News from the Moore Family in Bali

...and The Summer Never Ends

A lot has happened since you've heard from us, and for that I apologize. This will be a attempt to put it all in a nutshell.

Christmas was a bit strange so far from all people and things familiar. We learned that the idea of baking and hot beverages are not quite as appealing when you have sweat running down your back. It was very touching to receive so many cards and care packages...we felt very loved!

Two days after Christmas...we moved! Our new place is much closer to the kids' school and out from the city...truly a Godsend, and we are so thankful. We are able to close the bedrooms and sleep in air conditioning, but the rest of the house is very open. This is great for breezes, but please pray against mosquitos.

For half of January, we were without our car. This was quite challenging, especially in the rain, but we were able to make two motorbikes work!  We came away from the experience very thankful, and feeling more Indonesian (most Indonesian families primarily use motorbikes...many do not have the option of using a car). 
 

Silas just celebrated his ninth birthday! All of the children are doing great and making lots of friends. The photo above is of Biggi and her friend, Tatiana, at a birthday party. It is sometimes difficult to realize that many of their friends are not believers. Please pray for their friendships and that The Lord will use them for His good purpose.

Our family is still on a forming (not yet complete) team, and are getting a lot closer to realizing our practical purpose here. Perhaps next month I will be able to tell you more about it!  Right now, our primary focus is still on language learning. It is a bit challenging, and we will have a second year of language classes in our future. Please pray for grace in understanding Indonesian grammar!

I am finding comfort lately in these words from the Apostle Paul:

Romans 8: 38 & 39:

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  

I will leave these with you in closing. Thank you so much for your continued patience and prayers. We love you and miss you!

Blessings!
Luke, Julie, Norine, Silas, Biggi, & Lucy

Update from the Storms

We are taking a group of 11 people to an oasis town many hours drive into the deserts of the Middle East.

This town is the centre of a desert region where some 3,0000 people represent a particular people group without any known followers of Jesus and no church in its history ever.  It is a priviledge to spend a week among these people to pray, to worship and to seek to have some faith based conversations.  Our group will comprise 4 Arabs, 1 Namibian, 1 South-African and some Brits.  Exciting!

 

 

The Bedouin's are an extremely hospitable people!  This March we will be taking two small groups of men trekking in the Middle East for a week.

We are working alongside an existing mission worker.  We will trek about 100kms on each team, not knowing where we will stay and who we will meet, but going with the prayer to meet men/families of peace that we can stay with, share a little bit of life with and our faith stories with.  There are very few followers of Jesus amongst the Bedouin, join us in asking the Lord for an expression of church to rise up among the Bedouin!

We Exist from the Unlimited

We Exist from the Unlimited


We set limits on ourselves
and we belittle each other,
yet we live in communion
with the Unlimited.

We doubt ourselves
and devalue one another,
but we go under the gaze
of Goodness.

We divide ourselves,
we confront each other,
yet we receive life
from the One.

We classify ourselves
as perfect or misshapen,
but are all indwelt
by Beauty.

We fear our darkness,
we hide ourselves,
yet we are enlightened
by Truth

Who could
place limits
on God's love
for us?

Who could put
limits on us
if only we could dwell in the
love of God?

Author Unknown

Soul Action South Africa

Literacy - Next Steps

"Having a good quality education is essential in order to break free from a cycle of poverty. We believe the next step for Soul Action is to partner with the department of Education in order to train and support teachers to teach basic phonic skills. Our aim is to pilot this in one community with six schools during 2014 and 2015. By partnering with local projects, schools and the Department of Education, we believe that we're giving children the opportunity to develop into the people that God intended them to be."
(shared by Rachel during their UK visit last year.)

 

 

Just a few days after returning from the UK in mid-July, Phil & I were facilitating training. At one point Phil asked everyone to get into pairs & to listen to God for how He ‘delights’ & what He ‘sees’ / ‘sings’ about the other person. I partnered with Tami, who amongst other things, felt God gave her a picture of a stage door and steps leading to the stage. She felt God was saying:

"The prep and rehearsals are over; you are ready and about to step on to your stage"

– although Tami didn’t know what was going on in my life, I knew straight away this was about literacy! Recently, I was reminded how the literacy project had begun with 20 children meeting in a hut in a township. After five years of seeing 1,000’s of children benefit daily, refining our approach, and training a team of local ladies to facilitate the program, I knew it was time for the next step. It is time to take what has been learnt in the past five years, plus my experience of teaching in the UK, and to start to work directly with teachers. Tami’s (God’s) words were confirmation.

 2009 - in a hut

 

 2010 - Community Award

 

 2012 - Citywide Education Stream

 

2013 - 1450 children

 

 2014 - teacher training

By late July, the Department of Education & 6 new schools were on board; all we needed was the funding! During the second half of 2013 I worked with rotary clubs in Durban and our hometown of Stoke-on-Trent to try to secure funding to enable this to happen. It was a relatively easy process for me, as most of the work was done by key people from the two rotary clubs. All I had to do was provide the info they needed for the application. I am deeply appreciative for the amount of effort they put in.

On 6th Dec, which is the last day of the school year in South Africa, we received an email to say the funding had been approved – you can imagine the celebrations that took place! Over the next year, we’ll be working closely with 17 Grade 2 teachers and six Heads of Department from six schools, facilitating workshops, providing support in the classroom context and organising drop-in sessions; all with the aim of empowering the teachers to facilitate phonic lessons for the children in their care. The first workshop took place this week & all the resources are ready to be delivered – more about this in our next newsletter.

Literacy Ladies

To facilitate the literacy project in one of the community’s we work in, I (Rach) train, mentor and support four local ladies, who in turn work with 950 children to develop phonic skills in order to read and write in English.

Although their economic backgrounds means the ladies face many challenges, their roles on the literacy project has meant that they are all now training to be teachers; studying with an organisation called UNISA (similar to The Open University). The ladies teach literacy in the mornings, and use their afternoons to study. They’ve shown great perseverance, but still need support in achieving their goals.

So, at the start of the year, I made space for each lady to consider their goals for the year. They all knew what they wanted to aim for instantly, but then needed much more time to discuss and consider what they would actually need to do, i.e. the steps they needed to take, or what would be useful to put in place, in order to achieve their goals.

During the year ahead we will refer back to these goals, to reflect and evaluate where they are up to, and to think about any changes they want to make.

As part of their degree, each lady has to spend one month a year on teaching practice in a local school. In August of last year, Ntombi went through her first teaching practice. You can imagine my delight when she told me in Jan that she passed with 92%. I am so very proud of her!!!

Ntombi is developing into a gifted teacher.

 

PRAY FOR:

 

Finances to enable the ladies to continue to study

Home environments that remain stable and secure

Growing confidence in themselves & in the classroom



 

In December Phil & I had the privilege of attending Zac’s High School awards ceremony. Its a special occasion for parents, and one that we’d like to share with our family & friends who weren’t there, but who invest time, energy and prayer into us as a family as well as our ‘work’ life. Those who know Zac – in person or through articles he’s written over the past 6 yrs – know he’s a smart boy and a hard worker, but Phil and I were absolutely delighted by his 83% average for his first year at his new High School. Currently he wants to go into music production – the same week he was awarded Academic Colours, he passed his DJ exam with 100%. In January Zac began studying for iGCSE’s. Before we know it, he’ll be choosing his A Levels!

As well as high marks for his favoured subjects, it pleased us that he scored in the 70’s in some of his weaker subjects, incl. Afrikaans, which isn’t easy, when most of his peers have family members who will speak it.

PRAY FOR:

 Zac, as he settles into his second year subjects

Rachel, as she home schools Zac in Business Studies

Phil, who tries his best to help Zac with his Afrikaans

 



 



Newsletter from David and Corne Storm

Storm News

January 2014

 

 

Faith In Action

 

In 1998 I remember writing a wee article for the newsletter of the Link Church, Dunfermline. It was about putting "Faith in Action", about doubt and risk and having the courage to leave what is comfortable. The occasion was my first mission trip with MAF to Uganda. Now 16 years later, almost 4 years of which have been spent overseas on short term trips, I find myself thinking along the same lines. The passage of having doubt - to having the courage to risk - to encountering belief is crucial to the continuing development of my faith and walk with God. Yes, the doubts and challenges are different, and there is much to look back on and testify to what has been overcome, all this leading to a growing and maturing faith in God. However, courage to take risks in the face of doubt and the unknown is still something that I am deeply challenged by. But for me, this is where life is found, an understanding of who I am developed and a greater depth in God discovered. We simply need to give God this opportunity!

 

 

2014 is looking busy and there are many journeys to prepare for.

 

 

22nd Feb - 3rd March: Egypt

Corne and Anneli are coming too!

A team of six, three of which I hope to see leading similar trips to the Middle East in the near future. So this trip will have an emphasis on training potential trip leaders. We will spend time in two separate locations. During the few days we will spend in our second location we will be asking in prayer whether there is a part of us to play via short term mission trips in the mobilisation of the Egyptian church into cross cultural mission. Join us in this prayer!

 

8th - 17th March and 23rd March - 1st April: Jordan

Corne and Anneli are coming too! They will stay with a friend and her two little girls.

Two separate teams of four men. We have an exciting and adventurous opportunity to work alongside a pioneering missionary. Way off the beaten track, we will trek 100km over five days between villages, staying with local people, purposefully looking to build friendships for future visits. Our prayer will be for a 'man of peace' as in Luke 10. Join with us in our prayer for this wonderful people! We anticipate that the Lord will open significant doors for us!

 

Friends from China and America will join the second of these trips, with the purpose being to recruit Chinese and Americans for similar style journeys to the Middle East in the near future. Again this is a big prayer, join us in asking the Lord for what is yet to happen!

 

Other Journeys Planned for 2014

 

2nd May - 5th June: Morocco. Five people.

 

July and August: Overland... Morocco and Western Sahara

 

October: Morocco High Atlas mountain trek for 8 days

 

November: Northern India for 3 weeks.

 

More info on these in the nest Storm News... If you are, or you know of anyone, who might be interested in going on one of these journeys/trips this year, please get in touch! There are spaces left! What are YOU asking the Lord for...to Disturb you about in this year?

 



 

Thank you for your ongoing interest, love and support. We appreciate you!

 

(This newsletter has been edited to remove sensitive information which cannot be shared publicly. If you would like to receive the Storm's newsletters by email, contact the church office for more information.)