Family Time

I (Mandi) just wanted to share a brief update about the seventeen days (yes, I counted every one) I spent stateside last month. It was a very special time. 

I arrived two days after the birth of my new niece, Cora Louem Quinn.

I spent most of my time at my sister's house in the Bay Area, getting properly introduced to Cardon (14 months) and Cora (newborn). My vacation included lots of dirty diapers and cleaning spit up from clothing, carpets, and couches. I loved every minute of it! I am completely enthralled by these little ones.

My brother and parents also came down for weekend visits.

I enjoyed four days in Escalon with Tommy's family. I stayed with his parents, Dick and Ellen, and also spent time with his brother's family and our niece (Ashley) and nephews (Jack and Charlie). It was so special to reconnect with them!

I relished some of life's simple pleasures like Target, burritos, pool parties, and ice cream.
I left feeling so thankful for the blessing of family. 

 

Another Theft

One visitor who came on a short term trip to Swaziland commented that “things are always happening in Swaziland.” We can comfortably say that his observation is true.

On Tuesday night I was robbed at gunpoint. I was on my way to pick up Mandi and three visitors from the airport in Johannesburg when I was a part of a well-planned car accident. The accident happened in Swaziland, a few miles from the South African border. When I stopped to exchange details, the two men held me at gun point, threatened me, and stole everything—truck keys, passport, money, wallet, phone, and all forms of identification. Once they left, I ran to the guard shack of a royal residence close by and the guard at the gate pulled a gun on me too! Thankfully, the guy believed my story and offered to help. I used the guard’s phone to call the only number I could remember—one of the New Life housemothers. Peter and Mary Jean Kopp (our trusted colleagues) left immediately to meet me. They arrived about two hours after the incident and the police still hadn’t arrived after multiple calls from the guards and the Kopps. The police finally arrived, but were soon called away to a similar incident involving the same suspects up the road.

Obviously, this was a scary and frustrating event. We know that we are called to serve God and we also know that he does not guarantee our physical safety when serving Him. That being said, events like this wear on the heart and mind and we are asking for prayers of comfort and strength. We all realize there is much to be thankful for—I was not physically hurt, they didn’t steal our vehicle, and the location was close to help. I was thankful Mandi was not with me. Two of the soldiers from the royal residence stood at the scene with me in the cold for nearly three hours, assuring me they would not leave me until someone came. We are so grateful to those two kind men. 

Of course, I couldn’t continue to Johannesburg without a passport. The Kopps and I came back to the farm late that night and Peter and I got up at 4 AM to head back to town. Peter used the spare keys to take the vehicle from the police station to Johannesburg to fetch Mandi and company. I worked with the police for about three hours and then began to sort out passport issues, banking details, and phone replacements. Needless to say, it was a huge relief to see my wife! 

Please continue to pray. This is both disheartening to us and has caused a significant amount of trauma. Please pray for everyone on the farm. Some of our Swazi friends have experienced trauma associated with violence, and this act has stirred many emotions. 

Please pray for justice. 

Please pray for me. My mind has been racing since this happened with regrets, fears, and frustrations.

Please pray that the details regarding the forms of identification and money will work themselves out.

Please pray that our hearts and minds are not hardened and that we can still be ready and willing to accomplish what God has planned here in Swaziland.

(un)finished

Recently we have been considering what God has planned for our “next step” in life. Although some days we desire to board a plane (or helicopter, or boat, or just about anything!) and go home, we also face a deeper knowledge that our time here is not finished. We feel especially compelled to stay and invest more in the youth ministry. Strategically speaking, the school and farm development projects are not at a place where they are ready to run independently. There are still many ideas to share and relationships to development. There is much training to be done!

 We will continue to serve in Swaziland through 2015. We will return home for several weeks towards the end of 2014, and look forward to visiting with family and friends. We can’t wait to reconnect with you in person! I (Mandi) will be travelling back to California in just over a week to be with my sister as she gives birth to a baby girl, and am looking forward to meeting my newest nephew (her firstborn) for the first time as well. I will head back to Swaziland after spending two short weeks with family.

We can’t say it enough—we are SO grateful for your support and care. In some of our lowest moments we have received encouragement and prayer that has reassured us of our calling here.

Keeping Young Minds Busy

Our greatest goal is to see the children at New Life Children’s Homes come to know and love Jesus Christ personally.

Secondly, we desire to prepare the children here for a brighter future. We place a huge emphasis on education, which extends from New Life Primary School to individual tutoring sessions, a robust library, and learning practical skills on the farm. We are in the middle of a countrywide 3-week long school break. We know from experience that kids tend to get into more trouble when they are less busy, so we try to provide ample opportunities for the kids to stay busy. This week, we hosted a daily science camp.

The goal of the camp was to enrich their school-based science experiences with hands-on experimental learning. All the New Life Homes missionaries pitched in to teach students about simple machines and weather. Mandi organized the daily activities and curriculum, while Tommy taught sessions on agricultural machinery and the water cycle (one of his favorite topics). We had 22 children attend each day, including a few from the community. 

 

The kids provided some feedback at the end of the workshops.

“Was it too long?”

“NO!”

“Was it fun?”

“YES!”

Several students made specific comments, but I think 12-year old Mnelisi said it perfectly:

“We kept our minds busy all week!”

Turning to Teens

Winter retreats, spring mission trips, corn-eating contests, small group hang out sessions, and lots and lots of dodge ball consumed a significant amount of our lives while we were working with high school students in Davis. We loved the kids, the leaders, and the activities. We were often as tired as basset hounds at the end of each program. It was (and still is) easy to see how the shaping of one’s Christian faith is critically important during those adolescent years.

While taking a short reprieve in South Africa a few weeks ago, we began to evaluate our ministry here and we noticed a need for people to pour into the high school-aged students, both on the farm and in the community. It may be interesting to note that the biblical knowledge of these kids (even those who are not Christians) is better than the average Christian in America. That being said, their faith may be shallow and riddled with confusing legalistic ideas and infusions from other spiritualistic beliefs. We thought, why not start a youth ministry that meets teens at different stages of faith to share a Christian message that is easy to understand?

These teens play a highly-competitive game of musical chairs.

Recently, Mandi and I, and our colleague, Tiersa, launched Teens For Christ. We had more than 25 high school-aged students come to the first meeting and an equally impressive crowd at the second meeting. It was awesome to see teenagers engage with faith questions and discussions in a way that is both different and inviting. We played games, I gave share a message about Jesus, had some small group discussions, and enjoyed popcorn afterwards.

Teaching about sin.

Lots of laughs, good questions and comments, and a plethora of high fives filled the preschool classroom where it is being held. This accomplishes many objectives of our ministry. It reaches out the community, we get to know the “farm” kids’ friends (like any good parent would want to!) and we form relationships with kids who are in desperate need for attention and affirmation. 

We are currently having Teens for Christ once a month and are looking in the possibility of expanding it to every two weeks. Please pray for this undertaking. Pray especially for relationships to be formed that will allow us to share our faith in a real way. Pray that we would be able to communicate clearly with the teens, and that they would be receptive to what we share. Most of all, pray that kids would come to know Jesus Christ in a personal way.

When Two Ministries Collide

New Life Children’s Homes is a complex, multifaceted operation that is difficult to explain to people – even if they have spent years prancing around this place. There are many aspects of our work here including caring for orphaned and vulnerable kids, operating a school, running a farm that provides food and income to the kids, employing house mothers whose job is to oversee the “farm,” as well as employing nearly 20 other folks from the community to make everything work. It is a place for training others (from kids to leaders in our country), as well as a place where people do business. It is a busy and sometimes crazy place. This makes it attractive to others – from Swazis who want to see a place that a bunch of crazy Americans are helping run to foreigners who want to meet and support the kids and missionaries. We get quite a few visitors who all have their own angle of interest.

This past week, we hosted the Minister of Agriculture for Swaziland (akin to the Secretary of Ag for the U.S., who is currently Tom Vilsack). Along with Minister Vilakati about 25 other government leaders descended on the farm for a tour of the many agricultural operations. Peter (NLCH founder and director), myself, and Mthi (our farm foreman) each talked about different facets of the farm. Below are some pictures of our time with the minister.

More than anything, this brings an immense amount of pride to each of our farm workers and our kids. They see that important people are visiting because of their effort. It is fun to be a part of a team that works hard to serve our kids and community while producing high-quality products. 

The craziest part of the meeting? As we wrapped up, Minister Vilakati asked where we were from in the U.S. After I told he that I came from California, he mentioned that he was familiar with the state from his college years. He said that he attended school in San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly! After we gave each other half-hugs realizing we were both Mustang alum, he then mentioned he received his masters at UC Davis. Whoa! I did my graduate work in Davis. Though we did not proceed to a full hug, there was a pleasant appreciation for each other’s paths that brought us both to a small farm in Swaziland. What an interesting connection!

Below is a picture of the great team that we have assembled on the farm (from L to R), Harriet Makhubu (leads the chickens and the nursery), Raymond Dlamini (our sales and marketing director), Sipiwe Shongwe (house mother), Winnie Johnston (house mother), Mthi Nhleko (farm foreman), Peter Kopp (founder and director), Winile Khumalo (house mother), Happy Msibi (house mother) and, well, me.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for this project.

Life is Sweet in Swaziland

The children at New Life Homes learn many practical skills around the farm. In fact, on any given Saturday, you can find the children cleaning pig pens, feeding chickens, harvesting beans, or even sprucing up their homestead gardens. Even if these kids aren’t successful within the current education system, at least they will have some skills and may be able to create their own jobs in the future. 

Recently we worked with a few of the teens to harvest some honey. We keep three hives in the farm, and the bees are useful in pollinating everything from veg crops to mango trees. Honey harvesting time is quite a celebration, and the kids LOVE honey. Mlandvo, Donald, and Ritta helped with the harvest. Mlandvo has become very proficient in his role as head harvester, so the rest of us stayed inside to help receive the frames, cut the comb, and minimize the stickiness of the floors.

Afterward, we packaged the honey and delivered it to the homes, shared it with workers, and enjoyed some ourselves. Despite a few stings, the labor was well worth the sweet reward!

Please continue to pray for our work here. We are excited to be receiving a few short term teams this summer. Pray with us that they would arrive spiritually prepared, physically equipped, and ready to jump in. We are still praying for one or two teachers to join us!