Dear friends

Please PRAY with us, and BELIEVE with us for new vehicles. We have been having soooooo many vehicle issues and breakdowns; it is close to being ridiculous! The D-team needs a new vehicle (actually 2), Jodi and Marius needs a new vehicle and we need a new, reliable vehicle ourselves.

No, we are not asking for any financial donations; we are asking you to pray with us and believe with us for a miracle! We are calling on God, and He promises to answer us! Please call on Him with us.

Hallo friends!

We went for another scan today and seems like baby Clara is doing well. She was playing hide and seek with us and the doctor couldn't get a good picture of her little face. First she was hiding behind the umbilical cord; then she had her arm in front of her face! But she is weighing 970g (2,1 pounds) and the doctor is happy with her development.

Mommy is already feeling very uncomfortable and she is only now at 26 weeks .... But she is loving every moment of this precious gift!

Jumbo and I are just finishing up with another trip. It was once again amazing to see God working in and through the lives of the people on the team. It was a much younger team than usual and it was great to watch the young people interact with the kids, play with them and pour themselves out for these kids.

The team (and the WHOLE church) has showered us with blessings! I feel like this is actually an understatement, but I don't have words to describe it. We were given so many of the cutest pink outfits for our baby and we are just blown away by the generosity and kindness of people! SOOOO many people have been praying for and with us and now we have a baby on the way! It is absolutely amazing! Thank you to every one of you who has brought and/or sent (cute) clothes!

Three weeks ago God allowed Jumbo and I to be part of something beautiful; it was almost like seeing the fruit of our hard work. YOUME Clothing asked us if they could do a clothing exchange at one of our carepoints; it was their first clothing exchange in Swaziland. What do I mean clothing exchange? Kids bring an old piece of clothing and YOUME gives them new clothes. Even if a child doesn't bring an old piece of clothing, he or she will still get new clothes. YOUME then take these old pieces of clothing and add pieces the material to new t-shirts, which they then sell. The profit they make all goes back to the carepoint.

When I talked to the D-team about the idea of the kids bringing something old and getting something new, they were not completely against it, but you could see them thinking of how to explain this to the kids and ladies at the carepoint. To give something old to get something new, or do give a piece of clothing up that still could be worn by a few more younger siblings, are definitely not part of the Swazi culture.

I can't believe how fast the time is flying. The first trip after the World Cup is done and the team is already back home. It is always a blessing to Vanguard church here and this year was no difference. The rest of the year are also already fully booked. (Not sure when to schedule having this baby!!!)

Currently our friend Amber is here helping out again. It is such a blessing to have her here; she truly has a servant's heart. We also have a new staff member from the USA. Her name is Megan and I am so thankful for her as well. She and Ncobile have been taking care of al the yearly profile updates at a lot of the carepoints and I have been able to stay home more and try to catch up on some administrative things. When coming to teams my role has definitely changed. I am no longer going out to the carepoints with all the teams (Jumbo does more of that now). I am doing a lot of the 'behind the scenes' things .... Like shopping for whatever the team might need, preparing lunches and making a lot of the arrangements.

My mom also came for a quick, unexpected visit and it is so nice to have her here with us. Jumbo's dad is doing well and he is gone for a few days visiting Jumbo's sister.

Through all of this I also have this huge desire 'to nest'!! I want to get the house ready; I want to get baby's room ready. Amber and another awesome friend of mine started painting baby's room on Saturday. I am so blessed and so enjoying this time of spoiling and pampering!

I am also doing some sorting and repacking in the house and I came upon a little notebook where I made some notes of church messages I listened to or attended. One of them was a message by Pastor Walter, the local pastor we are working with. I really want to share some of it with you.

He was preaching from Luke 8:43-48 about the woman with the issue of blood and he was saying that Swaziland is a country with an issue of blood because of AIDS. Many people were touching Jesus that day, but He knew exactly when someone with faith touched Him. So there is definitely a difference between touching Jesus and touching Jesus with faith! Pastor Walter urged his congregation to go to Jesus in faith; to be different than the Swazi's around then. This woman also went against her culture; as a woman she wasn't suppose to be there, but because she had faith and she was desperate, she pushed through. Many times we do not have enough faith, because we are not desperate enough. So in this country where people live in desperation, we need to see that this desperation turns into faith. It is time for the Swazi people to look and truly turn to Jesus with a desperate faith, and not to the ancestors, or the witch doctors, or to the aid that comes from outside of Swaziland. Swaziland needs to see the power of God and not just the preaching of His word. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of power and not of words.

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." (Abraham Lincoln)

Mom, the Lord gave me life through you. I am the man who I am because Mom, you laid the foundations for me from a young age. You introduced me to Jesus; you taught me the value of working hard and the joy of celebrating in the happiness of others. You showed us what it takes to love unconditionally. Forgiveness was never far and grace was given even if it was not earned.

Mom, you loved Dad like no one else. The 2 of you were an example to everyone that met you. You were a walking example of becoming one in marriage. You served Dad tirelessly and worked as a team to feed thousands. Your love for each other was visible for friends and strangers alike. You and Dad prayed for us every day and I know what a joy it was to just have the ability to give your children a call. You showed us how to support each other and how to take care of each other. You and Dad had the ability to help us kids to have self believe and tackle life with confidence. You and Dad showed us how to live in dependence upon the Lord and how to have peace and contentment even when life was hard. Faith was never far away and you were not afraid to believe for miracles.

As a future dad, the 2 of you have taught me how to raise my own kid. You were an example of how to support your children and one of the biggest lessons that you taught me was that every decision has a consequence. Mom, you allowed Dad to attend all my rugby games and to be there for everything else I did. I learned the importance of not being an absent father when our own little bundle of joy will see the light. Your example will live in the future through us. I pray that us, as your children, will live your legacy and continue to build it for the future. I know you were so excited about the baby that is on its way. I am sad that you will never be able to hold your first grandchild, but I am glad that you at least knew the feeling of being an expecting Granny. We will make sure that the little one will know about his or her Granny.

Mom, you loved it when people had fun and were enjoying themselves. You had the gift of hospitality like no one else. Mom, nothing gave you more joy than seeing people enjoying your food. That is why so many people always talked about your food, because you cooked it with care and passion. You lived your life with an open hand and always had something to give even when you could not afford it, but you always said that there is so much blessing in giving.

 Mom, you taught me how to organize, how to think proactive and plan ahead. Mom, you taught me how to be flexible and always keep my eye on the goal. You taught me everything about work ethics and to work for the Lord and not be bothered about praise. The importance to live my live in front of the throne of God and not people was one of most important lessons learned. You were an example of what a servant should be. You served tirelessly, with contentment and many times above and beyond what was expected.

Mom, we will miss you. We have lost a pillar in our lives, a prayer warrior. We have lost an example of the heart of God. When the Lord picked you to be my Mother, He knew what he was doing. We will always think of you with love and joy. We will cry many times still in the future, because you have left a hole in our lives, but we know you are happy where you are now. We know that you are experiencing perfect joy and love because you are with our Lord and Savior. One day we will all be united again, but until then we will have the security that you are with the Father. 

It is World Cup madness in South Africa (and somewhat in Swaziland). We finished with our last team on Tuesday and now we have a break until after the World Cup.

This last team, Warren Baptist, was a blessing to the kids and us. They are sponsoring two carepoints and so they also brought a LOT of gifts for the kids. I, Kriek, got to go out to one of the carepoints with them in the afternoons. It was good to spend some time with the D-team, the kids of the carepoint and the ladies cooking. I haven't seen many of them in a while and it was nice to be out there with them, to talk to them, to share the good news with them (about the baby), and to laugh with them. (I have realized that my heart isn't only for the kids, but it is also for these women. They have been abandoned by their husbands, by the fathers of their children; they are outliving their children, and sometimes even their grandchildren, and still they are serving God daily and serving the kids - without ever taking credit for it!)

There were three highlights on this trip! One of the young men on the team raised enough money for us to buy school shoes for each school age kid at both the carepoints and the team got to hand it out to the kids! This was really amazing! It was awesome to see each child walk around with a brand new, shiny pair of school shoes! You could see the joy, thankfulness, pride and excitement in the eyes of the kids. Then the team also did a big fun day on the Saturday with the kids. 358 kids showed up for the day! The team did a Bible lesson with the kids, they played games, they jumped on the jumping castle, and the kids ate a nice meal of rice, meat and salad. Everybody LOVED the day!

My favorite (except for the school shoes part) ... the team gave me a surprise baby shower!!!! We were so blessed by all the gifts they gave us! It was almost overwhelming! This Gerber baby is truly blessed!

As things are when there is a baby on its way, one of the things that are changing is that when a team comes and visit, I need to spend a little more time at the care points with the visiting church. So this week I have gone out with the Capital church from Salt Lake City to their care point, Mkhombokati

It has been fun hanging around and watching the team doing their thing and how the kids respond to that. Capital is always one of our best prepared teams and we just always stand in amazement on all the creative ways they minister to the kids while they are here. They did bring a bunch of supplies for just a team of 10 people, but the kids are having so much fun and some of them even tried to skip school not to miss anything that is happening at the care point. We are in the middle of the trip today and still there is so much more to do and to experience.

One of the things that are amazing to me again was to see how content the kids are in their circumstances. The kids are just so use to their surroundings and it  always amazes me that they seem to be happy, totally unaware of the desperation of their parents and the lack of resources to make sure that they have a future. This is one of the miracles that you get when you work with children, and maybe that is why Jesus says we need to be more like children.