Geneva.....attack dog extraordinary?

This is our new puppy Geneva. She's a cross between a German Shepherd, and a Timberwolf! The only attack dog I know that is afraid of cats, LOVES strangers, doesn't bark, and whines in fear at dogs bigger than her. We are taking her to dog training next week, maybe that will sort it all out. But she loves Clint, and loves to nap. This was taken at the youth camp that we did last week :)

Ministry

So I’ve been thinking and praying about a place to serve at Hillcrest (. . . Kids? . . . Worship?. . . Young Adults?. . . Women?) and yesterday a lady shows up at our door asking if I could take over the bulletin ministry, visitors ministry, roster, and birthday card ministry. Wow. This is exactly what I did at SCV, and Clint and I were thinking it would be cool to “revamp” this ministry anyways, and I enjoy it! So how cool is our God! They also need a church secretary, and my name has been thrown around, so I’m thinking and praying about that.

We are planning on starting a young adults ministry soon, but only after the decons retreat, so more news on that should be coming soon...


Differences ministering in S.A. verses U.S.A. :

1. We are now ministering to older people instead of college students/working adults. So instead of finding out about their school or where they work, or who they are interested in! . . . its how old their kids are and how their marriage is, and even their grandkids. :)
2. To get anywhere involves driving stick. For Kim that’s a weighty statement!
3. Often we get labeled a “MacArthurite” and we never really know if in their eyes it’s a good or a bad thing. We’ve experienced both. It usually takes several times meeting them before you know.
4. Driving more than 5-10 minutes to church seems out of the question here, although…. there are 2 couples driving 20-30 minutes to Hillcrest cause it’s the only Bible preaching church around. They asked if they can still become members cause they live “so far away!” Hmm, if that were the case at Grace 90% of the church would be empty if you didn’t include the Santa Clarita members who drive 20 min, or in traffic, an hour.
5. Lets talk about the weather. Here, instead of asking how your day went, you would usually have a conversation breaker about the weather. I must admit, it is an eventful topic of conversation. For example, yesterday it was 95 and humid and today massive lightning and thunder and 60. Summer rain is weird!
6. The church usually doesn’t communicate via email, cause internet here is slow. So EVERYONE SMS’es (Text Messages) including prayer requests, meeting times and everything on via cell phone. My inbox is only full of emails from America, not SA!
7. Some people put more effort into their gardens here than their homes. They have the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever seen. So usually when you come over for dinner, you will sit in their garden, under a thatch roof. (roof made of straw) It’s really awesome. I’ve watched 5 thunderstorms this way.
8. The “40 days of purpose” Rick Warren movement out here is pretty big. Although most people who try it spit it out before 40 days is up.
9. Usually people are pretty shocked when we tell them we’ve moved here from California. They look at us bewildered… why? It’s a great way to share the gospel. We’ve had sooo many workers working on our house (plummers, telephone, internet,) and its been a great door for the gospel. Accents can be a godsend. And so can 60 year old houses.
10. Finally, its been such a blessing living right behind the church. At first I thought it would be claustrophobic. But we’ve had so many “drop by” visits, and chats, and visiting pastors, that it’s been a great way to know people quickly.

Starbucks

Starbucks sleeping on Clint's desk, her new favorite place. We just finished painting the walls that dusty orange color, after 4 coats and 2 days. But it was worth it to get rid of the pink (what pastor has a pink office?, well I guess the pastor before Clint did, yikes!) We named Starbucks aptly cause whenever we drink it, she wants a sip!

Last night there was so much lighting that the thunder couldn't keep up. Its like they were chasing one another. I was reading in the book of John while Clint was at an elders meeting, and this verse popped out at me "Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" John 8:34. So many people here in South Africa have maids, or servants. So it made the image even more real. Servants only remain in the house for a short time, but SONS remain forever. Christ the SON of God uses this to compare us to sons, in His family, where we will be in His house forever. Our God is so great.

Thanks for all your tales of Resolved, how cool that it was centered around the gospel. I'm sure we will be listening to them soon.

quote of the week

"We don't feed live tuna to the sharks, that would be UNethical" the lady told us this week at the UShaka Sea World. A couple of students took Clint and I to the Durban version of Sea World on my birthday, and we went to the shark feeding exhibit. They were hanging these dead pieces of fish in front of the sharks, and they weren't biting. We asked why they didn't feed them live fish, and she replied...But its UNETHICAL to feed live fish to sharks. Hmmm, what happens to tuna in the wild anyway? Shark food. Its amazing if you don't have the Bible as the basics for your ethics what conclusions you can come to. And Jesse you were right, the penguins are awesome.

Speaking of biting, there has been alot of "biting" going on in the Archer Abode this week. Turns out kittens and puppies really don't become friends if you bring them up from when they are really young. Yikes. :)

There were new visitors this morning at church who told Clint that on the way there, her young daughter asked her mom why they were going to church, she replied that she didn't know. They are Christians who haven't been going to church so long that they actually went to see why they should go. So what was the message that Clint had prepared for this week? The Nature of the Church. (The same one that was taught at SCV) How great is our God? They invited us for lunch to talk about it furthur (i.e. why do you become a member etc) The Lord answered her question the very week that they visited. Soo coool how providencial that was.

ENJOY RESOLVED YA"LL!!!

Thanks to all of you whow prayed for us and the youth conference! It was down at the south coast and there were 15 students who were involved in "Africa Quest" through a missions organization doing missions/humanitarian work, and they had a retreat where Clint was the speaker. At first Clint just walked them through a high view of God and the gospel cause we didn't know where they stood. Later on we discovered (through alot of their questions) that they were just recently taught by a guy in Zambia that demons are basically everywhere and in everything (that they can attack your thoughts, get you to sin, etc) and one girl got "attacked by demons" while in Zambia. So Clint changed everything and did basic bible studies on their questions (deamons, tounges, baptism of the holy spirit, how the bible has one meaning (not what it means to you) etc. It was really great cause at the beginning there was ALOT of tention in the room. But towards the end they were responsive, and seemed to listen. I think the key lesson Clint did was how to study your bible. Cause then from there when he read passages they could see for themselves what the Bible says about Satan etc. It was really awesome! It was great to spend time with students again as well, and to sing songs that were familiar with them(In Christ Alone, Let Everything that has Breath etc.) Several students said that they didn't ever look up topics in scripture and study them in depth, and were talking about doing it themselves. Praise HIM!!

Oh, yeah and we got our dog Geneva this week and took her with on the camp. The students loved her, and she now knows her name, and how to sit. :) She is a german shepherd cross with a Canadian timberwolf (like a husky) I'll have photos up when I'm not on dial up!

Prayer...

Hey guys! Just asking for prayer as next week we are going down the coast and Clint is going to be speaking at a "youth camp" for 18-20 year olds who are all over the map theologically. Pray that we would both have an impact in these students lives for the 3 days that we will be spending time with them, and that His gospel with go forth! They are all students from England who are down in South Africa doing humanitarian work, and a guy in our church organized this Camp for Clint to preach 8 times in 4 days (yikes!) So we don't know if they are believers, or where they stand before Christ. So pray for wisdom.

We just got back from an awesome pastors conference where we were with alot of the missionaries from Grace lapping up the Word. The preaching was great, and convicting. Praise the Lord for his servants!

Photos to motivate you to come visit!

Most people when they think of Africa don't think of green rolling hills and awesome beaches, but Durban has both!

Clint is preaching at a youth conference along the "wild coast" next week, so I have no coast pictures yet, but here is the "Valley of 1000 hills" that is a 5 minute drive from Hillcrest Baptist Church....Most of the town is really populated, but just outside is God's creative beauty everywhere...

Psalm 63 talks about those at the ends of the earth... I read this today and thought, thats me! Even those people at the ends of the earth can be in awe of Him.

"By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy. "

Hillcrest Photos! (Finally!)

This is Kim and Veon, the couple that hosted us the first 3 weeks that we arrived in Hillcrest. They are so sweet and took really good care of us in their beautiful home!

These are the kids at Hillcrest Baptist who put on a Christmas Play with shepherds and angels and everything. These were the shepherds, it was super super cute.

Clint shares the gospel after the christmas play to all the watching parents and visitors

Kerry drove down to Durbs to visit us and her mom! She brought with her Matt Floreen and a couple of others from Brian Bietebach's church. It was so good to sit and have coffee with her! She got to come to one of the services at Hillcrest & we will prob. be seeing alot of her. It was refreshing to have coffee with fellow believers who are around our age. We are sitting at a restaurant that overlooks the valley of 1000 hills, which is like 10 minutes from the church.

This is our livingroom! We just got these couches at an after christmas sale. Its starting to look and feel more like our home now.

Merry Christmas! Our first Christmas in our new home. We moved in 5 days before Christmas and Clint's dad came down to help us get our home together, and brought down a tree! People in the church gave us some housewarming gifts as christmas presents. My favorite gift was a coffee press, so we could drink all the starbucks that Tyler and Scott gave us on Christmas! Thanks guys!

This is the new ARCHER mobile. Its a VW citi golf. If you want to see more photos go to www.vw.co.za A decon in the church works for VW got us a good deal, but ironically the day we drove it home it wouldn't accept any fuel! It kept spilling out! So we had to take it back the next day. The Lord is keeping us humble :)

This is our kitty Starbucks! She looks like a cup of coffee (tan and black) They found her in a plastic bag on the side of the road, so we got her really really young. She loves to sleep on my shoulder, and pounces everything. I think she knocked down our Christmas tree every day.

And....this is our house! We are busy painting the inside of it. We are almost done with Clint's office (its like a burnt orange color) to make it more warm. The whole inside of the house is peach at the moment, so we are slowly going to paint each room. Its hard work!! But we are excited to finally be "home" and make it more like our home. It is just behind the church, so its fun leaving at 8:59 to make it to church by 9:00.

That's all for today! Please email us to let us know how you are doing and what the Lord is teaching you and how He is growing you to be more like Him! Clint is preaching through the Attributes of God, so its been a great reminder of how He is so much bigger and better than us, and is bigger and better than our plans! Praise Him today!

Kim

Clints Ordination Service

Our welcome sign to Hillcrest!

Dennis Hustead is a American Pastor who pastors a church in Durban. He gave Clint's ordination "charge" to preach the word when there is a famine in the land of Durban. Dennis is the only other reformed pastor in Durban. He gave a very challenging sermon to Clint and to the congregation & then the elders layed hands on Clint as officially the pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church!!