Monday, June 29, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Jambo or Habani Yako which means hello in Swahili! We have to apologize for the lack of correspondence thus far, but that’s Africa for you! Access to Internet has been limited and unreliable. To update you on our first five weeks in this beautiful continent is going to be difficult without going on for pages and pages, so bear with us.
Arriving in Jo’Burg the pastor of Calvary Chapel Jo’Burg picked us up and he and his wife and four kids welcomed us into their two bedroom home for four nights! It was a tight squeeze to say the least. They run a drug and alcohol supported living program on the grounds where they live, so it was a blessing to get to know the guys living there and for Bryan to be able to teach the mid-week study at Calvary. When we had partially recovered from the jet lag we hired a car and drove from Jo’Burg to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. We wont get into the difficulty we experienced at the border but email us and we can tell you if you really want to know. There we had a sweet reunion with our brother in the Lord and dear friend, Dennis. Most of you know Dennis, but for those who don’t- he was the second person to get saved at Calvary Newcastle, he is blind and has gone deaf in one ear. He is an amazing guy. We spent three weeks with Dennis and his family, ministering to those that the Lord put in our path, which were many. One thing which we did notice and was impossible to avoid was the myriad of Christian TV channels (at least 30) that propagated false doctrine, healing ministries and prosperity doctrine, without one solid channel. A very large percentage of churches focus on finances and prosperity without actually giving to those in need, and the unsaved that we met, in particular Dennis' family were greatly affected by the hypocrisy in the church. The opportunity for ministry and encouragement therefore was great.
Botswana culture is very different from our own and it’s been interesting adapting to these differences to be able to relate to the people. At one stage in Botswana we visited Dennis’ home village Mahalapaye which is a two hour bus ride from Gaborone. Let’s just say it’s not your normal bus ride! People gather at the bus stop and when they see a bus coming which is going where they want to go, before the bus has even stopped they’re grabbing onto it, pushing and pulling to get on. Not too bad to deal with if you’re a single person without any luggage, but as you can imagine the difficulty we had with 2 kids, blind Dennis and lots of luggage!! Once on the bus, they don’t know the meaning of the word full!! I sat with both kids on my lap while Dennis and Bryan stood for the three hour journey stuffed into the bus. It was an experience, but not one we want to repeat anytime soon!! As for Dennis He got news the day before our departure that he had secured an internship with the red cross of Botswana which was great news for him seeing that he had been looking for work since arriving back in his country. We stayed with Dennis' brother Onalenna for the last week and had a great time getting to know him, all the time Bryan talking business strategy with him. Onna didn't talk much about the Lord with us until the last day of our stay at which time he began to ask Bryan questions that seemed like had been saving up for years. At the end of all his questions being adequately answered he asked the question we love hearing which is "what do i need to do to be saved?" He hasn't yet surrendered his life to Christ but please be praying for this man. One of our favorite memories will be when Dennis attempted to direct us through Gaborone based on his memory of the city. He did well most of the time but there were a few times we drove around aimlessly but it was great fun anyway. It will be a sermon analogy for Bryan in the future no doubt when he gets to passages that speak of the blind leading the blind. hahaha! We also got to visit with our friend Boy whom we also met at the Calvary Chapel in Newcastle. He came up from South Africa to Botswana and spent a few days with us and Dennis and then drove us back down to Jo'Burgh for our flight to Kenya.
It has been amazing to see the amount of people that the Lord has put before us that we have been able to share the gospel with or even just encourage since we arrived, even on the next leg of our journey in Mombasa on the Kenyan coast.
We arrived in Nairobi and then the next day flew to Mombasa with Dave and Twinkle (Nairobi pastor and his wife), and some other missionaries here in Nairobi and from Tanzania. It was a good time of holidaying and getting to know our neighbors for the next five months. God gave us great relationships with both the staff and some of the guests at the resort.
We had again the opportunity to meet a man by the name of Eric on the beach that had recently committed his life to Christ. He had been taught all different things about the bible that were of no truth or value. We had a great walk along the beach with him and got to encourage him in the Lord. The main encouragement seems to be the same wherever we go and that is to read the Word and hold all things to Scripture. These people live with weird teachings all around them and we have done our best to encourage them to have there senses exercised by reason of use in the Word of God as Hebrews tells us that we will be able to discern both good and evil when it comes to sound doctrine and the person and work of Christ. We have all had a bit of stomach adjusting to do since getting to Kenya but I think we are on the mend now. Lillika and Bryan got to go on a camel ride along the beach and I had the opportunity of taking Lillika to a animal park to feed the Giraffes which Lillika absolutely loved.
We have now arrived in Nairobi and are looking forward to what the Lord has for us here. Hopefully we can now update a little more regularly! We are excited with the lord providing us our own place for 5 weeks for free. One prayer request is for the childrens behaviour- I think the unsettledness is getting to them and it feels like we are re-training them all over, it is extremeley trying! Please let us know if you want more details on any part of our trip so far, we would love to share but this could go on for pages. We continue to ask for your support in prayer. Bryan, Tara, Lillika and Rafi
Arriving in Jo’Burg the pastor of Calvary Chapel Jo’Burg picked us up and he and his wife and four kids welcomed us into their two bedroom home for four nights! It was a tight squeeze to say the least. They run a drug and alcohol supported living program on the grounds where they live, so it was a blessing to get to know the guys living there and for Bryan to be able to teach the mid-week study at Calvary. When we had partially recovered from the jet lag we hired a car and drove from Jo’Burg to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. We wont get into the difficulty we experienced at the border but email us and we can tell you if you really want to know. There we had a sweet reunion with our brother in the Lord and dear friend, Dennis. Most of you know Dennis, but for those who don’t- he was the second person to get saved at Calvary Newcastle, he is blind and has gone deaf in one ear. He is an amazing guy. We spent three weeks with Dennis and his family, ministering to those that the Lord put in our path, which were many. One thing which we did notice and was impossible to avoid was the myriad of Christian TV channels (at least 30) that propagated false doctrine, healing ministries and prosperity doctrine, without one solid channel. A very large percentage of churches focus on finances and prosperity without actually giving to those in need, and the unsaved that we met, in particular Dennis' family were greatly affected by the hypocrisy in the church. The opportunity for ministry and encouragement therefore was great.
Botswana culture is very different from our own and it’s been interesting adapting to these differences to be able to relate to the people. At one stage in Botswana we visited Dennis’ home village Mahalapaye which is a two hour bus ride from Gaborone. Let’s just say it’s not your normal bus ride! People gather at the bus stop and when they see a bus coming which is going where they want to go, before the bus has even stopped they’re grabbing onto it, pushing and pulling to get on. Not too bad to deal with if you’re a single person without any luggage, but as you can imagine the difficulty we had with 2 kids, blind Dennis and lots of luggage!! Once on the bus, they don’t know the meaning of the word full!! I sat with both kids on my lap while Dennis and Bryan stood for the three hour journey stuffed into the bus. It was an experience, but not one we want to repeat anytime soon!! As for Dennis He got news the day before our departure that he had secured an internship with the red cross of Botswana which was great news for him seeing that he had been looking for work since arriving back in his country. We stayed with Dennis' brother Onalenna for the last week and had a great time getting to know him, all the time Bryan talking business strategy with him. Onna didn't talk much about the Lord with us until the last day of our stay at which time he began to ask Bryan questions that seemed like had been saving up for years. At the end of all his questions being adequately answered he asked the question we love hearing which is "what do i need to do to be saved?" He hasn't yet surrendered his life to Christ but please be praying for this man. One of our favorite memories will be when Dennis attempted to direct us through Gaborone based on his memory of the city. He did well most of the time but there were a few times we drove around aimlessly but it was great fun anyway. It will be a sermon analogy for Bryan in the future no doubt when he gets to passages that speak of the blind leading the blind. hahaha! We also got to visit with our friend Boy whom we also met at the Calvary Chapel in Newcastle. He came up from South Africa to Botswana and spent a few days with us and Dennis and then drove us back down to Jo'Burgh for our flight to Kenya.
It has been amazing to see the amount of people that the Lord has put before us that we have been able to share the gospel with or even just encourage since we arrived, even on the next leg of our journey in Mombasa on the Kenyan coast.
We arrived in Nairobi and then the next day flew to Mombasa with Dave and Twinkle (Nairobi pastor and his wife), and some other missionaries here in Nairobi and from Tanzania. It was a good time of holidaying and getting to know our neighbors for the next five months. God gave us great relationships with both the staff and some of the guests at the resort.
We had again the opportunity to meet a man by the name of Eric on the beach that had recently committed his life to Christ. He had been taught all different things about the bible that were of no truth or value. We had a great walk along the beach with him and got to encourage him in the Lord. The main encouragement seems to be the same wherever we go and that is to read the Word and hold all things to Scripture. These people live with weird teachings all around them and we have done our best to encourage them to have there senses exercised by reason of use in the Word of God as Hebrews tells us that we will be able to discern both good and evil when it comes to sound doctrine and the person and work of Christ. We have all had a bit of stomach adjusting to do since getting to Kenya but I think we are on the mend now. Lillika and Bryan got to go on a camel ride along the beach and I had the opportunity of taking Lillika to a animal park to feed the Giraffes which Lillika absolutely loved.
We have now arrived in Nairobi and are looking forward to what the Lord has for us here. Hopefully we can now update a little more regularly! We are excited with the lord providing us our own place for 5 weeks for free. One prayer request is for the childrens behaviour- I think the unsettledness is getting to them and it feels like we are re-training them all over, it is extremeley trying! Please let us know if you want more details on any part of our trip so far, we would love to share but this could go on for pages. We continue to ask for your support in prayer. Bryan, Tara, Lillika and Rafi
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