Our Identity

It’s the start of a new week, and we are excited about what God has in store. From the kids we tutor to the babies we rock to sleep each night, we see the face of God.

There are many struggles foreign missionaries face as they seek to share the truth of God’s love with different cultures. Although we have both had experience ministering among different peoples and cultures, each new expereince gives rise to its own questions.

We keep coming back to our Pastor Bryan’s words from a past sermon about our identites. Before we are anything else, we are Christians. In this situation, before we are relevant to the culture of South Africa, we are followers of God. The reason we have been meditating on this is that we have faced a few situations with the teenage girls where we were put in a position to respond to the culture. We want these girls to know, as they watch us and talk with us, that they are precious in the eyes of God and that they can make choices different from the ones the world and their classmates encourge them to make. In one conversation, this meant being honest about our belief in abstinence until marriage (something the government does not actively promote). Our struggle to be a fiathful witness without being culturally insensitive is tiring and sometimes we doubt our testimony, but we trust in the Lord and His power to work through us.

Our friend “Erica-from-America” picked us up and took us to the campground where we spent our first days in Jo-burg. Amid the solace of this peaceful place, we were able to commune with the Lord and gain strength for the week ahead. We also had the chance to talk at length with 3-D’s interns who are preparing to set out for 6 months of missions. Our faithful guide Lennit and his encouraging wife Janine took us to church on Sunday morning. The campground’s director, Dawn, let us crash at her house and watch movies on Sunday afternoon when it became terribly cold and rainy.

We cannot express the depth of our thankfulness to our church leadership and to those who are praying for and are encouraging us. We feel the warmth of your care, even as we are thousands of kilometers away. Please continue to pray for our relationships with the teenage girls and with the other volunteers. Pray for Rachelle as she begins helping in the local school and for Kate as she helps another volunteer revise the volunteer application process.

Peace, love and africa!

In order or appearance....
Kids from the hospice
Rachelle's new sweet friend she just loves so much
Kate's new buddy she is trying to get to sleep
Our sweet girl in the hopsice
Rachelle teaching her new friend 'I love you" in sign language
"Erica from America"
Trying to survive the cold, rainy weather!