Living Hope Summer Project 2011

Today we officially launched our Living Hope Summer Project. Each year volunteers from the US, UK and Europe flock to Living Hope during OUR winter months and THEIR summer months! Since having all these volunteers here at once became more work than benefit for Living Hope, we decided to develop a program which allows volunteers to come be part of a meaningful ministry experience and ultimately be of huge help to Living Hope! Check it out - you might want to come spend a summer with us down here in Cape Town or send it on to those you know looking for summer ministry opportunities!

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Missions Training

We consider volunteers as ‘missionaries’ when they commit to staying with Living Hope for longer than 18 months. Those people not only come and make South Africa home for that time, but they also become a more “permanent” fixture in Living Hope’s support system as they assume key roles. There are six of such volunteers here now: Danielle, Melanie, Joey, Courtney, Natasha, and myself. Part of Natasha and my goals for 2011 is to periodically get this bunch together (not including our regular weekly gathering open to all volunteers) and invest in each other. The past two days, the six of us spent most of each day at our home to do leadership/discipleship training. We incorporated the Gallup StrengthsFinder (ref Living Your Strengths book), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Erwin McManus’ Character Matrix, and what the Bible says about spiritual gifts. It was an intense couple of days. As we initially reflect on the time together, we are encouraged to have learned more about each other in community – what great people we are surrounded by! We have also identified some positive areas where each of us can maximize our talents, abilities, and giftings for the Lord in 2011. In short, it was a great pep talk to kick off the New Year!

Volunteer Doctor!

Today we welcome Roslyn to our volunteer team. She’s a general practitioner and will be serving in our Health Care Centre during her time here. We’re so blessed that she’s here, and licensed to work in South Africa!  We’ve worked with her over the past few months to help her get temporary registration to practice. That means she can essentially work as a GP in South Africa, on a volunteer (non-paid) basis. We’ve been praying for a Christian doctor, and here she is – praise the Lord!

3 Times the Fun!

Well we definitely started 2011 off with a bang! Today was our first “official” day back at work and it was definitely a full day. We have 3 teams here with Living Hope who all start with us this week. We have an Adventures in Missions: World Race Team who will be helping out with Holiday Club in Ocean View. Then we have a church team from a partner church in Nevada, US who will be divided in 3: a OBGYN who will be training our clinic workers; 3 guys to help us do some construction; and a group of ladies who will be helping with Holiday Club in Masi. Then we have an Intervarsity group from a University in Delaware, US who will be with us for a month doing a variety of things.  So the Team House was nice enough to host a luncheon to welcome all the teams so that we could do a combined tour and orientation for everyone. We crammed the 30+ people in the living room and showed an introduction video and powerpoint before dividing into 3 vans to go off and see the different Living Hope sites. So great to have 3 teams here at once (I think a first for Living Hope), and there are some really incredible people on these different teams. It is a bit hard though to get to know individuals with such a big group. We got some good time with each of the team leaders over dinner and was so nice to able to speak face-to-face after months and weeks of emailing back and forth. Having time with the team leaders allowed us not only to get to know them, but also to properly discuss their ministry for the upcoming week/s. So this week should be really fun! 2011, here we go!

A Quick Vacation

We decided to take a quick break from everything and join my family on their annual vacation in Betty’s Bay for a few days. Little did we know just how much we needed this little vacation. We spent our time playing Apples-to-Apples with my little brothers, lazing on the beach and sandboarding down the massive dunes. It is such a beautiful part of the Cape and to be able to take some time out before the madness that kicks off tomorrow is such a blessing!

Howzit 2011!

The UN has declared 2011 the International Year of the Volunteer! How appropriate for us as it is our first year as volunteer missionaries - and everything we will be doing this year will be related to volunteers! Hopefully this will encourage more people to get involved in something and volunteer their time! It may be intimidating at first, but really - if God is calling you to it - it could be the most stretching, growing and rewarding experience ever.
This is our final week of “leave” before returning to regular work. The past few weeks have been a great time to spend relaxing and enjoying the festive season with others here – not to mention the beautiful summer weather! We’ve also taken some quality time to finish our website and look ahead to 2011 with refined vision and mission. It’s perfect timing as we look forward to the arrival of our first teams for the New Year – three at once!

New Years!

Happy New Years!! Today is very symbolic for the two of us as we close an incredible chapter in our lives and look to opening a promising new one this 2011! 2010 was filled with so many different adventures, challenges and experiences that have shaped us anew and that we will remember all of our lives. May 2011 be blessed and even more amazing than 2010!