from Ubombo...to Durban...to Westville...and home.

painting stucco
mural with the kids and the house mothers
all our stuff in the back of Dave's truck
team with our Ubombo contacts: Dawn and Dave
The elephants we saw on safari!
ripping out carpet...yum.
more carpet.
one of the outreach homes we visited. Her name is "shorty".
The outside of her house.
the view from her home
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Wow! Well we're back from Ubombo and Durban and now we're near Westville (a durban suburb) finishing up the last portion of our trip.

We finished our myriad of work projects in Ubombo.
These include:
-ripping out moldy carpet.
-Organizing donations...ie:toys, clothes, books, schools supplies.
-Sanding down the carpet free floor
-cleaning ant infested bathrooms
-organizing a food pantry
-removing tile in the ant infested bathroom
-painting a mural in the children's home
-painting a logo in the pottery house
-painted an inside room in the house
AND.....painting the exterior of the entire house. WHICH happens to be stucco. If you have ever painted stucco with only a brush a rollers you will appreciate our efforts. :) We foolishly thought we could do it in 2 days tops. It took us a week. If Jayde is looking for a new low ropes element for team building....we found one.

We also got to visit homes of several people that Dawn takes care of on a weekly basis. We brought food and clothes to them and measured shorty's house for carpet. The carpet will help keep her and her grandchildren warm this winter.

It was hard to leave the adorable orphans.....but we still had lots to do in Durban. So on Saturday, June 31st we left in a very interesting taxi for our four hour trip back into Durban.

There in downtown Durban we stayed in the YMCA. (note to family: We were very safe)But it was definitely one of the roughest parts of Durban. Sunday we split the team: half went to the inner city church and the other half to westville's church.
Bunmi, Mia, Matt and Christine led children's church for the kids @ westville. And Lisa and Dalenna gave testimonies/preached in the morning service @ the downtown church.

Monday through Wednesday we worked with the inner city church "beach front mission presby" at a day program they hold for the homeless boys that live on the sidewalk in front of the church. It was quite the experience for the team. Very stretching for sure and difficult to see so many people our ages in such desperation and without any hope. After a day or two of earning their trust and getting to know them, we were able to really share with them on a one on one level about God's love and his plan. Several prayed to change their lives and one excepted the Lord.
Again, it was difficult to leave and move on to our next ministry site....but we are fully enjoying the fellowship of other believers here in Westville.

-Wednesday night we spoke and fellowshipped at their college age cell group.
-Thursday we went to Jamaica and went house to house and prayed with people and shared encouraging words from the bible for each home. Then we finished by playing and feeding the kids @ "God's Patch" (the playground in the community)
-Friday we split the teams again to work with Westville Presby's youth.
Bunmi and Austin spoke to the Sr. High students and Suzi spoke to the Jr. high students. It was awesome to get to know the youth of Westville!
-Today (Saturday) Westville has invited us to join in a very cultural event: a "Braii".......which is Afrikaans for BBQ! oh yeah. The team (especially the carnivores)is stoked!!!!!
-Tomorrow we lead both the morning and evening services @ Westivlle. Pray for us...we're really excited to share with them. Austin, Bunmi, Matt, Suzi, and Dalenna are speaking! yay.

We'll be back in travel mode on WEDNESDAY....so be praying for awesome travelling experiences! :)

We love you all!!!!
-team south Africa

Ubombo

Hello everyone!We made it safely to Ubombo late Friday night. Since we arrived we've been kept very busy with work projects....and our favorite: playing with the orphans. Here's a day to day of what we've been up to....
Friday night: arrived @ dark....lots of bugs...yum.
Saturday: all day was spent playing with the children.....so beautiful!
Sunday: Ran kids church for the children who live here. We did a noah's ark theme in which Suzi, Bunmi, and Lisa wrote an original song. :)
Monday: We get to meet our Ubombo contact Dawn. She started the Ubombo Children's Village and runs several other outreaches here.....in addition to the Inn that she and her husband run. There is much to do on the grounds of the care village. Dawn started us off on the first of what will be MANY work days ahead of us!!! -Gutted rooms of the house we're staying at.-prepped for painting.
Tuesday: Work day #2....-cleaned an organized all of the donated toys, clothes, kitchen utensils, etc. -Matt and Mia drafted the mural for the children's home.-Matt implements a team work out plan....we're going to come back fit and in shape.:)
Wednesday: Work day #3....-Began painting outside of house-Started painting mural-go on hike with the kids....so beautiful.
There are approx. 18 children that live in the home. About 75% have AIDS/HIV. We are learning about each of their individual stories....and they're pretty intense. But despite all that they've been through they are filled with joy and smiles.We are trying to learn the children's names, but we've found it to be pretty difficult. Though we have a hard time with their names, we have come to recognize their personalities. Some team members have come up with their own names for the kids...it's pretty funny. So far we have:Johnathan David.....who's real name is Musa.FranklinCruiser....who's real name is Pume.
Dawn and her husband David are incredible people. They have lived here for over 40 years and genuinely love the people of Ubombo. Dawn just got back from a conference so that she can teach the women of Ubombo trades in order for them to earn money. Everything they do is outreach oriented....what an incredible example for us to follow.
We are in the mountains, four hours away from Durban. It is extremely rural here. Dawn has introduced us to some of the workers here as "American students"....to which they politely smile. Dawn later told us they don't know what America is. The world of the people of Ubombo is small.....as a team we are still just focusing on trying to show love in all that we do. We know that the love of Jesus can transcend any and all cultural barriers.
Finally, the team is doing great. Everyone is safe, well, and learning lots about the people here. We're excited about what the Lord is doing here with the people of Ubombo.
Thank you for all your prayers! We appreciate them.
Love....Team South Africa

SHOUT OUTS FROM THE TEAM:Lisa: Loves you, but she's not coming home! :)Matt: Doesn't have anything to say.....he's taken a vow of silence....Literally.Bunmi: Happy birthday Davie!!!Dalenna: Much love.....know what I mean?!?Suzi: Hi to the family....can't wait to see you!Christine: Hello to her father....thinks about him a lot and says I love you.Austin: Hello to his family. I love you guys!Mia: Hello to family and friends....contemplating not returning.... :)....but miss you lots.

We're HERE!

We made it safe and sound to south africa on May 13th with all our luggage....beautiful. God's so good. We were met by our secondary contact fondly dubbed "marky" (as our main contact is also named mark). Austin and I (mia) are adjusting to driving on the left side of the road well. We are staying at a guest house on the grounds of a HUGE catholic parish.....it is run by very strict German nuns who feed us well. We have learned there are MANY ways to eat potatoes. :)

Wednesday, May 14th

The team rested from our long journey and Austin and Mia went to downtown Durban to pick up our second car and run a few other errands. We learned a lot about the diversity in Durban from Marky.

We are learning that South Africa....especially the Durban area is a country of extremes.

Durban has the second largest Indian community in the world. Go figure. The Zulu tribe covers the vast majority of Durban.....While there is an equally large white population. Also there is another group of mixed people....who they call "colored."
Also, in a small section of town there is a group of West African refugees.

Down town Durban consists mainly of black people....the some of white people in Durban are afraid to be in the down town area.....we saw very few while we were there. Right outside of Durban is Westville (our church contact is located there). Westville looks much like south Tulsa....a drastic change from some of the other areas we have seen. On the edge of Westville (technically still in the boundaries of Westville) is a refugee shack town called "Jamaica".....these people are from all over west Africa. Many do not have jobs, do not speak English, and many are infected with HIV/AIDS.

Later in the afternoon on Wednesday we met with our main contact, Mark. That night we went to 2 Westville Presby bible studies. Our team split into two and got to know some of the Westville Presby's college age students and young married couples. It was encouraging on both sides to share what God has done in our lives and then hear what God was doing in theirs and their country. It was also great to build relationship, because we will return at the end of our trip to do ministry within their church.

Thursday May 14
Went to the area known as Jamaica. The team played games, sang, performed skits about God's love, and then fed a group of about 100 children. This is an outreach that Westville has been running for about 5 years. It was pretty intense because just above us on a hill overlooking Jamaica was one of Durban's largest mall. Afterwards we went to the mall (which proved to put many USA malls to shame). This is
just a small example of intense contrasts in racial and social division here.

Friday May 15
Today we travel 3.5 hours north to the village of Ubombo. We will be working with a white south African couple who run an orphanage among the Zulu people that live there.


I've run out of time to write....but please know we are completely safe and learning so much about the love of God and the people of South Africa. Our contact has taken every measure to ensure our safety, but also tries to challenge us as a team. All of the people we have met have become instant friends and we find that we have much in common with the congregation of Westivlle.

Please continue to pray. We are still concentrating on our 3 team values. Pray for:
-wisdom
-boldness
-ability to adjust well between cultural extremes
-that the team would continue only to see children of God and not race or social standing!
-Pray for our contact and his family.....they only just lost his father in law a few days before we came.

Here is a brief layout of what we'll be up to.

16-30 Ubomo
31-6 June Durban inner city
June 6-11

We love you all....thank you for praying!
-Mia and Team SOUTH AFRICA

here we go!!!!!!!!

Hey friends and family!!!
We're back from missions ropes and we are sooooooo excited to get about the work we've been preparing for these many months! Thank you so much for your support and prayers as we go into a whole new culture to share the love of jesus and fellowship and encourage other believers. Please pray for our travel and saftey. We leave May 11 and arrive in Durban May 13th.....quite the journey!!!!

Ropes was an incredible time of preparation and strengthening for our team and as individuals! We were challenged physically, emotionally, and spiritually and grew together as a unified team. Together our team came up with 3 main things we feel we are to focus on while we are in South Africa.

Here are somethings we are believing for within our team. We would love it if you would agree with us in prayer!

-Love:
That our team would be known by the way we treat one another. That it would be a reflection of our relationship with Christ and that His love in us would overflow into all we do. (Romans 12:9-10)

-Focus/Intentionality: We don't want to miss a single opportunity that the Lord presents us. We are a team who loves one another and loves to have fun together, but we want to be sure that we are constantly being contentious of the Lords voice and our surroundings! ( Hebrews 2:1)

-Passion:
We never want to forget the reason we are able to have access to such incredible love.....and the reason that has brought us to South Africa......Jesus. We desperately desire that the motivation for every single thing we do and say in S.A. will be out awe and wonder of the price Jesus paid on the cross and the ultimate gift that he gave us......eternal life. A chance to be in constant relationship with Him for today and all eternity! (Eph 1:17-18)

Thank you again for your support: financially, in prayer and love. As you have poured into our team you are a part of our team as well! We will do our best to represent you well.....most of all we strive to represent Jesus in everything we do!
We love you!
-Team South Africa 2008