Week in the Thai Islands

Brian and I were so fortunate to enjoy a week of relaxation together after our outreach here in Thailand. We headed down south to an area called Krabi and spent 6 days exploring the nearby beaches and Islands of Ao Nang, Railay beach, Ko Phi Phi, and Poda Island. We had incredible weather the entire time and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery and warm ocean water.

Brian and his new friend (you may have to look closely)

View from Railay beach

This was such a wonderful time together, but we are both very much looking forward to coming home in less than a week to see all our family and friends! We have a very busy travel schedule ahead of us, so please keep us in your prayers. Below is our itinerary, so you will know each day what leg of our journey we are on:

Itinerary
Tuesday, Dec 1st: Bangkok overnight
Wednesday Dec 2nd: Depart Bangkok in am, arrive in Qatar for an 18 hour layover (yikes!)
Thursday Dec 3rd: Depart Qatar, arrive in Cape Town in evening for Brian's graduation
Friday and Saturday: Visit friends in Cape Town and repack all of our things for trip home.
Sunday Dec 6th: Depart Cape Town in afternoon and head for home (2 layovers)
Monday Dec 7th: Arrive home in morning. Yay!

Can't wat to see you all!

Love,
Liz and Brian

Last week of outreach!

Hello!! Our apologies for not being able to update our blog more often but our schedule has been quite hectic and internet not always available. That being said...we are now on our final week of outreach!!!! Both Liz and I have been saying how hard it is to believe we have been gone for almost 6 months.

Outreach has been going well but I think we are all ready to head home soon. Everyone is feeling a little homesick and ready for some extended rest! I know Liz and I are looking forward to putting this Thailand heat behind us. It is SOOOOOO HOT here!!!!

Oh, my birthday was good! Liz and I spent my 38th riding elephants through the jungle and getting to ride a bamboo raft down a river that we had to stear with bamboo sticks. Much different from paddling a canoe! It was a great time though and then we finished off my birthday by going out to dinner with the team to a great Mexican restaurant. Yum!! Almost forgot...I got treated to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast!! Double yum!! (see photo!)

So as I said, outreach is winding down and we will be leaving Chiang Mai on Sunday to head back to Bangkok where we will catch a boat to the island of Ko Samet. The whole team will enjoy a couple days off there before Liz and I separate from them on 11/25. They will fly back to South Africa while Liz and I will head down to the Krabi area of southern Thailand and likely stay in either Ao Nang or Railay for a week. It will be so nice to have a week to ourselves - finally!!! And then we fly back to South Africa for 3 days, pack up, and fly back to America on 12/6. We are so excited to see you all!!!

Guess that's it for now. Not sure if we'll get another update posted before we fly home but that just means you'll have to get the update from us in person because we'll be back in 19 days!! See you all soon!!

Chiang Mai

Hello Everyone!

Brian and I have been away from each other for a week now--Brian is in a village with his DTS team, working with 2 different people groups, one is unreached and they are building relationship and trying to get a vision for how YWAM can best minister to them in the future. In the village with the other people group, they are speaking in church services, cell groups and putting together children's programs. I will see the team tomorrow where we will continue to work in Chiang Mai for 3 more weeks.

While the team has been away, I have been staying in Chiang Mai to help my friend Candace with her two children, while her husband is away in another village for the week. Candace was going to be alone with her 2 children the entire time, so Brian and I felt that it would be good for me to stay with her and her children to help

them in any way I could, even if it's just to be an extra set of hands and a sense of security, so as not to be all alone in a foreign country.

Candace and I have had a great time together. She was my small group leader during my SBS, so we got to know each other well, and have had a blast reuniting this week. I have enjoyed getting to know her kids better as well. Her son, Jack who is 2 1/2 and her daughter, Chloe who is 1, have been a lot of fun. We took them to the zoo the other day and they loved feeding the elephants and giraffes (something we could never do in the zoos in America). It was so fun to see their expressions when they saw all the animals (especially the extremely loud monkeys).

Candace and Jack feeding the elephant

Liz and Chloe feeding the elephant

Liz and Jack feeding the Giraffe

Liz and Jack hanging out with the elephant

I am looking forward to seeing Brian tomorrow! He is not in an area with internet, but he sends his love. We will update you more when we move to the next area this weekend.

We love you all!

Liz (and Brian)

Made it to Thailand!

Sawat dee kaa from Thailand! Our team made it safely last night after about 18 hours of traveling from South Africa. All our flights went perfectly and we had no problems with any visas or getting through customs, praise the Lord!

We were picked up by our contacts from YWAM Bangkok and taken out to our first Thai dinner. Delicious! I don't think any of us will have a tough time with the food here. :)

Today, we had orientation of Thailand and were sent out on our own for a scavenger hunt of the city. Our group was made up of 3 westerners, 1 South Korean, and 1 South African- we were quite a sight going around the city, trying our best to communicate in Thai in order to pick up all the things we needed! We managed to find everything, but not without complications and a few wrong turns. :) It is a little overwhelming when everything is written in Thai and many don't speak our language. Overall, we had a great cross-cultural lesson and could all empathize a little more with those who visit our country and don't know our language.

We are now 11 hours ahead of home (5 hours ahead of where we've come from) so will have a little adjusting to do, but both feel fairly energized and are very excited about being here! We will update you more soon, once we have a better idea of our itinerary.

We love you!
Liz and Brian
Liz and Katie saying good-bye in Muizenberg before heading to airport. They were sad to have to leave each other again after a great few months on Titus outreach.

The team arriving in Thailand and hopping into their transportation.

A Thai market-- one of the many stops on our scavenger hunt through the city. Here we were looking for a specific Thai dessert and fried bugs to purchase and eat...we only found the dessert...too bad! :)

Outreach begins!

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long since our last posting but as you can probably imagine - we have been busy!! Outreach officially began on Monday so all of us moved out of our rooms over the weekend to make room for the new students. We stayed at a hostel until yesterday and then relocated to a home in the town of Capri. Let me just say...our current accomodations are by no means typical for missionaries! As you will see from the pictures, this place is absolutely amazing and a nice blessing prior to leaving for Thailand.

This is where we are currently staying!

View from our deck!

Our bedroom for the next 4 days!

As for Thailand...we fly out on Tuesday (10/6) - and yes, we are very excited!! The details of what we will be doing while we're there are still being worked out but as it stands, we will be in Bangkok for about 10 days and then head north to Chiang Mai for 4-5 weeks. We'll try to provide more info as it's made available to us. One thing we do know is that once outreach is finished, our leaders have graciously allowed Liz and I to take an extra week for ourselves and fly back to Cape Town just in time for my graduation. We are planning to spend the extra week somewhere in southern Thailand, perhaps on one of their many islands. It is extremely cheap and so beautiful so we are excited to have this opportunity and time for ourselves! So that's where things are at with outreach right now. We hope to be able to continue to post throughout outreach but will obviously have to see what technology is available to us in Thailand.

Other than that, things are good. I will let you know that our base did experience a tragedy yesterday that shook everybody up a bit. One of the staff was killed when he fell from the rooftop deck where he was playing guitar. Really sad but the base leaders did a great job getting grief counsellors in immediately.

That's it for now. Our love to you all and thanks for keeping us in your prayers!!

Two years already!

Wow! We can't believe we've just celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! We are blown away that we get to be celebrating it in such an incredible place, surrounded by so much beauty....We are so blessed! We are planning on taking a day off this weekend to formally celebrate, since we have both been very busy this week.

Tonight is my (Liz) last teaching in the township. I finish tonight and then head back tomorrow to Muizenberg to stay with Brian until we leave for outreach in Thailand in 2 weeks. We felt that it would be good for me to be with the DTS team for the next 2 weeks to continue bonding with them and be in on the preparation time for Thailand. I am mixed with emotions as I realize that my time here with the Titus Project (the teaching team I have been working with) is coming to a close. It is a new thing for me to be in this transition of moving from one outreach team here in South Africa to another team heading to Thailand, with very different people, culture, and ministry opportunities... However, I have great anticipation and excitement for what lies ahead. I already feel my heart growing for the Thai people and for the opportunity to work along side them.

Once again, thank you for your words of encouragement and prayers! we love you all!

More on Thailand

I just wanted to post a brief update to let you all know how things are going, especially as it relates to our outreach in Thailand.

Both my DTS and Liz's Titus program are continuing to be amazing experiences! It's hard to believe that I only have 3 more weeks in my lecture phase, which makes it just as hard to believe that we've almost been in South Africa for 3 months! Time certainly has flown by! Liz will finish Titus on September 12th and then have some down time prior to Thailand - which I know she will need considering how busy her program has kept her. It has been a huge blessing getting to spend a few weekends in the townships with Liz and being able to see her preach and teach.

As for Thailand...we've made some progress towards some of the specifics of our outreach. Right now it looks like we'll be flying from Cape Town to Bangkok on the 27th of September and returning to Cape Town somewhere around November 28th. When we arrive in Bangkok we will initally be staying at the YWAM base in Bangkok to receive an orientation on Thailand and its culture and people. We will stay in Bangkok for 3 weeks. After that we will travel north to Chiang Mai, which takes about 11-12 hours by bus (curious to see what kind of bus we're talking about!). We will be in this region for 6 weeks and are still working out the details of what we will be doing there but I believe for part of that time we will be staying in some of the hill tribe villages. This is also an area that is a primary source for human trafficking so we could be doing some work to help combat that problem. We will update the blog as we learn more. Anyway, class is about to start so gotta run but as always, our love to you all and thanks for keeping us in your prayers! Love, Brian & Liz

Liz's Birthday!

Hi Everyone!

Brian and I had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating my birthday. I can't believe we get to live in such a beautiful place right now and was so blessed to celebrate my birthday here. Brian took me down to a place called Simon's Town (a popular tourist place where hundreds of penguins live). We sat on the rocks in the sun and watched the penguins go about their day then walked through the town and had lunch at a wonderful seafood restaurant right on the beach.

I have the day off today and then will head back into the townships where my team is living and ministering. I taught in a seminar last week at one of the churches in the surrounding areas. We walked them through a week long study of an overview of the bible. The church members were so excited to learn things about the bible that they had never known to even exist! We ended the seminar on Saturday with a big Braai (South African bbq) with all the church members and our team. We have had such wonderful people to work with in all the churches we've visited and really feel like family to so many of them already!

Brian and I are doing pretty well balancing our two different trainings right now. I have been able to come back to Muizenberg quite often to see him and take part in his DTS. His school baked me a cake and had a little party with me yesterday, which was incredibly nice of them. I feel like i've really been able to bond with them even with me traveling back and forth so often, which will benefit us very much when we go on outreach together to Thailand in a month. I think we've had a lot of grace with trying to balance being in 2 places at once and it hasn't seemed overwhelming or too difficult on either of us, thank God.

We appreciate all of your support and prayers for us during this time! Thank you all for your notes and emails on my birthday! It helped make my day really special. We love you!

Relocating

Hello All! My team is here at the base in Muizenberg getting laundry done and repacking to go on to our next leg of outreach. We have just finished our 2 weeks of teaching at the first township called Zola and now we are getting ready to move into our new home for the next 6 weeks in a township called Philippi. We had a great experience during our first part of the outreach and saw a great response from all the people in the churches there. We are excited to see what this next part holds for our team and for the people of Philippi!

Each of our team members got many chances to teach and preach in the churches in Zola. We taught Bible Overview every evening during the first week and then my team taught the book of Colossians during the second week. We taught them how to study the bible for themselves as well and encouraged them not to stop here with the book of Colossians but to continue to study the other 65 books of the bible as well!

We had a wonderful lunch with the pastors and leaders yesterday to say good-bye and then many of the church members came over and washed our cars to bless us and say thank you. We were once again humbled by these people and feeling so blessed that this is what God has called us to!

Please continue to keep our team in your prayers as many of us are fighting a flu like bug and it makes it challenging when teaching and interacting with so many people to get the rest we need. We have been able to push through so far, so please pray for continued strength and healing on each of our team members. Thank you!

Liz

Asanta Village outreach (Liz)

Hello All! Greetings from South Africa. My team and I are living in a township here about an hour outside of Cape Town. We have been here for 10 days now and feel very at home. The people here are shocked to see foreigners living among them, as this has never happened before. We received many strange looks the first few days, as the people weren't sure why 'white people' were living among them. But, now they are becoming more comfortable with us and even greet us as we walk through the streets every day.

I preached at one of the churches here in the township last Sunday and my message was received very well. The church was packed, with people crowding in the door ways and windows! My team also taught Bible Overview every evening from Tuesday through Friday at two different churches. It was incredible to see how excited everyone was as they learned about the history of the bible and as they heard for the first time the plan of redemption that God had from the very beginning of time! We heard many different times that they had never heard teaching like this (even the pastor, who is in his 3rd year at Bible college here)! Praise God for the revelations to these people! The Pastor of the church was so challenged by our teaching, that he and the elders are beginning to change their church mission statement! I believe that God is planting seeds here that will continue to bear fruit for years to come!

On Saturday we had the people go into their community for a time of evangelism. The plan was to teach others all that they had just learned during the week, so that this was not just information for them, but to be shared with others. On Sunday 10 people came to church because of the day of Evangelism! How exciting! We have the day off today, and then will begin teaching tomorrow through Saturday, on how to study the bible inductively. I am truly excited to see what God does this week through our teachings. Thank you all for your prayers!
We love you and miss you all!
Liz

Outreach Location

It's official...we are going to Thailand for outreach!! More about this later but just wanted to let everyone know! P.S. Liz may be coming home for a short stay tonight (hope, hope!). Love to you all :-)

So much to say...!!

These last couple of weeks have been so busy I almost don't know where to start! Liz left for her outreach in the township of Asunda last Friday so I have been adjusting to life on the base without her. Yes, I am a little sad and I do miss her immensely but I did get a cell phone the day after she left so we do have some means of communication. Liz was asked to preach her first Sunday in the township and apparently the community showed up in numbers because the church was so packed people had to peer in from the outside through windows! What an audience for her first official sermon! But in true Liz fashion, I was told that she did a fantastic job - just sorry I wasn't able to be there in person to hear it.


My DTS is going great!! This week's speaker is talking about forgiveness and reconciliation. Let me just say, it has been a powerful week of lectures. This is such a godly man with such a powerful message. He grew up as a slave while South Africa was still under apartheid and suffered unimaginable abuse - yet God was able to bring him to the point of forgiveness towards those responsible and towards white people in general. There is so much more I am leaving out but honestly, I just walk out of class each day feeling so humbled by God's mercy and love for us.

Okay, I have to run to my outreach with the homeless so I need to close for now but I will try to add to this a little later! Much love to all our family and friends! We miss you!!

Another week coming to a close

This has been a busy week for both of us. I (Liz) had my first preaching on Tuesday, which was very encouraging for me as I was quite nervous for it. But I can already see how God takes all the preparation we put into it and breathes his life into it, making it a powerful message for his people. I am excited for the many opportunities we will have to teach and preach in the townships beginning next week. This preparation has been far beyond what I expected. This program does a fantastic job of equipping teachers for all different types of settings.

Brian has been very busy as well with classes, small groups, and his first outreach, working with the homeless kids and adults in an area not too far from here. He loved this first opportunity and is excited to continue working with them once a week during these next 2 months.

We are both looking forward to a day off together this weekend (Sunday) and are trying to prepare ourselves for our last full week together before I leave on outreach. It's amazing how quickly time goes, but I guess time flies when you're having fun. And we are both having so much fun, working here in South Africa!

We love you,
Liz and Brian

Humble Gratitude - from Brian (finally!)

Okay, believe it or not, this is a real FIFTY
BILLION DOLLAR bill from Zimbabwe - and we have two! :) Unfortunately, they are only worth about $1 USD so don't think Liz and I will be retiring on this. Maybe we'll put one in the church offering when we get back...

This little boy from Masiphumelele may look tough but he was one of my favorites! He liked to battle people with his stick and try to tackle us but softened up as soon as you grabbed him for a hug.

Well, I know I’m way overdue for my first official post but I know my lovely wife has picked up the slack and done a great job of keeping you all informed of our progress here in South Africa. We have definitely settled into things and are well under way with our respective schools. Liz is in the process of preparing her first sermon that she’ll be presenting to her school leaders on Tuesday. I just finished my first full week of DTS and have learned much. The rest of the students in my DTS are much younger but those of you who know me best know that I fit in perfectly!! Each of us in the DTS has to volunteer a couple times a week within the community as part of our local outreach to specific groups of people in need. One organization called the “Justice Act” reaches out to women and children who have been victims of human trafficking into the sex trade. Unfortunately this is a huge problem down here. Another organization is focused on helping Cape Town’s street kids turn their lives around. Many young children leave their homes to live on the streets due to abuse suffered within their families. As a result, they typically turn to crime, prostitution, and drugs as a way of survival. Ironically, there is a third group that works with severely disabled children. I’d say my last two jobs certainly seem to have prepared me to serve in either of the latter groups!

On Thursday my DTS did our first outreach and went into a township called Masiphumelele where we got a feel for the layout and its people. It was a humbling experience but one rich in blessings because of the people and children we were able to interact with. Families survive on a fraction of what we take for granted in America – for instance, one toilet for each row of houses. That means roughly 20-30 people per toilet. But as I said, the people were amazing – specifically the children. Loved them!! Most could not wait to pose for the camera and then ask to see the images of themselves. We ended up staying in this area for many hours just playing with the kids and giving them an abundance of hugs. I will post a few pics of the many I took. I'll try and get an online album set up so I can post more later.

Finally, we learned of our September outreach locations . . . South Africa or Thailand. There will be two teams, one sent to each area. We need to submit our preference by Tuesday but Liz and I have already agreed that both places would present amazing opportunities so as we pray for direction, please be praying for us! But yes, if any of you are wondering, we would not be sad if we end up in Thailand! :-) Well, I guess that's it for now. I will try and be better about posting but if my improvement is slow, you can all be thankful I have Liz!! Much love to you all . . . B & L

A New Week

After an incredible weekend of sightseeing and time with friends, we are back in the classroom for more training. Liz is preparing for her first teaching (On Thursday) and Brian is getting into the swing of things with his first full week of lectures. We have been finding a balance of hard work and time with new friends (and each other), which has made our time here in South Africa already very rewarding. We are both looking forward to what this week brings both in and out of the classroom.

Inspired

After a couple of incredible days of teaching, I (Liz) am feeling inspired. Inspired by God's beauty and power around us and inspired by the challenging teaching I am receiving in my training. This picture is of our sunrise this morning and to wake up to something so beautiful is

such a blessing. This beauty is all around us. In the nature, in the people of Africa, and in the hearts of those who have committed this season of their lives to serve the Lord. Brian and I are entering into our weekend, where I, Liz will get some rest and relaxation to process all I have already been taught and to enjoy some downtime with my teammates. Brian will begin his first classes tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday) and says he is quite excited to get started. We will get to celebrate the 4th of July at a barbecue with our fellow Americans here at the base as well!

Liz's first day of training

Liz writing: Today I started my first day of training. It was exciting to be back in the classroom setting again, with today's focus on "The heart of a teacher". What a challenging and inspiring first day! I was once again reminded of the importance of passion and the desire to see other's lives changed as we set the focus for the next few months and the foundation for how we choose to teach others in our classes and through our lives.

As I look over the syllabus and the plans for the next few months, I am both humbled and excited at the challenges that lie ahead. I am encouraged when I read the words of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians and I see that even as great a man as he approached his audience not with lofty words, but with fear and trembling, in hopes that God's power would be demonstrated through him. So, I guess I can say that I am glad I feel a little nervous about the opportunities to teach others, for it will keep me in a good place...one of total dependence on God.

Good night!

We're Here!

In front of Harbour Place in Kalk Bay

Brian in front of the trendy Olympia Cafe

In front of the base with our friend Katie

One of many mountains surrounding Muizenberg



We made it safely to Muizenberg after a VERY long flight! We got to see an interesting version of Senegal's security checks on the plane, but lived through it and continued on to Cape Town, where we are settled in to our temporary hotel room until we check in to our new home for the next 6 months. We've met some great people already and got to spend some time with our very good friend Katie A. We feel very spoiled by our hotel room, but are considering it a wonderful blessing before we move into our more humble accomodations. :)

The area is very beautiful and we got to watch dolphins and penguins playing in the ocean right outside our window this morning...what a sight!

Thank you for your prayers for a safe journey, they were answered. All of our luggage made it too which is also great!

We'll post more pictures soon of our new home. We love you all!

Getting Ready

This is our first entry in our new blog! We are busy getting ready to leave, but are excited to take a much needed break to spend time with family and friends at our going away barbecue tomorrow.

We look forward to keeping you all updated as our trip gets underway.

Thank you for your support and prayers!