our first concern is for safety so we look for homes that are secure. Which limits where we can live. So it is not outrageously expensive but costs about a third of what I get from my home church, The Oasis Church. The exchange rate is lower than it has been since I arrived in 2007. It is currently R6.6 to $1. Translated, for every $100, back in 2008/2009 meant 1000 Rand for me, now it means 660 Rand. Groceries and utility prices keep rising along with gas which is now about $5.30/gallon. In trying to visit & serve more of our CarePoints it uses a lot of gas. That is how I live. I rarely eat out. I bring my lunch to work everyday. I have a cellphone that is a necessity here and I buy groceries and utilities and other household items to keep my house clean and running. I take few trips although going to SA occasionally is almost a necessity but I have not been this year. I have to pay social security taxes on all my donations and so when estimated taxes are due, it is hard to make it the months it is due. I have to pay for medical insurance and doctor visits and medications. I do not have TV cable because it is a cost I would rather spend elsewhere. I tithe to the local church I attend. I have no savings except what comes in on my house rental in trying to save for the property taxes due at the end of the year. I cannot come back to the states to fundraise because honestly, I have no money for a ticket. So that is why I am blogging in an effort to raise some extra consistent monthly support.

At this point let me state that if you give regularly to my support at my home church, The Oasis church, this blog is not for you. All those at The Oasis Church need to donate to and through the church. I could not be here another day without their consistent monthly donation, but they cannot afford more and have given me permission to seek support elsewhere.

For those who are not donating that way, then hear my heart. I love being here but have no extra in my monthly budget to tune up my truck or get needed minor repairs. I have no extra to go out to eat this month, get my hair colored & cut or get a massage occasionally to relieve my neck and shoulder knots that lead to headaches. (I have had 1 in the last 4 months). I am so thankful for those of you who have given over the last several months but I am asking for you to help, if possible on a more regular basis.

I have laid this all out, not to guilt you or say that I am so sacrificial, but to be honest and open with you. This does not mean I covet your prayers and words of encouragement any less, on the contrary they sustain me and lift me up. I am asking you to pray on if God is calling you to give more regularly. I have one who donates every month and I thank her. If God leads you, great! If He does not, it will all sort out and it is okay. I am not naive to not know that things in the states are harder these days and that many of you are carrying extra burdens in one way or another. Just move if God leads you. If you need a tax deduction you can give through childrenscup.org (click on "Give now" and then on "Online Giving Form" which will list my name under designations)

or by mailing to

Children's Cup

PO Box 400

Prairieville, LA 70769

225-673-4505

If you mail please be sure to notate it is for me.

(I also have forms to email you if you would like an automatic bank draft taken)

If you do not need a tax deduction you can give directly to my PayPal account as a gift.

Thank you for letting me share my need. It is a very humbling thing to do. God is still in control and will work it all out for His glory, not for mine.

Thank you for loving me and praying for me and encouraging me!!!!

Life is fragile!

Today I am blogging more to help me process this last week. I have been confronted with how fragile life is. I found out that a week ago Saturday a dear friend's spouse died suddenly from a car accident while he was traveling out of state. In discovering this news I found out that just 3 weeks prior another friend's spouse (from the same circle of friends), who was only 39, had also died suddenly. I was in shock but was comforted in the fact that they were both Christians that loved the Lord.

But then Friday I drove up on a child who had been hit by a car. It happens far too often here. We have had many children over the years from the CarePoints who have died or been injured from collisions with cars. I won't be graphic with the details but by the time he was rushed to the hospital in the back of a truck, my thought was, "he will not make it unless God's healing hand falls on him." I don't know the child, I don't know the outcome for cetain and I doubt I will ever know.

My heart is sad but no tears come. This is the part of me that I have trouble with. I am good in a crisis. What needs to be done . . . do it. Then afterwards the rationalization of there was nothing else I could do, I can not go back and change anything, trust that God was there, He is sovereign and it is a part of life on earth. A lousy part but a part. I am hoping that in writing this the tears will come; that the softer more vulnerable side of me will surface but for now I plug on.

Even without tears, the one urgency this has all stirred up in me is eternity. I am comfortable that at any second I could die and will spend eternity in heaven. But what about others. I could not imagine seeing what I see and living what I am living without God intimately in my life. What about those who do not have that personal relationship. Not only for the day to day stuff but for the life after death, forever and ever stuff. At the end of this last week that is what is breaking my heart now. How many of you that read my blog, go through the motions but don't know Christ as your Savior? How many people do I encounter every day that could be gone in a second and spend forever in hell? Am I living a life that shines Christ, speaks Christ and reflects Christ so others can know Him? Life on earth is fragile and extremely short in the shadow of eternity.

Don't waste another second trying to do life on your own. Jesus is God's son. He is part of God, the part that came to earth and died as the ultimate sacrifice yet rose again to be seated with God in heaven. He is alive in all who believe through the Holy Spirit living within us. Without Him, life has no meaning. Without Him eternity is hell. I have never been this evangelical in my blog but it matters and I pray that it matters to you.

"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

(Postscript: Last night someone poisoned one of the 2 dogs on our property and he died. How can people have that much hate in them? It has just been a sobering week.)