Happy Thanksgiving

Now, you may be thinking that this is 2 days late. You are kind of correct. Those of you in the USA celebrated or observed Thanksgiving on Thursday of this week. You remember – the day the Dallas Cowboys played and won – beat the Tampa Bay Bucs. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the game and they did not show SportsCenter on Friday so I could not see any of Tony Romo’s five passing touchdowns – the first Cowboy quarterback to do that at Texas Stadium.

Anyway, over here in South Africa, Thursday was just the fourth day of the work week. Today, we all met at the Beighle’s and celebrated Thanksgiving. There were about 27 missionaries and several friends. The Beighle’s have hosted Thanksgiving for years and this was there last one as they retire next year enjoying 31 years on the field. We had a wonderful meal and a lot of good fellowship. It wasn’t the same as being home, but it was the next best thing to being there – even though it was in the low 90’s. I looked at the thermomether in my bedroom this evening – it read 89 degrees – but I am thankful.

I Am Thankful.....

...for the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.

...for the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

...for the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

...for my shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

...for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

...for all the complaining I hear about the government because it means we have freedom of speech.

...for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.

...for the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.

...for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

...for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.

...for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.

November Update

Well, it is the middle of November already. Time has flown since our last update. I knew that it would and it will only continue as we head into Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year.

If you have not heard the neww or visited our blog, Jody had a safe delivery of Melody Kayelynn on October 25^th, 12:55 pm. She was 9lbs 10ozs, 22 ½ inches long. She arrived healthy, but had to be on oxygen for the first 8 hours. Jody didn’t like that; not being able to see her until that night. She did, however, get to hold her for about a minute or so in the delivery room. Jody’s mother arrived safely and had been here. She has been a great help. (Please don’t let her see this comment.) She leaves to go back home next Wednesday. This will not be a happy time. The boys and Bethany have really enjoyed having her here.

It is hard to believe that we are month away from Christmas. With the temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s, the Christmas spirit is not in the air. But we will continue on. We have learned that we cook out at Christmas and we cook in on the 4^th of July!

With Christmas just around the corner, it is time for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. I want to thank you again for your giving last year. Last years total was over 137 million dollars. All of the money given goes to support over 5000 missionaries around the world. The LCMO is not used for administrative or promotional cost. So, I just want to thank you as you give again this year.

Work continues, even though at a much slower pace for the rest of the year. As we enter into December, work ceases around the country and people disappear. Many people go back home; back to the village where they grew up in. It is incredible to see, but it is nice to experience because lines everywhere are much shorter.

Please continue to pray as we get through this lull. I look to ‘hit the road’ hard and fast in January. We are only here for another 5 ½ months after the new year. There is a lot of work to do. I will be working with the pastors in December on the calendar for the first half of 2007. Starting in January, I will start scheduling for our time in the States. We plan on seeing everyone on our own time, but certainly want of visit your church in an ‘official’ capacity.

Lottie Moon Fast Facts

The board's more than 5,100 missionaries and their international Baptist partners baptized more than 475,000 new believers last year, started nearly 23,500 churches and engaged 104 people groups for the first time. They also planted churches among 19 people groups where no Baptist churches previously existed - including 13 with no evangelical churches of any kind.

In 2005, Southern Baptist missionaries and their partners:

-- engaged a total of 1,170 people groups worldwide, three-quarters of whom are classified by mission researchers as unreached (less than 2 percent of the population claiming evangelical Christian faith)

-- engaged for the first time 104 people groups, 73 of whom are unreached, with a combined population of nearly 100 million.

-- engaged 120 unreached urban centers, including 12 for the first time.

-- started 23,486 churches and more than 10,600 "outreach groups" (potential future churches). That brought total partner churches worldwide to 135,252, with a combined membership of 8.8 million, and outreach groups to 55,723.

-- baptized 475,072 new believers - about 1,300 each day or one each minute.

-- involved nearly 510,000 new believers in discipleship training, in addition to more than 1.1 million existing church members in discipleship groups.

-- trained more than 150,000 Christian leaders in nonresidential settings (extension and correspondence courses, short-term courses and on-the-job training) and more than 20,000 in residential pastoral programs.

-- worked with 1,772 international missionaries sent out by overseas Baptist partners to other people groups and 3,400 home missionaries reaching out to people groups within their own countries

Time Flies

I did not realize that it has been almost 2 weeks since I put up the last pictures.

An update will be coming soon, also. It has been just a little bit busy around here.

Melody and her Siblings

Monday night: Dennis and the boys are back in Mmabatho.

Jody, Bethany, Melody, and her mother are still in Jo-burg. Jody should be released by the doctor to travel home on Wednesday. Jody is getting better - slowly, but surely.

She is ready to return home - as I am ready for all of them to be here also - that even includes my mother-in-law!!!!!

Melody - Day Two

Everyone is doing well. Probably get to leave the hospital Friday evening or Saturday morning. She is yawning in the one she has her mouth open.

Melody Has Arrived!!

Melody Kayelynn Janz arrived at 12:55 pm, weighing in at 9lbs 11ozs, measuring a full 22 inches. On her way out, she swallowed some water, so that has caused her to recieve oxygen. She has been held by her mother for about 2 minutes. I have held her hand while she was in the incubator. She should be ok within a couple of hours. They have fed her 30 ml of formula so that she would calm down and breathe easier. Mother is resting and will nurse her as soon as possible. More pictures will follow.

A Picture of Jesus

Is there any place on earth that more bespeaks peace, restfulness, and sanctuary from the demons of modern life than a one-room Amish schoolhouse? That fact is no doubt why so many of us felt so defiled there is no more precise word - by news of the mass murders that took place there this week. If you're not safe in an Amish schoolhouse ... And yet, as unspeakable as those killings were, they were not the most shocking news to come out of Lancaster County this week. No, that would be the revelation that the Amish community, which buried five of its little girls this week, is collecting money to help the widow and children of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the man who executed their own children before taking his own life. A serene Amish midwife told NBC News on Tuesday that this is normal for them. It's what Jesus would have them do. "This is imitation of Christ at its most naked," journalist Tom Shachtman, who has chronicled Amish life, told The New York Times.

"If anybody is going to turn the other cheek in our society, it's going to be the Amish. I don't want to denigrate anybody else who says they're imitating Christ, but the Amish walk the walk as much as they talk the talk." I don't know about you, but that kind of faith is beyond comprehension. I'm the kind of guy who will curse under my breath at the jerk who cuts me off in traffic on the way home from church. And look at those humble farmers, putting Christians like me to shame. It is not that the Amish are Anabaptist hobbits, living a pure pastoral life uncorrupted by the evils of modernity. So much of the coverage of the massacre has dwelled on the "innocence lost" aspect, but I doubt that the Amish would agree. They have their own sins and tragedies. Nobody who lives in a small town can live under the illusion that it is a haven from evil. To paraphrase gulag survivor Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the line between good and evil does not run along the boundaries of Lancaster County, but through every human heart.

What sets hearts apart is how they deal with sins and tragedies. In his suicide note, Mr. Roberts said one reason he did what he did was out of anger at God for the death of his infant daughter in 1997. Wouldn't any parent wonder why God allowed that to happen? Mr. Roberts held onto his hatred, purifying it under pressure until it exploded in an act of infamy. That's one way to deal with anger.

Another is the Amish way. If Mr. Roberts' rage at God over the death of his baby girl was in some sense understandable, how much more comprehensible would be the rage of those Amish mothers and fathers whose children perished by his hand? Had my child suffered and died that way, I cannot imagine what would have become of me, for all my pretenses of piety. And yet, the Amish do not rage. They do not return evil for evil. In fact, they embody peace and love beyond all human understanding.

In our time, religion makes the front pages usually in the ghastliest ways. In the name of God, the faithful fly planes into buildings, blow themselves up to murder the innocent, burn down rival houses of worship, insult and condemn and cry out to heaven for vengeance. The wicked Rev. Fred Phelps and his crazy brood of fundamentalist vipers even planned to protest at the Amish children's funeral, until Dallas-based radio talker Mike Gallagher, bless him, gave them an hour of his program if they would only let those poor people bury their dead in peace.

But sometimes, faith helps ordinary men and women do the humanly impossible: to forgive, to love, to heal and to redeem. It makes no sense. It is the most sensible thing in the world. The Amish have turned this occasion of spectacular evil into a bright witness to hope. Despite everything, a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Rod Dreher is assistant editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News. The views expressed here are his own. His e-mail address is rdreher@dallasnews.com

October Update

The pictures are of me and two of the pastors at the Marriage Seminar. The other two are from the Mafikeng Game Reserve.

Greetings to you in the precious name of our loving, Heavenly Father. What an honor it is to share with you the things that are happening in our lives – personally and from the ministry.

I thank you for continuing to pray for Jody. Even though she is in continual pain, she has said several times that she has felt your prayers and your prayers are the reason why she had made it through this far. It seems like there is a different pain each day. The last couple of days she has had a throbbing, stinging pain in her foot which feels like a sprained ankle. A couple of days before that she had a searing pain in the area of her previous incision which undoubtedly is related to some scar tissue.

The doctor has agreed for a c-section delivery on the 26^th of this month, which is a day before Josiah’s 9^th birthday. Josiah was disappointed that Melody will not be born on his birthday. From the time of this writing, Jody has 21 days until the birth. Three weeks seem like an eternity right now for her.

My mother-in-law is flying into J-burg on the 27^th of October – one day after the birth. She told me that I could not ask you to pray for me, like you did last time she came, since she is going to be here for almost a whole month. I was really disappointed in that comment – censoring my prayer requests!!!!!!! She also said that I could not send out any jokes that had ‘blonde’ in them because she is a blonde. (just don’t tell her that you’ll be praying for me) Josiah is excited, as well as Andy, Caleb, and Bethany, that Nannie is coming on his birthday.

Ministry continues, much slower than I desire, but I have to make sure that I see where God is working and I try to understand how He wants me involved. There is also frustration as I am limited in what I can do since Jody is not able to do much, leaving me much of the work to do around the house. I was able to do two Saturday seminars this month and another was planned for this month, but it does not look like we’ll be able to keep it on the schedule.

The first seminar was a Men’s Seminar with about 15 men in attendance. We talked about being a Godly man and the continued struggle that we have in doing and not doing the right and wrong things. I shared with them that God wants to renew them from the inside out – starting with their soul and continuing through the mind, will, and emotions. Unwanted behavior will still manifest itself without changing on the inside first. God wants to work in our spirit – to renew and remake us so that our behaviors will begin to change.

The second seminar was a marriage seminar for young adults and newly married. I guess they didn’t see that on the brochure because there were married people of all ages there. That was ok and there was no problem with their attendance. We had 5 couples and 5 spouses there. Two of the spouses were men – I was excited that they came. I wondered if they came on their own or they were ‘forced’ to come! J I shared with them 6 Purposes and Principles of Marriage. They were very attentive and asked several questions. I left a little earlier that I wanted to so that I could get back home. I was talking with the pastor later that week and he had nothing but positive comments and he said the people stayed around and talked and wondered why there wasn’t more. So it looks like we’ll be doing one next summer before we come home – that would be next Spring for those in the States.

God has opened up an incredible door this last week in relation to Unit 15. Near Unit 15 (a housing subdivision) is what they are calling Extension 39. This will be a 2500-house area with about 800 houses already complete. These are RDP houses. (Restoration and Development Program) The government has promised about 10 million of these houses, free of charge, to those people who apply and qualify. God has brought a young man named Tshwaro across my path to start and church in that area. He will be living in one of those houses on site. He had an accident and apparently gets some money from the government. This enables him to devote all the time he wants to this church start. He should move into his house in about 2 weeks. We drove through the area and I was amazed at all the houses that were already built and twice that many to be built. I have helped Tshwaro with an application to get one of the several sites for a church. What a privilege it is to serve an incredible God.

Prayer Requests Safe delivery/arrival of Melody on October 25^th; Safe trip for Jody’s mother; The new work in Extension 39; Bible Study at the Hotel School; The storying work that Jody has done out in the village; The South Africa Tswana Team and their personal walk with the Lord.

Happy Birthday, Bethany

Well, it is hard to believe that 2 years ago we were in the Gaborone Private Hospital welcoming this little angel into the world. (Yeah, I know, she is not a real angel – wings, harp, sitting on clouds, etc.) What an incredible joy she is. I have to say that I am completely surprised by how the boys have reacted to her. They love her and she has them all wrapped around her little finger. Caleb, who is not known for his outward displays of affection, literally drools all over her. He says, ‘My love,” “Sweetheart,” “You are so cute!!” – It is almost sappy if it wasn’t so cute. Andy plays a lot with her in her room with her new kitchen and dishes. Josiah wants to play with her but just ends up bothering her.

She has learned to say “birthday” and that she is “two.” Her vocabulary is expanding every day! She is putting together sentences and making us laugh all the time. As I am typing this, she just put a naked baby doll in my lap for me to hold.

Thank you God for entrusting us with this special gift.

Mmabatho Billboards

Each Saturday as one drives around Mmabatho, you would undoubtedly come across a funeral, if not several. One of the difficulties that we face in planning Saturday activities at the church is the constant absence of key people because of funerals. Our lives have been changed as we come into contact with people who are HIV positive and have full-blown AIDS. AIDS is still kind of hush-hush as people don’t want to admit their status. People don’t die from AIDS – they die because of another sickness because AIDS affects their immune system. We were surprised at the condom advertising, promotion and distribution in Botswana and South Africa. As we have crossed the border several times, condom dispensers are in plain view. I was in a hospital bathroom in Johannesburg and there was a dispenser encouraging you to take them if you needed them.

One the weak strategies of South Africa’s in dealing with this pandemic is education through billboards. As you can see, these are some of the billboards. One is also promoting beer and one is from Kentucky Fried Chicken. The one from KFC means that you will be fully satisfied at KFC. Pray that we would be like billboards promoting the Good News of the Gospel - only through the Gospel will one be fully satisfied.