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Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Our African Safari
Yesterday, my wonderful husband surprised me and our kids with a safari!!! I have wanted to do this since we got here, but we hadn't made time for it yet. But, for my birthday Shelby planned it all and surprised us.
It was an awesome day!!! We saw all sorts of cool animals, almost saw the big 5. The animals we saw were Lions, elephants, rhinos, hippos, wildebeests, kudu, antelope, spring dear, warthogs, ostrich, monitor lizards. What an amazing day!
Look the rhinos are looking at us! We called these birthday rhinos because we didn't see them all day and then we prayed we could see some for my birthday. They were the birthday rhinos because they showed up right after we prayed :) What a great present.
We were so close to this giraffe, it walked in front of our car and then stopped next to us.
This picture is of a hippo and her baby. She wouldn't come any closer to us, and really that was fine with us. What we have heard is that the hippo is super dangerous... so hi mama hippo from a distance :)
Spring bucks, they were EVERYWHERE!!! Super cute!
We didn't see Zebra all day and then all of a sudden we saw a whole herd. They really are pretty.
This is another spring buck but it's a male... see the horns.
Now come the really exciting animals!
Here are some elephants. Shelby got out of the car to pet one and the whole troop came right up and I thought they would step on him. Then they walked so close to the car one almost stepped on the front. Shelby had to reverse to get out of the way.
2 Lions, it was so cool being this close. Also, a little intimidating!!!
This was after the lions above got tired of us being there next to them. The female one started to come after us and then the male started to run toward us... we MOVED! The male tried to bite our back tires while the female just tried to get the back of our car. This is when they finally finished chasing us and he went over there to mark his territory. We decided NOT to challenge him and let him be king of the "territory".
Just look at those teeth. These were two white lions the one with the teeth is a male and that is his woman next to him.
Drew with Pumba his new warthog friend!
Brie, Gabe and the zebra!
Me and Shelby! I really like this picture of us!
All my lovies!
A more natural picture for us... crazy!
This tree was huge and we found all these really cute monkeys in it :)
It was an amazing birthday present. I dont know how many people can say they get to go on an African safari for their birthday, but I can. Thanks honey and I love you so much for making my birthday week so special. You ROCK!!!
It was an awesome day!!! We saw all sorts of cool animals, almost saw the big 5. The animals we saw were Lions, elephants, rhinos, hippos, wildebeests, kudu, antelope, spring dear, warthogs, ostrich, monitor lizards. What an amazing day!
Look the rhinos are looking at us! We called these birthday rhinos because we didn't see them all day and then we prayed we could see some for my birthday. They were the birthday rhinos because they showed up right after we prayed :) What a great present.
We were so close to this giraffe, it walked in front of our car and then stopped next to us.
Spring bucks, they were EVERYWHERE!!! Super cute!
We didn't see Zebra all day and then all of a sudden we saw a whole herd. They really are pretty.
This is another spring buck but it's a male... see the horns.
Now come the really exciting animals!
Just look at those teeth. These were two white lions the one with the teeth is a male and that is his woman next to him.
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Drew with Pumba his new warthog friend!
Brie, Gabe and the zebra!
Me and Shelby! I really like this picture of us!
All my lovies!
A more natural picture for us... crazy!
This tree was huge and we found all these really cute monkeys in it :)
It was an amazing birthday present. I dont know how many people can say they get to go on an African safari for their birthday, but I can. Thanks honey and I love you so much for making my birthday week so special. You ROCK!!!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Prayer Request
Hello Friends.
I am passing on a prayer request that is pretty urgent. This is a friend of mine that I have had the privilege of meeting the last month or so while ministering at Careline Crisis & trauma center here in South Africa. When Sean arrived at Careline on the 2nd of September 2010 he was in perfect health, walking and participating with all the residents from the Life Skills Program in sports such as Soccer and Volleyball
Early in November, people at Careline noticed a deterioration in his hands and limbs, and within three weeks he was in a wheelchair. Since I have met Sean he has been a wheelchair, he is totally incapable of helping himself and is completely reliant on others to help him eat, bath, etc.
I don't know the specifics of Sean's condition and I am trying to find out more details, but what I do know at this point surgery is the only option. There is a 70% that he will return to life without a wheelchair, there is a 30% chance he won't make it out of the O.R. It involves some sort of spinal surgery. I know that the Dr. has donated his services and there is even a rehab center that has donated their time and facilities for the recovery process. All that is needed is to raise the funds for the o.r., nurses, etc which comes to about R100,000. That is roughly $14000 USD. They have scheduled the surgery twice and both times have had to cancel due to lack of funds. This has had a devastating effect on Sean. He was supposed to be having surgery today and I saw him last night and you can see the disappointment.
I don't know God's will for Sean, but I know he desperately wants to walk again and is willing to risk his life for that chance. I know that when I spoke to him last night and told him people from all over the world would be lifting him and his needs up in prayer, that his eyes lit up.
Can you, would you, please join me, his family, and all those who know him, in praying for Sean. Right now.
Lord, I thank you for the privilege of getting to know Sean. Right now we want to lift him up to you and thank you that you know him and the number of hairs on his head. I pray you would strengthen him in your spirit and hold him close. We are asking that if this surgery is part of your plan that you would please provide by your miraculous hand, and we acknowledge Lord that by the word of your mouth everything in his body could be made right and that even right now he could rise up and walk and if God if that is your will we pray that it would be done in the might name of Jesus.
Amen
Please lets keep Sean in prayer. You can forward this as much as you like. If you have questions you can email me @ shelbyrender@yahoo.com.
Blessings Saints
I am passing on a prayer request that is pretty urgent. This is a friend of mine that I have had the privilege of meeting the last month or so while ministering at Careline Crisis & trauma center here in South Africa. When Sean arrived at Careline on the 2nd of September 2010 he was in perfect health, walking and participating with all the residents from the Life Skills Program in sports such as Soccer and Volleyball
Early in November, people at Careline noticed a deterioration in his hands and limbs, and within three weeks he was in a wheelchair. Since I have met Sean he has been a wheelchair, he is totally incapable of helping himself and is completely reliant on others to help him eat, bath, etc.
I don't know the specifics of Sean's condition and I am trying to find out more details, but what I do know at this point surgery is the only option. There is a 70% that he will return to life without a wheelchair, there is a 30% chance he won't make it out of the O.R. It involves some sort of spinal surgery. I know that the Dr. has donated his services and there is even a rehab center that has donated their time and facilities for the recovery process. All that is needed is to raise the funds for the o.r., nurses, etc which comes to about R100,000. That is roughly $14000 USD. They have scheduled the surgery twice and both times have had to cancel due to lack of funds. This has had a devastating effect on Sean. He was supposed to be having surgery today and I saw him last night and you can see the disappointment.
I don't know God's will for Sean, but I know he desperately wants to walk again and is willing to risk his life for that chance. I know that when I spoke to him last night and told him people from all over the world would be lifting him and his needs up in prayer, that his eyes lit up.
Can you, would you, please join me, his family, and all those who know him, in praying for Sean. Right now.
Lord, I thank you for the privilege of getting to know Sean. Right now we want to lift him up to you and thank you that you know him and the number of hairs on his head. I pray you would strengthen him in your spirit and hold him close. We are asking that if this surgery is part of your plan that you would please provide by your miraculous hand, and we acknowledge Lord that by the word of your mouth everything in his body could be made right and that even right now he could rise up and walk and if God if that is your will we pray that it would be done in the might name of Jesus.
Amen
Please lets keep Sean in prayer. You can forward this as much as you like. If you have questions you can email me @ shelbyrender@yahoo.com.
Blessings Saints
Friday, April 8, 2011
Yes, Soup for You
Unlike the soup nazi, we have plenty of soup for everyone, but I will say I have been a little disappointed in the slow start. We have been feeding the KulaniKahle kids in addition to I would say about 20 +/- each week. Last week, we saw a good increase in new faces of children and also an influx of grannies. Granny is a complimentary term for any older lady who is helping take care of children. There are ladies who come from the church to help with the cooking and serving of the soup. 
So the question that I get most often is what kind of soup do you make. We start with a type of beef soup powder (like the name brand Knorr) that we buy in bulk from the factory as well as a soy mince powder that we also get in bulk. We add two packages of vegetables, some ground beef, some onions, and some tomato sauce. So the closest thing I can compare to would be a vegetable soup with ground beef added.
In addition to the soup we buy bread and everyone gets 2-3 (sometimes more) slices.
We are very excited about what the Lord is doing. Its a little slower than we thought, but we know that there is great need and once the word gets out, we are expecting this to continue to grow.
Thanks to all of you who help to make this happen. We could not do this without you.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Green Acres is the Place to be
I recently got back from a short mission trip into Lesotho. This is the third trip that Calvary Chapel 1000 hills has made into Lesotho in 12 months. On the two previous trips we have worked with Pastor Erin who is a well known Evangelist in Lesotho. This time he asked to come and help at a new work that was happening right outside of his home town of Maptusoe. So we planned a short trip to go and see what the Lord was doing and do what we could to help out. It was only a three day trip, but it was more of a scouting trip than anything else. Erin and Pastor Shaun from our Church have been communicating back and forth about Calvary Chapel and who we are and how we work. So our "mission" was to do some Pastor Training with Erin and his team, and also participate in the nightly tent outreaches.
There were four of us; Shaun and myself and our two boys, Mitch and Drew. We left early Tuesday morning excepting to be there around lunch. After road work, a stop for lunch, customs and border crossings, we arrived about 2:30. Getting to the village was easy enough as all the roads were tar, but as we arrived at the village Erin mentioned his concerns about my vehicle making it back to the house. I must admit after seeing some of the roads, I was a bit concerned myself. But to everyones surprise the Fiat made it back to the house with no trouble.
Couple of things that I noticed right off the bat. There were no power lines even though we were only about 20ks from the border and the fairly good sized town of Maptusoe. The houses here in Lesotho terms were nicer than I had seen at other villages. There were a few traditional African Roundavales, but there were also quite a few block houses and even 1 or 2 brick houses. There were alot of animals here. Sheep, donkeys, cows, pigs, horses, chickens. It was a regular Green Acres. Farm livin is the life for me. The house where we stayed had all of these animals, the bad news was that the house we stayed in was back to back with the animal barn which meant tons and tons of flies. They were everywhere, but believe it or not where a bit of a relief from all the mosquitos that we had back in Durban. When Erin told Shaun that he accommodations for us, Shaun asked if there was a kitchen and a bathroom. Erin said yes to both. Our house was a two room building. It looked like maybe a cottage for one of the older kids of the family. As we looked around there was a lounge with a wood burning stove in the corner which Erin pointed at and said, "see, kitchen" and another room with two twin beds. As for the toilet it was a long drop outside. A long drop is pretty much like a permanent porta potty. So it was a little rough, but not too bad for a couple of days. All of our food was pre cooked but we were hoping to have a place to heat it up, but just ended up eating everything cold. Shaun and I slept in the house and Mitch and Drew choose to sleep in the car as opposed to the floor in the lounge (I don't blame them)
We took a short hike up the mountain about half way and got a great view of the village and some of the others in the distance. Estimates in the village put it at about 300 people.
We headed back to the house and then made our way to the tent for our first meeting. It was a good response, I counted about 50 people. It was typical Lesotho style worship that could go on for hours. Shaun shared the gospel and Erin gave an altar call and lots of the people came forward. That was awesome. Over half the tent giving their hearts to the Lord. After that we all prayed for anyone who needed prayer. It was a good night of ministry. We headed back around 10PM and finally sat down to have dinner. What we were not expecting was Erin and 5 other guys with him to come by excepting dinner as well. Fortunate for us, Shaun's wife Gail out did herself and there was plenty of food to go around. We went to sleep with great anticipation of what God had in store for tomorrow.
We met with the Pastors in another small house. Mitch taught them a simple English praise and worship song which they all really enjoyed. Shaun and I both did a Bible study with them and then we closed our time in prayer and headed back for lunch. Nothing here is dictated by any sort of time. Lunch is not around 12 everyday, lunch is whenever your done with everything else. Same with dinner. Bible study and tent outreach always came first. Food was an after thought.
After lunch, Drew and Mitch headed to a different part of the mountain with 2 of the pastors. Shaun and I spent some time with Erin, Joel, and Tumello discussing things about Calvary Chapel and what we thought the next steps would be. Erin, as I said, is an evangelist and his heart is to church plant. Joel and Tumello are both wanting to Pastor. Tumello will move here to this village in the future to help start the church. Right now him and Erin come every Sunday after noon to do church in the small house where we stayed. Joel would like to start a church in the town of Muputsoe which is about 20 ks away and is the border town where we cross into Lesotho. We are all excited about what God is up to and Shaun left them with some material to read and planned on following up in the coming weeks.
That night our plan was to show the Jesus Film, but when we plugged in the projector it started ooozing smoke. Shaun looked at me and said "I preached last night, looks like your up tonight." I counted and there were about 80 people and I think more may have even came while I was teaching. I shared a bible study and then gave an altar call and again had a huge response. It was awesome and we were excited to be a part of God working in the hearts of the Lesotho people. We headed back to the house for some dinner while Joel and Tumello stayed and talked with everyone about the church and gathered follow up information from everyone.
Another rough night sleep and we were up and packing, putting everything away and saying our good byes. Mitch and Drew wanted us to climb up and see the waterfall they found along with some ancient bush man cave drawings. So we prayed with the Pastors and loaded up the car. They were staying around to do more tent outreach and have Sunday morning service there before they took down the tent.
Pretty sure I got my first South African traffic violation on the way home. They have speed cameras here and one flashed as I went by which usually means there is a ticket in the mail. We will wait and see.
Since we have been home Shaun has been in contact with Erin and the only problem know is that they have outgrown the house where they were meeting on Sundays. We are praying about a possible tent that could stay there permanently and be used for church and other community meetings until we can build something more proper.
It was a short trip, but very fruitful and we are excited about what God is doing.
Just a side note, can you imagine never experiencing a hot (or cold for that matter) shower? How long ago was it in America that there was no indoor plumbing, running water, or electricity? Thats how it is for most of Lesotho. Now for a little bit of trivia. Do you know what Lesotho's biggest export is? 25 million rand a month (thats about 3 million us dollars) worth of water every month to South Africa. Like a lot of 3rd world countries that money doesn't trickle down to the little man.
I have put together a short video of our trip, you can check it out by clicking below.
Lesotho Video
Blessings
Shelby
There were four of us; Shaun and myself and our two boys, Mitch and Drew. We left early Tuesday morning excepting to be there around lunch. After road work, a stop for lunch, customs and border crossings, we arrived about 2:30. Getting to the village was easy enough as all the roads were tar, but as we arrived at the village Erin mentioned his concerns about my vehicle making it back to the house. I must admit after seeing some of the roads, I was a bit concerned myself. But to everyones surprise the Fiat made it back to the house with no trouble.
Couple of things that I noticed right off the bat. There were no power lines even though we were only about 20ks from the border and the fairly good sized town of Maptusoe. The houses here in Lesotho terms were nicer than I had seen at other villages. There were a few traditional African Roundavales, but there were also quite a few block houses and even 1 or 2 brick houses. There were alot of animals here. Sheep, donkeys, cows, pigs, horses, chickens. It was a regular Green Acres. Farm livin is the life for me. The house where we stayed had all of these animals, the bad news was that the house we stayed in was back to back with the animal barn which meant tons and tons of flies. They were everywhere, but believe it or not where a bit of a relief from all the mosquitos that we had back in Durban. When Erin told Shaun that he accommodations for us, Shaun asked if there was a kitchen and a bathroom. Erin said yes to both. Our house was a two room building. It looked like maybe a cottage for one of the older kids of the family. As we looked around there was a lounge with a wood burning stove in the corner which Erin pointed at and said, "see, kitchen" and another room with two twin beds. As for the toilet it was a long drop outside. A long drop is pretty much like a permanent porta potty. So it was a little rough, but not too bad for a couple of days. All of our food was pre cooked but we were hoping to have a place to heat it up, but just ended up eating everything cold. Shaun and I slept in the house and Mitch and Drew choose to sleep in the car as opposed to the floor in the lounge (I don't blame them)
We took a short hike up the mountain about half way and got a great view of the village and some of the others in the distance. Estimates in the village put it at about 300 people.
We headed back to the house and then made our way to the tent for our first meeting. It was a good response, I counted about 50 people. It was typical Lesotho style worship that could go on for hours. Shaun shared the gospel and Erin gave an altar call and lots of the people came forward. That was awesome. Over half the tent giving their hearts to the Lord. After that we all prayed for anyone who needed prayer. It was a good night of ministry. We headed back around 10PM and finally sat down to have dinner. What we were not expecting was Erin and 5 other guys with him to come by excepting dinner as well. Fortunate for us, Shaun's wife Gail out did herself and there was plenty of food to go around. We went to sleep with great anticipation of what God had in store for tomorrow.
We got up and Erin told us we would start Pastor training at about 11AM, so we decided to take another hike up the mountain, but this time we went all the way up. It was a beautiful day and you could see for miles. The people of the village are hard working farmers. As we worked our way up the mountain there was a group of men there working together to gather fire wood. They were chopping down trees and throwing them down the mountain.
We met with the Pastors in another small house. Mitch taught them a simple English praise and worship song which they all really enjoyed. Shaun and I both did a Bible study with them and then we closed our time in prayer and headed back for lunch. Nothing here is dictated by any sort of time. Lunch is not around 12 everyday, lunch is whenever your done with everything else. Same with dinner. Bible study and tent outreach always came first. Food was an after thought.
After lunch, Drew and Mitch headed to a different part of the mountain with 2 of the pastors. Shaun and I spent some time with Erin, Joel, and Tumello discussing things about Calvary Chapel and what we thought the next steps would be. Erin, as I said, is an evangelist and his heart is to church plant. Joel and Tumello are both wanting to Pastor. Tumello will move here to this village in the future to help start the church. Right now him and Erin come every Sunday after noon to do church in the small house where we stayed. Joel would like to start a church in the town of Muputsoe which is about 20 ks away and is the border town where we cross into Lesotho. We are all excited about what God is up to and Shaun left them with some material to read and planned on following up in the coming weeks.
That night our plan was to show the Jesus Film, but when we plugged in the projector it started ooozing smoke. Shaun looked at me and said "I preached last night, looks like your up tonight." I counted and there were about 80 people and I think more may have even came while I was teaching. I shared a bible study and then gave an altar call and again had a huge response. It was awesome and we were excited to be a part of God working in the hearts of the Lesotho people. We headed back to the house for some dinner while Joel and Tumello stayed and talked with everyone about the church and gathered follow up information from everyone.
Another rough night sleep and we were up and packing, putting everything away and saying our good byes. Mitch and Drew wanted us to climb up and see the waterfall they found along with some ancient bush man cave drawings. So we prayed with the Pastors and loaded up the car. They were staying around to do more tent outreach and have Sunday morning service there before they took down the tent.
Pretty sure I got my first South African traffic violation on the way home. They have speed cameras here and one flashed as I went by which usually means there is a ticket in the mail. We will wait and see.
Since we have been home Shaun has been in contact with Erin and the only problem know is that they have outgrown the house where they were meeting on Sundays. We are praying about a possible tent that could stay there permanently and be used for church and other community meetings until we can build something more proper.
It was a short trip, but very fruitful and we are excited about what God is doing.
Just a side note, can you imagine never experiencing a hot (or cold for that matter) shower? How long ago was it in America that there was no indoor plumbing, running water, or electricity? Thats how it is for most of Lesotho. Now for a little bit of trivia. Do you know what Lesotho's biggest export is? 25 million rand a month (thats about 3 million us dollars) worth of water every month to South Africa. Like a lot of 3rd world countries that money doesn't trickle down to the little man.
I have put together a short video of our trip, you can check it out by clicking below.
Lesotho Video
Blessings
Shelby
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