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!