Raise the Roof!!

Exciting news...the safe house in Jeffrey's Bay now has a roof!! Thanks again for making this possible, y'all are awesome :) Just wanted to share a few more pictures...a video tour is soon to come!

a light in their eyes...

Being in Nicaragua again was really great...difficult emotionally, but great! On this trip we were able to bring a group from the Journey Church in Murray, KY. It was so awesome to get to introduce them to the children that they have impacted in such a big way. It was even more amazing to see the kids impact them. I think that some of the kids left a mark on our hearts that will never go away!

Every time that we leave the country and get to hang out with the kids in Nicaragua and in South Africa, I am completely overwhelmed by the light and the hope and the joy in each of their eyes. These children have been exposed to things that most of us can not even begin to wrap our minds around. Things that no one should EVER have to experience...and definitely not at 3 years old. These children are amazing, they are the future and the hope of their countries, they have the potential to change the world. All they need is love and encouragement...they need to know that their pain and their suffering is temporary and that if they live for something bigger than themselves, they can leave their print on their communities! I see the light in their eyes, and I see a hope for their futures, a hope that can only be found in Jesus!

News from J'Bay

Allie and Lindsey have been in J'Bay for just over a week and we are so excited to have them there! Below is an e-mail I received from Lindsey about their adventures so far! I will be posting pictures of their trip soon...as well as updates from Nicaragua!

Molweni everyone! (Hello in Xhosa)

It has now been one full week since I arrived in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. I have had a wonderful, busy, exciting, crazy, and challenging week so far. I am working at Ithemba (the children’s day center) full time now from 8:00 AM- 4:00 PM and I love it! Working with the kiddos is both rewarding and challenging. By the time I get home at night I am completely exhausted because they keep us on our toes. In the mornings I help the teachers (4 Xhosa women) make the kids their breakfast. Then we have play time for about an hour. This usually consists of piggy back rides, getting my hair braided and tied in knots, tickling and chasing, and lots of hugs and kisses. The mornings usually have around 55- 60 kids ages 5 and under. I am quickly picking up Xhosa phrases to ask them how they are, what their names are, to tell them my name, and of course the useful kid phrases like “listen”, “don’t do that”, and “sit down please.”

I am teaching in one of the classrooms which is fun and yet very difficult because they are too young to speak English so I have to have everything translated. I am working with Mama Queen. She is a Xhosa grandmother. We work on the alphabet, shapes, numbers, days of the week, etc. There is a lot of work to be done to make the classroom setting run a little more smoothly, but we will get there! In the afternoons, we play some more and then about 100 more kids come after they get out of school- they are from ages 5- 16. I am working with the older kids in the afternoon on math, English, and writing. Yesterday, we did long division- it has been a LONG time since I have done long division but it went well!

My favorite part so far is just getting to know the people here. Both the Xhosa people and the Afrikaans people are so kind and helpful. They do not hesitate to help us (myself and Allie- the other girl I am here with) when we don’t understand something and they are very patient about teaching us their languages as well. We are learning pretty quickly and I am getting quite excited about that. Building relationships with not only kids but adults as well is very important to me!

The scariest part for sure has been the driving. Most of you know that I do not know how to drive a manual car so I had some lessons when I got here. My friend Marco was very brave and patient and he took us out for 3 lessons here before he let us hit the road on our own. Not only are we learning to drive a stick, but we are driving on the other side of the road and they have a lot of these roundabout things that are kind of tricky to figure out. We have had quite a few scary moments and stalls but so far the car is still running and we haven’t hit anyone else so I consider this a job well done- or maybe just done haha! We are getting better every day so I am trying to be positive even though I have to fight down panic each time I get in the car. Please be praying for safety both for myself and for the unsuspecting people of J-Bay!!

Finally, I want to share some of the cultural things that I find interesting so far: the eggs are not refrigerated so you by them on the shelf, milk comes in a box on the shelf, they call stop lights “robots”, they call stop signs “stop streets”, they say “see you just now” instead of see you later, soda is called “fizzy” or “cool drink”, and there are many more but I am slowly picking up on these things!

Anyways, I realize this is kind of long- but I hope that this finds you well and enjoying the summer! It is pretty cold here and I must admit I am a little envious of the weather at home. It is pretty though, and we are right on the Indian Ocean so we are definitely enjoying this place!

Please be praying for energy to keep up with the kids, for continued good health, for SAFETY while driving, and just that we will be used to accomplish the Lord’s purpose here! He is in control and He knows each and every one of these people by name. He speaks their language, even when I do not, and He has a deep and unending love for every nation, tribe, and tongue.

I will hopefully send out another update next week, please feel free to respond with questions or comments- I am obviously leaving a lot out because this thing would be SUPER long if I tried- but I am happy to answer any questions you may have. I get to the internet every couple of days!!

Lekker Dag (Have a nice day in Afrikaans),

Lindsey

Shovels and Dirt...and a new SAFE HOUSE!!

UPDATE:: The Safe House in Jeffrey's Bay is officially underway! We have broken ground and the foundation should be in place next week! Pray for lots of good weather over the next few months....these kids are going to have a safe and warm place to live because of all of the love and support that you have all given them! Thank you for literally being the hands and feet of Jesus for these children :)

All About Orange

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT PURCHASED A CANVAS AT ORANGE, YOU REALLY ARE CHANGING THESE CHILDREN'S LIVES!!

God is doing really amazing things through the wonderful people that attended the Orange Conference last week in Atlanta! Because of the people at Orange we are able to build a safe house for the children in Jeffrey's Bay!! Last week we sold 178 of the 200 canvases that were painted by the children at Ithemba...the canvases are being sold for $250 and 100% of the money is going straight to build the safe house. Because of the generosity of the Orange Community, we are able to begin building TODAY! I will be updating the blog with pictures of the progress on the house so keep checking back :)

Easter in Nicaragua!

I just got these pictures of the kids from Casa Roble in Nicaragua! They did an Easter Egg Hunt and had a blast!

Lindsey and Allie

We are so excited to have two wonderful girls living in J'Bay this summer and helping Ria and Ithemba! These two girls have huge hearts for the children at Ithemba and our mission to provide for them and improve their quality of life. While there, they will be focusing on improving the Biblical and educational curriculum that we already have in place at the day center. Allie goes to the University of West Georgia and is majoring in Early Childhood Education. She will be working directly with the teachers at Ithemba and training them on new and innovative ways to teach the children. Lindsey goes to Murray State University and is majoring in Management and minoring in Non-Profit Leadership, she will be working with Ria to perfect the organizational side of running and managing everything at Ithemba. Both Lindsey and Allie will be working with the 252 Curriculum and helping perfect the programs. We are so excited to have them in J'Bay for three months living with the people and getting to know the children. They are both currently raising support for their trips...if you would like to help support them, you can send a check to:

LUO, Inc

390 17th St

#3060

Atlanta, GA 30363

Be sure to write their names in the subject line! We would also love for you to commit to supporting them through prayer this summer. They will be starting a blog and sending updates throughout their trip.