zooming in

after climbing legogote, i thought i might give you a better picture of where everything's located when i speak of nelspruit, asm, hands village, or masoyi.

to start off, this is south africa.

330 km east of johannesburg (~3-hour drive) is nelspruit, the capital of mpumalanga province. asm is located near white river which is just north of nelspruit.

this is a panoramic view from legogote. on the left, you can see the general area of asm and hands village, while on the right, you can see the masoyi community.

taking a closer look, there's hands and asm.

closer still, you can see that asm, hands, and acts clinic are all in the vicinity of each other. westmont is the cottage at asm in which my housemates and i lived during my first month's stay in south africa. now i'm living up at the dorms at hands across the road.

tour of hands village (still under construction) and asm:

above is the building where the main lounge, kitchen, and dining area are located. to its right and left are the dormitories accommodating long-term and short-term volunteers.

this is one of the two hallways leading to dorm rooms.

the room i share with alisha right now. i'll be moving again next week! (into another room with another roommate.)

the path leading out of hands village.

the road down to asm which is located on the left in the above photo.

beautiful trees on the way :)

entrance to asm. he wanted his photo taken :)

as you can see, acts clinic is right across the main gate of asm.

the building where offices are located. payphones are found at the balcony above the offices with which people can make international phone calls.

a closer look.

inside view of one of the offices. this is the only place where i can use the internet. internet access is becoming more difficult as it isn't allowed to walk across alone on the road at night from hands to asm.

soccer field below the hill where the offices are located. soccer games are held every sunday. you can see mount legogote behind.

swimming pool which is utilized by many on hot days.

path leading away from the soccer field towards westmont.

area where the girls and i lived and where lynn and jamye (missionaries from canada) currently live.

westmont cottage!

random tractor and hand-made concrete table outside the cottage. george was telling us how he had to roll the round concrete table top down the hill.

random flower that was growing outside the cottage. all the girls were fascinated by it; we wondered if it was real.

clothes being dried behind the cottage.

entrance to the cottage.

view inside. to your right is the kitchen; to the left through the door would be my room (photos were taken just before moving out).

kitchen... and alisha's chocolate wheat crisps on the counter :d

my room that i shared with emily. you can also see alisha and jessie's room through the door above the stairs.

view of my side of the room. you could often see monkeys outside the window climbing trees or munching on things.

another view walking out of the door.

walking across asm.

unfinished business

this past saturday, a group of us from hands decided to climb mount legogote, a five-minute drive from asm. apparently, the last time a couple of people from hands decided to climb legogote, they ended up getting lost at night while trying to come back down. a rescue team (i.e. two guys from petra college which is located on mount legogote) had to come fetch them after five hours of the groups' meandering.

and so, this trip was, in a way, for some to redeem themselves from the previous hike -- "taking care of unfinished business," as one put it.

the view from the summit was beautiful, but the journey there was excruciatingly intense. it wasn't a simple hike as i imagined it to be -- lot of sunscreen-applying, a lot of rock-climbing, a lot of huffing and puffing. while i'm glad i finally got to climb legogote, i would have second thoughts if asked to climb it again ;)

walking up the trail in legogote.

there were a lot of thorny bushes along the way.

lize-marie, our exemplary afrikaaner. she works in the finance office.

jon, alisha, and callan stopping to take a break.

darryl, reminds me of steve irwin here.

the end of straight paths and the beginning of... rocks.

melody and darryl smiling from above.

the more adventurous few.

finally reached the summit!

incredible view of masoyi.

enjoying snacks provided by alisha.

crispy rocks.

fuzzy rocks.

how did he get there?

enjoying the shade.

basking in the sun.

alisha contemplating.

paul, another afrikaaner.

our entire group! (minus emily)

this was a bit disturbing. the guys shooting dried animal excrement out of their mouths *_*

maj and the authentic cave paintings we found :)

Jehovah Jireh

lately, i've been contemplating on a sermon i heard a couple of weeks ago. the pastor at new covenant church in nelspruit was depicting God as the ultimate Provider, drawing his main points from 1 kings 17:1-16. the passage tells of God's provision during elijah's travels, how God provides food through unlikely means -- ravens and a widow in zarephath who essentially has very little to give.

points that the pastor makes:

(1) who is your true source of provision?

the israelites suffer through a drought during ahab's reign, and many choose to worship baal for provision. the name, baal, means lord (lower-cased l), and he represents the false god of fertility. on the other hand, "elijah" means "He is God" or "the Lord is God," the name emphasizing that our God is the true God. our lives must focus on that fact and that God alone is our source. don't be lured by the things of this world, the pastor says. we can subtly allow these things to creep into our lives and believe that they will somehow bless us. but God has a kingdom that cannot be shaken. know this in your heart.

(2) God always has a channel. it doesn't matter how tough situations are, God will make a way of getting His supply to you. God allows for the channel to go dry sometimes, but He finds another channel for you.

we must also be careful that we don't despise the channels. ravens were considered unclean birds in the eyes of the israelites, but God wanted to use even those creatures to provide, while other people were worshipping baal for food and rain. rejoice, and take the channel.

every believer has been called to be a channel of blessings to others so that God's blessings can flow through us freely. the widow could've held onto the bread, but God blessed the channel far more because she had become a channel. it's easy to be a channel if you know that God is your source, not the flour jar; you can give it away easily.

(3) God's provision is very often not given in a big deposit. why didn't God just pour down bread and meat for elijah? it's God's strategy so that we can learn that God is our constant source. we get so anxious about tomorrow, but even in matthew 6, Jesus prays to God, "give us this day our daily bread." you don't have the grace to cope with tomorrow's worries today. God gives grace for today, and you trust God for tomorrow.

Haggai 1:9 says, "you looked for much, and behold, it came to little. and when you brought it home, I blew it away..."

God provides as He gives, not as we hold. He didn't fill up the jar first: only after the widow scooped out of the jar, God filled it up. when times are tough, we tend to hold, but God tells us to give.

our part, then, is to:

(1) put God first. we have this image of Christ knocking on the door of our hearts. we let Him in, but we don't realize that He comes through the door with His crown on. we tend to say to Christ, "in my house, i wear my own crown. leave your crown outside;" we only go so far as to view Christ as our ticket to heaven. but we must understand that Jesus comes into our lives with His crown on, and He comes in to reign. as the widow had done, we must first give up what we have in order for God to open a channel. we have to seek first His kingdom, not His blessings.

(2) we must be radically obedient to the Word of God.

(3) trust God. luke 12:24 says, "consider the ravens; they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. of how much more value are you than birds?" God feeds the ravens and allows the lilies in the fields to grow; then surely, God will look after us. He is pleased to do that.

by following these things, we will ultimately be a testimony to this world. when the world's economy goes down as it is right now, we will not be shaken because we know that our God is the true God and He alone is our provider.

***

this essentially has been a summary of my convoluted notes from the message. and although it's already been two weeks since hearing the sermon, there is still so much to chew, digest, and understand. many times, i want to communicate these things to the people in the community, but many more times, i can't seem to find a place to start or even find the right words to explain.

***

most appropriately, though, in remembrance of God's provision, the hands community will be celebrating thanksgiving tonight.

Canadian thanksgiving.

change of direction

wow. it's been a long time since i've last updated!

lots of news to share with you:

(1) my housemates and i moved out of the house from asm to the dorms in the new hands' village across the road. it's a lot less cozy because of the walls of separation (literally), but we're interacting with more people from the organization. :)

(1) i've finally been assigned to my project location. much, much, MUCH to my surprise, i'll be going to... (dun dun dunnnn)

MOZAMBIQUE!!

i was almost certain that i would be going to zambia for the rest of the year, so this news really knocked the wind out of me. the other footprinters and i met with george and carly two days ago, and they told us that we would actually be split up into pairs. the other pair, as planned, will be leaving for zambia... next week! my partner (jessie) and i will be leaving for mozambique in early january, actually; the training period has been extended to the end of november/beginning of december, winter break will be held for two to three weeks, and i'll be preparing to leave in january.

i was in total shock when i first heard the news because this implies many things. first, our group of four will be split up into two. the dynamics of our relationships will completely change, and we would have to adjust to working with only one other person for the rest of the year. second, mozambique is markedly different from zambia, not only in terms of country history and lifestyle, but the projects themselves. whereas the volunteers going into zambia will be the very first footprints intake into that region, my partner and i will be the fourth or fifth intake of volunteers into mozambique. there will already be a set system of doing things, and we would probably be assigned to ongoing projects. third, i'll be having to learn portuguese! i'm looking forward to this; learning another language is always fun. fourth, my partner and i will be spending more time in south africa. and finally, well, ya know, it's mozambique!

at the beginning of training, after hearing that going to mozambique would probably not be a possibility for this year of intakes, i soaked in that fact, laid down my own desires, changed my perspective, and was getting pumped up for zambia. it feels like i'm being halted on that train, being pulled back to the starting point, and getting ready to ride in another train. i'm in a state of mixed emotions. overwhelmed? yes. excited? yes. nervous? yes. sad? yes. (we're splitting up!)

after the meeting, all i could say was,

wow, God.

WOW.

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- Proverbs 27:1