Running in South Africa

This morning I went running with Stanley here. He's one of the local staff members and has been a runner for a while. Sounds like hasn't run in about a year, but he still made me look pretty wimpy! Mark drove us to the corner so that we could have a shoulder to run and have a better chance of not getting run down. Apparently people do NOT have the right of way here, so they can turn you into a pancake and get away scott free. So we hugged the bushes and ran. Okay, running in Texas and running in South Africa are TOTALLY different! I can't believe the hills here. the first 3.5 miles started as a steady incline and the last mile was intense. I thought I was going to throw up! Fortunately, what goes up must come down and the last milese were sloping up and DOWN, hallelujah! :) It was incredibly beautiful. The mountain view was incredibly inspiring and I've asked Stanley to take me again. He said no! :) Ha! I DID do better than him. Does that mean I win? ;p

Saturday News from South Africa

We made our way over to the feeding center in Dwaleni (this happens once a week on Thursday). As we drew closer to the fence leading to the center children began running towards us latching on and clinging "their" mother. One girl, Angel, latched on intertwining her fingers in mine and encircling her other arm around my arm. Another girl, C-lay-lee, told her "No! This is MY mother" and I reached for her and embraced her. The crowd of children here was overwhelming. So different from Mbonsweni yesterday. There were so many more and you could sense that they earned and needed love and attention to a higher degree. Many of them looked thinner and weaker. Our team was led to the kitchen and I had to part with my girls for a time. WOW! I just said "my girls", that's what I refer to my daughters as. God gave me Angel and C-la-lee for that day and I poured into them, loved on them as best I could. Just as I'm commited to pour into my own daughters. Well, we made our way to the kitchen. I looked at the pots before us and I looked at the massive lines of children gathering outside. This food was meant to serve the entire crowd and in some, probably, most cases meant to last until the program next Thursday. I was beginning to feel a weight start to push on me. Each of us aligned ourselves with a pot and made a train down the steps to the children. We decided we needed to pray over the plates as we took them and passed them. We began by speaking a word over each one. Then, we turned it into the fruits of the spirit. Each of us spoke one fruit and by the time the plate was placed in the child's hand, it had received all the fruits of the spirit. This continued and as the food in the pots began to lessen, I looked outside and saw that the lines of children were only growing. Along with praying my fruit, I surrounded it with deeper prayer of my pot. I was in charge of the meat. I say meat, but here it is only the bone. They suck the marrow out of the bone and that is their "meat". Knowing this was the only type of "protein" most of these children would receive weighed extremely heavily on me. I began to pray from the depth of my soul that God would multiply the food in the pots. That He would extend it to the very last child. The weight grew heavier, I began to run out of bones and the biggest kids were at the back of the line. I continued to pray with every part of myself. As I began serving only broth I prayed it would stick to their bones like protein, that it would satisfy their every need and continued to pray exponential growth of the contents of the pot. The weight grew. Renate fell to her seat behind her spinach pot... It was empty. The tears began to flow. Krista spoke "the children in this line don't like spinach." The Holy Spirit speaks through her and I believed it. But the meat was needed all the more. I then heard "There are 13 children left. The weight was almost unbearable, there was hardly anything left in the pot. Drew stepped over and lifted one side of the pot and felt like God added to the pot, but I continued to pray from the very depths of my soul. The countdown began and the weight was overwhelming. I heard "3...(pray)...2...(pray, pray)...1." THANK YOU GOD! Thank You Father! The pot is now empty after serving the very last plate. Our Ultimate Provider! The weight was lifted, but I was overcome with emotion. Emotion of relief, of praise, of thankfulness...just consumed in the glory of the Lord. ---Meagan

Thursday in South Africa

WOW ! A small group of us were allowed to do home visits in Dwaleni. We visited several people that were so ill that they were homebound. We watched as His Holy Spirit brought healing and salvation. I feel very humbled to have had experienced this day. After home visits we walked to the feeding center ( oh and everything is steep hills and small dirt paths between homes. Lots of chicken and roosters! ) The feeding center was filled with aproximately 200 hungry, (for food and love). We almost ran out of all the food, but God was at work and all were fed. It was heart breaking when some of the food ran out. We had balloons, games, coloring and face painting. I did face painting on most likely 100. Many of the kids had open sores and eye infections, my heart went out to them, they had to be in such pain. But still they were excited to get a "cat" face or hearts on their face. So much happened today that it may be awhile before it is all process. This team is so anointed and so loving, I have never experienced this much of the Holy Spirit day after day!!!!!!!LOVE IT! - Krista

The Lord is really good! Thank you all for praying for us. We can feel and see the effects of your prayers. The Holy Spirit has been strong!! We fed over 200 children today in Dwaleni and played games with them. I had pictures to give some of the children that my daughter-in-law sent with me. They loved looking at the pictures and the ones that received them were so excited. We are told they cherish things like this for years. The ladies and workers that work in these communities to feed these orphans need your prayers. They work hard and don't have a large enough place to feed the kids. Since we were here last year more children are being fed. And they realize that more will be coming...~~~Patti

Woohoo! What a day! I spent the morning with Ken and Katy Beth sanding down a metal door and windows that were donated for a staff member's home. After lunch we headed to one of the larger feeding stations. The kids there are poorer than the ones we were with yesterday and it showed greatly. Ken and I signed up to paint fingernails. When Lynn found out she burst out laughing. Apparently, she didn't think our fingernail painting skills would be that good. We were highly offended. Not really. I had so many children around me and over me wanting their nails painted that people couldn't see me. At some moments it was hard to breathe. As soon as I finished a hand, twenty were shoved in my face. Finally we got it down to a plan and a rhythm. I was praying over the hands of the kids as I attempted to do some form of a good job. Most of the kids were happy to just have one hand painted or they would have me paint a hand and run over to Ken to have him paint the other one another color. It was crazy! And those sweet, sweet faces. To go to school here you have to wear a uniform. Since most of the kids are very poor their uniforms are tattered and torn and let out and let out and let out. And still they wear them proudly and the school accepts the shape they are in because it is the best they have. I love that. - Nancy

I was in the group that visited people in the community that are sick and for the most part homebound. One of the most touching moments was seeing Stanley, a local full time volunteer, after visiting with a girl who couldn't walk. She had a disorder in her feet and couldn't walk. She had one lady that visited her every few days, but has no friends or visitors. She was soooo lonely. That really touched Stanley and praying for him and the girl was very moving. After that, we walked to the feeding center for the kids in the local schools. The children were lined up from smallest to biggest to make sure the younger kids got fed. By the time we were dishing out food to the older children the food at the bottom of the pots was getting smaller and thinner and it was so heartbreaking that the last few plates had no meat. We had some beef jerky in our bags so we improvised. Praise you Jesus! Each night we have a meeting and share our God moments. I'm pretty sure we're going to be up late tonight :-) ~ Renate

Video up on facebook

Carla Shaw has posted a video composed of pictures taken at the feeding today on her facebook page. Check it out.

Wednesday at Ten Thousand Homes

Had an amazing time yesterday with some older teens. Today we'll be spending time with the kids. Africa is beautiful. I love it and the team. - Krista

What a fabulous time in my life. God has stretched me. This place has already gotten under my skin and not in ways that I expected. We've only been out in the community once. Our time has been focused on getting our feet under us and preparation for the outreach. Yesterday was the first Discipleship Training session. I taught on True Leadership. This team prayed over me and for me all day long and I felt it greatly. Usually I'm sick with crazy nerves before speaking and yesterday I was at peace. Feeling God's presence like that was a great gift. Today brings new adventures. Looking towards them with great anticipation. - Nancy

Yesterday I had an awesome day. I had the privilege of being the driver of an 18 seat bus! Driving on the left reminded me of home (Ireland). We all got to the community in one piece and we joined the youth of the Mbonsweni in their church. A moving part of that time was asking God to give us a verse for each of the youth. I think I was more touched with the verse that I read out than the single mother I was giving it to. Scott, Juanita and I are being labelled as the cry babies. God is really just breaking all of our hearts for what breaks His - AMAZING!! - Renate

When I found out about this trip my heart was so full of what I wanted to do while in Africa. I have found out that God had a competely different plan than I did...imagine that. God is pouring into me in a way that has kept me in tears. Tears are an expression of what words can not express. This team is so full of God's love, joy, grace, and mercy. I have never been with a group of people who have made me feel completely loved for who I am. NEW HOPE you guys are absolutely full of God and I love you for it! God is AWESOME!!! - Wendy

When I initially signed up for this trip, I was excited as well as apprehensive. Once I arrived and saw the place I was in awe. It is truly a beautiful place filled with wonderful people. I am already considering a trip back in the future. - Ken

We are headed to South Africa!

The New Hope South Africa Team leaves early Saturday morning. Already we have been blessed beyond what we could imagine.

In this blog team members will be sharing their thoughts about this trip and working with Ten Thousand Homes. Because even though we will all be in the same place we will each be experiencing different emotions and learning personal lessons.

For some of us this is our first trip. For others it will feel like going home.

Join us as we take this journey.