Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Glimpses of our weekend

 We are avid readers of World Magazine, a Christian news magazine.  Every issue they have a photo of church from around the world, so I started taking a picture of some of the places Paul preaches.  A group called Livingstone meet in this building in Grassy Park, though it isn't a full time church building. 
 Our friend Oliver has spent 9 months working on building his own kayak.  It was a huge project!  His grandfather helped.  On Saturday our family went running down the road to the vlei near our house for the long-awaited launch.
 What a beauty!  The wood just shines.  Daniel fits in one of the little compartments, and Connie would probably fit it the other. 
 Tim got out there in a fiberglass kayak to show support for the glamorous wooden one. 
 Daniel waited patiently for his ride. 
 Back home, the youngest Youngs, Connie, Nathanael, and Daniel are a photogenic bunch.
Evangel and Timothy got a chance to do a puppet show and little program on Monday to a preschool in the suburb of Crawford.  Before they began, I snapped this picture of the slightly embarrassed teens. 
 And I double-checked with Jenny, to make sure none of her kids were afraid of puppets.  She assured me they weren't, but when the show started, FOUR little girls began to howl!  Jenny was so surprised!  Apparently they are only afraid of OUR puppets.  (Notice hastily vacated seats in this picture, and the little one in the white shirt is about to join the howlers.)
 For the rest of our visit, that little one kept asking me, "Where's the monkey?" and I had to keep assuring her, "Monkey's all gone."  I felt like a terrorist!
 After all that trauma, Evangel told a sweet story about a little red hen.  She used a soothing voice and tranquility was restored.
 Then Timothy did a magic trick with a beer bottle. 
Josh came along too. His speciality is crowd control. 

Friday, February 8, 2013

The Great Commission Course

Evangel, our firstborn, was away for about 3 weeks in January, taking The Great Commission Course. I've asked her to share some pictures and tell some of the highlights of her wonderful weeks.


GCC Participants at the Castle of Good Hope with Table Mountain in the background

Matthew 28:18-20

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Atop Table Mountain at the end of the GCC



 
(Evangel Writing) Every day but Sunday started out at 6:15 with Mike bellowing that there were 15 minutes left till PT (Physical Training) at which point we spring (which looks more like crawling at this stage in awakeness) out of bed and scramble to get ready, rubbing sleep out of our eyes. 15 minutes goes by shockingly fast at that hour of the morning as you are desperately searching for that elusive other shoe and trying to remember what happened to your socks after you got back from the night hike last night...no, it was early this morning... anyway, you finally find them drying off outside (because of the stream you waded through last night) and before you know it you're either out by the flagpole warming up....or late and strapped with approximately 5.5 kgs of Arabic tracts securely tucked in your backpack for tardiness. I was late once, and only once for PT. Timmy says everything is funnier in the morning, which just goes to show you that he is a morning person. (he was also the one that accidentally read his watch 5:30 instead of 4:30 at camp one morning and then patiently waited till what he thought was 6:12 before rolling out of bed and awakening 2 friends and the unfortunate guy by the door so they would be early to the field for PT....and they were early - it was 5:12. :))
 
Singing King Alred's Battle Song, "For the Lord is Our Defense"
with gusto and the customary battle cry at the end.  Love that song.

Dad joined us for one of our outreaches in Dark City
 
 
Anyway, PT was fun, looking back, (though I confess not every single minute living through it :)) but a challenge is good, and this was a growing experience. After PT was showers, personal devotions, and at some point grab breakfast before group Devotions and then into morning lectures, with everything from the history of missions and great missionary pioneers (like David Livingstone, C.T. Studd, William Carey, Hudson Taylor) to "What Can go Wrong on a Mission," to public speaking and debating, to Evangelism and prayer, to "Coping with Capture" and "Preparing for the Field" and "Evidence for Skeptics" and...well, the list goes on, but it was great course and I learned a ton! At the end of the course they gave us each a data disc with lectures, visual aids, and pictures from the course so we could go over it again and re-listen to certain lectures. We also watched 8 Way of the Master programs (with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron) about witnessing/reaching out to the lost and those were really good, especially seeing them actually practicing what they preached as they went out soul-winning!
 
 

Girls took tire off as part of Vehicle Maintenence Workshop...Guys watched.
(but they did put it back on, and it hasn't fallen off!!!...yet :))

 
My friend, Michelle, at target practise...this was fun! 
And, yes, those are computers we got to aim at...idol smashing went well!
This was a rifle, but I also got to use a shotgun, which was a 1st!
In the afternoons we got to put actions to words and practice the stuff we'd learned on outreaches at hospitals, Pollsmoor Prison, outside an abortion clinic, an adult world, and in towns, townships and suburbs all over Cape Town, train stations, taxi ranks, sometimes even late at night outside bars and such and to all kinds of people. The outreaches were my favourite part of the GCC, I think, and where I got the most stories from the course. It really helped me be bolder with witnessing and talking to people about Jesus. I don't really know if it could be called a "highlight," but I had 2 marriage proposals inside of a half-hour on one outreach. They estimated we distributed over 7 thousand tracts throughout the whole course. On Sundays we broke up into teams and went to 9 different churches altogether where one of the team would preach and we got to meet and worship with different congregations all over.





 


Group picture after Outreach with Straatwerk at 12-something P.M.

The firing of the canon for 11 o'clock at the Castle of Good Hope...very cool.
I didn't get a chance (or at least take the chance) to give the guy shooting the canon a tract
so I left one on his box...  I don't know if you can read that, but it's a THIS WAS YOUR LIFE tract
and then somebody took a picture and anyway...humour. :)
 
As to other highlights, laughter is always one, and there was much this course. Among other things, cortisone cream grabbed and used accidentally instead of toothpaste (don't try that at home; it's disgusting, but please note that the tubes can look remarkably similar at certain stages of sleep-deprivation :)), a certain alarm clock going off @ 4:30 A.M. and waking everyone in the immediate vicinity but the intended, at the abortion clinic all of us very serious and soberly holding signs against abortion....one of which was upside-down and made quite a funny picture :), memory tricks for how to remember African countries for the map test and get it to stick in your head. The Table Mountain Hike at the end of the course was also a highlight for me, though the end of it was hazardous going down in the dark, our Arabic tracts firmly attached to our backs (5.5 kgs for girls, 11 kgs for guys). I slipped a few times, but got off with just scrapes. I may be feeling those falls in my 80's, though.
 
 
 

:)
Top of Table Mountain!  We ate supper by Maclear's Beacon. 

All set for a night hike!

Other activities during the course included self-defense (that was REALLY fun!) where we practiced stabbing each other on the front lawn.....well, actually what to do if someone tries to stab you, but since we were broken up into teams of 2 somebody had to do the stabbing, so we took turns being the victim. :) We learned some great techniques and I, for one, was much more confident about what to do if molested on the streets and was almost disappointed when I wasn't and didn't get to try that piece of training. :( The guys were good about protecting us and making sure we were safe (in spite of ourselves :)), though, and God was watching over us, so that was good. While on the course we also got to help out at the KwaSisabantu Mission in Malmesbury with digging holes (or at least the guys did, and us girls washed windows, organized PACE's, and/or swept the floor), go see the Andrew Murray Centre and the church Andrew Murray ministered in and the Africa Institute at Wellington (hundreds of missionaries were sent from there following the Revival in 1860), a tour of the Castle of Good Hope & the Military Museum there, and as a sort of field-trip we got to go to Eagle Encounter and Cheetah Outreach. There were also exams and assignments, some challenging, others fun, some both. :)
 
 
 
At the end of this course I find myself revitalized, challenged, encouraged and re-vision-ized in the work of the Lord, to take heart and fight the good fight of faith. I learned a lot on the course about missions, of course, but aside from everything we were learning in lectures, prayer, humility, and...well, fighting. We're in a battle, and we forget or get discouraged sometimes. The Devil would prefer us stagnate, contentedly oblivious of a lost world, glued into our tiny comfort zone by fear (the unknown, failure, what people might think), and doing virtually nothing for the kingdom. When we rebel, step out, begin running the race, He isn't going to sit still and let us win without a fight. I had my struggles, mostly internal, perhaps the roughest of my life, and just when you've won in one area, he attacks another front. Clearer than ever, we're in a fight, but I've also learned that through Christ we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37-39). We have a Great Calling - don't back down, fight. (1 Timothy 6:12)

Picture I took of my friend, Michelle, on Table Mountain at sunset


In His Service and Loving it,
Evangel

Living Happily Ever After

Yesterday we had our first Ladies Bible study of the year, after a long summer break.  Our ladies Bible study was begun as a young mum's group and continues to have that goal so our study this year is aimed at child rearing, especially for those with little guys. 
Mine are 17, 15, and 11 now, so I'm sort of past the little guy stage, but I want to continue the group, and have input.
One topic that came up was keeping our marriages happy and passionate in the midst of those hectic years when child rearing. 
Now, this is a topic I've been thinking of since August when we visited some friends in the States.  My friend Debbie always goes right past small-talk, and into the deeper zones, and she told me I needed to put our secrets of a happy marriage online, or talk about them.  I've been meaning to, so today's the day.
 
First of all, I know I'm blessed in that I come into marriage having had a good background of a happy family, led by godly parents who set a good example, so I just expect my own marriage to be happy and right. 
 
 Even with that good example, I'd say my number one key to a good marriage, is to do it God's way, the right way.  I find out what's right and wrong right from the "horse's mouth" (I hope that's not sacrilegious) the Bible.   Paul and I both start our days with time alone with the Lord, for prayer and Bible reading. 

When I read the Bible, I get sorted out on bad attitudes, selfishness, sloppiness, hatefulness, and anger, (marriage killers) and motivated toward love, joy, peace, patience, and self control. (good stuff for all relationships.)

Next helpful book to me is one I keep on a shelf by our bed, Created to Be His Help Meet,  by Debi Pearl.  Mrs. Pearl is one blunt lady, and she takes the Bible and applies it clearly and in an interesting way to married life. 


 Debi Pearl reminds me of wifely duties and attitudes, pulling it together from every corner of the Bible and illustrating it with real life examples. 

A huge thing we gleaned from the Pearls is our little tradition of "wallowing".  When the Pearls have time to just linger in bed, enjoying each other they call it wallowing. 

In the years when our kids were all little, we were having tensions about the physical side of marriage.  I was breast feeding, and had other little ones piling on top of me all day, so when Paul, my beloved husband, wanted a little romance, my response, was sometimes, "Oh, no, not you too!"
Not exactly loving, but just a typical tired mommy response. 
 
We tried different things during those years, with varying degrees of success, and then finally settled
on a plan we have used now for years, but it took some time to get it smoothed out.  We started scheduling "wallows."   
 
When Evangel was 7, nearly 8, Paul taught her to cook the family breakfast.  We have eggs nearly every day, and from there, she had the freedom to add lots of other things and she enjoyed learning French toast, grits, fried potatoes, pancakes, donuts, and waffles.  We gave her a waffle maker for one birthday, a blender for another, and her cousins gave her the donut maker.  She cooked breakfast for 5 years!  When she was 12, she passed the baton to 10 year old Timothy, who cooked for the next 5 years, except on Fridays when Evangel took over so he could be sure to get the rubbish into the street. 
 
Timothy cooked for 5 years, from age 10-15, with only 2 fires, I think, and then in December he passed the baton to Joshua, 11, who is launched into his 5 years. 
 
(By the way, this cooking is when we're at home.  Usually when we're traveling, I take back over, but now I have 3 kids who are handy with a spatula.)
 
So what do I do with all this extra time?  It's designated for wallowing!  If we can, we spend 30 minutes a morning alone together.  The door isn't locked, but the kids are trained.  We do get interruptions like the devastating, "Mom, we're out of eggs,"  (Paul doesn't think it's breakfast without his eggs), but we are basically alone.
 
We sometimes have "girl wallows" where we mostly cuddle and talk, or it might be a "guy wallow" which is more steamy.  Point is, we have time together in bed.   Paul was feeling tension in approaching a potentially tired, grumpy wife.  I was feeling tension that I might be approached when I wasn't in the mood, but this plan helped.  It took some of the guess work out of the timing issue. 
 
We can't do it every day.  This week I think it's only going to be 2 days out of 7, because of preaching appointments that make him leave extra early, but it's our general plan.  It took a lot of child training, planning, and adapting to get to this point, but it's worth it.  We enjoy our wallows.   
 
Another little marital help, is to share the funny stuff from each day with my Beloved.  Whenever the kids do or say something cute, I try to remember it to share with Paul.  I try not to save up their sins for him to deal with (not 100% successful there, but it's my goal), but I do want to laugh with him.  We share jokes, (if anyone would like, I can email you some blond jokes I was given recently), and other things of interest. 
 
Now, please don't see me bragging in here.  I could write a long, long post on my mistakes and wrongs as a wife.  Thankfully, forgiveness is key to the Bible message, and I married a Bible loving guy.
 I was challenged yesterday by some verses Sarah brought out, Ephesians 5:24 and following, where it was talking about how Jesus purifies the chursh, and so a man should be treating his own wife.  They're supposed to make us better!  I know I don't always take correction from Paul well, and yet he's supposed to be doing it in obedience to God when there is a need. 
 
We also acknowledged greetings are important for setting the mood.  Just a quick kiss and a, "How was your trip?" says I'm glad to welcome you back home. 
 
I could say more.  Maybe I will some day, but good marriages take some physical labor too, and mine's not done yet so off I go.
 
 
 

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A Labor of Love

Look what Evangel did for me!  I was trying to paint and decoupage an aging, ugly green tray.  I wish I had a "before" photo so her work would be double appreciated.
 
 
 
 
I started the project, and she came along and finished it up nicely for me.  I'm so pleased, and eager to try it out at the next Ladies Bible study (which starts up again after a summer break) on Thursday. 
I wish I could transform myself so nicely and quickly, but I know I am being transformed, changed into His image, because He promised.