Cape Town - Getting ready!

In less than a week we will be on our way! There have some interesting developments over the past couple of weeks. We have been asking for donations to take with us for the children at City Mision school. Our house is now beginning to be taken over with football kit, balls, stationary items and it has been great to see people's generosity. The most surprising gift was from my husband and son's football team (AFC Wimbledon, long story!!) who donated approximately £1500 of brand new kit! AS we began to look at all we had, we were wondering how on earth we were going to get it over there! Having made our children promise that they would pack lightly (difficult especially for a 14 year old girl, who's insisting at least that the hair straighteners get to go!), it was still looking unlikely that everything would fit in!
So a phone call and subsequent e-mail to British Airways were made and they immediately DOUBLED our baggage allowance when we explained what it was for. And not only ours, but the other members of our party too! So now we have the next few days to sort through everything and decide what to take.

Another development has been finding out about a project in Paarl (Montecristo Ministries), in the cape winelands. This contact has been made through Worldwide Emergency Relief who support it. The chief executive of WER is Alex Haxton, who, with his family were a part of the church I grew up in, and we have recently reconnected through Facebook. I have just met with Alex and Rita and heard about the work going on in Paarl, where over 1000 children from the informal settlements have been engaged in sports teams, including over 200 girls. As a result, I have made contact with them and we plan to visit, taking two of the guys from the Impact Centre to see if connections can be made and ideas transferred. The Impact team have just finished a holiday club for the children and young people of the Athlone area and are wanting to continue to engage with and build relationships with them on an ongoing basis. Development of sport might be one way forward and I am praying this visit might open up some doors and opportunities.

So, with just a few days to go, we are excited and expectant and praying that God will once again take us out of our comfort zones, put us in situations where we need to trust Him and amaze us by what He is going to show us. To Him be all the glory!

'Break Our Hearts' - Back to Cape Town!

We are just getting ready to go back to Cape Town for a second mission trip. We will once again be the guests of Cape Town Christian Fellowship and will be helping out where we can at City Mission Educational Services and at the Impact Centre, between July 23rd and Aug 7th. Both these projects are situated in Bridgetown, on the Cape Flats and serve the community there which is seriously affected by drug misuse and gangsterism. This time last year was the first time we had really encountered first hand the difficulties in these communities. We were humbled and our lives have not been the same since. We are not arrogant enough to suggest that we made a lot of difference in the two weeks we were there, but we learnt so much and what was started was a deep love for the community and the church, and a certainty that this was only the beginning of future links , relationships and God-given connections and opportunities.

Since we came home, we have enjoyed building relationships with people from the school, centre and church, hosted some visitors in UK, formed a partnership between our church (Redhill Baptist)and CTCF, facilitated some financial support from another UK church, made some links between some UK schools and CMES and prepared to return this year with another team.

And so soon we will be off! There are 12 of us from two churches and the team includes 5 teenagers. We expect to be helping out with sports, arts and crafts, team building activities and one to one support with the school pupils (all of whom have been excluded from mainstream education, many have challenging home situations and some are former street children.) At the Impact centre, there will be opportunities for interacting with the seniors programme, involvement in training and supervision of the team, as well as times of fellowship and continuing to 'build the bridge' between the UK and SA.

I'm excited, expectant and humbled because I know how much my life is different to what it was, as a result of getting involved in these projects, and experiencing so much of God's life changing power and grace. I am wanting Him to do even more this year!

My prayer as we go is this :' Break our hearts with the things that break Yours, Wake us up to see through Your eyes, Break our hearts with the things that break Yours and send us out to shine in the darkness.....'

Watch this space for more updates!