At Home Retreat

Last week was our yearly "at home retreat." The last week of August each year, the entire staff of YWAM Muizenberg gets together for a 3 day retreat. We spent those 3 days listening to a speaker, having times of worship, praying for one another and basically gearing up for the next year of schools and programs. We did have a fun afternoon of mini golf and a braai to celebrate our time together. There are approximately 90 staff members and they work in many different areas, so it was a valuable time for unity and reconnection. Our theme for this retreat was Rest and Restoration, which is always a necessary topic for missionaries to be reminded of. We were encouraged to live a balanced life and to not neglect our own relationships with God.

So, who are some of the other staff that work on our base? The 3 main areas that YWAM staff work in are training, mercy ministries and evangelism. At YWAM Muizenberg, we have many training programs, including the School of Biblical Studies that Hans and I are a part of. There is also the Discipleship Training School that runs 4 times each year, a Church Planting school, School of Intercessory Prayer, and School of Field Journalism. Another department on our base is called Urban Ministries. There are many staff members in this department doing many different types of ministries, from working with street kids and prostitutes, to working in local orphanages, to prison ministry, to preparing for the World Cup (soccer) which will take place in South Africa in 2010. We also have many administrative staff members who help with the logistics of running our base, including our registrar, financial officer, and building manager, to name a few.

For more info on YWAM Muizenberg, you can check out the website: www.ywammuizenberg.org

This is just a small glimpse into the life of our base. We feel very privileged to work with such an amazing group of people. And we enjoyed our time reconnecting with them.

We hope you are well!

Classroom Preparation

These past few weeks we've been in our "between schools" mode, getting our classroom ready for the next group of students and beginning to prepare for the books we will be teaching in the first quarter of the next school. Since we have a larger group of students this year (the last school had 16 students and we are looking at about 23 for this next one) we had to get a little creative with our limited classroom space. By changing the direction the desks face we were able to squeeze in 4 more desks, which Hans helped build. These are a few pictures of our efforts! (I'll post a picture of the finished classroom soon.)

parental visit

As Hans wrote in the previous post, we had a wonderful visit from my parents. It was such a blessing to have them here. We had 12 days for them to see our life and meet our friends here in Muizenberg, to travel around and see more of this beautiful country, and to fit in several nights of staying home and playing games by the fire. More than anything, we were just happy to be with them. Here are a few pictures from our adventures...
We visited the Southernmost tip of Africa.

My Dad and I are at the top of the lighthouse at Cape L'Agulhas.

Hans and I are at the marker where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet.
We visited an ostrich farm in Outdshoorn.

Hans is standing on ostrich eggs.

These next pictures are from our safari on a game reserve a few hours outside of Cape Town. We saw zebra, wildebeest, rhino, elephant, giraffe, lion, cheetah, and cape buffalo to name a few:

These cape buffalo greeted us outside our room in the morning:
Here we are at the South-Westernmost tip of Africa at the Cape of Good Hope:

We are so thankful for this visit from my parents. It's been almost a year since we've seen family so we can't even tell you how much it meant to have them here with us. It was a wonderful way to cap off our first year in South Africa. Thank you Mom and Dad!

"has been" becoming "is"

hola. its been a bit since i typed some thoughts, so here goes.....

we just had susan's parents visit from california.
if i could summarize what their trip meant for me in five words it would be these:
they made "here" feel "home."

let me explain.....
"here" is where we live; muizenberg ZA. a bit distant from where either of us grew up : )
you knew that though...
"here" is where we work, as students and teachers of God's Word.
"here" is where we are developing maturity, our relationship, friendships, our ability to love/serve (and our desire for such).
"here" is where we are challenged in many ways; including: faith, trust, confidence, identity, purpose, dreams.....more too...

"home" has been (in our heads/hearts) where we are most known/appreciated.
"home" has been (in our hearts) where many of YOU are, reading this...
"home" has been (in our heads) where comfort and familiarity go hand in hand.
"home" has been (in our hearts) where many of your families are continuing on...
without us..

home now and always will be (on this earth) where ever we are together, but
please notice the transition from present tense to past tense in the previous statements...
home "has been"; here "is".
dad and mom schoolland brought the past "has beens" more to the present "is" with their visit.
their visit made "here" more "home".
incredible memories have been created. stories have been logged that will be told again...
and again.

we are appreciative. and very thankful.
twas a precious time
in summation:

we are blessed. deeply.