God is Still in Control

This will be the last blog post I will be able to upload before we are finishing up our 2 1/2 amazing months of ministry in South Africa. These last couple of weeks that our team lived in Masi have been absolutely incredible. Our Bible studies, for example, have outgrown all of our expectations: 15 to 20 young people from Masi came to our house EVERY DAY right after school for some coffee, cookies and Jesus time :) All of them gave their lives to the Lord, several committed to completely stay away from drugs and alcohol and one of them was released from an evil spirit. Honestly, in these past months I have been part of stories that I would have otherwise only listened to in disbelief. Some of those crazy missionary stories that could only be made up... unless God REALLY was at work. And at this point I would doubt several of my own stories had I not been part of them ;) God is truly more amazing than we can fathom when we really encounter His presence.

Our last big ministry event was last weekend. We put on a Masi Talent Show in Masiphumelele. Our intention was to give the people of Masi a better alternative for hanging out on a Saturday night than to go out drinking. And our hopes came true. We had about 30 artists who performed either a rap, song, dance or drama and over 100 people in the audience! At the end, we gave out prizes for the first three winning groups: gift certificates to local restaurants within Masi. These gift certificates were all funded by our fishing pole fund (remember the money Josiah and I raised with the dance lessons we led back in Hawaii?). The great thing about these certificates was that instead of giving the winners the money, we had someone of the long-term ComTrans team take the group out for lunch. This way, they could work on building a closer relationship with them. It's great to see that the ComTrans team is taking over the work that we had started: they just got back from taking some of the Masi youth to a worship event - because THEY had asked for it!

Unfortunately, I now need to share about one very sad event that happened to us just 4 days ago. We had finished our ministry in Masi and started our time of debriefing. For that we moved into a lodge in a VERY SAFE area outside of Masi... and we had a break-in the very first night. They broke the window and stole two laptops and one iPhone. One of the laptops and the iPhone were mine. I have lost a significant amount of my pictures that I hoped to use to raise funds with after I got back to the Western culture. At this point I am also not sure how to come up with the money for a new laptop and iPhone in case my insurance won't cover everything. This has definitely put a dent into our basically perfect time here in South Africa but I have also learned an important lesson that God has convicted me of: when I sing songs like "Lord, take all of me" or "there is nothing I hold on to besides you, Lord," etc. - do I ACTUALLY mean it? Is it not more like: "I give it all to you, except for..."

I am learning a new lesson on how to let go of things that seemed SO NECESSARY to me but that in the grand scheme of things are of such little value. It has been very hard for me to loose my equipment but at the same time I am so thankful for God's faithfulness of keeping us safe all of this time. After hearing about this story, one of my friends commented on facebook that "God is STILL in control." What a wonderful reassurance and lesson to understand.

And I know it will be very hard for me to leave South Africa because God has touched my heart through the people I have met here in a way I had never expected. I want to thank God for all the lessons I have learned and all the joy I was able to bring to other people and they were able to bring to me. And I also want to thank my supporters once again for helping me make all of this possible. I cannot wait to see many of you during my stop-over in Michigan on my way home to Germany. I simply ask for your continued prayers for financial provision (so that the stolen equipment can be replaced) and for safety during our travels as we will be flying out of Johannesburg back to Hawaii tomorrow.

Living in Masiphumelele

What an experience that God has invited us to! For about 3 weeks, our team has now been living in Masiphumelele, a township of about 30000 to 40000 inhabitants (the number changes constantly because of people moving away from or to Masi - legally or illegally - and because of the high number of people who die for different reasons). Estimates are that there is about 80% unemployment and about 30-40% of the community is infected with HIV/AIDS and/or TB. The house we are living in is in the heart of Masi and belongs to the infamous drug lord Small, one of the two richest and influential people in the township. How did we get to live in his house? The long-term missionary team (Community Transformations) we are working with, who live just up the hill from Masi, have been praying over this house for years, hoping for Small to stop his shady business as well as to open the door for the team to be able to live in a safe house within the community. And God answered their prayers: a few months ago, one of the ComTrans team members took heart and asked Small for the house. He answered that he had actually been thinking of renting or even selling his house - to a Christian organization! So here we are, our PhotogenX team came just at the right time and are now the first Western team that has ever lived in Masi.Take a look at this LINK so you can see our big green house (left hand side).

And we enjoy it! It feels like we are already making a difference by simply living our normal lives within the community. Many times when we have talked to people on the street in the beginning, they were absolutely stunned when they heard we were actually LIVING among them. We have heard things like "There must be some truth in your words about love, if you actually come LIVE with us." The people in Masi are used to missionaries who come and work with them during the day - but never stay after sunset. And it gets pretty crazy around here - there is ONE legal tavern in the township... and about 100 illegal ones. However, God has sent many angels to protect us and most people know us by now as the "Mulungus" (White People) who are not too proud or scared to live with them and actually watch out over us. Today, I heard a lady tell me that she has asked the police to drive around our house at least once or twice a day just to make sure everything is ok.

Yes, I absolutely love Masi. Our team has seen so many healings (physical and spiritual), people coming to the Lord and turning away from drugs and alcohol, as well as developed close friendships with one another. On a daily basis, our team first walks the streets of Masi, in order to meet old friends and make new ones :). Then we often have some kind of program, especially on the weekends, such as a "Women's Beauty Day," "Kids Ministry" or simply a time of worship. At around 5pm, we host a growing number of people from the community for a Bible Study - which blows my mind because of the honesty and hunger that lies within the people's questions. After the Bible Study (which often lasts for about 3-4 hours), our team has family time. I have to admit, these are some of my favorite moments of the day - our team really has become like a family over the past couple of month that we have spent together :)


And with all the wonders that God has revealed to us during our time here, there are - once again - also hard times. Even though it is such a blessing to be living within Masi, it is sometimes hard to minister to people 24/7. Since we are quite an attraction within the community, we have especially a lot of kids visit our house at all times. Most of them are so needy for love that they want to never leave; which is flattering, challenging, and most of all very sad. Since the first couple of days, our team has been struggling with fleas (and potentially scabies, we are still not quite sure). We have washed all of our clothes and sprayed our rooms - but some things just have to be accepted as they are. When I tried counting my bites at some point reached the number 278...
 

Please continue to pray for our team as we are entering our last weeks of ministry. One of the greatest things  is that ComTrans, the long-term team, will be able to nurture the relationships and the seeds we have just sowed even after we have left!

Homestays in Mbonisweni and Dangers along the Way

For four days, our team was able to live with families within the community of Mbonisweni, one of the communities where we were helping out with the orphan feedings. Our team split up in groups of two and really became part of the African lifestyle. Evelyne and I were placed in the household of Gratitude, a 19-year old girl who had lost her parents and is now running the family of 7 together with her grandma. Our time with them was wonderful and even though communication was not always easy (since the family only spoke broken English), we learned how to communicate non-verbally and how to fit in to the family's everyday life.

We got up in the mornings to take a bucket-shower (people are considered dirty if they don't), helped out with the housework throughout the day, learned how to make pap (African maize meal that is frequently used instead of rice) and participated in the community life. The grandfather, who was only at the house for half of the time because he has two wives and two households, and Evelyne and I had long conversations about God, life in Europe vs. Africa and politics. We realized that our short stay with the family actually made a great impact on the family: by choosing to stay at their house, we, as white people coming from a different part of the world, brought public honor to the family.

After the home stays, our time in White River had come to an end. Before we left the Ten Thousand Homes ministry, we decided to leave the families we stayed with and also the children at the orphan feedings with pictures that we took of them during our time here. How wonderful to see their eyes light up by finding their picture on the wall! The importance of a picture within these communities is amazing because to them a portrait of themselves means "I am somebody. I am seen and not overlooked." However, once again, our team realized that we did not only bring something to the community but most of all, we learned from them. Our motto has become "seek to understand before you seek to be understood."


Even though we all have been so blessed by our time here in White River, there have also been downsides and dangers. One day at the base, we found a snake in the girls' room - a Green Mamba! The locals told us that, if it had bitten us, we would have probably had time to scream before we had died...
Another time, robbers came to the base at night and stole all of our toiletries out of the bathroom building - including jewelry and medications. However, up to that point Kristina and I had needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of every single night... just this particular night, we did not wake up and thus did not end up accidentally running into the robbers!
Once again, we are aware that God is with us and has kept us protected all this time. This realization is not for us to start feeling invincible and make naive decisions - but only to realize how much we depend on God and how much we are to worship and praise him.

Please keep us in our prayers as we leave Ten Thousand Homes now and are about to start our ministry in Capetown with Community Transformations (http://www.followthereids.com/about/community-transformations/).

Our Time in Swaziland

The kitchen

The "backyard"

I do not think that I am exaggerating when I say that our week in Swaziland was life-changing. For five days, we were part of the family of Petros and Elizabeth. The loving couple decided to open up their house to orphans and love them like their own children. By now, they are the parents of 15 children and they are considering taking in another child. During our time with them, I asked several times but I never found out which ones of the children were actually their “own.” However, I have realized something much more striking: The culture here does not actually separate their own children from their siblings’ children or their grandchildren etc. If they live in the same house, they are part of the family and that is all that matters. So if there is no such differentiation in this family, who am I to try to bring in this Western separation between “immediate family,” “adopted children,” and “relatives”? So eventually, I stopped asking such unnecessary questions.

Plastering :)

The sad thing is that all of the adopted children in Petros’ and Elizabteth’s family actually come from their extended family – most of them from Elizabeth’s sisters and brothers that have passed away over the years. At some point, she had 10 siblings – now there are only 5 left. Swaziland has a population of 1.2 million --- and 200 000 of them are infected with HIV; that means about 17% of the country. The sad visible results are that the death of loved ones is part of the everyday life in Swaziland, leaving behind thousands of orphans.

Laundry

During our time with the family, our PhotogenX team helped with the yard work (who would have ever thought that we would have to burn a field instead of mowing it?!), helped finish the façade of their house, and most of all spent time with the kids. Even though the family is so strong in their love for each other and for the Lord, there is not much time for individual attention for each member in such a large family. From the moment we arrived and I smiled at one of the girls getting out of the taxi, this girl, Tibusiso, grabbed my hand and followed me around whenever possible. I realized that for me, it had been a simple smile. For her, it must have meant the world to be the first one to be smiled at by this white lady (me) who came from a different place of the world that she will probably never be able to see. It is amazing for me to understand that sometimes even the little things we do might have a great impact on somebody else. That’s why we need to live intentionally.

The bathroom

For the five days in Swaziland our team also learned to live without running water, without a flushing toilet, without electricity and without silverware. What holds the family together are not any luxurious possessions but the daily family dinners around the fire and the nightly good-night prayers. There is so much that we can learn from this humble style of living. On the last day, we wanted to give back some of the blessings we had received: our whole team (also the guys!) had spent several days knitting scarfs for each one of the kids! And even though it seemed like a small gesture after all, we received thankful eyes and great big smiles for it!

Ten Thousand Homes

We’ve now been living with the ministry of Ten Thousand Homes close to White River for two weeks. The base consists of a kitchen, several little cement houses and wooden huts for the volunteers, an outdoor bathroom for everyone, 3 dogs, about 10 full-time volunteers, poinsettia trees (!!) and a lot of red dirt that slowly changes the base color of all of our clothes :). The base of the organization is basically in the middle of nowhere and even though there have been significantly less break-ins in the recent past, we are still advised to have a “bathroom buddy” (one other person in our room) to take with us if we need to go to the potty in the middle of the night… The 6 girls in our team stay in one room that is attached to the main building and therefore stays a little warmer at night than the wooden hut the 3 guys stay at. During the day, the temperatures rise up to mid 70F but at night they drop to about 30F-40F. So far, my favorite personal investment since coming here has been a cheap prissy winter coat, gloves and a hot water bottle!

During the day, our team helps out at the base or within the community. So far, we have helped one of the volunteers finish building their house, prepare food for community dinners and the highly valued African tea time and on Wednesdays and Thursdays we are assisting with orphan feedings within the close communities Dwaleni and Mbonisweni. Several hundred children show up for the feedings – but not only to receive a nourishing meal but even more to soak in love, smiles and piggy-back-rides from the volunteers. This is my favorite time of the week! I have fallen in love with several of the little children with the huge brown African eyes that can melt a heart of stone! I would LOVE to take (at least) one of them home with me…

 

South Africa is such a beautiful country. And while the communities are clothed in simplicity and poverty, the surrounding landscape is painted with the richest colors and stunning beauty. Last Saturday, we were able to rent a blue baki (pick-up truck) to go sightseeing – what an amazing experience! Our trip took us first to God’s Window, a stunning overlook of the entire area where I, believe it or not, met a friend from Calvin College! The world is getting significantly smaller, I believe ;) For lunch, we went to Harry’s Pancakes, where I had some of the best pancakes I have ever tasted (including one filled with juicy beef with almonds and mango chutney and one filled with ice cream and cinnamon). Afterward, we went to the Bourke’s Luck Potholes, some amazing cliff formations and dozens of little waterfalls. And finally, we went to the Blyde River Canyon, the most breath-taking view I have ever seen besides the Grand Canyon and the Hawaiian coral reefs! We all broke out into a sudden yell of amazement when we got to the rim of the canyon… how wonderful when God’s artistic brushstroke of nature catches you by surprise!

Tomorrow, our team is leaving for 5 days in Swaziland. We will be staying with a family with 13 kids, no electricity, no running water and – obviously – no central heating…

Oh, and did I mention that our ENTIRE TEAM is in the middle of KNITTING scarfs for everyone in the Swaziland family? Yeah, we are pretty much the coolest missionaries ever :) 

I hope you all are having a wonderful summer – mine could not be more amazing and meaningful.

Arriving in Joburg, South Africa

At the airport in München

Wow – suddenly we are in South Africa! Well, it actually wasn’t really that “suddenly”…  First, we flew 5 hours to San Francisco, USA, had a 16-hour layover there (where some of us got to explore the city and I almost lost my wallet!), then we flew for 11 hours to Munich, Germany, had some real German cheese cake and Kinderschokolade during our 5-hour layover and finally got on our last leg for almost 11 hours to arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. We got picked up from the airport and are staying with the “Joseph Project,” a Christian after school program (part of YWAM) that tries to even
out the shortcomings in education of the public schools in the area. Eungyu (South Korea) and Time (England), who are currently staffing the institution, were wonderful hosts to us from the very beginning! After

In front of the Joseph Project

a good night sleep, we first got to explore the community. Johannesburg is one of the two highest crime rate cities of the world and in our specific neighborhood, pizza does not get delivered anymore after 6pm because it is too dangerous to be outside after sunset… Unfortunately, Joburg shows all of the tragic after effects of the Apartheid: segregation between Whites and Blacks, the gap between rich and poor, and incredibly run-down communities. Since the Apartheid was over, the white people moved out of the cities and created richer and safer communities, while the streets of the cities and many sub-communities are almost exclusively full of black people who are still largely marked by poverty.

Mphu - the guy with the greatest smile!

For these first couple of days of our time in South Africa, our team decided to spend 72 hours in prayer for the community. Switching out in groups of two and meeting together several times a day as a whole group, we spent 3 days worshiping and praying with people all around the neighborhood – what a powerful and cleansing experience! Within these 72 hours, I made great friends with some of the African youths and we learned from each other the different ways that our cultures worship God – and we even got to exchange some African dance vs. swing dance moves :)  

"The Underground" aka our prayer cave :)

Tomorrow we will leave for White River to work with 10,000 homes – an organization that works with children that have lost their parents at a young age (mostly due to HIV) and are now running their households at the age of 8 or younger… 

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue our journey... 

LEAVING KONA!

Alright, my team and I are on the way to the airport to leave for South Africa! We will be traveling for over 50 hours... Including almost a day layover in San Francisco and then a 4-hour stop in München...

Please keep our team in your prayers as we start our looooong journey!

Time to Soak in the Beautiful Island of Hawaii!

Kona Art Walk

Could there be something better than an afternoon stroll through an elaborate open-air art exhibition downtown beautiful Kona? Every second Sunday of the month, local artists exhibit their paintings, sell their handmade jewelry and play their music all over downtown and the cars have to find a different way around :)
This is also where I got my ears gaged... just kidding, they are fakes ;)
But seriously: The Art Walk is a wonderful way to indulge in the Hawaiian culture and get some early Christmas presents for your loved ones... and yourself!!

Swimming with Gille Legacy

Do you remember my friend Gille, the Nosepainter, and his wife, Sandi? Gille loves the water but it is not safe for Sandi to get him into the water all by herself -- and therefore he has not been able to get into the water for 25 years. Until two weekends ago when my friend Travis and I took Sandi and Gille to the pier, put him, carried him into the water, laid him onto a floating mat and we all swam together! It was so incredibly wonderful to see him laugh and smile and I felt so honored to be part of making one of this man's hidden dreams come true. If I may quote my dear friend Gille: "It had to take a young girl all the way from Germany to get me back into the water!"
Sometimes it's good to be stubborn, I guess ;)

Lu'au

If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, go to a Lu'Au! It's an amazing cultural event that combines good food, wonderful music and colorful dances in one spectacular night! I got the chance to go with all of my roommates, my dear friends Martitza and Travis and take Gille and Sandi as well - the night could not have been more awesome!! And I even learned how to make a fish out of a palm tree leaf...

Two Wheels to Get Around

Guess what -- This is my new way to get around the island:

Well... that was a joke! I love mopeds way too much and so I rented one for super-cheap together with my friend and outreach-companion Evelyne from Switzerland! Ever since, I've been able to do my morning devotions at the beach - what a great way to start the day!

Hilo Side and Mauna Kea Excursion

Our last excursion for the quarter took us first to see the waterfalls on the Hilo side of the island, swim in one of them and get completely rained out ;) Afterwards, at night, we went swimming in a warm pool right by the ocean (where the water is naturally heated up to bathtub temperature) and swam under the stars and surrounded by palm trees... REALLY late at night, we drove up to the volcano Mauna Kea where it was freezing cold and snowy!! We put on several layers and took awesome starry-sky photos and we also learned how to "paint with light."

My Wonderful Friend Sharon (from Switzerland) and I

Dancers Who Dance Upon Injustice :)

My Dance Partner Josiah and I

I'm back in my element - I am leading a dance club :) For the past weeks, I have been able to teach people here on campus how to dance, together with my awesome new dance partner Josiah. He actually already knew how to Swing Dance and he's super fast at picking up any new dance as well - I seem to always be blessed with dance partners who learn so quickly and I am endlessly thankful for that :)

Last Friday, we've hosted a big Swing Dance Fundraiser and raised money for what I like to call our 'Fishing Pole Fund': My vision is to not only go out into the mission field and only be a blessing to the people in South Africa while we are there (like giving them a fish to eat) but to teach them a skill and leave them with something that will be a continuous blessing to the people (like teaching them to fish and leaving them with a fishing pole... in our case this will be school books, disposable cameras or the like).

And you know what's especially great? Josiah is even in my outreach team so we are planning on teaching orphans in South Africa how to Swing Dance... YES, to me, this is what dancing is meant to be!!! I've finally realized that it fulfills me so much more to bring joy to others through my own dance performances or through teaching them how to dance than to "beat someone else" and win the great price in a competition...

Time is flying by...

We are in the middle of week 9 - I cannot believe it! Everyday is full of new learning experiences, work and adventures. So let me share some of my notes with you to fill you in on what I've learned about in class over the past two weeks.

Week 7 - Speaker: John Leech; Topic: The Father Heart of God

Lu'au Fire Dancer

> In Matthew 3:16, God tells us three things about Jesus: "This is my son (1), whom I love (2) and with him I am well pleased (3)." So what can we learn from this passage about God's heart for His people?1. Know our identity, which is in Christ. (We are all sons and daughters of God.)
2. God is not ashamed of you - even when you are. (He still loves us unconditionally, even when we do things that hurt Him.)
3. Do not live FOR God's smile but FROM God's smile. (He does not love us more or less because of our actions - because perfect love never increases or decreases. However, if you truly love God and know He loves you, you will live from his smile and act out of love because you do not ever want to hurt him).

> SHYNESS IS NOT A PERSONALITY TRAIT. IT'S FEAR OF INSUFFICIENCY. 

> Spiritual teachings and Bible readings are not supposed to make you smarter (you don't want to become an obnoxious argumentative Bible thumper) but they should get you closer to your personal and intimate experience with God (regularly meeting with a friend to get to know him better). Understanding (everything) is not a requirement for believing.

> Stop complaining to God about what's wrong with you/wrong with your life and start praising Him for what's right with Him!

> Condemnation is of the destructive, conviction is constructive. Because condemnation connects your sin to your identity (you are a liar). Conviction shows that you are acting outside of your character (you have lied but it's contrary to your character).

Week 8 - Speaker: John Childers, Topic: Spiritual Authority

Geckos aren't always nice. Somehow the scene fits the topic.

> STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS. You will always loose the comparison game at some point (e.g. 'she is more beautiful than I am' or 'he is more popular than I am') because you are not able to be EXACTLY like somebody else. EVEN WORSE: Every time you win a round in the comparison game because your success comes out of and results in PRIDE. Over time, pride hardens your heart over time and makes God's heart cry every single time. Satan's original sin was PRIDE (believing that he would be more powerful than God). C.S. Lewis writes in his book, Mere Christianity, that a woman is not proud because she thinks she is beautiful (NOTHING wrong with that!) but because she thinks she is MORE beautiful than others. For my German readers :) Galater 6:4 "Dann wird er sich über sine guten Taten freuen können, ohne Grund zur Überheblichkeit zu haben." However, all of this leaves me with a bitter taste or at least a worry of what competitive sports are all about - comparison and being better than others. I would highly appreciate any thoughts and comments on this current struggle of mine.

Downtown Kona

> Sin is often very attractive because it brings instant gratification. Staying away from sin is most often hard because it let's you 'miss out' on the moment but it doesn't only keep your mind and soul healthy but also results into delayed gratification. => The comfort of sin is immediate and the destruction of sin is eternal.

> John 1:10 says that God has given us authority. Therefore, God will not do for us what He has already given us authority over to do ourselves. Therefore, don't sit and wait until God works out your problems for you but get up and be the change you want to see in the world :)

Farmers Market

> The good old question: Why does God allow suffering of the "good people" in His world? Try to change the "why" to "how" and ask: How can I still love You even though I do not understand all your ways?

> I had read the scripture Matthew 7:17 many times: "Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." But today, for the first time, I have realized the definition of fruit: The fruit is not only the what the tree produces (like a good/bad person does good/bad work) but the fruit also carries SEEDS that will cause more trees of the same kind to grow!!

> The opposite of love? Not hate. FEAR! 1 John 4:18 says that perfect love will cast out fear. However, fear will cast out love.

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Downtown Kona

Wow. I am learning so much here and I feel changed from the inside out. Of course, I do not agree with everything that is being said in the lectures. I sometimes even wholeheartedly disagree. However, that is the reason why God has blessed us with the gift of discernment. And one message might touch one person's heart but not mine. As long as well all agree on the foundations, there is room for disagreement. And I have learned one more important lesson: it's ok to disagree, you can still love each other even if you will always have different opinions on certain things. Loving each other is the solution to the destructive power of disagreement :)