I'm Back!

Hello, I am finally fully recovered and functioning after a little over two week s of being sick and recovering slowly. Thanks for your prayers! I don't have a lot to report since I have been at home recovering for the last little while, but I have a few things to share.

First. . .Trevor and I are adding to our family. . .yes I am pregnant! At this point I am about 16weeks pregnant and am doing well, now. I am feeling the baby move a lot and that is fun to have movement so early. My only sadness is that this brings my physical doula work to an abrupt stop as I don't have the endurance anymore, but I can still counsel and help outside of labor.
We are very excited and so is Keira, everyday she says " Hello baby" to my stomach and sometimes offers the baby a snack. She'll be a great big sister! Keira turns 2 this week! And she has proven to be a joy and a challenge in both of our lives, I'm sure it will get better and get harder :)

In other news, God has recently made it clear to me that I must pray on behalf of the pregnant moms and the hospital system with dilligence. If any of you are interested in praying with me, and listening to what God might say please email me. I will be praying for 3 months in the way of Nehemiah. It feels daunting and difficult but our God is one who listens and on that I can depend.

I will post some pictures soon, especially after Keira's party. I know many of you have been asking for them!
Blessings and love from Chrissy +1

A little bit of soccer, pain and friendship

Some pictures from our impromptu soccer tournament at our house last weekend. We had a great time playing this countries favourite past time but left with a few aches and pain. We are not all as active and as young as we used to be, well we have to have some excuse right.
Let's just say that there was some surprise winners. Here's to building community and friendships.

Generosity?

I have been challenged a lot lately about being generous.
With South African being one of the most unequal countries in the world the disparities are glaring, in my face in fact.
There is so much need and I have so much in comparison. It is not that these differences between rich and poor are new but more the exposure that I now have to the poor and poverty that is challenging my thinking on my generosity. What do I do with this reality and the gospel's clear call to be generous, to give to share, to help, to be involved, to be community and family.

I am realizing that when I was living in the suburbs in SA and the USA, especially on the college campus, it was so much easier not to be generous, to believe that everyone has enough. When we live in communities that shelter us from the realities of the world it is easy to believe in a gospel that doesn't require us to give of ourselves and our resources. A gospel that is just a personal relationship with God. I have chosen not to have that privledge anymore.

I think that this is why Jesus was with the people. He wanted to see. How else can you see that someone is hungry and give them something to eat, see that someone is thirsty and give them something to drink, see that someone is a stranger and invite them in, see that someone needs clothes and clothe them, see that someoneI is sick and look after them, see that someone is in prison and visit them.

I am deeply challenged by Jesus words and his actions. I hope that Jesus will receive my feeble attempts at being more generous as my blind eyes start to see. I hope I have the courage not to run away.

Some questions that I am asking...
Does the standard 10% giving to the church cut it when a friend looses a job, can't feed his family and you have a savings account?
Does the standard 10% giving cut it when a friend is sick and doesn't have money to go to the doctor?
Does the standard 10% cut it when there is hunger and pain?

Who's money is this anyway and what did God give it to me for? For myself, my family? Or did God bless me with resources to join him in offering a drink and clothing a brother or sister. I have friends who have considerably less than I do but support multiple family members, share whatever they have, live a communal life of generosity.

I realize that I can't be God, I can't be the solution to all the problems I see, but I do see and God is calling me to be generous, to use his money to bless others. To share and be involved, rather than isolate and protect what "I have earned."

Thank you to all those who give generously to us, we are honoured to be your hands and feet. You are a model of God's provision. Join us as we wrestle with being rich in a world with intense need.

Please share any thoughts...

Nothing like eating sheep head, learning Zulu and bible discussions...

I have an agreement with my friends in South Africa about eating food. Anything they eat I will eat with them, but I won't eat something they won't eat.
So, as you see in the picture, I had the privilege of eating "Sheep Skopo", sheep head with my friends Orapeleng and Happy.

I ate mostly jaw bone meat that wasn't too bad and tried the tongue and brain which were more challenging.
The other name they call this tasty treat is a "Smiley". A fitting name as this is a boiled sheep head, wool removed but everything else is there, a one sided face smiling back at you. When Rapi and Happy were finished those bones were shinning, eyes the works. Thanks for the treat abafowethu (Friends).

Besides eating some new treats Chrissy and I are enjoying the challenge of learning Zulu. We just finished our fourth formal class and are making some progress. It has been especially fun to practice with new friends in Zandspruit and see there eyes go wide with surprise when an Umlungu (a White person), the name the kids call me, speaks in Zulu. I really enjoy how far a little effort to learn and speak someones language goes. Hopefully we can continue to practice and find some settings to immerse ourselves in some Zulu only setting to help solidify what we are learning in class. I am surrounded by a lot of Tswana speaking friends, and so have picked some of it up too, although Zulu is a better longterm lanuage to learn.

Lastly, I have been having some encouraging times of discussions and bible studies. On Sunday's we have a diverse group meeting to discuss and study issues of cross cultural relationships, money and following Jesus. There don't seem to be many places actively talking about these tough issues and how Jesus calls us to deal with them as a community of faith. With South Africa still heavily divided along racial and economic lines is has been good to share our different stories and wrestle with how to move forward. We are learning together. What do we do when some of us have more money than others? How do we deal with the fact that one group benefits at the expense of another? How do we respond to ongoing prejudice and racism? How do we share each others burdens and pain? Hard questions, but ones the Jesus and the early Church faced, and ones that I am grateful to be making friends to face these struggles with.

At another time I will share with you how God is working in a gathering of Zandspruit pastors, an Emthonjeni staff meeting bible study, a bi-monthly young adults bible study and a bible study with some young guys who have never studied or read the bible before. God's word is alive and active, it is fun to be a part of it.

Peace,

Trevor

On the street where we live

Well I just had blogged a nice long blog, but then the server timed out and apparently nothing got saved even though it said it was saving.
I wanted to tell you about how our street is really coming together. Last night we had a street meeting and it was the biggest turn out yet! Not only did we cover the issues of the street but we also were able to laugh and joke together, it was really fun. Hopefully we can really make some progress to making this a safer street by building relationship with each other and depending on each other to look out for all our best interests. I think I am feeling more at home here as there are people I feel comfortable leaving Keira with and I am making friends with some of our neighbors. Keira is feeling comfortable as well. . . the other day a couple of the neighborhood boys were here playing and they came inside because it was getting cold. . .and they wanted some of what I was baking : ) So I suggested that each of them read a story to Keira. You should have seen it, I wish I had been able to get a picture of it, but here were these two 8 yea old boys kneeling at Keira's cupboard with Keira in between them with an arm wraped tightly around both of their necks! She really loves them and prays for them. . . I love how soft her heart is. Well first Mandla read and did pretty well with a little help. Then Mike started and I quickly realized that he didn't know the sounds of the letters, so 20 minutes later we were halfway through the 6 page book and it was getting dark so they took their goodies and went home with promise to come back the next day to read some more, but they didn't show. I have often wondered how to do a homework club that would work, that the boys would actually come back to. . . I don't know, one thing at a time I guess. I am so glad that God knows how much need there is and He can handle it.

Here a a couple of pics: Mike and I reading, Keira and Lionel ( neighbors that came for dinner) under her table, and Keira with Super Gran on her 93rd birthday. Oh and one of when we caught Keira rocking out on Trev's ipod- I love the hair!!!