Time is already cruising along in the SBS (School of Biblical Studies). Today we turned in Acts. What an amazing look at the early church and the initial spread of the gospel. I've often heard of those days of the church as being an ideal we should aspire to today... be like the New Testament church... but as we're studying this time period, it's clear that this was actually quite a tumultuous time for the church. There were periods of relative peace when the church unified and grew... but most of the growth and spread of the gospel happened because of intense persecution. For example, it was Stephen's death that began a fierce wave of persecution that drove most of the believers out of Jerusalem. And what did they take with them? The gospel. Their new beliefs. This was the beginning of the gospel going to Judea and Samaria, and eventually to the ends of the earth. Besides all the persecution from those outside the church (mainly religious leaders of the day) it was quite a huge task for those inside the church to boil things down to the essentials and to prune out the false doctrines and the things the new believers wanted to pull in from their previous belief systems. In some ways we have an advantage today... the advantage of hindsight and church history and thousands of years of scholars expounding on the truths in scripture. But we can't forget that it all began with a band of believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit who gave them amazing boldness to proclaim the gospel in the face of obstacles and persecution. And the movement carries on to this day, 2,000 years later. The same truth. The same faith. The same Holy Spirit. Pretty amazing.
But the thing about SBS is there isn't much time to really meditate on a book. Acts was due at 6pm and it's immediately on to the next one. Which happens to be 1 Thessalonians. Which happens to be taught by our very own Hans Oines. So I'm looking forward to that! I know he's looking forward to being done. We'll let you know how it goes!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Muizenberg Kite Festival
This past weekend was the Muizenberg Kite Festival. It makes sense, considering the constant wind of this particular area. It was a beautiful day. The kites were huge! (The closest big red one is anchored to the van...)
The kites as viewed from our apartment... hard to see, but they're there!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Baking Day
Since I'm the only SBS student living in an apartment (the rest live at the base), I had all the girls over for a baking afternoon (as you can see, it was more than just baking...). So here's a few pics... and a sneak peak of our new apartment!
at desk: Vera from Cameroon; standing, Rahila from Nigeria; behind Rahila, Sarah from the States; on the couch: Sandra from Switzerland, Sharon from Canada, Michelle from the States and Hannah from Germany.
Lauren from California and Tanyse from Zimbabwewith the chocolate muffins that didn't quite turn out.
Our lovely kitchen, which is on one wall of our living/eating area...outing to the penguins
Vera and Rahila, from Cameroon and Nigeria were freezing! The temps here are much cooler than the rest of Africa!
Handsome Hans by the beautiful sea (False Bay)
Yes, there are penguins in Africa! Cute little guys...Thursday, October 16, 2008
questions......
what do you do when one hungry street child asks you for food?
what do you do when four hungry street children ask you for food?
what do you do when four hungry street boys named Andrew, Carl, Godfrey and Bonte ask for food... everyday?
what do you do when you feed these boys occasionally, and an elderly man also living on the street comes to you describing how terrible these four boys are?........
in detail.......
what do you do when 4 boys aged 14, 15, 16 and 17 have never been to school?
some say feeding the hungry allows the process to continue....and they have a point.
the bible says care for the orphans and widows.
the destitute and forgotten....
what do you think?
what do you do when four hungry street children ask you for food?
what do you do when four hungry street boys named Andrew, Carl, Godfrey and Bonte ask for food... everyday?
what do you do when you feed these boys occasionally, and an elderly man also living on the street comes to you describing how terrible these four boys are?........
in detail.......
what do you do when 4 boys aged 14, 15, 16 and 17 have never been to school?
some say feeding the hungry allows the process to continue....and they have a point.
the bible says care for the orphans and widows.
the destitute and forgotten....
what do you think?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Busy-ness
Hello!
So our lives have gotten a little busier these past few weeks (hence the lack of blogging). The School of Biblical Studies started 2 1/2 weeks ago and we haven't had a dull moment since. Hans taught 3 sessions during that time, and has been busy working one on one with students to help them understand the Inductive Bible Study Method, as well as preparing for his first big lecture on the 1 Thessalonians. He is, of course, in his element when it comes to welcoming and getting to know and encouraging the SBS students. I think he's in the middle of an intense ping pong tournament right now (so there still is time for fun...) I've been enjoying being a student again. We've already studied Philemon, Titus and Philippians and are in the middle of Galatians. We've spent most of our time just learning the method we'll be using to study through the entire Bible over the next 9 months, but have still learned so much about the books themselves... I can definitely see the value of looking in depth at each book of the Bible. There is so much to learn! (I'll expand on that some time in the future.)
We love living in our new apartment. It already feels like home. We've been able to add a few personal touches, but really just having a space to call our own makes it special to us! I promise I'll post pictures soon. It really is a beautiful place. We feel so blessed!
Each time YWAM Montana deposits money from our supporters in our account, they send us a report so we can keep track of our finances. I got one of those reports today and was reminded anew of how amazing it is that people are supporting us to be doing what we're doing right now. Even as I think about it now, it makes me emotional... I'm so grateful to each one of you for sacrificing for us to be here, doing what we know God has called us to do. We feel so much peace and joy, even though it's challenging and unfamiliar and uncomfortable at times. I can't tell you enough how humbled and thankful we are to the people who God is using to make it possible for us to be here.
I will get to the questions people have asked soon... I also have an inkling to write some brief reflections on life since college, seeing as my 10 year college reunion was last weekend... so you can look forward to that as well (as I'm sure you will... you're already on the edge of your seat, I can tell...) And you'll hear from Hans again soon too. As always, we love to hear from you. We are missing our friends and family!
But now it's off to sleep. Until next time...
So our lives have gotten a little busier these past few weeks (hence the lack of blogging). The School of Biblical Studies started 2 1/2 weeks ago and we haven't had a dull moment since. Hans taught 3 sessions during that time, and has been busy working one on one with students to help them understand the Inductive Bible Study Method, as well as preparing for his first big lecture on the 1 Thessalonians. He is, of course, in his element when it comes to welcoming and getting to know and encouraging the SBS students. I think he's in the middle of an intense ping pong tournament right now (so there still is time for fun...) I've been enjoying being a student again. We've already studied Philemon, Titus and Philippians and are in the middle of Galatians. We've spent most of our time just learning the method we'll be using to study through the entire Bible over the next 9 months, but have still learned so much about the books themselves... I can definitely see the value of looking in depth at each book of the Bible. There is so much to learn! (I'll expand on that some time in the future.)
We love living in our new apartment. It already feels like home. We've been able to add a few personal touches, but really just having a space to call our own makes it special to us! I promise I'll post pictures soon. It really is a beautiful place. We feel so blessed!
Each time YWAM Montana deposits money from our supporters in our account, they send us a report so we can keep track of our finances. I got one of those reports today and was reminded anew of how amazing it is that people are supporting us to be doing what we're doing right now. Even as I think about it now, it makes me emotional... I'm so grateful to each one of you for sacrificing for us to be here, doing what we know God has called us to do. We feel so much peace and joy, even though it's challenging and unfamiliar and uncomfortable at times. I can't tell you enough how humbled and thankful we are to the people who God is using to make it possible for us to be here.
I will get to the questions people have asked soon... I also have an inkling to write some brief reflections on life since college, seeing as my 10 year college reunion was last weekend... so you can look forward to that as well (as I'm sure you will... you're already on the edge of your seat, I can tell...) And you'll hear from Hans again soon too. As always, we love to hear from you. We are missing our friends and family!
But now it's off to sleep. Until next time...
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Any questions?
Hello! We are wondering if any of you have questions for us about our experience so far. We'd love to answer them. Post them as a comment or email us as susanoines@hotmail.com or hans_oines@hotmail.com. Then we will have a better idea about what to include in our blog!
THANKS! We look forward to hearing from you!
THANKS! We look forward to hearing from you!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
day with kids
This past Saturday, Hans and I had the chance to help with a "fun day" for kids from a nearby orphanage that YWAM works with. I think there were around 35 kids from age 3 to 16 (approx). We started out at a place in Muizenberg that is an indoor fun center for kids. Then we took them to the beach to play games, do crafts and have a picnic lunch. Some of the kids (who live in Cape Town) had never seen the ocean. It was a really special day.
hans' first
howdy all,
i trust you are well.
I have finally taken the time to write a bit about what life has been like for me the last few weeks. the first word that comes to mind is....awesome. it has been awesome. i have really enjoyed the staff training. it was challenging and i learned a lot. one of the most challenging things was realizing i must be mindful of the different cultures; reliance on slang and americanisms will not be sufficient for communicating. also, if students arent learning, its because i am not teaching well.
that was challenging to hear, but a good intro. i need to know the responsibility. its my job to communicate well, not the students job to sift through a binch of wackiness.
ive had my first two opportunities already. i am not teaching the bible yet, just the inductive method. the first went really well, the second was honestly terrible. i didnt manage the time properly so my illustrations were left hanging, and my wrap up was insubstantial.
i learned a lot more from doing poorly than doing well.
our new place is grand. its the first time in 3 years we get to cook for ourselves, and we are enjoying that.
we will have 18 students. not all are here yet due to visa situations. we have 6 black africans as students, and 4 white africans. our international flavor is almost unreal.
we are working through philemon first and titus next. sue can give you those details if you want. i must meander back to base to check on my students.
i make sure they are following along well. oh yeah, i am also in charge of work duties for our school, and will be doing the room checks every friday to make sure they are clean. yeah for experience in residence halls!!
be good.
hans
i trust you are well.
I have finally taken the time to write a bit about what life has been like for me the last few weeks. the first word that comes to mind is....awesome. it has been awesome. i have really enjoyed the staff training. it was challenging and i learned a lot. one of the most challenging things was realizing i must be mindful of the different cultures; reliance on slang and americanisms will not be sufficient for communicating. also, if students arent learning, its because i am not teaching well.
that was challenging to hear, but a good intro. i need to know the responsibility. its my job to communicate well, not the students job to sift through a binch of wackiness.
ive had my first two opportunities already. i am not teaching the bible yet, just the inductive method. the first went really well, the second was honestly terrible. i didnt manage the time properly so my illustrations were left hanging, and my wrap up was insubstantial.
i learned a lot more from doing poorly than doing well.
our new place is grand. its the first time in 3 years we get to cook for ourselves, and we are enjoying that.
we will have 18 students. not all are here yet due to visa situations. we have 6 black africans as students, and 4 white africans. our international flavor is almost unreal.
we are working through philemon first and titus next. sue can give you those details if you want. i must meander back to base to check on my students.
i make sure they are following along well. oh yeah, i am also in charge of work duties for our school, and will be doing the room checks every friday to make sure they are clean. yeah for experience in residence halls!!
be good.
hans
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)