Life Lessons from Living in South Africa:The Mist

There is a natural phenomenon that happens in my area.

It creeps up on you and then you can't see a thing.

This natural phenomenon is what we Hillcrestians call "The Mist".

This "mist" does not occur anywhere else in Durban, 

but when you get to Hillcrest you see it.

It might be a very beautiful. clear day with not a cloud in site.

Then, you can feel the weather shift rapidly.

You look out your window and see this.

Here it comes!

Once it has arrived, the "mist" makes it hard to see anything.

The "mist" reminds me of how satan attacks us sometimes.

Life can be going well, but then all of a sudden a "mist" rolls in.

The "mist" (satan's attack), makes it hard to see through the darkness.

This attack seems to cover our life making it feel dark and dreary.

Praise God for His Word to light our path!  

Use God's Word to help you  and lead you through the hard times!

Recently, while reading my devotions, 

the Lord made the following verse stick out to me:

 "For thou wilt light my candle: 

the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness." 

Psalm 18:28

MERRY CHRISTMAS from sunny South Africa !

Well , some of you have probably been wondering

 what Christmas is like in South Africa.

Christmas is HOT!!!!

Most South African Christians celebrate Christmas 

by attending a Christmas service.

Our church

(Enjoy a few pictures I took in my neighbor's garden on Christmas Day,

 while I tell you more about Christmas here in South Africa.)

We had a Christmas Morning Service at 9am.

During the service, we sang the Christmas carols 

and read the Christmas story from Luke 2 & Matthew 1&2.

Our service was packed and it was very hot in the building.

I wonder if this guy is any relation to the Christmas beetle? (heee, hee!)

After service, the families exchanged a few homemade presents 

and we went our separate ways for  Christmas dinner.

The Demarests and I enjoyed Christmas meal together 

since we are the only family each other has on this side of the world.

We ate - turkey breast, mashed potatoes, green bean cassarole, 

corn pudding, stuffing, sweet potatoes,

 and had cream cheese pie with cherries (from the States) on top.

After lunch, Robbin and I played a round of Phase 10,

while pastor enjoyed watching some football in between his cat naps

(Shh, don't tell him I told you that!   :)   )

The afternoon meant that our families in the States 

were just waking up on Christmas morning.

So we parted ways to talk to our families.

My family lives on the East Coast, 

but the Demarest's family is West Coast and MidWest.

 So, I had to wait a little longer to talk to my family.

That was okay, because I got to take a nap.

What a blessing it is to see and hear your family on Christmas Day!

I got to talk to my mom, dad, brother, cousin, aunt & uncle.

I felt like I was there with them!

Thank the Lord for modern technology and that my internet was working!

Most South Africans celebrate Christmas different than us.

After church, they may gather with family, 

each family bringing part of the meal and all contributing a different meat to the feast - one will bring lamb, another turkey, ham, gammon, duck,....  

They cook their meat ahead or brai (barbeque) there

 and bring cold salads to share.  

They know how to enjoy a hot day by eating cooler things 

and going swimming in the afternoon!

Christmas Cracker

Some South Africans open Christmas Crackers at mealtime.  

The first time I heard of Christmas crackers,

 I thought it was special crackers to eat at Christmas, but it is not. 

 They are little tubes filled with sweats and treats, wrapped in pretty Christmas paper and then "Cracked" open by each pulling an end. What a fun tradition!!!

Well,that is all I will share for now about Christmas here in South Africa.

Wishing you a very

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

from Gina in sunny South Africa!

Life Lessons from Living in South Africa- Roaches: a Lesson on Faith

Before moving to South Africa,

I knew that there would me a number of strange and exotic bugs and creatures that I would come in contact with.

Now, I am a country girl.

So, seeing spiders...

...and killing snakes are not really a strange thing to me.

Speaking of strange...

When I arrived here I met a number of strange creatures.

When I bought my car,

I didn't realize that there would be a hidden surprise

 that came along with it.

I opened the trunk (or for you South Africans "boot"),

about a week after I had the car and found this ----EWWWEEEE!!!

If there is anything I the world I don't like, it is roaches.

They creep and they crawl and the only time you know they

are there is if you find one dead!

After getting over the worry of one crawling in my mouth while I was sleeping,

I realized that I just had to prepare for the possibility of roaches

 by periodically spraying all of my cupboards.

What lesson can we learn from the roaches?

Well, as I pondered the new roach problem, 

I thought about how the dead roaches are evidence of things not seen.

Sound familiar?!?

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

 the evidence of things not seen."

Hebrews 11:1

Yep, the roach teaches us about faith.

We never realize how important our faith is until the "evidence" shows up.

Does your life show evidence of that unseen faith?

I have to admit that many times my faith is a bit waning.

There are times when God brings me through a trial 

and I become a surprised in how well I deal with it.  

There it is - the "evidence of things not seen"!

That's faith!

Don't Monkey Around

While I was studying for the up coming 5-Day Kid's Bible Club, 

I heard a ruckus outside.

I looked out my window.

"What could it be?"

There it was again- crashing and thrashing.

The sound of avocados hitting the ground.

The neighborhood dogs were barking.

There I see it!

There it goes again!

You guessed it - a monkey!

(actually a whole family of monkeys)

This is an adult Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus).

Check out his hair!

Here is a young Vervet.

He is not as afraid of the camera

(or maybe he is just not older and wiser).

He sat there watching me, as he ate the avocado right out of its skin.

The Monkeys are smart and stay away from the dogs.

Walking safely on the electrical wires,

they move from house to house looking for fruit to eat.

As I stood there watching them, 

I thought about the children I will be teaching during the 5-Day Bible Club.

You know, they like to "monkey around", 

trying to stay safe and looking to get whatever they can from life,

 when all the while they are so close to the danger of Hell.

God has commanded us to go out and win the lost.

He says "bring them in" and that's what we will do this week(Mt.22).

People are not monkeys, they have a living soul.

Jesus said, "Suffer the litte children to come unto Me,..." Mark 10:14

Please pray that some little children will come to know Christ as thier personal Saviour this week, as I teach 5-Day Children's Bible Club July 2-7, 2012.

Zulu Music

Karen & Don Kilmer

Don and Karen Kilmer are the missionaries I will be serving with in South Africa.

Karen and I were catching up with each other the other week on Skype. 

Skype from Pinterest.com

 She was telling me that Don was preparing for his Sunday sermon.

I asked her what she was working on.

Karen said that the passage that Don was preparing to preach on
 involved some verses about music.

Busi Mhlongo, known as the Queen of modern Zulu music

It is hard to provide the Zulus with godly music.

There is so much wordly music available to them.

Even the "Christian" Zulu music sounds like the world's music.

However, Karen did find a website with free downloadable Zulu music 
that is pleasing to the Lord.

"Free" is a missionary's  favorite price (I know it is mine).

Karen was making a few CD's to pass on to some of the people.

Keep in mind, that our electricity is not always on,

not everyone in the village has electricity or a way to play a CD, 

but also that a number of the people work in places where they have access to a CD player

 (as an added benefit, others will hear the songs of glory to God played for them to hear). 

Karen & Don talking with a Zulu kid

What a great way to support what her husband is preaching 

and to be a blessing to those who truly want to honor the Lord in thier music!

Below, I have placed the links for you to hear the Zulu & English version of a song.

They are sung by a South African group.
(Just click on the link to listen.)

Zulu: http://www.ksb.org.za/audio/music/2009/2009-04-05_3ksb_choir.mp3

English: http://www.ksb.org.za/audio/music/2009/2009-04-05_4ksb_choir.mp3

 Colossians 3:16

 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly 

in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

Christmas Service in South Africa

The week before Christmas- the children in the village got together to helped the Kilmers pass out flyers inviting the people to the Christmas service at our church in Embo.

Christmas Day service - the church was full.  Over 100 people were in attendance 

on Christmas day!

Along with the church people, were a few visitors. 

Noone came to know Christ as Saviour, but the Gospel seed was planted!

The Monday after Christmas - the Kilmers invited the church people to their home.

Karen and some of the young ladies from church worked to prepare 

a special meal for the church people.

They even recruited Don's help in the kitchen.

 Everyone enjoyed the wonderful meal!

The boys played!

Over 40 people came to the Kilmer's house on the day after Christmas.
During the holidays, many of our church families travel to see their families 
in other parts of South Africa.


I was grateful to the Kilmers for sharing these pictures with me.
It wasn't hard to notice how much some of the children have grown since I saw them last (over 3 years ago).
Although I was glad to see the people, I want to be there even more.
Praise the Lord! My support level is continuing to rise!
Keep praying that I will be able to schedule some more meetings 
to fill my Spring schedule.