Our plans for next year - by Rachel

If you've been reading our blog posts, you are probably already aware that our time in Worcester has been challenging. For several months now we have been sensing that perhaps Worcester for us is supposed to be more of a bridge than a destination.  Our time here has so far been tough, but also GOOD - God has used this time to really delve into our hearts and challenge and change us in many ways.  So often, it seems, He has to get us out of our comfort zones and into a time of confusion and discomfort, to be able to do that.  We have felt it to be a time of preparation for what is to come.

We will be taking the Couples and Families Counseling school here from January to April, and we are really looking forward to being in the position of being "learners" again after a long time, as well as getting the opportunity to become equipped with tools that are specific to our calling and to where our hearts are at.

And after that?  Well, it seems that we finally have some answers:  

We have spent many years on board Mercy Ships in the past.   (8 years for Rachel, 6 for Kevin.)   We first met on the Anastasis in 2000, and have served on board as singles:

 a married couple:

 new parents:

 and a family of 4: 

Actually, we have "tried" to leave Mercy Ships a few times in the past, only to unexpectedly return.  And then we left in 2010 because God put it on our hearts to adopt internationally.  

In many ways, Mercy Ships is our spiritual home.  We have invested much of our lives in this organization, we know the quirks and foibles of living on board, the joys and the tough parts.  For 4 years we worked on board as Chaplains to the international crew - a position that we really enjoyed fulfilling together, and which is a really good fit for both of us - encompassing both of our strengths in counseling and teaching. And the occasional bout of crisis management.  :D

It just so happens that a position in Chaplaincy will unexpectedly be opening up on the Africa Mercy in August, and the position has been offered to us.  The ship will be coming to South Africa in July.  

Ironically, before we moved here to South Africa, Mercy Ships allowed us to send two boxes of clothes etc. to their head office in Texas, so that they could put them on a container going to Durban.  By mistake, they ended up on the Africa Mercy in Madagascar, where they still are now. Looks like we'll finally be reunited. (Did God know all along?  :D  )

Because we have been away from the ship for many years and we will be in leadership positions we will need to attend the On Boarding Program at the Mercy Ships headquarters in Texas in June.  This is a 5 week training program to prepare crew for service on board the ship.  We will then fly back to South Africa in July to embark the ship, and from there to sail to Benin (West Africa) for the following Field Service.

This is clearly a change of course for us, and definitely not what we expected when we moved here to South Africa.  But we really  feel right about returning to the ship and serving the international crew in the role of Chaplains.  We plan to make a 2 year commitment, and go from there.  (As a side note, the Africa Mercy has an excellent school on board.  We are very excited about this.  We have some stories to tell about the kids' school experiences in South Africa!)

In the new year we will communicate more about Mercy Ships and what the next season will look like for us.  Meanwhile, if you would like to find out more about the mission of Mercy Ships, you can find out here.

When it doesn't all just make sense - Rachel

If you've read any of our previous entries, you know that our transition to Worcester has not been easy.  The things we had thought we'd do here have not worked out the way we had thought.  We all feel differently about being here than we thought we would.  We've been struggling to figure out God's purpose for our family here in South Africa.  Again, disclaimer:  We love YWAM Worcester.  Great base, great leadership, great people.  We have no issues with them at all.  For us, this is more about figuring out where we fit in, and lacking a long-term vision here - beyond working in Transport, that is.  :D

I like things to fit together nicely and make sense.  OK, I can live with uncertainty and mess for a while.  But then, after an arbitrary amount of time, I stomp my metaphorical foot, thinking that I have the right to be able to look at the circumstances of my life and say, "oh - that's what God's been doing!  He did A because of B, in order to bring us to C."  And I feel smugly justified in the decisions that I had made in the process, because in the end it was all clearly part of God's plan.  How satisfying.  (And to be fair, there have been many times in my life when I've been able to do that, even though it may have taken a little longer than I would have preferred for the bigger picture to be revealed.)

But what about when it doesn't all just make sense?  

Do I struggle to fit all the pieces together in my mind, desperately trying to arrange them into some semblance of order - partly to appease my desire for everything to inter-connect, and also so that I can present it to our supporters and prayer partners in a tidy package?  (Er yes, apparently that's exactly what I do.  Giving myself stomach ulcers in the process.)

OR, do I wait... and trust... even if I never seem to get to the point where the answers are evident and everything "fits"?

It all really comes down to whose job I'm doing.  

For example:
Analysing the various reasons that we came here in the first place?  
-Not my job.
Wracking my brain to think of different ministries we could get involved with?  
-Not my job either.
Feeling guilty and responsible for the kids' occasional homesickness and not-quite-perfect circumstances?
-Nope.
Putting a plan together that will tie up all the messiness into something that makes sense to me and helps me feel better about myself?
-No.

The fact is, God is sovereign, and doesn't have to explain what He is doing.   He is the Potter, and not only did he create us but He also reserves the right to use us - or not use us - however He wants.

Humbling though it is, I do not have the answers.  But I know who does.  

So my job is to focus on today, doing the job at hand to the best of my ability.  And then to trust, wait, relax, and leave all of the outcomes up to Him.


P.S. Kevin had his dental procedure done last week.  It all went smoothly and he'll have the sutures removed next week.  Only one tooth was possible in the end, which cut the bill in half.  :D  The other good news is that it appears that enough funds are on their way to cover it!  Thank you! 

The Ocean Desert - Kevin

Once Rachel and I realized we were in a desert season (see previous post), my first response was, "How did I get here?  Did I make a mistake?  How do I get out of here?"  My desert has a lot of water, too much.  Before we left home, I felt like I was standing on the banks of a large river called "Faith".  I knew this river was going to South Africa, but that's all I knew for sure.  So I waded in deeper and deeper until the next step disconnected me from the shore and into the fullness of the current.  I had followed God into the river before, always a bit nerve-wracking, but I've learned to trust him.  

This time the river carried me out into the ocean and before I knew it, I had lost sight of land.  At first I thought I could  save myself with my wisdom and strength, but I didn't even know which way to swim.  But God was there in the midst of this ocean-desert in the form of a life raft that would provide safety, shelter, and everything I would need to survive.  

But at first I did not want to get in.  I held on to the side with one hand and I held on to my rubber ducky in the other.  My rubber ducky signified everything I relied on instead of God - My pride, strength, wisdom, my comforts: good things and bad.  What kind of fool would hold onto a rubber ducky when there was  a life raft right there?!  I love my ducky, he is my "Wilson"!  

But he cannot save me.

It seems like God uses difficult times to wake us up to the reality of how much we need him and and how we are designed for deep dependence on our Shepherd-King.  But this does not come naturally or easily; we must make the choice ourselves.  In Proverbs chapter 3 it talks about how God disciplines those he loves (He even led Jesus into the desert).  Discipline sounds like a negative thing but it is not.  "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12)  

A sermon from Rick Ezell says this:  "Discipline means training.  It is meant to draw us away from what will cause us harm and then lead us into the likeness of Jesus.  Discipline is needed to align our will to God's will."  

God is using this desert season to discipline me, just like a coach using discipline and training to make his players the best they can be.

"The job of a coach is to make players do what they don't want to in order to achieve what they have always wanted to be." -Tom Landry, Hall of Fame coach of the Dallas Cowboys (and a follower of Jesus).  
Things have become a lot easier knowing that God has a purpose for this hardship.  The more I trust him, the more peace he gives me.  I'm not sure which is more amazing: that I believe in Jesus, or that Jesus believes in me.

In other news:

Financial help needed: Tooth Story

We all start out with 12 molars. My wisdom teeth were impacted so I was then down to 8.  Right before I joined Mercy Ships in 2000, #7 on my upper right side cracked.  It would need a root canal and then a cap costing $2,000 or $75 to pull it.  I was broke, so out it came.  #6 on the upper right side continued to serve me well even after it had cracked and had a root canal in Africa (on the ship) in 2009.  Last year on my birthday while trying to consume a Snickers Blizzard it cracked down to the roots and could not be saved.  With no molars left I cannot chew food on the right side of my mouth.  The bad news is that implants cost about $4,000 dollars in the U.S. Dental insurance typically does not pay for dental implants.  The very good news is that they only cost $1400 in South Africa using the same high quality components.  The other bad news is that we exhausted our savings account covering our transition costs to come here.  

So I'm asking if anyone can help.  I can put it on a credit card but the borrowing costs are high, and I've not carried credit card debt since 1997.  The bone scan showed I have 8mm of bone, 7mm is needed otherwise bone grafts are required (expensive and painful).

As we get older the bone mass decreases, so right now there is a window of opportunity.  I found a great dentist in Cape Town, I have the bone mass, but I need help with the cost.  The total cost for all the screws/posts, surgery and making the new teeth will be around $2,800 for the #6 and #7 molars. The surgery to place the posts is scheduled for Nov. 17th, so the bill will come due in December.
Information about given can be found at this link:

www.ellensburgwellspring.com/yangas-family/

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Kevin and Rachel

The Desert - by Rachel

You know when God leads you somewhere and you step out in obedience, convinced that you are going there in order to do this certain thing or serve Him in this or that way, and when you get there you realize that actually His purpose in bringing you to that place was completely different from what you had thought? 

Well, that's pretty much where we've been at for the past 3 months since we arrived in South Africa.  We had a fairly clear idea of why we came:  We had plans to staff some of the various Counseling Schools that are run here at the YWAM base.  We had a vision to "equip the nations" and disciple young people through their personal journeys as they went through these schools.  
It looks as though - at least for now - God had other ideas.  

Our experience here so far has been very different from how we imagined it would be.  (Apparently God is God, and we are not.)  Don't get me wrong - the YWAM base here is an amazing place filled with dedicated and Godly people, and we have nothing but respect and admiration for all that happens on the base.  Okay, so perhaps we had not expected to spend our first 3 months here working in Transport, although we are happy to help in that area for now.  But that's not what this post is about.  

I will spare you the boring details, but practically speaking a couple of the things that we've been dealing with are: 
1) Because of the way the YWAM School calendar has unfolded, we would not be eligible to staff any of the Schools until 2017 (although we could take a couple as students), and 
2) The kids' school is very different from anticipated.

After grappling with these and other issues over the past couple of months, plus feeling confused, out of our comfort zones, homesick for friends and family, vulnerable, and completely stripped of all our defense mechanisms and our illusions of control, we are both coming to the conclusion that the reason God has us here - at least for this present season - has much less to do with what we can do and how we can serve and the difference that we can make, and much more to do with what He wants to do in our hearts during this time.  

In other words, God actually has us right where He wants us.

A key verse for me during this time has been Deuteronomy 8:2:  "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart..."  



This feels like a desert.  I am definitely feeling both humbled and tested.  And I don't much like the look of what's in my heart.  

God is especially challenging me in the following areas: 
- trust 
- surrender of control
- surrendering my kids to Him.  (Do I really trust God with my children, their welfare, their education?  Apparently not.)
- living with tension
- taking my thoughts captive
- living in the present
- patience
- choosing joy and contentment in the midst of it all.

So, this has been a not particularly easy season, but it's definitely a GOOD one.  We know that God has some things He wants to teach us, so we are doing our best to "show up to class" by engaging with Him and allowing Him to do what He wants to do in us.  

I am also immensely thankful.  Thankful that God loves me enough to want to challenge me and change me.  Thankful for this opportunity I am given to allow Him to do that.  Thankful for the adventure of living and working here in South Africa.   And especially thankful that even though this is a tough season for Kevin and me, the children are for the most part happy and doing really well. 

We're not sure what next year will look like for us, although it is likely that Kevin and I will continue in this time of training by taking the Couples and Families Counseling School from January to April. We know that God currently has us in a time of preparation for whatever might lie ahead.  But rather than try to figure out the future, we know that we need to be fully present in the here and now, no matter how messy it seems.

Meat South Africa - by Kevin

We have enjoyed our first South African braais, courtesy of fellow Mercy Ships alumni the Myers and De La Rue families, and yesterday by our base leaders Bruno and Judy.  The braai is a big deal to the South Africans.  It focuses on hospitality, fellowship and meat.  I've never seen so much meat!  When I inquired about the lack of veggies I was informed that chicken was a vegetable ;-) Like I said, they are serious about their meat.  They are also serious about their rugby and supporting the national team the Springboks.  They beat Wales 23-18 to earn a place in the Rugby World cup semi-finals.  Go Boks!

I still don't understand all the rules, but I think trying to pull your opponent's head off must be wrong. 

We think we may finally have a handle on the transportation department.  The transportation billing system was rather complicated, very difficult for us to learn, and ate up 60 hours each month.  This week I created and proposed a revamped system to the Base Administration Team.  The changes were approved and we will be implemented starting Nov 1st.  Billing should now hopefully take about 10 hours a month.   I do enjoy fixing things, restoring or making things work better.  My grandfather was a time engineer and spend his life making factories work more efficient.  It's funny the things we inherit.

 "Excuse me sir, you have a Pterygium in your eye."
 My eye doctor told me I really need to wear sunglasses.  
Causes of Pterygium:

Most experts believe that significant risk factors include:

• Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light
• Dry eye
• Irritants such as dust and wind

But I can't see well unless the sunglasses have prescription lenses which cost about $400 for curved lenses.  So this week I bought sunglasses, then took the lenses from my reserve glasses and glued them to my new shades, BAM! saved $375.  They look normal on the outside.  That's all that counts right?

I also discovered a way to harness solar and wind energy to dry our clothes... what?  Rachel's trying to tell me this was discovered already.  Whatever.

Last post we showed you our toilet brush tree, now here's our hair brush tree!

Thank you for your prayers and support as we try to digest  this new culture.  (get it- meat South Africa :-)

The Yangi

Spring to life - by Kevin

It is spring time in Worcester.  It is season of change and new beginnings, and so it goes for the Yangi.  We've been through a lot of changes, and it seems that outward change forces you to change on the inside as well.  Change is one of the most constant things in life, resistance is futile.  Our choice is to embrace change, trusting God to guide and care for us, or we can shrink back.  

This has been a difficult season for us, our transition to South Africa has been tough in many ways.  But if we can survive the difficult days of winter, the flowers will eventually come.  

In the midst of some of my difficult days I have only been able to say one thing, "I trust you Jesus, please help me today".   I don't know much, but I do know that God is faithful.  For me flowers are such a gift from God, the colors and smells, they infuse joy and life into me.  Outside our house we discovered a Bottle Brush tree.  The flowers are in the shape of a bottle brush, or a toilet brush if you prefer.  When you look close, they are amazing.

So with God's help we have survived our first month as Transportation Managers.  The base has 5 Toyota Avanzas (carry 7 people) and 2 Toyota Quantums (carry 12-14).  These vehicles are utilized to help the base to perform its practical ministries in the community.  If available they can also be used for personal use by staff and students.   

One of our best customers is Dandeline.  She checks out a vehicle for use for ministry several times a day every day, including Saturdays.  She is from South Africa, met her Zambian Husband doing her Discipleship Training School (YWAM's entry-level course) and has worked on the base since 2002.  Dandeline runs the soup kitchen ministry that feeds families in the Roodewal township two times a week during the winter.  She also works with the youth after school helping them understand God's love and teaching practical life skills.  This area has had a great deal of trauma related to gangsters and gang violence.  She is trying to address some of the root causes and encouraging fathers stay with their families.  She also uses the vehicles to pick her son up from school.  I'm praying God will provide her with her own car some day (she would like a white one).

Our main job is to keep the vehicles running, and to get the car keys to the right person at the right time.  Rachel has taken on the mind-numbing job of tracking the financial side of things, keeping track of who owes what.  To perform our task we have been given a lovely office that used to be a toilet...

...and we also spend some time hands-on with the vehicles - filling them up with fuel, making sure they're clean and maintained, and picking up the base's mail from the post office.

Spot the dipstick.

We would still really like to take the "Couples and Families Counseling School" that will run here from January to April next year. ( ywamworcester.com/training/cfc)

It has been a while since either of has had any training, and we feel that it would be a good tool for us to have, no matter what we end up doing after that.

Zaden is asking to be home-schooled, which would make it difficult (but maybe just about do-able?) for us both to take this course.  Rachel is very open to home-schooling if that is the best thing for the kids, but it would then make it much harder for her to be involved on the base - which of course is the reason we came.  

We would really appreciate prayers for wisdom in finding the best solution for our family.

Reality Check - by Kevin

It felt like we hit a wall this week.  Both Rachel and I had a difficult week coming to terms with our new world.  It felt as if the excitement and adrenaline have faded and it has left us tired and vulnerable.
I would like to share some of the areas that we have been trying to adjust to and would welcome your prayers.  The first is safety and security.
This was not really a concern in Ellensburg, we rarely locked our doors.  Here in Worcester, if you are not proactive you will most likely be robbed.  Every house has metal bars on the windows and a metal gate that surrounds the house (razor wire is optional).  

Padlocks are used to secure the points of entry, so now we have quite a collection of them.  We have one for the driveway, one for the garage, one for the front gate, back gate, and the front metal door.  Then 4 bolt/latch locks for the wooden front door.  It feels like it takes 10 minutes to get in or out of the house.  Our neighbor told me this house was robbed last year.  A man took advantage of an open gate, dashed in the house, grabbed a wallet and phone and ran.  I think they call this a "smash and grab".  

        (this is a re-enactment of a "smash and grab" with Timmy playing the part of a guard dog)

Every house has alarm systems and you are given a fob with a panic button, which activates an armed response by the security company.  

Everyone told us we "must" get a dog.  Dogs provide another layer of protection.  Timmy does bark, but I think if he tried to bite someone his dentures would fall out (he is 84, in dog years).

                     (I'm not sure which is older, our dog or the sign.)

Our house is in a good neighborhood, but our street has a steady flow of people going past as it leads to a bridge that crosses the railway lines.  Some of these folks are poor and hungry and are some looking for a soft target.

Most people keep their blinds closed to prevent people from "casing" their valuables.  We like keeping them open to let in the light, but then need to be mindful to conceal computers and anything of value.  

Secondly we are having to face the issue of living intimately with the reality of poverty.  The unemployment rate in South Africa last year was around 25%.  But the burden of poverty is not shared equally.  The unemployment rate for blacks was 40% and only 8% for whites.
On Thursdays we put out our trash bins, and then swarms of people move through the neighborhood looking through your trash for something of value or just something to eat.  It is extremely hard to watch.  One man came up to me and asked for food because he was hungry.  He been looking for work, but found nothing here and was headed back to Cape Town.  I went inside to make him a lunch, came out and there were 3 more people wanting food (good news travels fast).  One of them had a sore tooth, so being a nurse I wanted a look.  He had so many bad teeth it was hard to tell which one was causing the pain.  His gums were red and swollen so I instructed him to go to the hospital today to have the infected tooth removed.  I went back inside for more lunches and a handful of Tylenol (paracetamol).  
The gap between rich and poor is so severe here.  It feels stressful and heart breaking.  We are rich and I have to learn how to live with that.  We have to trust God to know when and how to respond to the question of poverty, and the faces right outside our fence.

Please keep us in your prayers as we start our new jobs tomorrow (Sept 14).  We have learned so much in the past 6 weeks, it feels like our brains are struggling to take on this new task.  We also have mold issues in 3 rooms and we are waiting for the landlord to fix it as promised. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.
The Yangi 

More photos of our house

...and here are the rest of the photos of our house.  
This one is of Ashani's room, which is actually a walk-in closet, with its own tiny sink:

And of course the bathrooms.  They are both very small but functional.  This one houses the washing machine and laundry baskets, and there is a bath tub hiding behind them too:

And this one has a shower: 

Here are some pictures of the outside of the house.  This one is taken from the back yard.  The upper-level windows you can see are in the corridor which has a very high ceiling:

Clothes line (very exciting):

You can see the back door in this one - it leads into the kitchen:

The side of the house:

And the front:

There is some mould in several of the rooms, and also a lot of maintenance and upkeep projects, painting, re-tiling, etc etc that should have been done before we moved in and weren't...  We are thankful that the house is functional as it is, but we are also planning to liaise with the estate agent and landlord to see if there's a way we can be provided with the materials to fix those things ourselves.  But that can wait.  At the moment we're just happy to have our own space.

We are home!

We moved into our house on Tuesday!  It feels really, really good to be here.  
My favourite thing about this house is that it has these amazing features called "rooms".  The way they work is this:  If one family member would like some time away from another family member, they can actually walk into another "room" and get this thing called "personal space".  It also means that when the boys need to do their homework, Ashani does not have to leave the premises.  It's absolutely brilliant.
Some of the other things I really appreciate having again are counter-tops, sinks, a draining-board, and toilet-roll dispensers (which enable Ashani to pee unaided, as there is very little risk that the entire roll will end up in the toilet).

I took a bunch of pictures of the inside of the house this morning. 
This first one is of the view from outside our front door, looking across the street at the neighbour's house, which is just in front of the railway line:

Here are some of our kitchen.  It has lots of natural light and plenty of space, and a WORKING FIREPLACE!!  Really nice for these chilly mornings.

As in many houses in South Africa, our kitchen has no sink.  The sink is in a scullery off the kitchen, where the maid would traditionally wash the dishes out of sight:

Timmy had been an outside dog, but he has adjusted extremely fast to being let inside for much of the day.  He was starting to make himself quite at home on our beds, until we got him one of his own in the kitchen: 

The living room has lovely big windows so lots of natural light, and another working fireplace!  As you can see we are sitting on the floor so far.  

The bedrooms are down the hall.  This one is Zaden's:

And Daniel's - we plan on putting a double bed in here eventually.  Both boys' rooms have built-in closets which is really handy:

Here is our bedroom:

I have apparently reached my limit of posting photos - I will try to post again tomorrow with photos of Ashani's room, bathrooms, and outside space.

We have been fortunate to be able to find nearly everything we needed second-hand - including the dishwasher, fridge, oven, curtains, and all the furniture!  

It's definitely starting to feel like home.  The kids are really enjoying having their own space, and home-cooked meals (well - frozen pizza, anyway!).  

Next week we will start work in the Transport department.  We're looking forward to getting stuck in to work at the YWAM base and becoming more familiar with the people and different ministries.