A Miracle of God

I am extremely bummed right now. I was just told that I couldn’t put pictures of kids from the orphanage on the internet. Bummer. I might have to delete the ones from the creche …we’ll see.  I was about to put an amazing picture of my new friend.   She is a baby that is just a few months old. She was brought to Botshabelo Babies’ Home about a month ago after being found in a storm drain.  That totally rocked my world after I heard that. I was just holding this miracle of God during a puppet show at another one of the kids birthday/goodbye party.  He just turned 5 and is leaving to meet his new adopted parents.  As I was holding this little girl, I could just feel God’s love for her and for me. Thank you God for your little miracles.

Check my facebook and flickr account to the bottom right for new pictures. I might have to delete the ones of the kids soon…I am not sure yet.

Think about adopting a child from another country. Think about God’s little miracles all around us. They are definitely bigger than we might think.

Two Sides to Every City

So today was my first day teaching my class. As expected, it was a little bit hectic.  Some of them don’t understand English…yeah…hard to teach them.  I tried to work on names today, but with names like Simphiwe, Asiue, and Mawele, I didn’t get very far.  Ok, not all are that tricky. I got Junior, Shaun, Michelle, and Josiah down no problem. The funny thing is that the other kids, whose names I don’t know, are the ones who are misbehaving and whose name I have to call the most. 

These kids are very smart and can say their ABC’s, months, days of the week, and can count pretty high. The thing is, they just memorize these as a set group, and can’t really distinguish them by themselves.  I just need to get really prepared and come with a lesson plan and system to get them to read. Baby steps.

I was sick the very next day after I got here. I spent most of the day in bed. It seems I have gotten completely better and even have overcome my jetlag.  I got to go out and about and enjoy some of the local area this last weekend. Yesterday, we went to Montecasino. It’s a complex that has a casino, movie theatre, restaraunts, and various places to shop. I got to see Slumdogg Millionaire again for only 33 Rand (which is only $3.00, such a good price).

It’s really interesting to see how different the two sides of this area are. Montecasino looks a bit like a hotel in Las Vegas would look. Well, not that nice…let’s say Reno.  Then today I went to teach in the local township, Olievenhoutbosch.  It looks like the poor parts of Mexico.  Most houses are built with just sheet metal. Some are made from brick. The few miles near the place I teach are all dirt roads. It’s a very tricky and slow drive.  It is also a very dangerous area. I was intsructed not to leave the creche at any time until the girl arrived to pick me up.  Rape and spousal abuse are regular occurences among the familes of my students. 

I know God has me here for a purpose and just to get to work. Thanks all for your support and prayers. Pictures will come soon!

How’z It?

That’s the official South African greeting. I just got here and am so tired. Didn’t sleep too well on my 36 hour journey across the world. Probably one hour total. The people here are amazing and very welcoming. I just found out that on Monday I will be teaching my own class of 17 students,  ranging from six to seven years old at the creche. Pretty crazy, since I’m not a school teacher, but I am the son of one. Mom help!  It’s a class full of refugees that can’t afford to go to normal school. She said she’s throwing me into the deep end. Here goes nothing! Please pray.

I’m Leaving On a Jetplane

Ok, that’s not the most creative title, but my mind is on other things right now. Yes, tomorrow I will be taking an 11 hour flight to Germany, a 12 hour lay-over, and then another 11 hour flight to
Johannesburg, South Africa. Not excited about the flight, because I don’t really fit in airplanes.  Please pray that I sleep. I will hopefully be updating this blog a lot with what’s going on in my life and some pictures to show you I’m not a liar. 

I had an amazing weekend. On Friday and Saturday I went to a free conference called The Idea Camp. I learned so many things and met amazing people.  My favorite part was when Erwin Mcmanus was doing a Q and A time.   He was asked how to be creative.  He explained that love breeds creativity. If someone that you love is in need, you will come up with some creative stuff to help them.  Really, whatever you have to do to stop that person from pain, you will do it.  He said that the Church is so uncreative, because it is so uncaring. This really hit me, because this is why I want to go to Africa.  I want to inspire the American Church to action around the world, but don’t know or love anyone who is in need around the world.  Hopefully, when I come back, I will be inspired and come up with creative things to help those I love in Africa. 

Check out all the talks from The Idea Camp at  http://vimeo.com/channels/theideacamp. 

p.s. My friends at my work threw me an incredible surprise going away party, which consisted of In-N-Out and Karaoke. I don’t think it will ever be topped.

Dare, Risk, Believe

I’m so pumped to be a part of this church. 

10 days until I leave!

If You Could Do Anything?

My pastor and friend Tim Clark  just posted a very cool blog.  He shared a story about how Mark Cuban started a contest that would fund a profitible business plan. 

Mark Cuban said:

“You must post your business plan here on my blog where I expect other people can and will comment on it. I also expect that other people will steal the idea and use it elsewhere. That is the idea…If its a good idea and worth funding, we want it replicated elsewhere. The idea is not just to help you, but to figure out how to help the economy through hard work and ingenuity.”

Pastor Tim then posed the questions: “What if, instead of posting great plans that could turn profitable in the next three months, thousands of people generated and posted grass-roots ideas to extend the Gospel?  If you could do anything to extend the gospel, no holds barred, and money wasn’t an issue, what would your plan be?”

One of my former professors, Mike Larkin, originally asked this question in his Disciplines of Leadership class.  He asked me if I could do anything and not fail, what would that be? I boldly proclaimed, “I would be a rockstar!”  I honestly would do that over anything else. But since I can’t sing or play an instrument, I guess I should try something else.

I have a good answer now.  If I could do anything for God, it would be to go to Africa for a few years and do ministry that would have a lasting effect. Then I would write a book or start a ministry or plant a church that would better help engage American Christians to be the hands and feet of Jesus throughout the world. 

The cool thing is that I leave for Africa two weeks from today.  I pray that God would empower me to follow through on the rest of my plan.

If you could do anything to extend the gospel, no holds barred, and money wasn’t an issue, what would your plan be?”

Olievenhoutbosch

If you want to check out the community I will be ministering to, check out these videos.

Three Weeks and Three Days

I am leaving March 3rd. I got my ticket. Turned in all my stuff for my visa. I have most of my money raised. Selling my car this week. Got 5 shots already. Sending out thank you letters soon. Cancelled my phone. Payed off my credit card. Still need to do my taxes. Figuring out how things will work over there financially, among other things. Figuring out what to pack. Getting really excited.

Cardinals Win The Super Bowl

 

 

Have you ever wondered how the winning team of the Super Bowl has shirts and hats moments after their victory, declaring them the winner? They must make clothing that has both teams as the winner. “But what happens to the other set of clothing?” you may ask. 

“But through a partnership between World Vision and the National Football League, hundreds of poor children and families in the Central American nation of El Salvador will be the happy recipients of Reebok produced t-shirts, hats, and McArthur Towel & Sports produced trophy towels that wrongly hailed the Arizona Cardinals the Super Bowl champion. “

I’m glad it doesn’t go to waste, but this goes back to my post a few months ago about poor people getting our crappy left overs.  Now I just have to make a quick stop in El Salvador to get an awesome collector’s item.

I Hate Being Sick

I guess no one really likes it, huh? When you’re sick, it’s really all about you. It’s all about taking care of yourself, trying to see how YOU feel, and doing whatever it takes to make YOU feel the most comfortable.  The past few days, I have not felt very spiritual.   It was even hard to think about God, because I was thinking about myself all the time. 

I am feeling better and trying to think about “godly” things now.  I’m glad God meant for us to focus on others.  It’s really how we were created.  We are supposed to make sure that we are doing ok (spiritually, mentally, relationally), before we help others (think about putting on your oxygen mask before you help those traveling with you on a plane).  I think God gives us those times of sickness, so we can focus on ourselves for a few days, but we shouldn’t stay like this.  We are made to give our lives away to others.

Do you need to take time to focus on yourself, before you serve others? Do you need to focus on others, instead of yourself so much? If you don’t change, you could be causing major damage to yourself or others.