Mighty Men's Conference

This past Wednesday, I (Brent) was able to go to the Mighty Men’s Conference in Greytown, South Africa. I went with 8 boys and one caregiver from the New Hope Centre in Swaziland. We left Wednesday morning for the eight hour trip. This was to be the final MMC, and 400,000 men anticipated.

Seven years ago, the Mighty Men’s Conference started with 14 men led by farmer and evangelist Angus Buchan. The story of his faith and ministry is told in the book and movie “Faith like Potatoes”. The second year of MMC had 50 in attendance, and the following years grew to 700, then 2,000. Last year there were 200,000 men and as this year was the final meeting they were anticipating many more. This growth has come without any advertising or publicity campaigns. In recent years they have launched a website, but only to organize camping and registration for the event.

Each morning having the opportunity to wake up and see tents and men moving around, as far as the eye could see, was something I could not adequately take a picture of or describe in words. Having the additional knowledge that each man was there to search for and hear from God more than awesome. The focus of the week was Men of the Watchtower, the premise being that we as men have been called to stand watch against the enemy in our homes, communities and churches. We are the ones called to blow the trumpet to alert everyone of the presence of incoming enemies.

When talking to other men at the conference they offered me an interesting perspective concerning the magnitude of this event. 400,000 men represent nearly 20% of the white South African male population. And in a time of real testing with new issues in the country, Angus spoke for all when he said, “men are coming to this place for answers from God”.

We arrived Wednesday night at dark and set up camp. Think about how challenging that would be with eight boys under 14! For the next few days, we were able to camp and attend the conference that started on Friday and went through Sunday. (four services) I have never been in such a large group of people, let alone men.

If you want to know more about this event and resources associated with it you can search on the internet thru Google “Mighty Men’s Conference South Africa 2010”
For those of you that knew I was going on this trip and prayed specifically for safety and hearing from God your prayers were answered (Glory to God!!!!!) and for those that continue to life Michaele and I up in general your prayers were answered this past week as well.

Ndubazi Church Update

This Update was sent specifically to the team from BFC (Plus Matt Bunnell) that came in March concerning ongoing and exciting work at the church our ministry focused on..

Enjoy!!

Last week we received a call from Reverend Mahlalela (South District Superintendent), asking us to come visit the Ndubazi church. We hoped that the congregation had been meeting in the new building, but he told us they had not yet. We were disappointed, but understand that it can be very cold without doors or windows now that winter season is coming. We did agree to come down to Ndubazi today (Monday April 19). We have been working to get additional groups involved to get the church finished, but that would not require us to be there in person. We usually are able to talk on the phone or when Reverend Mahlalela is in Manzini. So we were just curious as to the purpose of our visit.

When we got down south we met at Rev Mahlalela’s home and we loaded into the car with Mrs. Mahlalela and drove the short dirty road to Ndubazi. On the way there they talked the good memories of the team and the success of the projects. And then we arrived at the church..

When we first arrived I looked up the road and saw Babe Masuko walking down to us. We greeted each other and then began to walk to the church and as I looked in the open windows I saw… a poured, finished, concrete floor!!!!!

In the weeks since the team has left the church has been working hard. The walls have been completed with plaster and the entire floor has been poured – even the back rooms. There was much rejoicing today!! We could not believe what was in front of our eyes and were excited to see what God is continuing to do there in Ndubazi. With pride Babe Masuko and Rev Mahlalela walked us through the church on a hard smooth concrete floor. I still remember the few days that the men of our team and Ndubazi worked hard to get that floor leveled and now it is completed. Babe Masuko also shared with us that he has ordered and made plans for the installation of all window frames, complete with burglar bars.

This is exciting news that we wanted to share ASAP.
With this tremendous work it is going to take much less to complete the church!

Additional needs at the church:
Payment for window frames and burglar bars
Window panes
Doors
Plaster of the outside (only 12 more bags of cement will be needed)
Final labor payment for plastering of the outside and installing the windows
Paint for walls inside and out

The total cost to complete the church now looks to be about $2,000 USD instead of our original higher expectation, which was a much larger number.

We wanted to share this exciting news with you all and let you know how the work that was started is being taken to completion by the hands of our brothers and sisters here in Swaziland.

In Transit

Greetings to all!!

We have just had a great two weeks with our family (Brents Mom and Dad as well as Michaele's brother Caleb). It was such a rich time and a great honor to have them see and experience things that God has allowed us to be apart of in Swaziland. They are now all safely home and getting back to the things that they do on a daily basis (hopefully jet lag is not to bad on them).

This week Brent leaves to take some boys from New Hope Center to the Mighty Men's conference in South Africa and Michaele takes part in a Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Conference here in Swaziland.

Please pray for safety as we travel and for God's strength as we continue preparations for the three teams that are coming to serve here in May.

More updates to come soon!!

March BFC GO Team

Thank you for all who prayed for us and the team during the last weeks. It was a wonderful ten days of service and learning and transformation. The two major projects were the finishing of a church building at Ndubazi, and the painting of a nearby school. The compassion team also led school assemblies and VBS’s for nearly 2,000 children by the end of the week. The medical team spent time at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital, visiting clients of the HIV/ AIDs Task Force, and at a clinic day with The Luke Commission.

Joy is a nurse who was a member of this team. She shared very honestly one night that the whole trip seemed like a roller coaster to her. Sometimes she felt like she had nothing to give, other times she was overjoyed that she was able to be present and serve. I think she spoke for all of us.

Some of the places we’ve been – both with the team and by ourselves – are so hard and heartbreaking that we feel overwhelmed with hopelessness. It is sometimes a struggle to see where God is working in the middle of so much pain and suffering and chaos. And it is intensely uncomfortable to watch it all and feel unable to fix it. Yet I firmly believe, and it has been confirmed in the past week, that until we are uncomfortable God is not able to change us.

I praise God for the Ndubazi Church of the Nazarene having a roof and plastered walls. I praise God for the Nyamane school having fresh paint, new school supplies, and a beautiful mural. I praise God that nearly 2,000 children saw His love in the songs, games, crafts and faces of ten Americans. I praise God for the encouragement brought to doctors, nurses and pastors of our Nazarene institutions.

But my heart swells with excitement and gratitude when I think about the unseen, but much longer-lasting, effects of this week. I was able to witness the transformation of hearts and minds. I was able to see people being broken and others being healed. I was able to watch God shape and mold his children to look more like Christ, and to see the world a little more like Christ sees it.

I know the Swazis are grateful for our presence and the work we’ve done. I know they feel they need us. However, I think our whole team has been reminded this past week that we desperately need our Swazi brothers and sisters. We need the lessons God teaches us through them. We need the opportunity to serve and see Jesus’ face in those who are sick, hungry and without clothes (Matthew 25:35-36). And we desperately need the experience of going to give, and coming back having received much more.

BFC March GO Team

Tomorrow (Friday March 12) a team of 21 people arrive from Bethany First Church to spend 11 days in Swaziland. We have been working hard to get everything ready for them -- all the housing and transportation logistics, project plans and costs, and all the events the team will be a part of. This will be our third team since we've been in Swaziland, and it's nice to feel like we know a little bit about what we're doing this time! Although of course this past week has still had many unforeseen adventures and obstacles in leading up to this point. But hey, it's Africa! That's what makes it fun.

While the team is here, the majority of their time will be spent in the Shiselwini area, the South District of the Swaziland Church of the Nazarene. Outside a large southern town, in an area called Ndubazi, there is a small church of 36 people who have been meeting in a small structure made of something a little thicker than cardboard. Several years ago, a member of the church bought a kombi (mini-bus used for public transportation), and has used the profits of this small transport business to build a proper church building. With these funds and congregation coordination, the foundation and walls are finished.

Our team has the awesome privilege of helping this group of dedicated believers finish their church building! They will putting up the roof, finishing the floor inside, and helping with finishing of doors and windows. Their pastor is a retired woman minister who goes by Gogo (Grannie) Rebecca. She has a fiery spirit and a radiant smile bursting out of her small stature and aging features. She keeps saying we are a blessing for their church, but I know each of us will be blessed after working alongside her for one week.

Other members of the team will be doing painting at two local schools, school assemblies and Bible clubs. We will also spend a day visiting HIV positive clients from the Task Force. It's going to be a full, tiring, but wonderful week.

Please join us in prayer March 12 - 21:
- safe travels as the team goes throughout South Africa and Swaziland
- safety for the construction crew as they work on the roof
- pray that deep relationships will be made between Americans and Swazis
- pray for the Ndubazi community and church, that they will be reminded of God's great love for them this week
- pray that the Holy Spirit will have ultimate authority to move and change his people, even if it goes against our schedule

Sunday February 21

Sunday 2/21/2010

5:30 am : Woken up by a phone call from Brent’s dad telling us that our first nephew, Graham Rylan Howe had been born and was healthy.

8;50 am: About ten minutes before we leave the house for church, Brent received another call from our landlady and friend, Val, asking if we could help out Elvis. Elvis is a groundskeeper on the mission and we have a good relationship with him. He’s getting married in a few weeks, and Val said he needed help picking up the cow.

9:15 am: Brent and Elvis hook up the trailer to the B3. (The new name for our vehicle: the Blue BFC Bakkie [Bakkie is pronounced “buckey” and is Afrikaans for a truck]).

9:30 am: Brent, Michaele and Elvis head out to Luve where Michaele is preaching. The cow is apparently not far from Luve, so we planned on picking it up after church.

10:15 am: We attended Sunday School, Michaele led NYI, then Brent played guitar for worship and Michaele preached. We visited with the pastor and his wife, drank some Coke and ate some biscuits.

1:30 pm: Head to Dvolkolwako (about 45 minutes from Luve in the opposite direction of home) to pick up the butchered cow for Elvis’s wedding feast, which is not until March 6. On the way we found out that the cow had been wounded and so needed to be killed early.

2:15 pm: Arrive at the homestead where the cow was butchered. The skin was laid out over a large metal tub, still freshly bloody. One leg could be seen beside the skin, which was just a bone all but the ankle which still had hair and the hoof. Beside it were the horns, which had been removed from the skull. The rest of the cow was lying in pieces on the ground under a tree. Michaele took pictures as Brent tried to be helpful yet really wanting to keep his distance. Three members of the homestead bagged up the meat in any kind of plastic bag available, and loaded them into the trailer. Not wanting to watch too closely, Michaele played with three toddlers who were fascinated by the camera.

3:00 pm: Leave Dvolkolwako, picking up one more passenger from the homestead who needed a lift. We drive to Matsapha, passing our house on the way, in order to drop the meat off at Elvis’s fiance’s places, which has a deep freezer.

4:15 pm: As we’re getting close to Matsapha, we realize that the cell phone network is down so Elvis cannot contact his fiancé to let her know we are coming.

4:30 pm: Arrive in Matsapha and wait on the side of the road until a plan can be formulated.

4:40 pm: A man in a pick up truck (bakkie) pulls up and says we can put the meat in his truck. Elvis says this is a good plan. But we offered to take the meat wherever it needed to go, so we follow the bakkie up a winding, washed out dirt road into a densely populated area of Matsapha.

4:50 pm: After having driven too far past the drop off point, Brent spends 10 minutes trying to back up with the trailer and turn around in a narrow, crowded street.

5:00 pm: Even though we thought the meat was going to be put into someone’s house, it’s actually transferred to the back of the bakkie we had followed. Needless to say this could have been done earlier, without the crowd watching and on a much better road.

5:05 pm: Michaele and Brent head home alone, since Elvis needed to stay and sort out the meat situation.

5:30 pm: Arrive at home, tired and hungry and laughing.

8:00 pm: Saw our nephew on SKYPE for the first time and got to talk to Matt and Beth for a while.

.....We decided to wait to later to tell them what we were doing during Graham’s first day of life.

Kings and Kingdoms

A few months ago (hard to think that it was only a few months) as we were preparing to leave for Swaziland, we were packing and our neighbor came over to talk to us. He was kindly cautioning us to think more about this decision to move to Africa and volunteer. At the time I (Brent) was impressed by God to remember that He has risen up and deposed Kings, and He has more than enough resource and power to take care of us. At the time that was the message that I felt that God wanted me to be speaking and living.

Since then our Lord has been proving himself daily. First and foremost He has proven himself by using the people of God to provide for us and pray for us. We have received more in prayer and financial support than we could have ever imagined. God has thus far given us favor with, and a great love for, the people that we have worked with both in Swaziland and in America. Also our God has protected us as we have crossed many miles in Africa and crossed the borders so many times.

This past week has involved a lot of challenges here on the ground as well as questions beginning to arise for when our service here is over. Yet at the end of this week, I feel that God wants me to say out loud…and proclaim to those that will listen (or read), that our God is the one who created the universe. Our God knew these brief days that I would be on this earth before I was born. And the one true God whom we serve has raised and deposed kings in a moment’s time. Our God can and will take care of each of us as we serve Him and wholeheartedly surrender ourselves to His direction.

Please be praying for

- Wisdom as we plan for many teams to arrive in Swaziland over the next few months
- A new passion to serve and to “wash feet”
- Open eyes to see what God is doing here
- An increasing faith in our Lord that the more we lean on him the stronger we are
- God’s guidance and wisdom as we begin to think about what is next