Hello! The seasons
are changing again here as we go into Spring in South Africa, and I’m thankful
for it. These last couple of months
have felt really quite hard if I’m honest, I’ve felt very tired a lot of the
time and struggled to keep up my energy levels to meet the needs of all the
children. We’ve had a lot less volunteers on base than normal (at times only 6
when often it can easily be 15 or so) and so had little time to rest. An amazing friend of mine blessed me with
financial provision to go to a country hotel for 4 days, it was honestly
incredible. I slept most of the time and spent precious time with Jesus. I felt
like He gave me a new perspective, and honestly in coming back it feels like I’m
breathing again. He helped me to see that all the things I do everyday, whether
it is feeding our 50 chickens, 20 rabbits, playing with kids, teaching, reading
stories etc, please His heart, and if my aim is to please Him always (2
Corinthians 5 v 9) then I will feel His pleasure in it. I also realised I was
putting way too much pressure on myself, we do that so easily don’t we? Once I
changed how I viewed my day from a long list of things “to do” to seeing His
heart in it and enjoying the life He has blessed me with, I got my joy back. I
wanted to be “real” in writing this in the hope that it may encourage you too
if you find yourself in a similar struggle. It may be a hard season just now,
but after the night comes the morning, just hold on and trust Him in it.
So Footprints life
continues to be full of surprises and fun: Recently our boys found a snake –
they pulled it out by the tail (don’t even get me started), put it in a box,
and then called everyone to gather round whilst they did a snake show!
One night I found a big spider
on my bed, unable to tell if it was a venomous one or not I’m afraid it met its
untimely end with my boot and a big bottle of “Doom” (bug spray!)
It's at times like these that I definitely know
I’m living in Africa!!
Hospital update: Two weeks
ago my friend Jackie and I were in the Tuberculosis ward praying for the
ladies. We had just left and were walking away from the isolation wards when a
male nurse came chasing after us. He asked us what organisation we were with,
to which I replied “we follow Jesus” and then he said, please come and pray for
my patients, they are very sick. We followed him into the Men’s TB ward, and
sure enough there were 3 gentleman who were very ill indeed. We spoke life and
prayed over them, two of them were unconscious. One man, named Sepo had his
blanket pulled over his head, but he was conscious. He was emaciated, had open
sores and skin literally peeling off his face. The nurse told us that Sepo used
to also pray for people in hospital. We prayed for his healing and that He
would know the peace that only Jesus can bring, and he uttered just one word
“Hallelujah”. That one word really spoke to me, here was a gentleman,
clearly suffering and yet the word he
spoke was to give praise and glory to God, knowing that our bodies may fade
away but he is loved by the King of Kings and will be for all eternity. He was
dying yes, but he knew the secret, that true life is found in Jesus.
Keep praying for the TB wards – they are emptying, I know
this sounds incredulous, but the last few times we have been there there have
been so many empty beds, the nurse’s answer:
“God has healed them”. Yay Jesus!
At Munsieville: My heart for the people of Munsieville (the
white squatter camp) continues to grow. I love those people so much and I love
how God is transforming their lives and giving them identity. In the last few
weeks we’ve been super blessed to have the Harvest school teams (32 people from
nations across the world) come from Pemba in Mozambique full of the fire of God
and with His heart to help all they can. They stayed for 3 days in Munzieville
and poured out God’s love in so many ways. One of my friends there, Nelly, a
single Mum, had not had a door on her shack for 2 weeks, which is neither safe
nor practical in sheltering her and her child from the cold at night. I was
with a team of 3 guys who fixed her door in less than half an hour. Nelly was
so happy and relieved. We’ve also been able to give another lady an extra room
in her house so her grandson can come to live with her (he is currently in an
orphanage). Love really does look like something, and I love seeing the changes
in my friends in Munsieville as they begin to realise they are not forgotten,
that they have a purpose and a calling in life and that they are very loved.
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| Fixing the door |
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| Munsieville kids having fun with their cart with the team |
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| Praying for a friend
Thank you so much to everyone who
prayed for more volunteers to come and help us here at Footprints... I think we
have over 20 people here just now including a family where husband and wife are
both GPs. We are very excited about this because they are here to get our
mobile medical clinic up and running (a caravan that has been equipped with
medical supplies) to take into the local townships to help all those who cannot
afford to see a doctor. God’s provision is wonderful and I’m excited to see
what this new season holds.
Thank you so much for your support and your prayers, it
means the world. Please let me know how you are and send me your news.
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- - For Pastor Yolanda (the children’s Mom) who is currently out in Sierra Leone helping as part of a relief team after the mudslide disaster
- - For my friends Mark and Tashi who have been trying to adopt their daughter Hope for four years (she is in my preschool class) , they found out their social worker is corrupt and they have to pay an immense sum of money and restart the process
- - For health here at Footprints – for the past two weeks almost every adult and child has been ill at some time with either the flu (the real version) or a tummy bug, and we are still fighting it (I currently have the flu but I’m on the mend)
- - For the mobile medical clinic – that it will be well received and God will lead us to the places where it is needed the most
