Day 9

hello all

currently there are two ladies (chelsea and dani) sleeping and the rest of our team (besides me) are at a church service in Lwandle. The girls that stayed back just needed a good nights sleep to get rested up, we do not want anyone getting sick.

ok to fill you all in on our week… i believe we left off on sunday?

so…we started our ministry in Lwandle squatter camp… at the public school. We worked with about 150 kids between the ages of 11-15. We worked with them 3 days (monday tuesday and wednesday) we split up the lessons, first day was creation and the creator, then the fall of man and the gospel, then today we did the 2 ways to live- with God or without. From what I saw, many of the kids understood, and although we did not see any instant results, with a lot of prayer and Gods amazing power- many of these kids will come to Christ. We introduced them to the local pastor. We also gave them the option of memorizing 4 verses and they could win a prize, we had around 5/6 kids do so and we gave them a backpack. It was awesome to see how much this simple gift meant to these kids. It was a wonderful experience.

Tuesday night part of our team went to Springwood church, John Doyle spoke. It was a family-based service, about being Godly parents… sometimes things are hard to discribe, and this service is one of them. All I can say is that it had a powerful affect on Chelsea and I, it was heart-wrenching and completely beautiful.. .Gods grace and love is so life-changing…

Tonight, half of our group is at Lwandle church, Keith is speaking.

Tomorrow brings more ministry- at Strandfontein preschool in the morning, then to help with a feeding later in the afternoon. Then at night we will be at Springwood church again. Friday morning is similar to Thursday morning and then in the evening we will be at Redhill for a youth group service. Saturday is a relaxing day, and Sunday is full of ministry. Then monday will be our final day (sad face)

Thanks for reading we will keep you posted on what God is doing down here in South Africa!

<mara p>

The First Sunday of Ministry

So, today was our first Sunday here in South Africa. This morning our group was split in half- Bill, Heather and Dani went to a church in the Lwandle squatter camp and work with the black church there by childrens ministry and preaching, and Keith, Mara and Chelsea went to a white church in Fish Hoek called Full Gospel Baptist and did a special song and preaching. Both were very different experiences, but both were very fun The Full Gospel Baptist is very similar to Cornerstone, so it was very nice to spend our worship time there. And the church in Lwandle was very energetic and excited about praising the Lord.

Bill Clapping

Bill and Pastor Saki at Lwandle Baptist Church

Pastor Saki, Alec (elder) Cool piano player and the Lwandle Cornerstone team

Heather and M'po, Pastor Saki's Daughter

Tonight we went the Doyles home church, King Of Kings. It was a youth service and Heather was able to share her testimony and Keith preached. It was a very nice service.

The beginning of this next week is going to very busy for all of us. We are going to work with the school in Lwandle, tomorrow morning we will be helping with an assembly of 5000 KIDS! But then we will be getting a smaller portion (200 children between 4th and 6th grade) to work with for the morning. We are preparing tonight – Heather is torturing us girls by making us write 200 verses out for the children tomorrow… we are suffering, please pray for us.

Please pray for us this week, that God would speak through us and touch the hearts of the children at this squatter camp, and that we would hear what he would like us to do.

Thanks for all your support

<mara and dani>

More Pics and Info

yet again, chelsea playing guitar. dani, mara, kennedy are singing too!!! =)

chelsea is not playing the guitar right now. hmm

Hey here’s some more pics!!! =)

not playing guitar yet again. hmmm its like thats all i do or something. maybe i was wanting to play. hmm

chapter 2: Redhill ministry

HELLOOOOOOOOO

we started off our ministry here at the Redhill Squatter Camp. This is where Kennedy has been living and working for about 10 years. We went to the church there and spent some time hanging out and working with the children. They were a blast.

chelsea is singing and playing guitar for the children

chelsea is not playing the guitar... we are holding children

After spending the mornings at Redhill, we have been going out to eat and spending some time in the towns. We had the opportunity to go down to cape point and see the view, it was intense and spectacular. The weather has been beautiful, it is going to be hard to come back to the wisconsin weather. The first couple days were VERY windy, but now that has died down and it is wonderful.

more later…. we are off the see the penguins

<marah, chelseya and Byill>

We are here. . .1st day!

Thanks to God’s mercy, many prayers, AND coloring books and (for Chelsea coffee). . we have safely arrived!! Today (Thursday I’m writing this just before 11pm) we started our ministry at Redhill preschool. We didn’t really know what to expect but it went well. The kids were very enthusiastic and welcoming. They greeted us by literally jumping up and clinging to us. I think a couple of us girls got taken down a few times because we had so many kids trying to hug us! Amazing!

We had a free afternoon where we went to the mall for money exchange and lunch and then back to the lodge to work on ministry planning. We ended our day with a revival meeting the Redhill church. I’m not sure how to describe it but it is certainly one of a kind and something new for most of us.

Since it’s late and we have more planning to do before tomorrow, we’ll close. Thanks for all your prayers!

Love, Dani and Mara

Off we go!

Good morning everyone. The Lord is Great and Greatly to be praised!
We are thankful for the opportunity we have to serve Him.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise,be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen!

Pre-Trip Update

Greetings,

As we look forward to the work The Lord Jesus will do with His  - John, Keith and I are asking you to spend this Friday in prayer and fasting.

To those of you who are not familiar with how to do this, it can be something as simple as not doing something you normally do and spend that time in prayer.  This can be eating, watching TV, whatever.  As for fasting from eating, there are also some options to consider.  You can do what is called a “Daniel Fast” where you, like Daniel, eat only vegetables and water (Daniel 1:8-14), or not eat at all…

However, the point of fasting this is to deny self and spend time praying.  Will you commit to joining with the CMI and the churches in SA in this day of prayer and fasting?

Praises:
Everyone has become fully supported!  This includes Heather as she joined us late!
The itinerary is as settled as it can be.

Petitions:
500 student assembly program – Heather as she prepares the team for this.
The children in the schools and those in the churches we minister to – that as the Gospel goes forth, it “adds to the Church”.
That we are sensitive to others needs as they become evident to us.
That the team remains flexible and “one in the Spirit”.
That His will be done!

Also:
Cornerstone while Pastor Keith is gone.
Chelsea, Mara, and Dani as they have started school and added responsibilities to their lives.
Heather as she transitions from school to the real world.  Fundraising for her mission field.
Smooth Flying – making all the connections, bags, etc…

Thanks to all of you for your support and prayers!