Quick Update

Thank you for praying for Thandzle. Before surgery, they took an other cat scan which should that the large part of both lungs is dead. So, they decided that it wouldn't be worth it to perform the surgery. There was too much damage to correct. I think from reading between the lines that in part they are saying that she probably won't live much longer and the surgery wouldn't have added enough quality to her life to make it worth all the pain and suffering in recovering. Its actually kind of sad news. We have a couple of other children who aren't doing very well right either. So, it has been a kind of sad week at Lambano.

Please pray

Please be praying for Thandzle (Tan- dazzle). She is having a pretty serious operation today. Part of her lung has died and they are going in to remove the dead portion. From what I understand, the dead cells are killing off the live cells in her lung. She will be in ICU for at least 3 days on a ventilator and then in the hospital for awhile. Because of the seriousness of the operation, we have decided to pay the monies for a private hospital and surgeon to insure that it is done correctly. It pretty scary stuff for an adult but even scarier for a 7 year old.

Super Conrad to the rescue!!!!

Tuesday morning was not the morning I had planned. To being it overnight it had gone from summer to winter. My brother laughed when I told him it was freezing but it really was. It was in the 20's when I got and it was bitter cold. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact, but I still can't figure out why in the world people would build houses without central heat. And when they tell you it doesn't get cold here- its a lie :) I saw my breathe in my house the other morning. :-)

Anyway after I woke up, took my shower and began to get ready for the day, I walked into my spare bedroom. I listened for a moment and thought, "That's a weird sound. It sounds like rushing water above my head. Hmm....." I then looked on the bed and saw that the bedding was soaking wet. Another hmm...... I thought, "This is why I never wanted to own a house. When things go wrong, there's no one to call and it all comes out of my pocket to fix it."

Thats were Super Conrad comes in. He's pictured above with his wife Jennifer. They're here for a year volunteering. He's been building the AIDs hospice and she is teaching Lambano preschool. I quickly canceled Bible Study and called Conrad to check and see what was happening. He willingly and cheerfully climbed up in my ceiling and found the problem. It wasn't a burst pipe just a leaky connection. Someone working on the pipes before decided to seal them with electrical tape. He spent several hours in my ceiling and was able to fix the problem.

I am often challenged by Conrad's willing, cheerful servant spirit. He is quick to lend a hand and do whatever. Nothing ever seems to much or inconvenient. He really is an example to emulate! (And he'll be very embrassed that I wrote this blog about him.) What a blessing to our church and to me! Not sure what I'll do when he's gone back to Canada. Not sure if we'll let him go back to Canada. I often wonder what people do who aren't saved. Life would be a lot more expensive without a handy man to call :) What a blessing to have brothers and sisters to be able to help when needed.

Exciting News!

I don't want to give the impression of being excited or anything but my brother and his family arrive here to live in...................... 18 days!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!! Ok so maybe I am somewhat excited :) We're still working on getting my older brother to move here but as I always say- someone in the family needs to earn the money to support us and help keep us here :)

Where do liars go?

We had a staff worker who was fired for lying. The kids knew that she had gotten fired for lying. It was a great object lesson in how sin has consequences for them. The other day I was talking with them and they told me that liars go to Malawi because thats where Mamma Sara went when she lied. Sieya looked at me with all sincerity and seriousness and said, "So, if you lie God will make you go to Malawi." Wonder what they're going to think when they find out that Pastor Brian and Auntie Anita are going to Malawi.......

God as Protector

I have often told people that one of the benefits of living in South Africa is that you come to know what it means that God is our protector in new ways. Last night I was reminded of this (or should I say I reminded myself of this often as I tried to fall asleep.) I awoke at about 1am to the sound of the alarm going off next door at the Lambano house. I assumed that a cat or something had set off the outside perimeter beams. I laid their for awhile waiting for them to turn it off so I could fall back to sleep.

I waited... and waited... and waited getting a little annoyed. What were they thinking??? So I called and asked if it was their alarm. Our worker told me that they were waiting for the security company to come because she had seen two men trying to open the gate. They were trying to steal my car that had been left in the driveway earlier that day.

I heard the guys from the security company come and waited a couple of minutes. I stood there in my bedroom thinking how I should go over and check and make sure everyone was calmed down and see how the staff were doing. I was ready to go over but for some reason I didn't. What I didn't know was that the men were trying to open the gate from inside the yard and not outside. The had stayed in the yard when the alarm went off. The loud noise I heard after I had decided not to go over was the crooks jumping on the roof and running across it to jump into the yard on the other side (Another Lambano house) If I walked over when I wanted, I could have walked into a bad situation.

God is good and continues to watch over us and protect us. I woke this morning praising Him for that! We have had several thefts lately at Lambano in the middle of the night but no one has been hurt and the items taken have been insignificant in some ways.

A funny note... I was talking to the kids this morning at one of the other houses. Apparently, their alarm went off in the middle of two of them having a fight. Noma said "It was a cat." Junior said, "No it wasn't. It was God telling you to shush and not fight." Noma insisted it was the cat and Junior said, "Nope God was saying be quiet...." It was really cute.

Some Prayer Requests

1. Please be praying for a foster mother training course I am teaching in the township. We have about 45 people attending each week. This is a tremendous opportunity to help these people learn how to better care for the children in their care and also to present the gospel. One of the issues we will be discussing next Friday is how Christ and the gospel are the answer to the AIDs epidemic.

2. I speak tomorrow at a Mother's Day tea on Biblical Relationships. Please pray that God helps me accurately handle the Word of God and uses it in the lives of the women there. Pray that they are doers of the Word and not hearers only.

3. In the coming weeks, there will be many people traveling here for various ministry trips. Matt Davis, a TMC student will be coming on Tuesday for 10 weeks for a mission's internship. The following week my pastor from the states, Jack Hughes, and Scott Ardavanis will be coming to speak at our South African Shepherd's Conference. In addition two other couples will be coming from the states to visit and see some of the work here. The beginning of June a team will be coming from GCC for a short term trip. And more excitingly, my brother and his family arrive June 8th to live here. Yeah! In July, two women from the states will becoming to volunteer for a few weeks at Lambano. Please pray that God would keep them safe as they travel and more importantly, that God would use their time here both in the lives of those they will minister to and their one lives.

Thanks so much for your prayers! You are a vital part of the ministry here.

God is Good....

All the time! We were talking today in the Lambano office about God's goodness to us this year and I wanted to share. Last year at this time of the year, we had buried our 4th baby. This year we are about to send our 4th baby out for adoption! What a difference!

As we were discussing this, Martha got an e-mail and called us over asking if we thought it was for real. We received a note from a company telling us that they had deposited R195,000 into our bank account. That's about $30,000. After checking it out we discovered that it was part of this company's tithe. Another evidence of God's goodness to us. Last year we struggled many months to cover salaries. In fact, one of the workers in the office went for several months without getting paid. This year, God has abundantly provided for us. I am reminded though that God was just as good to us last year when we struggled. Our faith was strengthened and we were taught to trust Him in new ways. Good lessons to learn.