I'm now at Youth With A Mission (YWAM)!

Hello friends and family!

The Lord has been so faithful as I have transitioned into the 2nd phase of ministry here in South Africa. The 1st phase was with Shepherd’s Keep (The Promise House) and now I am at the 2nd phase………Youth With A Mission (YWAM)! It is very exciting that over the past 3 months, God has brought wonderful friends into my life, two of which I am now living with! I am renting a room from Steve and Dorraine Livingston, who are South Africans that are missionaries within South Africa and in Lesotho, Africa. Steve and Dorraine live right near the YWAM base and living with them has been such a blessing! They are wonderful friends to me......here is a photo of them.......

Lily of the Valley Children’s Village

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend 4 days at Lily of the Valley, a children’s village for orphans and vulnerable children. At Lily of the Valley there are 23 small houses, each housing 6 children and a full time house mother per each house. The house mother cooks and cleans for the children and cares for them as if they were her own children. There are over 100 children (of all ages) at Lily of the Valley and the majority of the children are HIV positive. During my stay there, I had the opportunity to spend time with the toddlers in the pre-school and with the older children in the after-school homework club. Below is a photo of some of the children in the pre-school……

In the photo below, the children were playing a game using rocks and they stopped and posed for the camera…..

Saying goodbye to Shepherd’s Keep (The Promise House)
Through the generous financial support I have received from supporters, I was able to purchase a Bible and bookmark for each of the caregivers at Shepherd’s Keep (The Promise House). I wrapped the Bibles in pink wrapping paper and gave them to the caregivers as a gift. For many of the caregivers this was their first wrapped gift and first Bible. When they unwapped the gift and saw it was a Bible, some of them were so filled with joy to now have their own Bible that they started singing praises to the Lord in Zulu and thanking Him. Below is a photo of the wrapped Bibles…..“Ibhayibheli Elingcwele” (Bible in Zulu).

The Muzama Family…….Zimbabwean missionaries at YWAM
My leader at YWAM Durban is Tanyala Muzama and she is the leader of the next Discipleship Training School (DTS) which is scheduled to start in July. Tanyala has been in communication with applicants for the DTS and so far the applicants are from Cameroon, Pakistan, South Africa and the U.S. In order to have a DTS, we must have a minimum of at least 6 students. Because most of the applicants are from 3rd world nations and typically face harsh financial struggles, many of them have difficulty obtaining the finances necessary for them to do a DTS (school fees, airfare, etc.) Tanyala and I would appreciate your prayers for this DTS…..that God would give us wisdom as we move forward with planning and preparing for the school. Thank you! Tanyala’s husband, Lysias, is head of Operation Joseph which is the YWAM Durban outreach to Zimbabwe. The Muzamas are a wonderful missionary family and are excellent leaders and a great example to all of us here at YWAM. Here is a family photo of the Muzamas……

Thank you for being a part of what God is doing here in South Africa. I am so excited to be back at YWAM Durban and to be entering this next phase of what God has called me to in South Africa!

In the love of Jesus,
Meg

I've been in Durban now for over 1 month!

Hello Everyone!

I have been in Durban now for over 5 weeks and I feel so blessed to be here! Here are some photos for you to see!

Taking babies to the clinic......

The photos below were taken at Shepherd’s Keep on a day that some of the babies were being transported from Shepherd’s Keep to the local clinic for their immunizations. The ladies in the uniforms are caregivers at Shepherd's Keep (The Promise House).

Founders of Shepherd's Keep.....

Below is a photo of the founders of Shepherd’s Keep (Cheryl and Colin Pratley) with their daughter Sarah whom they adopted when she was a baby. As many of you know, Durban is a coastal city on the Indian Ocean, and this beautiful photo shows the ocean in the background.

Room with a view of the harbor......

The next photo is a view from my bedroom window at Shepherd’s Keep / The Promise House. From my window I can see in the distance the Indian Ocean and the port where the ships and cargo come in. As you can tell from the photo, Durban is a modern, metropolitan city; yet despite the modern buildings and industry, there is extreme poverty, crime and disease throughout Durban, particularly in the squatter camps and townships. Durban is in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal which has the highest rate of HIV in all of South Africa.

Monkeys on my roof! ........

This morning I heard very loud noise coming from the roof and it was monkeys!! In fact, a few days ago a monkey actually came inside......there is no air conditioning so the windows are always left open and a monkey decided to come in to the nursery and it scaired the baby and caregiver that were in there terribly! I was not there when it happened but I did take photos of some of the monkeys on the roof this morning. Here they are!

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations....." Mathew 28:19

One of the most joyous experiences I have had since being here in Durban is in meeting with 2 ladies one-on-one for discipleship. One lady is a good friend of the founders of Shepherd's Keep and she just recently gave her heart to the Lord. The founders asked me if I would meet with her regularly to facilitate her in getting a strong foundation in the Lord. She and I meet twice a week and are going through the "Your Life in Christ" materials by Campus Crusade for Christ.

The other lady I meet with is the supervisor of the caregivers and we have gone through two small booklets by Campus Crusade for Christ, "Would You Like To Know God Personally?" and "Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life?"

It was so wonderful to see how God used the scriptures and truth in those booklets to bring conviction and reconciliation between her and God. Please be praying for me as God opens the door for me to meet with other ladies in the upcoming weeks to share the Good News of salvation in a one-on-one setting and for discipleship. The one-on-one is how I will be meeting with the caregivers, rather than a group Bible Study. I appreciate your prayers, thank you!

With the Love and Joy of the Lord,

Meg

Second week in Durban

“Sawubona ngegama lika-Jesu!” (“Greetings in the name of Jesus!” in Zulu),

I have some great news to share with you! God has led me to the church here in Durban that He desires me to be a part of! It is called Harvest Time Community Church and it is about 20 minutes both from Shepherd’s Keep and from the YWAM Durban base. This church is a multi-cultural, missions-focused church and I feel so welcome and “at home” there! I actually attended this church one time back in July 2008 right before I left to return to the U.S. and I remember sensing that this would be my church home in Durban one day……...and sure enough 6 months later I returned to Durban and it is now my Durban church family!

Zimbabwe……..“Operation Joseph”
“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none,

and the one who has food should do the same.” Luke 3:11

Operation Joseph is a ministry of YWAM Durban and was started by my dear friends, Lysias and Tanyala Muzama. Lysias and Tanyala are Zimbabweans and are missionaries at YWAM

Durban. As many of you know, Zimbabwe is currently ruled by a dictator (Mugabe) who is oppressing and starving his people. The Zimbabwean stores are empty and therefore there is no where within Zimbabwe to buy food or seeds for growing food. Currently, the only way to get food to the Zimbabwean people is by purchasing food for them in the border countries such as South Africa and bringing it across the border into Zimbabwe. When I found out Tanyala’s father in Zimbabwe was sick and that she wanted to visit him before he dies…….God laid upon my heart to help make it possible for her to go see him and to bring food to her relatives and village. Through a portion of the money that I have received from you and others for my financial support, I was able to help fund a bus fare ticket for Tanyala to go to Zimbabwe as well as fund the purchase of food for her to bring her relatives and village. Some of the items are: rice, dried beans, samp (African dried maize “corn”) and candles (there is no electricity at her village).

I will be telling you more about Operation Joseph in the upcoming months and how God is leading me to join with Lysias and Tanyala in reaching Zimbabwe with God’s power, provision and love.

Upcoming Bible Study with Zulu care-givers at Shepherd’s Keep
I absolutely love working alongside the care-givers here at Shepherd’s Keep! They are my friends and it is so interesting getting to know each of them and their culture.

God has placed in me a desire to share with them the wonderful news of Jesus and for them to have an opportunity to let Him speak to them in their hearts personally His love for them. This week I will be inviting ladies to come and meet and learn from God’s Word together. I am praying that the ladies who do not know the Lord yet will feel His love and acceptance and invite Him into their hearts. Please pray for me and the ladies and for His Truth to be known and for the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. Thank you for your prayers and support!

With the love of Christ,
Meg

First week at Shepherd's Keep (The Promise House)

Hello friends and family!

I’ve been here at Shepherd’s Keep (The Promise House) for a week now and I love it here!
I want to share with you some of the names of the babies as well as what their names mean:

Baby’s Name Meaning
Siyabonga “Thank You” in Zulu
Nomusa “Peace” in Zulu
Philani “Life” in Zulu

The babies here are very happy…..they smile a lot and laugh….it is very evident that God is healing them body, soul and spirit. The babies receive a lot of love and attention from the staff and volunteers…...God is reaching down and pouring out His love on these babies. I love it here and feel so blessed to be here! One thing that is so special to me is in the evenings when the caregivers sing worship songs to the Lord in Zulu before putting the babies down to sleep. That worship just fills that room and we all feel God's presence there with us!

Only 1 More Day to Go!

Hello friends and family! I leave tomorrow for South Africa.......thank you all for your support and prayers in helping make this possible!

As many of you know, I am leaving on Jan. 14th as a missionary to Durban, South Africa for 1 year. The first part of the year I will be caring for abandoned, orphaned babies (many of whom are HIV positive) at Shepherd's Keep (also known as The Promise House). The second part of the year I will be serving at Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Durban with their July Discipleship Training School which focuses on bringing the Truth, love, and hope of Jesus into impoverished townships. To learn more about those ministries, please visit their websites:

~Shepherd's Keep: http://www.shepherdskeep.org.za/
~The Promise House: http://www.thepromisehouse.org/
~Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Durban: http://www.ywamdurban.org/

Marissa Spreads the Love of Jesus

When Marissa Bartley (ll yr old from Jacksonville, FL) heard me share about how most impoverished children in South Africa and Swaziland have never had the opportunity to have a coloring book or crayons..........she immediately felt God leading her to gather a collection of coloring books and crayons to send with me for children in Africa. Her mother, Sebrena, was very supportive of her daughter and decided to purchase an assortment of Christian coloring books and packs of crayons (so much that it almost fills up half a suitcase!) Not only will children in Africa have fun coloring but they will also be learning of Jesus' love for them through the stories in the coloring books.

Sabrina, Marissa & Markia Bartley

Thank you Marissa for reaching out to children in Africa with God's love and thank you Sebrena for being a supportive mother to Marissa and joining with her in what she felt God leading her to do. Thanks also to Markia (Marissa's older sister) who joined in with the family in this endeavor for God. God bless you Bartley family!