Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 6/26/2009
This week is our busiest week of the summer (our winter)! We already have 5 teams in the country and 2 more arriving in the next 2 days! (I am praising God for the help He has sent me.)
We had a great time with our second team at their sponsored carepoint. Almost the whole team from last year returned and it was like family visiting us. (Larry and Squeaky, we missed you!) Many of the children at the carepoint also remembered their friends from last year and it was good to see the children taking less time to open up. I also feel like the kids laughed more than last year and it was good to see them play and laugh.
On Wednesday I, Kriek, did a few quick visits to some of the sponsored carepoints. At one of the carepoints (Bhalekane) we have put up our first sign. It is so nice! It is just amazing to see how God has provided!
When I pulled up to the carepoint which we visited with the second team, I was greeted by a sad sight. The roof and ¾ of the kitchen collapsed because of a windstorm we had the day before. The miracle: none of the kids were harmed! It is amazing! Usually the kids will sit and eat behind the kitchen, but the ladies decided to send the kids home because of the strong wind. If they didn't do it, a lot of the kids might have been hurt. God is faithful!
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 6/7/2009
Hi friends
Just a quick update from us as we are about to finish our first CHC trip for the summer. (Can't believe it!) It went well and it was good to spend time with the children at the carepoints again. It felt so good to touch and kiss those dirty little cheeks, to hold those little bodies and see those beautiful smiles. It was good to see how well the kids behaved while having a team visiting their carepoint and it was also good to see them play and have fun with their American friends. We visited 2 carepoints this past week with a team from Warren Baptist (Augusta, GA) and on Saturday we had a big fun day for the kids. It was fun watching the team make about 800 or so hotdogs and it was fun watching the kids eat those hotdogs.
We also painted our first building with the colors we have decided to paint all our buildings with. It was so exciting! It looks amazing coming over the hill and then seeing the blue building! (Check out the pictures below.)
God also showed Jumbo and I both that this ministry is His! It is not ours, it is His! I think we somehow got arrogant thinking that it is ‘our' ministry. But it has been freeing realizing that it is all His and handing it back over to Him.
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 5/29/2009
"NEW LIFE" is the theme for our women's camp coming up June 12-14 for the women who cook at our care points and sew for Timbali Crafts. In a place with so much death, we're getting really excited about God is going to do during our weekend focused on LIFE...true life found in Jesus. The camp will hopefully have close to 80 women in attendance, including the 40+ women from Nsoko who just started sewing for Timbali last fall. This will be the first time all of the women have been together and they are excited for the opportunity.
Here are some stories and pics from Julie Anderson's blog, (http://julieanderson.myadventures.org) who works with these women and heads up Timbali Crafts...
NOMSA
A while ago my friend Nomsa told me I needed to come to visit her home so she could show me what she has done with money she's earned through Timbali Crafts. Nomsa is a precious woman, who works hard, never complains and has a beautiful smile. Yesterday afternoon Ellie and I, and a few other friends, were able to visit the home of Nomsa and her family.
Nomsa and her husband, their 6 children, 3 other children they care for, and her husband's mother all live on the same homestead. Nomsa's house is small, only one room made from stick and mud, with a very leaky roof that was threatening to cave in during heavy rains. There were several other similar stick and mud homes/rooms shared by the family members and also a concrete block home (one room) for the grandmother. What Nomsa was so excited to show us was the nearly finished concrete block house/room that they have been able to build using money she had earned through the purses she sews. We captured some great pictures during our visit, but I wish you all could have seen Nomsa in person yesterday-she was BEAMING with the excitement of visitors to her home and showing off what the Lord has provided. It was such a good time of rejoicing with my friend. There was one less chicken running around their yard yesterday afternoon, as Nomsa had also prepared a meal for us! I hope it encourages you as it did me to see the good things the Lord is providing for these precious women!
THOKO
I met as usual yesterday with the Timbali women to cut fabric. Afterwards about 17 of us piled into the van to go and visit Thoko. I heard on Sunday that Thoko's daughter, had passed away over the weekend. About 9 months ago I blogged about a couple of trips I'd made to a local HIV/AIDS clinic with Thoko's daughter Lindiwe. At only 24 she had been too weak to walk, barely able to speak, and had to be pushed in a wheel barrowdown a small path to the road where I could pick them up. Lindiwe had been doing pretty well for a while, but in the last couple weeks grew weak again, and finally passed away on Friday. This is the third child Thoko has lost in the last few years, and her husband is also very sick.
We drove as far as we could in the van, then walked across a small valley to Thoko's homestead. As we got close one of the women started singing a song and the others joined in. Everyone took their shoes off at the door and crowded into the small 7'x7' stick and mud hut. We sat on the floor and sang, prayed and shared scripture with Thoko. It's hard to imagine the heaviness of Thoko's grief.
During the afternoon Psalm 62:8 kept coming to mind, and I shared it with the women while we were sitting in Thoko's house: "Trust in the Lord at all times, O people. Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." I pray that Thoko will know that they can pour out their hearts to the Lord, that they can trust Him and that they can find refuge in Him.
Nomsa and Thoko are just some of the women that will be attending the "NEW LIFE" camp. These times away can be great times of encouragement, refreshment and healing. Please consider helping to make it happen!
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 5/18/2009
What? Blog # 3 for the month of May? It looks like it has been a good month!
We have been talking to Luke Commision about doing clinics at some of our carepoints; Luke Commision is a team of missionary doctors working in Swaziland. And last week Friday we were happy to have our first clinic. The children from 3 of our carepoints came to the clinic and we also had a lot of people from the community coming. It was a long day at the craepoint for everybody who helped, but a lot of people received medical attention.
We are excited about having more clinics and working with Luke Commision. We already have a date for the next clinic at one of our other carepoints!
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 5/13/2009
Just last week we mentioned the increasing effects of poverty we are seeing around us. Well, it is staring to ‘come closer to home' as people are getting more and more desperate.
Sunday afternoon we got a call from Julie; one of our AIM staff members. She, her daughter and a friend were in South Africa. The car they were driving (one of the ministry vehicles, because Julie's own car has been in the shop forever and they can't seem to fix it!!) got stolen in the parking lot of one of the malls. Julie's passport and brand new computer were in the car; it was also gone!
Yesterday morning we received another call. Zodwa, a member of the D-team, and her family was mugged and robbed during the night. Zodwa and her sister each has separate rooms away from their parents' house. Sometime during the night somebody knocked on her sister's door, she asked who it was, but there was no answer. The next moment the door (just a wooden door, no safety gate) was bashed opened and some guys stormed in. Zodwa's sister yelled for help, Zodwa heard her and came to help her. Not sure what happened next, but their parents also came out of their house and Zodwa's mom was badly beaten over the head. The thieves stole a bunch of things from their rooms and the house and then ran away.
Zodwa's mom is doing okay and she is home after they have taken her to the hospital, but Zodwa sounded pretty upset when I talked to her. Of course they are upset by what happened, but they are also scared for a repeat of this.
Please, please, if God lays it on your heart, continue to lift us up in prayer now even more than before. Please pray for our safety and for the safety of all our staff.
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 5/8/2009
It has been a while since our last blog update, but to be honest it hasn't been the easiest of times for me and Kriek. We started the year at full throttle and so many things happened. We also experienced a few disappointments at the same time and we realized that the 2 of us had to re-evaluate if we could continue in the ministry and if we were still able to go on at the pace we were going. Somewhere we have to start looking out for ourselves, our emotional health and our marriage, but also still be effective in the ministry God has called us to.
In this time I again realized that one of my biggest strengths is also one of my biggest weaknesses. I know, and I am proud of it, that I can do a lot of things and handle a lot at the same time. But then the weakness is that I do most of the things out of my own strength and the first thing that gets left behind is my time at the Source. During our time of re-evaluation I spend a lot of time with Scott Borg. He made it clear to me that spending time with the Lord is one of the most essential aspects of our relationship with the Lord and of being successful in ministry. It does not matter how much needs to happen on a daily basis; our time with the Father should be a non negotiable. The funny thing for me is that this is the first thing you learn when you become a Christian, but it is also the easiest (and maybe the first thing) to neglect.
So the Lord came and emphasized it again to me. Two weekends ago I went to the Mighty Men Conference were 260 000 men worshipped and prayed together. It was amazing!! The preacher at the conference talked about how important it is to spend time with the Father and how he will spend more time with the Lord the more his responsibilities gets. So again I am back realizing how important it is to keep our eyes on the Lord. Rest is very important, but even more important is our time with the Lord and resting with and in Him.
So for now ... I am done reflecting on my lesson that I have learned numerous times, but fail to implement the way it should be. With God's grace I am trying to implement this time thing with the Lord again.
On the ministry side it is going well. So far this year we have been able to care for around 2700 children and we have even been able to provide some food, clothes and shoes to other areas in need that we are not working in yet. I am not even going to mention all the building and water projects that so many great people have donated to that is happening to make life easier in the communities. (Thank you!)
One of the greatest things in life for me is a thankful person. It touches my heart to see the tears in a lady's eyes because the Lord has used some of you to provide funds to build her a new house. Now she and the children she is looking after no longer have to fight the elements or criminals in her mud and stick structure. They can lock their door, they are safe, warm and dry. It is amazing to see.
Please continue praying and staying involved in our lives and in Swaziland. Please continue to pray for the ongoing battles we are fighting. One of the biggest of these battles is the effects of AIDS on some of the communities. There is a lady that is living with her 8 month old baby and she has a severe strain of TB that is highly contagious. There is a special hospital for cases like this in Swaziland, but they have no space available. So they gave her some medicine and send her home. She needs to get an injection every week for the next six months and are suppose to be separated from contact with other people, but where she lives it isn't possible. And there is also no way she can be separated from her baby; the homestead where she lives has decided to put her and the baby in one room. So it is kind of already too late; the chances are good that the baby already has TB.
We are also seeing (and feeling) the increasing effect of poverty around us daily. We have more and more people coming to our office asking for help. Children coming to ask for school fees or ladies and pastors starting new carepoints asking for food. Most of the times we have to turn them down; it is impossible at this stage to help them all. Sometimes we can help them with something that is temporarily, but it doesn't really solve their long term problem. It is things like this that makes life very hard on this side, but we can only do what we can.
The American summer is also approaching fast and we have numerous teams coming to visit their sponsored children and carepoints, putting up play grounds, loving the kids and ministering to the desperate and the needy. Please also pray for this time ahead. We pray for lives to be changed and we are thankful for each person who is involved in some way here in Swaziland and helping to bring change in the lives of the children and ladies we are working with.
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 4/3/2009
From Kriek:
My favorite set of twins (they are almost in all of my pictures!) got burned with boiling water last week. It was really upsetting to see them in such pain and there wasn't much I could do for them.
Please copy and paste and then go to this link below to read what my friend Marcia Borg, who was with me when this happened, wrote about it. (Thank you, Marcia) You can also see some pictures of the twins on her blog.
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 2/9/2009
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound ...
...of orphan laughter after receiving a new pair of shoes.
...of a beloved's voice over the phone saying he is safe after loosing a tire.
How do we thank God for calling us to Swaziland and making us part of what He is doing here? How do I thank God for keeping my husband safe? And how do we thank all of you who are daily lifting us up in prayer?
January was another busy month for us with visitors, many trips to Johannesburg airport and back, and hours of fun at the carepoints. Last year we received shoes from Yield clothing and Samaritan's Feet (thank you!); we just had to buy some smaller sizes for the small kids (thank you Erin, Daniela, Brenda, Lynne). So the teams washed the feet of the children, prayed over them and gave them new shoes. It was heart warming to watch the children outside after receiving their new shoes; looking at their shoes and comparing their shoes with pride. It was good to watch the teams interacting with the kids and seeing how God was changing lives.
It was also good holding my husband after he almost totaled his car. The front tire on the car bursted on his way back from Johannesburg airport and it is only by the protection and grace of God that he and his passengers were all okay. (Below is a picture of the tire.)
So we want to thank you all for covering us in prayer. We are humbled by your prayers for us.
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 1/15/2009
Hallo friends and family!
Hope 2009 has treated you nicely so far. We have been back in Swaziland for about a week and we have already been running in different directions. Jumbo has been in Nsoko and I have been taking a team around, showing them a small part of our ministry and sharing our hearts for Swaziland with them.
I also had a great first day with the discipleship team. Last year we decided to take the first working day of 2009 and spend it in prayer, studying God's Word and seeking His face. We asked God to reveal Himself to us and show us Who He really is. It was amazing to listen to the team's revelations. We also interceded for the carepoints, children, ladies cooking, our work there and for the sponsoring churches. It was a sweet time!
It looks like 2009 is going to be a busy year. Jumbo sees it as a challenge and I get a bit nervous. But we are excited about it and like David I want to say, "With Your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall." (Psalm 18:29)
