In the newspaper!

Our local newspaper comes out every friday. And today there is a whole story on page five about the outreach I was a part of to the ladies of Asla. The story is mostly about the presence and speeches of the local politicians and the gift packs they handed out.  But one woman was quoted saying, “These items are real necessities, but most importantly I am inspired and touched by all the words of inspiration shared with us.”

here I am...

The Rotary Club

A few weeks ago someone in the local Rotary club got a hold of one of the videos that Josh has made about the garden project. They watched it at their meeting and decided that they would like to get involved in supporting our project. Since that time Josh and Freedom have had a few meetings with them and it looks like they are going to sponsor all the materials for 10 new gardens!! This is very exciting for us. They want to have an ongoing relationship with us. So if we use this money well they will most likely sponsor us with more in the future!

sharing at the high school

There is a couple in our church who had a weekly ministry to a local high school. The school has about 60 kids that board there and every Thursday evening they have like a Bible club with the kids who want to attend. They usually have between 20 and 40 kids. They went out of town this week so they asked us if we could do it for them. It was really fun. We both went and took the kids with us. They sang three songs along with a cd. Then we did a really funny icebreaker game with them and then Josh shared from the Bible with them. After he was done a lot of kids came up asking for prayer. The kids are so hungry and passionate and responsive. It was a really great time for us.

the kids love to sing and they really sounded great!

The Ladies of Asla

Yesterday I had the privilege of sharing with a group of about 60 woman in an area called Asla in the township. It was an event being held to uplift woman and speak to them about self-respect and caring for their bodies. The local government got involved and sponsored gift packs for each of the ladies. They had soap and lotion and deodorant and a wash clothes. The event was quite a big ordeal.  The local mayor and the district mayor both came and spoke to the woman and a few other government officials spoke. The local newspaper was there too. In the end I wasn’t able to address the women in the way I really wanted to because of all the formalities but I shared the Word of God with them. I told them how much God loves them and has a purpose and plan for each of their lives. After the event was over I was able to talk to some of the women and encourage them and pray with some of them.  I trust that God had me be a part of the event for a reason and that some of the woman were encouraged.

here is a picture of some of the woman. a lot of them had their small children with them. They sat and waited over a hour for the government officials to arrive.

One new garden done for the municipality!

On Monday Josh worked together with the social workers from the municipality to plant the first of the community gardens for them. It was a really exciting day and a lot of the people who wanted to be involved from the community showed up to work and get the garden planted. It is slow moving, but exciting for us to be working with the municipality in this so that we can reach people who are really in need and who we might not reach on our own.

Nathan’s Birthday

Last wednesday, Sept 14th, we celebrated Nathan’s 1st Birthday!!! It is hard to believe that he is already one year old. One year ago on that day, Dorie, Abby’s mom was visiting with us and we decided to steam clean all the living room furniture and carpets. We worked so hard cleaning all day then that evening Abby went into labor and a few hours later Nathan was born. It was something like extreme nesting syndrome. But we brought him home to a very clean house

He is such a sweet and special little boy and, although he didn’t really understand what was going on, we had fun as a family celebrating him!

even if he didn't understand what it was for, he seriously enjoyed his cake!

A Garden for Noah’s School

Noah is going to a play-school three mornings a week. And, he loves it. It is a small school run by a friend of ours. It is a very sweet little school and they have a little yard and a few weeks ago the teacher, who knows about what we are doing with the garden project, if we could plant a small garden for the children there at the school.

So, we did. It was really fun to get the kids to help plant the little plants. They all took turns. And it will be a good learning experience for them taking care of the seedlings and watching them grow and eventually produce vegetables! The teacher has made them each bottles that they bring home each day to fill up with their bath water to bring back to school to water the garden. So they are learning about saving water too!

Noah was so proud to have his daddy there at school teaching the kids something. It was really cute.

Here are a couple pictures of the kids planting the seedlings.

one of Noah's classmates having her turn planting the seedlings

another little girl taking a turn

no food…food!

Here is a before and after shot of one of the newest gardens.

before...

 

...after!

Spring Festival

The first of September was the first day of spring for us! At church we had a Spring Festival / Family weekend. On Saturday we had a huge party out at a farm that is owned by some people in the church. It was tons of fun and a lot of people came from the church. We had food and games and they had animals there, rabbits and horses. Noah went on a horse ride all by himself. It was a really good time of fun and fellowship for us as a congregation. People really got time to spend with one another and meet and talk to people they don’t on a Sunday morning. It really brought us closer as a church.  Here are a few pictures.

Thursday’s Garden Crew

Last Thursday we had a whole crew go into the township and plant two new gardens. Thursday has been our day for focusing on planting brand new gardens. The people in this picture are people from our church who have really become a huge blessing and encouragement to our project. They have a huge heart to serve the community and have been going into the township with Josh and Sidwell almost every Thursday to help with the gardens and minister to the people. It is so awesome for us to be creating an opportunity for others to serve!

from left to right: Sidwell, Josh, Alan, Marti, Miriam, Jacques