Book Review: Follow me to Freedom

I'm a little delayed in this book review, but it was a great book sent to me by my great friend Chris Sasser. Follow Me to Freedom was written by Shane Claiborne and John Perkins. Both men have been about changing their communities in unique ways. Perkins was involved in the civil rights movement and has been doing community development in poor areas of Mississippi since then. Claiborne has been living in a unique community in the poor areas of Philly for several years. So, they are from different generations, races, and ways of doing things; but both love God, the poor, and want to see communities changed.
This book was great for me at this particular time. So much of it was about leadership, vision, and serving. It really did strike specific chords in me about how I cast vision for Ubuntu, love the people serving along side of me, and move forward in a community like we live in. This book came at a fantastic time for me.
If you're interested in leadership, vision, service, the poor, or things of that nature, then you'll really enjoy this book. It's not only packed with great content, but has a fun conversational style.
Overall Grade: A-

Casey

Sarah's Beatitudes Sermon - Week Four

Follow this link to read through my fourth of four sermons on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 at Ocean View Methodist Church. I really enjoyed sharing this one and feel so privileged to be working with this community!



http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASXLDKBOhmIZZGQzbXRiMjRfMTRjZmZ6cDJnag&hl=en


Lots of love,
Sarah

Great Weekend

Hello friends and family!

Hope you are recovering this Monday morning from your fun and festive Superbowl parties on Sunday night. I actually missed being at those silly parties - something I seemed to plan every year begrudgingly while I worked at church and now I missed being a part of one! We actually got together with a group of American volunteers from Living Hope to watch the game together LIVE - which started at 1 AM. Yep, that's right, we are true and hard-core Americans. We had a proper party feast with sandwiches, dips, chili, cookies, fruit (boring) and Coke. It was so fun! Okay, so Casey and I went home after the first quarter of the game - hah - but it was a great night anyways. Good game though, as we caught up with the rest of the story this morning.

We were blessed to have a great weekend just pass, and I am first thankful just to really be feeling better. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement last week, and I feel privileged to have a community surrounding us that will allow us to be honest and vulnerable about this experience. So thanks for always listening! My health is better, and I think some of the meds my doctor changed have helped my sinus and stomach problems. I also saw a chiropractor about my shoulder tightness which is heightening my headaches and that REALLY helped. I think that is definitely where I hold my feelings and tension, so it seems that I need to continue to do a better job at resting and working through the intense situations we are dealing with here. Prayers for me as I learn to do that - but I am really trying! Thankfully as well, Casey is a great partner in all this, very supportive, and seems to be super-man and can thrive on much less sleep, loves to help with Kieren, and is still growing his ministry in the meantime. Show-off. :)

I preached my fourth sermon in a row this weekend at Ocean View Methodist on 'Blessed are the peacemakers,' and it was my favorite by far. I really feel like I continue to connect with the congregation, and more and more, I fall in love with them and am so excited about their passion for Christ and potential to change this community. Next weekend is 'covenant Sunday' when they look forward to the goals and vision for the year and I'm excited to get them rallied around what we believe God wants to do this year in our church. We also visited Simon's Town Baptist church where Casey shared about Ubuntu and we are working with their pastor, Martain, who is very excited about getting their church on board as a partner in the Simon's Town primary school. This is very exciting and Casey did a great job at sharing. In the evening we went with Kieren and our friend Michael Jenkins to Hillsong Church again where they had a 'vision' night with goals for 2010. It was very inspiring and exciting and we really feel that God has given us this passionate church to feed into US on Sunday nights as we are always ministering to others. We have always wanted a church to just 'be' and this seems to be a place where God is feeding and growing us right now. Good stuff.

Other than that we had a fun weekend hanging out with friends, seeing Avatar in 3-D (TOTALLY recommend it!), going to the beach with Kieren, hanging with the Ocean View kids and watching soccer with them, and just being together as a family. Casey and I even had a lunch date on Sunday. Great weekend and I was just reminded that God has put us in the perfect place for this time. Some days life seems so random and disjointed, but this weekend we saw again that God has a place for us here and a purpose and He also just wants us to enjoy life.

Kieren is really working on her walking skills, and now doing 5 steps in a row at times. We will DEFINITELY make a video this week and post it. She is a star and doing new things every day, spouting out new words like 'juice' and 'ouch,' and even started hugging Casey and I last night. She is a trip.

Have a great Monday! Lots of love,
Sarah

Life

Life is so funny. I just spent an hour on the Internet looking for 'tips' on how to get my toddler to go down for a nap. Seriously. I use to spend my Internet search time looking at clothes or craft ideas or on people.com. Yep, nap time success stories. So Kieren is fighting naps these days, although many times she will just lay in her crib for about 30 minutes and talk and sing, which is very entertaining, but still would more enjoy her sleeping. Anyways, life is moving along here in South Africa and the week has gotten better for sure. Thanks for the encouragement and prayers, as I am feeling better each day. I think my health has been affected by a mixture of things, but I am taking steps in different areas to get healthy. I am really working on stress, and saw a new chiropractor today which was great. Next week I am going to do 'dry needling' which is supposed to help with pressure points that are inflamed, which I have many of in my shoulders. Many little details, but all in all I am feeling on the mend and just staying positive. God has been faithful and is lifting my spirits and I am looking forward to a fun weekend with Casey and Kieren and friends. Lastly, how can you really complain about life when your day consists of a late afternoon trip to the beach with cute Kieren; a beach that is a 2 minute drive from the house. Come on.

Lots of love friends and family!
Sarah

You need to know...

I just think everybody needs to know that they have really great cantaloupe here in South Africa. They call it Sweet Melon here and it describes it well. Last week we went through 3 melons in 3 days!
I just really thought you should know.

Casey

Prayers

Hello friends and family,

So wanted to share an update on me and ask for your prayers. Sorry I have been a bit MIA on blog updates, but I have been struggling again with my health and it's gotten me down a bit. Just having migraine problems, sinus issues, and even on-going stomach problems that I shared with the family when they visited in January. And with that I have been feeling anxious and depressed here and there. I really can't pinpoint it to anything specific, and thought maybe it was just overload on ministry a couple weeks ago, so I have really tried to slow down life a bit, but still feeling the same even after lots of rest. I went to the doctor again this week, have been to a therapeutic massage this week, chiropractor tomorrow, and did blood tests today. Looking like it's just stress related, but very, very frustrating for your body to be holding you back so much - something that many of you I know can relate to and have had similar experiences. Health is such a gift and you don't realize how wonderful it is until you don't have it. I am feeling a bit better tonight and so hope I am on the way up - and need to focus this week as I preach my fourth sermon in a row this weekend at Ocean View Methodist. Prayers for that, and also just for overall health and most of all, my spirit as I work through this.

Lots of love, thanks for the support and allowing me to be honest and open!

Love,
Sarah

Great Men

I've just been reflecting on the really great men that God is allowing me to be around here. You guys have all heard Sarah talk about Peter Storey before, her professor at Duke, and he's amazing, but there are others. As I've been meeting with churches to create partnerships with Ubuntu I've met with some amazing men. Jeremy Koeries is a pastor here at Oceanview Baptist Church, where many of our friends attend. He's a great guy leading a great church. Last week I met with a young pastor named Martyn Kilian. He's only 26 and has been pastoring Simon's Town Baptist for about 3 years. He's doing a great job trying to change culture and lead his church into the future. Another man, Ronald Cronje, is a colored man leading a church, Maranatha Family Church, in the black township Masiphumelele. He's made great progress there in that community. Finally, I cycled today with a great American guy named Kelly Kosky. His family moved to South Africa 20 years ago to start African New Life Ministries. They have done amazing work over that period for the people of the Trans Sky region. And I even have to include the young leaders of Living Hope that are doing great work all over this place.
I'm confident in what God is doing here as he is raising up great men to lead this country forward. I believe that he is going to continue that work through Ubuntu Sports Outreach as he brings us great coaches who will then raise boys to be great men!

Casey

Sarah's Sermon

This is Sarah's last sermon, preaching Sunday, January 31st at Ocean View Methodist. Cut and paste this link:



http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASXLDKBOhmIZZGQzbXRiMjRfMTNmZmJqaHNndA&hl=en

Book Review by Sarah

Cry the Beloved Country
by Alan Paton

I have been privileged to just read an incredible, award-winning, novel that beats with the pain and beauty that encompasses this beautiful country of South Africa. It was written in the 1940's just as South Africa was on the brink of the apartheid regime, and it is haunting in its prophecy. The story is of two men and how their lives are brought together by tragedy, what they and their communities believe is the greatest tragedy that could even be imagined. It is heartbreaking and still filled with hope and vision for a new future. If you love literature, or stories, or learning, or falling in love with a book, or reading something that is a treasure, then I really recommend this book. You won't regret it!

This quote comes when a friend and minister, Rev. Msimangu, speaks to one of the main characters, Stephen Kumalo, about his fears about future relations between black and white people in South Africa.

"I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating."

Grade: A+

Kieren Update Video

Enjoy this Highlight video of our little performer and a message from the whole family!

L Family Update

Hello friends and family!

Sorry we have been a bit quiet over here with the blogging lately. It has been busy as usual, but the real problem is that we have used up all our Internet for the month of January! Woops! It's not unlimited like in America and we (Casey) went a bit overboard on some videos and such this month. Lessons learned. Things are going well for us both and just continuing to move ahead with ministry and meetings. Kieren is great and having a fun time practicing her walking with her 'cart' from Abuelita from her birthday. She can't walk alone yet, but any day now!

Just wanted to update you on the "L" family and how things are going for them. Mr. L is still in the clinic at Living Hope getting rest and being taken care of by the doctor and nurses. They are incredible there and he likes it, although he would MUCH rather be at home (and tells you that all the time...). His wife, Mrs. L is also doing well as she is getting some much needed rest and even came to church on Sunday for the first time in 3 months! And she is looking refreshed already (Mr. L also told me about that many times during my visit to him today!). So praise God, the rest is really doing them both a lot of good. Mrs. L is visiting her daughter for a few days in the city and making a doctors visit there, so Mr L is not happy about that and missing her, but has complied and just looks forward to seeing her again tomorrow. And we have shared some great conversations and prayers at the clinic, and he has even apologized multiple times for loosing his temper with me last week. I am humbled by that and feel like I am seeing the deep places of this wonderful man's heart and how anguished he was last week by so many things. But thankfully he has let me in now and I look forward to much ministry and life with them both ahead.

Thanks so much for your encouragement and prayers!

Lots of love,
Sarah

Sarah's Sermon Week Two

Follow this post to open my sermon from week two at Ocean View Methodist church, also on the Beatitudes. It went well again and I am just so thankful for the opportunity to share with this community!

Love,
Sarah



http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0ASXLDKBOhmIZZGQzbXRiMjRfMTJmdjdua2pncA&hl=en

Prince Family January Newsletter

Go to this link to see the Prince family newsletter for January:

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0ByXLDKBOhmIZYzc0MjFhMDctZTUyYS00MzhmLTkwMTktZDJhMjBlZmM2YTQ0&hl=en


If you do not regularly receive our newsletter and would like to be on the list, please email us at caseyandsarahafrica@gmail.com.

Thanks!
Casey and Sarah

L Family Update

Wow, today is a new day, and evidently God's fresh spirit made today new not only for me but also for the L family. I went to visit them this evening after hearing that Mr. L might be going TODAY to Living Hope. I came into a calm and happy room that had guests visiting. Mr. L was in some back pain, that has evidently escalated in the past 24 hours, but he was happy and joking with me. Mrs. L was also so much more light and lifted then she was yesterday and was also smiling and seemingly happy. They were waiting for an ambulance to take Mr. L to Living Hope and he was honestly ready to get there and be cared for by the doctors and nurses. It was astonishing and truly a different feel and spirit in that room - a true miracle! I really don't know how it happened, but I believe that God worked in both of them and made a way to help these people. Still many challenges ahead as I know it will be hard for both of them to be separate and harder for Mr. L to be away at a clinic, but I hope it will be for the best and they will come back together refreshed and stronger.

Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming!

Love,
Sarah

Rough One

Whew! I write this afternoon with a heavy heart and a mind that is racing at all that fills me today. I would always consider myself someone who cares about world issues, but as soon as this crisis in Haiti happened last week I have found myself glued to the television at the international coverage on CNN. The reports have been provocative, and daily break my heart into millions of pieces as I watch the plight of these incredible people in Haiti. Honestly, I want to be there during this time. No, seriously, right now. I always feel this way when huge tragedies happen like this in the world; my first thought is that I wish I was there immediately, to love on the people, pray with them, and help to build up the church and spiritual leadership. I have honestly prayed for God to make a way for me to Haiti, but it seems for the time being he wants me to stay put. But let me know if you hear otherwise :)

However, this is not particularly why my heart is so heavy this afternoon; rather it is from an occurrence that happened this morning. I was scheduled to go with a friend at church, 'Petey' to serve communion to the sick who can't leave their homes, a monthly ministerial task usually done by our head pastor Kyle, who is presently in the United States. Yesterday I was again visiting an elderly couple in our church, the L's (obviously not their name, but want to keep it private), as they have both been sick, in and out of the hospital, and just deeply struggling spiritually and emotionally. Yesterday's visit I decided to really push a conversation with Mr. L concerning his health and my opinion (and the opinion of MANY others) that he should go have a short stay at the Living Hope clinic to recover and give his wife a break. Today we came again and I had no idea the storm I was walking into. Mr. L was hurt and in a horrible mood and I felt like I walked into a natural disaster in my own community. He is terrified of being put in another hospital and sees the clinic as such, feels like his marriage of 51 years is crumbling, can't walk or barely move, and is totally in despair. His wife is exhausted from caring from him and trying to help him through his falls, illnesses, and changing emotions. We came in to serve communion, but left finally after they refused, I had been yelled at, and he had basically said he didn't see the point in living. I cried in front of them, and then we all cried as we finally closed in prayer. Thank GOD that He is real and His Spirit brought some peace to Mr. L and to that home, but as we left I still felt a desperation and deep sadness. Ugghhh. Seriously, I have been wanting to go to Haiti all week, but that was sorrow and darkness like I have never seen. I could have gone home and slept for the rest of the day in my depression, but kept moving and even doing some ministry. Thankfully Casey made it through the day unscathed by me, but it was a close one for sure as I was in a sad state.

I don't even know how to really pray for this, I just pray for a miracle. It's not even so much for the physical healing of these new friends, which of course would be incredible. I pray for their spiritual and emotional healing and just a peace to overwhelm and take over their home in their pain and fear.

One of those hard days, and I never would have expected it would look like this. Life can just be rough. Thankfully there is hope deeper, peace that pervades even in fear, light that pierces, and love that conquers all.

Love,
Sarah