Stewart 5

not going to bother sounding pretty, just wanted to pass along an update on how NCSA has been corporately addressing the needs of the refugees here in SA. Many of our people are taking personal action as well:

Much prayer. Together and individually, we give this to God and demand that He respond. He is…

We have invited a friend and his wife (refugees from Zim) to live in one of the rooms at Pangani, at least for a few weeks. Considering how we can make space for others.

Money given to NCSA to help with refugees has been directed to some people building houses for refugees

Several of us are talking to others who are helping refugees - looking for ways to partner & help.

We have money which we are giving to others who are working with refugees to provide food, shelter, etc.

If you would like to contribute financially, we can receive your money and forward to appropriate services and people working to make a difference. If you are interested in helping, email me.

Comments(1)

For the past little while, I have been faced with a strange dynamic - too many good things in my life!  I hope this doesn’t sound trite, and I definitely say this with an awareness that many/most people wish for ANYTHING good in their life.  But for a plethora of reasons, God has given me a full, abundant, joyful life.

And with so many things being well, I find myself most often needing to choose which good things I can receive, and which I have to say no to.  Example: I am currently working out my responsibilities and personal covenant commitments with my team here.  In making my list of things I want to do, I am realizing that there is too much.  Too many good things.  So, I am going to have to choose some and not others.  That’s a hard decision for me.

It would be easy if there were things I like, things I don’t enjoy, things I have to do.  But I am faced with a list of fantastic opportunities, and I can’t possibly do them all.  And so, I must sit with God and ask my friends for counsel.  I trust God has amazing things in store for me - His beloved - this year.  Can’t wait to see which pieces He is giving me to work with now.  I will keep you informed.

May He bless you with too many good things as well.  He wants to

Comments(0)

I don’t do a good job of regularly updating our blogroll.  However, I added a few links today that I wanted to bring to your attention:

Dion Forster’s blog - Dion is asking all the right questions here in South Africa and I am hoping to learn a lot from him.

Tim Keel’s blog - met Tim at the Amahoro conference in Uganda last year.  Tim is pastor at Jacob’s Well in KC and just had a book - Intuitive Leadership - published.

Jackson Pollock - when you want to blow off steam or have fun drawing, check out this site!  You get to create Jackson Pollock style.

Photosensibility - my friend Andrew Gray in Japan is an excellent photographer and posts pics daily.  Beautiful.

Comments(0)

Quote from the wall at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali.

My time back in Rwanda (and the Amahoro conference in Uganda) were shaping beyond what I can put into words at this point. My heart and mind are again undone, in the best of ways. I believe this will be one of those moments in my life I will look back on as a major turning point. I hope to share the resulting journey through this website in the upcoming weeks.

Comments(1)

On Saturday night, one of our cats - Rebel - was hit by a car and died. Melissa and I discovered her body when we got home from dinner out. We put her in the back yard until the next day. On Sunday morning, we got the kids together and broke the news. The boys helped me dig a hole in the back part of our yard and all the kids took strips of cloth from her bed and wrote goodbye notes to Rebel. We put them all in the hole, then Rebel with a tiger t-shirt on top of the body. The kids helped me fill in the grave, then we held hands and said a little prayer.

Melissa made a slide-show from miscellaneous pictures of the cats for the kids. They loved it, especially the pics of the cats when they were much smaller. Of course, the rest of the day was full of questions about what happens after animals die, cat spirits, etc. It’s been interesting to talk through all of those with our first pet death. Iain, in particular, likes to talk about “Spirit Rebel.” Maybe most sad of all is watching our other cat - Luke - who seems pretty lost without his sister.

Comments(1)

Sorry we haven’t posted in a while.  Besides all the things happening in our lives, we’ve had some technical problems.  First, we were unable to view our site - our OWN  website - for several weeks.  There are still many people in South Africa who can not (for some mysterious reason) get onto our site.  Apparently you can :)  Also, in the midst of changing servers, some things haven’t transitioned so easily and someone may have hacked at the sit a bit.  As of now, the formatting of most of our existing posts are goofy (I have to go back and manually fix them), pics in our posts need to be replaced, and all of the comments are gone.  Apologies to all of you who have commented over time.  I have appreciated feedback and thoughts, and all of those are now erased.  So, I invite everyone to go back through our posts and say something!

More to come soon, so please check back regularly

Comments(0)

I’ve just updated our photo gallery with pics from month of December. We had the privilege of sharing the holiday season with both Aunt Kat and Grammy Susi. The week before Christmas we all flew down to Cape Town. December is high season for travel among South Africans as it is summertime. So, many of the places we visited were a bit more crowded than usual, but that didn’t spoil our time. Cape Town is a beautiful city and it was so good to see and smell the ocean (Pretoria is about a 5 hour drive from the closest ocean). We stayed at a self-catering guesthouse in Hout Bay and visited the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Point, Boulders Bay, Kalk Bay (for a meal at our favorite restaurant, the Olympia Café), Stellenbosch winelands, and Kat and Susi took the tour of Robben Island. Then we drove 7 hours on a road that reminded us of the 41 heading to Morro Bay- lots of traffic and only one lane in each direction with the occasional passing lane- to Plettenburg Bay. We stayed at another self-catering guesthouse close to the airstrip. Plett Bay is on the Garden Route and is an amazingly beautiful area. Our family enjoyed a hike on the Robberg Penninsula where we saw lots of marine life on the beach and in the tide pools. We also took a tour of Monkeyland, a primate sanctuary.

We arrived back in Joburg on Christmas Eve. After a long day of travel (6 hours drive from Plettenburg to Cape Town, and the 2 hour flight from Cape Town to Joburg) we had to wait much longer than seemed necessary for the shuttle from the airport to a car in the long-term parking lot only to find our car battery had died. While us ladies and kids stood in the covered outdoor waiting area (as it was raining) wondering if Arthur had gotten lost on his way to the car, Arthur tried to push start the car himself. He then came to get some help from the lot guards and we finally arrived home at 11:30pm!



We had a wonderful Christmas Day opening gifts in the morning and then joining others at Pangani for a braai and gift exchange game. We celebrated Arthur’s birthday with crème brulee made by Kat and an amazing meal the following evening at restaurant in Pretoria called La Pentola. We also headed out to the bush for swimming, potjie (a traditional Afrikaans stew slow cooked in a large cast iron pot over hot coals), and a game drive at the home of At and Magdaleen Breet (our co-worker, Daleen’s parents). And finally, we celebrated New Year’s Eve with a game night at Pangani and a few fireworks!



Our holiday celebrations and vacation has now come to an end. We are gradually getting back into the work and school routine. Mairin and Iain headed back to Kliene Einstein Klueterskool on January 4th. Mairin is now in the 2 year old Hasie Klaas (Bunny class) and Iain started Grade 0 (kindergarten). Arthur Paul returns to Northridge Primary and starts Grade 3 on January 10th. Arthur and I are busy preparing for the new apprentices and NCSA07. Katie, Sarah, Carissa, Barbara and Tyler arrive the 19th and 20th for our kick-off braai on the 21st!

Comments(0)

Thank you all for praying with us for our friends. Since I last wrote, both Motlope and Valrey have begun ARV treatment! Join us in thanking God for providing these much needed medicines. Many AIDS victims here in South Africa remain on waiting lists for ARVs or are still unaware these medicines are available and offer dramatic health benefits. Valrey says she feels like she was never sick! Motlope has increasing energy and, since also been seen at the lung clinic, has increasing lung capacity which means she is now running and playing like other children her age. Motlope has spent the last few weeks with her grandmother in Johannesburg. Jonas and Valrey will join her there to celebrate Christmas. Please continue to pray that at the right time God will give Valrey the courage, strength, and peace of heart and mind to share her HIV status with her mother. Pray for her mother, Lucy, that she will receive Valrey with open arms and support her unconditionally. Pray also for one of Valrey’s clients who has been treating her differently since she shared her HIV status. Valrey is sure that she has brought in another domestic worker once a week, but hasn’t spoken with Valrey about it yet. Valrey is concerned that she will loose this client.

Saturday we will be delivering a metal gate and swing set out to their home in Hammanskraal. Jonas has been diligently preparing this home for his family. Now that the gate will be complete, he won’t have to worry as much about robbers breaking in when they aren’t home. So, far God has been faithful to provide in this area, neighbors have been watching over their home. At this point hey have a two bedroom house with a door and lots of furniture. They still need glass so that they can put in the windows. Jonas hopes to get enough money to dig a well on their property. This way they will always have access to water. Without the well, Valrey walks about 4 minutes to the spigot to get water. She says that several times a week there is no water coming from the spigot. Thankfully her neighbors have given her the water she needs from their water storage containers. Once they have the well, they will sell water for a small fee. Valrey also hopes to set up a stand to start a small business on her property. The area where they live is growing and many people set up stands to sell food, clothing and other necessities. Once Valrey has her business going she and Motlope will stay at the house in Hammanskraal during the week (rather than travelling from Pretoria North just for the weekends) and she will quit her job as a domestic worker.

Please continue to pray for Jonas, Valrey and Motlope. Pray for continued health, and even healing, for Valrey and Motlope. Pray for Jonas as he supports his wife and daughter with tremendous love and generosity. Pray that they would have hope and endurance to build their dreams for their future.

Comments(0)

Comments(0)