Everyone complains about the crime in Africa

Ok, so i haven't updated this in forever cause Clints laptop was stolen out of our home last Thursday!! We left at 7:30pm to go to a friends house for dinner, set the house alarm, and at 7:34 we got a call from the security company that our alarm had gone off. We thought it was just our kitten setting it off, but got home, and they had opened a window, busted through the burglar bars, grabbed my kitchen knife (no joke) walked down the hall, (alarm would be going off by now!) and grabbed Clint's laptop that we got like 5 months ago, along with our 2 backups and jetted. Yikes. Clint had just finished his sermons, and had to start from scratch on Friday morning. The only thing I could think was "MY PHOTOS!!!!" They stole the backups. Nuts. Oh, and the funniest moment of the night is when we called the cops to come investigate they said "we are a little busy tonight, do you mind walking (next door mind you) to the police station to file a report?" Hmm, not much help there.

We went looking for the same laptop this week, and they are double the price here. Its actually cheaper to fly to the states and get a laptop! But the Lord is good. We weren't harmed. He is omnicient and knew from the foundation of the world that our laptop would get stolen. :) We are sleeping just fine. I've actually gotten broken into 2x in LA. Everyone was so worried that I would freak out about Africa's crime. I told them LAs crime is the same. Sin is sin no matter where you live.

But our first "SASCV" went great! 15 students showed up, including 2 guys that were in re-hab. One of them asked "what to Christians think of unbelievers" so Clint got to share the gospel with him, explaining that we were all once enemies of God. It was really great. We had a fellowship night the next week where we watched the CNN Larry King Live thing with MacArthur on what happens when people die? Everyone really enjoyed it. Students are now asking us to go out for coffee after evening service, so life is becoming a bit more like it was before! Bryan (the new believer) is growing so much, its so awesome to see him grow and ask questions about the Bible.

We had a "membership" meeting at our house Saturday Morning where 12 people showed up, and 6 of them were young married couples. Wow. The Lord is answering our prayers! People our own age! Yippee

SCV 2...well almost!

Missing you guys this week! (Photo of our last SCV memory in LA, Sharkys!)

Cause. . . we are starting an SCV, just South African Style! We advertised it for a few weeks in our church announcements, and about 20 people are going to come to our first "young adults" Bible study! We are naming it "Cornerstone" cause...well, I think you'll get the theme:

Pebbles: Grade 1-3
Rockies: Grade 4-6
Foundations: Jr. High/Early Highschool
Cornerstone: Our GROUP! 17 through young working adults

It won't be quite the same cause Clint will be doing more of a "discussion" rather than preaching...which is easier for him cause he preaches 2x a week now...and better for them cause we don't know the spiritual maturity of these guys, or even if they are believers! And instead of the Niednagels, it'll meet in our home. Sooo please be praying for us! Aww, I'll definately miss the Paul Yoon band!

Ok, to a more trivial subject, I turned on the t.v. tonight at 8:00pm to see what was on.
Station 1: in Zulu
Station 2: in Zulu
Station 3: South African soap opera
Station 4: WWWF Wrestling
Station 5: oh, there are no more stations, NUTS!.

Why do we even have a TV? To add injury to insult everyone in S.A. has to pay 200 rand for a tv license every year, it's the law. (50 bucks) Really? Is it worth it?

South Africa makes historic win in CRICKET!!

Ok, so I saw the most amazing Cricket game ever. And it was my first cricket game I've ever seen! It happened to be a world record game. Austrialia had a score of 438, which broke the world record, and then South Africa came back the next day, and broke that record to beat them by ONE 439! So cool. Its like a baseball game where its at the bottom of the ninth and the score is like 50 to 50, with 2 outs. Here's the google story:


SOUTH AFRICA REVELS IN HISTORIC WIN
South Africa's newspapers were on Monday celebrating their team's remarkable victory over Australia.
Almost every newspaper in the country led with Sunday's historic one-day international at the Wanderers.
Australia broke the world record for the highest team score in an ODI by posting 434, and then South Africa amazingly chased it down to set a new record and claim a 3-2 series victory.
Not only was it a record-breaking match but the local press revelled in the fact it went some way to avenging their 1999 World Cup semi-final exit to Australia, which led to the Proteas being labelled 'chokers'.
"438/9 - Choke on this, Aussies!" read Johannesburg newspaper The Star, which recorded Sunday's success with a bold green and gold headline proclaiming the score.
The newspaper went further in its sport section with a massive full broadsheet page picture of man-of-the-match Herschelle Gibbs blowing kisses to the Wanderers crowd with a golden headline "Glory".
"Seldom in this country's sporting history could victory have been greater. Seldom in the history of one-day cricket has there been a better match. In fact, there probably never has been," the newspaper's correspondent Stuart Hess wrote of the match.

Yes, Africa has beaches

So the "pastors day off" is always Monday right? So every Monday for the last month Clint and I have gone to Umhlanga. Yup, thats the same beach that MacArthur mentioned to Clint the same night he called Clint...."Clint Hurdle" :) Its MacArthurs favorite beach in S.A. and now ours too. Here are some photos from our adventures. Needless to say after preaching on Sunday, Clints favorite days are Mondays. And no, his name is not Hurdle.

The lighthouse on Umhlanga Rocks

Clint walking Geneva

Sandy Shtee (after Clint dumped Geneva in the water!)

Where I swim every week! (If you surf here, the rocks kill you, I'll have to make use of my board elsewhere!)

So....probing question to all you blog viewers out there. Come out of the closet, how many of you are "blog hoppers" where you hop in on other peoples blogs without having a blog yourself for me to spy on? :) Tee hee. Not that I mind, just encouraging you all to start your own blogs so I can keep up with your life!! I've just found some great blogs this week by blog hopping. One of the greatest ones is http://blog.togetherforthegospel.org/

And TELL ME WHAT YOU LEARNED AT SHEPHERDS CONFERENCE! :) Soak it up!

Braai

So we had our first students braai at our house on Friday night, and 15 students came! We were really excited. The food was great (South African style, I'm really learning to LOVE it!) and the fellowship was great too. We are going to start a bible study with them on Fri nights. Most of them commute from about an hour away, (from university) and come home on the weekends, so Friday night it is. Not many of them seemed as excited about a bible study as they did the braai, but we are hoping they come when there isn't just free food! :) I only know that about 3-5 of them are believers, and all of them grew up together at HBC, and they NEVER hang out together. They've all got seperate lives, and seperate hearts, it seems. I am really really looking forward to knowing them beyond what subjects they are taking etc...

So today was a rainy Saturday . . .and Clint and I spent the whole day painting our living room cause our carpets are disappearing on Wednesday! Under the nasty stained carpet is WOOD FLOORS!!! I am so excited. Turns out all the homes built in the 50s here have wood floors underneath 70's carpeting. No more pink walls and nasty carpet for the Archer Abode!

Prayer

Clint studying in his office

We are starting the book of Colossians this sunday, I am SOOOO excited!

So I've been convicted lately cause our church is SUPER big into corperate prayer. There is a prayer meeting before the evening service for an hour, and most of the whole church goes, then there is a seperate women's corperate prayer meeting on Thursdays, and then at every bible study on Tuesday night...again, corperate prayer. Its really cool. But its something I've struggled with my whole life. I always feel like I'm praying TO the PEOPLE listening, rather than to the Lord. I'm not talking about praying for someone specific when your meeting with them one on one, or even in a small group, I love praying for others in that way. Even at SCV it was great praying for one another.....but the large group that sometimes is full of people I don't know freaks me out. I've had to overcome my fear pretty quickly, cause it comes up 3 times a week now. So I've been trying to see if scripture talks about corperate prayer...and it does! When Jesus appears to them in the upper room, what are the disciples doing? Praying...together. The word also says to pray for one another, and pray without ceasing. So...my fear goes against scripture! So I've been praying BEFORE I go that I would pray to the Lord, and not be afraid of man.

Luther

I think in heaven the first couple I want to hang out with is Martin and Katie Luther. On one of the shelves of our church’s media centre was a book to loan called "Martin Luther had a wife." Curiosity struck me by the title, and I’ve been reading it non-stop ever since. I don’t think I’ve laughed out loud so many times reading a book before. Martin and Katie were a really funny couple…here are some of my favourite quotes so far:

Luther: "All my life is patience… I have to be patient with the Pope, I have to be patient with the heritics, I have to be patient with my family, and I even have to be patient with my wife Katie"

Luther: "But think of all the squabbles Adam and Eve must have had in the course of their 900 years…Eve would say "You ate the apple" and Adam would retort "You gave it to me!"

"In the monastery Luther had been accustomed to being secluded, but Katie wouldn’t stand for that. According to one story, he once locked himself in his study for three days until Katie had the door removed. Innocently, Martin asked as he saw Katie in the doorless doorway "Why did you do that? I wasn’t doing any harm"

Luther: "Before I married, no one had made my bed for a whole year"
_________________________________
CLINT’S CONTRIBUTION:
Ok, so I officially recant for mocking all those annoyingly ignorant Americans who asked me over and over (as if a national memo had circulated conspiring against me) if in Africa we had monkeys in our gardens and animals walking in the streets. Last week my Timberwolf-Alsatian puppy and I had equally incredulous looks on our faces as we met our first vervet monkey. Yes, we were in our back garden, where I have also seen a snake and innumerable frogs 9a la Exod 10). A day later I had to rescue our kitten from the hungry glare of a crested eagle who was opportunistically perched in a tree in our front garden. And I once had to swerve from our main road to dodge roaming cattle. Taking a walk with a congregant on a golf course I saw several species of deer and was warned about crocodiles in the water traps. One would swear we were living on a Hollywood set for Tarzan. In Africa we think nothing is real unless Hollywood acknowledges it in a film. In LA people think what Hollywood represents is reality. I don’t know which is more bizarre: that Americans think there are animals in our gardens, or that there actually are animals in our gardens!

FYI, for those of you who know Jesse Johnson, or Diedre Shannon, they both got engaged on Sunday. What a coincidence.

The Plauge of the FROGS

Clint's most dreaded, feared, and hated animal on the planet: FROGS

Population of FROGS in the Niednagels back yard: 2-3 per Bible Study

Number of FROGS that were put down Clint's shirt in his lifetime: 2

Population of FROGS in the Archer's backyard everyday: Approx 30

Population of FROGS in Durban: Innumerable

Sound of FROGS on any given night in Durbs: 300 Decibels, for sure

FROGGY prey for Starbucks: Priceless

"But if you refuse to let them go, behold I will plauge all your country with FROGS" Exodus 8:2

Ick

Our first Braai

The guy that Clint has been meeting with on a weekly basis (His name is Brian, 19 years old) repented and gave his life to the Lord yesterday!!! Our God is sooo great! This guy had grown up at the church, and even knew that he couldn't understand the Bible until he was saved, so he asked Clint to pray for him since the only prayer that would be heard by our Lord from an unbeliever would be a prayer of repentance. He definately knew that you had to count the cost beforehand, so he took 2 weeks to count, and repented last sunday night!! So exciting! :) So if you think of it please pray for Brian!


Clint's mom got Clint a Braai (African version of a BBQ) for his birthday (on the 9th!) So he cooked me dinner for Valentines Day! (sooo fun!) Valentines Day is SOO commercialized here in South Africa. I think I saw more red hearts then I did Christmas trees in the malls, crazyness! But we had a great table for two in our back yard. And we had South African Boedevorse (i have no clue if I'm spelling that right or not!) It's this awesome spiced sausage that you cook over flames, yum. There is something cool about having holidays in different seasons. Valentines Day was our hottest yet!

Clint cooking dinner! :)

My exuberant joy that Clint cooked me dinner, and Clint's joy over finally being able to braai!

Our "Table for Two" in our back yard :)

For God so lo V ed the world,
That He gA ve
His onL y
BegottE n
SoN
T hat whosoever
Believeth I n Him
Should N ot perish ,
But have E verlasting life." - John 3:16

Handyman Clint

So Clint has never used a drill in his life. And our walls are made out of BRICK (not American wood walls!) So how do you hang pictures in a Brick house? DRILL!!! After drilling all day Saturday to put up curtains that Clint's mom made for us, we know our house couldn't ever possibly burn down. Our house isn't built out of "wood, hay or straw"thats for sure. It's closer to the "gold or precious stones" its so hard. I think we almost broke the drill.

Before: 10am Saturday (kitchen window)

After: 10pm Saturday (dead on livingroom chair!)

So we are out for Clint's birthday this last Thursday, at the #1 rated restaurant in South Africa, which is across the street from our house. And Clint gets a phone call that Geneva is barking and running around at the "parent night" at the preschool next door. So we had to stop our dinner to get her out! Yikes... We've considered an electric shock collar fense. But all the pet shops look at us like we are mad, and one lady told us that they are illegal in this country. NOT SO! We finally found one! But I think we are going to try the more "humane" effort first, and build a proper fense. We did our investigation, and found where she gets in! She creates alot of sermon illustrations for Clint, that's for sure. Although today we found another reason why she goes into the preschool. A family of MONKEYS lives next door! Don't picture cute little monkeys, these things are HUGE!!!

BTW, thanks for all the suggestions for kids songs, I got some really fun ones from all of you! We did "Praise Ye the Lord, Halleluia!" this friday and they loved it!

We just introduced "Jesus I my cross have taken" to the main worship service, yea, a song I know! :) If anyone knows any good websites with worship music (like the actual piano music) let me know. We are trying to introduce some new songs to the sunday worship too!

The Drive to Durbs

Driving from Joburg to Durbs 6 hours in the rain!

So our "non attack dog" Geneva doesn't attack strangers, but she does attack defenseless pre-schoolers! We have a preschool right in front of our house, so she slides right through the fense like it wasn't even there, and walks right into the kids classes. Clint and I spent like 4 hours putting up a better fence, and she still got through! ARRGGHH! :) I think we will have to make like James Bond and find a secret plan of attack. "Dun da da dun dun dun da dun da da dun dun dun." To be continued...

Grace Missionaries in S.A.

Group Photo of all the GMI Missionaries and TMS Graduates in South Africa 2006

Grace Church Conference

Clint and Andre

Kerry, Me and Nicole (Kilwa Andersons girlfriend!) standing infront of our thatch roof rooms!

All the girls from Grace who are now in S.A. (13 of us!)

So this weekend we drove 6 hours to Jo-burg, then 3 hours to just below Polokwane, to go to a conference with all the TMS, GMI, and TMC grads in the country. . . only to drive 9 hours back the next day. It was definately worth the drive! I never knew south africa was actually that beautiful until driving through it. When you go by plane, you get morphed out of one city and plunked in another, but this was 18 hours of pure Africa! I actually saw monkeys in the streets, like people ask us... "so you live in africa, are there monkeys in the streets?" and i can actually say "yes" now.

But it was SOOO great to see all the people from Grace that live in S.A. The Mack's just moved to S.A. to start a Biblical Counseling program, Tim and Michelle Cantrell just took one of the biggest baptist churches in S.A., and to hear of the TONS of other amazing things that the Lord is doing here was so great. Nicole (who is from Capetown) was saying its so weird to hear all the graduates talk about how they miss chocolate chip cookies, and ranch dressing!!! (Which were at the conference for us). Ahh chocolate chips. Yum.

But the coolest part was praying with these likeminded people, and being a part of making strategic plans for how to best effect South Africa for the gospel. It's really exciting! And just seeing guys like Andre (Clint's old roomie) made it feel like home again.

Ok, on a weird note, who can give me the coolest kid praise song they know?!? I need help with ideas! :)

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. "