Wait For Me

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was our Wait for Me event on Saturday. Around 450 children elected to attend the concert at King of Kings church where the message of sexual abstinence was clearly told. It is Living Hope’s firm belief that sexual abstinence (before a Biblical marriage) alone can stop the spread of HIV and AIDS in South Africa and the world. We had a number of dramas and songs, African dancing and generally a great time. At the end one of the volunteers told her story of premarital sex and its consequences, for her pregnancy and then an abortion, to demonstrate the importance of abstinence to the children. They were spellbound by her message and over 100 went forwards for prayer and counselling afterwards. This was a fantastic response but revealed more than ever before the reality of the situation. Of those who went forwards over 10 (all girls) had been raped by strangers or family members, all bar a few asked for prayer for family situations and 4 said they had been or were pregnant. This saddened our hearts but in a strange way we are pleased we now know children by name and their situation so we can respond directly and personally to them in the coming months and years. For me,

I am so proud of the children from Redhill who went forwards and more widely for those who committed to attend the concert by their own choice even in the face of fierce taunting from their friends back home.

Do pray for the kids who came, that they would have fully received and understood the message we taught and they would indeed commit to the abstinence pledge we offered them too.

The final stretch

So my time here seems to be disappearing fast which is sad. That said, I have been so thankful for all of God's goodness to me over these last few months in leading me to South Africa and sustaining me out here too. I have made many friends and feel like I have made a difference in the childrens' lives especially. My hope and prayer is that some of what I have started and continued will be fruitful in the months and years to come.

This week just gone was especially busy and I imagine my last week will be too. Tying up the loose ends and starting some new projects kept me busy but as always it was very enjoyable. Many of the other volunteers have now gone which leaves a quieter house with only 3 of us left; I have made 4 trips to the airport in the last 4 days!

Last week I had the priviledge of spending an evening at Mzo's house in Redhill. I was primarily pleased to have more than just a few minutes with him and we talked for some hours about the various benefits and drawbacks of living in Cape Town, especially the diverse cultures living on the peninsula. Later on, as expected, it got pretty cold so, although my mini sleeping bag was reasonable, the uneven floor and blowing wind prooved a little much in terms of decent sleep. Definitely an eye-opener and I am so glad we were able to spend the time together seeing as his evenings are very quiet. This little trip also gave us an idea, that good as it is for Mzo to generously give away some of his belongings to others who have less even than him, we wanted to get him some items for his house. Consequently Kendra, Hannah and I went shopping for him and bought a new sofa, chair, table, plates, bowls, glasses, mugs, slippers, cutlery and a bargain heater. Having done a mini makeover when he was out of his house we brought him back to our gifts and watched him smile like never before as he walked through the door. This along with the house we recently made really demonstrated for me how easily we rely on the many many things we own and take them for granted. The little English boys, aged 4 and 2, that we know take plates and water for granted and yet Mzo, 32, was ecstatic to receive them. Praise God we had the opportunity to do something for him!

So it seems I will be seeing most of you quite soon which will be good. Its a shame I have to leave next Saturday but good timing too. I look forward to hearing about what you have been up to....

Muchos love

Stuart

Friday

So it has once again been a busy week here!

Dad has been working on a set of shelves for Vusi, a Living Hope staff member who makes candles and wireworks, so he can display his works in his shop rather than on the benches he makes them on! Dad fairly quickly finished this project which has made a massive difference to the shop. Furthermore, Dad painted the walls to bring out the silver wire contrast so it would be easier for visitors to notice. As if that wasn't enough, Dad has been especially helpful talking through the emergency planning material I have been working on. As I hope is clear, I have been working the parents hard this week!

Mum has joined me each day in Redhill for kids club where we delivered teaching on sex abuse. It has been tough to find the correct balance between educating the children on the areas of sex and abuse whilst trying not to teach details to young children that perhaps they shouldn't know or be told! Mzo has done a wonderful job finding the balance by teaching 'good touch' and 'bad touch' so the children are aware of what is good and what's not.

We have also finally managed to finish the Redhill house which is wonderful, just the door lock to fix and then its all sorted. I hope to organise an event/handover to the new tenant sometime soon so she can move in. Myself Brennon and Chelsea mixed concrete late into the night thursday but it set well so has provided a warmer and dry floor to the property.

Today Mum Dad and I took a long tour around much of the peninsula! We saw the team house at Nordhoek beach and then headed round the famous Chapman's Peak Drive where many car adverts are shot. Its a beautiful landscape where the Atlantic ocean splashes up on the steep slopes with the thin road cutting through the hill with the high cliffs tight to the tarmac. We headed further round past Hout bay, where most of the English ex-pats live, and then towards Signal Hill which overlooks the city. We decided to walk up Lions Head which takes around 1.5 hours and then went to a local market briefly. The top of lions head is a stunning view, Robben Island, Bloubergstrand, the city, Table Mountain and the Atlantic too. A fantastic day out although very tiring so looking forward to sleeping now!

I hope to upload more of the recent photos soon so do keep and eye out for them, please also let me know what you are doing!!!! I received one email from you all last month telling me whats going on for you and would like to know a little more! Look forward to hearing from you :)

speak soon

stuart

Still alive!

Wow, this has got to be the third or fourth time I have had to apologise for not being more in touch!! Sorry.

Anyway, as can now be verified by the parents, its has continued to be rather busy out here which is a great blessing if tiring too! Mum and Dad have been here one week and have one more left, I am working them hard but we are also enjoying some family and tourist time too!
While I remember, the official number of children for our big football, netball and craft day now stands at 675 which is fantastic. We are all so thankful to God for his provision of many volunteers and opportunities that allowed us to run the event.

Since the 9th July the normal routine of afternoon kids clubs has started again which has been great now we know the children a little better having had the world cup teaching time with them. That said, our first life skills topic to teach was sex abuse which was a minefield to navigate. Unfortunately it is a real problem in Redhill and across the peninsula but the main challenge was to consider what level we taught at. Some children don’t know what sex is, others have much more knowledge of it. Talking to a 13 year-old girl today highlighted the problem, as she didn’t seem to link periods and pregnancy so assumed that, although she had started puberty, she could have sex and not fall pregnant. Stories and conversations like this really remind us of the scale of problem we are facing but also show how valuable our lessons and teaching is.

In contrast, one girl, aptly named lisakanya (which means ‘there is light’ in the context of a dark world) signed up to the Living Hope Wait For Me pledge. Wait For Me is the main program of teaching which explains that sexual abstinence before Biblical marriage is the ONLY way to ensure that HIV and AIDS is prevented and stopped. Part of the scheme invites children and adults from across the peninsula to sign the pledge of abstinence from sexual activity before marriage. Fair to say that not too many from Redhill have historically signed up to the message so seeing Lisakanya ask for the pledge slip was a great blessing. Living Hope continues to be at the front of HIV and AIDS prevention and our prayer is that we would see the illness eradicated from South Africa by the end of this generation.

On a similar tone, a chap from a local township is proposing raising funds for Living Hope’s Prevention work by walking from Cape Town to Johannesburg, some 1860km! More to come on this soon once we sort out the details and routes/logistics/food/healthcare……….exciting times though even if it is a crazy idea.

Do look out for house photos on Picasa soon, the volunteers came together to make a new house for a lady in Redhill after her one burnt down a couple of weeks ago. It has been a great time to work together and enjoy the translation difficulties with some locals helping us too. That said, we hope to finish it all tomorrow and hand over the keys.

My time here is swiftly moving through which is sad in many ways as I have really enjoyed the activities and relationships I have built here. That said, come August 7th it will be about the right time to head back to you all and encourage YOU to go somewhere and serve God in the way I have been privileged to do here. For now, my bed calls as I was hoping to get some good rest tonight but as midnight approaches once more it seems I failed!

Love to you all

Stu.
p.s. no photos here cos the internet is as slow as a slug but there will be some on picasa soon...

Monday!

What a busy day! We have been clearing many different rooms at the offices as much of the equipment or materials are in the wrong place. Today was officially a day off for the volunteers but it was good to be involved in ministry work even if not with any children. The whole place looks much better organised now so our work was well received.

The last few weeks here promise to be very busy indeed with more kids clubs and the morning schedule starting up again with preschool and support groups too. There are also many changes to Living Hope personnel occuring right now so its definitely a dynamic time where communication is key!

I have much more to say, and I will do, but right now only got a few minutes on this computer so must stop here. Still really enjoying my time here and continuing to get very involved in the various ministries!

Speak soon and I will upload some more photos and videos asap

stu

Fish Hoek High School

Wow what a day! We had over 700 (still waiting for the official count) children on one site for 5 hours this morning playing football, netball and a variety of crafts. Having spent the last 3 weeks preparing for the event, it was really special to see it unfold infront of us! There were football games and tournaments happening for Under 17s, 15s, 13s, 11s and 9s and the same for netball if in a smaller area. On the craft field there were circus skills and centre games, a Bible quiz challenge, 2 locals who did a painting and drawings ministry, a drama group and dance group.

The theme of the day was from Psalm 37 verse 5, the Rimmer paraphrase of which reads, Trust God for everything and he will help you; its easier for the kids to remember that way! I was MC-ing from the front which was interesting trying to speak to the children in xhosa, afrikaans and English but seemed to work reasonably well. We also had the local Christian radio station broadcasting from the site which really added to the atmosphere. We really hope to do the event again as it was a huge success.

Now I have a couple of days free which is very exciting indeed as the last few nights have been crazy busy preparing for the event today. I think much sleep catching up is needed and a few thoughts for the next few weeks as Mum and Dad are coming on Thursday to join me for 2 weeks (better clean up my room!)

Will upload some more photos soon!

Football!

Lots to tell you all about but not enough memory space to recall what has been going on! To make a long story very much shorter, we are now in the last week of Holiday Club which in Redhill means a lot of football. A travelling Brazilian team has joined us to run the sessions and we have greatly enjoyed joining in and being part of it all.
In line with the football theme, I have attached an especially flattering photo of me on the way to the England game in PE!


Having returned from PE we did a whole week teaching about loving our neighbours as ourselves and attempting to make the Redhill kids a little bit compassionate and caring towards their friends. To some degree this has worked as we are seeing many kids share and help each other out in this week's program. That said, the fighting, swearing and general rule of the older boys remains, all of which is hard to control or stop.

To continue in the seemingly 'extreme' sports that I have been doing the last few weekends, I went shopping last Saturday in Cape Town at the main market. Wierdly, on stopping at a stall someone very quickly becomes your 'best friend' and maintains complete composure whilst offering you his 'best price'. What was strange for me is at this juncture no normal price had been set so how a 'best price' could be achieved I didn't know. Anyway, after fraught bargaining a deal was then set and we moved on with some new sports merchandise or a painting. It was great to be part of the downtown atmosphere with the football in the evening and the market experience comes well recommended!

This week, as mentioned, it has been sports time and we have been very blessed teaching the boys more football skills and the girls netball. On Thursday we are handing out the shoes as part of the Samaritan's Feet schedule and Friday is the big event at Fish Hoek.

For now, I leave you with a couple of photos of the past couple of weeks that have encouraged and amused me!

Speak soon

Stu

Port Elizabeth!

Yesterday (wed) we travelled from 5am to Port Elizabeth to go to the England Slovenia game which was fantastic! Although it was a long and arduous drive getting into the stadium and seeing the boys play was a wonderful experience. Glad we won too, good goal from Defoe. My friends watched the USA game elsewhere and they went through too which was helpful! We relaxed last night in our backpackers lodge which, although a little strange and 'vibrant', does the job and is very safe. We have made a few friends here and feel very settled.

Today we travelled to Addo Elephant National Park which was a great drive through the rolling hills of Port Elizabeth. In the park we saw numerous wildlife including Elephants right next to the car, warthogs and deer like animals with strange names. Although there was lots of driving involved around the park and to and from it, we had a fantastic time and thoroughly enjoyed it. This afternoon we came back here and made a massive spaghetti meal, I taught someone to drive a manual car and we have just returned from watching the Japan Denmark game in a local pub. Needless to say I am very tired right now!

Will speak soon, Port Elizabeth is a wonderful place and in continuation with the rest of South Africa, everyone here is really kind, welcoming and friendly.

Muchos love

Stu

A long week...

Hello all!



Sorry for not staying in touch more, tis been a busy week! As previously mentioned, Holiday Club has started and gone we so far. Wednesday was a public holiday so we had time off so I played hockey for Fish Hoek in Cape Town city centre. Running/walking around infront of Table Mountain was marvelous and winning 3-2 was even better. I got a new nickname ‘boike’ which is Afrikaans for ‘little boy’ but for all the banter had a good game and was awarded Man of the Match. Better still my opposite number was from south London which made the game a little rougher at times but still enjoyable. Will definitely play again on a weekend after the world cup is over and the season starts again.

Thursday saw more holiday club, the story of Gideon with around 80 kids attending which was the highest turnout yet! African children’s work, especially in Redhill, varies dramatically dependant on the weather and so the large number coming on Thursday was probably due to that. The afternoon saw the first of 3 days of community festival which brought all of Redhill together. A group from Australia called Fusion came to help us run and manage the activities and crafts. Basically, there are centre games using a large rope and then facepainting, craft, circus skills and other games around the outside. I was in charge of the circus skills and was appropriately dressed as a clown! I taught the children Diablo, juggling, plate spinning and did a few cards tricks too. The best part of the whole event, Friday and Saturday too, was to see people of all ages coming together to join in the event, something very rare in Redhill. As many people do not have jobs they are so used to sitting around and doing nothing so this event was a bit different to them, meaning they didn’t get fully involved at the start. However, after a few games and seeing it was a friendly and good place to be, people started to join in and the event grew quickly. Praise God for the opportunity to work with the community in this way and for the Fusion team who greatly helped us. Friday was very similar although we had 3 hours of street football first rather than the usual holiday club setup.




Saturday, what a day!

Standing in the doorway of the airplane I still felt nervous. The equipment weighed heavily against my back and the floor strong against my feet. The straps pulled tight on my legs and shoulders. Taking a few strong breaths, I leapt. 10 seconds later the wind supported me and held me at constant speed (120mph). There was an exhilarating rush of adrenalin as I soared through the air. Spinning around, I saw Robben Island and Table Mountain looming below and coming quickly. We dropped 5000ft overall before coming to a sharp halt as the parachute opened. Wow. As we continued to descend, albeit a little more relaxed, my buddy Jason allowed me to drive the parachute, spinning us 360deg one way and then the other. He then took back over and did some more spinning (feeling sick now) before driving us close to Carley (another volunteer). Having spend a few seconds saying hi at around 2000ft, we descended further towards the sandy landing strip and touched down. My body was shaking but I was back down (parents sigh some relief!). Skydiving is a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to see the landscape from a whole new perspective. Seeing the curvature of the earth whilst speeding towards it was weird and very hard to explain. One thing that could be appreciated though was how strangely quiet it is at 4000ft even with a strong wind blowing.



Today has been remarkably different, church morning and evening with some penguin watching in between! We went to the local jackass penguin colony about 10 minutes drive away and saw the little furry friends. They were very relaxed and quite tame although I got told off for touching one as that was ‘too close’ apparently. They have thick oily skin, as expected, but also very soft, different to the coarse feel I was expecting. It was great to see them all waddling around and I am sure I will go back as we were only there a few minutes.

That is all for the mo, a few days of holiday club this week and then I am taking a trip to Port Elizabeth for the football which will be great! Speak soon!

Holiday club!

Holiday club has officially started! Yesterday we only had 25 or so children although this was a great chance to spend time with them all and really build relationships. Each day is a different Bible story and message with a relevant craft. We also play games which, inside the small church we are using, get particularly violent/dangerous so that can be great fun but hard work with the children! No accidents yet...A great moment happened this morning when a small girl, Mona-Lisa (great name!), started speaking today's memory verse when everyone else was shouting and messing around. Even if we only touch a few lives from the many who come to our clubs and events, I feel our time in the population has been worthwhile.

It has also been great to work closely with some of the people from the local population and other organisations too, this coming thursday and friday we are running a community-wide festival for all of Redhill which will be great, I honed my diablo and juggling skills today whilst others practised face painting on me, resulting in one cheek having an South African flag on it and the other saying USA: Cue the banter.

Interestingly, although Holiday club time is much more busy compared to the norm, we seem to have more relaxed and spare time in the evenings. This has been really excellent as we can spend lots of time together as a group and get to know each other better. Card games have really united the group and everyone is enjoying themselves, it's a great environment to be in.

Tomorrow I am playing hockey on astro for Fish Hoek which I am very much looking forward to, no idea what quality the team are but we will wait and see! As for now, a chilled pg tips cup of tea with some nutella.

Speak soon!

Wowee....

So, its been a long time since I updated this one! We have been extra busy preparing for our holiday club programme which starts today; shame it's raining loads right now. Last week was all about going through the teaching and crafts for this week with our team which now consists of Kendra, Al, Mzo, Hannah and me. Today we kick off with the story of Jonah and teaching the children about following God closely. For some reason our craft is to make a fluffy sheep....some parallel with following the shepherd it seems!

Last week we also had an evening meal out to celebrate Zuzana's time with us (she was a volunteer too). Before we went to the smart restaurant we went to watch the sunset at the local beach. As I bravely ventured out into the sea (knee deep at this stage) to climb onto a rock, a large wave came in and I got smothered by the sea! Needless to say I got some serious banter for this and turned up at the restaurant feeling slightly soggy and embarrassed! Could have been worse I suppose!

Friday we all headed into the city for the South Africa v Mexico game. It was very very busy with plenty of vuvuzelas (horns) hooting continuously! We watched the first game in a pub which was packed and then went to the FIFA fan zone for the France Uruguay game which was dull! Either way, it was great to be part of the atmosphere and enjoy a whole day out with good friends. On Saturday a few of us hiked up Table Mountain even though it was cloudy. I claimed the mountain for England as is clear from the photo! We got up in 1hr40 which was pretty good considering the weather but it was very cloudy on top. Having enjoyed a British-style tea and cake we headed down and enjoyed (mostly) the USA v Eng game in the evening. Yesterday was a fairly typical Sunday with church where I played the piano in the evening.

As mentioned, our holiday club starts today even with the shoddy weather, we will outreach to 1000 children every day over the next 4 weeks which is very exciting.
Speak soon, shark photos soon online....

Fishy fishy....

So. Sharks are large. Its a fact. We went cage diving this last Saturday which was one of the best experiences I have ever had! We took a 2.5hour drive to the East of Cape Town to a place called Gansbaai and then went out into the ocean for about 20 mins. Having baited the sea with chum we waited and soon enough, a 3m long great white appeared pretty close to the cage and the boat as it was all getting sorted out.
Whilst the other people on the boat took a dip, us foreigners took a good chance to check out the sea surface a little more closely if you get my drift....once we felt slightly better we suited up and jumped in the cage! Its about 9ft deep, 4ft wide and 10ft long. 4 in at a time and just floating above the water. The shark comes from whichever side and the guy on the boat says, 'shark left shark left' so you take a breath and hop underneath! They are very smooth animals and really not that aggressive, they just wanted to see who and what we were. A couple got right up close and nibbled the cage but generally a few feet away which was stunning. Well recommended to all.

Other than our social activities (!) work continues to gather pace as the world cup gets nearer. We have a massive schedule of events for the 4 weeks that will hopefully cover around 1000 children from across the peninsula. I am co-organising the final event on the 9th July which will see every child come together for one big event with the local radio station present and many other famous locals involved. It is exciting stuff. This week we have important meetings to sort that out and also are trying to get the 2 main churches in Redhill to chat about their ministry and how living hope fit into that. Lots to do but really enjoying it.

Do please send me messages to say what you are doing, you might think its silly but its great to hear what you are all doing (stuart.d.rimmer@gmail.com is me). As for now, the rain really needs to stop, more hours in the day are needed and it would be much nicer if it was a little hotter. Having said that, the world cup is coming, Living Hope are great to work for and the message we proclaim is pretty much the most important one ever.

God Bless you all, speak soon, shark photos will be upload to picasa once I get our underwater camera sorted.

Stu

Tuesday!!!!

Its been a long time since I got on here....plenty to say! Friday morning is always training day where the Life Skills Educators and the volunteers come together to receive the teaching for the next week and have some fellowship together! After a long session with a very strict upper class English speaking, English acting and English disciplining lady (!!) we had some lunch. The afternoon was much better.

A team called Fusion, who run community events, came and taught their curriculum that we will run in Redhill in a few weeks time. We played a number of games and learnt new crafts such as facepainting, balloon modeling and circus skills. I can now officially use a diablo and spin plates: 'very good stuart', I hear you say.

Saturday most of the volunteers went to Stellenbosch, vineyard country to the North East of Cape Town. We did a number of vineyard tours and also enjoyed cheese and chocolate tasting. It was a great time of fellowship together and enjoyed by all! Best was the opportunity to spend time with the locals there and speak with them.

Sunday morning saw a great service at King of Kings focusing on the Holy Spirit and missions followed by a trip to the waterfront with Mzo (who had never been before), Des (a local from Masi) and Al (who works in Redhill with me). We had a wonderful time together, a real boys afternoon out, and will definitely do it again.
Hillsong was good in the evening and my pasta bake for 10 later on was even better.

So, although this is starting to sound like a record of what exactly has been done in the last few days.....this gets us to yesterday!

Monday monday, so good to me. It was! I spent much of the morning hunting down cardboard to use for a craft during our world cup schedule. I went to the massive supermarkets and jumped into their mega skips and was throwing cardboard over the side into my pickup, when I realised someone on the other side was throwing it in! Having chucked some back their way they shouted in confusion and I jumped on to the side wall to explain that I wanted the cardboard in the car if possible, could they put it there. Needless to say they were somewhat confused as to why some 'mluongo (white boy)' was in the cardboard skip. I eventually got a full car load of the cardboard.

In the afternoon Mzo and the others ran kids club in Redhill whilst I worked through the finance/budget work with a support group in a nearby house. It was hard work as my Xhosa is not great and they kept asking for clarification, but by the end of the session we had covered the material and they had seen what I was trying to do. By showing the people what exactly they spend their money on each month, they can visualise what it is that means they don't have enough funds come the 30th/31st. It has been a great blessing to many people so far so I pray it will continue to be.

It continues to be great and there is much in the pipeline for the next few weeks that Im sure you will hear about soon!

As for now God Bless and speak soon

Stu!

Busy busy

Morning all, its been a really busy few days but great fun! This week we have been telling the story of Moses which has involved some dressing up and multiple tea-towels! The kids seem to listen much better if we dress up to tell the story so we may do more of that in the future! It has also allowed us to clearly give the gospel message to them all and around 80 children heard it yesterday and hopefully the same today!

I have almost finished making 5 sets of the armour of God from old cardboard boxes which has been a challenge. We really hope that this will provide entertainment and good substance when it comes to the holiday club schedule that will run throughout the world cup.

I must tell you about yesterday morning, where Mzo and I had around 2 hours together which was great. Everyday at club we give the children a sandwich, an apple and an orange. In order to have around 100 sandwiches ready for the end of club, we give the bread and the poloni to the lady who makes them the day before they are needed. However, we forgot to give her any bread on tuesday. So.....Mzo suddenly announced that we needed to rush to Redhill as Eugenia (the lady) was stressed that she wouldn't have enough time, so I asked the transport manager if he had a car spare. Turns out he did, but only a buckie, pickup truck to you and me. So I drove with Mzo to the supermarket and loaded this massive truck up with 14 loaves of bread (Mzo is loading the 'heavy' bread into the truck). Twas rather funny and a good time together. Photos are attached and on picasa soon too.

Working here is a great blessing and I am really enjoying it, feel very settled in and enjoying the lifestyle and culture too. I was given a xhosa Bible yesterday which was very kind of Nolo, one of the staff here, and am trying to read and speak it!

That's plenty for you all now, happy reading.

Music!

Hi all, just got given this recording of a song we made up recently, someone has mixed it together! We now sing and chant this with the kids at Redhill!! Enjoy...https://www.dropbox.com/home#/Redhill

Sunday evening!

Hi all!!

Its been a really busy but good weekend. Saturday we ran a football tournament for around 70 kids in the bright sunshine for most of the morning. The football skills accompanied Biblical teaching and values, for example having completed a shooting drill we then talked about what our aim in life was and what we wanted to do (score a goal). The teams played a round-robin style knock out tournament whilst doing the skills too. It was a really great time of fellowship with the kids as a local mission team ran the event allowing us to get alongside the children and spend time with them.

Having very much enjoyed that I watched most of a local football game where a few friends were playing and then went out for a goodbye meal with many of the Living Hope staff and volunteers. An American couple are leaving here tomorrow having made a great difference in Masipumelele (a local township) that Living Hope works in.

Today has also been very busy, King of Kings (church) morning service was all about receiving the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to work strongly in our lives, a really great encouragement and challenge too! A few of us then went to join in the Global Day of Prayer celebrations with around 11000 other christians from Cape Town. This started in 2001 and has now gone global, with all 220 countries from around the globe participating in today's event which was broadcast online and on TV.
This evening's service was also focused on the Holy Spirit and has been really great.

Looking forward to the week ahead, I am doing more finance and budgeting work with the support groups, trying to coordinate Redhill's teaching and ministry a little better and might even join the ladies group in Capricorn (another township) on their thursday morning sewing class!!! Very excited about that one. Mum would be proud that I showed someone how to sew on a button the other day.

God Bless you all, more photos coming on picasa soon

Stuart

Tuesday!

Morning all,
I understand some people are daily logging on to read this so sorry for the lack of posts in recent days! Irene especially its good to have you on board!

Its been particularly busy just recently but really good too. Saturday morning we took 13 children up Lion's Head which is directly in front of Table Mountain and most children got to the top! It was a great day out with the kids, most of whom had never seen the city centre. We gave them a large lunch of sandwiches, fruit, crisps, drinks and ice cream! They loved it. Photos on picasa soon...
A few of us walked up Devil's peak on Sunday afternoon which overlooks Cape Town city centre and Table Mountain too. It was a great time of fellowship and, although a challenging walk, great fun!
With work, I did the first of a few sessions on basic budgeting with the Support Group Facilitators and it was a really good session. My simplistic setup of calculating monthly income, outgoings and random extras was just right for the level of financial management that the people here need. I will do more sessions around the peninsula for the next couple of weeks or so.

I also got more involved in the running of our pre-school in Masi, the nearest township to the offices; we had 130 2-5 year olds running around and enjoying themselves!

Work in Redhill continues to move forwards too, Mzo is really starting to pick up his game and lead the sessions with enthusiasm and great teaching. We heard yesterday that another township, having presented a simple gosepl, had 16 children accept Christ into their lives. We pray the same might be true for Redhill one day!

In the next few days there is a football tournament, more financial work with the Support Groups, flag making, global day of prayer and a long session trying to make multiple sets of the Armour of God from cardboard!

Thanks for all your encouragement and emails, do let me know what you are doing so I can pray for you!

Stuart!

Youth in Redhill!

Friday's are training days so today we have all looked together at how this week has gone and have prepared for next week's teaching, we are looking at Moses.

I am currently waiting for a car to become available so I can drive to Redhill to help set up a movie night for the youth of the community. We are showing 'The Jesus film', which looks like a really simple dialogue of various historic events from his birth to death, resurrection and ascension. We hope it will encourage and challenge the young folk of the community.

Its been a really good week with the door to door ministry and much other work in the mornings too. Next week promises to be equally busy, I am starting some basic financial training with the Support Group Facilitators around the peninsula and will also probably do some teaching in a local school too. As the world cup comes nearer we are starting to develop some of the sports activities and flesh out their content not just the general overview!

Tomorrow we are walking up Lion's Head (the same hill with the sunset on picasa) with some children from Redhill, and on sunday up Devil's peak which is next to Table Mountain. Do pray that we would have good conversations with the kids and enjoy their company!

That's about all for now, God Bless.

Evening all!

Hi guys, great to hear from a variety of sources that you are enjoying the posts! Sorry for their irregularity!

It has been another great day today, I had the chance to join another team in Redhill going round the houses again and speaking to the people there. The highlight was definitely a chat with the shop owner, Hamad, who came from Somalia and has a Muslim background. Always working round the language barrier was tough but I was able to explain the gospel of Grace rather than his idea of works. He eventually agreed with us that he had no idea whether he had done enough to receive paradise from Allah and so I was saying that perhaps he shouldn't go to bed in the evening but rather go out and DO more 'good things' to earn Allah's favour. He was then interested in how and why we had such confidence in the future. We explained that because of Jesus' work on the cross for us we could be sure that we were right with God and, although we still messed up, he looked on us as righteous and clean. It was a great time and I hope to return to his shop as I didn't have any money......also to talk more!

Praise God for Hamad and what we could say to him and many others. One of my main goals was to share the good news with someone who was old enough to understand it so I am really pleased that has happened. May it happen many times more.

In further news:
The sun appeared for the first time in a week today!
We had 70 kids at our afternoon club and gave each of them a sandwich, orange and apple
I learnt some more xhosa, the main language in Redhill, Tiko uyi nkosi (jesus is lord)!
God has continued to be good to us all and kept us safe, warm and fed.

I am about to upload some more photos onto picasa so keep your eyes there.

God Bless you all, thanks!!

Stu

Redhill

Morning all, really hope the weather is better back in the UK, people have said that Cape Town rain goes sideways and its not far short of that!

Just been meeting some of the community in Redhill and getting to know them a little, kids and teens club always runs in the afternoons but we are trying to reach out to the wider population too not just the children.

Brian is 17 and has been kicked out of school multiple times as he was bullying other children. If this happens in South African schools the teachers invite the parents in for the whole day to control their children. As Brian's parents work and need that money, his education has been cut short and he just sits at home all day doing nothing but listening to music. Do pray for him, he does know of God and knows much of what he does is wrong but has made no attempt to change. His cousin Cruz, in a very similar position, is attempting to become an electrician and is very skillful with his hands. We prayed with, and for, them both.

We also met Luyanda who has been a gardener for some years but is out of work right now. Most contracts for gardeners, cleaners etc, run for 4-6months and are rarely renewed. He has cultivated a wonderful garden outside his home and was very proud of it. He believes in Jesus and wants to press on with Christ each day of his life!

We spoke also with Virginia, who is very ill at the moment, and Rabie (pronounced 'robbie') too which was great. We have had an excellent time meeting these people and praying with them, but it clearly highlights the type of life that they live and the lack of opportunities they have to change.

As previously mentioned, a major vision for Redhill is to see it's church grow from and in the local community. I believe that this witnessing and relational ministry is at the core of making that vision happen. Do join me in prayer for these guys and for us as we speak clearly and boldly about God, its never easy cross-culturally but more so when few of them understand our english!

Speak soon, once again thanks for the encouragement!

Redhill!

Hi all, sorry for the little delay between this and my last post! It has been busy......

really enjoyed some good time and fellowship with staff and volunteers at living hope, a few of us went last saturday to the aquarium in the city and saw the contrast between the 2 oceans that meet around south africa. The sharks were massive and their were some turtles too ('dude') and many other great animals. God has been extravagant in his creation and its great to see and be reminded of that!

We also enjoyed time in the waterfront, apparently 'world famous' but there we go!, cruising round the shops and enjoying some of the local food.

The evening saw the wider staff join us at a Mexican restaurant which was a great time of fellowship and a good opportunity to get to know my colleagues better.

On the work side of things there has been plenty happening, one of the main visions that I have been working on is to identify and grow leaders in the Redhill community to strengthen the Redhill church. We have had all sorts of problems trying to move forwards with this, a lack of willingness by current church leaders, the underlying racial tensions and cultures along with fairly standard lack of communication and different people all trying different methods to do achieve their different goals.

THis is quickly becoming my main focus, along with the other day to day work, and its great to be involved but will clearly take some time to set straight and start to work well.

Thanks once again for all your support, it is much appreciated, do email me little comments about what you are doing and what's happening in your life, its great that I can share on here about this trip but I want to know about you too!! (stuart.d.rimmer@gmail.com is me)

God Bless, there will be some more photos on picasa soon......

kids club!

hi all!

really enjoying the work now, long weekend which included 2 hikes, loads of photos, a distinct lack of sleep and a hillsong service was all good fun! Yesterday saw the first pre-school kids club that I have been to, we had 133 kids aged 2-5 join us in one small-ish room for 1 hour! Sang some songs, did some teaching on human trafficking and played some games too. A particular favourite was the 'coffee' song, which you could well imagine is sung like the ladies from sister act! natalie sings.....'1 coffee (1 coffee repeated by us) 2 sugar (2 sugar) and a milk (and a milk), (all together slowly and then speeding up) and some water water water water water....... By this point all of the children are dancing around the room shouting 'water' at each other! wierd and slightly random but great fun. I will video it and show you later.

Today I am working on the teaching for the kids in Redhill which is all about alcohol abuse and drugs. Some of the children as young as 8 regularly drink with their friends or parents so we are trying to change that. Ephesians 5:18 is one memory verse (rimmer paraphrase) 'do not be filled up with alcohol but be filled with God (Holy Spirit)'

Thanks for all your encouragement and comments on the pictures!

Speak soon

Photos!

Hi all, some long awaited photos are now online at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/stuart.d.rimmer

There are quite a few but hope you enjoy them!

All going well, enjoying the weekend before what looks to be a busy week ahead!

Thanks for all your encouragement and support

stu

schedule!

hi all,

its been another busy day but the first one with some work in it! finally....some of you say.

so it seems that the following is what I will be doing:
Monday-Thursday PM working with the children's club in Redhill (local informal settlement of mixed races) teaching them about the Bible, HIV/AIDS, doing crafts and playing games etc
Friday AM training for the volunteers (only half day)
Monday AM working with the pre-school kids (3-7years old) who have an informal creche, two other leaders are there every monday so I will join them and get to know the locals and encourage and disciple the new christians.
Tuesday and Thursday AM working in the Support Groups, local meetings for those with chronic illnesses, and teaching them basic budgetting principles and trying to help them save and make money if possible.
Wednesday AM in Redhill working with the 18-30 agegroup to challenge them to achieve and succeed in their lives.

Wow....its going to be busy but I think I have mentioned everything in the week above! Weekends are free.

Having had a full brief and explanation of Living Hope, I am now in a much better position to explain all the parts of the group, which is widely funded from the US but less so the UK. THere are 5 parts to Living Hope (the organisation)
Living Services - the office, the HR, finance, support teams and general admin.
Living Way - mini-business school and entrepreneurial work with locals
Living Grace - homeless ministry to feed the impoverished physically and spiritually
Living Care - 22 bed care centre, one of the best in the South of South Africa, treating those with HIV/AIDS and TB.
Living Right - Support Groups, working with local hospitals and healtcare centres to promote good living principles.

Before I finish, as this is a long blog, my ministry falls under Living Right, the budget work and the children's ministry in Redhill too.

Really looking forward to working in these ways and developing good budget strategy and principles for the locals to live with. More updates soon!!

sunday!

hello all,

got a bit more time just now so can tell you a little more about what has been happening. yesterday we walked around the local area and the local mall which has a woolworths and other uk stores too, standard shopping place really. the ministry work doesn't happen on weekends so i have had loads of opportunities to relax and chat with the other volunteers yesterday and today.

last night we went to a shoreline restaurant for a volunteer's leaving do, i ate some calamari which was interesting and we relaxed with a local band playing whilst the waves battered the side of the building! twas quite dramatic at times as the swell was sizeable.

this morning i went to the king of kings church, formerly fish hoek baptist church, with whom i am likely to worship for my time out here. was a good service with teaching from mark 10 about jesus and the children. there are plenty of opportunities to work within the church with the music and children's work so, as you might imagine, i was quite excited about that!

this afternoon i walked to the beach, round trip 3 hours, in a place called nordhooek which was quite stunning. i will upload photos when i can get to the internet cafe so as not to use all the bandwidth here! really good time talking with another volunteer about living hope and all that it does.

it turns out that weekends are free for the volunteers as the ministry work doesn't happen on sat or sun. this has been really good as i have had a great chance to relax a little and settle into the daily routine and who is who and what is where etc. tomorrow i am going on a tour of all that living hope do which should be great.

i am likely to be working with a chap called al in a place called redhill, informal settlement in the hills overlooking cape town, and will be running and organising the children's work and activities there. more details to follow once i know more myself!

apologies for just saying anything and everything that comes to mind, once i get fully into the day to day schedule this little blog should be much shorter and rambly!

finally, learnt my first word in africaans which refers to large crow-like birds that make lots of noise in our garden, not sure what the translation is but it is pronounced 'n-can-can-eh'! i look forward to hearing your attempts on that one.

God bless thanks for the support

stu

day one!

hi all, only have the computer for a few moments so will be quick! settling in well with the other volunteers who are all american! pretty much a day off today and then church in the morning which should be great. I am having a charity-wide tour all day monday to see all the different bits happening and then tuesday is freedom day, a national holiday, so promises to be more time off an sight-seeing!

everyone is really pleasant and I am feeling really relaxed and ready to start work now. thanks for all your comments on the blog and texts too....feel free to text my uk mob 07732268732 but I might reply on my south african phone as that is much cheaper.

really enjoyed listening to a sermon this afternoon on romans chapter 1, thanks chappers (at surrey chapel norwich) and hope to continue listening through the series.

now must rush off to a restaurant meal out with all the team and a concert on the local beach, hard life at the mo! sure it will pick up and get less holiday-like next week when i start working.

God Bless, thanks for the support, speak soon

stu

arrived!

hello all I have arrived and all the travel went very well! got to dubai in good time and slept a little, now in sunny, and warm, cape town and about to head out to meet a few other volunteers and watch a local football game! all very exciting and slightly strange too as I am meeting loads of new people and trying to remember lots of names too! I have my own locked room which is helpful so I can unpack too.

feeling really excited about all the opportunities here, I probably have the weekend off too and then its a double national holiday (mon tues) so an easy-ish start!

Blessings to you all, speak soon!

p.s., i may have had a mcdonalds in dubai at 1am....unconfirmed at the moment though.....

love

stu!

Pictures!

Hi all,

looks like I am flying tomorrow after all!

I will endeavour to upload photos to the picasa album below, keep you eye on that to see what's happening!

Thanks

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuart.d.rimmer

Stu

skype

hi all, just so you know my skype name is 'stuartrimmer' so do add me and give me a call if I am online!!

thanks

stu

soon and very soon....

Hi all!

The flight is getting nearer and nearer rather quickly! Latest update is that I have a phone number contact if you want to send texts to let me know what you are doing! I may not reply to every message but it will be really encouraging to hear from you and see what you are up to!

number is 07519222907

I will also be getting a south african sim card so people can ring me if they want to...details to follow.

Starting to think about packing now......speak soon

stu

Preparation

Hi all,

This is my blog....the place to hear updates on whats happening and how I'm getting on. For those of you who know Sarah, my girlfriend, please ask her how she is getting on and how I am doing too. Far from being all the information I might have, this little ditty here is aimed to give a wide perspective on the latest news about me. Clearly for those of you further afield, I hope this information keeps you in the loop!

Currently, I am leaving the UK on April 22nd with emirates via Dubai and am finalising funds for the charity, ACTS, with whom I am working. This leaving date is really near and there is still much to organise but I am confident that I will be well prepared come the 22nd!

Please pray that I would be well used in Cape Town and everything I do would be to God's glory.
Please pray for safety, Cape Town and South Africa more generally is not hugely secure.

Finally, for now, thanks for your support of sarah and I, I hope this blog will help you to appreciate what I will be doing.

God Bless

Stuart