Well, I am back in the USA and readjusting to everyday life :) I’m sorry it has taken so many days to get a post out- the last several days in Cape Town were MAD! Friday (11/30) was our final day of pref for Journey To Bethlehem (JTB). We got everything done, including all the booklets made for the caroling service to be held that Sunday night after JTB- praise God! I also got a moment to stop by the Harvest Training Initiative (where students learn farming, agriculture, and business skills). Incredible!
Saturday was a free day, so I spent the time with my good friend Valerie-Gail, a 15 year missionary veteran of South Africa who works for an organization called Beautiful Gate. It was just a joy to spend time running around beautiful Kalk Bay with a “local!” In the evening, I went with my friend Karen’s family to a multi-church worship service. I have no words to sufficiently describe it, and I truly think I will remember that night for the rest of my life. Sunday morning was church and then we went straight to Living Hope to spend several hours all over the land, setting up the stations for JTB: The prophet Isaiah foretelling the birth of the Messiah, the angel appearing to Mary, Mary and Joseph making their way to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus (in a real stable with hay... ask me to tell you sometime about the joy THAT was setting up with a goat pooping on you while you are trying to spread out hay and trying to ram you out of the way ;), the angel appearing to the shepherds, Jesus calling his disciplines, etc. Once we had everything set up, we changed and ate quickly, then hurried back to get people in costume and start welcome visitors. Originally, I was going to be one of the “Journey guides,” but I ended up being asked to help with greeting guests and signing up sponsors for the Chritsmas tree lights (yes- let the American ask people for donations! This is my area of strength- lol!) The goal was 50 sponsors, so I was happy to have had 71 by the time it was over ;) The money goes straight to the health care center, so I was thrilled. After JTB concluded (we had a total of 347 people walk through the story of Jesus’ life and hear the gospel presented!), we moved to the chapel for a beautiful caroling service. Towards the end, we all walked together over to the health care center and stood outside to sing for the patients who were not able to physically come to the chapel. It was a precious experience. Then, we all walked to the corner of Living Hope’s property and sang again as the Christmas tree was lit! I have watched the lighting of the tree for many years on Facebook and it was amazing to finally be there in person! Monday morning I packed up and it was time to go home. I cannot believe the time went so fast. I arrived back in the states on Tuesday late evening, and ran to the waiting embrace of my amazing husband. It was the best hug I’ve ever had! Reflecting now, days later, on this trip, I have had one predominant thought. I am calling it “The Battle for The Blessing.” You see, every time I go to South Africa (or really do anything “for” the Lord, or for people), my goal is to be a blessing to THEM. That is my aim and mission. But along the way, I find that no matter how much I try to do for THEM, it is I who end up being the most blessed. The love and acceptance of the people I meet, their quickness to share whatever it is they have, their open hearts, great faith and incredible trust in God’s provision despite limited resounrces... they bless ME far more than I could ever bless them. It is a humbling thought, and I am ever grateful...
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Have you seen the game Temple Run? It’s a game for your phone where you run without stopping the entire game, jumping over obstacles, etc. This is how I feel like the last 2 days have gone ;) Up by 6:30 and slumping home late, tired and happy, and in bed by midnight. It has been awesome!! So, let me first update you on how Wednesday morning went (after Giving Tuesday). We raised, in 24 hours, 73% of our goal... just over $19,000 USD out of the $25,000 goal. But then, a generous donor called and said he would match the amount we were short, bringing us to our goal! It was just an amazing gift from God! On Wednesday morning, we continued working on Journey to Bethlehem (JTB) and also went to get fabric for some of the stations. The afternoon was a blur, but involved kid’s club in Mountainview, the community on the edge of larger Oceanview, and where I spent much of my time on the first few years of trips. Wednesday evening was a very special treat! My first year here I met some amazing women who worked in the Home Based Care “division” of Living Hope. Their names are Bernadette, Allyson, Marguerite, Naomi and Martha. These ladies are spiritual WARRIORS and just full of sass! I loved them from the word GO. As of this year, none of them work with Living Hope anymore (a few left over the years to take care of family members, grandkids, etc. and others left for different work opportunities), but thanks to Facebook I have been able to keep up with them over the years. I have been blessed on each trip here to have dinner with them- truly a highlight to my visits. (Of course, I have packed all my evening free time with seeing people, so this is exactly why I’m so tired, but it’s WORTH it! ;) Today (Thursday) was another busy day. We were about to work on JTB when the ladies in the coffee shop got slammed with a party of women having a Christmas lunch there! So I got to help prep breakfast and serve 24 women! Let’s just say they didn’t have me COOK anything (it is a very well known fact, even here, that I don’t cook ;) but I did prep plates, serve the food, run coffee and tea service to the tables, etc. I was told numerous times that they loved my accent! After helping with the breakfast , I went back to sorting costumes, setting up stations for the people helping at JTB on Sunday as actors and journey guides, and putting everything in order so we just have finishing touches tomorrow morning. Saturday is a free day,and the Living Hope offices are closed, so we have to make sure everything is ready for Sunday afternoon by tomorrow. This afternoon was kid’s club again in Oceanview (the topic was HIV/AIDS and a “kid-level” discussion on that subject). I was sitting on the curb talking with some kiddos before club. One little girl was telling me about her family and her sisters and brothers. I’m the middle of listening to her, when this other girl (around 2 years old) just walks right up to me and sits down in my lap! The older girl (maybe around 7-8) tells me this is her sister. The 2 year old just stayed in my lap, totally content and leaning on me. Garrett and Kim Pence, her name was Olivia!!!!! Makes me even more excited to meet my new niece, Olivia, when I get back! I just came back from dinner with some friends from a church, King of Kings, that I went on a ladies weekend with years ago Itwas such a blessing to see them and catch up! It’s almost midnight here, so I’m going to call it a day. Thanks for checking in on my adventures!!! Kid’s club in Mountainview :)
Wow... what a BUSY day! I started the morning once again working on prep for our big Journey To Bethlehem event this coming Sunday. I also helped out some this morning with Facebook posting for our ambitious #GivingTuesday (where we are currently working to raise $25,000, or R 350,000 South African currency, in 24 hours!)
In the afternoon, I was thrilled to visit the Oceanview community, where I have spent considerable time in the past on trips here. I was able to help at kid’s club (we had about 30 kids today), as well as the start of teen’s club. Today, the Life Skill Educators taught about TB and the warning signs, as well as the importance of not putting a stigma on people with TB and still loving and being friends with them. The value of this type of education can not be overstated, especially in kids and teens here. Afterward, it was back to Living Hope’s offices to take up my Facebook duties again for #GivingTuesday :) It’s so exciting to celebrate and cheer with each gift, ever thanking God for His hand of provision! At present (it is 10:05pm here now), we are over halfway to our goal! We have raised $14,163 and have teams coming in until 8am here tomorrow (midnight-ish for the US, depending on where you live ;) I have issued a little giving challenge of my own as well ;) Lynn and I have donated $250 and are asking our friends to match us today (if we can get 25 people to give $10 each, we will do it!!!) As of right now, 2 friends have been so generous and have donated $70, so I am trusting I will be smiling from ear to ear when I wake up in the morning and see we met our goal!!! If you would like to help, please visit www.livinghope.co.za/givingtuesday Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog and watching my Facebook posts- I love getting comments, so please feel free to do that also! Today was a full day! The morning was spent continuing to locate, relocate and sort materials for the different stations of Journey To Bethlehem (JTB) on Sunday. Once we determined what we had and what we still needed, we ran out to pick up the remaining items before I was due elsewhere.
Around lunch time, I headed out with Danielle (a long time volunteer here for 10 years as of 2018, and an awesome TN friend I’ve known since my first trip here) to assist with a kid’s club Christmas party in the community of Capricorn. We had 88 children!!! My favorite part was doing face painting :) I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but we were all running like crazy to keep up- ha! Needless to say, I should sleep well tonight! In the evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to have dinner with another long time friend, Nadine (she works at the place I usually stay at). I enjoyed a delicious Cape Malay curry dish- yum!!! Tomorrow will be the busiest day by far. I have JTB prep continuing in the morning, an afternoon helping with kid’s club in Oceanview, followed by Giving Tuesday (so you all should keep an eye out for my Facebook posts- it should be an exciting day!) Heading to bed now- good night USA!!! Hello from beautiful Cape Town, South Africa! I arrived just after midnight on Friday morning, went to sleep around 3am, and was up (trying to adjust to local time) by 8am the same day! Needless to say, the day was a bit of a blur ;) but Friday morning, we got right to work and began moving and organizing items related to an event coming up next weekend.
However... this trip has had an unusual beginning. Since I am coming to work all of next week to assist specifically with Giving Tuesday and the “Journey to Bethlehem” (JTB), the annual event taking place next Sunday, this weekend is kind of a wonderful “mini-vaca” for me LOL! As I was looking for flights a few months ago, it was actually a few hundred dollars cheaper for me to fly out on the Wednesday BEFORE Thanksgiving, instead of the Friday AFTER, so I got here two days early. A very good local South African friend of mine, Karen, is the MASTER of stretching a dollar and finding deals, so I roped her into finding us a place to stay just one night in the wine country, so we could do some wine, cheese, meat, etc. tastings (something I have never done, but always wanted to!) She completed this task with her usual frugal excellence, and so Friday afternoon and Saturday here have been an amazing (and extremely affordable) treat, and have allowed me to see some of the areas of the Western Cape that I never have been able to previously! Tomorrow (Sunday) we will be heading to church in the morning, and probably visiting some with her family and possibly a few friends, and also exploring around a bit more. For now, Monday morning will be working more on the JTB. In the afternoon, I will be headed to one of our communities, Capricorn, to assist with a kid’s Christmas party there! I will probably not post tomorrow, but hope to do so on Monday evening. I am 7 hours ahead of Florida, so it is 11:30pm now. Time to call my husband for a chat before bed! Love to everyone!!! I cannot believe I will be leaving in less than a week! It has been such an awesome journey to get to this point. Truly, God has provided for absolutely everything I need for this trip. I am very humbled and thankful for the support of friends, family, colleagues, new acquaintances from church, and even complete strangers. My continual prayer has been that God would allow me to be of some help and service to the people I encounter for the duration of my time away. I am only one person, but the One who sends me has the ability to accomplish anything He wants! I just wanted to share this video that I made a few years ago after a previous trip. Since that time, Living Hope has set some strict guidelines about taking photos and videos of people in the communities they serve, in order to protect their privacy and dignity, so I may not have a ton of photos this year of people I am serving (I’ll do my best)! Hopefully this will give you a little bit of an idea! Depending on the reliability of my WiFi once there, I will try to post to this blog at least every 1 to 2 days. I appreciate everyone’s patience with me, as it will be a busy time! Giving Tuesday is November 27th (www.livinghope.co.za/givingtuesday), and then we also have a big event on December 2nd called The Journey To Bethlehem. I can’t wait to be a part of both of these days for the first time! See you soon! Today, I purchased my airfare to Cape Town! I’ve been watching rates like a hawk for weeks and, since they’ve been creeping up, I decided to go ahead and book! I will be departing on Wednesday, November 21st, arriving in South Africa on the 22nd, and returning Tuesday, December 4th. I truly cannot WAIT!!!
My deepest thanks to the amazing support of many friends and family, for helping to make this trip a reality. I still have a little ways to go to raise all my funds, but I’m on my way and that’s exciting! I have a little better idea about what I will be doing while there, but if past trips are any indication, it will all change a million times before (and after) I arrive in Cape Town, so I’ve learned to be flexible. My motto basically is... whatever is needed, I’ll do it ;) But for now, there is a major event Living Hope does the first weekend of every December and I’ll be arriving for the week before to help with that. Plus whatever else comes up I’m sure. Once again, I can’t wait. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I prepare for the trip, and also Lynn, as we have never been apart more than a few nights since we married (not to mention TWO WEEKS). What WILL he do without me? ;) Blessings, Jennifer LeAnn From Sunday: Had a wonderful time at church this morning! I really enjoyed seeing some friends and hearing a great message. Also, some tender prayer today as several South African churches set aside time today to pray for repentance in the church (reference 2 Chr. 7:14). Afterward, we were beyond blessed to have lunch with John and Avril Thomas (thank you for a delicious meal!!). Just an awesome time of fellowship and taking about our past week. So excited to see what God has planned! Afterward, we went to buy supplies with the donated money I received from people who wanted to help! Then, we had an awesome afternoon at Boulders Beach seeing the penguins with my friend Valerie Gail who was a HUGE BLESSING from God! Then on to her house for a lovely dinner. Just a wonderful, relaxing day of fellowship! Today (Monday), we are about to embark on our last day in Cape Town. Although I am terribly sad to be leaving, I look forward to seeing what God has "up his sleeve" for me. And...I miss my man A LOT! :) Saturday was a completely free day and we were beyond blessed to do a day safari at Aquila Private Game Reserve, about 2.5 hours away. What an experience!!! When we arrived, there was a lovely breakfast and then we went on a 3 hour drive through the reserve. The natural landscape here is just indescribable and we hardly spoke for lack of things to say when surrounded by such breathtaking beauty. We were able to see giraffe, zebras, rhinos, hippos, wildebeest, elephants, lions, crocodiles, cheetahs and leopards. Just WOW!!! Part of what I love about being here is just getting to see more of God's amazing creation, and it was nice to finally get to do this. What a testimony to the goodness of God! After getting back, we ran down to the beach (in the freezing weather, with the wind almost blowing us over, it was definitely different than most of my "beach time" HA!) But it was beautiful also! Well...I'm at the point where I'm thinking maybe Satan just does not want me to post Friday's blog (this is my FOURTH attempt), but I'm pressing on!
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AuthorI am passionate about world missions, specifically the country of South Africa. As an Ambassador for Living Hope Ministries in Cape Town, I am honored to serve with them in impacting their community for Christ! Archives
August 2018
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