it's all about LOVE

We are home!!!

What an amazing last week we had in South Africa! From goodbyes with the children at the CYCC, to a surprise dinner with the SFCS staff to incredible leadership training at the Global Leadership Summit, we ended our two and a half months feeling loved and inspired! Following the GLS we met up with Paul and Cathy Scholten from CMC to do a little debriefing and hear more about their mission for the next six weeks in South Africa. It was really nice to connect with them and see some familiar faces. 

We made our way to the airport on Sunday evening and had extremely easy travels; everything was on time and our luggage came with us all the way home. :) We had a very warm greeting from our families when we arrived to Grand Rapids! 

So the running question asked by many has been... what have you learned? What stands out the most from your two and a half months away? 

This can be difficult to answer! Where to begin...

What stands out is just how great the need is to make a contribution. Then we ask, where do you start? How do you make the most sustainable impact that is going to EMPOWER the people you're helping to continue the momentum when you need to go home? Our prayer is that we were able to do this throughout each trip. By providing communities with clean water and teaching them the importance of hygiene and sanitation while also teaching the importance of keeping up with the well. In South Africa, we worked closely with the staff to implement a new reporting structure to capture all the work they do to a comprehensive database. 

We've learned people are people everywhere. We all have the same needs. Needs for longing to feel loved, respected, and accepted the way we are, needs to feel like we're contributing and being apart of something in the world GREATER than ourselves. Most of all we want to feel that love. 

We feel we have experienced a tremendous amount of growth in the last three months. It is our prayer that we have been able to help (and will continue to) inspire others to either begin or continue living the best version of themselves wherever they are. Every. Single. Day. Don't kid yourself, you're never too old, it's never to later, you don't NEED to travel anywhere to make a difference. We've learned that this can certainly be done abroad; there is a huge need all over the world! But we also know this can be done in any community. You can start today. Find your passions, identify your God given gifts and pursue them. When you choose to live the life that God intended for you; you feel fulfilled AND you're also a gift to others. It's a win-win!

Just remember, however you look at it, life is too short (or too long) to be sitting on the sidelines just going through the motions. Our encouragement for you is to identify what it is that makes you tick and make one step forward to pursue that!

If you are interested in international experiences; especially through EPIC or getting involved with SFCS, we would be more than happy to talk with you more about our experiences and ways to get involved. Just get in touch with either one of us!

Lastly, we want to express a massive amount of gratitude to each and every one of you for following along with us each step of our journey. We're very grateful for all of your prayers and support! We don't anticipate this being the last of our blogs, photography or mission outreach so stay tuned in the future. 

Thanks again-- prayers and blessing to each of you!

With Love,
Ty + Michelle 

 

Spending some time with our family at the CYCC.



Talking with the kids and sharing with them how they taught US so much!



The bubbles were a hit :)



Our coworkers at SFCS planned a surprise dinner for us on our last night in Bloemfontein-- we were SHOCKED!



Spreading the be nice. message to our favorite guy, Joseph! 



We LOVED the GLS. We felt this was the perfect way to end our journey. 



Our amazing welcoming crew (plus Anna!) when we arrived to Grand Rapids. We are so thankful to have loving families!!!

The Future

"While we try to teach children about life, children teach us what life is all about." Angela Schwindt

We tend to put a huge focus around children: Are we teaching them the right things? At home? At school? Are we involving them in enough extra curricular activities? Are they too involved? 

We want to make sure they're being fed the right information and nurtured in just the right way to grow up to be respectful and independent adults. 

And this is very important! 

However, so often, we forget how much WE learn from children. 

The last two and a half months we could not help but realize how much this is true! We've been surrounded by thousands of children; many of them teaching us more about life than we ever learned getting our college degrees. Life isn't all about theories and calculations or business trends and sales reports. While traveling through Tanzania and South Africa, we met a whole lot of children! We spent a lot of time with them, many times, not being able to communicate in the same language. The biggest thing that we learned was, in life, what is actually important is human interactions and showing love. 

Going into villages and getting up in front of many children can be a bit awkward (and sometimes intimidating) when you suddenly realize that you don't speak the same language. How in the world am I going to pass time for the next couple hours? Then suddenly, you see a few kids giggling and smiling and you realize, smiles and giggles are universal languages. We are so thankful for all the kids here reminding us of that on a weekly, if not, daily basis. Every time we worry if what we're doing is making any difference, we see the smiles and are reminded from these children that showing up and showing love is enough. 

Sitting here on our very last Sunday in Bloemfontein, we're reminded that our time here in South Africa is coming to an end. We are thankful beyond words for everything the children have taught us. When we think of the conditions and experiences these young kids have already faced but yet they're full of smiles and respect for others when they have no reason to be. These traits are truly inspirational. 

What have the children in your life taught you? Take some time this week to reflect on how you can learn from the innocence and love that children display. 

>>> 

We had an awesome long weekend. We hosted a Braai for the children at the CYCC on Thursday for Heritage Day. This was a big treat for them as meat is VERY special to the South Africans. 



We both tried our first serving of "pap" which is a South African staple. It's essentially corn meal and is typically eaten with your fingers. Not bad! 






This is KB, SFCS's director, and her daughter preparing the meat for the Braai.



A few of the kids having some fun while the meat cooks.



Getting a little water.





The finished products!



This sweet little girl was born in August, she came to the CYCC right when she was born -- she fell right asleep in Michelle's arms. Her name means "It's going to be OK."



The Braai crew -- a few of the staff from SFCS and the CYCC as well as one of our board members sisters. We had a great group!



On Wednesday, we all dressed up for Heritage Day at work. We both wore our clothes we had made locally in Tanzania. :)



On Friday one of the board members from SFCS, Sello, took us around Bloemfontein to experience some of the tourist sites. This is us at Naval Hill where there is a statue of Nelson Mandela. There were great views of the city at the top of Naval Hill! 

We have three more days of work with the ladies at the office and then we will be traveling back to Johannesburg on Thursday. We're excited to finish our time here participating in the Global Leadership Summit on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we will make our way to the airport and head home. We're blown away by how fast time has gone!  

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we wrap up our time here in South Africa. We are so thankful for each of you!

With Love,
Ty + Michelle 

Be Present

Since we've been in Africa, we've been trying to get into more podcasts -- it's such a great way to learn especially when you're doing a lot of traveling! This week we listened to Rob Bell's first podcast from his "RobCast" series and what we got out of it was the message allowing yourself to be present. 

When you look back on the past week, have you been present? When you were out to coffee with a friend were you present? How about at work? In the car? Do you feel like you're really present when you're with others or are you typically on to the next thing, missing what you're currently supposed to be engaged in? 

We believe that deep down we all want to be present. We all want to give whatever task we're trying to achieve our best but it seems like there are always so many distractions. So many of us are overcommitted which causes us to be overwhelmed and always thinking about what is coming next.

So here's our challenge: determine your BEST FOUR. What are four categories that are most important to you--your highest priorities-- things that you need to live with in order to find balance, fulfillment and purpose. For example they may be: family/relationships, health/wellness, career, school, church, volunteering etc... After you determine your four, you can begin setting limits and boundaries by funneling decisions and opportunities through your four. Does what someone is inviting you to align with one of your bests? If the answer is no, than you should politely decline. We simply don't have time to be involved in everything. If we are spreading our wings too far, we're unable to give our time and energy to the things that matter the most to ourselves which does no one any good. 

By being able to determine our own best four's it puts more balance into our lives. It frees our minds up. It allows us to be mindful of the decisions and commitments we're making. We're able to be present. 

We've done this exercise ourselves and so far have found it helpful. Let us know how it goes for you! 

It's Heritage Day here in South Africa Thursday so tomorrow is our Friday! Here is South Africa everyone takes tomorrow off to celebrate their heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions. We've learned that many people spend their day celebrating with a "Braai" (BBQ) with their family and friends. They also dress up in their traditional cultural attire. 

This week has been a great week; although short. Today we spent the day in town doing some shopping for the CYCC. We are so excited to get all the new toys and items over to the kids. We'll be sure to take a lot of photos and share with you. Please keep us in your prayers as we have less than two weeks now. We can't believe how FAST time is going!!

With Love,

Ty + Michelle 

Worry [Less]

"Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its trouble; it empties today of its strength." Corrie Ten Boom 

Do you find yourself constantly worrying about something? That feeling on Sunday night when you're laying in bed trying to remember what you have to do for the week and already feeling overwhelmed with the tasks at hand. Or that feeling you have when you have a lot of family or friends coming over and you think "My house is never going to be clean enough or how in the world am I going to manage to make everything before they get here?" 

We all worry. Some of us more than others. We both admit to being victims of being worriers. 

Sometimes it feels like life is going to explode and your list of things to do is just too long and not manageable. Well, that list may be very long but guess what. You're doing the best you can do. You can only control what you CAN do and the rest we need to hand over. 

In Matthew 6:27, Jesus asks us, "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?" The answer here is no. Our worries certainly cannot add a single moment to our life. In fact, they actually rob you of your JOY. Although most times it's easier to sit there and feel sorry for yourself and panic about the millions of things you should be doing. Try to take a step back. Prioritize what you need to do and then get started! At the end of the day, you've done your best. And tomorrow is a new day.  

If we work harder to focus more on asking God to help us find solutions and give us the STRENGTH to get through our crazy schedules; we can go to bed knowing we did what we could. And that is enough. 

We challenge each of you to try this with us. Next time you're feeling overwhelmed, simply say a prayer asking that God helps direct you through what needs to be done. Ask for Him to give you strength rather than worry. 

This week is off to a great start. Today we had the opportunity to ride along with SFCS's social work manager to visit another family who has gone through the adoption process with SFCS. The adoptive mother had a heart of gold and you could feel the connection between the baby and the mother. It's touching to be able to see this first hand. 

We can't believe that three weeks from today we will be home. We are trying to savor the last couple of weeks here! Please continue to keep us and this organization in your thoughts and prayers as we wrap up our time together with them. We're very grateful for each of you taking this journey alongside us. 

With Love,
Ty + Michelle 

>> Click here to take a look at the video we created reflecting our time here in South Africa <<

Metamorphosis

"How does one become a butterfly? They have to want to learn to fly so much that they are willing to give up being a caterpillar." Trina Paulus  

Sometimes the things that we want are easy to achieve but often times our big wants, dreams and desires take an extra effort. In addition to that, those same big wants, dreams and desires also require us to give something up or sacrifice in order to get there.

Can you think of the last time you really wanted something? Did you have to work a little harder to get there? Did you have to sacrifice something to get it? Maybe it was that marathon you trained for. You definitely had to work hard and you most likely had to sacrifice a few things, like sleeping in on Saturday morning or not being able to stay out as late. Or maybe it was that promotion you landed which required extra hours at the office and an extra effort to prove yourself worthy. 

You make the sacrifices and put in the extra work because you want to achieve your goal. But before you can even put in the extra work and sacrifices, you need to find your focus--your vision. WHAT are you trying to achieve? Before we can want something, we need to identify what that is. Sometimes that easier said than done. And sometimes it takes some trial and error. 

We spent some time reflecting together on this quote from Trina Paulus and it resonated with us. We have felt so grateful for these two opportunities that we were given that brought us here to Africa to live out our passion and help those in need. But the process wasn't always easy. We went back and forth-- should we do both trips or just one? At times, it seemed impossible to do both but we continued to pray and search. Once we made our decision, then came more difficulties. For example, having to quit our jobs, leave our loving family, friends and great West Michigan community while continuing to enter a life of many unknowns and question marks. We spent many days and nights working hard and brainstorming what we wanted and how we could get there.

But we can honestly say we don't regret it one bit. We have found in order to really get to where you want to be, you need to be WILLING to work hard, dig deep, and to let go of some things that may be comfortable. Not just half way but all the way.

In order to grow into the person you were created and long to be [not the person others want to see], you need to be willing to WORK, SACRIFICE, BELIEVE in yourself and TRUST God's plan. In these moments of hard work and dedication, we create ourselves. We morph from our caterpillar selves to become a beautiful butterfly. 



We've had a great [and fast!] week back at the office. On Thursday we were able to attend our first family training session that SFCS hosted for foster parents. It was encouraging to see the participation and desire to learn from the different community members participating. 

This week we also completed our first video from our time here. We wanted to create something to show what SFCS is doing in the community of Botshabelo. We hope your hearts may be touched as ours have been throughout our time here! Unfortunately the size of the video is too large to load onto this blog but please follow this link to see it: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T_Pkl_nyqA

We hope you have a great weekend!

With Love,
Michelle and Ty 

Rest

"Come to me, all you who are weary and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Have you ever noticed how much our culture appears to praise “busyness?” We seem to appreciate and welcome days where we’re running around from one meeting or appointment to the next, as this shows how busy we are. When business is good, a typical response would be “We’re busy, working long hours.” 

Certainly many people love to run from one thing to the next, checking things off their to-do list or simply completing what they need to do that day. But something just as important as your to-do list is the ability to rest.

Next time you find yourself on the verge of burn out or running around stressed out; remind yourself that rest is NOT a weakness. In order to take care of ourselves we need to rest. Rest can be a multitude of things; finding 10 minutes to be still and pray, taking a nap or writing in a journal, just to name a few. But the common theme here is to turn off. Rid yourself of distractions and allow yourself to relax. In Matthew, Jesus calls us to come to Him when we’re weary and burdened and He will give us rest. Next time you need that, take it! He’s calling you!

In light of Labor Day – we thought REST would be an appropriate topic to talk about. We all take one day each year to embrace and appreciate the labor force and how it contributes to our countries well-being but really we should be doing this much more often. In order to avoid burn out and be our most productive and inspired selves, we need to give our minds, bodies and spirit a rest when it is needed.

We had a relaxing and rejuvenating holiday last week in Cape Town. We were grateful for that time to see another part of Gods beautiful world while also having time to unwind and have no agenda!

As we continue our final month here in South Africa, we’re challenging each other to be better about taking time to rest when it’s needed. We invite you to also take on this challenge with us. Have a blessed holiday weekend!

With Love,

Ty + Michelle

We spent an afternoon in Muizenberg which is located on False Bay. These are the colorful beach houses that you see in many books and magazines on Muizenberg.

Trying to get some yoga in on the beach. :)

Enjoying and soaking up time at the waterfront.

We came across this coffee shop in Muizenberg and found it so fitting for us. We enjoyed a little coffee and a delicious lunch here. 

We went to Simons Town and visited Boulder Beach where all the penguins are. 

We strolled through Kirstenbosch Gardens-- this is supposed to be one of the best botanical gardens in the world. 

We spent one day on the Hop on/Hop off bus that took us all throughout Cape Town. This was a great way to see everything-- this picture was taken as we drove through Camps Bay. The views here were breathtaking! 

At the foot of Table Mountain.

At the top of Table Mountain. We hiked up the mountain and had to hike back down due to Gale Force winds which shut the cable cars down. We persevered through it and we're very glad we did!

Another shot from the top.

On our way back down.

We spent a day in Stellenbosch touring a couple vineyards--beautiful! 

Cause vs. Cost

Hello from Cape Town! Yesterday, we had the opportunity to attend church at Hillsong. We attended the Century City location and had an incredible experience! The worship was fantastic and the message was right on point. This week the speaker was from a church in Jakarta and spoke to us from John 6 (Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand). He challenged us to move our thinking from a COST level to a CAUSE level.

How often are you faced with a situation or an opportunity and decide against it because you think it costs too much? Maybe it was planning a vacation or maybe it was a business decision.  It could be anything. Do you find that you’re driving your decisions based on the COST factor?

We were challenged yesterday to dig a little deeper. When faced with a decision try to focus on the CAUSE factor. WHY do you want to do this? If you decide to pursue this opportunity – what will you or others get out of it? If we spend our time trying to make sense of the COST and justifying the COST, we’re going to miss out on so many things. Don’t let money hinder what you do rather, live in faith and God will open a way for you to FULFILL the CAUSE.

After church we spent some time at the V&A Waterfront enjoying a delicious lunch at the Market on the Wharf (amazing!) and reflected on the message. We felt this message hit a home run for us. Our current experience has really challenged us to live off faith and shift our focus to the CAUSE level. If we thought purely from a COST perspective, there would be room to question quitting our jobs and moving to Africa. But we continue to remind ourselves of the CAUSE and have the faith that Jesus will always provide a way when the CAUSE is the driving factor.

Next time you’re faced with a decision and think “oh, I can’t do that, it costs too much”—challenge yourself to think about WHY you want to do it. Is that what you would aim for if money wasn’t an issue? Remember, Jesus knows what your bank account looks like but it doesn’t stop Him from working through you. The people that operate at the CAUSE level are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.

We have been enjoying our time here in Cape Town! It’s winter here and quite chilly (and rainy) but we are loving it. So much to see and so much to do! We’ve especially been enjoying the coffee shops and waterfront. Stayed tuned for photos as we explore more!  

With Love,

Ty + Michelle

We experienced a pretty sunrise on our way to Cape Town. We had a nice 12 hour bus ride from Bloemfontein to Cape Town! 

Pretty scenery, getting close to CT.

If you know either of us well you know how much we both love Mexican. This was our first meal here-- veggie fajitas, could not be happier! :) 

Church at Hillsong at their Century City location-- amazing worship! If you have an opportunity to worship at Hillsong-- definitely take it.

Hillsong Century City

V&A Waterfront

Taking in Cape Towns beauty.

Lunch at the V&A Market on the Wharf

The market had anything and everything you could think of and everything we tried was delicious.

Truth coffee-- amazing!

No Hipsters?! Oops, they mean No hamsters, phew! ;)

It was pretty nice to see the waterfront again. Although its winter-- it is still absolutely gorgeous!

Pretty stairs near the waterfront that we came across.

We ordered an "iced coffee"... didn't realize that meant an ice cream coffee. A little different than we expected but very tasty!

Thanks for following along on our mission-- we are so thankful for each of you and your continued prayers and support.