Today we are helping with a medical clinic called Luke Commission.  We expect to treat over 1000 people at this one day clinic!

A few days ago an abandoned baby was brought to Pastor Gift's house.  Her young mother had given birth to twins.  In a few short weeks the mother and other twin had died of HIV/AIDS.  Now this little girl is 4 months old with no family.  The team is caring for her until we can get her placed in a home somehow.  She is 4 months old but small like a new-born.  She will be the first patient at the clinic today.  Please pray for her as she almost certainly has some difficult medical issues.

In the mean time we are feeding her every two hours and taking turns through the night.

Water is life here in Africa.  I guess it is life everywhere but in some places like here you just don't take it for granted.  I have been reading through the Bible this year and have been impressed how often water is related to life itself – life with God.  Still waters, rivers of life, clean water over a dry and weary land.

In 2007 our friends Ed and Linda Langfeldt donated some money for a project here in Swaziland.  Since Ed has spent a lot of his life drilling wells in Indiana we thought it would be appropriate to put the money toward a water related project.

 

Ruby (on the left in front of the old kitchen at Ntabas) is the main gogo who cooks at Ntabas.  Ruby is 78 years old and has never been married or had kids of her own.  But she has taken care of plenty and even now has several children living in her home with her. Now can you imagine a 78 year old woman carrying 5 gallons of water on her head for a mile up a hill from a creek?  Well, this was Ruby.

The summer of '07 my father was in Swaziland with Marcia and me.  We worked very hard for a few days putting in a cement block stand for a large water tank for the Ntabas care point.  It was great to see Ruby light up when we put in the water tank and stand so she would not have to carry water so far and we could also provide clean water delivered to fill the tank.  (On a side note, I think Ruby likes dad – their birthdays are only a couple weeks apart and the same year and when she saw us this time around she asked about him and brought a picture of the two of them together in 2007!)

Well this has all worked very well (no pun intended) until a church that supports the Ntabas care point – Warren Baptist in Augusta Georgia – donated money to drill a well on site at the care point.

This is a huge improvement to the water system we put in a couple years ago because now there will be enough water to have a garden.  Also it will be more cost effective than filling up the water tank with delivered water.

So you can see how it takes several people to come along and do what they can to make something good happen.   I am so blessed to show you this short video we took early in the morning when the drilling   equipment was on site. 

Water is truly life – and thanks to the hard work of so many, life will get better for Ruby and the children she feeds every day at Ntabas care point.

 

This week her husband died suddenly.  They have ten kids - the oldest is 20 years old.  A couple days ago Marcia and I were out near her house and decided to drop off some food to the family.  Turning off the paved road we follow a gravel road.  After some time we veer off the gravel road onto a narrow dirt path, which leads to a foot path which leads to her house.  Upon arriving at the house we found a few small buildings – one cement block with two rooms and two or three other mud huts with thatched roof.  There were several little kids running crying with crusty noses.  Lindiwe was in town apparently making funeral arrangements.  We met the oldest daughter, left the food, and took the second oldest back to the paved road so she could catch public transport to a clinic – she was sick too.

All this was a very sad and tragic scene of the struggles in this country made more personal by the fact that we know this woman Lindiwe.  Can you imagine being left with 10 children and little to no income?  Through her bright smile she has communicated the hope the Timbali ladies find in the Lord and in their small income from the purses they sew.  The days ahead will be difficult.

But what struck me most and what I can't get out of my mind was the man we met on the way to the house.  He was about my age or older, walking along the dirt path.  We passed him as we were almost at Lindiwe's house.  He waved us down and asked us where we were going.  I figured he needed a ride but we were going the opposite direction.  I rolled down the window and he smiled a kind smile as we told him we were looking for Lindiwe's house.  He brightly responded that he was the neighbor – we could see the blue door of his house from where we were stopped.  He then got very sad when he referred to the sad thing of the husband dying and leaving all those kids behind.

I suggested it would be a good time for the neighbors to come around the family and help them.  He said flatly, "In Africa we don't help each other."  I was shocked.  Here he was talking about being the neighbor and being sad about the loss but stating without remorse or shame that he would not be helping the family.  In this far flung rural area far off the main road I would think people would stick together – to reach out and help and be a community.  But I guess once again I misjudged the culture here.  Or maybe I just misjudged the kind face of the man we met. 

After we left him to deliver the food I thought of our encounter and a hundred responses – like the Golden Rule for example – that I wish would have rolled off my tongue.   Then I wonder about my own heart and how much I truly live by that very rule.  Yes we delivered $20 worth of food to a needy family.  In the days ahead they will need much more.  Here we pass people every day in desperate need, yet I find it the norm to go about my agenda with little more than a glance.  But then I think it is not possible to help everyone – not even possible to help more than a few.  But when I look away am I in some way protecting myself from the reality in my face every day? 

This is my struggle.  I hope that the motivation of my heart is to do more than that man – that I don't harbor a sentiment as his, "In Africa we don't help each other."

How about you?

Last week I was in Maun, Botswana for a week of leadership training.  There is an organization there who each year sponsors a two month missions training school for Botswana nationals.   This year there are about 30 people enrolled and what a group they are!  Mostly 18-25 year old university students, these young people were inspiring and a lot of fun to be around.

While I trained during the day, we all went out in the evenings for outreaches in surrounding villages.  There are 84 villages with no gospel witness.  There is a need for church planting in this area and the hope is that this training school will help raise up these ministers to plant churches.

 The man I am pictured with is a leader of a student group at the large university in the capital of Botswana.  He says there are 400-600 students at his meetings each week.  So these students in the school are influential in their own circles!

It was a blessing to be a part of the training and put into practice so much of what I have been learning at Fuller these past three years.  In fact during the time I was training I was also working on a final project for a class I took in Leader Training Models – and the assignment was to design a training program for leaders!  So I basically taught exactly what I had prepared for the class.  Another example of how the course of studies I have taken fit in so well with where the Lord is taking us in ministry.

Now I am glad to be back in Swaziland with Marcia.  I need to write an update every day as there are incredible stories to be told as we walk through each day here.  I will try to be more diligent to share these all with you.

How can I tell you all that has happened in the last month in Africa?  Impossible without a few hours and a bottomless cup of coffee.  From Swaziland to Mozambique (which was a day to enjoy the ocean and the most amazing shrimp you will ever see) to South Africa to Uganda to Ethiopia.  What a journey.  All along the way Marcia and I found ourselves in the presence of need.  Need from the widows, orphans, pastors, and staff in Swaziland.  Need from the hurting American team members in South Africa and the grieving parents across the ocean.  Need from the orphans of Uganda and Ethiopia.  Need before us, beside us, and behind us.  Overwhelming need.  Relentless need.  Insurmountable need.

But in every situation of need Marcia and I found God's grace and provision.  He met us in our personal need – for strength, for wisdom, for discernment, for comfort in our hearts as we faced it all together. We needed each other and the Lord used us together.

In one place in Uganda I came face to face with incredible need.  One community I traveled to is called Rapha.  To get to this small village very close to the Nile we drove on not much more than a foot path deep into the lush green bush, passing many huts and small farm plots of banana, manioc and maize.  We passed people struggling under heavy loads and children scampering out of their huts to see a car driving by.  Cries of "Malungu" (white man) came through all the green vegetation.

Once we arrived, we met some wonderful children and two brave "parents" all living in an orphanage.  I was shy to take video in the vacuum of relationship so I can't show you all I saw. But I can tell you about Bosco and Juliet, the husband and wife who seek to take care of 44 children living in this jungle outpost with little to no resources.  Both with beautiful smiles and strong faith, Bosco limps with a cane from an accident that broke his knee-cap last year.  He has no money for surgery but still works to father the children and eek out a living raising some small crops and three pigs on the land.  Juliet is his young wife who teaches the children about Jesus but slumps some under the heavy load of responsibility. 

22 children live in dark rooms the size of my bedroom with dirt floors and no electricity.  Tattered mosquito nets hang from the teetering bunks that sleep two children to each mattress.  Outside the fire smolders from cooking the porridge for the days meal.  One top need from these hard working people is for medical supplies.  They travel far for medical care and the children are often sick in these conditions.

The good news is that a church in the US has agreed to sponsor this small community.  They come to visit in a few days and will bring some much needed supplies and encouragement.  I went many other places I might be able to tell you about in the coming days.

While Marcia and I are drained from the work of meeting needs while we were in Africa we know there are those here around us in our own community of family and friends that are also in need at this time.  I know the Lord sees each of us in our need and knows our hearts.  He has not forgotten us.

How do I describe the last few weeks of life for Marcia and me?  Impossible.  This past week we’ve had the assignment to deal with a tragedy in South Africa. One of AIM’s First Year Missionary participants, Sarah Buller, died in a car accident this past Sunday.   When we got the word we left Swaziland immediately and flew into Port Elizabeth, SA. We found a disaster area.  The remaining team members were in shock, three young people in the car were healing from various  injuries, and there was much to do in order to transport Sarah’s body back home to Minnesota.

With the great help of Pastor Andrew Pierce from Lighthouse Church (AI’s partner in Port Elizabeth) we were able to work through many issues with detail regarding Sarah and her belongings. I had many conversations with Sarah’s mother and father in Minnesota as we prepared for the memorial service here in SA.

Marcia and I have now parted ways here in South Africa. She is waiting on her flight through Paris and Copenhagen back to Atlanta.  I am waiting on my flight to Uganda where I will be until Wednesday and then on to Ethiopia.

I can only say that the Lord has sustained us in these difficult days.  I sit here on the floor in the jo-burg airport in tears for all we’ve walked through â€" not on my behalf but on behalf of the tragic loss of a daughter and sister to a great family back in Minnesota.   His grace is sufficient in all things. I look forward to joining my family again 10 days from now.  I miss everyone very much.

Thanks all for ongoing prayers.

What if you could get a glimpse of the future? Would it change the way you would live?  Remember the Back to the Future movie and the mean kid Biff who drove his car into a manure truck?  In one of the sequels the adult Biff takes a sports encyclopedia, sneaks onto the time machine, and goes back in time to give the book to the younger Biff.  Of course the younger Biff bets on all the sports events already recorded in the future and makes millions, changing his life forever.

Here I am on the plane flying back to Swaziland trying to manage the long hours of travel it takes to get there.  I was walking down the isle and I saw the future. There was an African man dressed in traditional garb with his Bible out.  While waiting for the bathroom to open up, I could overhear him telling a middle aged white man about Jesus.

I find irony in that.  Here I am a middle aged white man going to tell people in Africa about Jesus and on the plane there is an African telling another version of me about Jesus.  And that my dear friends is the future!

Did you know there is a global shift in the power centers of Christianity?  The church is growing leaps and bounds in the southern and eastern hemispheres of our little globe.  The church in the north and west, where we live, is shrinking at an alarming rate.   As the US becomes more European in terms of our post Christianity every day, I sometimes wonder as time goes by – who will come to tell us (the north and west) about Jesus?

Let me fill you in on some behind the scenes plans I believe God has for His world.  He is going to raise up an army of orphans from places like Swaziland and He is going to use them to reach the world for Jesus.  This is His redemption plan for the AIDS pandemic the enemy is trying to use to wipe out the entire country of Swaziland. (The UN says Swaziland will not exist by 2050 if AIDS is not curtailed)

So you can see why I get excited when I see an African sharing His faith with a white man. God has taken me back to the future on this airplane.  I want to be a part of what I believe to be His redeeming plan.  How about you?

I am going back to Africa betting on the future of the 2600 orphans being fed and discipled through the work of a handful of incredible people on the ground and a whole lot of givers and senders back home.  I think that bet could change not only their lives but in fact literally change my world.