We're Home!

Team South Africa has made it home safely!

After about almost 50 hours of traveling, we were so excited to finally reach America! Our flight back home through Delta was another adventure - as we flew from Durban to Cape Town, South Africa ... only to arrive at the Cape Town Airport and see a big "CANCELED" sign on our flight to Dakar/New York! The team handled it well, laughed about it, and we were able to switch our flights around (and I think we all agreed to NEVER fly with Delta again). With an added 9 hours to our traveling, we flew from Cape Town to Amsterdam to Houston to LAX!

We want to say thank you so much for all of your prayers while on the trip! Praise God for His protection for our team and the health of each team member. Praise God for the work He is doing in South Africa and allowing us to be a little part of it.

We are excited to share with you more of our stories in person of the never-ending beautiful green hills, precious children, rural villages and the all beautiful people we met in South Africa and how God allowed us to display His glory and love!

Liz, who runs the Children's Home in Matatiele, told our team that she has never seen the children so touched or cry so much after having a group leave. Praise God for using our team in these children's lives! We received an email from Liz this morning that said,"There were many more tears concerning your departure - I believe the Lord really touched the children's hearts - there was such a wonderful sense of that." We miss the children dearly and just holding them in our arms! Each precious face has a story to tell and a part of each one of our hearts, and we cannot wait to show you pictures of the precious children and friends we made.

Thank you all again for your prayers and support! We're excited to tell you about all the Lord has done, and how you were such a large part of each of those things through your prayers. We love you all and are happy to be home!

Love,
Casey, Katie, Ryan, Sarah, Phillip, Aliayh, Kelsey, & Caeley

OKAY Blog

Well we are almost to the end of our journey. Leaving the kids was as hard as expected, if not harder. We left with tears streaming down our faces and theirs. We can't wait to get home and send all of our new friends emails and letters. We promised them we would write.

Trekking back to Bulwer was a typical African adventure. Our driver was on Africa time (2 hours late) and there was a crazy thunder and lightning storm as we were leaving Matatiele. Half way through the drive, the team became desperate to keep our driver awake, so Ryan started singing our new favorite song, "Jesus Loves You" in Xhosa. God had more in mind than keeping Sibo (our driver) awake though, Ryan was able to share the Gospel with him. We left him with an extra bible that Katie had with her and covered him in prayer. Sibo didn't feel ready to accept the Gospel because of past suffering in his life and questions he had about God allowing that. Our prayer, and we would love for you to join us in praying, is for his heart to be softened and Christ to be able to enter in.

We arrived safely back to Ashtonvale Guest Farm, our living place in Bulwer. On Sunday we were moved into one house together instead of the three separate rooms we had before. It's been great to have the team together and we actually have a shower! Only one tap can receive hot water at a time, so a hot shower is rare - but we are surviving just fine!

This week has been full of different ministry opportunities. On Monday the group went together to Creighton and did some cleaning up, refurbishing and painting at an old abandoned preschool. HNO would like to be able to use the preschool again, however it was at risk for being torn down and made into a Bed and Breakfast. The officials making the decision will be reviewing the preschool soon and hopefully with the improvements made on the property and playground, HNO will be able to use it for a preschool and disability therapy center! At this center we also got the opportunity to meet preschool teachers from the area and pass out toys and supplies that had been donated. To us it didn't seem like much, but the teachers were overjoyed and grinning from ear to ear. They sang for us and we sang for them. It was a great time of love and fellowship.

On Tuesday half of the team spent the day in Pietermaritzberg visiting a clinic and a drop-in center. At the clinic the Gospel was shared and we were able to just love on the people there. The drop-in center was a new development for girls who have been raped, orphaned, or abused. We got to pray over the girls and the center there. We will continue to pray, as the facility could definitely be improved! The other half of the team began with the hut ministry that day. Hut ministry involves traveling to different huts in the area and caring for the sick there. We also usually get the opportunity to pray for the people and their families. It is amazing how much God's love shines through in just the fact that Americans would come so far to visit them. The Zulu people are truly amazed. They also love to ask about Obama, and the girls are often given marriage proposals. Don't worry moms and dads, we girls are all still single!

Wednesday we had the opportunity to work in the huts, as well as spend some time at HNO loving on the preschoolers and kids in the disability therapy center. It was a full day of ministry.

On Thursday the entire team headed to Pietermaritzberg so that we could take part in some prison ministry. What an incredible experience! We were able to tour the prison and then spend some time with two different groups of young men. The first was a rather large group and each one was awaiting a trial. Many were able to share and each person had a different impact. The Gospel was definitely presented and seemed to be well received. Our prayer is that what was said will continue to penetrate their hearts. Another prayer is that when Andy (the man who runs the prison ministry for HNO) returns on Thursday, many will come back to hear more about the Lord and how he can change their lives. Just as in the huts, the fact that Americans will come see them is a huge deal and they are surprised that we would go out of our way to visit prisoners. Our hope is that God's love will shine through that!

Friday we had the opportunity to work at HNO and in the huts again, which is always such a great experience. We have really enjoyed partnering with them in ministry and we pray that our being here has encouraged Chris, Lyndell and the rest of the staff here at HNO!

Well we head back to the states in just a few days. The team has truly loved our time in South Africa and we pray that God really expands the impact we had here. We serve a mighty God and have been so blessed to be used as his vessels!

See you soon!

Cheers,
Team South Africa

They Have Our Hearts

Molo (hello in Xhosa, the language of the children's home)!

Team South Africa has fallen in love with the children of the home here in Matatiele. We arrived around 10am on Monday and have spent the last 4 days playing, singing, telling bible stories and doing crafts. There are about 64 children in the home and each one has a story that has broken our hearts. The youngest is just over 2 weeks old and the oldest is about 16 years old. It has been really cool to see God use our team and the gifts he has given each of us. Each person connects with a different age group. It has been such a blessing to be able to just love on the children. God has been doing amazing things through our team. We are so excited to have been used by him here!

Each morning we are greeted with the biggest smiles and hugs. The little ones that are 5 and under chatter away in Xhosa, while the older children speak English very well. It has been funny for the team to try and say many of the words or names because Xhosa is a click language. In fact the X indicates a click!

We had the opportunity to take the older kids out and about and spend some quality time with them, which was so cool. Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to take the kids swimming and they loved that! Today we took them shopping for some of their school uniforms. That was fun too!

Our host, Liz, has created a great environment at the home. The children love to sing songs about Jesus, the ones they know and the songs we have taught them, and they love to hear bible stories. Liz is a wonderful woman and does so much for the children in the home and in the town of Matatiele. We have been encouraged by her spirit and perserverance. Pray that God would bless her in her ministry here!

Tomorrow we head back to Bulwer and will be working with Chris and Lyndell at HNO for the rest of our stay in South Africa. For our faithful prayer warriors (we are so thankful for you!) here are some specific prayer requests:
1. Leaving tomorrow. The kids have already been asking when we will be back and asking why we can't stay longer. We will be sad and they will be sad. It will definitely be hard. Especially since we can't promise them anything. It's incredible the bond that you can create in just 3 1/2 days!
2. Safe travels back to Bulwer.
3. Our ministry at HNO. We will be dropping off toys to children, possibly doing some prison ministry, visiting the huts and spending some time in the disabled center. There will be other ministry opportunities that will most likely come up as well.
4. Continued safety and health, as well as team unity.

Thank you for your love, prayers and support!

Di Yago Tanda (we aren't sure of the spelling, but this means "I love you" in Xhosa),
Team South Africa

PS- Phil says: I love you mom!

Yebo, South Africa

Sanibona!

We have arrived safely in South Africa! Our first flight kept us on the ground for two hours prior to departure due to a broken pressure machine. Unfortunately this made us miss our flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. Delta supplied each of us with three food vouchers and 4 hotel rooms to share between the team. We were bummed to not be on our way, however, it was a blessing to have time to reconnect and bond a little bit more. We had a nice quiet New Year in Atlanta, with half of the team asleep before midnight!

The final flight landed in Durban in the province of KwaZulu-Natal at 9pm on Friday night. We then had our first South African car ride – 3 hours driving through rain, thunder, and lightning – arriving at Ashtonvale Guest Farm. Saturday and Sunday provided us with a chance to recover from jetlag and see some of the countryside. It is BEAUTIFUL here. We are constantly surprised with how green everything is. Saturday morning we met our hosts, the lovely couple that runs HNO (the organization that we are working with). Chris and Lyndell are great and have three beautiful little girls. In the afternoon Chris and Lyndell took us on a hike through a forest of moss covered trees and mud! We heard a lot of animals and saw incredible views!
This morning we went to church. The members there welcomed us with open arms! We were given the opportunity to see more of the country with a visit to a dairy farm. That was an adventure!

In the morning we will hop in a van and head to Matatiele, a village about 3 hours away from where we are now (the village of Bulwer). We will be putting on a “holiday club” or vacation bible school, for the children in an orphanage there. We will be spending a week working in the orphanage and will then head back to Bulwer and spend the rest of our time working with HNO.
We are so excited to spread the love of Christ to the orphans. Thank you again for all of your faithful prayers. Our specific prayer requests for the week would be that we would be effective in ministering to the children, that God would work through the language barrier and that we would continue to stay healthy and safe!

Salani Kahle (Zulu for ‘stay well’),
Team South Africa

Overview!

Team South Africa will be leaving Dec 31 and returning Jan 20! There are 8 of us (Casey McCartin, Katie Burnett, Sarah Brown, Ryan Brown, Phillip Friehe, Kelsey Ost, Caeley Smith & Aliayh Kirby) going to Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Katie Burnett went on a SMU trip through Biola to South Africa in summer 2007 and is returning with a team hoping to continue to build relationships with the people there! Our team's purpose is to demonstrate the love of God in South Africa through service alongside the local ministries in sharing the hope of Christ to the orphans and people of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. In a country so affected by apartheid, aids, and poverty, we go with the intent of sharing Christ as a hope in the midst of all this. Our first week we will be at an orphanage putting on a Holiday Bible Club for the children, with our goal and hope of showing mercy and love to these children because we have been given mercy by our heavenly Father. For the rest of the trip we will be working alongside a Christian non-profit organization (Hlanganani Ngothando Organisation- Zulu for "Coming Together with Love") in a rural area. There we will be able to join in serving a variey of people groups including men, women, children, the elderly, sick, prisoners, school children, and mentally and physically disabled children. We will be able to visit the Zulu South Africans in their huts and it is our hope to "shine like stars" in South Africa!

Our theme verse is Philippians 2:14-16 "Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among who you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain."

Please pray for our team to bring glory to God, team unity, safety/protection, the hearts of our team members, that we would be an encouragement to the local long term Christians in South Africa, for the hearts of the people we will come in contact with and build relationships with to see Christ shining out of us, for God's Spirit to fill each of us as we go out and that His Spirit would overflow out of us into the lives of people in South Africa! We go to South Africa with the intent that God's glory would be known and He would be worshiped!