Tobile and the Power of God

This is Tobile, a girl who is head of her household. Both parents dead from AIDS and she is raising her 4 sisters by herself. This is amazing what she says in here. We brought them a bunch of food out to there house. They literally had nothing left.

This is what it's all about.

There are some new photos in the June 2007 - Swaziland folder, one of Hudson and Emily, another of Hayden, and one of the little children we met this month.

Thanks again for sharing this journey with me and my family.

A Sponsored Carepoint

Here is a video tour of the carepoint sponsored by Capo Beach Calvary Chapel. From the previous videos, you can see that most carepoints start with nothing. Here is the difference that's being made, and a picture of how you can get involved.

95 Orphans...

Before we arrived, these 95 children--orphans--had not eaten in 21 days. This video shares some of their stories and our ministry to them.

Battle at Kruger

This weekend, we're taking a retreat to Kruger National Park in South Africa. Check out this amazing video (not taken by me unfortunately) of the wildlife inside the park. Hopefully our trip won't be THIS exciting.

A New Carepoint is Born

Turn up the volume on this one too. Through our friendship with Pastor Temba, we visited a local community and helped rebuild the home of one of the widows who cares for orphaned kids. It was a powerful day, and over my shoulder in the video, you'll see the beginnings of creating a new carepoint--a place where children can experience the love and community of an extended family. Soon, we'll connect a church to this new carepoint.

She hasn't eaten in 2 months

You'll have to turn the volume up on this one because the camera microphone didn't do a great job of picking up the sound.  Toward the end, you'll see the interview I told you about in an earlier post. This is one of the many widows of Swaziland. Unbelievably, she told me she has gone for as long as 2 months without food.

More Family Ministry in Swaziland

Sorry to have not posted a video in a while. This is the first of three new ones I'll put up over the next few days.

Opening a New Carepoint

Thanks for all your posts everyone! It's very encouraging for us to hear that you are praying for us and following our journey. It seems like we're a little closer to you than 8,000 miles!

The last few days we have started a carepoint from scratch. We have been ministering in a very poor area where many people haven't eaten in weeks, some in months. It is just heartbreaking to hear widows and orphans tell you that they are starving to death. It makes the things we struggle with seem small. I'll post an interview I did with a widow who told me she hadn't eaten in two months.

We brought a ton of food, and had the "Go-go's" start cooking. Kids came from all over to get a healthy meal. We sang worship songs and prayed, thanking God for providing food to this community. It was incredible to see how the community rallied around this project because they were so excited about this happening! This carepoint will be available for sponsorship soon. Let me know if your church is interested.

One widow's home had been blown over. These homes are nothing more than stick and mud huts. The sticks and rocks were up but they weren't able to mud the hut. This provides insulation and seals it so wind doesn't get in. But, the water is 3 kilometers away so she and the orphans she takes care of can't get enough water to mix the mud. We bought cement, wheelbarrows, and hauled tons of water in to finish the home. It was a great day.

Love and miss you all. You're in our thoughts and prayers!

Orphans, Orphans, Everywhere

Today is Sunday morning and I am writing you from Manzini, Swaziland. The amount of death and destruction we have seen in this country is unreal. More and more, we are seeing the devastating effects of a country whose HIV infection rate is 46%. There are funerals everywhere and orphans by the hundreds in every community we are in.

We have been ministering in what is known as 'The Low Velt' of Swaziland. This is an area right on the border of South Africa and Mozambique. It's very poor, there isn't much water, and food is in scarce supply. It just heart-breaking to see the numbers of widows trying to care for 8, 10, or 15 orphans in a tiny little hut with no support and no food of their own. Starting tomorrow we are beginning a carepoint from scratch. We'll start feeding the orphans in the community under a tent (the one I preached in from a video blog a few days ago), with a cast iron pot. We excited to get some of our programs underway in such a desperate place.

We found 95 orphans living alone who hadn't eaten anything in 3 weeks. I'll be sending updates and pictures from that place to.

Have a great week everyone and please continue to pray for us. At this point, I am very weary from going 90 mph everyday. The family is great and in good health. No one has been sick! Happy Father's Day to all of you incredible dads!

Family Ministry in Swaziland

There is so much going on each day, it's hard to capture it in just 3 minutes of video. One of our goals as a family was to minister together as a family while we were in Swaziland. Each member of my family has found unique ways to connect with the Swazi people and children.

I was invited to preach at a local Swazi church and you'll see it is truly a "church without walls." These believers gather in the most modest of places to worship and pray together.

There are a few more photos here of the family out ministering together. Thank you again for your prayers.