The Past Speaks to the Present

Over the past several months I have been working through the book of Hebrews. In devotions we have been working through one chapter a week by reading and dissecting the text to discuss the elements which impacted us. Some weeks there has been very little interaction amongst the workers and the text but other weeks it has been quite amazing to see how God moves through and in us as we interact with multiple cultures, personalities and life situations. It’s a beautiful thing to watch revelation

Happy Anniversary!

Can you believe we’ve been in South Africa for a year?! We spent a lovely evening out to dinner as a family to celebrate our one year anniversary (early March). It has caused us to think back on our first year here in Cape Town and we realized that a proper family update is in order! So, here it goes! DOUG Most of Doug’s time is spent at Living Hope where he is busy with several things. The first thing Doug established when he began at Living Hope was a prayer walk around the main campus. He

The Power of Prayer

It’s time to conclude our six word series! Sorry for the long break between words five and six, but we have saved the “best for last”. Our sixth word is prayer. Oh how important this has been! First of all, we are carried day to day (even moment by moment) by your prayers. It is such an encouragement to know that people are praying for us, with us, and for our communities (both Living Hope and our local area). Thank you so much! It literally means the world to us that you are praying for us. We

Community

Community*. What does this word mean to you? In the wee hours of a Sunday morning in early December, the worst fire in the history of Masiphumelele broke out, taking with it over 1100 homes and displacing 5000 people. It was shocking and overwhelming. We arrived to church on Sunday morning oblivious to the magnitude of this disaster. We had heard whispers on social media that there was a fire (again) in Masi, but we really had no idea the impact until the leadership made an announcement and

The words of the day are…

Let’s continue on with our six words! Word number four: Language. It’s a funny thing isn’t it? We thought you’d like to know some of the differences in our day-to-day speech. First of all, while most everyone here speaks/understands English, it is not American English (it is British English), so we are getting used to a few new words: boot/bonnet – trunk/hood of the car swim costume (or “cozzie”) – bathing suit flapjacks – pancakes (if we ask for a pancake here, we’ll get a crepe!) nappy –

Two Sides of the Street

Please accept our apologies for the long pause. We are back continuing on with our six words for our first six months! In this third post, Doug gives his thoughts on the word “contrast”. From the outside, Cape Town is a big and beautiful city, stretching from far north of Table Mountain to the end of the southern peninsula (locals call it the ‘deep south’). Inside of vast Cape Town, one can experience and observe many different things. Often these pictures of life leave us feeling caught

Hot Topic

We are continuing our series of six words that have in some way defined our lives here in South Africa in the last six months. Our second word is ‘heat’. We arrived late at night in early March. It just so happened to be one of the hottest days Cape Town has experienced in many years. In fact, close to midnight when we were getting settled at the SIM guesthouse, we found ourselves sweating. The days following continued to be warm, shocking our systems. When we left Maryland, there was ice on

It’s Electric!

It’s been a bit quiet over here lately. It’s not that nothing has been happening, but it’s more that we are starting to finally find our groove in ministry and life is becoming just a little bit more routine. The unfamiliar is becoming more familiar and the excitement of newness is becoming a more controlled contentedness. As we approach our six month mark of landing in South Africa, we thought you might appreciate to hear some of what we have learned (or are still learning) by sharing six

Tangible Success

The other day I was walking through one of our ministry sites with a coworker who does not typically get to see all that goes on in the “field”.  Our conversation was mostly about Living Way, the agricultural ministry site that we were walking through. We both found ourselves saying, “Now this is something that I would love to be a part of.” I think this is, in part, because it has tangible success. As you walk through the agricultural tunnels (greenhouses), you can see the fruit growing, even