Points towards a WIN

At the beginning of the year, Niel and Alece and the Department Heads all sit down to discuss, plan, and strategize our plan for the upcoming year. It’s a day of reflection and review of what we have achieved and what and how we want to accomplish in the year to come. It’s a bit draining and overwhelming, but it gives us eyes to look toward the future and hope and expectation in our hearts of what is to come.

Just the other day, I got to see a bit of fruition and some points added to the scoreboard towards our Leadership Summit win for 2008. Our Leadership Summit WIN for this year – We aim to lead our students to a growing relationship with God, arm them with the tools and knowledge to make wise decisions, with an emphasis on abstinence, and plug them into the next steps for discipleship.

I was walking through Setsing – the very busy and very active “shopping” part of Qwa Qwa where people come to shop for food, clothes, household needs, catch taxi’s, do their banking, meet friends, hang out – you can do just about everything and anything in Setsing, and most of the residents of Qwa Qwa do, on a regular basis. I had finished my business there and was walking out of the crowded area towards the car. “Jennifer, Jennifer” I hear. “Strange” I think to myself – “I don’t know anyone here, and Jennifer is not a typical Basotho name that you would normally hear.” No sooner did I finish that thought and a boy, dressed in his bright blue sleeveless sweater, with a wrinkled button up white shirt underneath, and grey pants, complete with school uniform black shoes, walked right up beside me. He flashed his green Save Sex bracelet in front of me, the one we had given him after he successfully finished more than 8 lessons in the Save Sex curriculum and said, “Look, I’m still wearing the bracelet. My coach gave it to me last year. I really learned a lot from Leadership Summit. I was a student at Mafube. I have moved on to grade 10, but I still remember what Leadership Summit taught me. I still have my graduation certificate.” We talked and chatted as we walked through the busy center. He told me of his new studies and how he wanted to make something of his life. He wanted to continue to learn more about God and wanted to be able to share it with others. By no coincidence I was on my way to Launch Pad, our discipleship program, and was able to share all about it with him on our way there. He was so excited that he could learn more about God each week on his way home from school. He didn’t waste anytime and was volunteering to read the Bible, answer questions about the lesson, and talk with other students from other schools in just the first 45 minutes he was there. “I’ve got to go now, but I will be back next week. Thank you so much for letting me come to this class to learn more about God. I am excited to learn more about Him.”

There it was, Mpiyakhe (Phillimon), had just scored some points towards our Leadership Summit win. We had led him to a growing relationship with God, armed him with the tools and knowledge to make wise decisions, with an emphasis on abstinence (proudly still wearing his SAVE SEX bracelet, committing himself to abstinence), and now plugging him into the next step for discipleship. AWESOME!

I have no doubt that we will meet our Mile Marker goal this year, which makes Thabo’s story and experience a priority. We want to: Forge a clear path from Leadership Summit to Launch Pad, having at least 30% of LS students around a LaunchPad location attend the class. We want not only Mpiyakhe to attend Launch Pad, but hundreds of other students, just like him, get plugged into learning more about Jesus Christ.

Get ready to watch those numbers on that scoreboard rise to a win. You can be part of the win by praying for: students, teachers, wisdom and direction for department directors, finances to get to Qwa Qwa each week to teach the classes, and the churches that are connected to and the locations for LaunchPad. Thank you for being on our team and helping us achieve a WIN!

A few tid-bits

Want to know a few tid-bits about me? Take a peek…

http://www.thriveafrica.org/2008/03/meet-the-staff-jenn/

Living on Purpose

What is YOUR purpose? What are YOU living for? I hope that not only you have an answer to those questions, but that the 3,750 students that we passed out our new “Living on Purpose” books to will by the end of the term. What a thrilling experience to take what we all have worked so hard on, and place them in the arms of kids so grateful, so expectant, so hot on the heals of God.

Each week students have been learning more and more about their own individual ability to be a History Maker, that they too can rise above the crowd, above their circumstances, above others expectations to be all that God created them to be. They have learned what it is to be a fully functioning member of God’s army and that with Him, anything is possible.

Now they hold in their own hands, with smiles from ear to ear, a book made especially for them. Hours and hours of ideas, research, writing, editing, designing, and formatting have gone into this curriculum. A special journal, all in color, created just for them. It’s a place to write down their thoughts, dreams, and aspirations with helpful and encouraging words and scriptures to show that God is right there beside them and had a purpose and plan for them all along. What a blessing to be part of such a creation from start to finish and be able to finally lay it in the hands it was created for.

God has a plan and a purpose for each individual student. What an opportunity we have to help them on their way.

Happy Easter!

A great time of year to celebrate a great and ongoing event………GOD IS RISEN!! He rose up out of that grave for you and me! I am so glad that He did! I have used up more than my fair share of sins that He died for. I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of love from and for God at this moment as I reflect on Him and how He has come to save me. Christ died for me. Christ died for you. He loved me so much that he died…..and then rose from the dead for me and my sins! Oh how I love Jesus!!

Our Thrive Family celebrated Easter together today with a braai, the South African term for a BBQ. Neil braaied some great meat, staff brought drinks, appetizers, and desserts, the interns joined in the fun and brought a salad. Brittany and I, yes, I helped, made some yummy spinach and artichoke dip with bruschetta, and a lemon-berry trifle and a caramel mocha trifle for dessert. We had a good time “playing” and cooking together in the kitchen.

How did you spend your day celebrating Easter?

61, 59, 57

These numbers have significant meaning. The numbers going down has even a more significant meaning. They are a turning of a time, the dawn of something new. I do not welcome them, and I am certainly praying that they do not stay around.

These numbers represent the temperature I have woken up to, in my room, the last 3 mornings. The winter has tried to rear its cold head right in my direction! It is still summer according to the South African calendar, so shouldn’t I get a few more days of sunshine and 70 something weather? I guess winter wanted me to know that it is right around the corner.

It came in with a blast on Sunday morning and I woke up to hear myself saying, “It’s really cold in here. It’s really cold in here. Oh my! It’s 61 degrees in here!” I stayed under my warm covers a bit longer. Brittany and I were wrapped up in blankets on the couch as we watched the temperature drop in the living room to 59 degrees. Warm yummy soup and countless cups of tea helped me to stay warm.

Monday didn’t bring summer back; instead, it got colder, dropping down to 59 just outside my covers in the morning hours. It was rainy, cold, and wet, with low clouds dipping down. 49 degrees was the temperature outside that day. Pile on the clothes!

It was 57 degrees in my room this morning. More rain and cloud cover as I looked outside the window. I needed more layers of clothes to stay warm the whole day long. There were breaks and peaks of bright blue sky this morning, and as the day worn on there were more and more signs of the summer sky beneath those grey winter clouds. Ahhhhhhh, could summer be returning? I am praying so. At least just for a few more days!

Hum, I wonder what the temperature in my room will be tomorrow morning.

Happy GREEN Day!

Some GREEN things that came to mind...........

Grass: it’s still green here in Africa, but not for long…………winter is coming
Ocean: it can be all sorts of beautiful shades of green, ‘especially when the sun hits it just right. I’ve been so blessed to live by 3 very different oceans.
Stems of healthy flowers: I love flowers – all colors, shapes, and sizes!
My Highlighter: reading through the psalms highlighting every time I see TRUST in God
Salad: it’s part of my healthy diet
Broccoli: my little sister calls them “trees” and plays all sort of imaginary scenarios with them on her dinner plate
Frogs: one of which was in my bathroom just a few nights ago – keep checking for an update about that!
My eyes: …. when I wear the right colored clothes
Apples: the juicy Granny Smith ones are my favorite
Pickles: oh gross I don’t like them – they can’t even touch other food if I forget to tell them to leave it off at restaurants
Alligators: I saw several when I lived in Florida, ‘especially when I went across Alligator Alley to visit my Grandma in the winters.
Chrysalis: you know the state in a butterfly’s life when it changes from a caterpillar into a butterfly – I am learning how to open my wings in more ways than one
The south African flag: it has a stripe of green in it
Artichokes: oh the yummy artichoke appetizer at Buzz’s, our favorite restaurant in Hawaii
Praying mantis: they occasionally find their way into our houses and onto our TV screens as we are watching movies
Snap Peas: a favorite when we see them on the veggie shelves at Spar, our town grocery store

What green things come to your mind?

Moth Attack

OK, so I have written about the big, amazingly loud flies of South Africa, but that’s not all. South Africa has more bugs and strange insects than I have ever experienced. This time, I will tell you about our moths! We have big ones, small ones, colorful ones, ugly ones, fat bodied ones, huge wing span ones, fast flying ones, fluttery ones, blind ones, tired ones, dead ones that you find on your floor in the morning, sometimes, they even die right there on the wall. Most of them tend to enjoy the light and will do just about anything to get to it; that makes reading at night pretty much impossible, unless you don’t mind a few winged “friends.” Those funny moths can also create weird wall shadows as they burrow their way into the living room chandelier.

I guess you can say that they might all have their own personality, just like us. Well, more than a few nights ago, I got a call after midnight. Dreading the worst, I answered. “Umm, one of the interns, my roommate, has a moth in her ear. What do we do?” is what I heard on the other end as picked up the phone. “Don’t worry, we will be right up.” Waking my housemate, Charlene, who had just gone to bed, we grabbed tweezers, q-tips, and a small flashlight. We made a call to Dave to check the internet to see what it might say about removing a moth from one’s ear; that’s just not a call you get everyday. Minutes after we arrived and calmed the interns getting the full scoop (she had already been afraid that a moth would bug her as she tried to sleep, so pulled the covers over her head, tucked them in, and tried to sleep. WHAM. Moth in the ear.), Niel arrived with a small flashlight, tweezers, and his hard medical degree of having gotten something out of a staff members ear earlier that morning (yeah, Niel is more than just the director around here!) The poor intern could hear the moth fluttering in her ear – it’s still alive? We tried to drown it, pull it out, shake it out, force it out, but by golly, guess how that ever so larger than expected moth finally got out of her ear……yeah, suction. She cupped her hand on her ear, after water, and lo and behold, that large winged creature came right out of her ear! Go ahead and post that on the internet! (That was never one of the options). That moth came out, big as it was, and I think we all took a moment’s notice at the fairly large creature that flew into a very tiny space.

Shame. That poor girl now sleeps with ear muffs and the covers still over her head!

Ahhhhh, the “joys” of South African living…..

Teachers Learn Too

We should always be learning, all the time, right? That is a quality of a good leader; always continuing to learn. I was thrilled to learn that not only were students learning new things in our first Leadership Day of 2008, but the teachers were too. We all have a chance to learn, but are we really doing what we need to, to put learning into action? It looks like the teachers in South Africa are learning and applying it. We can learn from them. This is what they shared:

I learned………
• To work as a team
• There’s greatness in every one of us and that can take you far in life. It’s important to realize your potential for it is a key to your greatness.
• The importance of being a leader
• That I must share, have confidence and be brave to make mistakes as we learn by doing mistakes
• Since attending this workshop I am brave to face and solve problems of other learners
• I want to attend the next workshop in order to gain information. I am going to influence my colleagues and to help learners so as to grow and to influence others
• Leadership includes knowledge and focus.
• Leadership goes hand in hand with potentiality, confidence, honesty, sharing, caring, love, and peace.
• I learn that we have abilities to do good things, the only thing is to take them into practice

Students Speak

323 learners attended our Leadership Day. A few of them were add on’s at the last minute. One teacher called me as we were driving to the event asking if two more of his students could attend. He came up to me at the end of the event and said what a difference I had made in those 2 learners. “The learners faces had turned into bright smiling ones, they were jumping up and down and clapping, encouraged that they too could learn and grow in leadership, as I told them you had said “yes.” You believed in them, allowing them to come, and I want to thank you. They know that someone believes in them.” Not only was I encouraged by his sentiments, but by the students’ words themselves. Keep praying for each one of these 323 learners as they apply and share what they have learned.

What did you learn today?
“What I learned today is to be the better leader and respect others and everything I want to make, I must make it happen.”
“I learned more about leadership because I am going to lead the school.
“What I did learn today is that what it is to be a leader and in order to be a leader you will have to have the following: to be competent, clarity, peace, and character.”
“I learned that if you want to be a true leader you must have influences on people. Too many people are scared to do anything. They are afraid of making mistakes.”
“I learned about how I need to change our country”

How are you going to apply it to your life?
“I’m going to apply it to my life for my future. I am going to teach others about it.”
“By doing it because I want to change other peoples’ lives.”
“I am going to change people and I am going to be example for other learners.”
“I will apply it to my life saying that I go to the summit and learn something that encourages my life values and save sex.”

Who can you share this Leadership information with?
“Other leaders and other schoolmates”
“I will preach to someone with happiness and plans.”
“I can share this leadership with my community friends and my teachers.”
“I can share leadership with my work”

Planting Seeds

“You guys are planting seeds! The leadership teachings you are pouring into these students is going to bear much fruit. You may not see it now, you may think they are not listening, but I am here to encourage you. You are planting seeds in these young people. You are making a difference.” Mr. Lebone, a teacher at one of our Leadership Summit schools, shared this with me after hunting me down through the crowd of 323 students and 39 educators. We had all just experienced 2 hours of leadership teaching by Niel in what it truly means to be a leader, what those characteristics are, and how to practically apply them in our everyday lives. 17 schools were all on hand for our first Leadership Day of 2008, bringing with them 12-24 selected leaders from their schools, all hand picked by school staff. Students were there with their pen and notebooks in tote, writing down key points and examples from Niel’s teaching. Headmasters, teachers, and other school staff were also learning, filling up pages in their notebooks. Teachers came and told me afterwards how important it was for them to be learning about leadership and how much they had enjoyed today’s session. I knew then that not only had seeds been planted, but they had also been watered.

Wake Up

I love my sleep, especially when I am not feeling so well. My headaches tend to be worse in the mornings, and so the moment I wake up is none that I want to come too early. The last few mornings, 4 to be exact, I have had my own “little” wake up call. I didn’t plan it, I didn’t set it, I can’t always see it, and I even tried to get rid of it. Can you guess what it is? No, probably not, because unless you grew up, or currently live somewhere in Michigan in the heat of summer, you would never guess that these things could be this big, this loud, this annoying! They are one of the joys of South African Summer, flying “friends,” that sound like bees or wasps, but nope, no such thing, they are silly little _________. You guessed it, flies! Silly little flies – silly little flies are waking me up in the morning with their loud buzzing – they dive bomb my head, the land on my face, on my eyelid, on the covers near my face. Their loud buzzing sound awakes me – yes, I have my own buzzing loud dive bombing fly as my wake up! This morning I had the bizarre thought that he was actually trying to be my friend. I couldn’t get him to leave – I have left the door open, window open, turned out the lights, nothing – I am kind of afraid that he is here to stay. Guess that might be good, he wakes me up before my alarm? Oh the joys of living in South Africa!!