Sam, Joe and Jesse want to get a monkey...

My favorite part of the new house...the arboretum. The house is actually two small houses that the were conjoined to form a bigger home. The arboretum was the space between the two houses, so the windows you see are actually bathroom windows. :) Needless to say- this is my favorite part of the whole house. I think I'll just move my bed into the hall and sleep under the trees every night.
And, NO, boys, we will not cage it all in and get a pet monkey. Any pet that throws poop is not allowed in the house...or near the house...

I'm baaaack!!!

God speaks loud and often in South Africa! That's a saying you hear many times in this country, and I have found it to be very true. The boys and I have been here over 8 months now , and even though we have some routines and many South African friendships, I still feel as though I am in a steep learning curve. I struggle with the languages (there are 4 locally) and I struggle with understanding how and when to help the poor. They are on my door step every day, picking avocados off my tree, digging through my garbage cans and looking in my windows from the sidewalk, hoping to catch my eye in case I'm in a merciful, giving mood. Often times, I politely wave them on, sometimes I firmly wave them away...and then I cry out to the Lord- "Father, I don't know how to do this. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. You say the poor will always be among you, and they are. If I'm not immersed in their community then they come over the river to mine."

I am energized by the cross cultural experiences that MCM has been enjoying lately. We have had some real ground breaking experiences...which I will blog on about later, but for now I can log off and know that my family will stop emailing me telling me to update my blog! :) Love you guys! See you 8 months!

Coastline Community Church makes an impact in Paarl East and Mbekweni!

What a blessing for the boys and I to have Coastline Community Church from San Diego, CA come for 2 weeks! It was a special joy for me, given the Senior Pastor of their church , James Cristoferson,is an old friend of mine from way way back. James and Kelly and Ty and I did ministry together for about 12 years at North Coast Pres Church in Encinitas. I'd forgotten that James and I are two peas in a pod, so the laugh riot was never ending and the brain waves were all firing on the same circuits! The whole team, which actually came from 3 different churches, was moved by God in a mighty way!

One of the community service projects that the Coastline Team helped with was the painting of the Lukhanyo Community Center. Sidwell, the manager of the center, chose the color scheme...we just painted and worked in the garden! Needless to say. you can see the center now from a long way off! Thanks Coastline for the labor of love!...in 110 degree whether no less!

On Top of Table Mountain

When the short term teams from the US come and visit, sometimes we tag along and do some sight seeing. One destination that never disappoints is on top of Table Mountain. Sam and Joe and I obviously spend a lot of time together, but they have some good friends in the intern program and Sam has a few buddies in Paarl East. The only hard part for the boys is that , generally speaking, the races tend to stay in their own communities and don't mix it up much. Since the boys made friends with mostly guys in Paarl East and Mbekweni, they don't 'hang' too much, unless it's with Jesse, Lubabalo, Josh or Lungile. Keep praying that we find a church home and that the boys make some new friends.

Sherline was a big hit, as always!

I had the great blessing of having Sherline Montgomery, one of my dearest friends from California, come and visit for a couple of weeks. We did a load of sight seeing and she was able to accompany me to a couple ministry centers. Being a teacher for 27 years and a children's pastor for 10, Sherline is always a big hit with children, whether she speaks the language or not! Hugs are universal! Thanks Sherline, for traveling half way around the world to come and spend time with us!

Jesse and Lungile disciple at Lukhanyo.

Jesse and Lungile are busy discipling their small group at the Lukhanyo Community Center in Mbekweni. Jesse is a new edition to our ministry. He joined us in late Jan and is living in the MC House with 4 young adults from Mbekweni and Josh Keen, from California. I'm still writing discipleship lessons for our large group Bible studies and enjoying watching the Interns walk out the program. I'm teaching a couple of mornings a week in the Upper Room; Biblical overview, Boundaries, some Spiritual Formation classes, for now.

After 8 months....we're HOME!