Say a Prayer for Andrew

When we were in the States in December we received an email from a family in Texas who felt called to serve as missionaries in South Africa. They connected with Hatfield and made plans to attend their church planting school in the beginning of this year. We spoke to them on the phone and tried to answer some questions that they had.

The husband and wife and 3 children moved to Pretoria and began the class this past January. Their youngest little boy, Andrew, is just one month older then Nathan. One day last week they found the little boy unconscious in the pool at the house they are renting in Pretoria. They were able to get his heart beating again, miraculously, but he was not breathing for so long that they have kept him in an induced coma for the last week waiting for the swelling in his brain to go down.

Today they began to wean him off of the medicine that is keeping him sedated. Please pray for this little boy and his family as over the next two days they continue to bring him out of sedation that there will be no permanent brain damage. It is really a miracle that he is alive and we are trusting God for complete healing for this precious little life!!!

Thank you Sean at Living Seeds!

Last week we received a huge donation of seeds for Growing Hope. It came from a really amazing seed company called Living Seeds. They are based out of Gauteng and are “South Africa’s largest selection of locally grown heirloom and open pollinated vegetable seed.” A few weeks ago Josh contacted the owner, Sean, about some seeds that he was trying to find and in the following conversation told them all about what we are doing with Growing Hope. After this conversation they decided to donate all the seeds that we need for this year!!! He is also extremely knowledgable and willing to help and answer questions that we have! This is a huge blessing and encouragement to us. Thank you Sean at Living Seeds! If you would like to check out their website just click HERE.

Noah with all the seeds

there are several types of herbs, several types of cabbage, carrots, peas, garlic, broccoli, brussel spouts and lettuce and a few other types of cool weather crops.

Some days…

Yesterday was one of those days! First thing Josh went out to go to the HIV/AIDs clinic and quickly learned he had no brakes in his truck. He made it down to the closest garage and they were able to help him right away. Then we had some issues in our Growing Hope team that took some serious conversation to sort out. And then after lunch I was home with the kids and Noah’s finger got caught in the hinge of one of our windows. I didn’t see that he had his hand in the hinge and I pulled the window shut crushing the tip of his pinkie finger. He started screaming and there was blood everywhere and right away I could see he was going to need stitches.

But in the midst of all these circumstances I know that God was with us. The owner of the garage asked Josh a lot of questions while he was waiting for the truck to get fixed about why he is here in SA and what he is doing. Then when it came time to pay the bill which was about $75USD he told Josh not to worry about it. That it was his way of supporting our ministry! This was a huge blessing to us!

The issue in our Growing Hope Team has brought us to a greater place of honesty and understanding with one another which is always good.

And even in the midst of Noah’s hysterical crying I was grateful because I knew God was with us even in that situation. The first amazing thing is that yesterday my maid, Maria, who only comes one day a week was here when Noah got hurt. She was so helpful and amazing. Nathan was walking around in just his diaper and I said to her we have to go now. She scooped him up and got some clothes on him in record time and we were running out the door together. I called Josh and he was about 40min away looking at a new community for some gardens. Maria held Noah in the car keeping pressure on his finger. First we went to the closest doctor to us. He was out to lunch and his nurse told me I had to take Noah to the hospital because just normal GPs don’t do stitches here in SA. So we all got back in the car and headed to the local government hospital. I was just praying the whole way there that there would be a doctor there and that we would be able to be seen right away. The government hospitals can really be a hit or miss type of situation. There are very few doctors and if they are busy or out the nurses handle almost everything. You can end up waiting a very long time for someone to help you.

We pulled up to the hospital and ran inside. Noah was still crying a lot and we went right into the ER. Thankfully it was practically empty. Maria stayed in the waiting area with Nathan and a nurse came to help us right away! And then the doctor was there and he looked at Noah’s finger and said we were going to have to give Noah something to make him sleep for him to be able to stitch it up. Noah was pretty out of control. He doesn’t like doctors anywhere near him on the best of days so you can only imagine. At one point I was trying to calm him down and I said, “Noah, it’s ok. Its not hardly even bleeding anymore.” He sort of stopped crying and just looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Yeah, but what are you gonna do about that huge crack in my finger!” The doctor gave him a shot and he faded off to sleep. Josh arrived right as Noah was going to sleep. Finally we could actually get a good look at the finger. Basically the top of his pinkie was just hanging on. It was cut all the way down to the tip of the bone. It took about 6 stitches to get it closed up. Then they wrapped it up and we just waited for him to wake up. His waking up at least provided come comic relief. He was totally out of it and kept saying things like, “Wow, I feeeelll beetterrrr.” The doctor said he will be fine and the stitches can come out in 10 days.

We were just so grateful that we were able to go in and see a doctor right away. He was really good and took time with us and Noah. Just after he finished with us he had to go and do some operation and was out of the ER for about an hour. If we would have been just a few minutes later we would have had to wait all that time. So in the midst of it all we knew God was with us and even experienced his favor. And for that we are so grateful!

after the stitches and bandages were done. Still totally out of it.

 

at home. feeling back to his old self.

Forever Reign

You are good, You are good
When there’s nothing good in me
You are love, You are love
On display for all to see
You are light, You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true, You are true
Even in my wandering
You are joy, You are joy
You’re the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life,
In You death has lost it’s sting

Oh, I’m running to your arms,
I’m running to arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here
In your presence I’m made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I’m letting go

Oh, I’m running to your arms
I’m running to arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

My heart will sing
no other name
Jesus, Jesus

Missions Weekend

Last weekend we hosted a Missions/Ministry Weekend at Word & Life. On Saturday we had a festival/meal where lots of different ministries set up display tables and cell groups set up tables show casing different countries that they have a heart for or have visited. And then the different tables prepared food that represented their country and dressed in traditional clothes from the country. We set up a table for Growing Hope and displayed pictures from the gardens. We invited some of the people from one of the community gardens to join us and then Freedom’s wife and mother prepared some traditional foods for us to serve. They even made a traditional spinach dish with spinach fresh from the garden. We had  a guest speaker for the weekend who is a missionary in Russia. It was  a really great time for us all to be reminded how important it is to serve!

here is our table. Miriam is serving food.

an Austrian table

a table representing Turkey

our guests from the community garden

this group was representing Campus Crusade for Christ

Reaching Out…

Last week Josh lead a team from our church, Word & Life,  to plant gardens for the morning. There were about 6 people from our church who worked alongside the people who were getting new gardens. Very exciting for us. One of our goals is to see the different communities serving one another. Here it is in action!

one of our pastor's wives with some local kids.

Miriam is a big part of Growing Hope. She is the one who started the ministry at the HIV clinic. Here she is planting a garden with Sidwell and some tiny spectators.

Here is Danie new associate pastor at Word & Life working in a new garden.

Josh, doing his thing and loving it!

Our latest experiment.

One of the things that we really love about this project is that is that is not only allows, but requires us to be continually learning and researching and experimenting with new methods of gardening.

And so, our latest experiment. We have had a lot of difficulty in growing tomatoes. Everyone loves tomatoes but because we are so close to the sea and some of the other conditions here we have not had very much success in growing them.  Josh and Sidwell have constructed a tunnel/greenhouse and we are going to try and grow tomatoes in it through the winter. There is a strawberry farm close by our house. They are growing strawberries and raspberries year round in these tunnels and they export them to Europe. Josh approached the farm and was able to meet with the guy who is in charge of all the tunnels, constructing them and maintaining them. He gave Josh lots of advice on how to construct one and gave us all a tour of the whole farm and some of their used UV protected plastic so we could try our own.

Our thinking is that if we can do this successfully it can be a huge thing that we could implement in the township as well. The Strawberry farm has said that they would be willing to donate more plastic to us if we want to build more. There are a few people in the township who have tremendous talent when it comes to gardening and really enjoy it and we could build small versions of these tunnels and then they could grow and sell tomatoes. It could take their gardening to another level and provide a source of income as well.

So, we will see what happens….

here is the frame of the tunnel

here it is with the plastic stretched over it.

here it is...

a little blackened sheepshead anyone???

Josh came across this scene in the township the other day. It is supposed to be a traditional delicacy but I have to admit we have not tried it yet…

honestly not sure what is scarier, the guy with the machete or the sheepshead.

yikes...those teeth...

gardens from April 4th

Sidwell doing his thing...

a couple with their new garden. they had a few plants already so we were able to help them expand.

working planting the seedlings.

this woman also had a very small garden going already. because she has so much room we were able to help her clear more ground and get more plants in the ground. more space = more food 🙂

here she is with her new huge garden!

 

 

 

 

…as a garden…

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself  like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before the nations.                  -Isaiah 61:10-11