FEED LESIDENG

We had our baby!!!!!!! Emelia Joy Kobriger was born on February 22, 2011 at 4:05 a.m., weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces, and measured 19.7 inches long. It was quite an experience for us! At 9:40 p.m. on the 21^st, Jerusha told me she thought her water broke. Unsure, we Googled “What happens when your water breaks?” The movies make it look like Niagara Falls, so we didn’t know what the heck was going on! Soon after, Jerusha started getting contractions, so we got in the car and made the longest two hour drive of our lives to the hospital. By time we got there, her contractions were only about 30 seconds apart, and she was ready for an epidural!!! (So was I!) Within three hours, Jerusha was ready to push. I watched in amazement as my daughter’s head became visible, but soon saw that the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice, and she was white as a sheet. The doctor got Emelia untangled, and told Jerusha to push with all she had, but basically pulled our baby out. It was an eternity of silence. Finally, they got our baby to breathe and handed her to Jerusha so we could take a picture. As soon as the shot was taken, the nurses grabbed Emelia and went to work on her. Jerusha and I were stunned, and had no idea what was happening because everyone was speaking Afrikaans. One of the nurses told me that I needed to go with them to fill out some forms to admit Emelia to the NICU. I walked out of the room following my new baby, and leaving my wife behind. The feeling I had at that moment will never leave me.

I was away from Jerusha for about an hour and a half, so for that time she had no idea what was going on with Emelia. I told her they were working on her, and that in the middle of all the commotion, one of the nurses put her hand on our baby and prayed over her. Jerusha and I held it together in the face of uncertainty. After I finished telling Jerusha about Emelia’s condition, she said to me, “I won’t stop bleeding. They might have to bring me into emergency surgery.” Even typing that sentence brings tears to my eyes. I was completely helpless. I prayed. I prayed with the fervor of a desperate man in a desolate situation. I prayed with the honesty that the situation constituted. I prayed with the humility of Christ in the garden: “Lord, not my will, but yours.” I prayed to a God who knows what it is to lose that which was most important to Him right before His very eyes. Thankfully, my will and God’s will matched up!!! Jerusha’s bleeding subsided after about three hours, and Emelia was in the NICU for about eight hours. We spent three days in the hospital, and finally went home with our little girl. We’ve spent the last 13 days staring at her in amazement, and trying to find the words to describe the new found love that we have for Emelia and each other.

Well, I could write about Emelia all day, but I guess I’ll tell you about the rest of the stuff going on with us too. About three weeks before Emelia was born, Marilyn told us that she was having pain in her chest, and that she needed to go to the doctor in Johannesburg to find out what was wrong. We told her that because we already knew how her farm worked, since we took it over for several months after her car accident, that we’d take it over again until she was able to return. It turned out that she had a hematoma that needed to be removed, and she needed surgery. Let me tell ya’, she’s a resilient woman, because she only needed our services for about two and a half weeks before she came back. She said that she was only at about 90-95%, but knew that she’d be feeling much better shortly. Since then, because we now have Emelia, we’ve transitioned the Soup Kitchen back into Marilyn’s hands. After having us completely run it for 10 months, we had to brush her up on what needs to be done each week, but she’s right back where she wants to be. It’s been very evident that God needed us here to support her during all she’s been through, and we are so grateful to be able to be the answers to someone else’s needs. God had a plan for how our three lives would intersect, and in one form or another, we’ve relied on her as well.

The Soup Kitchen is moving forward quite well. There is a semi-permanent pavilion being erected in place of the destroyed tent, so that there will never be any concern of bad weather again. It has been a long time coming that a structure goes up on the site – people have been talking about it for years! The young guys are still doing the message each week in Sotho, and a few of them are stepping up and asking to do the message because they like it so much! One young man, even came to us and asked if it would be ok for him to start a Bible study for kids his age in his house! Of course, we said yes, and told him that we’d be there to encourage and help him however we can! We’re excited to see what he does with this, because he has a drive in him to learn and spread the Gospel. Jerusha and I really believe he is destined to be used by God in amazing ways in South Africa.

A few weeks ago, a young woman who used to be one of the sponsored people through LSK approached Jerusha and asked her if we know of anyone who could give her a job. We immediately put her name out to everyone we know, because she is a delightful, hard working, mother who has the type of work ethic that’s hard to come by here. Our friend Joy told us that she knows some people who own a lodge who were looking for help, and that they’d like to interview her. She got the job! We’re so excited for her because she really wants to make a better life for herself and her family, and now finally has the means to do that!

At the end of January/beginning of February, it was time for all the kids to go back to school again. We got all the college kids sorted out with tuition and supplies (this is never an easy task, since they study all over the country.) We’ve also heard that one of the sponsored students graduated with her degree in December — Success Story!!! The rest of the kids have a few years left, and at this point are on pace to all complete their college studies by 2013.

Lastly, as kind of a bittersweet note, Jerusha and I have begun our transition out of South Africa and the work that we are doing. We are scheduled to leave the country May 11, which means we only have a little over two months left. We have many things that we have taken on here, especially for LSK, and are starting to move ourselves out of the lead roles, and into the supporting ones. In some regards, it is very difficult to know that we are leaving here, but it’s also nice to finally think about returning home. We have our work cut out for us here, so please keep us in your prayers as we find the correct people to cover our positions. Also, please pray that we get all of Emelia’s paperwork in a timely manner. We were told that it takes 6 to 8 weeks to get her birth certificate, and then we still need to get her passport! We’re going to be cutting it pretty close!

Our biggest prayer request though, is that we would know exactly what God wants us to do when we get home. We came here in faith, and we will be going home in faith as well. At this point, I have no job lined up, so please keep your prayers going up and your ears open!

Thank you for all of your support over the past year and three months, and especially during the time that we were in the hospital with Emelia. Our Lord and your prayers are what sustained us! We love you, and are getting pretty excited to finally see everyone again!

Aaron

Christmas has quickly come and gone, and we are in full action! Lethabo Kids Club was on break for a couple weeks over the holidays and is now back on as the kids are all back in school. The tent blew down and was torn apart, so we no longer have a structure for the kids to be under during the sessions. Hundreds of kids gather each of the 3 sessions in a field, and we just pray it doesn’t rain. We have been in our rainy season for the past month or so, and it has been pouring! The rains in Africa really are different. For weeks it rained every single day, but come Wednesdays, it held off during Kids Club. We are investigating putting up a large tin roof shelter (pavilion) rather than a tent so that it can hold off against the weather a bit better. New projects are always arising. Phillip and Isaac are still doing a wonderful job telling the Bible messages. They have created some positive peer pressure for the older teens. Now the older ones who wouldn’t tell the messages before are stepping up to tell the stories. We have 6 teens that now tell the stories each week, and the kids listening respond so much better since it is only given in their tongue rather than having an interpretor. This has been greatly helping develop leaders.

We did a Christmas party with our Bible Study kids. We had to cancel it 4 times due to rain, but finally were able to have it…January 13. So it was a bit delayed, but hey, we made it before Valentine’s Day. The kids had a blast. We played games, ate, danced, ate, games, prizes, ate… The staple food for the Africans is mealie meal, which is finely crushed dried maize. It comes in huge 50kg bags, like potato sacks made of woven plastic. So of course we introduced them to Potato Sack Races, or as we now call it here, Mealie Meal Race. It was quite hilarious watching these kids running and jumping and then falling flat on their faces. Repeatedly. We started out doing only about 20 meter races, but then by the end we had the kids racing half a kilometer. Maybe not that far, but it was far enough! Bruises, but no broken bones.

A quick update regarding both micro-loans Aaron and I put together for two people in Lesideng – they are both now half paid off. Jacqueline is continuing to sell her baked goods and Simon phone service/airtime in order to have income for their families. At the rate they’ve been paying back, they will both be paid off by the time we leave.

We have been continuing to work with the remaining sponsored families, finding them temporary work to earn their sponsorship. For the past several months some have been working at a Christian ministry, and friends of ours, called the Bushveld Mission. This ministry takes in abused and orphaned children of all ages and provides them with a home, food, shelter, and education. The workers we’ve been sending, sponsored by LSK, have been doing a wide range of work and have helped with housework, digging a pig pen, and planting very large gardens to help feed all the children at the mission. It has been teaching the sponsored people to have a work ethic all while providing a ministry with much needed help.

Our friends, Piete and Gladys, started a daycare called MaGlad several years ago in Lesideng to look after the children of teenage mothers so they could continue on with their education and not have to drop out of school. Piete and Gladys are native South Africans that live in Lesideng and have it on their hearts to help people wherever they can. Currently they have over 50 children in their daycare in a small little fenced in yard with a couple small shacks for the children to stay in. The municipality is now stating that they can only have 18 children due to the size of the area. They have obtained a large piece of property across the street to develop a larger daycare on, however the builder that was going to donate the structure has recently backed out. We are in the middle of finding builders and getting quotes for the plans that were drawn up for the new daycare. But most importantly are trying to sort out how this new building can be put up with minimal financing. Please pray that money becomes available as this is a fantastic mission, and it is only the beginning of what Piete and Gladys have been and are planning to do. On this new property, they will do skills development, gardening, and have a center for abused women and children to come get help, which is a project that Gladys already has begun. They are wonderful people, whom we love. And they have named themselves our child’s African Godparents!

Now that school is back in session and college students are returning, we have been doing lots of sorting out with school uniforms and tuition payments. LSK, who is sponsoring these students, gave Aaron and I some discretionary funds to use where we’d like. We heard of a young man with one year left of nursing school who was in need of school funding. He is partly sponsored through Waterberg Welfare Society (WWS), a Christian clinic and counseling center for HIV/AIDS patients in Lesideng, where he works when he’s on school break. Through recommendation by his authorities at work and conversation with him, we decided to put money towards his remaining education. There are many colleges here that aren’t proper and provide very poor education. And there are many students who don’t really have a vision as to what they’d like to do when they complete their education and in the end will graduate, return to Lesideng, and never get a job. It was great to hear about a driven guy that wants good education so that he can help those around him. We were happy to have a small part in his future simply by directing funds.

A few weeks ago a young lady in the Ladies Bible study I teach passed away. She had been sick for a couple months, and it quickly downturned. She was in her late twenties. Please pray for her family and loved ones.

My parents came to visit a couple weeks ago! It was a great time and action packed in 8 days. We already miss them. We showed them around, introduced our friends, did some game driving in Kruger, horse riding in the bush, drove to the kingdom of Swaziland, and oh yes, they brought us to Cape Town for a few days. However, not all was great. Halfway through their trip we returned to the airport to fly to CT, but had to quickly stop by our little truck we’d parked in the airport long term gated parking. Our truck had been broken into, our canopy stolen, and all of our items that my parents were going to bring back with them were stolen. This included souvenirs for all of our supporters, clothes, books, and our memorabilia from our time here. Tears were flowing! It was absolutely horrible, and to top it off we had to run through the airport because we almost missed our plane. We’re still quite upset/sad about it because it is money and memorabilia we can never get back. But I will say, Cape Town did help a bit. Thanks Mom and Dad!

3 more weeks until the baby’s here. Freaking out. We went from, “Oh my gosh, we’re having a baby!!!!” to “Oh. My. Gosh. We’re having a BABY!” We just packed the baby’s bag for the hospital tonight. We opened up a package of the newborn diapers for the first time. Adorable. We were speechless with smiles. If you’re ever having a bad day, just look at a tiny baby diaper. A clean one.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! For those of you who donated to our ministry in 2010, you should be receiving your donation receipts any day now. Thank you for your support! All of it.

Love, Jerusha (& Aaron)

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!! This year Jerusha and I celebrated Thanksgiving with our three American friends, Marilyn Cook and Paul and Micky Prince. Last year, Jerusha and I celebrated alone, with KFC chicken, so it was great to have a BIG spread to eat with other Americans! Again, we thank all of you for your prayers and support over the past year. We couldn’t have done this without all of you who have made this mission possible.

The end of October marked the end of “Visitor’s Month” for us. My mom and dad were here all throughout the beginning of the month, and for the last 10 days two LSK Inc. board members, Rob and Karla Johnson, visited with us. They actually only spent a total of about two days with us, but it was just enough time for them to get a quick overview of what Jerusha and I are doing here, and how LSK can effectively move forward in helping Lesideng. They were great! They really grasped the “bigger picture” issues of our area in South Africa, and realized that simply pouring money into this country will not solve all of the spiritual, social, and cultural problems. Karla took a ton of notes! So far, it has been very difficult for me and Jerusha to explain to friends and family in America what it is like here, so it was awesome that Rob and Karla got to share some of our experiences first hand. We believe that God had His hand in their visit, and that they were the perfect board members to come here, so please keep them and the rest of the board in your prayers as more decisions are made regarding the future of the NPO.

They brought all kinds of stuff for the kids to do and play with, including about 200 colorful t-shirts and paints. After driving around the township rounding up kids, we all went to the Kid’s Club tent and had a huge t-shirt painting day. About 150 kids came in, chose shirts, and painted anything they wanted on them. It was really cool to see how many of them painted phrases about loving the soup kitchen, Kid’s Club, or Jesus on the front of their shirts.

We’ve had a lot going on with the Lethabo Kid’s Club over the past month. Jerusha and I decided a long time ago that it would be better for young Leseding residents to rise up and take over the leadership roles on Wednesdays, so we bought books filled with children’s Bible stories to give out to the teens who wanted to be the story tellers. Since giving them out a few weeks ago, we have had several young people give the message to the kids who had never done it before. They did a great job! It’s amazing to see the way the kids in the tent respond to a black person who speaks Sotho as opposed to the way they respond to a white American telling them a story from the Bible. Almost every kid pays very close attention and listens intently – we really feel that the kids are ingesting the message!

There have been many plans for the Kid’s Club Christmas party over the past few weeks, and I think this will be one of the best parties ever. We have decided to have the party on December 1^st, before the school break, and will have two jumping castles, face painting, bracelet making, kids dressed like clowns, games with prizes, and sausages with rolls for food. In preparation for the party, Jerusha spent three days cutting yarn into strips for the bracelets. In all, she cut enough yarn to make 1,300 bracelets! She did so many that she was actually in pain when she was done!

This past weekend, we were able to visit two of our friends, Kevin and Christine Pinter. Kevin and “Teen” are about our age, and left America to come to South Africa at the same time we did, but they went to the Durban area with an organization called Zion Evangelical Ministries of Africa. In Africa, there are an estimated 15-20 million “Zionists” who have gotten their name not from Israel, but from Zion, Illinois. In the early 20^th Century, missionaries came from Zion to spread the Word with Africans, but over time the Africans have meshed their cultural beliefs with the Christian message they heard so long ago. ZEMA is set on rectifying this problem by sending new missionaries to southern Africa to “re-train” the African Zionists in the true ways of Christ, a goal that Kevin and Teen have dedicated themselves to as well. We had such a great time with them! We reminisced about our “old life” back in America, but talked a lot about our new ones here in South Africa. They are really doing amazing work, and took some time out to show us around. Among other things, we got to see their camp, the Indian ocean, and the destination of 3 million migrating barn swallows. We’ve never seen so many birds flying through the air at once in our lives! As fun as this all was, nothing was better than when they threw us our first baby shower! They coordinated a pizza night with the other missionaries they work with, planned baby games, and gave us all the small essentials when you have your first baby. We were taken by complete surprise – it was a great time that we will remember for many years to come!

One of the most memorable experiences that we had this month was when Jerusha got a text message from Elizabeth, one of LSK’s sponsored people, asking us if “Aunt Jerusha and Uncle Aaron” would go to Grandparents Day at her daughter’s school to on behalf of her family. It was too precious to turn down! We stood at the back with huge smiles on our faces, among all of the old folks, proudly representing our young black “niece” while everyone wondered who the heck we were.

God bless you and your Thanksgiving celebrations. May God keep you safe as you give thanks this year! We love and miss you!

Aaron & Jerusha

First off, Aaron and I want to again thank all of you who have been praying for us while we’ve been over here. We have encountered many struggles here that we can only thank God for his guidance and protection and you for your prayers. We are often reminded of your thoughts and prayers and are so thankful for them.

This past month has been a great one in many regards. As Aaron mentioned in our previous post, we had begun working with LSK Inc. to help them find new direction as an American non-profit organization helping the people here in Lesideng. We have been developing relationships and working with many NPO’s here that have ministries that help empower the people to help themselves so that they may have opportunities and a hopeful future. As a result we have been able to help LSK develop a relationship with these ministries so that efforts can be increased for all parties involved. LSK has decided to partner with four NPO’s here in Vaalwater, South Africa and have begun to financially support them. The ministries here are solely dependent on donations to continue their work, whether it be education, daycare, skills development, etc. There have been many rewarding moments for us when we got to tell the organizations that LSK had decided to financially partner with them. We’ve had grown men crying to us and others telling us they just want to kiss us when we told them! Aaron opted for a hug and handshake. This is a very exciting time for all, considering the possibilities and growth that is ahead! When we came here in 2009 we really just had hearts to help however we could, but one thing we did not want to do was start something new and then leave, and whatever we started shrivel when we left, which unfortunately so often happens. Working with LSK and these other organizations have been an extraordinary blessing. The new relationships between the NPO’s and efforts will remain long after we leave South Africa, and we are thrilled.

Several weeks ago we had a board member from LSK come over and stay with us. We brought her around showing her the organizations here, those that are now partners with LSK as well as those who could be potential partners in the future. She was fun to have with us and it was great to show her firsthand what LSK is now a part of. Please pray for guidance for the board so that they may better increase funding and awareness of the needs in Lesideng.

A couple weeks ago we found that a friend of ours, who is 28, was recently diagnosed with HIV. She, her partner, and baby girl are all infected. However her two older children are not. Many people will not admit to having HIV/AIDS out of shame, and oddly enough it is easy to forget that many of our friends have the virus. But it still is so aching when we find out the news, despite it being so prevalent. We have found ourselves on numerous occasions teaching young children about the need to abstain for spiritual and health reasons because it is not uncommon to find a 13 year old or younger whose already had experience. This is just one of the huge feats the African people are faced with.

Isaac and Phillip are becoming more and more confident with their leadership abilities. These are the boys that are part of our Bible Study for kids, and they have a desire to teach the Bible. Every week I teach them the message for Lethabo Kids Club so they can be a leader and teacher to their own people in their own tongue. I still give the message at the first and second sessions, and then when they are out of school they give the message at the third session. Isaac recently has been coming on his recess to the tent to help at the second session. We are so PROUD of these boys! They have stepped up at their young age to take on authoritative roles, things in which we struggle to get the older teens and young adults to do. This past week we bought children’s Bible story books for them to start learning and preparing the stories themselves. We pray that their leadership and confidence and love of God continues to grow so that they can make a lasting impact on the children!

Two weeks ago, I learned that one of the ladies that was regularly attending the Ladies Bible study has decided to become a Sangoma (witch-doctor). She had not been at the study for a few weeks and I asked the ladies what was going on with her. They explained that she had been sick so she went to the Sangoma. It was explained to her that in order for her to get well, she had to become a witch-doctor. I don’t know if I will ever be able to fully express how sad and bizarre the traditions of the African culture are. It has been a huge psychological and emotional struggle for Aaron and me to try to assess and deal with. Many months back it was shown to me how to make these small rugs out of scrap fabrics and maize meal bags. They are lovely – Aaron and Xan want one! Hundreds of small strips of fabric are pulled through the plastic woven bags and knotted. I asked the Bible study ladies if this would be a project that they would like to do, and as we all work on the rug and tie each piece of fabric we’ll pray for the woman. They were all happy about the idea, so next week we will begin to make this “Prayer Rug” and give it to her as a gift and let her know that we love her and have been praying for her. Two of her boys our in our kids Bible study. I ask that you too pray for this woman and her family.

Our parents, Jerry and Terri Kobriger, came to visit us! We had them for almost 2 weeks and got to show them a bit of what we do. We have some friends here, Mike and Marie, that let us use their family lodge just outside of town. Their place is on a hilltop overlooking their 13,000 plus acres that has giraffe, zebra, and just about every kind of antelope. Aaron got to be our field guide driving us around in their safari truck. This was a treat for all of us. Jerry and Terri helped with Lethabo Kids Club, making and handing out sandwiches, and got to hear the kids sing! I was bitten by something the day before LKC, and was feeling horribly sick for one day and had no appetite for a few days. Aaron is sure it was a spider and is convinced I will give birth to one of the world’s greatest superheros, Spider-Man. Which we found out today, that it may have to be Spider-Woman, because the doctor now feels certain it’s a girl. Anyway, I was unable to give the message to the kids, so Aaron had to do it for the first time – while his parents got to be there. And not only did they get to see him teach the kids, but he at last minute was rearranged on the preaching schedule at church and so they got to see their son preach! He did a WONDERFUL job, teaching to “Know Your Enemy.” The message was regarding how believers need to know who Satan fully is and be able to recognize how he works in order to overcome his efforts to derail us. Just as God has a plan for us, so does Satan. Sun Tzu, a Chinese General and military strategist of the 6^th century B.C. and author of The Art of War stated in his book,“It is said that if you know your enemy and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemy but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemy nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” Well done, Sweetie! And then I had been asked to lead the prayer time that week, so it was a Kobriger Sunday! We’d hoped to get Jerry and Terri to do a dancing duet to make it a family event, but it didn’t pan out. Next time. In the past two weeks, while Aaron was preparing the message and then had given it, he has had two death threats by complete strangers; one man blatantly told him that he was going to call on Satan to kill him. Again, know your enemy.

We also brought our parents around to some of the other ministries and people we work with here and they got to learn and work with some of them themselves. Then for fun, we brought them on a safari day trip and they had a chance to get up close with rhino and lions, in addition to the 14 giraffe they walked among on our friends’ property. One morning Mike called and invited us on a wildebeest capture. 3 unique wildebeests escaped his fence and he had arranged a helicopter to come capture them. We all hopped in his trucks, waited for the chopper to come to the area the animals escaped to, and away we went. The vet went up in the helicopter, found the animals within minutes in the thick brush, and darted them. We hurried to come where they were and Aaron and his dad got to help carry them to the trailer and drive the wildebeests to the fence opening to get them back on the correct property. Terri and I didn’t really do anything but stand around taking a thousand pictures of all of the excitement. However for one brief moment I did hold the walkie-talkie, which I’m sure was the pivotal point of making the capture a success. The whole event was AMAZING. It felt like an undercover operation. The vet was hanging out of the chopper with his dart gun, the animals were darted and unconscious in minutes, people were running silently through the bush carrying the animals to the truck yelling, “Go, go, go!” to Aaron (the driver), and then the vet and pilot were climbing over the fence to pull the wildebeest through. They were darted again, and within seconds were up and running! People that have been born and raised in Africa have never had the opportunity to do something like this. Unforgettable. We are absolutely thrilled our parents got to see and do what they did.

On a different note, our renter decided to move out early, so we are now in need of a new renter. She moved out October 15. Thankfully we’d been saving some money for the past couple years to set aside to pay the mortgage if something like this happened while we were working over here. But we pray that we can find a good renter so that we can instead use that money for a nest to help us get back on our feet when we return. So if you know of anyone looking for a cute little 2 bedroom house in the rich and elegant city of Zion…

PRAYER: Please pray for LSK’s decisions regarding involvement in Lesideng, Leah (the woman now studying to be a Sangoma), more young leadership in the community, our safety, and a renter for our home (for at least the next 6 months).

Jerusha

For anyone who has not heard yet, Jerusha and I are going to have a baby!!! We found out on June 22 (Jerusha’s birthday) and went in for an ultrasound a few weeks later. Jerusha is now in her 15^th week and says that she can feel the baby starting to wiggle! We are SO excited!!! Her due date is February 23, 2011 so we will have the baby in South Africa. We told our families, who were excited, and now want us to come home, partly jokingly (especially Jerusha’s dad.) They immediately spread the word in the States. When Jerusha’s young nephew heard the news, he said to his mom, “Is the baby going to be black because it’s going to be born in Africa?” HAHAHAHA!!!! Seriously, you can not beat the innocence of a child!

We also celebrated our 6 year anniversary on August 14^th. That day, a local organization was giving a free tour of the Waterberg area (the area surrounding the small town we live in,) so we decided to go and see some of the local sights. It was a fun-filled day of visiting several traditional cultural areas and hiking. Some places were quite far away, and I realized that we would not have the gas to make it, so we rode in a minibus with some friends from church. We ended up driving home in the dark and hit the biggest, pure black cow I’ve ever seen. The driver saw it at the last second and slammed on his brakes. He had no choice but to barrel into it because of the ditch on either side of the road. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the minibus was totaled. We were very far from home and had no cell phone reception, so one of the guys we were riding with got a ride from the first car that stopped to higher ground. As three of the guys got out of the other vehicle to see the damage to ours, we noticed that they all had 40 oz. beers in their hands! We were very nice to them, but they really didn’t return the favor. They tried to pick a fight with me and one of our friends!! We de-escalated the situation and I asked, “Will the police give these guys a ticket or arrest them when they get here?” The answer, “No. Police here don’t care about drunk driving. Most of them are too corrupt anyways.” It’s no wonder South Africa has so many road fatalities. After a long time, the guy who made the phone call got back and said he called his brother to come pick us all up. All in all, we stood there for about an hour and a half before we finally got someone to pick us all up. Needless to say, it will be an anniversary we will never forget!

For the kid’s Bible study, I started a series on the Sermon on the Mount. This is one of the most well known, important sermons Jesus ever gave to His followers. We have found that the majority school kids are not taught the meaning of words, they are just told to memorize a sentence or fact. This makes statements like, “Blessed are the meek” nearly impossible for Leseding teenagers to understand. Some of the Bible study kids knew what “blessed” meant, but none of them knew what “meek” meant. I decided that I’m going to go through Matthew 5-7 line by line, word by word, so that there is no question as to what Jesus was telling the crowd. The kids are responding very well to the study, and are really trying to get a better grasp on how they are supposed to live their lives. Up until now, when I have asked them a question about God, their answers are always something like, “Do not sin,” or “You should love Jesus,” or “Lying is bad.” Now, these things are true, but when my question is, “When Jesus says, ‘Blessed are the meek,’ what does He mean?” those are not the right answers. My hope is to help them develop a better understanding of the Bible instead of just tell them, “Jesus loves you and you should love Him too.” Matthew 28:19 tells us to go out and make disciples of all the nations. Jerusha and I know that we are not the future of Africa, the kids in this Bible study are.

Our impact on kids has spread to the soup kitchen as well. Ever since we started working at the tent, we thought it would be best for a black person who lives in Leseding to give the message. It’s wonderful that Jerusha does it, but we’ve always thought it would be great for the kids to have a role model in their own community. For the past three weeks, we’ve had two young guys step up. Phillip (13) and Isaac (13) are kids whom Jerusha and I teach at Bible Study. Jerusha was able to teach and work with them to start giving the message at the soup kitchen. When they are out of school, she walks them through the lesson and teaches them carefully the message the children are to learn and how to present it to the children. Their willingness and excitement is a ray of sunshine in a dismal region. Two able, willing, leaders stepped up! On Wednesdays at the third session, when they are out of school, they get up in front of the crowd all by themselves and preach. Pride is not the word. I would imagine this is something like what a parent feels when their child shines. To watch Philip and Isaac lead the young kids in prayer and teach them about Jesus makes the hair on my arms stand up. They are becoming God’s hands and feet.

Our newest success story involves the non-profit LSK Inc. in Chicago. When they asked us to help them figure out how to move forward in Leseding and determine who their funding could go to, Jerusha came up with the idea of a distribution NPO. There are several non-profit organizations in the Leseding area that could greatly use more funding, so we put together a proposal for LSK Inc. to begin funding some of them, and overtime extend their efforts. This past week, we were told that they decided to go the route of a distribution NPO, and are going to “get their feet wet” by funding three local NPO’s, beginning in September. This is HUGE news! By becoming a distribution NPO, LSK Inc. will be able to fund ministries that are already established and have a vision to help Leseding. We know that this is going to take a lot of work on our end, but the faster we get everything set up, the more seamless the transition will be when we leave. AND, we’ve developed such good relationships with the NPO’s here, that it’s cool for us to know that we were a part of getting more funding for people we’ve come to love. This is an exciting time for everyone!

Unfortunately, not everything has been flawless for us recently. Over the past two months we have had to pay about $800 for our car to get fixed, largely due to improper parts being used by mechanics that eventually caused more damage. It seems that good mechanics are hard to come by and do the job correctly (yet ANOTHER reason I miss my dad) and we are paying the price. Thankfully we found a auto shop that was able to take care of our car and fix it. We also just found out that our renter is going to be moving out of our house in the States several months early, so we are going to have to find a renter from the other side of the world. Luckily, my level-headed wife believes it will be o.k., because I would be freaking out right now if it weren’t for her. The thing is, Satan has thrown some huge wrenches in our gears since we’ve gotten here – but Jerusha and I are prayerful, persistent, and stubborn! More importantly, God is faithful.

Please pray for us to find a good tenant quickly, as well as praying that we no longer have car troubles as it is heavy on our budget. And continue to pray for the children here that we are working with, that more leaders would step up and be discipled.

Thank you for your support – prayers and money! It has been a HUGE help as unexpected expenses and struggles have come up.

Aaron

As we’re nearing the halfway point of our time in South Africa, we’re realizing that this this country is now in our blood. We have had some really great experiences and made relationships that will last forever. Our hope is that we will have the same lasting impact on the people of Lesideng, and Vaalwater as a whole.

Our time has been a little less hectic over the past few weeks, but somehow we are accomplishing more. We still have the sponsored families working in various places, but the focus has become the Bushveld Mission for the time being. LSK Inc.’s workers have been building a prayer garden for them where the kids who stay at the children’s home can play, pray, and have alone time with God. David and Lizette, the couple who run the organization, are two of the most humble, loving people you can imagine, and really have hearts to help Lesideng in a big way. Just yesterday, David was telling us that when he dies and goes to heaven he feels that he will be of no use anymore. He says that all he’ll be doing is sitting around worshiping the Lord, which he knows will be great, but he could be on this earth spreading God’s love and compassion. Jerusha and I know that what they are doing will make a lasting difference in this community, and are grateful that we can be a part of helping further their vision of how to provide for children.

We’ve begun a series with the kids’ Bible Study on the 10 Commandments. All of the children, ages 12 to 16 approximately, hadn’t ever heard of the 10 Commandments, so we are hoping that the kids can get to the point that they can recite all 10 from memory. About three weeks ago we took the kids and explained each commandment to them in a way they could understand. For example, when God says, “You shall worship no other God before me,” that means that worshiping ancestors (the most common religious practice in Africa) is wrong… You ONLY worship God. I was really excited because they all understood what I was saying! Even though I may have a good interpreter, many times communication and understanding is difficult because what we have in the English language, they may not have in their native Sotho language. Even further, they may not have the concepts in their culture altogether. So breaking ideas and language down to its simplest form can be a task in itself. It has been a point of growth for both the kids and us. I had the kids from the week before individually tell me what they remembered from the previous week, and half of them were able to tell me 6 of the 10 commandments from memory! I’m thrilled to have gotten such a great response so quickly to the Bible study, and can tell the kids are eager to learn.

The kids from the Bible study have also become quite influential in Lethabo Kid’s Club (previously known as the soup kitchen). Jerusha has them put on “dramas” for the little ones who hear the message each week. The first week they did a drama, they reenacted the Bible story that Jerusha told the week before about mercy and forgiveness.  It was the story about the king who forgave his servant’s huge debt, but then the servant did not show the same mercy on someone who owed him very little, and had the man thrown in prison. As soon as Jerusha realized that they were acting out that story, she got a huge smile on her face and knew that her efforts at the soup kitchen have been sticking in the minds of the kids. It’s amazing to think about: 800 to 1,000 kids come to hear the message and get PB&J each Wednesday, and they hang on the words Jerusha is saying! She is advancing the Kingdom of God in ways that we will probably not see in the little time we have left here, but I know that she is planting seeds that will sprout into towering trees in the future.

This past week, we were scheduled to meet up with Simon in Pretoria to purchase items for his micro-loan. We went there early in the morning knowing there is a big mall there. We don’t get many opportunities to visit a city, so we took advantage. We aimlessly walked the mall, just happy to be back in the closest thing to American civilization.  Then we realized, “There’s a McDonald’s here!” AND they had a lunch special! We had McDonald’s for the first time in over 7 months, and we were in heaven! So much so, that we had McDonald’s for dinner as well. It was really nice to get a break and go in to the city for a couple of hours, especially since we know that it probably won’t happen again for several months.

In addition to Simon’s micro-loan, we are preparing another micro-loan for a young woman in Lesideng. She is going to be doing a traveling bakery, selling goods out of baskets on her new bicycle. The trick is to find recipes that are cheap enough to bake and still make a profit, and items that she can make on limited resources. The bicycle is part of the micro-loan which will not only help here sell her items, but also help her get around town and make it easier for her to collect water for her home. She is thrilled for the opportunity and we can’t wait to get her started!

This past Friday we went out to The Fold SA Children’s Home to celebrate with Micky and Paul Prince and friends. They are about a month away from opening their doors. The building looks great – warm and inviting!  They are now in search of house parents and the first children to call The Fold “home”.  They are very excited, and we are too for them. Please keep them in prayer as they search for native people of good Christian character to raise the first family.

I’m preparing to give my second sermon at St. John the Baptist Church and am thrilled to have been asked to give another one. I will be preaching on August 8th, so please keep me in your prayers.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

Aaron

We’ve had an incredible past few weeks. Memorable, to say the least.

About three weeks ago, we arranged for about 11 women from Lesideng to meet at the Lethabo Kids Club tent to continue working on a project they’d begun. While they were working, Aaron and I went out to The Fold Children’s Home SA to help do work. After we were done working, we came back in town to meet the women at the tent. Some of the ladies were clearly panicking and in the best English they could cried, “Jacob. Finger. Off.” Jacob is a 7 year old boy, whom we LOVE. Come to find out, they were trying to get a hold of us since 1pm. But since we were at The Fold, we were out of phone reception. Apparently some of the ladies’ kids had been playing in the tent, which is full of wooden and iron benches for the children, and Jacobs finger got caught underneath an iron leg. He quickly tried to pull it out, but instead it badly hurt his middle finger. Jacob was nowhere to be found. We drove to his house trying to find him and then to the local clinic. Standing in front of the building was Jacob and his dad, Amos. His hand was all bandaged up. Amos was very confused and seemed to not know what was going on. We went in to speak with a worker and she explained that Jacob needs to go to a hospital because they aren’t equipped to take care of it. She said he needs a special type of splint and care. They had been waiting since 1pm for an ambulance to drive them to the Nylstroom hospital, about an hour away. It was now 5pm. We decided to bring them since they were going to need a ride home anyway. We were extremely nervous to drive at night, people here try to avoid it at all costs. The roads are very bad, dark, and narrow, many drive without licenses, people excessively pass while there’s oncoming traffic, and Kudu tend to jump in the road. Nervous is actually an understatement. But away we went. Praying. I can’t explain to you how frightening this hospital is. The x-ray filing system is a cardboard box on the floor next to the garbage bin cardboard box. The medical files were in open-sided folder which were all thrown into a box hanging on the wall, papers falling out of files and into others – papers all mixed together. It was now about 6:30pm and no doctor was on the location. Amos tried to get Jacob checked in but the previous on duty receptionist pulled out all of the plugs on the computer to shut it down, instead of just pressing the button. So the computers weren’t working, thus we couldn’t get checked in. Finally a nice man came to help us and brought Jacob in the emergency facility. Aaron and I explained what happened. Jacob was quietly sitting on the hospital bed as the man gently unravelled the bandage. (As you read on, try to envision this situation, our facial expressions, our conversation.) Aaron and I are standing on both sides of Jacob. The man looks at his finger and raises his eyebrows with a gagging look. “Eesh. Wow. That’s bad. Not good. Eesh,” is his response. “Yah, we’re going to have to chop that off. Wow.” In utter confusion, Aaron and I looked at each other. Blank faces. And then looked at him. “Excuse me? Pardon?” OUR eyebrows were now raised. “Chop? What do you mean chop?” we asked. “Yah, we’re just going to have to amputate his finger. No big deal. We’ll just cut off below the first knuckle, not a problem,” he replied. For moment Aaron and I looked at each other again and were dumbfounded. D.U.MB.F.O.U.N.D.E.D. “You mean like amputate? You’re saying you want to chop his finger off? You mean like OFF-off? Like his finger is no longer there? His hands here and his finger is here? As we’re both asking these redundant questions in a slight tone of panic, Aaron’s actioning with his hands, chopping a finger off, trying to also non-verbally ask the medical worker if amputate is really what he meant. The man very matter of factly said, “It’s no big deal. The kid knows and is fine with it. See?” We all look down at Jacob, who is sitting frozen staring straight ahead, expressionless. “DO NOT CHOP OFF HIS FINGER!” We repeatedly stated. We left Jacob behind the curtain while Aaron went to see how the computers were coming and I made a phone call. I called our good friend Joy, who in no way has any authority on medical care, but she works at a facility where doctors work, so I suppose I’ve endowed her with medical knowledge simply by her proximity to doctors. I explained to her what happened and that his finger was badly severed, you could essentially slide the end third of his finger clear off his bone. I explained, “They want to chop it off. Um. We don’t DO that in America. We sew it up. What do we do?” She then made some calls and called me back to tell me to not let them amputate. We stressed this to the doctor, once he arrived at the hospital. Aaron had gone to the waiting area while I stayed with Jacob. After a while I went to check on Aaron. I walked around the halls, checked the rooms, and walked outside trying to find him. Nowhere to be found. I was incredibly frustrated. As I turned around in the hallway and looked up, straight ahead was Aaron behind the Plexiglas in the receptionist office, sitting at the computer vigorously waving at me with an exaggerated smile. The office staff was all standing behind him watching, while he fixed the computer system so that people could be checked into the hospital – this was an hour after being there. I stood there with a grin (and several sarcastic jokes in my head). We were just happy that Jacob went home with all five fingers on his hand (side note: He already has 2 toes amputated.) Just before we were leaving, Aaron told me that if he ever gets hurt and there is a 20% chance that he will die if he does not go to this hospital, chance it and drive the 3 hours to Johannesburg to a proper hospital. And I know he means it.

We’ve been keeping extremely busy with the sponsored families. We have people helping at The Fold, Maglad Daycare, and The Bushveld Mission to earn their sponsorship. We also have several of the women doing different skills/craft projects, one of which is making small rugs out of scrap fabric and maize meal bags (large plastic bags that are woven like burlap). They mixed fabric, colors, and textures to create decorative rugs for their homes. They’ve been working on these for about a week and just finished. They were so excited. Our next task is for them to learn basic basket weaving. I met a man in Lesideng from Mozambique that is going to come and teach them.

Stu’s funeral was absolutely beautiful. It was purposely delayed until Marilyn was out of the hospital and could attend. The family decided to have him buried at St. Johns, in the small graveyard beside the thatch roof church. A few family members and friends spoke, one of which was Aaron. He did a great job – it was moving. After the service, we all quietly walked outside to the graveyard as a group of Africans sang songs in Sotho. The casket was carefully lowered into the ground followed by the sons and grandson taking turns to shovel dirt into the hole. The tradition here is then for the close friends and family (male) to line up to take turns to bury their loved one. Aaron literally helped bury our friend. We all stood there watching man after man passing the shovel, listening to the metal and dirt scrape against each other and then pound on the hollow wood, all while the Africans sang in the background. The sights and sounds were poetic. Beautiful.

We met a hitchhiker. A professional hitchhiker with elephant pants (her attire when I met her – tiny elephants all over her pants). Sonja Kruse. She is a 35 year old, red-headed native South African who had a dream to hitchhike across the country, staying with whoever would open their homes, and then write about it. She is journaling her experience in order to write a book, a love letter, to her country, showing people that there is love here. Love across religions, across ethnicities, across social classes, across ways of thought. She has slept in shantytowns with the rats, in racist communities/households, with Christians, Muslims, Atheists, an in millionaires homes to name a few. One of the places that took her in was The Fold, which is where we met her. I got to sit down with her and discuss her journey. Intriguing to say the least. She had been on the road for over 200 days and plans to do it for a year. I offered for her to watch the World Cup opening ceremonies with us and some friends, which she accepted and stayed in our home that night. We were the 104 or 105 family she’s stayed with. What an adventure! She was a delight!

I celebrated my 26^th birthday! It was a fantastic day – week really. Our friend Xan asked us if we could help transport his soccer team to a lodge to go on a safari and horseback safari for two afternoons. It was amazing. We got to ride up to giraffes and rhinos and antelope. We all then had kudu for dinner and watched a good but heartbreaking Bafana Bafana soccer game. To end the night, the team sang me a birthday song in Sotho wishing me to live as old as an elephant! A song I may just bring back to the states.  To top the week off, Xan got us and the entire soccer team free tickets to a World Cup game! We just had to help with transport again. Italy vs. Slovakia. It was too cool!

We’re looking forward to this coming week. It’s the last week of the World Cup and we’re having a big party for the kids in Lesideng. Can’t wait!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Marilyn is doing much better now. She has been out of the hospital for about 2 weeks and is staying at her daughter and son-in-law’s house in Johannesburg. She is still pretty banged up, and has some difficulty with pain in her sides and chest from all of the broken bones, but she is getting better every day. Stu’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday June 12^th, so please keep all of us, especially the family, in your prayers that day. It’s going to be a tough one.

After the accident, the Cook family asked me and Jerusha to stay on Marilyn and Stu’s farm to look after everything while Marilyn is recovering. They live in a beautiful thatched roof house about a half hour out of town that was designed Stu. Staying there brought us comfort when we needed it, but was also pretty tough at first. Being around all of Stu and Marilyn’s belongings, especially sitting in Stu’s chair at his desk, took a little getting used to, but Jerusha and I are thankful that we could help the family out during a very difficult time.

With Marilyn being gone, that left Jerusha and I to take over Lethabo Kids Club (soup kitchen) and the women’s Bible study. Each week for the last month, we have organized all of the logistics from who is going to help make 95 loaves of sandwiches, to who is going to interpret the message that Jerusha gives at the tent into Sotho. Thankfully, a few people who are close to Marilyn have been willing to jump in and help us. We hold the first two feedings on Wednesday mornings, then, between the second and third feedings, Jerusha holds the women’s Bible study. This gives me just enough time to get to the butchery and pick up any extra milk that we need for the last soup kitchen. Kids get out of school in Lesideng at about 2:00, so we hold the last soup kitchen at 2:30. The tent is usually packed, and the sound of the children singing songs to Jesus is deafening. By time the insanity is done, we have just enough time to go home, shower, relax for about a half hour, and then head to our Wednesday night Bible study. South Africa may be a very slow paced country, but Jerusha and I have brought a little fast paced America here!

We have also teamed up with a Chicago based organization called Lesideng Soup Kitchen Inc. It was through this organization that we learned of Lesideng. LSK Inc. has been sending funds to Lesideng for years, and have decided to revamp the way the organization is run. They approached us, asking if we would be willing to help them restructure so that they can find ways to encourage the people of the community to become more self-reliant. We have taken over the South African side of the organization entirely, and are now looking for the best way for them to move forward.

The main aspect of LSK Inc. that we have focused on is the Families in Need (FIN) program. Previously, the program was set up in a way that did not require any effort on the part of the families to receive their money. This was not sustainable, nor did it promote industriousness around the community. Jerusha and I have been finding work for the people to do as a way of earning what they receive. We have several men who have earned their money by working at a children’s home, and Jerusha has taken on finding work for many of the women. So far, there are 10 women who are sewing, doing beadwork, making rugs, and other craftwork to earn the money that they receive. Last week, we were at one women’s house whose husband told us that she wants to continue doing this work for as long as she can. She used to sit at her house and do nothing all day, now she has something to look forward to in the morning. It has been great to see the change in attitudes, as well as families being able to support themselves with money that they have earned.

We have been very busy over the past month, and are very grateful for the opportunities that are now in front of us. During our down time, we have made friends with our neighbors, Xan and Joy. We are like four peas in a pod! I don’t know how many peas come in a pod, but if there are four, that’s us! We have spent many hours at their house eating dinner, watching TV, and laughing. They are great, and have become friends that we truly cherish. We already have plans to celebrate all of the major holidays together, including Thanksgiving, which isn’t even a South African holiday!

Last Friday, we brought four boys from Lesideng to the hostel where Xan’s soccer team lives for a fun night. We did this because Xan is mentoring his team to be Godly, respectful men, and we wanted the boys to see what real men should be like. It is not uncommon for fathers in this area to either be completely absent, or alcoholics and abusive toward their families. Boys from the township need to see that there are men from Lesideng that are worth admiring, and the soccer team is the epitome of that. Everyone had a great time. Our four young friends cooked a meal with Jerusha for everyone. They were hilarious! One boy, Philip, was chopping onions for about 20 minutes and was crying so bad he had to leave the room every 30 seconds. He insisted on finishing the job though because it was his mission! I think they were just trying to impress the team and show them that they are men too. It was awesome to see the way the boys looked up to them. It was better when they all told us that they wanted to do it again because they really like Xan’s team.

It is very apparent to us that God has brought us here, and we are so thankful to everyone who has supported us throughout the last 7 months. We could not be here without all of you!

Aaron

We found out early last week that the third passenger in the white truck also died.  Marilyn is the only survivor of the 5 people involved in the accident.

Marilyn is healing.  Late last week she was moved from ICU to the High Care Facility.  Since then she has been moved to the standard care.  We got to visit her in Johannesburg this past weekend, after Stu’s Memorial.  She was beautiful, as always, and in good spirits.  The doctors discovered recently that she also broke her sternum, in addition to the 11 ribs on one side and 9 ribs on the other.  Though she is getting better, it seems as though the doctors have been continually finding more that has been injured.  The hospital she was originally brought to, only 5 ribs were thought to have been broken.  Doctors at another hospital then found more ribs had broke.  And later found that her lungs had been punctured.  And so on.  Nevertheless, she’s improving!  Thank you so much for your prayers.  We, Marilyn, and the family are very grateful.  Thank you.

Stu’s Funeral is planned for June 12. We really miss him.

To donate to Marilyn’s hospital bills, please visit the Cooks website: www.mission2sa.org for details and updates on her condition.

Again, thank you for supporting us and praying for us.  We have needed all of it!

Talk to you soon.