About Last Night

I found out this morning that 29 people made the decision to begin a relationship with Christ! That was obviously great news. I also found out that around 100 made a commitment to abstinance. God was definitely at work in a through this event. The team was great and fun to be around and God is using them mightily. Despite some of the frustrations due to a lack of proper advertising, yesterday was a great reminder to everybody involved that at the end of the day, the only thing that makes an eternal difference is the fact that people find Jesus. Thanks for your prayers as this event was organized and as it took place. Without them I truly believe it would not have been as much of a success.

The Final Event

Today was a long but great day. I'm so tired right now, so I'll give more detail tomorrow, but the closing event went well. This was the best attended event and everybody was really into the show and the energy was awesome. More to come tomorrow.

One Out of Two

Today, there was only one event for the Silver Ring Thing. The morning event went on as scheduled, but the evening event was rained out. It was a downpour and 99% of the people coming would have been walking a minimum of half a mile, so the decision was made to cancel the event. At first, I wasn't happy with the decision, but when the time came for the event, it was obvious that nobody would have been walking around outside. Again this morning, people made decisions to follow Jesus. I don't know how many, but I'm pumped that so many people are entering the Kingdom! It's awesome. That's why these events were planned. Attendance has been lower than we hoped, but that stuff is secondary to people coming to know Jesus. I know we need more attendees so that more people are exposed to the message and we're working on it. But for now, we're celebrating the victories.

The First Event

This morning, Laura and I attended the first event of the Silver Ring Thing. We got there around an hour before it was scheduled to start and we helped with some final preparations and registration. Other than that, the Silver Ring Thing team pretty much handled everything. The show itself was a lot of fun. They do a good job of getting the crowd involved and handling a very serious topic in a way that is not at all off-putting. I don't know numbers on how many people were there or what kind of commitments people made, but I'll know at some point down the line and I'll make sure to post that information here. However, without knowing any numbers or anything, I would say that things went great. People seemed to connect with the message and I think they will help spread the word about the remaining rallies to thier friends. Thanks for your prayers. Please keep praying as we have two more days.

Final Preparations

Today Laura and I headed to King's Hope for some last-minute stuff that needed to get done. When we got there, we ended up meeting for about an hour and a half to nail down some final details for the Silver Ring Thing tomorrow. We covered quite a few things (some of which I was under the impression had already been taken care of - but I was wrong). There are still a few things that need to be finished up before tomorrow morning, but nothing major. As long as people show up and they find Jesus, the rest of the stuff is minor. Please pray with us that the people who need to hear this message will attend and that the Holy Spirit will be at work in their lives. Pray that people will be in Heaven someday as a result of them hearning about Jesus at these events.

Orientation

Today was all about helping Laura get acclimated to life in South Africa and to get her up to speed with what's going on with Youth Ministry. She's jumping right into things and we've got a busy two weeks coming up. The Silver Ring Thing starts Wednesday, so we're excited about that and next week is just about as busy as this one. Also, this evening, the Kings, Kehrers, Laura, and I sat down and began planning a trip to Kruger National Park. If you don't know what that it, it's a wildlife preserve and it's one of the definite go-to spots in South Africa.

A Full Day

Especially for a day off! This morning started with the institution of mandatory weekend cleaning. Everybody has to pitch in one and a half hours on Friday or Saturday doing work around the house. I know it may seem like we should have been doing this all along - and we probably should have - but I'm used to dorm life, so a little dust here and a disorganized pile of stuff there really doesn't bother me like it should. Anyway, from cleaning, we had a conference call with the board to keep them updated with what's going on and give them a chance to speak into new project ideas as well as existing projects. The time we spent on the phone with them was invaluable - they had some great ideas and we really benefited from getting a different perspective on some things that are going on. From the call, we went to the Seminary for a cookout in honor of Laura's arrival. We fired up the grill and got a huge bonfire going and celebrated. It was a great day, but I'm definitely not used to doing so much on a day-off.

Laura's Here

Laura arrived today at around 5 and I'm really excited to have somebody here to work with me on youth stuff. I'm looking forward to working with her and I know that she has many strengths that will fill in the holes left by my weaknesses.

A Bit of a Letdown

Today, I went up to Oleivenhoutbosh to finalize some stuff for the Silver Ring Thing, which starts next Wednesday. These meetings usually have between 10 and 15 people in attendance. Today, counting me, there were three. We still had a productive meeting and some really encouraging things have happened in the planning process, but only three of us were there to share in the celebration of God's provision. While I was disappointed about the turnout and I hope this isn't a sign of things to come, I still am excited about how God's working and moving to get this event going. I would really appreciate your prayers as we continue with the last-minute prep stuff that still has to take place.

Freedom

I'm thoroughly enjoying the freedom that comes with having an extra car. This morning, I was able to run out and have a meeting with one of the youth pastors in the area. We just sat and talked about his dreams for the youth in his community. We didn't even have a specific agenda for the meeting, we just talked about any ministry-related item that was on our mind. It was a great meeting and I'm so glad to have the ability to do things like this from now on. From the meeting, I ran to meet up with the guy we bought the car from because he's taking care of the registration for us. I dropped off some additional paperwork and headed back home. But, on the way, I decided that I'd be more productive at a coffee shop. I was in need of a change of scenery, so I dropped in for a couple of hours. Let me tell you, the scene change made a huge difference. I was invigorated (at least as invigorated as I can imagine being) to do some little things I had on the docket as well as take care of a project proposal and some stuff that's tentatively slated to go on the website. Today was a good day. I'm enjoying having an additional car around here.

Details and Tyres

This morning was very productive for me. I sat down and hammered out details here and there for a few hours and took care of most of the things on my plate for the next few days. That was a great feeling since sometimes the little stuff can start to get a bit overwhelming. After getting so much done, I was sick of looking at a computer screen, so I headed out to get some new tyres (South Africa uses the European spelling...don't ask). I got a set of brand new Pirelli Tyres, which I don't honestly know anything about - but I've heard the name before, for around $150 after having the wheels balanced and aligned. I'm not a gearhead by any means, but I know that I got a great deal on a brand new set of 4 tyres.

Back at It

Today, I was feeling better and attended a meeting concerning the Silver Ring Thing, which is an abstinance event, that will be held in Oleivenhoutbosh. This starts on next Wednesday and runs through Friday. We're hoping to reach 1,200 kids with the message of abstinance and ultimately, the hope of Jesus. Planning went great today as we worked through the budget and cut the proposed budget by over 85% to get it down into the affordable range. Some of the cuts were easy because the budget was extravagant to begin with in some places, butin other placs, we had to get creative. However, we got into the proper price range without cutting any corners, so I was pumped. I spent this entire afternoon at the meeting and driving out to get the fliers for advertising. This event is really exciting because we got the ball rolling on the idea of doing a huge youth event in the community, and people jumped on board and are making it happen. This is exactly what we hoped and prayed would happen because we didn't want to be the "Wise Americans" coming in with all the plans and the know-how, but we want to empower local leaders to reach their communities in their own ways - which is exactly what's happening!

I'm Sick

I'll probably spend the next couple of days sleeping it off, so if you don't hear from me, you'll know why. Besides the sickness, today was a good day. I took care of some more stuff with the car this morning (returning the brakepads we didn't use, getting a new headlight, and shopping for some new tires). By the way, tires are exceptionally cheap here. I can get a brand new set of tires for R 1,000 - which is roughly $150. So, I took care of the car stuff this morning and then this afternoon I worked on some day-to-day phonecalls and stuff like that, but I found myself zoning out as I looked at the computer screen. So, I just got back from renting some movies so that I have something to do while I'm stuck in bed.

Visas and More

This morning I went with the Kings and Kehrers to the Home Affairs office. We spent about two hours there (one and a half of those in line). We went in trying to get a temporary residence Visa, which would allow us to come and go as we please for three years. However, the guy behind the counter decided to pull some strings and work the system a bit and give us 33 year Volunteer Visas. What an answer to prayer! He set us up big time and we left Home Affairs in high spirits. From there, Brian and I took the car to a company that does insurance inspections prior to the insurance company providing the policy. They checked over the car and said they would insure it for everything except theft because we didn't have an Immobilizer installed in the car. But the good news is that this company does installations, so we purchased and had an Immobilizer installed. Just so everyone knows, an Immobilizer is a little slot that you have to stick a USB flash drive looking thing into in order to get the car to start. Since the car I bought is the #2 most stolen car in this country and since carjacking is a fairly routine occurance around here, we went with the Immobilizer. So, at the end of our time there, we had the car covered with comprehensive insurance for ~ $37 per month. They also set the idle higher and got me an antenna all for less than $150. So that was awesome. From there, we headed to Midas to get the equipment to change the oil and the brakepads. After an afternoon working on the car (I mainly just watched since I'm not gifted in any aspect of repairs or mechanics), we got it running much better (according to the other guys - I don't have a clue on that stuff...).

Picked Up the Car

Tonight, Brian drove me to meet the guy that we bought the car from. We picked it up and I drove it home and it ran great. I don't know anything about cars, but Brian, Mike, and Jason do. They all looked at it and were really impressed with how good of condition it was in for such a low price. We're praising God for leading us to a quality, reliable car that was in the budget (which was a low budget) so that we can continue to get around in order to keep doing the ministry He has called us to. Tomorrow, we're heading to the Home Affairs (think Secretary of State, but less orgainized) and we're going to be trying to get our Visa situation straightened out because as of the 21st of this month without these Visas, we're in the country illegally. Please pray taht we'll be able to get things figured out. We went the first week we were here and we were told to come back closer to the temporary Visa expiration date because coming in so soon was a little bit suspicious. So, we're heading back in.

Burdell Wesleyan Church

This morning we went to a church that I hadn't been to before. I had a meeting with the pastor there, but I hadn't actually attended. It was a great church and the message this morning was something that I think all of our team needed to hear. Pastor Jonathon talked from Revelation 21 about how a new heaven and new earth are on thier way and everything we're doing on a day-to-day basis and everything we work so hard for will pass away except for people. He took pieces of paper that said "temporary" and he stuck them all over the stage and he had three people come up and stuck papers saying "eternal" on their chests. It was a great reminder and it was so simple but so profound at the same time. It was awesome.

Pretoria Zoo

Today was a litte slower-paced. I went with the Kings and the Kehrers to the zoo. We had a blast relaxing and checking out all of the animals. It was actually a fairly tiring day because we walked around for about five hours (if I recall correctly) in the zoo, which was pretty spread out. With the sun beating down on us, I was absolutely beat by the end of our time there. It was great seeing the lions, tigers, cheetahs, sharks, etc., but at the end of the day, I was definitely ready to go.

Wiring the Money...

Today, the money was wired to the account for the car. It was wired during business hours in Michigan, but we're six hours ahead here, so it won't hit the account until Monday. It's a thrill to be done looking for cars - I really don't enjoy that at all. God answered the prayers for a good, reliable, affordable car. Also, tonight, I went to a youth event that was organized by 14 churches in the city right next to Finetown and over 300 people showed up. It was awesome and God was definitely at work in our midst. I would estimate that around 45 or so people came forward after the message to be prayed over for various reasons. We prayed for them and then spent another hour or so just hanging out. It was a blessing to be invited to this event and even more of a blessing to see God work in such a mighty way.

Finally Found a Car

After a great meeting that I had earlier this afternoon, I headed with Brian and Jason to check out a car I found in a newspaper called "Junk Mail". It's a hilarious name, but it's basically a classifieds section that is around 150 pages long. I've called on a number of cars in the price range and all but a few have been sold. So to find a good car for a decent price that hasn't been sold yet is a big deal. When I talked to the guy yesterday, we set up a meeting place and today we made it happen. The car is a '99 Volkswagen Citi and it's right around the amount I had to spend ~ $4,000, which, here in South Africa really only gets you a car that's the lowest of the low. It's crazy, but you can't buy a decent car for less than 4 grand. It's been a maddening experience because we feel like we're going to pay close to twice what we would pay in the States for the same car. It's crazy. But anyway, we verbally agreed to purchase the car and we're working to finalize the deal with this guy. I'm so excited to see God answer our prayers for a good vehicle in the price range that we were looking. It was starting to feel like more and more of an uphill battle since even our contact at the VW dealership couldn't find a decent car for us, but God answered prayers in a big way today.

Silver Ring Thing and Moral Regeneration

This morning, I went to Oleivenhoutbosh and had a meeting about the Silver Ring Thing - an event planned for September 26-28, and also about three follow-up events to that run by the group called Moral Regeneration. The Silver Ring Thing is an abstinence promoting event that is done by local South African teens and young adults. I've never seen this thing in action, but it sounds like they use drama, music, and other visual arts to get the point accross to the young people. The follow-up is a three session course that will touch on different things from a practical and Biblical perspective. I'm excited about that because I'll get an opportunity to speak at that event! Once the meeting ended, Brian and I spent some time car shopping for Paul, Laura, and I. We didn't find anything worth noting, but when we got home, we found out that there is a Toyota Camry available for us to rent. What an answer to prayer. It belongs to Global Partners, so we'll have to share it when teams come in with them and need to use it, but until then, it's all ours. Thanks for your prayers.

What's Labor Day?

Around here, we didn't celebrate any kind of holiday and yesterday was quite productive. In the morning, I met with Brian, Jason, and Mike for our weekly shindig. I'm posting this at 1 AM and I realize that things may not be as understandable as they should be, but I'm doing my best. After we met, I spent some more time trying to track down a car and then I began to compile a list of things that I'm looking forward to having Laura here to help with. She's a good detail person and she enjoys doing administration stuff (which is convenient because I'm not so good at that stuff and I don't enjoy it...)
Then on Tuesday, I spent time again working on finding a car in the price range. The sad thing is that for $4,000 it's hard to find something. Basically, the cars in the price range are 10-15 years old (usually closer to 15) and are questionable at best - espeically from a private seller. Anyway, I worked on that and I did some more planning and tying up some of the loose ends that we talked about yesterday morning. I've been getting a lot done on my own, but I'm pumped to have Laura coming to join up with the youth work in a couple of weeks.

Good Food and Good Friends

We spent Saturday night hanging out with some of the people at the Soweto Vineyard Church that we've been attending when we get a chance. We had a blast and we ate some great bbq - chicken, fish, and brats. We talked and talked about injustice and the poor and how to help. We got a good perspective because all of the people we were talking with were black Africans who had been the victims of Apartheid and who had made themselves into financially stable people. They have a different outlook on things than we could ever have because they grew up in it. It was a great night and we really enjoy hanging out with these great people.
Sunday morning, we went to Danny and Wessie's church. We waited this long to go because Wessie told us he'd be speaking today, so we went and checked it out. The church was probably 95% people of Indian descent. We've found that most churches are primarily made up of one race, which is sad, but it's also something that we're familiar with in the States. After the service, Wessie had our whole crew over for lunch and we had more great food and we had a great time with him and some of his family. From there, we headed home and discussed some housekeeping stuff and made sure we are all on the same page as we head into the new week.