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. 

Community

“If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” Ecclesiastes 4:10

Since our journey began, we’ve been tuned in to several different apps and books to follow for devotions. We feel this is a great way for the two of us to engage in the word and initiate dialogue. It just so happened that Friday’s verse from the “Devotion” app was right in line with a topic that kept resurfacing over and over for us. This was COMMUNITY.

It’s amazing how huge community can be and it’s also amazing how much you can miss it when you are not living in it.  There are many ways we can look at community. To some, it may be a large group of people: their neighborhood or their city. To others, this can be a smaller group of people: their family, closest friends, or maybe a small group from church. No matter how you view community, it’s typically always some type of group of people that you are close to and value.

When we think about community, we think of people we feel comfortable with, people we can pick up the phone to call if we want to talk or if we need help with something, people that will invite us over just to “hang out”—not expecting anything in return. We also think of this verse mentioned above; it’s the people in our community who will pick us up when we’re down.

If we are honest, we would say we miss our immediate communities back home a bit. By being removed from our community we see the importance to be surrounded by others that you feel you are in community with. We believe you can MAKE community wherever you are. We’re challenging ourselves to make more of a community here in South Africa.

Do us each a favor and think about what COMMUNITY means to you. Who is part of your community? Pick up the phone or send them a note and let them know that you’re thankful for them. This helps you identify these people and their importance but it will also bring a smile to their face. :) If you’re struggling with identifying your community, create one today!

Thanks for being apart of our community; we’re grateful for each of you! :)

With Love,

Ty + Michelle

This is the mother and child of the first adoption with SFCS-- we spent a bit of time with the mother hearing about her adoption experience.

This is a typical Monday morning-- we begin the week with devotions, prayer and a brief overview of what is going on during the week ahead. 

Ty's patiently waiting for the office to open up!  

Ty working with Tsoaniki catching some footage for a video he's creating for the organization. We worked with each of the ladies to gain a bit of knowledge on what they do for SFCS. 

Michelle and one of the babies at the CYCC. 

Michelle and Nthabiseng discussing the needs at the CYCC. We are working closely with the ladies to identify where the greatest needs are. We are working to create a curriculum with them to help stimulate the children who stay there.  Once we create the curriculum we'll go out and purchase the items that are needed. We're both very excited to help out here to ensure the children staying receive the quality of care that every child deserves. 

Doing a little inventory on what vitamins and medicine they currently have. 

We went and saw Paper Towns last weekend, it was a great movie!

Pause

“It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.” Kristin Armstrong 

Sometimes it’s those little things that have a huge impact on our perspective of life. Can you think of a time in your life that something small had a huge impact on the way you saw something or viewed something? Sometimes it takes a moment of silence or five minutes of awareness to really let something digest and your whole perspective can shift, opening your mind up. It’s in these small moments and realizations that can open up a whole new world of possibilities!

Throughout our time here in Africa we’ve experienced some huge changes—moving thousands and thousands of miles from home, living in different conditions and adapting to different cultures and norms. Surely these changes have impacted us and created new starting points! We’ve both come to realize how impactful and necessary the quiet moments of intentional pause and reflection are for our growth. The busier we seem to get, the more necessary these moments to reset and slow down seem to be.

We spent a bit of time this week at the CYCC (shelter) that SFCS runs. It was eye opening for us—after we left we knew this was where we had an opportunity to make an impact. We did some reflecting when we were back at the office on how we can best use our skills and resources to help these vulnerable children. Like we’ve mentioned previously, the children at the CYCC are there as a temporary place of care. The goal is to have them in and out of there within six months. Ultimately, they are either reunified with their families or placed in a home where they can thrive. This was an example of an experience where we needed that moment to pause, to say a prayer, to just be silent to understand why we were placed here and what it is that we can do to help. We’re excited to move forward where we’ll be working closely with the staff at the CYCC to help them understand the importance of hygiene and sanitation (thank you E.P.I.C. for helping train us in this department!) as well as working on a curriculum that will help stimulate the children throughout the day.

We challenge you this week to slow down a little and pause. Take a little time each morning or each night to do a little reflecting. Have conversations with others about your day, about what is going on. What have you experienced that has maybe caused a shift in your perspective of life or the way you view things?

With Love,

Ty + Michelle

The exterior of the CYCC in Botshabelo.

Here is a group of some of the young kids that are at the CYCC. They were excited to have visitors come and play!

The outdoor play area. They loved the teeter totter with Ty!

Helping each other :) 

Hungry to learn, Michelle taught them how to count in English--up to 15. They did great!

We loved our time with the kids here at the CYCC and we're looking forward to spending more time with the staff and children during our time here!

Create Your Own Path

“Traveler, there is no path, the path must be forged as you walk.” Anotonio Machado

Over this last week, we’ve been reflecting on the quote above and found that is resonates with us. I mean… how true is it? Do you feel like you clear your own path or do you let others clear it for you?

At times, we've felt that we both allowed others to clear our paths for us. This may have been through what jobs we thought we needed or how we were “supposed” to be living. It’s SO easy to allow others or society to have an impact on the way you think, how you dress or act, and ultimately, how you live. Lately, we’ve made an effort to let go of that and think about the path that God has created for us. This allows us to think for OURSELVES and live out what WE are passionate about—not what someone else or society tells us is “right.” 

We want to challenge each of you to dig deep as you enter the weekend. In what areas of life are you letting others dictate how you’re living and not listening to how God may be guiding your path? Let go of that and try something. Be VULNERABLE! Create your own path—we guarantee if you try it, you’ll feel liberated. We sure have! When you travel through life creating your own path, you are finally able to begin to live the life YOU’VE created for yourself and the life that God has intended you to live. That’s why we’re here and that’s how we can each make the largest impact. After all, life is a GIFT and what you do with it matters!

Another week has flown by for us in South Africa. We had a shorter work week due to Women’s Day on Monday. We have settled into our “home” here for the next two months and have begun to establish solid working goals where we pray we’ll be able to make an impact on the community.  We’ve had great conversations with the women we’re working with and have seen how they operate their business here. These women have a huge passion for what they do and it shows through their business. Many of them work every single day whether that’s in the office, shelter, or out in the community sharing their story to churches and community groups to create awareness around the importance of families and protecting children. It’s encouraging to see their passion and initiative!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we enter another week. We’re thankful for your love and support!

With Love,

Ty + Michelle

Success

“Success is not a function of the size of your title but the richness of your contribution."  Robin Sharma

How do you view success? We think success can be looked at from so many different angles—especially in today’s world! To many, success is determined by how big their home is, how expensive their car was, the amount on their paycheck or the number of material possessions they own. To others success may be completing a degree they’ve always dreamed of finishing, crossing a finish line at the end of a race or sticking to a clean diet plan for a certain amount of time. Depending on your view of success, each of these examples could be a moment of success for you (and a great accomplishment!).

We want to encourage you to look at success a little differently this week. Rather than trying to cross something off your list or base success on something you’re RECEIVING, think of success as something you’re GIVING. How can what you CONTRIBUTE lead to success? What can you do this week that will have a greater impact for your community and others?

As we start another week here in South Africa, we’re given the task to come up with our work plan for the next 8 weeks. We’re challenging ourselves to dig deeply into how we can make our CONTRIBUTION here as successful as possible. What can we add to our workload that will not only impact the children, youth and families while we’re here but how can what we do help make a sustainable impact on these individuals and families?

A few things we’ve been asked to come up with and do during our time here is:

• Create and implement an early childhood development curriculum for the Child Youth Care Center (CYCC). This is for children ages 0-5 that may be spending up to 6 months at the CYCC.  They need stimulating structure and activities that will help them thrive.
• Run a couple different after school groups around life skills, sports and decision making. The target age range for these groups will be 14-18. We’ll run two different groups, each group meeting twice a week.
• Helping the organization with a business plan and other business related items.
• Providing support with their social media and website to help spread the word on what is going on here.

We pray that our time and contribution here is guided by the Holy Spirit and truly blesses this community. At the end of the day and the end of our time here, that is the only thing that really matters. It’s not about the number of people we see or the number of tasks we can complete; it’s about the CONTRIBUTION. We pray that each of you can make a successful contribution to your communities this week, too.

With Love,

Ty + Michelle

It's Women's Day here in South Africa today (Monday). Neo, from SFCS, spoke at an event in Botshabelo on Friday. She shared about the organization and the importance of being aware of neglect and abuse as well as its effect on the community, even if you're not DIRECTLY being effected. There were a lot of questions and Neo did a great job answering and speaking on behalf of SFCS. 

This is a video from the Women's Day celebration. The audience was LOVING these dancers!

 

A picture from the neighborhood we've been staying in over the weekend in Bloemfontein. This is where we get our Magnum bars. :) 



We had a date night at a great Italian restaurant down the road, Avanti. Pizza tastes great to us!



Fro-yo for $1 makes Michelle VERY happy!



Exploring the neighborhood together... But FIRST, lets take a selfie.



South Africa loves their meat and BBQ's on the weekends!



We've found some great coffee shops but part of us misses our favorites back home-- LJ's and Madcap! 

Perseverance

"Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak." Thomas Carlyle

Perseverance seems to be fitting for us to talk about today. It would be a bit of a stretch to say the last 5 days have been easy. We've struggled and we've certainly become discouraged. We've both been suffering from nasty colds that don't seem to want to go away and definitely don't get better when we sleep in a non heated apartment when temperatures drop below freezing at night. We've been traveling from one place to another with far more luggage than we should have ever thought of bringing! Yesterday we had our first outing to the store here in Botshabelo-- it was evident that we don't fit in one bit based on appearance and language and we've also learned from our coworkers that we're the only two white people living in this town of 200,000 people :). Today we walked into our apartment and found the sink was leaking which resulted in big puddles all over the floor.  

It would be very easy for us to sit here and continue to find things to complain about and dwell on as it would for any of you in your situations. Everyday each and everyone of us experiences obstacles, struggles, hurdles, pain or what seems to be roadblocks. It's in these situations we're finding it so important to PERSEVERE. We have a choice-- we can chose to complain and be miserable with our current situation or we can find the growth opportunity from each challenge. 

Each day is full of joy and it's up to us to find that joy in our everyday life. Our joy today came from our first opportunity with the children here at the shelter. We both were able to bring two babies to the local hospital for their monthly check in with the dietician. Since they are not able to be breast fed, the dietician needs to monitor their weight to ensure they're growing and thriving off of the formula provided by the government. Those big brown eyes can't do anything but melt your heart!

Although we may be uncomfortable at times, there is also so much to be thankful for and we must persevere through what seems to be challenges. It's in these moments and these struggles that we become a greater version of ourselves. I hope each of you can find a way to persevere today and throughout the weekend. Don't let yourself crumble when you feel like something isn't going your way or something isn't "fair"-- move forward and allow GROWTH. 

Please keep us in your prayers, we'll be learning a bit more tomorrow about what our time here in South Africa will be looking like. We're trusting that God has a lot in store for us here with Setshabelo Family and Child Services!

With Love,
Ty + Michelle 

This is the first little one Michelle could get her hands on since we've been here. He is 3 months old-- this is one of the boys we took to the dietician. 

Feeding him while we waited.

This is how they serve tea and coffee for visitors-- we were impressed. :)

The ladies here at SFCS did such an amazing job putting this apartment together for us. We are so grateful for all the effort they have put in to help us feel at home here in Botsabelo. 

Missionary type of dinner. :)

Ty's handy skills came out when we noticed our sink was leaking all over. Thankfully this was resolved-- just a little clean up to do. 

A shot from our grocery store here in Botsabelo.

Thanks for following along with us on this journey!