Happy Mothers Day!!

Hello all!  We have been very busy the past few days, lets see if we can get you caught up.  Friday was our last day of clinic.  Our final patient total was over 1,000 for the week.  Thank God for the abilities and resources to serve these people. 
Here's a sweet patient that just got his tooth pulled.  He was being comforted by his mother and baby sister.  Most Moms carry their young children in a towel wrap.

In the glasses station this is the worn Bible that we used to see if our patients' sight was improved from the glasses.  It was a joy all week to hear these people read John 3:16 in their language with great excitement in their hearts.
There is one specific story I'd like to share.  After an older lady had been treated one of our team members asked her is she was a christian.  She answered yes.  Our team member asked her to elaborate and quickly found that the patient did not have a relationship with Chrsit.  The team member passionatley described what it is like to walk with Jesus and give your life to God.  The patient said with a teary voice, "My eyes have been opened."  After prayer, this lady walked away from the clinic with not only physical healing, but spiritual healing.

With many HIV tests this week, we had a lot of negatives and positives.  With the positive test results the patients received counseling.  This is a shot of our whole team praying for a newly HIV diagnosed patient on Friday.  There is power in prayer!

Saying goodbye to the children and our translators was so difficult.  They have touched our lives in so many ways.

We can't come all the way to Africa and NOT see the wildlife!  Saturday we drove to Kruger National Park and went on a safari!  This was a great testament to God's creativity and power.  It was also an example of his protection when this angry elephant decided not to challenge our safari truck.

We got to see lion, leopard, giraffe, impala, buffalo, and zebra!!!  This was an unforgettable experience!!

It's now Sunday morning and we are gathering for breakfast, testimonies, and a reflection time.  The rest of the day will be spent traveling to Johannesburg and collecting souvenirs.  We'll depart this evening and will be in America Monday morning!  This is most likely the final update from Africa.  To all our sweet moms out there, please know that we are thinking about you!  Happy Mothers Day!!!

Thursday already?

Time has flown by for us!  We can't believe we only have one more day for clinic.  Today we prayed believing that God would bring us a large amount of patients.  God answered!  Here's a view of the clinic/church here in Badplaas!

There is a wonderful story about these ladies.  The one on the right was a true miracle of prayer today.  She was being helped by a physical therapist and they could not really find any solutions for her ailment.  With prayer and believing, this lady was up walking around raising her arms!  She then spread her testimony which resulted in quite a few people asking us to pray for them. Praise the Lord!!

Did we mention that we LOVE these kids?  It will be very difficult to say goodbye to them, but we leave knowing we have helped them.

Our construction team finished their project!  The over hang and the benches of this building were made by each of these men as they alternated shifts.  This is the church's kitchen that feeds certain children 2 meals a day for 5 days a week.  Now they can escape the sun and have a place to sit.

Our physical therapy team creates realistic exercises that our patients can do at home to become stronger and healthier.

This sweet baby was one of the 300 patients we saw today.  Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.  Tomorrow we hope for bigger numbers.  Our team leader even made an announcement on the local radio about the clinic.

***Saniboni (hello) followers! This is Shannon here!  Hasn't Jenny done an excellent job not only keeping the blog updated, but also taking amazing pictures to capture God's work in Badplaas?  We are thankful for her talent!  I'm writing specfically tonight to thank you for the prayers covering our team.  Today I witnessed a man who was given an HIV test that had a positve result.  This unfortunately is not uncommon to the clinic.  He was very resistant not only to the news, but also to our triage team's offers to pray over him.  He even told us to "stop trying to push our Jesus on him" since we offered him pray.  Praise the Lord we serve a BIG God who is faithful beyond what we could hope or imagine.  Upon sitting at a provider station, the news was shared with him again.  Our bus driver, who has been a huge blessing to our team and is very familiar with the culture, came over to speak to him.  He talked him down and allowed us to counsel him on the news.  This man eventually caved and said, "Ok, I'm tired and just want you to tell me what I need to do to get better."  After counseling, education, and a referral to the local clinic, we took one more shot of asking if we could pray for him.  To our surprise, but not to God's, he accepted the prayer.  We prayed that through this circumstance, he would come to know God as his Healer, His Great Physician, His Savior of his soul!  We prayed he would use this situtation to bring glory to his name and reign in his heart.  When we were done praying, he smiled and THANKED us for the prayer!  Yes, he THANKED us!  What a God moment!  We serve an awesome, HUGE God.  We know everyone has been praying at home that we would serve at a clinic that would eternally change lives. Seeds are being planted and hearts are being changed!  Please continue to cover us because we feel it and so do our patients! 
We claim this:  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Ephesians 3:20-21

Wednesday!

When we arrived at the church for clinic we were greeted with this crowd who was eager to be treated.  Most people walk miles and miles to visit the clinic.  Please pray that more people come see us.  The more patients, the more treatments, the more people who get to experience the love of Jesus.

Each doctor station has a translator that helps explain diagnosis to the patient.  All stations end their time with the patient with prayer.

We adore these children, it's a special opportunity to get to love on them.

In the clinic, we do a lot of HIV tests.  After the test we always educate the patient about the disease and prevention.

Duck, Duck, Goose is a big hit for the kids!  In the afternoons we have around 70 children come to play with us.

 Here's the whole team on Prayer Mountain!

The team really enjoyed hearing the comments you left on our blog.  Thank you for writing and encouraging us!  We are all enjoying our service here and are experiencing God in new, powerful ways.

Tuesday in South Africa!

Throughout the week some team members have opted to go hunting.  The animal that is killed is paid for by the team member and given to the town for food.  After a hunter makes a kill the hunter is then decorated with the blood.  Gross, right?

As part of our children's ministry we have been creating fun keepsakes for the children, sing Christian songs, coloring pictures, and playing sports and games outside the clinic.

This young child was enjoying the soccer game conducted by our team members.

In the clinic we have seen over 400 people of all ages.  The next 3 days promise to show much larger numbers.

Our team has also taken on a contruction project to help with the church's facilities.

Here's were we are staying!  Prayer Mountain is just a short ride from where we are serving. We are surrounded by a gorgeous landscape that constantly reminds of us how wonderful our creator is!

Right now(8:00pm Tuesday) we are getting ready to have worhsip, testimony time, and read comments that you have left on this blog.  This is a fun time to hear from our support back home.  Please leave us a comment below including you name.

Our Sunday & Monday!!

Sanibonani!  Our Sunday and Monday have gone very well!  Sunday we spent a day enjoying South Africa on horse back and ATV.  We sighted a giraffe, zebras, antelopes, and two very large, intimidating rhinos.
Today(Monday) was the first of five days conducting the clinic at a local church.  People walk for hours to get treatment.  At the clinich we greet them, treat them, provide medical supplies, council patients, and pray for each person.  We had a great time playing with the children and getting to love on them.  Here are some pictures below to give you an idea of what we're getting our hands into.


Before flying!



Praying for our patient



Intense dental work

We Are In South Africa

Hello from South Africa!  Your prayers have gotten us here safely!  Please continue to lift us up.  We are all so excited to be HERE and serving!  We are headed to "Prayer Mountain," to sleep and we'll update tomorrow on our adventures!

We leave on Friday!

Sunday we met up for our last meeting before heading to South Africa.  We did the remaining packing and had a Mock Clinic.  The Mock Clinic helped us visualize how our patients will flow in and out of our different medical sections.  We are really looking forward to meeting our translators who will be helping us at each station.  Please keep us in your prayers as some members are taking final exams and as we are all preparing mentally, physically, and spiritually for our trip.  Don't forget to check back each day for updates from SOUTH AFRICA!  Please share this website with your churches, friends, and family, we welcome everyone's prayers.  Only 4 days until we leave!
Thank you to all who have participated in our fundraisers and blessed us with donations.  We could not have done this without you!

Still packing

Getting the weight just right

Mock Clinic, showing us how to run standard medical tests

Dental Team

Our team has been blessed to have such a large dental team going with us.  Dentists Chris Keenan, from Atlanta, and Janice Allison, from the Charleston Air Force base. Also Cat Ramiso is a dental hygienist from the air base helping us.  They will be treating major and minor dental issues and also educating patients on dental hygiene.

Shannon showing us good hygiene

Packing!

The time finally came to gather all of our donations and medical supplies to take to South Africa.  A group of team members met today to organize all the goodies we'll be treating our patients with.  We have been blessed by God's provision.  As a team we believe God will send us patients who not only want physical health, but also spiritual healing.  One more meeting to go, then we'll be jumping on those planes Friday, May 4th!

Pill Packing Party

Almost There

We are excited to announce that we have raised enough funds for our trip! We are so humbled and grateful for all of the amazing contributions that are making this trip possible. The Lord is truly good! Since we are only 19 days away from departure, today we reviewed more medical conditions that we plan to treat upon arrival in South Africa. While we will be there practicing medicine, our primary goal is to bring the word of God to the people of Badplaas for He is the True Healer. Please continue praying for us and the South Africans awaiting our arrival.

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." Isaiah 6:8

Getting Closer

     Hello April!  This new month means we have 33 days before we head over to South Africa!  Our team met today to hear from Michael Overcash who started this mission trip to Badplaas.  Hearing how this team's presence in Badplaas has helped in the past years was very encouraging to us.  Michael brought us interesting information and examples of the South African culture.  Amy, Jamin, and Mackenzie shared their stories of how God came into their lives and the change He has made in them.
     We've been blessed with many donated supplies for our patients.  Here, Sloan, Nathaniel, Ericka, and Mollyrose show off the latest eyeglass donations.

     Please join us at our remaining fundraisers!  On April 5th and 6th(Thursday & Friday) at lunch time you'll find Cupcakes in the MUSC library.  Tuesday, April 10th Taco Boy will be in the Horseshoe at MUSC serving lunch from 12-1.
     With a month to go we ask you to join us in prayer for our future patients in Badplass, the missionaries already there, and our team as we prepare spiritually for our time in South Africa.
"Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among the peoples."
Psalm 96:3(ESV)

47 Days To Go!

Today we discussed many of the diseases we will be treating while in South Africa. HIV and AIDS are so prevalent in South Africa, and it is likely that more than 50% of the patients we treat will be infected. Patients also commonly have tinea (or as most people call it, "a ringworm") or otitis (ear infection) so it is important that we understand these different medical conditions before we go so we can be prepared to look for them when we get there. Speaking of, we are heading to South Africa in 47 days! We are all so excited and the Lord is truly showing us how much He loves us by giving us this opportunity.
We are still in need of some crafts for the Children's Ministry so if anyone knows of anywhere that would like to donate crafts, please contact Nathaneal Hall at hallns@musc.edu. Also, we still need glasses for our Optometry station and the more, the better. Some of our patients have never had glasses  and their bad vision can easily be fixed with a pair of our old glasses. If anyone has any glasses they would like to donate, please contact Ericka Weaver at weaverem@musc.edu All of our supplies that we are taking are due at our next meeting on April 1. Also, all funds should be turned in by April 15. Now is crunch time for fundraising. We are all so blessed to have such loving churches, families, and friends and all donations are greatly appreciated. We only have three meetings left before we leave and it is super important that we are all there for all three meetings. The dates are:
April 1 - all supplies due
April 15 - all money due
April 29 - clinic run-through
Please continue to pray for all of the members of our team and the patients we plan to help.
"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Andolini's Pizza Night

In case you missed our first round of fundraising and Andolini's we're having another one on Sunday!  Here are some shots of our team and supporters at last week's funraiser!  A big thanks to the James Island Andolini's for being so generous with their resources and time.  We hope to see everyone Sunday, March 4, between 5-8 at the JI Andolini's!

Let the fundraisers begin!

Please check out the fundraisers link for more info on future fundraisers!  Thank you!

75 days to go!

   This is a very exciting time for our team!  In 75 days we will depart for South Africa!  Many fundraising opportunities are coming up, we're getting to know each other, and we are about to purchase our plane tickets!
   This week we learned that team unity is so important for this trip.  We will be traveling and working long hours and are already aware of the devil's efforts to stop God's good works through us.  In order to grow this unity, each team member has been assigned prayer partners so that we can lift up, encourage, and get to know one another.  More tools are weekly devotion emails and meeting times.
   Sunday's meeting gave us a chance to learn more about our personalities and how we mesh with the rest of the crew.  Aubrey, Elise, and Mark shared their amazing testimonies.  Praise God for the love that He so generously shares!  It's always encouraging to hear fellow believers' stories.
   Please join us for any of these upcoming fundraisers.  It's a great time to meet us, hear about our trip, and fellowship with us.
Fundraising Opportunities

Sunday, February 26:  Andolini's Pizza Night

Folly Road/James Island from 5-7pm
20% of proceeds go to our mission

Sunday, March 4:  Andolini's Pizza Night

Folly Road/James Island from 5-7pm
20% of proceeds go to our mission

Wednesday, March 7:  Seacoast Missions Dinner

Long Point and West Ashley campuses
March 8-9:  Cupcake comes to MUSC

   Does anyone have silly bands that their kids don't wear anymore?  There are sweet children in Africa that would LOVE them.  We are also searching for reading glasses, so our patients are able to read their Bibles.  Feel free to bring these to any fundraisers or give to a team member.  Also needed, simple craft supplies, pipe cleaners, and sidewalk chalk.

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" 1 John 4:11{esv}

88 days to go!

Hello All,
First, thank you again for viewing this site and taking the time to read about our preparation for South Africa.  This is a very exciting time of planning fundraisers and finding supplies.  Soon we'll be able to publicize some fun events that will help raise support!
The main topic of this week's meeting was how to share our testimony.  Roy Jacques gave us a very simple layout of how we can construct our story to tell others.  It's important to share our life before Christ, realizing we needed Christ, when we committed our lives to Christ, and the difference Christ has made in our lives.  After learning this technique for sharing our testimony, we were instructed to jot down a short version of our personal story.  An amazing thing that we can praise God for is that our story is not finished.  God is working in our lives everyday.  We are growing in our relationship with Him as time goes by.  We can look forward to a story that gets better and better because our author is LORD.  For the people in Africa we hope that our stories, prayers, medical care, and interaction will show them this wonderful God that we love.
Please pray specifically for the missionaries that we will be interacting with during our mission.  Also keep in mind our patients that we will help and visit with throughout the week.

“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 46:10

Here are some photos from last year's trip, to show the interaction we will have.

Our Second Meeting

            Our second meeting was yesterday and we began by first learning how we will say hello to our patients. “Sawubona” means Hello (singular) and “Sanibonani” means Hello (plural). It is exciting to learn new words or phrases each week so we will be prepared to communicate with the South Africans once we arrive! We also met with our different committees and then discussed as a group different committees that we can go ahead and start helping. For Children’s Ministry, please start gathering any balls, chalk or toys and refer any questions to Nathaneal at hallns@musc.edu. For Fundraising, please contact Meredith at meredithbarb@gmail.com if you have any ideas for future fundraisers. Meredith had some great fundraiser ideas such as a movie night at Cinnebarre, a slice night at Andolinis or a pancake supper at Applebee’s. For Optometry, please start gathering any glasses or contact Ericka at weaver.ericka@gmail.com if you know of anyone or any organization who is willing to donate glasses. We should be hearing from Aubrey this week about our Prayer Partners so get excited about getting to know someone new! Some important dates coming up include:

            Sunday, February 5^th – Meeting #3 Testimonies

            Sunday, February 19^th – Meeting #4 Team Unity

                                                    $1000 total due

This week the topic of our discussion was Spiritual Warfare. Ephesians 6:10-12 states, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Spiritual Warfare is a pro-active approach to our faith. Actively resisting the devil when his hosts harass us, and actively pursuing spiritual disciplines that will make us stronger and better prepared. It is actively engaging the enemy when people are in spiritual bondage. The devil is the enemy and our weapon is prayer. As we all begin to embark on this journey, the devil will try to discourage us and work against us. Some tips about being spiritually ready for this trip are to get in shape and expect to get hit, be self-controlled and alert (discern spiritual realities behind situations & circumstances), trust Christ, use God’s plan and weapons, and know who your enemy is and use God’s armor. We are excited for what is to come and please continue to keep us in your prayers.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

South Africa's Flag

    Our excitement is growing for our trip in May, 108 days to go!  Here's a little information about the South African flag to help us, friends, and family learn more about South Africa.

    The flag consists of six bold colors: black, yellow, green, white, red, and blue.  These colors are said to have no official significance, but much reason can be found behind them.  Black, green, and yellow were the colors of Nelson Mandela's political party.  Red, white, and blue are the colors of the National African Congress and a former flag.  If you need more reasoning for the colors, you may look at past South African flags.  Here's what they have meant: red for bloodshed, blue for open skies, green for the land, black for the black people, white for the European people, and yellow for natural resources like gold.
    While colors don't have official means the lines and shapes of this flag do.  The Y of V shape represents South Africa's diverse society and unity.
    The flag was adopted in April 1994, right before the election of Nelson Mandela.  This flag was first commissioned as the interim flag while designers and committees found an official flag.  A public competition brought in over 7,000 designs, but with no success.  Seven days before the general election this flag was chosen, designed by State Herald, Frederick Brownell.  There is usually a five year period of use for an interim flag, but this flag was well received and quickly written into the constitution.

Our First Meeting

Hello All!  Thank you for visiting our mission trip site!
Our team had our first meeting this past Sunday, January 8.  It was an exciting time to meet each member of the team and our leaders, Amanda and Shannon.  God has so carefully formed this group to meet the needs of the clinic, Badplaas people, and the crew.  We come from various medical fields and some non-medical, all with spiritual gifts and abilities to serve these people and each other with.
We learned the basics of our trip and are looking forward to our bimonthly meetings.

Basics Breakdown:
When = May 4-14, 2012
Where = South Africa...Badplaas, Mpumalanga
Purpose = Bring physical and spiritual healing to people, and grow stronger in our faith
Cost   = $3,500 each
Language spoken  = Siswati and Zulu
Things we need = monetary and supplies

Please join us in prayer over the people of Badplaas and over our team.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throught all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21