A Whirlwind of a Month

Hello Friends!

Since the last post, a lot has happened, so this blog is divided up into multiple sections chronologically.

Xenophobia
The last you heard from me was a prayer request for the township and the foreigners that were being forced to leave their homes and businesses. I have great news to report. On the Monday morning, after the weekend you received the prayer request email, on the front page, the news papers were quoted as saying “….Masiphumelele leads South Africa and restores our southern peninsula dignity.” Here is a brief outline of events of that weekend:

Thursday night: relatively minor trouble in Masi following evacuation of foreigners by police - mostly young drunken ‘tsotsis’ taking advantage of the situation and looting.
Friday: Yandiswa Mazwane, community leader, mobilizes all other leaders for peace rally with help of the ‘Ubuntu Coalition’ (eMzantsi Carnival, Art of Living, other NGOs). Leaders address packed community hall at 6pm, vociferous support expressed for foreigners (”we want them in 2010, why not now?”), wonderful prayer and singing, and candlelit vigil. Tangible sense of calm restored on leaving at 7pm. NO TROUBLE AT ALL IN MASI ON FRIDAY NIGHT.
Saturday: community leaders hold two follow up meetings, first to allow their community to voice any concerns. Quite apparent this is not evidence of xenophobia but rather persistent economic stress (NB no force was used against foreigners in Masiphumelele [Masi]). 2nd meeting of all community structures made a plan to restore righteous order…
Saturday night: A joint community and police effort to recover all stolen property by going door to door. Street committees re-empowered. Masi pride restored.
Sun morning: People still spontaneously bringing stuff back; all taken to Ocean View police station for safekeeping.
Sun afternoon: Premier arrives to congratulate Masi community leaders. Deputation take memo to Soetwater(refugee camp) to read to refugees to invite them back home. More than 70 people welcomed back to Masi with a Kentucky Fried Chicken supper in the late evening.
PLEASE NOTE this was a community initiated and community driven
effort. Masi leaders should be praised for doing on Friday what Mbeki (South African president) had not had the courage to do - stand up and say, “This is not acceptable here. We condemn it, and we will act immediately to make amends.”

Praise God! It is amazing what prayer can do and we each have the opportunity to partner with God in seeing Him work in the hearts of people and their communities. Just a year before this time, Masi was the township in South Africa who initiated the violence against foreigners; this year, they lead the way in bringing reconciliation.

Outreach

Our team had an amazing two weeks doing ministry in the valley we were living in. Some continued to come alongside and disciple the women who we built the house for and had dinner with them each night. Others created an after school program for children at the local library and taught them Biblical principles and demonstrated to them how much God loves them and has a plan for them. Some of the guys on our team spent time with a local basketball team doing Bible study, going on a hike, and of course playing basketball with them. A few others and myself had the amazing opportunity to teach the Destiny by Design material to the teachers at a local primary school. It was amazing to see the passion and vision those teachers had for their community. When we finished our time with them, they wanted to continue meeting and having a teacher’s Christian fellowship where they can pray for one another, encourage one another and study the Bible together. By the end of the outreach, our hearts for this place had grown for the different people we met and the great plans that God has for them in bringing God’s Kingdom to their community.

House of Hope – Namadi		Library Kids
Destiny By Design – Primary School		Destiny By Design – Baptist Church Youth
Children in Massi
		South African Penguins

San Diego

After a week of debriefing the outreach in South Africa, I headed on the long trek back to the USA. After 30+ hours of traveling, I arrived at the train station in San Diego where I met up with my parents. For a week I was able to visit with my parents and rest from the long travels. We were able to go see the Indiana Jones movie, go to the Natural History Museum, go kayak fishing, and even go to Disney’s California Adventures. I had such a great time and even was able to go to lunch with my grandma.

Kayak Fishing

Back in Kona

I arrived in Kona, Hawaii on Sunday June 8^th. Since then up until now, preparations and training have been taking place for the July Quarter Discipleship Training School, which starts on July 3^rd. I can’t express enough in words how excited I am about this next school. After taking the Making Disciple Makers School in South Africa, this next DTS that I am staffing is going to be an awesome opportunity to apply the things that I have learned.

Plaza of the Nations University of the Nations Kaulua-Kona, Hawaii

As of today, we have 59 students accepted from 14 different nations! The nations represented are Canada, China, Ghana, Kosovo, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, United States, Vanuatu, and Yugoslavia. How amazing is that?! We are so excited for them to come. We know that God has incredible plans in store for all of us.

Prayer Requests

A vital part of the ministry here is your prayers. You are as much a part of this ministry as I am. The victories that I experience are your victories; the struggles and challenges are yours as well. I am so grateful for your willingness to stand with me, and together we can work to see God’s plans accomplished.

Please be praying for our students. Pray that God would be preparing their hearts, that the rest of their finances would come in (for the total length of the school, lecture and outreach, they will need approximately $9,000-$10,000), and for Visas and traveling, that everything would go smoothly and doors would be opened. I’ve included below a list of the names and the country of origin of each student. Continue to pray for them as God brings it to your mind. We come into this school with great anticipation and expectation from God to speak deeply into the lives of every person associated with this school, even to you. Thank you for your prayers.

July Quarter DTS Students

1	Shiona	Nickel	17	Canada
2	Chui Shan	Chung	29	China
3	Ernest	Baffoe	22	Ghana
4	Daniel	Ofori-Boafo	33	Ghana
5	Altin	Ademi	22	Kosovo
6	Arben	Hoti	20	Kosovo
7	Arberesha	Zhuja	20	Kosovo
8	Thang	Tuang	26	Myanmar
9	William	Trayes	23	New Zealand
10	Daniel	Aalien	19	Norway
11	Jarle	Tollaksen	19	Norway
12	Fidele	Kanamugire	32	Rwanda
13	Francine	Uwera	27	Rwanda
14	Buvanaswari	Padhman	31	Singapore
15	Se Kyung	Choi	20	South Korea
16	Yejin	Hwang	23	South Korea
17	Taeli	In	22	South Korea
18	Jeongwon	Jang	21	South Korea
19	Yejin	Kim	18	South Korea
20	Healeen	Kim	23	South Korea
21	Moon Hwa	Kim	54	South Korea
22	Jee Hye	Lee	18	South Korea
23	Hyun Suk	Lee	48	South Korea
24	Chang Jun	Lee	61	South Korea
25	Seung Han	Yoo	26	South Korea
26	Melanie	Meury	26	Switzerland
27	Zipporah	Peter	23	Switzerland
28	Tiara	Agustin	18	USA
29	Jae Yun	Cha	38	USA
30	Timothy	Cho	21	USA
31	Young	Cho	26	USA
32	Samuel	Choi	19	USA
33	Daniel	Choi	18	USA
34	Paul	Chu	18	USA
35	Meehan	Dellar	22	USA
36	Alisha	Dykstra	24	USA
37	Nicole	Ellens	26	USA
38	Timothy	Feddes	20	USA
39	Paige	Foelker	18	USA
40	Caroline	Fraley	20	USA
41	Katherine	Hobin	21	USA
42	Kaelyn	Hughes	23	USA
43	Stacy	Im	21	USA
44	Nina	Kang	18	USA
45	Kevin	Kim	33	USA
46	Julie	Lapides	27	USA
47	Nahyun	Lim	18	USA
48	Jesse	O'Neill	18	USA
49	Karen	Park	22	USA
50	Marguerite	Schmid	46	USA
51	Valerie	Swiney	19	USA
52	Jeremiah	Troyer	27	USA
53	Rikki	Vick	17	USA
54	Nina	Villarin	27	USA
55	Tiffany	White	19	USA
56	Patricia	Yu	42	USA
57	Aaron	Zepeda	19	USA
58	Dimitry	Kuautoga	21	Vanuatu
59	Adhurim	Xhemajili	24	Yugoslavia