I am reclining on a plush leather couch in the Nunley's new beach house overlooking Hout Bay with a stomache full of delicous fish and chips.  The Ocean breeze is refreshing and life is good as my clothes are being washed by a washing machine for the first time in 2 months.  Having electrity is nice too and I can't but think that I am learning how to be content in times of "plenty" and times of need as Paul wrote about in Phillipians 4. 

The first quarter of 2011 is in the books and the Mavhuza JAM team has joined the rest of JAM in Cape Town.  Tomorrow the whole of  JAM team will be splitting up to reach out in two different communities of South Africa and I am excited to go minister in a different part of the country.  We will continue to pour into young leaders in the towns of Kouvokaveld and Fosberg sharing the vision of the Kingdom of God and making disciples through the word of God and the teachings of Jesus.  It's nice to rejoin the team in Cape Town.  I am encouraged by my brother's and sister's faith expressed in love.

Two days ago, while I was still in Mavhuza, I had a meal with a man by the name of Artiwell.  Artiwell's was raised in Zimbobwe by his mother because his father (who is from Mozambique) died in a war when he was 7 years old.  He walked close to 500 miles to South Africa risking being eaten by lions and lepards in hopes for a better life.  Today he acts as a security gaurd for the little shop in Mavhuza.  As a former military man and martial arts specialist you don't want to mess with this man. His hands are like rocks from all the pushups he does on his nuckles.  Our relationship began with Artiwell giving me 4 fish out of the goodness of his heart.  He is a talented fisherman and fishes at the resovior just a few miles away with a net to make a little extra money.  After catching the fish he then makes deliveries on his bike when local villagers call and make orders. 

Artiwell explained how to prepare the fish and I asked him if he would show me.  So he taught me how to prepare the fish using a tomato, onion, oil and seasoning salt.  While the fish was cooking Artiwell shared his testimony with me.  We was stabbed in the stomache and should have died but was spared by God.  Now he believes in the God of the bible alone.  He confessed to me that he struggles with smoking and drinking pleading that his life has been hard and that he is poor.  Then he went and grabbed his miniature bible and read Romans 7 to me claiming that it's not him who does these things but the sin that's inside him.  Following Romans 7 he had me read Ephesians 4 and got excited as I read that there was one God and one faith.  Artiwell doesn't believe in ancestoral worship or sacrifice.  I have a feeling that we're going to spend more time in the word together and I'm excited to see what God does.  On a side note he is an incredible artist.  As I spoke to him and experienced the love and joy that came out of his mouth I thought of Jesus' teaching that it's not what goes into a man that makes him unclean but what comes out of his mouth from his heart.  I continue to be amazed at how hungry the village of mavhuza is for the word of God. 

Thank you for your prayers and support! 

Dave

The Chief!

About a month ago the Chief of Ndengeza came over for lunch with his daughter.  He is a personal friend of JAM and it was his first visit to the mission station which is located on the land that he gave to JAM(Mavhuza).  The chief was amazed at how beautiful the mountain was and said that he wanted to build his own house next to us so we could be neighbors.  Jokingly with a chuckle he claimed that we robbed him.  It was great spending time with him.  He is a rare Christian tribal chief and has rejected many of the traditions of his tribe.  His American name is Daniel and as a little boy he was led to Christ through an amazing women by the name of Laura Waite from Illinios.  The Chief refers to Ms. Waite as his spiritual mother and his love for her is quite evident.  Laura Waite gave her life as a missionary to the village of Ndengeza.  She started the first Christ centered church, a school, and an orphanage.  Laura never married.  She died and was burried in the village with the royal family.  As the result of her service to the Lord a little boy whom she loved as her own and taught the truths of the bible to became a Christian and later became the chief of the land.  Chief Ndengeza now loves Jesus and he loves white people as well especially from the US.  He is the one who has provided the land that we're living on as well as the land that we've begun to build the youth camp on. 

God's has been busy in the region of Ndengeza where Mavhuza is located.  The beautful redempive picture He's painting is getting bigger every day.  Last night 15 young men came to our base to study the word with us.  We've started the book of Luke and our study title is "who is Jesus."  Last week there were 9 and I suspect next weeks group to be around 20.  The young men of Mavhuza are hungry for the word of God.  I have so much hope for this village and believe that a revival is coming very soon!  Thank you for your prayers!

Mavhuza Life!

Whenever our Isuzu pick rolls into Mavhuza or any whenever we just pass by a hut where there are children, they rejoice and sing "mal-un-go, mal-un-go."  A few weeks back there was a group of kids hanging out with us at the mission base.  We were playing soccer with the boys and the girls were braiding hair even though they would be content to just sit with us and not say a word.  It was evident that these children were the least of the least in the village.  The ones whose close where torn, who were dirtier, smellier, and probably hungrier that the rest.  What caught my attention was the scabs that these little ones had from their scalps to their toes.  Obviously they are not well.  During some bare footed soccer one of the boys stubbed his toes pretty nicely and had an open wound.  When it was time for the kids to go Shalome(a teammate from Sacremento), reminded the little boy to take care of his toe.  Knowing that wasn't going to happen I was prompted to clean up the little guys wound so I took him to the kithen where our first aid kit is.  I grabed the peroxide, a bandaid and some neosporin and began to hook him up with the rest of the kids crowded around curious to what was going on.  Before I poured some peroxide on his big toe I told him that this was going to sting a bit and when the white puss bubbled up he yelped a little and jumped.  I put the bandage on and was ready to send the kiddo on their way when the little boy next to my patient showed me the wound on his toe.  Then  the little girl next to him showed me the wound on her leg and girl next to her the cut that she had.  All of them wanted to some medical attention.  One by one I repeated what I had done for the first little boy and they responded to the peroxide the same with ews and ahs.  After I finsished bandaging one of the boys he left the group and purposefully scraped his leg again drawing blood so that he might recieve some more first aid love.  I don't think any of them had ever had a mother or father bandage a wound for them in their short infinitly valuable life.  Sensing an opportunity to share the love of Christ with them I called for Lifter to come speak with them and tell these uncared for children how much Jesus loved them.  Lifter asked them if they new what love is and they all responded with a yes.  Lifter then asked them if they knew who Jesus was and they anwsered, "yes, he's the one who bandaged us."  Lifter then prayed for them and we sent them on their way.  Wow!

Life in Mavhuza has not been easy.  Our team is the first perminent team from JAM to be stationed in the village and much of our energy is spent just trying to live.  It seems that compared to life in the US there are no simple tasks in South Africa.  However when I walk down the road to fetch the refrigorated food for dinner and a little boy runs to me and wraps his arms around my legs it's all worth it.

I have a bed now and I'm sleeping great.  I'm battling a nice cough and still need prayer.  Lifter and I are busy working with the soccer teams.  We practice with them and support them when they play games bringing water and oranges for half time.  You wouldn't believe what water and oranges does to build relationship and trust.  4 players were for the first time found in church last Sunday and have started looking into the things of God.  A Friday night bible study is about to start and we can't wait to share who Jesus is and what He's done in our lives with these young men. 

Through the ups and downs God is faithful and on the move.  There are still some financial needs that we're praying for but nothing to really to complain about which unfortunetly doesn't mean I never complain lol.  Still working on Phil 2.  The spiritual warfare going on over this place is something fierce.  We're talking bondage and chains.  So we're on our knees begging God to act for the good of his people.  God bless you His wisdom and knowledge!  Thank you for your support:)

A day in the "Dark City"

It had been a week since I had really slept. We started this day at 4:30 AM waking up to get on the road by 5:00. I was exhausted before the day started and stressed out as many of things I had hoped would be in place for our team to be in Mahvusa were not. Things were not going according to "my" plan. Our mission for this day was to drop Git(Jam's main man) and Derek off at the Johannesburg airport Tambo International.  This trip usually takes about 5 hours by car.  We made very good time arriving in Joburg by 11:00 am and I was still very tired.  The best part of the day shortly awaited us in the form of a wonderful lunch prepared for us by the Cantrell family.  Tim Cantrell is from Texas and is pastoring a church in Joburg with his amazing wife Michelle and their 5 children.  Michelle used to babysit me, my brother and sister way back inthe early 90's.  They really blessed us with a great meal and some awesom fellowship and sent us on our way to the airport.  This is when things got crazy. 

We said our goodbyes to Git and Derek and now Lifter and I were on our own.  Did I mention that we're in Johannesburg aka "The Dark City."  Our next challenge was to find our truck which took an hour and made me want to say bad things.  Finally we found the truck and we were on our way.  One thing you must know is that the truck is a stick/manuel and i have never driven anything but automatics in my 14 years of driving.  I did recieve 3 lessons but was not confident behind the wheel by any means.  Driving out of the parking lot we were immediately stopped by the police and interigated.  They let us go but there was a problem.  It was rush out traffic in Johannesburg 5:00 pm.  We decided since I was so tired to stay the night with Lifter's brother in Joburg.  Stop and go traffic is not easy for a "stick" driving beginer especially in Joburg where the people drive CRAZY!  Right off ramp to Gemerstown (the suberb where Lifter's brother lives) our truck stalled and would not start back up.  We were about to run out of gas.  The cars and taxi's drove around us honking and yelling and finally the truck started.  Anxiously we made our way to the 1st gas station available.  Thank you Jesus!  After the tank was full our plan was to go see one of Lifter's friends who is a taxi driver and then find a KFC for dinner.  This plan took us to downdown Gemerstown, one of Johannesburg's biggest suberbs where there were hundreds and thousands of people lining the streets, crossing dangerously and making there way back home from work.  I definately felt like I was not supposed to be driving in this place....Seriously! Lifter instructed me to take a left onto a steep hill.   Big problem!  If we have to stop, there's no way i'll be able to start this truck agian.  I had practiced stopping and starting on hills oncebefore  and was successful once or twice out of 10 tries or so and the hill I was practicing on wasn't a steep as the hill that I was now on in the middle of rush our traffic with thousands of people on lining the streets.  Wouldn't you know it traffic stopped right in the middle of this hill and I couldn't get the truck started again.  We're right in the middle of a taxi train and our truck is going downhill instead of up.  The honking was first and then the yelling.  When the truck almost hit one of the taxi's is when the drivers then got out of their vehicles.  I was panicing.  My heart was up in my throat and my adrenaline was pumping.  It was sink or swimm and I was sinking fast.  Lifter got out of the truck to try and help.  He got one of the taxi driver's who was hitting my window and yelling at me to move the truck up a bit so I wouldn't hit any cars and I could try again to get the car going.  But I still couldn't get it going.  The South African taxi drivers were really getting pissed now.  Getting murdered in the streets of Joburg for not being able to drive uphill wasn't the way I wanted to go and i was scared.  One of the taxi drivers was actually come to fight me when Lifter, aka Bokoro or courage, grabbed his wrist and said "you're not coming to fight, you're coming to drive us where we need to go."  Stunned the guy got into driver's seat as i got into the back and drove us out of danger.  Music was the taxi driver's name.  He left his taxi for his brother to drive so he could drive us. 

I thought this guy was going to drive us into danger but he didn't.  He was actually really enjoying driving in a nice truck and was shocked that a white man would let him drive his car.  Lifter, Music and I then had a meal at KFC. I thought buying Music dinner was the least I could do.  Music told me that he would love to go to the US because of white people like me which confused me a little.  He was referring to how I trusted him to drive our truck (which I didn't but had no other choice) and the friendship that I had with Lifter.  Whites and black just don't go together in South Africa.  After dinner we made our way to Lifter's brothers where we spent the night which is another story that I don't have time to tell lol.  The next morning we drove home.  I don't think I stopped praying the whole way home. 

God really protected us.  He is so faithful and is really good as getting me to the end of myself when I need discipline.  My limited ability and my weakness gives God tons of opportunity to perfect His power.  I'm so thankful for grace.  I learned once again how badly I need Jesus to act in my life.  Without His grace nothing good is going to happen this year in Mahvusa.  I'm happy to report that since this experience I've been seeking Christ a lot more!  Lots of love from Mahvusa and I hope to be blogging alot more now.  The storries are starting to pile up. 

JAM Camp

It has been a full week of camping. Many schools and churches around the Cape Town area hire JAM to facilitate camps on their base. Wednesday 160 10th graders from Cape Academy arrived and spent 3 days with us learning about leadership as well as the importance of communication and how to work together as a team. Cape Academy is a goverment funded school for excelling low income students. These kids were awesome! We set up different challenges for them to overcome as well as an obsticle course. I got the priviledge of leading the obstilce teams through the course which was a blast. It was also very tiring as we were hikings, and running, and climbing down rope ladders, ext, ext. Cape Academy is not a Christian school however they did agree to allow a time for JAM to share about who we are and why we do what we do. So the cross of Jesus and His gospel was proclaimed to 160 10th grader whom most were muslim. Pretty powerful stuff. The camp lasted until Friday and included a trip down the mountain to the beach, a talent show and some other talks on diversity and such. Hanging out with these amazing South African youngster was a honor and an opportunity I am grateful for. One thing that blew me away was the influence that the music culture from the States has on these kids. Also, their ability to dance and how much they enjoy singing.

Friday night a new group of campers from a different school arrived. About 200 12th graders this time. Today we took them through many of the same exercises including the obsticle course. This time I was assigned to taking groups on a hike to the cross where Git, Lisa and I briefly spoke about the cross of Jesus Christ and the story that went along with the this specific cross that JAM had planted a few years ago. The view of the ocean and mountains from this particular spot demands for praise to the one who created it! It's absolutely spectacular and beautiful. For the first time in my life I spoke in front of many people without fear, sharing with them the power that is found in the cross and how Jesus has given me life. What an honor to speak on Christ's behalf. A 17 year old dude named Erns came up to me after lunch and we had an amazing conversation about the Lord. I can't tell you how blessed I feel today and completely filled with joy. Tomorrow I have been asked to share my testimony with the camp during the church service that JAM is going to put on. This is fun:) All glory to God!

JAM's Mission

A week in the books now serving in South Africa and it has been great! I love being on a team working towards a common goal. Especially with a bunch of people who are filled with the love of Christ. At times I've wondered why I feel closer to God when I'm in South Africa. However, when you read your bible more, and pray more, and serve more, and give more, most likely you're going to sense the Lord's presence a bit stronger. It's really no mystery. Cultivating your relationship with Jesus equals more intimacy with Him. "I have set the Lord Continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely." Psalm 16:8-9

The majority of the past week's activites have included team building (JAM Staff), Campsite work/preparation, and hours of planning for the upcoming year of 2011. I've really enjoyed serving JAM and have further developed relationships with the JAM Staff.

Our team building activities so far have ranged from devotionals in the morning, to prayer and worship in the evenings, to trips down to the beach and a trip to go see Guliver's Travels in town. It's been great getting to know the staff better. This group of young people love eachother so much. It's awesome to watch as well as be apart of.

Apostle Battery is the name of the JAM headquarters and is located right above Llundudno Beach (seriously google Llundudno beach). It is and old world war 2 base that hasn't been remodeled. There are improvement needed however everything works. I've helped with deep cleanings of the bathroom, kitchen, and dining hall. We've cleaned out 3 storaged rooms which has included many trips to the dump/recycling center. I've also helped with cleaning out living quarters and carpeting them. Serving Jesus by serving JAM is why I'm in South Africa.

There have been countless hours of planning for the year. daily schedules, monthly outreaches, things that didn't work last year, things JAM can improve on, topics of training, and the list goes on and on. I've added my two cents here and there but for the most part just watched and learned. Git and the staff are really growing in this area and I'm very impressed with the amount of planning they've done. Things are organized and ready to go as the JAM year students are already starting to arrive. One suggestion or idea that I contributed and has been adopted is team exercise! Every Monday morning they're going to work out together. P90X has taken over the world lol.

My favorite meeting of the week was our vision meeting. Here JAM's mission statement was clearly layed out. "To disciple and train young Africans in becoming godly servant leaders who can impact their communities for Christ." JAM dreams big but builds small. They are passionate about making self replicating disciples. They are unique in Africa by focusing/developing young leaders as well as selecting small villages throughout their country to bring the light of Christ. I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to be apart of this disciple making movement and thank God for allowing me the priviledge to serve Jesus with JAM. Lots of love from southern hemisphere!

Dave

South African Hospitality

My first real day here in SA (south africa) has been great as I have been warmly welcomed repeatedly. This morning (Sunday) we went to a church in Hout Bay and worshiped with some awesome people. It was relaxed and free. Worship was inviting and the teacher taught right out of the gospel of John. Much of the explanation of the passage (John 2:1-11) admittedly came from Tim Keller lol(Lord of the wine) and was solid as expected. 10,000 miles away from home on the complete opposite side of the earth yet Jesus was being lifted up and the word of God proclaimed in the same Spirit. He is really big!
After church I was invited to a classic Duvenhage S. Africa BBQ, or braii. Duvenhage is Git's last name and his whole family came to fellowship. Pastor Why (Git's father) started JAM and Git along with his new beautiful bride Mignon are leading the organization. Chicken, sausage, vegebale salad, potato salad, and rolls were served. Then for dessert we had ice cream and cake with coffee. Did I mention that this braii is taking place on a mountain over looking Llandudno beach which could be one of the most beautiful places in the world? Not exactly roughing it yet but that time will come. Everything was delicious! The coolest thing about the afternoon however, was to again watch the Duvenhague's love and serve eachother. Their affection towards one another was genuine and it was evident that they really enjoyed spending time together. I felt blessed to be able to spend time with them.
So.... I'm all set up here at JAM headquarters and I'm excited for the next month of training. I have a humble bed, a toilet and shower as well as electricy so things are good. I've met the Nunley's, a family from Kansas City who have come to serve with JAM and are to be stationed in Hout Bay for the next 3 years. They have 2 awesome sons Anthony and Pierce who are 12 and 10. I've also made a friend named Spenser who is from Salinas, CA. He is 18 years old with a heart that is passionate for the Lord. I see Jesus in this young man and his faith is incredibly contagious. Spending time with the Duvenhague's and my new American friends has made the first couple days of transition much easier. My heart still aches when I think about my family and being 10,000 miles from them, but Jesus is with me and I lack nothing. Blessings!