Transformational relationships

Untitled from Kristy Blankenship on Vimeo.

Orphans transforming their own community

Orphans transforming their own community

After five years of working with teams in Sweet Home, a township outside Cape Town South Africa, I wanted to write up my favorite story. There are literally hundreds of stories. In January 2011, I was co-leading one of our short term teams. We had learned that one of the graduated students who was now attending the University of Cape Town would be helping us.

His name is Sinethemba. He was in the first graduating class for Bridges Academy. He grew up in the township of Phillipi which is next to Sweet Home. It would be an injustice for me to describe the difficulty and danger of growing up in these townships. To lose your parents only makes the transformation of Sinethemba a complete miracle. We thought he would help us for a day or two, but he spent the entire two weeks as part of our team. Sinethemba was the helper we didn't know we needed, but God sent us. Sinethemba was central to our team and helped our team achieve things that would not have been possible without him. I readily admit that God orchestrated it all, but He sent us Sinethemba.

We were running an OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) camp at the academy. These were all kids from the township of Sweet Home where we have been partnering for five years. One of the boys, he was probably 12, was acting up so we assigned him a “time-in” where we just take a break and sit with them for five minutes away from the activity. I asked him if he thought he would go to the Academy (Bridges Of Hope Academy http://www.bridgesworldwide.org/south-africa/bridges-academy/) someday? Surprisingly he said no and after more discussion I realized he didn't even know what the Academy was. It is a top-tier boarding school for kids just like him. We finished the time-in and I took him over to Sinethemba. We could see the Academy buildings in the distance and I asked Sinethemba to explain to him about the Academy. The boy listened intently. That boy was the most disruptive up to that point and was transformed into one of the best behaved. Later Sinethemba said he told him about the school, but he also told him about the food.

On the last day of camp I felt like God gave me an idea. I gathered all the boys, led them over to that same spot and asked Sinethemba to give them all a vision for their lives. I stepped back and just waited while this group of boys listened intently. I snapped this photo of one man who had been transformed by the Lord explaining his path to boys who are in his same situation. Nothing I could have done would have made that sort of impact on these boys. Nothing. Our mission and the mission of Bridges Of Hope had just come full circle.

This is the proof that the big differences in transforming a community come through relationships, not money and donations. If you want to make a difference, God wants your heart. He wants you to create a relationship.

-- Wood

What's is women's day in South Africa

From Wikipedia

National Women's Day is an annual public holiday in South Africa on August 9. This commemorates the national march of women on this day in 1956 to petition against legislation that required African persons to carry the "pass", special identification documents which curtailed an African's freedom of movement during the apartheid era.

On August 9, 1956, 20,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act (commonly known as the pass laws) of 1950. They left bundles of petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures at prime minister J.G. Strijdom's office doors. Outside they stood silently for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. Those who were working for Whites as nannies were carrying their white charges with them. The women sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion: Wathint'Abafazi Wathint'imbokodo!(Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock.). In the 54 years since, the phrase (or its latest incarnation: "you strike a woman, you strike a rock") has come to represent women's courage and strength in South Africa.

Team arrived safely

We just got an email that the team arrived safely and is settling in.  There is usually an update after their first full day.

South Africa 2011 Video

This is the video that played at ROCKHarbor this past weekend.

South Africa from ROCKHARBOR on Vimeo.

RH South Africa Storytellers

What is our ministry’s story?

Come and hear from some our most recent teams about their time serving and connecting with individuals in South Africa. Join us on Monday evening, March 14th at 7:00 pm in the Box at 345 Fischer. This evening will be dedicated to sharing stories about experiences in South Africa and working with our ministry partner Bridges of Hope. Who knows…you might be the one to be sharing the stories next time!

August 2011 Trip dates announced

August 2011 Team Training Dates
Sunday, April 17th
Sunday, May 1st
Friday, May 13th (Team Social)
Sunday, May 22nd
Sunday, June 5th (Serve day-8:30-4:30pm)
Sunday, June 26th
Friday, July 8th (Team Social)
Sunday, July 17th
Sunday, July 31st (Packing party)
Sunday, August 28th (Team debrief)
Sept. 1st/Oct. 6th (South Africa community gatherings)

*All training sessions are mandatory and will take place from 11:00am to 2:00pm unless otherwise noted. Team socials are strongly encouraged. Please take a look at every date and note that this is a very big time commitment, in and out of trainings.

If you would like to apply, you can download an application from https://core.rockharbor.org/ministries/viewTeam/129/344.

Applications are due March 20, 2011.

Team leaving today

Today the team leaves from LAX at 8:35 pm.  We fly to London and have a 6 hour lay over, they fly directly to Cape Town.  It's a long long flight so don't expect a quick blog update, but we'll try and post something when we arrive.

See you in two weeks!

Community meeting - Prayer event

The South Africa community at ROCKHarbor met tonight for our monthly event. Keira hosted the event in the ROCKHarbor Library at 3080 Airway.  She created this prayer calendar for the month of January which will give you specific items to pray for as the team is in country.

It’ll All Make Perfect Sense Someday

Siobahnne here.  I have to say, I’m excited to share about the ways that this trip to South Africa is changing my life.  We’ve already finished 2 training days and our first social and January is encroaching on the horizon!  Every time I meet with these amazing people, as a group or one on one, I learn more about our Heavenly Father.

God is so much bigger than we are.  He is infinitely smarter, more creative and more caring than we can comprehend.  And yet sometimes the hardest thing to do, is trust that He, in his omniscience, really does have everything taken care of.

About a month and a half ago, myself and 10 other people all got a phone call inviting us to join the Rock Harbor Mission Team, and to go to South Africa.  The opportunity arose, the community responded and out of all the applicants we were the ones chosen to go.  A team of people, mostly strangers, pulled together for a common cause: serving God and his people.

After the phone call, on my way into work for the night, I was floating on a cloud.  My heart had attached itself to the South Africa cause the moment I heard of it.  There has been so much going on in the last year, so many different personal trials, and so much of God’s faithfulness, that when I got the phone call it was like all these little puzzle pieces fitting together.  This is what God had been building me up for: he had been building me in spirit, in knowledge and in heart one step at a time to send me out into the world.

It felt so right.  So much of my life has been in chaos, but I found myself in absolute peace about being sent across the ocean with a group of people I had yet to meet. 

So many people joke that they fear giving themselves 100 percent to the Lord because He might ask them to go to Africa; I gave myself to God and prayed He’d send me to the ends of the earth for Him.

I didn’t really start to feel nervous until that first meeting.  I’m not always very good with meeting new people.  I tend to get nervous, and the larger the group, the more I’ll sweat it out.  People take work and sometime I’d much rather just bury myself in a pile of broken equipment I can fix.  This is something God has really been working on in me.  He’s walked me into opportunity after opportunity to deal with these types of situations and it was slowly getting easier.  It wasn’t until this first meeting though that a revelation really began to hit me.

There are no strangers in God’s family.  Maybe a few wacky relatives we’ve yet to meet, but no strangers.  Walking into the room with the team, I was awash with the same sense of peace that settled my nerves the first time I met my life group: that sense that God had it all in hand.

The Africa leaders prayed for us, much as Jesus prayed for the Apostles.  They prayed for a team of people to come together to serve, and we were the answer to that prayer.  The people in this room weren’t just random people, but fellow brothers and sisters. 

Even then, a part of me wondered how I fit into it all.  There were so many things presented to us to worry about: the money, the immunizations, the paperwork, the time off, or the things that could happen while there.  Instead, I fell prey to worrying that I couldn’t possibly fit in this group of awesome people.  I can be a bit of an oddball, and after years of not ever fitting in everywhere, it still amazes me how much acceptance and love I’ve found in the community of Rock Harbor.

This was one of those moments where I needed to be reminded that just because it doesn’t make sense now, doesn’t mean it isn’t part of God’s bigger picture.  So I took it to prayer and prayed to trust God to be in control and to know that there was a reason I’m supposed to be there.

Every time we’ve met as a team since, I’ve been blessed with insight as to how this team came together.  We’re a unique group of people: teachers, coaches, business folks, fashion folks, and entertainment people to name a few.  Outside of this cause, we may have never met, let alone ever have become friends, but God brought us together because as a team we have the ability to serve.

We met for our first “Social Event” this past Friday, and it was so much fun!  Monica and Wood graciously hosted it at their house with their adorable dog there to greet us(and entertain us, especially Claire).  Baby Brandon quickly went down to sleep, and soon it was just the team.  We shared delicious foods, chatted and bonded, and shared defining moments that further opened my eyes to God’s greater purpose.  While on the surface I may never have found anything in common with these people, as I dig deeper and get to know them, I find common threads among us that are slowly being woven together to create the bigger picture.  I’ve been finding an amazing sense of joy in seeing how the team will fit together, and in seeing how I fit in with the team.

One of the things we talked about that Friday was an ability to trust in God.  Many of our defining moments recounted events in which we learned that God is faithful.  Many of us are in transitional periods of our lives.  This is one of those God things.  We come together, trusting God to light the way and lead us to South Africa. 

I look forward to further training, serve days and socials.  I look forward to seeing how God weaves our teams tapestry, our threads intertwining and blending.  We may not understand it all yet, we may not know quite what God has called us out for, but every time we place our trust in him, the bigger picture becomes a little bit clearer.

My prayer for our team is this:

I pray for strength, for health and for heart.

I pray for wisdom, compassion and trust.

I pray for closeness.

I pray for purpose.

I pray that we continue to grow together and raise each other up to the Lord.

May we be a source of support and comfort to each other and the people we are going to serve.

May we rest assured that God is faithful and loving and does not lead us to be lost.

I thank God for this opportunity to grow, to get to know more of this amazing Godly family, and to see him at work in other parts of the world.

I thank God for his love, for his truth, and for his light.  I thank Him for every member of the team and what we have to learn from each other.

This time before our trip can be one of great vulnerability.  I pray we stand strong against the enemy and find peace in the Lord.

How lucky are we to serve our amazing Lord?  Sometimes, the best place to be is at our Lords feet, not quite knowing what is going to happen, but willing to put our faith in Him to make sense of it all.  

God Bless!

Team Social

We met at the Harter's for a team social.  Everyone brought some food and we had time to just sit, relax and get to know each other.  Each member of the team shared their testimony and we had a great time getting to know each other.

Community Gathering - Game Night

Keira put together a super fun community gathering this month with a game night. It was a Jeopardy style quiz show where there were 6 teams, each with a buzzer and a jeopardy screen projected on the wall.  The winners were Emily and Nicole.  Great prizes and great fun.  At the end we spent some time in prayer for Bridges Academy as there are a lot of issues they are facing right now and asked us for specific prayer requests. If you could please spend some time for the protection of the Academy, the staff and the students they would greatly appreciate it.

Training #2

We finished our second training. After worship and devotions which we always start with, we talked about the history of South Africa, the our special special guest Kathi Winter shared about HIV/AIDs in Orange County and we learned a lot about the disease, it's effects and the current treatments.  We talked about defining moments which everyone will be sharing at the next team social.  We split into groups and spent some time planning for the trip and also watch a clip from the movie Closer Walk.

Our next meeting is a team social on November 5th, then we will be serving together as a team at Powerhouse Church in Watts.

We finally got a team photo.

This week's memory verses.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1


For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

January 2011 Training #1

We had or first (formal) training this weekend.  We spent time in prayer and worship, had an ice breaker event, learned about our Core team of leaders and went over the team covenant.  Trip coaches and roles were assigned and discussed.  Everyone will need to return their skills assessments so we can begin to work with Bridges Of Hope on how to use each individual.  We also watched the movie Dear Francis and had some discussion.  Having spent time in Africa and having allowed kids to put questions in an anonymous box has always been heart breaking and extremely hard.  There are hard ships kids face that are heart breaking and unimaginable. This movie is a great example of how hard these trips can be emotionally and is a good way to prepare so our teams are a little less broken when things like these come up and more able to respond to the kids.

Our memorization verse for the next training week is.

Submit yourselves, then , to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:7-8

Community Gathering - Skype Night

Our monthly community event this month was a Skype night with the students at Bridges Academy. We all gathered at 7:30 at Matt and Kristy's and started the conference at 9pm.  That's still pretty early in South Africa, but the students are eager to communicate and it is always amazing to spend some time at the Academy even if it is through a Skype chat.

First (unofficial) training

Since we are behind on the trainings due to the team selection process taking longer than expected we decided to have our first training for as many people who could make it and than meet individually for those who couldn't.

We covered immunizations, trip safety, travel plans, how much work is expected and did some ice breakers so people could get to know one another.  The first training is always a little overwhelming and this one was no different. Just a lot of information to get through and not necessarily a lot of fun.

January 2011 Team Selected

 A team was selected for the January trip.  We will be taking 11 people in January. The plan is to spend a week preparing the Bridges Academy students as the prepare to return to school and to spend a week working in Sweet Home.

This is our schedule.

Trip dates: January 7th - January 23rd
 
January Team Training Dates
Sunday, September 26th
Sunday, October 17th
Sunday, October 31st
Friday, November 5th (Evening Team Social)
Sunday, November 14th (Serve day-8:30-5:30pm)
Sunday, December 5th
Friday, December 10th (Evening Team Social)
Sunday, January 2nd (Packing party)
Sunday, January 30th (Team debrief)
Feb. 3rd/Mar. 3rd (SA community gathering)


As you can see, one of the dates is already past and we will be making that up this weekend with those who can make it.

Destination South Africa Night At ROCKHarbor

Anyone in Southern California is invited to attend a ROCKHarbor and Bridges Of Hope South Africa information night. Founder of Bridges of Hope, Dennis Wadley, will be speaking about how God is moving through Bridges Of Hope and ROCKHarbor in South Africa. Having just returned from a trip to South Africa and Ethiopia he will have great news to share about the trip and the ministry. Market of Hope will also be available at the event.

Many team members from past ROCKHarbor teams will be also be attending and can answer any questions about how you can become more involved with Bridges Of Hope in South Africa.

When: Tuesday March 9, 2010 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Where: ROCKHarbor Church - 3080 Airway, Costa Mesa, CA (Room: The Lab)

Training # 3

We had training #3 for the July/August 2009 trip yesterday. Fund raising looks like it is going well and the team is really starting to bond. We spent time in prayer and worship and covered a great devotional on spiritual warfare. We then talked about testimonies and defining moments and everyone will be sharing theirs with the rest of the group over the coming weeks. These are good preparation and used often when meeting new people in a new culture so we like everyone to have one ready. We also learned more about how to create a lesson plan since some of our work could include teaching classes at the Bridges Academy. We did a "River Crossing" skit which is and early CHE lesson to discuss the difference between relief and development.

Dennis Wadley came and spoke to the whole team about Bridges of Hope and the model they have used (CHE - lifewind.org) in transforming Phillipe and what we have started in Sweet Home. It is always amazing to see how far they have come and how much more is possible.

The next training is a service day in Watts with Watt's Powerhouse Church. Serving there is always amazing and we really enjoy Pastor Todd Grant.

These are the two memory verses for the week.

1 Peter 5:8,9
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

James 4:7,8
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

Sewing Business

We received another update from the Sweet Home sewing business. This is a picture of
Nowethu and Nolutando making bags for the academy gift shop.