"Unexpected" Travels

We board an airplane to the US today. I’m very excited to see my family. It wasn’t part of the “plan” to do this before starting work at Living Hope, but about two months ago I got word that my twin brother Jim was getting married – in early September! We didn’t want to miss it, and prayed that we could afford the time and money to make it happen. To our amazement, both areas were taken care of! Our reporting manager allowed us to delay our start date from 1 Sept to 8 Sept, and my parents covered a large portion of flight costs so that the entire family could be there. What a gift! So we’re flying in early to 1) catch up with friends and church in London on a 3-day layover there, and 2) spend some time with our dear friends and church community in Fairfield, Connecticut. We will spend the final week with my family in Pennsylvania in the run up to Jim and Molly’s wedding. We know the time will go quickly, but we know it’s worth it!

First Outreach Week

One of the most exciting parts of our job-to-be is that we get to be part of outreach initiatives on a regular basis. Not only that, but we will actually prepare the way for these events to happen in advance. There is currently a team here from a church in Nevada. Living Hope (Mike and Pam) have arranged for the team to work alongside a local church in the community of Masiphumelele, or Masi for short. Masi is a squatter camp of predominantly makeshift shacks of wood and tin, and has grown to at least six times the originally intended size. Very few of the thirty-five thousand people living there have received a government-built house in recent years, but the vast majority continue to wait years for theirs. The visiting team members are partnering with local church leaders for a week and go door-to-door to meet and pray for people, help with a free ‘health screening’ day, and provide leadership development for the church, amongst other great activities. Some of the team entertained the children of those getting tested with some facepainting. Today was just a glimpse of what we can look forward to!