40 Days of Prayer

http://www.childrenscup.org/v2/fortydays/

As we start the 40 Days of Prayer, tomorrow August 1st, for Children's Cup, I encourage you to join us through the link above.

Lately I've been reading through Ephesians in my quiet time and God has been highlighting some verses each day that I can't help but put on note cards (bright colored ones thanks to my gift package) and to meditate on. I felt incline to share them with you. Prayer is a powerful tool that enables us to unleash God's power and give us clarity in even our smallest choices."Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope." Ephesians 3:20

"Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do." Ephesians 5 :16-17

(Note: This says WHAT not WHY)

August 1st is a prayer for the healing of Aids. Read my old stories or those of the other missionaries and know that Aids is a daily reality here. Although HIV status is confidential and not everyone has the disease, odds are one out of every two people you speak to has it, whether they know it or not. The illnesses and the ramifications related to the disease is rampant. Read Ephesians 3:20 again. May God grant healing beyond what we ask and hope!!!!!

Life Isn't Always Pretty

Some weeks are harder than others. Sometimes we hurt people we love or they hurt us. Sometimes people we care about suffer pain and our heart breaks for them. Sometimes people we trust violate that and they make bad choices with horrible consequences.
That was last week for me. Satan strives to knock us down in many ways. What he doesn't know is that when we are down and on our knees we are more powerful than when we were trying to do things on our own strength.
I have offended my son to where he has shut off communication. I will pray for peace of each of us individually and as a family.
I have a co-worker who strived for a long time to get pregant and miscarried last week. I will continue to pray for comfort.
I have missionary friends whose home was broken into and valuables stolen. I will pray for them to replace their loss and not fear.
I have a co-worker who violated trust in a big way to where we now have to lock doors and take precautions. I will pray for discernment and to not distrust others.
I'm like others who struggle with anger, pride, helplessness and fear. But God is good and more powerful than the enemy. "For when I am weak then I am strong."
Joseph, in Genesis said "As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil." (Genesis 50:20) Joyce Meyers puts it great: "So often in our lives, Satan thinks he is doing some terrible thing to bring about our destruction, and yet God has another plan entirely. He intends to take what Satan means for our harm and work it out not only for our good, but for the good of the many whom we will minister."
Thank you for being patient as I share my struggles as well as my triumphs. I am richly blessed!

Victoria Escapes Massacre

For those of you who haven't been reading my blog long, Victoria is the pet chicken who lives in my yard (Patrick bought but I named her and collect her eggs :)

"Victoria Escapes Massacre" was the gossip at our office after we had "chicken" day at both the Mbabane CarePoints.

We had 20 chickens delivered to both Fonteyn and Mangwaneni Mbabane CarePoints recently to add to the beans and pop menu. We did it on two different days so I could "help out" with both. Now these were not chickens from the store, all prepackaged and ready to cook. These were 20 live chickens! Although I did not volunteer to behead any of them, I did pluck my share of them.

For those folks raised on a farm you already know, but it was new information for me that chickens pluck easily after dipping them in boiling water for 10 seconds. You are supposed to pluck quickly though and I was a little slow at it.

I also did not realize so much of a chicken is edible. Except for the feathers and the stomach, all else is eaten. I not only plucked but squeezed out intestines. What fun!

Our newest housemate, here for 6 weeks, Bethany, a recent high school graduate actually helped with the draining of the headless chickens @ Fonteyn. She said maybe next time she will help pluck and clean. :)

I did try a chicken foot, it is skin and fat, not so healthy but very tasty. The intestines look like worms but taste a lot like the liver. Not my favorite. Note the toes sticking up in the big pot of cooking chicken.

All teasing aside it was a great learning experience for me and relationship building with the cooks! But nothing topped the excitement of the kids to get to have chicken! God is good! You all are awesome!! Only because Oasis of Swaziland supports these two CarePoints were we able to add chicken to the menu for the day!! You are making a difference and impact on a generation of children!Blessings abound and everything was finger licking good!!!

Anyone hungry?

Victoria better keep laying eggs!!!

4th of July in Africa

Someone asked if they have the 4th of July in Africa. Yes they do, as well as the 3rd of July and the 5th of July! Ha! Ha!

Seriously, the Americans got together for a 4th of July celebration. As with everything it was the same but different. We had a chili cookoff, volleyball game, homerun hitting contest (hard to find bats and balls though), food and fireworks. We had popcorn and pre packaged cotton candy. We had hamburgers and hotdogs with BBQ beans and potatoe salad. Not quite as good as back home but fun. We also had a small fireworks show.

The weather was beautiful, a little cool but not cold after the sun set. The fun part is the fireworks were done and we were on our way home by 7 pm since it is winter and short days here. Here are some pics of the event.

Friends - I was taking the picture and thus cut myself off since my arms aren't that long :-)

Food:

Fireworks:

Clothing distribution

I apologize for my lack of blogging. Days are shorter here now and it gets dark about 5:30 pm. It's just harder to want to be at the office late when it is dark and cold (no central heat) and since that is the only place I have internet (as slow as it is) I have not been blogging as much.

It wasn't so hard when you all were having winter and I had summer but now that it is reversed, I'm bummed. I go to bed earlier though since I have no TV to stay up until the "news". When it's cold and dark it just seems like midnight when it's only 7:10 pm! Eesh! (did I spell that right?) Don't think I'm in bed by 8 every night :-). We do watch movies, or have dinner with friends or read or play games.

Anyway, at the Oasis @ Swaziland CarePoints a couple of weeks ago we were able to get lots of bags of Goodwill clothing and give out 2 pieces to each child. (I know many of you would like to send clothing from home but the postage alone would cost a lot more than the amount per item we paid for these) We were lacking in older children clothes and will try to do one aimed at those ages soon.

Here are the pictures. I only had my camera with me the day I was at Fonteyn but we did distribute at both CarePoints. Many of these children didn't have jackets or sweatshirts or warm clothing. At night it gets down to the low 40's or high 30's so you can imagine in a mud house how cold it can get. Thank all you who support these CarePoints and/or me!! You are making a difference!

"Prayer Trumps Whining"

This is a profound thought:

"Prayer Trumps Whining"

Christy put this up in her office and I have caught myself whining too many times to count in the last week since she posted it. When I give it over to God and stop whining to others it's amazing how He takes care of it. Sometimes He changes the situation but more often than not He changes my outlook!

Also, check out Christy's blog if you haven't. She is a profound and funny blogger!!! :)
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Few Days Away

I'm in Africa. It would be a shame to go home without seeing some of the sites. With all that's been going on I knew I needed to get away. And I picked the perfect place for me to rest and renew --- Durban. (From left to right) Faith, Nomty, Becca and I left Saturday morning and got home Tuesday night. My only regret is I should have planned a longer stay. Sunday it rained but we went to the mall to get things not easily found in Swaziland (like a down comforter for early birthday present --it is winter here if I haven't mentioned it before and no central heat). Saturday afternoon, Monday and Tuesday morning the weather was fabulous although cool but nice (it's winter here). Here is the view from our room.Durban is on the eastern coast of South Africa. It is about a 6 hour drive (7 if it takes time to get through the border crossing) from Swaziland. It is on the Indian Ocean! Nomty who was born in Swaziland overcame her fear of the ocean during our stay. Becca who is a missionary with AIM (Adventures In Missions) has been in Africa for 2 1/2 years and had stayed at the place we rented last year. Faith is here from Georgia for about 3 months helping Becca. We introduced Nomty to McDonalds while we were at the mall and she got a mega Big Mac meal (but in Africa there are no free refills -- I really miss that about the states). Less words more pictures. More words, less pictures?

The beach is the most relaxing place I could hope to be. I love collecting seashells! Ican spend hours at a time looking at the intricate details. During my quiet time walking on the beach and collecting shells I could feel my heart beat return to normal (so I guess stress does aggravate it). The Lord and I shared in the beauty of the little shells. The ones that made it through the rough surf unbroken and the ones that were smooth a calming to touch after all the rough edges had been worn away by the surf. He then spoke to me and pointed out that even though the little things are important, when I'm concentrating on the looking at the shells I miss the magnificient beauty of the ocean. "Look up and enjoy the bigger picture and the gorgeous view!" Whoa! So true! Someone could walk right up behind me and I would never see them coming. And the ocean itself is so beautiful and calming.

I feel God is working and molding me and helping me find a better balance. My job is made up of so much of the little stuff but He is teaching me to look at the His whole plan and not get bogged down in so many of those little details. I don't know if that makes sense. I just know I'm a work in progress. Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed being there for just those couple of days.