My Christmas Presents

I found both a Subway and Mexican food while I was in South Africa with my friends. Amazing Christmas presents...

Pics

- With Daran & Nathie at the Mbabane Christmas Party



-With the Brennan Family and Boiovich (spelling?) Family (+Daran)

They are a new family that are working with Children's Cup. They transfered over from another ministry here in Swaziland. We're excited to have them on board, God is bringing people when we need them...God knows what's up

Alive in SA

Hello, hello, hello.

I am in South Africa with some friends from Adventures in Missions. Its been fun to get away and hang out with some guys that are my age. We've been exploring with no real agenda and its been great.

The week before I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off at our Christmas Parties. We had over 4,000 children total come out for Christmas parties in Swaziland and Mozambique. I want to say thank you to the team from Celebration Church in Georgetown, TX for coming and being the hands and feet of Jesus.


-Texas Team
- Kids at the Manzini Party

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas season!

IT'S ABOUT WORSHIP

Sorry to all you blog readers, I’ve been running around like crazy the past two months. I apologize for the lack of blogs…hopefully I’ll be able to update y’all more the next few weeks.

Children’s Cup had a time of prayer and worship the other day. A big thank you to my boy Caleb Lange for leading worship for us. Check out his blog as he travels the world for the cause of Christ.

God’s really been speaking to me lately about re-focusing my life on him. It is so easy to get busy and leave God behind. Christ needs to be the center of our lives and our ministry.

It was an awesome time of prayer and God has been able to speak a couple things into my life that I really hadn’t slowed down enough to hear. Check out some pics of the night:

Responsible to Tell 2

2nd story...

...I am 15, my mom died last year, my dad died two years ago. Both of them had HIV even though they announced that it was TB at their funerals. I have 2 younger sisters and 3 younger brothers to look after. We get some food from the World Food Program but we usually do not have enough to eat. My uncle is using our land to grow his own crops. He only gives us a little of that food. I had to drop out of school because we had no money and no food. Only one of my younger sisters is going to school and it is a free school put on by the local church. I feel like I should be doing something, but I don’t know what to do. We look for food, we ask people to help us but we still are hungry. I used to want to become a police man, now I just want to feed my brothers and sisters. It is such a responsibility; I don’t know how we will survive the upcoming dry season.

Inner thoughts

A lot of times people ask what my heart is...to rephrase better in essence they ask, "What is the passionate desire of your heart of hearts to do in this life?"

You see I sometimes struggle with this question. Most of the time it all seems fuzzy and I don't really know. Africa is in my heart but it doesn't at least feel the same as the way it bleeds out of other people.

I know God called me back here for two years. I know that it is for his purpose and glory. My heart is to serve God where he's called me...that's it.

Maybe I'm wired differently, but I talk to so many people and they say God broke my heart for this or that (orphans, africa, mozambique, China, Somalia, prostitutes, etc.) and then decided to do something. Instead I went because God asked me to and am relying on him to bring me around, truly, I mean truly embrace this call and deeply love the people of Southern Africa.

I'm following God and am continually needing him to break my heart so I'm truly broken for the people I'm serving, for Southern Africa's orphans. Maybe its just I'm a bit thick skinned or maybe its because I've been in Africa for awhile...but often I ask God for just one thing...the ability to love.

Comments, other's experience??? Does this make sense?

Responsible to Tell

I’ve realized I have a tendency to downplay the situation in Africa and the children we work with. When I talk to people about what I’m doing it is very matter of factly. We tell people that come to Africa, “now that you’ve seen, you are responsible”. Seeing the children, the poverty, the death and the hopelessness in Africa demands a response. Over the next couple of weeks I am going to be posting short blogs that tell the real story, explain my passion and challenge you.

Here is the first, Imagine with me this often faced reality.

I am a little 12 year old girl, I am sick, I have HIV. The other children at school see that I am sick all of the time. All of the children begin to talk about me, they talk behind my back and say that I have HIV. The children say that I must be having sex with older boys. They accuse me of being stupid for doing such a foolish thing. Little do they know that when I was 6 years old, my uncle raped me. My own mother won’t believe me, how will a whole group of classmates. My mother, that’s another thing. She doesn’t know what to think. She sees that I go to church every week and knows I am a good girl. Yet, I have HIV, she won’t believe that her brother (my uncle) would rape me. I feel dirty, I feel unloved, I feel like I am a burden, I feel misunderstood. I have no friends, the other children have been told to stay away from me. I feel like I have no future, like I have no hope. My life is horrible.

Chicken Story...

I had one of those only in Africa days. I didn’t have too much to do so I went with Gugu ‘Dynamite’ Dlamini to visit a family that had helped her in a tough situation in 1993. It had been 14 years since she saw this family but God put it in her heart to visit them and thank them.

In 1993 Gugu crossed the country of Swaziland to give her uncle some paperwork and pass a message for her parents. In those days different parts of Swaziland had different holidays and it just so happened that she arrived in Siteki only to find her uncle was not home. Gugu returned to town from her uncle’s empty house only to find that the last bus had already left. She was stuck in Siteki and didn’t know anyone. This young mother and her three children invited her to stay the night at their homestead. Gugu accepted and was blown away by their hospitality. This family that didn’t have clean water or clothes for the children were so warm and so welcoming…the children walked her to the bus station the next day and stayed out in the cold with her until the bus came. Gugu told me she was truly touched by this family and always had it in her heart to go back and find them.

Fast forward to 2007…Gugu, two of the Dynamic children and myself head out to Siteki to try to find this family. We have some general directions from Gugu’s uncle who stays in Siteki. The family had moved to a small town Sitsasweni. There are few places in Swaziland were there are no people…we were on the road past Siteki and finally saw the turn off to Sitsasweni. We must have been on that road for 10 minutes without seeing a single house, homestead or person. Gugu and I were just shaking our heads thinking we were lost or had no hope of finding the family. Then we’re almost hit by a huge almost falling apart bus which comes barreling at us down the small dirt road. Having luckly swerved out of the way we go on encouraged by the bus sighting. One minute later we literally drive through a cattle fence and enter the surprisingly spread out town of Sitsasweni. We ask some local farmers where the family’s homestead is. They tell us to check with the boys at the 2^nd shop in town. Apparently missing the first store we drive right past the 2^nd shop in oblivion. A kilometer down the road we pull up next to two old men (Mukhulus/Madalas) We ask the men where the family lives and they tell us to take the 2^nd left. They are laughing and ask Gugu if she’s trying to help me find the white volunteer. They don’t believe that we want to see the family but it must be me chasing after the white girl...we find out later that there is a peace corps volunteer who lives on the homestead.

Anyways, we arrive at the homestead and find out that the children live with their father. We do find the mother though, and she is amazed to see Gugu after all this time. We pray for her and the rest of the family on the homestead. We sat and enjoyed the African hospitality. We sang songs and traded stories. We gave them some gifts of clothing and food before heading out. In response they handed Gugu a chicken…yes a live chicken. So this is my story about how I ended up driving with a chicken flying around in the back of my car. Africa…gotta love it!!

-I realize there are probably a lot of grammmmmatical errors in this, don’t streessss….

Charles has left us

Charles is heading home today. We’re going to miss him a bunch over here. It’s a sad day but a happy one too. God has called him to Florida and he’s being obedient to that call. I am fully confident that God will work tremendously through him at Bayside Church.

Charles we’ll miss your energy, passion, heart for the lost, love for the orphans, laughs, preaching, friendship, ideas and a whole bunch of other things you brought to the table.

America you’re lucky to have him back. Africa is in his blood and his time here has equipped him to help reawaken a passion for Jesus in the States. Charles, remember the lessons, faces, tears and laughs that the red soil of Africa brought you. Your mission is the same; you’ve just changed time zones. You always like to be on the leading edge of things, maybe we’ll eventually see you out in the Pacific Ocean doing ministry so you can help lead us into a new day, a new dawn of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. God bless bro!

Youth Programs

This past Saturday we had our second youth group at the CarePoints. This year we are trying to establish two youth groups that meet every other week at two of the CarePoints. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the youth. The thing that struck me was how easy it was to keep these kids engaged. The other thing that hit me was just how important showing up is. I think if we can get our hearts before God and consistently show up that lives will be changed.

I am tasked with trying to get a youth program started here in Swaziland. I am still seeking God about what exactly that looks like but so far here is the plan.

1-We hope to eventually establish a youth group at all the CarePoints.
2-We'd like to start a sports program that teaches sports and biblical values.
3-We want to establish a regular skills training program that will help equip the youth.
4-We want to have a part time internship in 2008 for Africans.

Pray for God's wisdom and pray that I hear God on this...

Phephile & Nininnia

I spent yesterday with two precious little girls. I filmed Phephile and Nininnia in an attempt to truly capture their stories. I’m not going to go into details but both girls come from tough to terrible home situations. Volunteer cooks at two CarePoints brought Phephile’s and Nininnia’s situation to Cup’s attention. The girls now live with Miss Peggy, the teacher at our Murray Camp CarePoint. The girls now smile, giggle and talk. They carry a joy that wasn’t there before. They have hope and they know love!

I’m so glad that I get to do this. I am privileged to serve God and witness lives transformed. Check out pictures of these girls who are worth just as much to God as anyone else out there.

~Nininnia is on the left and Phephile is on the right

It’s about love, It’s about obedience, It’s about hope, It’s about justice, It’s about children, It’s about Jesus!!

Invasion 07

Made it to Swaziland and immediately was helping my boy Charles Young with Invasion 07'. Charles had been organizing a youth event with a couple other ministries in Swaziland.

We had some DJs, some inflatable games including a mechanical bull and our friends Spin the Flava come out. A team from Ireland finished off the event with some praise & worship and a short message. It was a good time...check out the pictures and look for an update at Charles & Kristen's blog in the near future.

IN LONDON

I've got a long layover in London...but I sit here excited as every to jump on that plane to South Africa. I'm nervous, excited and full of hope at what the next two years will look like! Check out this quote I pulled from an article awhile back:

"The drugs and test kits worth US$6 million per year, brings the total United States contribution to HIV and AIDS prevention, care, and treatment in Zimbabwe to US$31 million, the two governments said."

- Something that makes me proud to be an American. Zimbabwe's leaders make a bunch of noise about 'the West' yet we still reach out to help them. Very cool, very biblical!

Inside me

I often wonder why God chose me to go to Africa. Why am I called to do this? It might be fear or lack of courage but I often think about how it would be a lot easier to stay in the States. I was raised in America, where independence is mantra but God's called me so far to a life of interdependence. My calling requires me to depend on other people and the church for my food, my clothes, my ability to even do ministry. If I'm honest I hate it but I think some of that might be why God called me to it. It comes down to trust and will I let go of what I can do so that God can do what he does best, the impossible.

I've been blessed with so much, how can I procrastinate or pity my call to Africa. If I really sit back and think about it...I should be running full steam ahead to give all I can to the Jesus who gave me everything. Pray for me, that I might embrace my call, that I might let go of what I think is success.

JUST PRAY! IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING FOR OUR GOD!

40 Days of Prayer!!! Starting August 1st Children's Cup is enlisting tons of people to pray for the beautiful and deserving children of Africa and the world. We need you!! Yes, Cup needs you! Go to our online prayer guide and commit to pray with us for the 40 days.

Join us and stand back amazed at what God will do in response to the prayers and cries of His people!!! Pray loud, pray soft, pray however you want...just pray! Watch out Nike and Adidas I might steal(borrow?) all of your slogans. The Adidas one is great...."Impossible is nothing" (insert: for our God! )

Blogs to Check

Alright, I need to give a little link love. Here are some blogs that I've been checkin out recently.

http://jpbrumfield.com/ - JP is an awesome guy, he is dedicated to serving anyone and everyone for the purpose of Christ. Be on the lookout for Servolution...change the world baby!

http://followingyourcommand.blogspot.com/ - Rick Young is a friend of mine from Philly! He is going to be playing a bigger and bigger role in spreading the word about what Children's Cup is doing. He is an up and coming ambassador for the children of Africa...he will be stiring people to action

http://refugejturn.wordpress.com/ - Jamie Phillips is a passionate guy I was able to lead/hang with at Submerge. He loves to worship God and is living a submitted life (which is an awesome, God rock my world, radical life) Check out his blog

http://areowebee.com/ - Rob Gros plays bass guitar, is about to be a Dad, has mad crazy design skills and is really funny! Cool blog but an even cooler guy!

http://toriohlerking.blogspot.com/ - Tori is the daughter of Dan and Vicki...they are cool, so yes she's very cool. She also has a gracious and God breathed strength about her.

http://www.brandonbourgeois.blogspot.com/ - Brandon is a fun loving guy from Elevate. He's got a heart for the nations and I believe God is about to really use him. God's going to use him as an influencer...for good, for righteous living, for right attitude and for truth!

Check em out!

A Lil VBS

I was able to hang out at HPC's VBS this past Wednesday - Friday. Hats off to Miss Sherrie and the rest of the Children's Ministry team. Over 1500 children came through the doors throughout the week with an average of 1200 or so per day.

Miss Sherrie and her group of dynamic children's ministers are heading to Mozambique to hold a VBS at HPC Nkobe. They will have a huge impact on the children there and especially on Celeste (Children's Cup teacher at Nkobe) and some of the other ladies in the community. The children here in the States are helping to send Miss Sherrie's team. I was honored with the opportunity to pray for the offering. I also managed to teach the kid's at VBS some Siswati(tribal language in Swaziland), Shangaan(a tribal language in southern Mozambique) and some Sibhaca/Swazi dancing.

Check out myself, Cowboy Drew and Heather breaking it down Swazi style!!!

I miss

People I miss...

thoughts

Today I sit here broken because I know that God wants to do so much through me. I can't do it by myself, I need to surrender, to fall facedown, to come to the foot of the cross, to die to myself, to give it all....so that I might walk in the purpose that God has for me.

What God is asking Children's Cup to do is huge. What he's asking of me seems impossible. I admit that I am not capable, that we are not capable. Jesus, we need you, we love you and we trust you. "The Lord your God is faithful..."

SUBMERGE 07'

Had an awesome opportunity to help out at Submerge, an HPC run summer camp in Destin, FL. There were over 500 youth at the High School camp and I think close to 500 at the Jr. High camp which took place during the first half of last week.

Anyways, Submerge was awesome! I had 6 high school guys in my group and two other leaders...Carlos & DJ. God rocked all of us and I believe that we all went away changed. My prayer needs to be that these guys and myself all carry the passion, the conviction and the transformation that God dropped in our lives forward as we go back to our schools, places of work, families and friends.

God has recently challenged me to stay focused. God wants us to choose life (Deutronomy 30:19) and His Spirit has consistently urged me that to do this I need to have focus. My life needs to be intentional, focused on the eternal, organized (ahh, much work needed) and I need to abide in Jesus. You see, my concerns and my problems get so big when I fail to step back in order to focus my life. I need to see with an eternal perspective in order to walk with an eternal purpose. From this point forward, I challenge myself to live an intentional life, not just think about it but truly live it!

B-Ham

Been on the road again. I was able to head up to Birmingham, AL to visit a good friend Carlos Spaht and visit a couple of churches. Carlos is up in Birmingham clerking for a law firm. It was great being able to hang out with him and check out the city.

I also stopped by Church of the Highlands to talk with Pastor Scott Montgomery.

Then I stopped by The Summit Church at Birmingham to talk with Pastor Jodi who runs the For Runner's School of Ministry.

God's been dropping some truth into my life. Many posts upcoming...

Cup Creative Team

I just wanted to give some love to the group of people that help run Children's Cup in the United States. Pictured below are Dan, Vicki, Tyrone and myself.

We have been meeting a lot lately to come up with ways that will creatively tell the need and stories that Children's Cup runs into in Africa.






My Life, is a project the three of them have been working on the past month or so. We want to capture the stories, struggles, courage and victories of those living in the midst of poverty, AIDS, malaria and internal conflict in Southern Africa. Check out the Children's Cup website if you want to give towards their trip to capture the first stories of My Life.

A Question, Responses needed

Four of us from Children's Cup were meeting last night to come up with creative ways to communicate what's happening in Africa and what the need is. So, I ask you:

What would you like to know about African Aids orphans? When you see a picture or video of a child, what would you like to know? What part of their story?

Please leave comments or email me at patrick@childrenscup.org

Family moment

Cutting Rob's hair. Alright here is what's going on in everyone's mind:
Rob - Straight up praying for his ear and thinking, "He has no idea what he's doing, why did I get myself in this situation"
Colleen - "Yes, he's getting a haircut, Life is great, God is good! I need to encourage someone"
Pat - "Man, I have no idea what I'm doing, I really might cut his ear if I'm not careful"

What's on my mind

Alright, so sitting here on a warm afternoon and this is what's on my mind.

I think about returning to Africa and how it is less than 3 months away. I am excited and I am ready and yet I am not. I want to and need to seek out God for his vision and his purpose for my return to Africa. I know I need to walk by His Spirit and go with his purpose or I might as well stay here and send money. God's been speaking to me about focus and the importance of staying intentional. I want my two years to be intentional, to be on purpose, to be of God.

The second thing I think about is how I have failed to be very useful to God while I've been home. God has planted and blessed me with so much...yet I have failed to step up, call out and lead while I've been home. Pray that I would be obedient, that God would use me at Starbucks, at church and as I travel.

Another thing is my fundraising. I have over 80% of my money for two years in or pledged. That's over $23,000 that is pledged or given. Yeah, God showed up. I still need another $240 a month pledged or $5,800 given. If you want to help me return to Africa please click here. Pray about it, maybe God is asking you...all I can ask for is your obedience.

Finally, I think about how blessed I am to have a family that cares and loves for me. So many of those kids I get the privelege of serving in Africa lack even one person who loves them, let alone a family.

Last couple weeks

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks. The first is of my Mom serving up some food at a Block party organized by the Baton Rouge Dream Center. Check out the HPC Serve blog if you want to get involved.

Then the rest of Memorial Day weekend was filled with this Washers game...I have yet to find out the real name of it but I think in Louisiana it's called Cajun Horseshoes. Whatever the name, it is a great BBQ/Braii game. You stand about 10 feet away and throw oversized washers at board with three holes in it. You get 3 points for the 3rd hole, 2 for the 2nd hole and 1 for the first. First to 21 and exactly 21 wins. Good game, JP and I are pretty much unbeatable.

Marriage as it relates to poverty

So came across this interesting poverty reduction article which basically talks about how broken families significantly increases the risk of a child growing up and staying in poverty.

Here are some of the interesting facts:

- A large majority—92%—of children whose families make more than $75,000 a year live with two parents (including step-parents). At the bottom of the income scale—families earning less than $15,000—only 20% of children live with two parents.

- Those who marry “till death do us part” end up, on average, four times richer than those who never marry.

- A study by Adam Thomas and Isabel Sawhill concluded that if the black family had not collapsed between 1960 and 1998, the black child-poverty rate would have been 28.4% rather than 45.6%. And if white families had stayed like they were in 1960, the white child poverty rate would have been 11.4% rather than 15.4%.

- If she does find and wed the man of her dreams, Miss Ballard will encounter a problem. She has never seen her own father. Having never observed a stable marriage close-up, she will have to guess how to make one work. By contrast, Ashley, the criminology student at the nearby university, has never seen a divorce in her family. This makes it much more likely that, when the time is right, she will get married and stay that way. And that, in turn, makes it more likely that her children will follow her to college. (dang, changing a persons culture, experience, worldview)

-A survey of teenagers by the University of Michigan found that 64% of boys and 57% of girls agreed that “it is usually a good idea for a couple to live together before getting married in order to find out whether they really get along.” Research suggests otherwise. Two-thirds of American children born to co-habiting parents who later marry will see their parents split up by the time they are ten. Those born within wedlock face only half that risk.

Americans expect a lot from marriage. Whereas most Italians say the main purpose of marriage is to have children, 70% of Americans think it is something else. They want their spouse to make them happy. (wait, isn't it that we're suppose to love like Christ loved the church, give you life for that person, love in a pure way...selflessly, unconditionally, for the purpose of building the other person up)

**I thought this was cool, want a poverty reduction strategy, build healthy marriages.

Wrecked for the Ordinary

A cool site to check out - Wrecked for the Ordinary

snippets

"Convenience has eclipsed commitment. Sticking to what we believe to be right is hard because change is normal today--and because few are able to endure what is inconvenient."
- Tim Elmore

This spoke to me, I think so often our society flakes out on commitments. Daran Rehmeyer put it another way when talking about courage, "Courage: the heart and willingness to do and say what is required when everything inside and outside screams for compromise."

Lets not compromise, lets not lose focus (man do I do this) and lets stay committed to building the Kingdom of God. If you are reading this don't really get the whole building the Kingdom of God thing then I encourage you to just live a life of commitment and develop an inner courage. Its biblical, its truth and man do I need this truth....do you?

ZIM

Check out this article about the situation in Zimbabwe from the Economist. Right now Ben Rodgers and Charles Young are in the country trying to coordinate efforts to bring love, food, medical help and education to orphans in the Bulawayo area. Pray for safety and pray for Pastor Dixon...he is Cups contact in Zim and the pastor of a new church in Bulawayo.

San Diego and beyond

I was able to visit a good friend of mine and his family in San Diego, CA. JC and the Cooper family...it sounds like a good show and it would be too. There are 8 of them plus 1 other child that lives with them. JC's parents have fostered over 20 children in the last 15 years and they have adopted 3 of them. Right now they also have Breanna who they hope they can adopt or find a healthy permanent situation for . I'll find a picture of them and post it later.

Other cool people in San Diego were Max Vague of Carlsbad Community Church, JC's grandparents (30 some years with Campus Crusade) and Kyle Turner of The Summit Church in Irvine, CA. Kyle is the brother of The Summit's Lead Pastor Scott. Check out a picture of me surfing

ok, here is the real picture:

In the middle of 6 days of opening at Starbucks

It seems like these 20-something times
Lack the clarity of my earlier life
It seems like people come
and people go with such ferocious frequency

I don't know, it is not clear
the path, the people, my place in this
I got to connect but naturally pull back
Afraid, Frustrated, Lazy not really sure which

Life keeps rolling but often I feel
100 steps behind
who am I, how am I
questions in my mind or maybe
questions I need to find

Gotta get on my knees
Pray for my sight
Ask God for brothers
Friends from other mothers
You see, I need to organize
I need to evaluate
Present situation
location, time and date
You see God
People say I need a wife
But I know, I know I need you
I know I need life

More from Arizona

While out in Arizona I also was able to meet with Todd McIntyre and Mike Gowans from Gateway Life Church. They are a new church that has the right heart. They both have a passion to see a thriving local church that reaches the one but also reaches the world. On a side note, Todd heads up an organization that teaches character in schools. Check out Big Mouth Presentations…they hope to be going national in the next few years.

I stopped by a couple other cool churches including Latitude Life Center, Word of Grace and Lord of Life Church and an awesome couple David & Debbie. In addition to that I was able to hang out with my 9 cousins, two aunts and an uncle that live in the Phoenix area. Here are pics:

Trip West 1

I’ve been on the road almost two weeks now and it has been good for my soul. I don’t know how to describe it but I needed this trip. Yes, I am out meeting with Pastors and churches about funding my ministry to Africa but I needed this time with God in the worst kind of way. I don’t have life, ministry, friends, relationships, God figured out but I feel like I’ve found some clarity on this trip. It’s sweet when God deposits truth in your life and takes the haze away. He has definitely helped me regain some of my sight…I feel like I still need a better pair of spiritual contacts or glasses and I’m believing God for those. I mean I am one of his children so I should get dental and VISION right?

I was able to meet with Scott & Caryl Helsel who Pastor a new church in Maricopa, AZ. It is exciting how God has blessed them and opened up doors for a church plant in the rapidly growing city of Maricopa. My cousin Kelly also lives in Maricopa and I am hoping she has a chance to connect with Oasis Life Church and especially Scott and Caryl.

More updates on the way! Here is a Pic of Kelly, Jacob and I:

Invisible Children

My cousins and I attended the Displace Me in the Phoenix area. Invisible Children hosted 15 Displace Me events in cities across the country. It was an experiential event where Americans simulated what it would be like to live in a refugee camp. It was meant to raise awareness, stimulate compassion and ultimately initiate action to stop the war in Northern Uganda. There has been a civil war raging in Northern Uganda for more than 20 years. The Lord’s Resistance Army has forcefully enlisted children as soldiers in this 20 year struggle. Invisible Children is an organization raising awareness and meeting the practical needs of children and people affected by this war.

Displace Me is to tell another story about how the war in Uganda is affecting people. The war has forced a lot of people off of their land and into refugee camps. At the event they forced you to give up everything you brought in so the leaders could redistribute the water and food later. Only women 18-22 were allowed to get water and they could only get one water bottle per trip. This is because women in internally displaced refugee camps may have to travel up to two miles to get fresh water. They usually must take multiple trips a day for their washing, cooking and drinking needs. Then the men were the only ones who could get food and they had to go back in order to feed everyone in their group. They also had people build cardboard shelters to sleep in. It was cool because it actually was similar to what some of the housing in refugee camps look like.

The one part of the night that I especially loved was the 21 minutes of prayer and silence. I think I liked this part of the night because it is the one thing that I believe can stop this war. I don’t think writing our senators or sending in food aid can stop the war. I do believe that the spirit of God moving on the hearts of generals and leaders on both sides of the conflict can lead to peace in Northern Uganda. Pray for peace and pray for God’s church to extend his love. Check out some pic:

Full Time Elevate in Africa

Hey guys the full time Elevate interns are in Africa for a couple of weeks. They are helping Issac & Carol Williams facilitate the official launch of the Healing Place Church Mozambique Campus. They are going to bring a lot of encouragement, energy and Passion to the Children's Cup team in Africa. God will also rock their worlds as he gives them the opportunity to serve those he cares for deeply.

Check out the Elevate Team Blog. It'll track their adventures, God moments, reflections and reactions to life and ministry in Africa. Pray for them, pray that God uses them and that they open their hearts to what God wants to speak to them. Pray for Isaac as he hosts them. Pray for the community of Nkobe...they now have a CarePoint and a HPC Church. Pray that kids from that community will be loved and nutured to a point where God will use them mightly.

Here is a google earth image of Nkobe, Mozambique - Its a bit old, but there still isn't a lot out there. Yes you have to hit the sand road and keep going!!!!

Tired

I've been sick the past week. It's been rough because I've had to work a lot. I feel like the physical sickness has revealed to me a bigger battle that is swirling around me. I feel like there is spiritual battle going on in my life...just feel like there are lots of sicknesses and things that the devil is throwing at me lately. Doubt, discouragement, worry and loneliness kind of shoved in my face. I had the chance to really be silent before the Lord the other day and he showed up in a beautiful way. He really is more precious than silver or gold. I do feel tired but I serve a God that is for me, who has walked through trials and understands my weakness. I will trust in him..."strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord".

I'm heading out West on a fundraising trip this upcoming Monday. Please pray that God opens doors and goes before me. I'm about 3/5 of the way to the total amount I need to fundraise. Pray that God sends financial and prayer partners my way...pray that God helps me share the vision in an authentic and clear way. Pray that I would not falter but that I'd go to the living water! Let me know how you guys are doing! (please send me your email address if you are interested in getting email updates, patrick@childrenscup.org)

Obedience, America, Walking in love...

" Most of us are educated way beyond our level of obedience. We don't need more information. We need more transformation. We need to stop explaining what people already understand. A little less explanation. A lot more exhortation. " - Mark Batterson

Mark came and spoke at Healing Place Church a couple of weeks ago. He seems to be able to find a timeless truth in any situation or subject. I love when God uses creative guys like Mark to bring the simple message of the cross. I also love and am convicted by the above quote. Let's make our faith practical...it seems like I've struggled to do that here in the States. It was what my life was in Swaziland -showing the love of Christ- but I feel stuck sometimes back here in the States.

ok, comments time: What are some ways you've been able to show the love of Christ recently? Please respond, I desperately want to know of ways to practically walk out our faith in 21st century America.

Some cool pics

I was sifting through some of my Africa pictures and found these two cool hiking pictures. Africa is a beautiful, frustrating, joyful and raging land.

~Charles on a very large rock

~Hiking just outside of Swaziland in South Africa

Chicago

God is faithful...I just got back from a short trip to Chicago. I was able to meet with the Missions board at South Park Church. It was a great meeting and they decided to partner with me in reaching out to a largely orphaned generation in Southern Africa.

I was also able to hang out with my Uncle Greg, Aunt Judy, Cousin Steve and his fiance Emilie. Check out Steve's blog as he chronicles his life and his journey towards marriage.



One more thing, I woke up the day after I arrived in Chicago to snow....snow....snow after Easter, and that is why I'm not sure if I'll ever live that far north again.

Ping Pong

Ping Pong is a great game. I must confess that I am a pretty spectacular player. Check out in the picture below what happens when my friend Rich tries to challenge me. Intimidation, Chameleon like deception coupled with Ninja backhands and a devestating forehand put Rich on the floor!!!

--well ok, Rich beat me like 7 times in a row but I swear he's half Asian...funny pic though

Walk-a-thon

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to head down to Gonzales, LA for a Walk-a-thon organized by some ladies from Household of Faith Church. Lita & Annette came to Swaziland last November to invest in the lives of our CarePoint cooks. They were inspired by the work that Children's Cup is doing and they have mobilized their church, no I mean they really mobilized their church. Miss Lita & Miss Annette both have a huge passion to help the hurting children of Africa. God has annointed them to gather resources for new projects in Zimbabwe. They easily broke their $10,000 goal for the fundraiser.

Dave & Jean Ohlerking with Miss Lita & Miss Annette


- The crowd/walkers

Life...

Man, lately I've been trying to remind myself how special life is. In my head I know this to be true but it seemed as if I was willing time to pass quickly. I have not been treasuring moments, friends or family.

Well, I was reading the Rehmeyer's latest post and it hit me in the face what an idiot I've been. Life is a gift, life is special, people are special, we are special...made in his image. Read the post "Correspondance" on the Rehmeyer's Blog and pray for the Children's Cup team, the people of Africa and those in your own lives. Let's live life on purpose...lets not take for granted the experiences and people in our lives.

Caterpillar Invasion

These little green caterpillars have been everywhere the last couple of weeks. I seriously think they may be taking over our yard.They float down from the trees on their strings (webbing/silk?) and have managed to make huge webs that I unsuspectingly (is that a word?) walk into in the mornings. It is very confusing when you're heading to Starbucks at 4:40AM and you are covered in cob webs. My question is...do you know what kind of caterpillar/worm this is? I've never seen this many before, its like little green things everywhere!!!

South Florida

I just got back from a good but very short trip to South Florida. I was able to meet with two great pastors while I was there. Pastor Travis Johnson is based in Homestead, FL where he guides the very diverse (28 nationalities) Life Pointe Church.

Later that day I was able to meet with Pastor Bob Franquiz who is leading Calvary Fellowship in Miami Lakes, FL.

It was an awesome opportunity to meet with these two creative Pastors. Pray for these guys as they minister in a tough spiritual environment. On an average Sunday less than 6% of the people in Miami area are in church. Life Pointe and Calvary Fellowship are both reaching out in dynamic ways which include having church in movie theaters. Below is a picture of the theater where Life Pointe meets.



On Saturday I was able to attend my cousin Meghan’s wedding. Meghan married Bill Koperski in a very surferesque ceremony. It was great seeing family and being able to share the special day with Meghan & Bill. Here is a picture of the parents on the dance floor! Check out Bruce aka Dad’s green coat...nice!!!

Finally in the midst of all this I was able to see my friend Ashi Mehrotra. I went to high school and college with Ashi. He’s like a third son and it was great having some time to catch up and hang out with him. He’s a busy first year law student at the University of Miami.

HIV/AIDS and the Church

I was reading this other article today and immediately in my spirit I felt that Children's Cup has a destiny to enter Asia at some point. The one thing that stuck out was "...imagine closed doors opening for the gospel..." - I hear that and I think of China, I think of India, I think of Cambodia where HIV/AIDS infections are rapidly rising.

here is a snippet of the article -

"Imagine what 2 billion Christians might accomplish as one faithful force against one disease. Imagine the possibilities for proving church-mocking skeptics wrong. Imagine closed doors opening for the gospel. Imagine the lives saved. A world in the ever-tightening grip of HIV doesn't stand a chance without us."

- Christianity Today

fasting, what?

I was reading this article today and I really liked this thought on fasting:


"But I'm beginning to understand some of the benefits of fasting; I'm beginning to see that I recognize my dependence on God more clearly when I'm hungry; I'm beginning to chip away at some of the stupor that comes with always being sated."
- a Christianity Today article

Git R Done

I saw this the other day and immediately thought of my boy Charles Young. He's got a Git R Done attitude and a passion for reaching out to African High Schoolers. Check out his latest blog post about a man who was on his deathbed in June and is now wielding a sledge hammer: "Jesus is Moving