Leaving in 4 hours

To say the last few weeks have been hectic would be an understatement. I know everyone has been trying to tie up loose ends and we have all been in constant communication and prayer. It is hard to believe we leave in a few short hours. I wanted to enter a quick blog entry to at least set some expectations for the blog and talk a little about what we will be doing.

The blog will probably not be updated more than a few times over the next two weeks. We tend to get very busy and it is actually better for the team to stay focused on the trip rather than constant communication with home. We will fully update the blog when we return so check back again about a week after the trip to read the details.

Last summer we searched for a new organization to work with and landed with Bridges Of Hope outside Cape Town. This will be our first team with this new partnership.

ROCKHarbor has adopted Sweet Home, one of the poorest places I have ever been and a place with zero opportunity for residents. Bridges Of Hope has been working for the past five years in a neighboring community called Phillipe and the changes are miraculous. Their goal is to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of the community by raising up and listening to leaders in that community. Once the leaders have identified the needs we work on the top needs until that top need changes. It is a drastic change from the normal American/Western solution where we come into a community and give them something they may or may not need, like a well, a sewage system, a road or a house. It is also different in that it is mostly development with relief given only when absolutely necessary. They help the community meet the felt needs, not simply meet those needs for the community. This is done through training, micro-lending or just coming along side and helping to solve the biggest problems these communities face.

This is such a simple change, but has made a profound difference in the behavior in both the community residents and we who are serving that community. It is an amazing process and we are excited to see the changes in Sweet Home over the coming years.

After about two years the top need in Phillipe became orphans. What could anyone possibly do to help the 1.2 million children that are orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa every year? Many of those orphans are in the cape flats area where Phillipe and Sweet Home are located.

The South African government has been steadily moving away from state run orphanages. They are very difficult places. Bridges had purchased some amazing land near Franschoek in a wind producing area that is like Napa Valley. They had been running retreats for the leaders and residents in Phillipe. They came upon the idea of creating a boarding school. In South Africa, the elite attend boarding schools. Except this one would be populated with orphans from Cape Flats. They would still have to return to the township when school was out, but this was a great opportunity for a top knotch education and the added benefit of taking that knowledge back into the township.

We have been given the opportunity to teach over 30 classes at the Academy over the next two weeks. Everyone will be teaching something and most are on the gifts each person has been given. From math to computers, to business, to life lessons. Everyone has been working extremely hard to come up with suitable coursework.

We have also split our team into three groups. The childrens ministry will be running a VBS (Vacation Bible School) in Sweet Home. The Sweet Home team will be running an alcohol awareness and recovery training and the Academy team will be running an after school program and helping the students put on a play (High School Musical).

We have a huge schedule in front of us and have been preparing very hard over the past six months. We are all looking forward to working in this new ministry. Please pray for team unity, safety and strength as we work in South Africa over the next two weeks.

December Trip Interviews

The core team, including the leaders leaving this Friday, have been interviewing applicants for the December 2008 trip to Cape Town. It might seem strange to be adding an extra level of stress on top of the last week before our summer trip, but the schedule for ROCKHarbor requires that the first training occur while the summer trip is in Cape Town, August 10.

As usual we have very few slots and many great applicants. It looks like we are going to have another amazing team. We will have the final team decided by Friday and notifications to be complete by Friday.

Final Training

We had our final training today. We went over the last minute details and questions and packed our second bags full of items we will need for the different areas where we will be working and filled the rest with donations. Each bag can weigh up to 50 pounds and we plan to fill every ounce.

We also spent some more time planning in our three sub-groups: academy after school program, childrens/vbs and sweet home. Each team has a lot of different activities and ideas planned during our trip. During this time everyone will also be teaching at the academy on everything from math, to geology, to business to life skills. We have been given a great opportunity for each of us to share our skills with the young minds at the academy.

Everyone has been under a lot of stress and we could use a lot of extra prayer during this final week. This is common for our teams going to Africa, it always seems to add an extra layer of crazy things that happen at the last minute.

Bridges Academy Students

Dennis from Bridges Of Hope sent a picture of all the Academy Students today. We will be working closely with the Academy and all of these students.


Last summer when we visited this was an empty field which is now a soccer field. It will be exciting to see all the changes over the past year.

December Trip Training Dates

Here are the training dates for the December trip.

Sunday August 10
Sunday August 31
Sunday September 14
Sunday September 28
Sunday October 12
Sunday October 26
Sunday November 9
Friday December 14

Interviews will be going on over the next two weeks and the team needs to be decided before August 1 when the Summer trip leaves.

Fundraising story

Fund raising for Africa is always full of amazing stories. It is always hard to ask friends and family for money, but it is also about a lot more than just money. We really want to create partnerships where others can participate in our trips bringing more awareness and prayer where it is desperately needed. That said, we are always amazed to find see the funds come in when we need it most and least expect it.

Aaron has been struggling with fund raising and told a story of what can only be God's hand. Carla had been looking for photographs for a client for months and after much frustration decided to ask Aaron (our trip photographer) if he could take some pictures for the client. He is passionate about photography and has used his skills for the past few years with the ROCKHarbor Mexico team. The client loved the pictures and today he received a check that will cover the remainder of his fund raising for the Africa trip. This also allowed/forced him to get a business license and sellers permit which could be the start of a whole new career. Great work Aaron we all think your photography is amazing and are anxious to see where this new opportunity leads.

Refuge and Interviews

The Sweet Home CHE committee has asked us to teach classes on Alcohol and Drug Abuse recovery. A number of people have been attending ROCKHarbor Refuge to learn about 12 step. We have also been working with the Refuge leaders to learn how to teach the 12 step program.

Interviews for the December trip started tonight. The first training will include all of ROCKHarbor's winter teams and happen while the August trip is in South Africa. Please pray that another amazing team is chosen for the December trip. We will be posting the December trip training dates soon.

Training #7

We had our final training before the packing meeting. We went over a lot of final logistics and heard some more testimonies. We also spent some time in our smaller teams to do more planning for each of our areas. The three teams include The Academy After School events, Sweet Home, and Children's ministry. We also did a personality test and found that the team is very well balanced in terms of personality types. These last few weeks are very stressful for everyone and a lot is going on. Please pray to keep everyone safe and free from distractions. These last few weeks are always the toughest on people.