An update at last...

Update on South Africa

Well we are resting in Cape Town. Sandra has a nasty sore throat. The blog has been a bit of a bomb due to sketchy Internet connections. We had a packed time in Mpumalanga. Thanks for your prayers. It's good to chill (warm?) by the ocean. We are pooped but with full hearts.

We had an amazing team. We feel a bit like veterans on our third excursion. We had a number of folks from Scott and Becky's church The Heart; it was a blessing to see them serve and grow in the challenges.

Some of the opportunities we participated in were:

I joined with Brothers for Life in Christ, a group for young men coming out of gang involvement and other rough stories. What a great group of guys! To see young men caring for each other and hungry for God was inspiring. I will especially remember Sakhile, a gentle guy in dreads wanting to make some changes in his life, Pumblane, an elf with a way of making people laugh, Esau who was wholeheartedly involved even while having some disabilities and Vincent, very bright and determined to find the means to finish studies in actuarial sciences.

Sandra helped out the women of Masoyi, Daantje. She gave support to a number of women ministering here under stressful circumstances.

We both taught four workshops. Vicarious Traumatization to church and social network folks in Nelspruit, Children and Trauma to a mix of Siswati and English caregivers at Litsemba Centre (thanks to Pastor Stembiso for stellar translation), VT again and Resilience to a small group of Portuguese and English helpers in Matola, Mozambique.

We ministered to a family in Nelspruit who had a brutal home invasion including their 18 year old daughter being raped. Their faith made ours seem quite puny. It was a good time and I think it was encouraging to them.

We both got attached to the Potter's House, a child-led orphanage, especially Eric and Precious.

We attended both African and English churches and prayer ministries and helped out with prayer and prophecies with some lovely results.

Sandra and I spent time with our team members encouraging and challenging them. We hope we can keep our new friendships going on the other side of the ocean.

We did a whirlwind tour of Kruger and saw giraffes, hippos flinging poo, Goliath Storks, Grey Herons, Malachite Kingfishers, five lionesses up in a tree beside the road, wildebeests, kudu, duykers, impala all over the place, got chased by an elephant and saw two crocodiles resting on the sand (with binoculars). I may have forgotten about a few. oh yes and chased baboons away from our lunch.

I will post some pics on Facebook and put captions later.

Stewart