Broomheksienhidrochlorie

Team India!

3 1/2 Americans, 1 German, 1 Dutch, 1 South Korean, and 1/2 a Swaziland...er? Swazilandite? Swazilandian? Let's just say 4 Americans!

This week our topic was on dreams and visions for the future. I missed half of it because I was sick. I feel like I've been sick since I got here, maybe because I have. It's a lingering head cold basically. I get rid of it for a week and then it comes back and knocks me out for a few days, this is the last time though. We've had an irregular schedule this week due to the schedules of our speakers, but it leaves more time for recuperating, so I'm not arguing about anything haha. God is great and broomheksienhidrochloried is good. I don't even know what that is, but it's an ingredient in the medicine the pharmacist gave me. I'd challenge you to try saying that 3 times fast but I don't know that anyone can actually even say it once...I know I can't.

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I'm still trying to raise another $1,500 before March 10th. Let's see, that's 15 days away...so $100 a day. Totally possible, but I could use your help! I'd like to spread my blog around, but I only know so many people. Can you pass my link on to a friend; send it to your pastor, youth leader, church missions board; or share it on Facebook? You don't have to post pictures and links on neighborhood telephone poles...unless you think it would help. ;)

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I love the story of David. His entire life is a huge roller-coaster, the highest highs and the lowest lows but he was still known as a man after God's heart.

We talked about David and Goliath briefly in one of our sessions this week, so I went back to 1 Samuel 17 to read the story again.

In class we talked about how David shared his ''war stories'' with Saul to justify his experience and capability in battle. In verses 34-37 David talks about how he would watch his father's sheep. When a lion or bear came to take a lamb David would kill it. It wasn't really that big of a deal though, he stood on top of a hill a long distance away and shot it with a high-powered rifle, so he was never directly in harms way. Oh sorry, that was a different story. This David would grab the animal by it's mane and beat it to death. (This is a bit harsh, yes, but not as gruesome or brutal as 1 Samuel 18:22-27...look it up, really). Who does that kind of stuff?

I love how Saul tried to give David weapons to defeat Goliath with because he felt David was under (or un) equipped. David couldn't handle the weight of them, he didn't have any experience with them so he resorted to what he knew he could use. He pulled out his sling and grabbed some rocks. David didn't need the approval or criticism of others to encourage him, he was confident in who he was and the skills he already had.

Verse 48 says that as Goliath moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to meet him....what? I picture Goliath walking (maybe sauntering is a better word, or strutting?) confidently and suddenly David takes off running towards him!

David is definitely one of my favorite guys ever. He probably knew how to pronounce broomheksienhidrochloried also.

The cost of discipleship

It's a happy grimace on my face, I promise!

Good news, I have all the money I need for the first deadline! Now I need an additional $1,500 before March 10th and then I'm free and clear for quite awhile! God is always so faithful to provide, it's pretty great. Many thanks to everybody who listened and gave as God directed, He's an incredible orchestrator!

This week our topic in class was the cost of discipleship. Our speaker had some amazing authority in that area, he was falsely accused and imprisoned in Iran for 9 weeks! He overcame two death sentences (one for being a missionary and the other for being a spy), and was freed the same way he was thrown into prison, without much explanation.

Aside from sharing a couple incredible stories, Dan imparted some great wisdom, mainly in one-liners mixed into his stories. These are some of my favorites:

• The Christian life is experiencing Jesus over and over again.
• God is more committed to fulfilling His will in our lives than we are to find it.
• God is in love with who I am right now. Not who I will be or could be, but who I am now.
• Readiness doesn't define our obedience.

Those last two are my absolute favorites. I don't need to change who I am for God to love me to the best of His ability. God doesn't love ''more'' or ''less'', He's an equal opportunity lover!

Back in December I wrote about God qualifying the called, and I think that last point fits right in with this. It was a great reminder this week, that I don't need to do anything except step forward and be willing to go where God wants me to. If I always needed to feel ''ready'' to do something big, where would I be? Probably sitting on the couch, or maybe even still in bed. Dan mentioned how when people hear his story of imprisonment they often say that they could never do that, that they aren't capable of going to prison for the Gospel. I can tell you that Dan didn't wake up one morning and think he was capable of doing it either, but God gave him the ability to persevere.

A short documentary and re-enactment was made recently about Dan's time in prison. I'm not able to watch these clips (because of my internet speed) but I wanted to pass them along with you guys. (Someone let me know if they don't work please!) All 3 parts are less than 15 minutes total I believe.

Imprisoned in Iran [Part 1]

Imprisoned in Iran [Part 2]

Imprisoned in Iran [Part 3]

This post has no title or picture but it's not boring...

I have lots of exciting updates today!

First, completely non-related to Africa. I found out yesterday that I'll be an Uncle for the first time ever in August! Second, my brother (who was in a car accident in the beginning of December) will be able to start walking again next Tuesday. Go get 'em Travis!

And now, Africa:

This past week in class we learned about the Holy Spirit. It was an amazing week filled with a lot of breakthrough moments for myself and many others in the class. I feel like one of my funniest realizations came on Tuesday. We were talking about the power of the Holy Spirit and what Jesus commanded the original disciples to do (raise the dead, heal the sick, etc) and it dawned on me: this stuff is weird, but it was weird when Jesus did it also. People weren't walking around raising the dead and casting out demons like it was a normal thing, thats part of what made Jesus effective in His ministry. Jesus had authority because of His relationship with His Father, people wanted (and still do) want relationship, not religion. I'd rather strive to have that relationship and fail a million times than never try and never know.

As a reminder, I'll be leaving for India sometime in late March and returning to S. Africa for a week in the beginning of June before heading back to the States. Our itinerary for India is still being finalized, we're relying heavily on God to lead us on this trip because we want to do His work.

I'm still about $1,700 short of my final goal. Due to the time it takes to wire money overseas and take care of account transfers and such, I need to majority of my money in....the next 4 days! The time is getting closer and closer, God is good though and I'm not too worried about it. If you're feeling inclined to give, please do it. If you don't want to use the Paypal link on the left side of the page then send me a message on Facebook or leave a comment here, I'll let you know other ways to donate. Every dollar counts, I've learned that so much more lately.

And lastly, another request. I have the ability to take videos (with my webcam and my camera). I'd like to edit some of the videos with some effects (words, graphics, etc). Is anyone aware of a web program that would be of any use?

Meat!

[Note: Please don't be alarmed, I'm redesigning my blog, more changes may be coming but it's still mine! - Kenny]

Today I went and spent some alone time with God at the beach. I came down with some sort of flu or bug on Thursday morning and spent about 48 hours in bed. It was nice to get off the base and sit in the sunshine for a little while again.

While in bed I enjoyed 3 wonderful books. Against All Odds by Jim Stier was about the development of YWAM in Brazil. From Pimp To Preacher by Jan Eriksen was the true life story of a Norwegian man who turned from a life on the streets to ministering to those on the streets. One of my roommates had a John Grisham book, Ford County. Not one of his best books, but John Grisham is always enjoyable in my opinion.

Some people have asked what the food is like over here, so you get a language lesson and a cuisine lesson at the same time.

The picture above is boerewors (the best pronunciation I can come up with is ''boo-er-vurs''). It means farm sausage and is made from beef with pork or lamb (or both) included occasionally. It's pretty much the main meat ingredient in everything. I found it to be an acquired taste but I enjoy it now and look forward to it really. It can be cooked numerous ways, but one of the favorite ways seems to be on the braai (rhymes with ''pry''. It means barbecue, or braaied for barbecued).

Biltong is the most famous and popular snack food in SA. Similar to droewors (''dry sausage'', literally dried boerewors) but closer to what American jerky looks like, biltong has a couple of distinct differences. First, it's much more popular than jerky is in America. It's also made differently and therefore tastes a bit different (though the end result looks similar). Biltong is dried with vinegar among other things, so the flavor and texture are different than jerky.

Biltong is popular enough that some stores specialize in carrying only biltong related merchandise (see picture to the left, the whole store looks like this!). Biltong can be cut up and added to anything from stews to muffins, chips have been made to taste like biltong, and they even have some made without any spices to give to teething babies.

On a completely unrelated topic, please don't forget about my outreach to India. I'm a couple hundred dollars closer to my halfway point, God is good! Feel free to pass my blog address along to anyone you think would be interested in reading it, the more the merrier!

Oh yes, smaak means ''taste'' or ''like''. It's okay to smaak me but don't smack me please.

Lawnmowers in Church? (An update about India)

I divided this blog into two halves. The picture is completely unrelated. It's the Muizenberg train station, one of the nicest buildings in town.

Half one.

Sometimes I hear something in class that triggers a response. I write down whatever was said (or the thought that it created in my head) and go back to it later to see if it's worth writing about or just worth pondering. I have so many highlighted things in my notebook but I know I'll probably never get to even half of them.

We're learning about our identity in Christ and the authority that we have as believers this week. Our instructor, a Swiss missionary living in France, has done an amazing job of backing everything he says up with Scripture. What hit me today was a great comparison:

"The church is like a barn. You sharpen your tools in it, but then you have to go out to the field to use them."

Now, there's a lot of things that could be interpreted about this that would make that an incorrect statement. Let's focus on what makes that a correct statement though. At church (the building, not the body) we are edified and built up from the pulpit. We are sharpened. What do we do next? Go home and think about how sharp we are? What's the point of even going back to the sharpening stone every week if we don't do anything about it?

What if we aren't sharp enough to do any good in the ''field''? It's hard to know if a tool is sharp enough until you use it. Even a dull lawnmower cuts some grass.

Another great one-liner I heard yesterday was in regards to Matthew 28:19. We are called to the nations, including our home nation. We don't always need to cross an ocean to follow a calling in life.

Matthew 9:37 continues to resonate within my heart more and more every day. "Then He said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'"

The other half.

I need more money. If I'm being honest and straightforward, that's a hard statement for me to make. Receiving money has never been an easy task and I struggle to fight that. I'm in an awkward position right now. I have no way to make money, but I still need it. I need to eat, to pay the few bills I still have, to buy clothes when I need them and deodorant when other people say I need it.

Right now I have a goal though, the other half of my program isn't paid for. I posted a handy chart on the left side of this page, it shows how far I've come and how much I still need.

What is this next $3,000 going to? I'm going to India, that's the easy answer. It will pay for my plane tickets, food, accommodations, and whatever else comes up.

My deadline for having money paid is February 20th. It seems like a ways off but the sooner I can pay some of the money the cheaper my flights will be (and ultimately, the less money I need to raise). Every dollar counts. Can you skip a movie and wait for it to come out on DVD and save $7? If every one of my Facebook friends sent that money to me instead I'd have enough money to cover the next 3 months.

Raising financial support is a new concept for me, so I've been doing a lot of thinking and praying about what it means. The conclusion I've come to is that this is less about asking for money but more about creating partnership. I have a will and a desire to be on the mission field. You have money. Can we be partners?

Cape of Good Hope

I had the opportunity to go to the Cape of Good Hope yesterday with some new friends. I went with Levi (a friend and fellow classmate) and a couple people from the YWAM school in Auckland, New Zealand. Here's a couple pictures of what we saw. I haven't figured out how to change the order of them, they appear kind of random, sorry haha.

One of about 6 ostriches we saw walking along the roadside. This one was by himself, the others were closer to the beach in a group.

A lone baboon up on the rocks. Levi was so excited to see them that he kept yelling ''bamboon, bamboon!''. That became to re-occurring phrase the rest of the day....bamboon.

Farthest southwest point of Africa! If you jumped off there and started swimming it would take you awhile to reach land again...

A wild Eland. There were 3 or 4 of these guys hanging out below the parking lot munching on some bushes. We stood there and watched them for awhile, they acted a lot like cows back home.

Levi and myself trying to figure out where in the world we are.

The sign, in Afrikaans, says "Cape of Good Hope, the most south-western point of the African continent". It truly seemed like the edge of the world...

The story of how I lost my Bible

This is a longer post but something that I felt I needed to share.

I got to see my first 'football' (American soccer) game in South Africa the other day. We took two groups of guys to go see the Moroka Swallows lose to Ajax Cape Town in one of the stadiums that the 2010 World Cup was played in. We had two vehicles but there weren't enough seats for all of us, so 4 of us took the train into town, walked to the stadium and met up with the rest of the group.

After the game, those of us who took the train in, were going to stay in Cape Town with some friends of Folker's (one of my classmates). The trains stop running at 7pm and it would be close to 11pm by the time the game was over. However, on the ride to town we learned that the train makes a special trip after most football games at 11:30pm and it's free if you have a game ticket.

So, when the match was over we decided to take the train back instead of inconveniencing Folker's friends. We bid farewell to our classmates and caught a shuttle bus to the train terminal while everyone else piled into the cars and drove back to the base. When we got to the train terminal we realized a crucial fact: the train only makes that special trip after some of the games. This was not one of them. We were stuck in Cape Town at 11:30pm on a Friday night. It wasn't a big deal though, we called one of our staff leaders, Henzel, and he said he would come pick us up after he dropped his car full of guys off at the base. It would be about an hour before he could meet us.

The four of us decided to find a place where we could sit and wait. We found a KFC nearby and sat there for a few minutes. Folker, being familiar with the area, knew of a place that was still open and had an amazing view from their eating area on the roof. We decided to go check it out while waiting for Henzel.

KFC and this rooftop eatery that we were going to are both located on Long Street in Cape Town. Long Street is known for it's nightlife, especially on the weekends. There are numerous bars and clubs on every block and many, many people were out that night. There were so many people, in fact, that they spilled out onto the sidewalks and streets from the clubs and made it difficult to walk without navigating around them all.

As we started walking we were approached by a man from the street on our left. He came up close and asked if we wanted to buy any ''pot or shrooms''. We all said no and kept walking without breaking stride. I found out that this was par for the course on Long Street. I counted 3 more people who asked us the same thing in the next couple blocks that we walked. The total people who asked us to buy their drugs would be at least 7 by the end of the night.

It actually became frustrating. These men weren't just trying to offer us some drugs, they were pushing them on us. Asking repeatedly and not necessarily leaving when we said no. At one point I turned to Folker and told him that I was going to start witnessing to the next guy who offered us something. God put the right guy in my path a few seconds later.

Said (pronounced "Sigh-EED'') also approached us from the left, coming across the street. He asked if we were interested in buying any weed. As we walked step in step, I told him how I was more into Jesus than drugs. He quickly changed his whole attitude. We walked with a determination in our step but we really had nowhere to go, so we stopped on the street and started talking. The four of us crowded around Said as he told us his story.

24 years ago Said was born in the Congo and only moved to Cape Town 6 months ago. He didn't know anyone but came here to get away from the army that was trying to recruit him. He didn't want to be a part of that so he fled the country.

Without any contacts, Said turned to what he knew he could do, push drugs. He lived with a family in a nearby township (slum). He tried to join a church and had sought help finding a job from the pastor but nothing happened. He told us that he woke up that morning and told God, as with most mornings, that he just wanted to be a good man. He was tired of doing bad and just wanted to be good.

As we talked, Said told us that he really wanted a Bible, specifically an English one, that he could read.

This is where the story gets hard for me. I have pride issues and didn't even realize it at the time.

See, I had a Bible on me right then. It was my favorite Bible (like most American's, I have multiple Bibles). My Bible was maroon, soft cover, and just the right size. It had the Old Testament and New Testament, was the New American Standard Version and was small enough to fit in my back pocket. People who saw it usually commented on it's delightful size and the fact the it was the whole Bible (not just part of it, like most Bibles of that size). It was my favorite Bible, but what was I supposed to do? I pulled it out of my pocket, regretting that decision before I even registered what I was doing, and handed it over.

We finished talking to Said a few minutes later and parted ways. We got in Henzel's car and Said walked away with a new Bible. I have no idea what will happen to it. Maybe he'll throw it away, maybe it will sit on a shelf for the next 50 years and never get opened again, maybe he'll try to sell it, maybe he'll use it's pages for rolling paper to smoke, or maybe he'll read it and let if transform his life.

I have no idea what will happen to it, but it was my favorite Bible. I had a lot of pride in it, as you can see. God knew I had that Bible in my pocket and He knew that I was serious when I told Folker I was ready to turn the tables on the next drug peddler we met. He also knew Said needed a Bible, and maybe the most important thing for me, He knew that I had some pride that needed to be dealt with.