Update: Because of some support I have reached the amount needed to purchase this item. Thank you to those who supported!

I’ve been waiting and waiting for Rosetta Stone to come out with Sesotho so that I can learn the language faster and better. That just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. Because I want to be able to speak to the people I’m building relationships with in Qwa Qwa and Harrismith so that I can minister to them better.

So I found an alternative on Amazon called Talk Now! It’s very similar to Rosetta Stone but less expensive.

Help me learn! It’s only $30 but you can support by any amount whether it’s $1, $5, or $10. Click here and scroll down to the one-time support.

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to Eternity
^{Hosanna by Hillsong}

These lyrics became so clear today. I honestly feel like it was a turning point in my walk with Christ.

Question: What is the alternative to following Jesus Christ?
Answer: Matthew 7:21-23

That scares me. I guess I’ll let you know what happened today though so you may understand what I’m saying or why I’m saying it.

While out on relationship evangelism today with some students on Thrive Trip, we were visiting Kenny (a.k.a. “ICE”) and things were going great. We’ve been sharing with him the love of Christ and he’s been incredibly interested and has all kinds of questions. This morning while visiting his friend Quincy stopped in and he was asking what we were talking about. We shared with him that God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we may have eternal life. He then shared his beliefs about heaven and hell and that he believed that when you die you go to another planet and just went on and on. We started to get a bit discouraged because conversation was going so well with Kenny but then Quincy said the unthinkable… He said that he wanted to go to hell. It seemed like he was joking possibly but afterward Kenny told me that he was serious.

When we got back to the church it hit me hard. I went behind the church building and started to sob. I realized then that when someone chooses not to believe in Jesus Christ with all (not just some) their heart, mind, and soul that the alternative is Hell. I understand this sounds harsh but it’s truth. We don’t think of that when a friend or family member isn’t (or doesn’t want to be) a Christian because of little minuet details of how Christians act or talk. Rather we things that they just choose not to be Christians… and we forget the alternative.

We have a free gift that we do not deserve; something much greater than we could ever imagine and so many people turn it down so that we can build up life on earth.

One of the boys (named Niko) from children’s ministry found me behind the building of the church and saw that I was crying. He patted me on the back and bent over to look in my face and said probably the only English he knows… “I’m sorry, are you OK?” I could only thank God at that moment and ask for forgiveness for living half heartedly at times. And then I knew the reason why I was here in South Africa.

Thank you to those who are supporting me to be here in South Africa.
You are ministering out here just as I am.

Last year we had a mission team gathered and organized by Thrive Africa and myself and a few other interns had the joy of leading that team. This year we’re at it again and this time Katie and I are leading the trip.

Here are a few memories captured for you to enjoy…

A few weeks ago I told you about us visiting a sangoma’s home and watching traditional dancers. So you can get a better idea of what it’s like here’s a video that our video guy took.

Now that I can drive stick and drive on the other side of the road without really having to think about it, I’ve been driving the interns around to town, Hope House, adopt-a-house, and just where ever they need to go. It’s fun responsibility. But it’s amazing when it becomes a blessing

Last Tuesday, myself and a few other interns went into the streets of Intebazwe to visit with some families that we see every week. We stopped at Toko’s house but she wasn’t there. So we decided to go over a street and visit Anna, a sangoma that wants to know more about what God has to say about what she believes, but strike two… she wasn’t home either. We were getting a bit bummed out but we kept moving. There was a soccer game going on in the streets so we stopped to watch all the high school students go up and down the street kicking the ball in the dirt. A couple of our interns even joined in on the game and the Sotho kids loved it.

After watching the game we went to a house we had never been to before. Outside there were two young women probably in their late 20′s. Their names were Carol and Gloria. They were friends who went to different churches and a both grew up in Intabazwe. Carol went to a “Christian” church that apparently had too short of prayers and also taught ancestral worship. Something I found interesting is that she wanted to leave because she said the Holy Spirit wasn’t there like Gloria’s church. Gloria’s church is a Bible teaching church and she did not believe in ancestral worship. Normally it’ll take a few visits to even get on to the topic of church and beliefs but they were so open to discussion about it and they asked questions so we wanted to fill gaps the best we could. We shared stories of miracles where we saw God do supernatural things and it only spurred more questions especially from Carol. After some discussion and sharing with Carol what the Bible said about ancestral belief she wanted to change the direction of her life and she wanted what we had. It was totally her decision and she owned it! It was beautiful. She asked God to forgive her of her sins and took the step of faith to trust God with her life. Carol had tears of joy coming down her face.

It’s amazing to me that God can move in only a couple hours of meeting someone. Hopefully we’ll be visiting her next week to see how her new life is with God.

Don’t underestimate God and what He can do. Over estimation with God isn’t possible either… He’ll always exceed!

This scenario is a little odd and funny…

Who goes to a Native American themed restaurant in South Africa to celebrate the Independence of the United States? We do.

They (meaning Spur (the restaurant we went to)) really were prepared for us this year with sparklers and even a recording of Bruce Springsteens – Born in the USA! It was a lot of fun. We had over 50 of us there with a combination of a mission team, summer interns, year interns, and staff. I’m sure it was a bit odd for the South African people there who were enjoying their dinner out but probably played the stereotypical Americans pretty well… Loud!

What did you do for the Fourth of July?! Were you patriotic?

When I was young, my sister babysat me and I was a pain in the butt. We screamed at each other sometimes and fought but somehow it would end with a short conversation… something like “I won’t tell mom and dad if you don’t…” because we did not want to get in trouble.

I never thought after that, that I would like to babysit anyone elses kids because it always seemed to be terrorizing for me.

But that is totally not true. I love babysitting lately. Wednesday and Thursday of this past week Katie and I babysat a friends kids so they could have some time away. There were some great fun memories from this two day adventure of babysitting (p.s. good movie). Throwing rocks in the pond with Silas, putting Ellie to sleep, making fun videos of Silas singing and taking goofy pictures with photobooth.

Here’s a few still memories…

(click to enlarge)

Do you enjoy babysitting or is it terrifying for you? Why?

Weekends are often filled with hanging around the house not doing much or hiking or watching movies. But this weekend was a nice change.

Yesterday Katie and I went to Clarens where there are nice little shops and restaurants. We didn’t buy anything or get any food there but it was fun to walk around and get some coffee and be somewhere different for a change.

Today (Father’s day) we had a great commisioning church service for our summer interns who are here for the next two months. Two other staff and I lead worship which went pretty well. Afterwards Katie and I spent the rest of the day babysitting Thrive’s interim directors kid’s. It was a great day to take them out so we went to the One Stop and took them to the play gound, inground trampolines (I wish these were in the states), and little animal farm.

It was really nice out and kind of warm so we went to Wimpy to get some (you scream, I scream, we all scream for…) ice cream. Katie and Silas (3 year old) got their ice cream and went out side and Ellie (1 year old) and I hadn’t gotten ice cream yet. Just after I got mine I started for the door until the woman at the counter was saying “Sir! Sir! Sir!“. I didn’t realize she was talking to me but by that time (because of her persistence and volume) everyone, which was a lot, was looking at me when I turned to see what she was calling for. “Happy Father’s Day!“… there was a slight pause until I could make out… “Um… thank you… but I’m not a father.” I couldn’t stop laughing when I left. Apparently since I had a cute one year old little girl in my arms that I must have been the father… but no.

It will be quite some time until someone can say “Happy Father’s Day!” to me… and it be true.

(click to enlarge)

Tomorrow is Katie’s birthday so for today I planned a little day getaway as a surprise for her. I will say that I wasn’t sure what to expect weather-wise because earlier this week it had snowed but interestingly enough it was a high of 72ºF. Who would have thought? We left bright dark (sun wasn’t quite up yet) and early at 6:30am so that we get do a horseback safari at 8am. We grabbed a bit to eat afterward at the resort (pretty good food and inexpensive) then we did another little safari with our own vehicle on the Spionkop Dam Game Reserve and headed home. I loved it and Katie also had a great time. Happy birthday Katie!

Here’s a few photos today…

Here are some more photos…

Normally people wouldn’t dislike having a lot of ladybugs around seeing that they are apparently a sign of good luck.

I beg to differ.

In every window frame, door frame, even the top of the curtains in my room. EVERYWHERE, there are ladybugs. I’m even at the point of ‘googling’ the phrase ‘how to get rid of ladybug infestation‘. So I have a couple options: get DOOM bug killer spray and spray nearly my whole house or spend a little more time and vacuum. I think I might end up doing the latter just because I don’t want to get sick from the spray, especially since we’ve been having some heavy winds.

So in the end… Ladybugs ≠ Good luck!

This is a very very very small amount of them...

What’s the worst bug infestation you’ve ever had in your home?