Our country is stricken with the AIDS pandemic because of lack of knowledge and low moral values. These past two weeks we have given ourselves to serve the young people of Uitenhage with a program called Beat the Drum.

We start off by showing the Beat the Drum movie, a Hollywood production, to the group of kids we will work with for the week. The rest of the week we discuss various issues and topics such as relationships, values, sex, AIDS, rape and God's love for each of them. Every person gets a workbook in a magazine form which they work out of. During the week we also show a shorter video called In Your Face. It is informative on AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, and challenges young people to abstain from sex before marriage.

The first school I went to was McCarthy High. We paired up and Ashley and I got to work with two of their Gr 8 classes. Iit was truly a blessed time. The kids wrote us letters about their situations and problems, and it was an honour to be a channel through which God can help them. The last day more than 40 kids in the whole grade came to the front when we asked who wanted to dedicate their lives to Christ. And I know that a great number of the Gr 8 group chose this week not to sleep with anyone before they get married.

This week we are ministering to the Gr 10s of Limekhaya High School. On Monday we showed them the Beat the Drum movie, and it truly touched a lot of people. Some girls even cried during the parts in the movie that is so sad, but so real in South Africa. The next day we met our classes, handed them their workbooks and shared with them some stories and teachings on the movie, values and actions. We encouraged them to write us letters on any questions, problems or situations that they need help with. Some letters broke my heart as these young people shared their deepest secrets with us, asking just to be helped and to feel loved and whole again. Today we had a seperate guy and girl talk. Ashley and I spoke to the girls about some serious girl stuff such as relationships, love, AIDS and rape. God put such a love in my heart for these pretty, special girls who are afraid to love, afraid to care and afraid to dream what they want to become one day. I pray that God will surround them with His arms of love, healing their broken hearts and whispering in their ears the amazing and colourful dreams that He has for their future.

During our time in Uitenhage, Cathy and I stay with a lovely lady named Hanna. She blesses us every day with a home filled with friendliness, tasty home-made meals, coffee and company.

                        Here I am with her two granddaughters                                           This photo I took just outside of her house

Jambo! (Hello in Swahili) We are in Arusha, Tanzania, having a truly blessed time here. Staying in the community at the church, we are meeting so many amazing people and we are able to share the gospel and God's love with a lot of adults and kids. The scripture verse about the harvest being plentiful and the workers being few is so true of Arusha.

God has done many miraculous things these past few days. We have seen a few people come to Christ, and some of us and the local church members are discipling them to grow closer and closer to God. A little girl who is crippled was brought before God through our prayer and fasting, and she is getting better and better. She recently were able to stand up on her own and walk! Another boy prayed with us for his father, an alcoholic. He has reported that even though his father is still not a Christian, he has stopped drinking. I just want to give God all the glory. He is blessing His people in Arusha with so many blessings out of heaven.

We are experiencing so much of their culture: here we are stripping corn for samp for us to eat. We were also invited to a wedding, which was very interesting and fun, with choirs singing, ladies dancing African dances, a marching band, and of course a beautiful bride and bridegroom.

A wonderful lady we met, Alice, runs a daytime orphanage for kids who lost their parents because of AIDS. Many mornings I went there together with some of the locals and the World Racers. In the mornings the kids are just as excited to see us, as we are to see them. We would fill their days with songs, games and stories, and in return be filled with love and joy beyond measure as they begin to smile, laugh and just enjoy life. God is using me as a medium to love these kids with His abundant love, and they thrive on that. Just to sit on your lap, or hold your hand or hug them, brings so much joy into their lives.

Thank you for your support and prayers. Keep on praying that God's will may be done in Arusha, that many more people will be added unto God's kingdom and experience His love.

And be assured in your faith that God is truly God, still able to do miracles, and interested in every intricate detail of your life, and the lives of those around you. Do not miss out on any oppurtunity you have to share God with others.

Blessings in Christ

Liesl

Before coming to Tanzania, we decided on simple community living this month - as cheap as possible, and sharing resources. We also decided to trust God in providing and caring for us. Little did we know how much of a reality these two statements would be...

In the early hours of the morning of 2 September our plane landed on Kenyan soil. We waited excitedly for our luggage, so that we could walk under the African sun yet again (Egypt felt more like Middle East) and meet the people who would tell us what God is doing in the African church, and how we could serve them. Our fellow airplane passengers came with empty trolleys and went away happily with their bags. And we waited. And the conveyorbelt became empty. And we waited. And the sign changed to read another flight number. And we waited. Only three of the 12 World Racers going to Tanzania received their bags. The other nine bags? Probably somewhere between Iceland and Gordonia by now.

At the Lost Baggage counter we were told our bags could be here maybe tomorrow, maybe in 4 days, maby later. So we decided to go on ahead to Arusha, Tanzania, to start our ministry, and then let them send our bags to the airport closest to Arusha.

That meant that Estee, Clara, Anna Marie, Jessica S, Kim L, Sarah R, Lana and I have to live out of Lana's bag for an unknown period of time. Lloyd and Stefan have to share all their belongings with Dude and Jacques. (thus we are forced into simple community living). The airlinealso gave money for every person missing a bag, so that they can buy what they need to live on. (thus God provided)!

Later that day we met up with Piniel, a Swahili brother in Christ. We were then taken to a church in Arusha - our home and ministry base for the next three weeks. The next morning, Sunday morning, all 8 girls were dressed in Lana's clothes, ready for church.

The church service was filled with emotion as Africans sang, dances and laughed because of God's joy; and wept because of their sins. We sang to them a few of our English songs. They replied with a Swahili worship song as their choir danced to the beat.

We also visited the Bible school at a nearby village. Their course is 6 months long, and teaches students everything from Bible knowledge to church planting. At 3 am every morning they wake up for 3 hours of prayer before their teachings begin. 5000 people have already been trained here, all in Swahili.

Luckily we received our bags on Monday night, and through this we came closer to one another and really experienced community living where if one person finds a useful item in their daybag, everyone rejoices and uses it. God is faithful!

Our main goal here in Arusha will be helping the local church, a very young church, in growing, evangelizing and serving the community. The last few days we have gone door-to-door sharing the gospel and encouraging believers.

Please pray for our time here, that we may walk in the will of God, and hear His voice. Also for our protection and health.

Greetings in Christ

       Experiencing Egypt!       
                            
      

The great desert heat greeted us warmly, "Welcome to Egypt". In Cairo we met up with a missionary, and as an introduction we got our first traditional Egyptian meal, take away, to eat on the Nile. We were also prepared for our time in a town called Qussia, where we will be spending the next ten days.

In concern for our safety, a police escourt accompanied us to Qussia. The endless desert, and a few camels and donkeys reminded me yet again that I am in Egypt, the country where Moses and the Israelites wandered through for 40 years. Since then this Biblical country has changed a lot. The remaining Christians are even persecuted and treated unfairly because of their lasting faith.

We stayed in the bishop's house, or rather palace, and were treated like kings and queens. The youth of the church were busy with an art project on Revelation, so I helped them as they painted and drawed, shaped and cut, chatted and laughed. I made some good friends, and learned a lot from them.

 
 

In the evenings I taught an English class at the church, together with 5 other World Racers. We also went to the ERC meetings, which is the English Readers' Club. Amongst the discussions we had, was an interesting one about freedom, what it is and if all Christians are free in Christ, even though they are slaves to righteousness. I enjoyed it so much to hear the Egyptian Christians' opinions and views on different subjects, to share my own opinion, and to teach them English.

Our group was taken on a tour through the old monastery and church, experiencing their culture even more. Their summer program was running, so we saw the kids choirs practising their Arabic songs for the finals.

      

We had the privilege to attend 3 church services in the time we were there, and also to listen to two sessions of teachings from the respected and honoured bishop Thomas. It was amazing to be able to see the life and culture of these people, and to help and encourage them in their walk with Christ. God truly touched both their hearts and ours, joining us all together as a united body of Christ with the main purpose of loving and serving God.

 

The summer camps in Bosnia has come to an end for 2006, but the works of God will continue in the many people He touched during these few weeks.

We started off with setting up camp five weeks ago, in a beautiful valley near the town of Konjic. The long term team prepared the campsite physically and spiritually for the camps. Showers, toilets and tents were set up, a coffee shop was built, a kitchen and office was set up, God's blessings were prayed down, we seeked His face and His will, and we worshiped and praised God for all that He is going to do in the camps.

                                            

Then we had a prayer camp where more people from all over Bosnia and the rest of the world joined us by dedicating the camps to God, truly seeking His will. God blessed us with many promises of doing a new thing, and that the time of revival in the church in Bosnia is near.

After prayer camp the camp site were filled with youth from ages 18 to 25. It was wonderful to see the fellowship between young people from around the world as the sing to one God, dance before Jesus and dedicate their lives to Christ. I made many close friends, and I will miss them a lot. But I thank God for uniting His bride, and for blessing so many people to worship Him as one body of Christ. The Bosnian Worship Team filled the air with praise, we danced before God with traditional Hebrew dances we learned, and listened to powerful teachings from pastors all over Bosnia. In our teams we did a lot of fun team activities, we all had amazing fellowship around the camp fire, and I percieved many lives as God changed, healed and captivated people with His beauty.

Then came the teenager camp (ages 13 - 18). The theme was the Olympics, and the country we chose for our team was Israel. As the campers got you nger, the language barrier got bigger, but God taught me how to show His love without words, and just to pray to Him when everybody started speaking Bosnian. We did a lot of sports and adventure activities, sometimes really challenging the teenagers, and through that God did amazing things as well. A lot of them overcame their fears and really started to open up towards us and God. One of the highlights would be the Ironman Competition where they were paired up and had to go through 17 challenges like building a fire high enough to burn a string put up above the ground, crawl underneath a net, and figure out a brain teaser. God says that His Words will not return to Him empty, and I believe that He will finish the work He started in the lives of some of these teens.

Kids camp!!! The theme of our last camp was Jerusalem Marketplace. We were divided into the 12 tribes of Israel, and I was in the tribe of Dan. Every day we held a Jerusalem market for the kids, with a Biblical drama, as well as activities such as harp making, pottery, weaving and carpentry. We had a chance to share the gospel with all these kids, many who come from  non-Christian backgrounds. The kids enjoyed going to the lake, playing sports and doing activities. Also worhiping God, learning new songs and making new friends. God blessed our time with the kids, and many of them went home changed by the Creator.