August was a wonderful month. Freezing, Warm, Sunny, Overcast, God working in us, Paradigms ever changing and so forth and so forth.
We have been working hard on our "calling" and have learned so much these last few months. Right now we plan to spend about 4 to 5 months of a year in Asia. We are working on what the time in SA will look like and what God wants us to do with that. We are looking at 4 or 5 areas where we can get involved and serve. We can highly recommend "stepping out of the boat", "jumping out of the nest", "leaping off the cliff" to anyone. It is terrifying and causes you to face your deepest fears but at the same time it is indescribable to be caught by God. He truly is holding us in his palm and lighting the path before us. We are realising more and more that we cannot do what He has called us to on our own. Whenever we think that we can "take it from here", he kneecaps us and reminds us that we are entirely dependant on him and must walk with our hand in His, involving him in every decision. Yes, that scary word, Lordship. He is in control, actively involved and His will is known. This is a difficult lesson as we in our "western culture" like to be in control and independent. But we are learning that this cannot be. Another thing we are learning is that "laying down your life" is a daily decision. It is really not easy but there is no other place we would like to be. This is the veld that we go walking and riding in each day with our family. It is the most beautiful place to spend time talking and listening to God. It also give us a bit of much needed exercise.
Home school has been forging ahead. Lots of maths, english and other subjects, among others, snakes. This python, Strangles, piqued Jo's interest in snakes again. Coco is avidly trying to tame her Tarantula, Charlie. The problem is that we've discovered that we all suffer from severe arachnophobia. It is amazing what terror that palm sized creature can inspire.
Joachim was very excited when he won a Percy Jackson, The Lightning Thief DVD from Puffin Books in London.
Proof that homeschooling can be done whilst babysitting the neighbour's baby, Danika. The children are also learning to serve, serve, serve and willingly look after her.
We had dinner with Ansie, newly returned from Discipleship Training School in Chennai in India. She spent six life changing months there. It has been wonderful to see the change in her. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Missions definitely changes us.
In July, an opportunity arose for our family to go on an outreach to Vana Vedu Orphanage in Zimbabwe with a team of six other people. We left bright and early at midnight in a combi and a large trailer, heavily laden with supplies for the orphanage. The purpose of the trip was to spend time with Moses (a local pastor who runs the orphanage) and his wife Rofina, to paint the orphanage and to spend some time connecting with the children.
It was an amazing trip and truly a life changing experience. We stayed with Moses, Rofina and their family. Some of the orphans stay with them in their house and the rest stay a few kilometers down the road at Vana Vedu orphanage. Moses and Rofina take the children with the "worst" backgrounds into their home so that they can love them and bring healing to them. It was such a privilege to stay with them and experience a bit of participative culture at its best. We all cooked together, cleaned together, ate together and it was wonderful.
Three things that stood out for us on this trip were:
THE COUNTRY
It is breathtakingly beautiful.....
THE PEOPLE
The people in Zimbabwe were beautiful. They were radiant, welcoming and friendly. We never saw a person complaining. They were all so accepting of their circumstances and content in the face of it. The electricity (ZESA) as they referred to it was more off than on but they took it in their stride and continued about their business. If the shops had not meat then it was a simple matter of having a meatless meal. No complaining. We spent some time with some fellow believers from a local church there and the thing that stood out for us there is that the Christians in Zimbabwe, teenagers included, seem to be zealous in their faith. Hardships definitely draws us closer to God.
We thought our trailer was heavily laden, but they can teach us a thing or two...
These little tollgates were plentiful.....
These potholes (pafuri) were even more plentiful. We sacrificed a tyre to one of them....
Overturned vehicles were a common occurrence. This was a cotton truck..... 
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE ORPHANAGE
These children crept into our hearts and minds. The were so precious, content with so little, lived for praise and worship (choir) in the orphanage chapel, read their bibles diligently, especially one little girl called Reason (9 yrs old). The thing that broke our hearts is that they love the orphanage but never feel secure as they don't know when the social welfare will come and remove them because of red tape issues. They live in constant fear of this.
On Saturday we spent the day playing with the children and getting to know them.....
On Friday we painted the orphanage....
Rofina, a mother with unconditional love toward the children. This beautiful lady is making a difference.....
As we have learned so often in Missions, Culture (going cross-cultural) does change us and it certainly changed us. We will never been the same again after our Zim trip. With each trip that we make, be it to Asia, Africa or anywhere else in God's creation, we come back changed.
We are back in SA and loving the weather. I don't know if it is because we came from a hot climate but we are freezing and loving every minute. This country truly has an amazing climate. The first few days were spent enjoying SA and drinking in the beauty around us. I didn't realise how much we missed it. However, after a few days we started missing Asia again. It was the most unbelievable experience for us as a family.
We hit the ground running. First off we attended the Passage to Purpose Missions Course which was two week nights and two full weekends with a free weekend in between. It was a welcome distraction from the reverse culture shock and so good to challenge mindsets and re-inforce new paradigms. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute and gained so much new insight. It was good to stay at the Kingdom Encounters Base on both of these weekends. These were the people that attended the course with us.
After that we spent a couple of days on a dairy farm in Bronkhorstspruit with Arno and Louise, friends from our Missions Fellowship. This was really wonderful to spend time with such a precious family. The children loved farm life. We all voted it the coldest weekend since we have been alive.
Right now we are busy planning the next stage of our journey. We are praying about whether God wants us to stay here and travel to Asia for about 4 months of each year or whether he wants us to live in Asia and travel from there. If we stay here a certain amount of our time will be taken up with our "Asia calling" but we will also need something else and this is what we are seeking God about. We are praying like there is no strategy and strategizing like there is no prayer right now. Oh, yes, and serving, serving and serving. All the things we have learnt over the past few years are now becoming a reality in our lives. So watch this space.......
