Well, our students are arriving and we are in the midst of final preparations for the School of Biblical Studies to begin on Monday. We've spent the week making beds and cleaning rooms and preparing our classroom and doing airport runs and preparing to teach next week. It's all very exciting and surreal. We know God has great things in store. We feel very privileged to be able to invest in the lives of these 26 students (yes, the number has grown) for the next 9 months. We feel so blessed that this is our job!
Thank you for your prayers as we begin this new school year. We greatly appreciate it!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
What have we been up to?
That's an excellent question. For 3 of the past 4 weeks we have been in staff training, preparing for the upcoming School of Biblical Studies. Our staff has 8 members on it and we have had many valuable hours together receiving necessary training and praying for our students. These are pictures of one of our staff training sessions (taken in our apartment, by the way).
For 1 of the past 4 weeks (Sept 7-13), Hans and I were able to attend a YWAM conference in a nearby town. This was a University of the Nations gathering and YWAMers from all over the world were in attendance. There were 3 other locations for the conference as well (Ukraine, Egypt and Switzerland) and we were all linked via satellite. The theme of the conference was "For Such A Time As This" and the focus was evaluating where YWAM and UofN is at and discussing where we are headed. YWAM is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010, so it was interesting to look back on how far it's come in the last 50 years. It was also exciting to look forward to the next 50 years. We made many valuable connections and were inspired to continue serving God in this organization.
This was one of our main meetings... there were close to 500 in attendance at our site.
The theme
meal time: where connections happened
The conference center housing... we did not get to stay in these Rondovels, but most of the attendees did. It was a beautiful area.
Friday Photo
Hans and I have begun a tradition of sending a photo out to our friends/family/supporters by email each Friday. It's just a way to give them a glimpse into our lives. If you would like to be on our email list, please let me know by writing me at susanoines@hotmail.com.
This is the Friday Photo I sent out today:
This is not a photo from this week, but it's still a glimpse into our lives...
These are boys that live either on the streets of Muizenberg or in nearby townships (in which case they spend their days on the streets). Over the year, Hans has interacted with these boys, learning their names and talking to them when he sees them. It's not uncommon to hear kids shouting "Hey Hans!" (pronounced "Hands" without the "d" sound) as we walk around our neighborhood. Hans wrote a blog post when we first got here about the dilemma of whether or not to feed these kids, since they are always hungry and asking for food. They know where we live and often ring our bell, asking for something to eat. We usually have an extra loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter around the house so we can make them sandwiches. (We don't feed them every time they ring, but it's hard to say no every time!) This time they rang and asked for tea, since it was a cold winter evening. I told them I didn't have containers for them. Within minutes they all had found empty bottles (from who knows where) that I could put their tea in. How could I say no with that kind of effort and creativity? So Hans made them sandwiches and we sent them on their way with hot tea. We still struggle with this issue. There are signs in shops around town that say "Giving Doesn't Help" because it really only perpetuates the problem. But when a hungry little boy is at your door, it's hard to turn them away.
So these are a few faces that are a part of our life here in Muizenberg:
These are boys that live either on the streets of Muizenberg or in nearby townships (in which case they spend their days on the streets). Over the year, Hans has interacted with these boys, learning their names and talking to them when he sees them. It's not uncommon to hear kids shouting "Hey Hans!" (pronounced "Hands" without the "d" sound) as we walk around our neighborhood. Hans wrote a blog post when we first got here about the dilemma of whether or not to feed these kids, since they are always hungry and asking for food. They know where we live and often ring our bell, asking for something to eat. We usually have an extra loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter around the house so we can make them sandwiches. (We don't feed them every time they ring, but it's hard to say no every time!) This time they rang and asked for tea, since it was a cold winter evening. I told them I didn't have containers for them. Within minutes they all had found empty bottles (from who knows where) that I could put their tea in. How could I say no with that kind of effort and creativity? So Hans made them sandwiches and we sent them on their way with hot tea. We still struggle with this issue. There are signs in shops around town that say "Giving Doesn't Help" because it really only perpetuates the problem. But when a hungry little boy is at your door, it's hard to turn them away.
So these are a few faces that are a part of our life here in Muizenberg:
Friday, September 4, 2009
Christmas in July!
Hello all!
This is a little out of date, but I wanted to post a few pictures of our "Christmas-in-July" party. Since our Christmas this past December was in the middle of summer, my friend Lauren (from California) and I decided to throw a Christmas party in July in order to have a "wintery" Christmas. It happened to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day, but we still enjoyed our Christmas party! We had turkey and ham and all the fixings, apple and pumpkin pie and Christmas cookies. About 30 people crammed into our apartment for the festivities. We put up a (little) tree and made paper snow flakes and watched Miracle on 34th Street. Hopefully we'll make it a tradition!
I forgot to take a picture of the turkey until it was only a carcass. (I did make turkey soup from it... first time ever!) Lauren (next to me) was the mastermind of the whole event and she and Katie (far right) helped us pull it all together.
Making snow flakes by the fire :)
Enjoying dinner
We had many hands in the kitchen!
Our lovely Christmas tree (and Katie at work in our kitchen).
We are really enjoying becoming a part of the YWAM community here in Muizenberg. We are so thankful to have a home where we can invite people over to make these kinds of memories! Relationships and community are so important, and our lives are richer because of the people we know, both here and at home. Thank you all for the part you play in our lives!
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