Quick Update

Hello again!

Laura and i were able to take a two day Holiday (vacation) last week before we needed to head out this week. since we've been back we have barely been able to sit down we've been so busy getting ready to come home. it has been exciting and hard to think of coming home. Our time of rest was very good and we will post pics from it soon, along with pics of our last couple of days around base. for now we have to figure out how to get tons more stuff than we brought into the suitcases that were full when we came! our next few days will be filled with traveling and more than likely, little to no internet access, so we will update again when we get home (hopefully friday). thanks to all of you who were a part of our time here, and hopefully we will be able to tell our stories first hand.
Cheers,
Mikey & Laura

Building relationships

We are entering into our last full week here in White River, South Africa. As we look into our final days, our last events and final goodbyes, things seem hazy and unclear to me. My head is almost always full of thoughts, questions and reflections and I have to make an effort to pull myself out of that mist and engage what's going on around me.

As you can imagine, knowing us and the things we enjoy and are passionate about, relationships that we've developed here are going to be a challenging thing to leave behind. It's funny now to think back to our first week here, and how we felt so "on the outside" and longed for community. It's been many weeks now since we've had regular dinners and movie nights with friends here, and enjoyed so many conversations and community events with the team on base. In fact, this last week, Mikey and I had some intentional relationship-building time with two couples in particular. We took them out to dinner and enjoyed hearing more of their stories and sharing with them more of our own. I have to chalk some of those moments up as my favorite here in Africa. One night in particular, we sat at a dimly-lit table eating steak with Carla and John Shaw, engrossed as they openly shared about their lives. My heart was so moved to hear John express how God called him into relationship with Him and to listen to Carla express the first scary and exciting moments of being called into something new--moving to Africa this year.

In some ways, the people here have become voluntary orphans of the world--they have chosen to separate themselves from the "parent" that the world, that culture, can become. They have intentionally become "homeless" and left not only material possessions behind, but also meaningful relationships with others. All for what? To step into something new and scary, something that doesn't always have a visible reward, something that has no promise of physical safety. The more I am here, the more I see how attached I have become to the physical comforts of life. I have perhaps convinced myself that those things don't matter to me that much, that they wouldn't really factor into making life decisions. The more I think about what it would take to make that commitment to live here, the more I realize how heavy a weight they have in my life.

That's one of the biggest reasons Mikey and I came here. We wanted a break from living a life to work and buy things. We wanted to come to a place where, for many reasons, those material "blinders" had no place--so that we could see just a little more clearly. Now I'm sitting back and trying to articulate to myself what it is that I have seen. One thing that I know I see is that relationships, that people, mean more to me than anything. It has been so refreshing to be in a place where enjoying others (maybe sometimes because there's nothing else to do :D !) has been able to be at the top of our to-do list. In the end, though, it is going to make it that much harder to say goodbye than if our goal had been to accomplish a physical task. I am bracing myself for that moment and am not looking forward to its impact.

Throughout the post, Mikey has included pictures of people we have met and built relationships with...

SPORTS DAY!

What a long day we had on Friday, July 17. It was an event we had long been looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. We started at Stambiso's church (see earlier post) and ended at the soccer field there in Mbonisweni.

The agenda for the day began in the church building. It was the last day that King's Kids were going to perform in a community and what a success it was! At the other communities, their program went well and was enjoyed, but at Stambiso's church, it went a little differently. The whole youth choir and then the men's youth choir at the church blessed us visitors with several songs that were--as always--filled with pure worship and enjoyment. We sang some worship songs together as a "congregation" and then when the King's Kids got up to dance and act, the youth joined them by dancing and laughing along. It was very obvious how encouraging this interaction was to the King's Kids team--their performance was filled with an energy and excitement that we hadn't quite seen yet. It was quite an experience to witness the Holy Spirit moving in and joining together a community of believers--especially a community of believers of such different color, background and experience.

After the program in the church, we gathered around to eat (PAP and veggies of course!). I got to talk for a brief time to the pastor's wife--Tuli--which I always enjoy. She is a quiet, sweet girl who is so hospitable and joyful when we visit their church/home. She is one of the dear people here that I wish I had more time to get to know and love.

Lunch and dishes done, we walked a little ways up to the soccer field in Mbonisweni, which is very close to Mamma Victoria's house (where we have a weekly feeding program). This was an exciting time, as we bused some friends from Kabokweni so that they could compete in netball and soccer against our friends in Mbonisweni. Mbonisweni dominated in netball and men's soccer, but Kabokweni was unbeatable in lady's soccer. I was able to enjoy the mostly-friendly competition while sitting on a hillside surrounded by kids. Well, I say enjoyed but sometimes it was rather painful...there was a group of girls that did my hair for about two hours (a typical thing here) and at times, it was some of the worst pain I've felt in my life. I was surprised that I had hair in my head when it was all over. Mikey, after running errands between communities with John Shaw (a guy on the TTH team), was able to have great conversation and fellowship with John during the game (John is a fellow lover of Kraft Mac n' Cheese and misses it maybe even more than we do! BTW--Donna, we shared a box with him and I don't think I've ever seen so grateful a man!).

We arrived at Stambiso's church around 11 and left the soccer field as the sun went down around 5 so it was a long--though excellent--day. I'm not even sure what we did when we got home, but I think it probably involved activities that required no movement or energy...



Here's a short video I (Mikey) took of Laura blowing bubbles for some of the children!

Dwalini

A new team here means new adventures. On July 14, a YWAM team from Colorado (called King's Kids) arrived at the base. It was cool to get to know new people, as per usual, and join with them in their calling to bless people here in SA. They came prepared with a series of skits and dances and brought balloons, bubbles and other fun stuff for the kids. It was really cool that they arrived this week because they were able to be a part of a day that was a big deal for TTH (Ten Thousand Homes): on Thursday, we had a kick off for a brand new feeding scheme in a new community!

We are so excited about this community--DWALINI--because its a new chance to partner with a great group of people who have already stepped in to care for the community they live in. There is a group of women who have been running a home based care center for the orphans and vulnerable children in Dwalini. They are wonderful women, who have welcomed us into their existing ministry with open arms and beautiful, big smiles. The few times I have been able to go out to talk with them, they have always been enjoyable to be around and talk to--they love to laugh and fellowship. The first time I met them, they sent me home with two HUGE avocados! In Dwalini, there is a pastor named Kyle who is the father of 6 and has been in Africa for almost 9 years. He has been working with these home based care ladies and has been able to get a nice big house for them to do some ministry out of. This is where we will start to feed kids--the ladies cook and encourage the kids in their neighborhood to come, and we provide the food and come on Thursdays to help cook, fellowship with the volunteers and play with the kids.

Back to the kick off :)! On Thursday, we fed the kids for the first time--our feeding scheme kick-off! Everything came together (we even had a little sunshine on what promised to be a gray, rainy day) for an excellent time of fellowship in Dwalini. The King's Kids performed and led us in worship, then we ate the amazing food cooked for us by the women and one of our guys here (a professional chef back home, who got his first chance to cook over an open fire!) and played games.

Mikey even got to join some guys for a little rugby, which he was happy to engage in, since rugby is much more like American football than it is like soccer :). It was fun to watch him and our friend Mangaliso banter and battle against each other as they played with some neighborhood kids.

Over all, we had a blessed day, and took joy in being able to be a blessing to others. As I was there in Dwalini, I felt like God was reminding me that His Kingdom is going to be built whether I help or not, but that it is His joy to give me opportunities to be involved. What a thought--that it is actually a gift to be able to serve and do kingdom-building. A gift TO me, not FROM me.

Prayer Room Reflections

Last night, Mikey and another young guy here named Ryan Emery led a special time of worship and meditation to end our weekend of prayer. It was a worshipful, sweet time to be together as a community in the presence of the One who saved us all. I have been so excited to write you all and share what a success the prayer room was.

Our leader here, Jeremy Price, shared that the Lord had been speaking to his heart about prayer for the community and that when I came to him saying that I felt led to facilitate a creative prayer room, it excited him with how much that was in line with that vision from God. It was really humbling to hear that because it was proof that this prayer room had nothing to do with me or my ideas and everything to do with God and His plans for this community.

Here is what SUCCESS looked like this weekend: -believers were refreshed after coming out of the room, having spent time quietly before God -there is new and renewed excitement about prayer
-ideas about prayer and about how to interact with our God were stretched and grown! -believers were moved to pray for each other and to pray boldly for the work being done here -the Body of Christ (here in SA and people all across the states, from Connecticut to Hawaii) came together as ONE to worship for a whole weekend!
-some of the volunteers and youth from the communities we serve came to join in prayer

Even though we had an intruder late Saturday night and had to shut the room down from 1am-5am for security reasons, God gave me a real peace that it wasn't necessarily about praying every moment from Friday to Sunday, but was about some bigger and more important things.

AND NOW...for pictures :)

Finding a good location is sometimes hard. We were able to use the office area here on base. Here's what it looked like before-hand. I went shopping almost all day Thursday to gather some needed supplies and laid it all out on the table to survey my tools :).

With the help of a few others on base, we were able to transform it in a few short hours to a quiet space with lots of ambiance!

Creativity bloomed! It was really cool to see people's creative expression offered to the Lord as prayer. Even going through the room and reading or seeing what others had done was very worshipful and encouraging.

Taking down everything was very hard, but I am pleased to say that I believe the Lord used it to have lasting impact on His community of believers here at University Village. Thank you for your prayers that were behind this event. I hope you are as encouraged in reading this report as I am in giving it!

Blessings,
Laura

Anticipating the prayer-room kickoff!

Hey readers!

I want to thank you all so much for your e-mails and facebook messages of encouragement, especially since one of our last blogs, when we talked about trying to be OK with the reasons God has us here, rather than forcing our agenda. It means a lot to us to have you reading and commenting on our blog, and to have you e-mailing and messaging us.

I wish I had been able to post about this earlier but I hope some of you read this in time to pray for it! God laid it on my heart several weeks ago to facilitate a 24/7 creative prayer room for the team here on the base to gather as a community and pray. My hope is that it will offer a quiet space for people to regather their thoughts, spend some intimate time with the Father, and be refreshed through that communion. It starts tonight (Friday) at 8pm our time (2pm your time!) and continues non-stop until Sunday at 6pm our time (about noon your time), when Mikey will lead us all in corporate worship to celebrate at the end of the event. I have spent this week planning and purchasing needed items, and the previous several weeks leading up to it, praying.

Please join me in praying that:
-this will be a time of restoration for team members here
-members of/volunteers from the communities we serve in would accept our invitations and be able to come join us in prayer
-i would step aside and be concerned about realizing GOD'S vision for this prayer room rather than mine
-i would have all the materials and help i need to accomplish GOD'S vision for this prayer room
-i would allow God to define the success of this prayer room in my heart and not allow myself to be disappointed, self-critical or discouraged by anything that happens between Friday and Sunday (as you know I am apt to do!)

I know this is short but I wanted to put this out there for you to be helping through your prayers!

Much love,
Laura

Visual Tour

Hello again! So Laura and i thought that it would help to give some of you a better idea of what University Village here looks like, so we took a few photos around the base to give you an idea where we're staying and where we do stuff! Most of the stuff is real basic, and it's hard to give you an idea how close some things are to others, but we did our best :)

Here is Laura in our little room that we stay in on base. Just enough room for our bed and some of our belongings!

The clothesline where we dry all our clothes -- and yes, i do laundry too!

Here is the front of the main building, including the entrance to our room and the office area here on base.

This is the other side of the main building. This is where the entrance to the kitchen and laundry room is.

Right near the main building we have a small pavillion for community dinners here with the staff. It's also a nice place to chill out on a warm day (which there haven't been many of!)

Ah, the bathhouse! This would be where we took our showers and used the toilet for our first week or so here, before we moved out of the windy houses.

The Windy Houses. They work quite well, and from what we understand they are pretty cheap to raise up and provide close quarters for a lot of short timers! Watch out for spiders though, hehe.

Here is a picture of the back of one of the full time staff (Zach Price) houses that we have been helping add on to for his family. Before this was finished him, his wife and his two children were making due in what amounted to a two room house.

And finally, we have Laura overlooking the view we have from the back of the property. The picture can't really do the view justice -- there are tons of mountains and hills and long plains. It is quite amazing to take in.

I have really been given a heart to help out here at University Village. I realize, much like i do back home, i am excited about helping make sure the basics are covered, that way it is easier for people who are full time in the communities to come and go without having to worry about the little things. It is always harder to get support or interest for the base as it's not the flashy part of helping the poor and vulnerable, but it's just as necessary. It's been real encouraging to see all the parts of this organization work together to build houses, and provide HOMES for children out here.

Stambiso's Church

This past Sunday the Orlando team, along with the staff here on base, were invited to Pastor Stambiso's Church (the Church located in Ebonsweni). This was intended to be a great time of fellowship, worship, and rejoicing between the team/TTH staff and the community all coming together to build more relationships so that projects like the current house being built would become easier and more common. Also, many of us had just never been to a local church service in one of the poor communities.

In preparation for this Laura and Hayley (a full timer here) spent a long time on Saturday making wonderful cakes to take with us for post service goodies. Without going into it too great, let's just say that the cakes were a big hit with everyone, especially all the kids! We also took the water kettle from the base so that we could serve tea, which the older ladies of the church REALLY appreciated.

The church service itself was very amazing. To see so many of the community together worshipping with accapella songs to very nice harmonies was very uplifting. Pastor Stambiso and his youth leader Franci did a lot of translating between the team and the community. It is also common practice for whenever someone new visits a church, THEY are expected to do the speaking! so, Chase, a guy from the Orlando team brought the message (translated by Pastor Stambiso).

Before it was all over, Pastor Stambiso did say a few words to encourage and thank the team and his youth for what they were doing in the community. He talked about how for many in the community the biggest worries are "where you put your head when the stars are out and what to put in your belly when the sun is up". He encouraged the team by saying that even though there are many problems in this area of South Africa, we should not think that we aren't making a difference just because we are only building one home for one family. Healing takes time, and that it is one less family that has to wonder where they will lay down at night. Also, as Laura pointed out in the previous post, lots of times we want to do things not because they help someone, but because you want to SEE the change or PROVE that you have made a difference, and that is hard when there is so much left to do, but Pastor Stambiso again sais "we want to impress God and the world, but it doesn't work that way."

Laura and i were both very touched by the worship and the message of the church. we really enjoyed meeting a number of the youth from the church who are helping on the construction of the house. There is a very promising relationship forming between Pastor Stambiso, his church, and the TTH community.

Love,
Laura and Mikey :)

"Becoming Last" blog post

Hey friends and family!
Mikey and I were asked to do a guest blog post for a friend of ours from college named Matt Windley. He has a blog themed "becoming last" which you can follow at http://becominglast.wordpress.com/ if you're interested. The following is the post that we sent to him. We wanted to share this with you too (of course!) because it's a picture of where our hearts are right now.
Much love,
Laura and Mikey


Even though I tried really hard not to, I had expectations for when my husband and I arrived in South Africa. (We had been planning the trip for almost a year, raising support and communicating with the YWAM team here in White River, South Africa. This is the first time Mikey and I have been to Africa, and certainly the first time we’ve done overseas missions together as a couple since we got married almost 4 years ago.) Some of my expectations were small—“yeah, it’s winter there, but it can’t be that cold can it?”—and some of them were huge—“It’s going to be so hard to leave after all the deep connections I make there; I may never want to come back to the U.S.!”—but almost all of them have been completely dashed to pieces to this point, now about three weeks into the six that we will be here.

Yeah, it’s freezing and I wish I had packed clothes differently, and the food has taken some adjustment, but the expectations that I’m having the hardest time letting go of are the ones about my purpose or ministry here. It was hard to pack up our entire apartment, move into a storage unit and leave our dear community and families behind for the whole summer, but in the midst of all that, there was this excitement that I was going to be used for something great for the kingdom of God…and it’s been very hard to believe that is actually happening here. To be honest, what I imagined was that my friendship, my presence, my prayers, my time spent feeding and playing with kids or talking to the native volunteers, would have a visible impact and that (although as I think of it, I can’t even describe what I thought that would look like) I would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was supposed to be here, and what I was supposed to be here for. It’s not like that here. Things aren’t cut and dry, and they don’t happen on my time-table. Here in Africa, everything takes longer; especially in the face of it’s gigantic problems—unemployment, illiteracy and lack of education, harmful native rituals and traditions, AIDS ravaging families and impacting everyone’s lives—it’s no wonder that in our short weeks here, things look the same as when we arrived. It’s hard, too, to look at the programs and relationships here and think: does it even matter that I’m here? If I were gone, someone else could do what I’m doing…what’s the point of it being my hands and not someone else’s? What’s the point of building relationships that last six weeks and then we never speak again for the rest of our lives?

So here’s what I sense God is trying to teach my stubborn heart: it’s not about me. God spoke this message to me through a native pastor at a local church in one of the communities we serve in. He was speaking to a short-term team that is with us for two weeks, saying that their mission there (building a house for one family) has eternal impact and is worth their time and efforts. Even though he was speaking to the team and not directly to me, my spirit was moved by those words. He said “we want to impress God and the world but it doesn’t work that way.” That’s exactly what I want to do: I want to make my life have meaning by doing something that people (and God) can SEE was impressive. I want to make sure that no one can look at Laura Ellen Fissel and ask the question, “what was the weight of her existence?” because it was undeniable. Here in Africa, the hole that needs filling is so inescapably huge that my wimpy life philosophy isn’t holding any water. I am faced with my own insignificance in the vastness of this world, this life, and it’s not entirely pleasant. That’s the smack in the face from reality. Here’s the beauty: I am dust and ashes that are loved and cherished by the Creator, the God of the Universe. Because it is impossible for me to accomplish anything truly magnificent and life-altering on my own, I don’t have to work so hard to give my life meaning. It already has meaning! Jesus in me is the meaning, the weight of my existence.

For me, these questions, my doubts and dashed expectations have been the hardest struggle. Mikey came to Africa without specific expectations, but God has been dealing with his heart in a different way. Since we’ve been here, Mikey has had maybe five healthy days when he wasn’t bed-ridden with diarrhea, a hurt foot or a severe bladder infection. It certainly seems to be one thing after another and has left him frustrated to think that he has come all the way to SA to lie in bed while the community buzzes with life and work around him. Every time there is a bit of hope, and he is starting to recover from one ailment, another begins. So this is what we’re trying to wrap our brains around: when I go on Thursday mornings to sit next to my friend the single mom and smile at her and inquire into her life and joke around with her, or when we play with the orphans at the feeding programs, that has lasting impact. But our physical actions aren’t everything (they can’t be!); if we are lying in bed sick, staring at the ceiling, or making conversation with another missionary, or maybe praying, questioning, doubting, our lives don’t have any less meaning. We don’t have to be discouraged that only certain things in life are able to impact and affect others. That’s hope, right? Hope that speaks to any person of any background, origin, situation, or physical condition.

I’d love nothing better than to figure out why God brought us to Africa—I’d love to be able to point my finger at one lesson, or one event that explains it all away—but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. Here’s a taste, though, of how God is showing up and helping us Become Last.