"If I only touch His garment, I will be made well."

(changed the names...clearly...)

As we were leaving Suzie’s house, we met up with her neighbor Betty Jo, and her daughter and her daughter’s friend who were sitting on the curb outside of Suzie's house drinking. As we were leaving, we told them we were going around praying for people, and asked if there was anything they needed prayer for. Betty Jo said she loved Jesus and would like prayer. Each of the women had pain in their bodies. Betty Jo had chest pains and tightness in her chest, Suzie's daughter has had back pain ever since she gave birth, and her friend had stomach pain. We had all of them place their hands on the parts of the body where there was pain. Lennell prayed for healing. During this time, people were walking around, screaming, talking, and Lennell kept praying. After he finished, Betty Jo's pains and tightness was gone. She got up and began dancing in the street. Suzie's daughter said her back was better, but not completely gone, so we prayed again and the pain left. The friend said the pain in her stomach was gone. Boom. 

home away from home.

A dream come true!!

Background Info: All Nations is an organization here in Cape Town all about Jesus. They have different ministries within their organization -- one of which is called Vulnerable Children (VC). VC targets children who live in Masi (township our team has been pouring into) between the ages of newborn-18 who have no parents, one parent or kids that have an even tougher home life than a normal child in a township. People within VC basically just love, care for, build relationship with and as a result disciple these kids!

This year, for the first time, VC put on a camp for the kids!! Talk about the way to our hearts! They managed to find a location about an hour away from Masi, got the funding for the lodging, then brought a team in from Oklahoma (hometown, what what!!?) to be the staff for the week. Approximately 50 kids showed up to get rocked by Jesus! They were so excited they showed up at the spot where the VC staff picked them up 30 minutes early!! That's literally UNHEARD of here! hahaa! They were so ready to start the most fun, maybe most life-changing, week of their lives!!

Some of our team got to spend the day there on Wednesday. It was perfect. We helped serve lunch, cleaned the kitchen, hiked with the kids, played games, shared Jesus, and gazed on His beauty. It seriously felt like camp including, but not limited to, the following:

Jesus. candy. talent show. hiking. afternoon at the beach. games. even a specific word call that got all the kids attention!! (oh hey, pine cove!! haha!!) human knot. team building activities. lots of eating. cheers. yelling in general. cluster competitions. counselors breaking up any hint of flirting. encounter service. Bible studies. pit and palace (aka cleaning their cabins). and most rewarding...kids choosing to follow Jesus. learning what it means to be in relationship with Him. hearing His heart for them. looking these kids in the eyes and speaking the truth that they are not overlooked, forgotten or worthless but in fact hold such value. so much value that He sent His Son to die on the cross for them. the God of the universe adores them and has an overflowing amount of love to drown them in. His heart is for them. He's the God of hope. He's the God of redemption and restoration. there is no unforgivable sin. the old is gone and the new has come. Yes and Amen. SO FUN!

It truly touched our hearts to look around at these kids who were in the midst of sharing an experience, creating fond memories, becoming an even closer community than they already are, and seeing a glimpse of how God sees them and the dreams He has for them away from the responsibilities they carry at home. Kids being kids. Beautiful. So thankful to be a part. Home away from home. :)

surf's up!!

You better believe it...we did it...although...I'm still not sure if I can say I've been surfing. hahaha! I went. I got the wet suit. I got the board. I went in the water. I rode a wave on my stomach. I rode a wave on my knees. But I did NOT ride a wave on my feet. As a matter of fact, every time I made it to my feet, I felt myself losing control so instead of trying to figure it out, I just screamed and voluntarily leaped off the board only to be reminded EVERY time that my ankle is actually strapped to the board. whoops!!

Tommy, on the other hand, immediately went into instructor mode for the rest of us who had never been! it was so so helpful!! He's such a surfer!! Are we surprised?? no way. He was even teaching me the simple things like how to win a battle between you and the wave. hahaha. (I was having problems fighting the waves just to get OUT to the waves...hahaha!) We did the whole...practice on the sand bit and everything. haha! 

Even though we couldn't feel our feet AT ALL by the end, it was so so fun! We had a blast and hope to get one more run in before we head home! 

braai.

“Braai” is Afrikaans for barbecue!! And they are obsessed with them here! Don’t worry…they still call BBQ sauce BBQ sauce…but don’t know what a BBQ is. That’s fine. J Except it is different. How, you ask? No gas!! Hahaha! They make fun of our BBQs because we use gas! Even charcoal is made fun of as taking the easy way out. Haha! Oh, the differences. Pretty sure pops gets a hard time back home for busting out the charcoal every now and then because it’s so old school. Haha! Honestly though, straight wood fire in the fire pit and grill. It’s so fun!!

Brief South African Culture Lesson!!

It’s customary to host someone new in town or new anywhere with a South African Braai! How fun is that?! So…we’ve enjoyed them to say the least…let’s just count them all, why don’t we?

#1 - when we first got here, Joe and Sarah (the people taking care of the house we’re in for the summer), hosted a braai for us at our house, invited friends here and we had a blast!

#2 – Lennell and I’s work had one for us our first week as well! On the rooftop of our building (pics to come)!

#3 – We had one for the Waco team when they came to visit!

#4 – Justin, a friend here, and his wife had a fish braai for us! It was yummy!! Borderline the best one we had…no, no…I think for sure it was the best.

#5 – 4^th of July!! You better believe we invited over all our American friends here in the Cape and had a good ol` Braai and listened to a whole lot of patriotic music. Duh!!

#6 – We had one for a couple of my favorites at work a few days ago – Christine and Dannese.

We’ve had more, but those are the ones we can think of off the top of our heads. J As you can see, we’ve definitely had way more guests than we ever imagined. We’ve just had more events than we ever assumed having to be quite honest. I mean…we’re in South Africa…we thought we’d be in our own little world for 9 weeks. WRONG. Haha!! Thank goodness b/c it’s been so fun meeting so many wonderful people and just sharing life, laughs and food with them!

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

We’re all so fearfully and wonderfully made…not only does that apply to our physical beauty, but how our inner beings are made…what skills we have to offer the world…what things, people, surroundings, etc spark our interest…how our brains work…so uniquely and differently from one another in order to truly come together, support one another and show Christ’s heart to the world.

Here’s one OF MANY examples…

A member of our team is an occupational therapist and has had the wonderful opportunity to come in contact with many children in Masi with disabilities, survey them, and help them! She has also had the chance to meet with their parents and talk to them about their child’s disability and offer advice and simple suggestions to their daily schedule in order to make life much easier for the child and the family as a whole! Not only has she had the chance to meet families as we’ve gone to houses within Masi, but she also got in contact with “Baby Safe.” Baby Safe is a ministry through All Nations who reaches out to families in these circumstances. Brooks actually got to go to a meeting and present some material for these people – including Baby Safe staff that could share with families they come in contact with as they are there for months and years to come as well as the parents of the children. I mean…what are the daggum chances? We just happen to have brought an OT on our team?! NO!! Not by chance!! Not only do we get to share God’s heart with them, but also God’s mind! It was such a practical experience, but totally ordained by God!! So many families have now been given knowledge that could transform their lives by our team simply sharing the education we’ve been given. Incredible. Life changing. Forever grateful. 

testimony time.

We met a man in the street. He initially seemed disinterested in what we were talking about. However, as we spoke to him, he became more interested in what we were saying. We asked him if he knew God, and he began talking about how God sometimes told him to stop drinking. We asked if we could pray for God to touch him and speak to him, and he said yes. As we began praying, God began pouring out truth to him. He is a good man, he is a leader in the community, he is not defined by guilt, he is a good spouse and father. After we finished praying, we asked him what God said, and he said God said to “stop the beer.” We talked to him about why this was important. We then asked him about having a relationship with Jesus and if he would like to do this. He said yes. He prayed to receive Christ. After he prayed, he said he felt calm and that God said “one wife is good.” 

Our Father is so kind and simple! He's full of truth to share with his children all over the world. come on! :)

seals. whales. sharks. dolphins. AND a man over board. really? okay, maybe not the man over board, but everything else, yup.

oh man...this was wild for sure. The seal island tour was LEGIT. basically...you get on a motorized raft boat and hit the water towards seal island. they warned us that it's not often that you see much else besides the seals, but keep your eyes out anyway. hahaha. WRONG.

on the way out, we kept mistaking kelp as anything really. once we got past that...all of a sudden this HUGE, SLIMY grayish, blueish color start submerging from the water and sure enough water shoots out of the now in vision, blow hole!!! WHAT?!?!?! clearly, that's when the freaking out began. i wish i had a picture of it...but it was literally over before i could realize what had happened.

next stop...seal island. omg...it smelled RANK. just foul. it literally sounded like we pulled up to a herd of sheep!??! crazy. they were so daggum cute though!! some were just playing -- sliding down the rock into the water over and over again!! haha! (jenny, if you were a seal...you'd be one of those...) before we started to head back to shore, there was a boat conducting what we've all seen on shark week. people cage diving!! so...clearly, we had to stop to see if we'd see anything since they were throwing chum right by them!! hahaha. AND WE DID!! just barely. just a fin. but it was terrifying enough for us!! we broke out in screams like a 4 year old at a haunted house. it was AWESOME.

now, for the trek back to shore...my favorite part. we were just minding our own business, taking our turns at trying to be THE whale whisperer and all of sudden we're in the midst of a POD OF DOLPHINS. it was incredible!! we're not talking like 10 or 20...we're talking HUNDREDS. (some people on our team say thousands...but I'm just not sure I can type that out with full confidence. hahaha.) i, of course, was so focused on trying to get a picture of one that by the time i looked up (away from the camera) and saw all of them, i almost lost all ability to breathe from sheer joy, excitement and confusion all coming to pass. hahahaha. they were EVERYWHERE. just soaring through the air, swimming under the boat, having the time of their lives, not at all disturbed by our 2 boats full of people FREAKING out. beautiful! they were BEAUTIFUL! as if that wasn't enough...God decided to give us one last surprise. after the excitement/panic of being in the midst of a pod of dolphins subsided...we commenced on our path to see another whale and andrew was rightfully deemed THE Whale Whisperer.

Andrew: Oh, I think I saw something!!

We all stand up, hold our breath, trying to see what he's talking about.

Torree: Are you sure? Was it a seal? or kelp?

Andrew: NO!! It was (motions hands to the size of a whale) THIS BIG!! Seriously!!

EVERYONE: OMG!!!!!! THERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!

The whale (aka submarine look alike) breached the top of the water and did its thing (aka blew out of its blow hole). It's like they move in slow motion, yet it goes by so quickly all at the same time. Crazy!!

All in all...we look back on it as quite the success and clearly, God's hand was all over it. It was so fun and a memory we'll remember forever!! laskdjf;adkljsf!!

streetfootballworld.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was coming up around the corner (2008) in sweet, sweet South Africa. They had a dream (not sure if it was actually a dream...but it's a great project, so I'm going to go ahead and say it was their dream...).

FIFA calls streetfootballworld and says, "Hey, here's our dream. Want to be a part?"

SFW: "Yeah, alright. We could do that."

FIFA: "Great, how does "Football for Hope" sound as the movement and "20 Centres in 2010" as the project within the movement?"

SFW: "Perfect. It's your dream. We'll just run with it."

streetfootballworld is an organization based in Berlin that uses football (aka soccer) to promote social issues all around the world. The Cape Town office was created for one purpose; that purpose being to fully own and see the “20 Centres in 2010” project to completion. The project's mission is basically to create 20 Football for Hope centres all across Africa -- 5 in South Africa, 15 around the rest of the continent. Each hope centre has two elements to it -- a pitch (aka a soccer field) and some type of infrastructure. The pitch is used to attract the kids whether via a soccer tournament or camp or even just as a place where everyone can meet after school to play, as everyone here loves the game of football!! The infrastructure is used to host different education opportunities. Each centre has a different focus, but most educate students about HIV/AIDS prevention, protection, causes and dangers. Some centres are geared towards kids with disabilities and others may focus on educating kids about technology in order that they may be given the chance to thrive outside the doors of their neighborhood and go on to further education. Regardless of the focus, the purpose of all the hope centres is to use soccer as an avenue to bring kids in to a community where they are given something that will benefit their lives forever that they normally wouldn't have had the chance to gain.  

How’d I get here??

Well, after the door of staying with my old job closed, I began to pursue an opportunity Lenny brought up to me MONTHS ago. When Lennell and Jason came to Cape Town in January, Jason got on board with an internship at the Human Rights Commission here in town and Lennell got hooked up with an architecture internship at Architecture for Humanity. AfH is all over the world, doing a multitude of projects and designs for communities that are in desperate need of improvement and opportunity. Naturally, the Cape Town AfH office’s only purpose is to design all the centres for the project. Once Lenny was offered an internship for the summer, he proceeded to look into SFW since he knew it sounded right up my alley. Long story short, I got an internship with SFW during my time here on M-W and have absolutely loved it!!

It's been so fun to see a new side of the business world. A side that intrigues me even more than before. The side that has a bigger purpose than just making money. It's incredible. I mean...there's no doubt I'm an intern as I've been given the grueling tasks of organizing the JACKED UP server, writing the quarterly newsletter, and other random, mini-projects. One day I put together a package and addressed it to STRAIGHT UP FIFA. FIFA?!?!?! hahahahaha. Then I laughed OUT LOUD when I realized I was freaking out about addressing a package. hahahaha. God knows our hearts so well. But seriously, even though my daily tasks aren't directly going towards the creation and sustaining of the hope centres, knowing I'm a part of something bigger...is so encouraging. SO FUN. I am literally a part of something that will change the lives of people forever.

On another note, God has been teaching me so much about what life looks like with Him in every realm. The phrase, "what do I have to lose" is on replay at all times. I literally have nothing to lose. There's so much freedom in that. It's absolutely beautiful. It's been so fun to go to work and talk to people about Jesus. It's so fun to see people's reactions when we tell them what we're doing here. "You quit your job?!?!" "You're here because God told you to come??" "That's wild..." "No offense, but don't you think America needs missionaries more than Africa?" hahaha. That was a good one. And it's so freeing because we have nothing to carry. Yeah, maybe America needs some help, but the world needs help. We all need Truth. The most effective thing we can do is be obedient. We carry nothing else, but to be obedient to what God says. That's why we're here. We know we miss it. We know we will miss it in the future, but as best and as quick as we can, we want to be obedient to what He says for us. “There is room in God’s heart for failure.” Let us not let fear of missing Him stop us! He has enough grace. He is grace. He cares so intimately about us that He has a specific plan and route He wants us to take. He has dreams beyond dreams for us. His children. His precious children. Let us step in and follow.

HERE'S TO A LIFE OF FOLLOWING HIS WORD!! HOLLA!! oh yeah...in the words of our fellow friends here in SA...CHEERS!!

                                          

                   Here I am at work!! haha! Check out downtown Cape Town in the back! :)