Facing The Mountain

The Widow's Offering

2012-02-02T19:16:00.000+02:00

I've always loved the story in Mark of the widow's offering. As Jesus sits and watches the offerings being given he sees many rich folk giving lots and then along comes a widow and drops two coins into the offering. Mark 12:41-44 has the full story:

"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.""

Recently we've seen just such an offering and I've been blown away by it. I'm not going to name names but anyone local who has heard me tell this story will probably be able to work out who I'm talking about and so I must apologise if I cause any embarrassment or rob anyone of any treasures in heaven.

We know a lady who has nothing. When I say nothing I mean nothing. No means of putting food on the table for her and her children, no husband to help, no regular income and no social welfare to help ease the burden. The house is bare!

One evening recently as she was praying with her children for some food she decided that they should go to bed and sleep their hunger off as there was no sign of any food coming from anywhere. A short while later the youngest child told his mummy "We need to keep praying" so they prayed some more. Within a little while there was a knock at the door and a neighbour had brought three fish and a loaf of bread for them to eat.

Now what happened next is truly remarkable!

Had the family simply sat down to eat and then gone to bed with full tummies no-one would have thought any the worst of them. After all they had prayed that our God would provide for their needs and he did just that. Hallelujah! But the mother took half of the food they had just received and gave it to her neighbour next door. That in itself is amazing. However, the neighbour is a bit of a nightmare, making the family's life a real pain at times. Most recently she has been mocking the family asking things like "What has your God ever done for you?". So when the mum took the food around she simply told her neighbour "This is what my God has done for me.", blessed her with the food and went back into her own home.

Two things come out of this for me. Firstly, to have folk like this in church makes me very excited because God has seen her heart and knows it is pure. A heart like this can be built with and God will honour her. Secondly, I've been left wondering quite simply, would I have done the same as this family or would I have been satisfied to go to bed with a full tummy for a change?

Learning To Fly

2012-01-29T23:25:00.000+02:00

Just got to say what a great morning it was with Tree Of Life again.

It is such a privilege to see guys who have been stifled for so long finally spreading their wings and learning to fly again!

This morning Chris brought a word and it was brilliant. What an encouragement to see folk stepping out into new things with Jesus. I've never heard Chris speak like he did this morning but I know that as a church we are going to be hearing a lot more as he flies in his faith.

Others are beginning to step out too and it is both a privilege and amazing to watch.

Thank you Lord!

It's Church Jim...

2012-01-24T17:21:00.000+02:00

I've been wanting to blog about church for the last two weeks but haven't really got my head around what has happened or found the right words to describe how fantastic it has been.

Our inaugural Sunday was great and all I could say to the guys afterwards was that had I been able to plan the meeting in detail it wouldn't have gone as well as it did. Praise God for his infinite grace! However, planning and executing one meeting is easy, doing it week in and week out will be the challenge.

Wednesday evening was another really encouraging time together as we talked about the Sunday and considered what went well and what we need to work on. Our home group meeting then became another great time of sharing testimony and praising God for what he's doing in and amongst us.

This Sunday I felt lead to pick up on two words from last week and how they really complemented each other. We then moved into a time of allowing the Holy Spirit to have his way. Let's jut say it was an amazing privilege being used to minister to guys who were genuinely hungry for more of God.

I wrote this post yesterday and since then we've had a leaders meeting.

All I can say is that it was one of the best leaders meetings I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of. We met in Steers in the Strand for chips and a coke to discuss some business and then spent a lot of time praying together on the beach. That's how leaders meetings should be!

The most uplifting part though was hearing just how many of our folk went home and were unable to stop talking about what God is doing. Hallelujah! We have a hunger amongst us to see more of the things of God and to see his kingdom extended in Macassar and beyond.

More of this please Lord.

New School Year

2012-01-18T14:44:00.002+02:00

The new school year starts today for our boys and they're both looking very grown up in their formal white shirts.

They were both really excited about returning to school and catching up with their friends. Both boys have got great teachers again this year so we're really excited to see how they are going to fly again in the year.

Joel is now in Year 4 which is quite a step up for him. Things become a lot more formal from now which should be good for him. Joel will also join the junior school camp for the first time this year, which will involve three nights away from home. The parents are very excited about this!

Eli is in Year 2 with a teacher he had for the 2nd half of his reception year, hopefully the previous relationship with the teacher will stand him in good stead for a great year.

We are very excited for them both as we know their teachers and they are good. The school has a great ethos and the things it does well it does very very well so 2012 should be a great year for them both.

Tree Of Life Planted!

2012-01-15T15:23:00.003+02:00

What an amazing privilege to be a part of the start of tree of Life church in Macassar this morning!

Thank you Lord!

The sense of expectation was high as we planted from Love & Grace into Macassar and the spirit was certainly with us this morning. Now we're really excited to see how this is going to grow as we seek to serve and extend the kingdom of God in Macassar and beyond.

It wasn't a polished performance, far from it which is great as that's not what church is about anyway. Also, it's not a numbers game though we would just say that the classroom turned out to be too small. Hallelujah! The important thing is that as a group of people committed to this church plant we're excited about the things we see God doing in us and through us and we just know that this work will continue to grow in Macassar and beyond.

We planted out with a clear word about being the leaves of the tree of life for the healing of the nations and in particular for Macassar, a broken community that desperately needs healing. It's going to be a great adventure with God as we seek to serve him and the community with a view to honouring his word over us.

The vibe as a whole in Macassar High was also quite amazing as there were a total of 13 churches meeting in various classrooms and halls. It felt like revival had come to Macassar.

Worshipping the living God in a cramped classroom, there's no place we'd rather be!

Chadlee took on the kids work and we're really grateful for this!

Shaddie came with a few folk from Simon's Bay Christian Church to bless us and it was such an encouragement to have them with us!

Shaddie brought a great word for the church and it was a blessing to benefit from his wisdom and experience as we closed the meeting.

Click here to see more pictures.

Tree Of Life Church

2012-01-15T08:00:00.000+02:00

Today is a very exciting day as Tree of Life Church meets on a Sunday morning in Macassar for the very first time.

Please join us in praying for God's name to be glorified as his kingdom is extended in Macassar.

Drum Roll Please...

2012-01-14T10:00:00.000+02:00

Just 24 hours to go...

So this morning we're out in Macassar inviting people to join us tomorrow.

Our big prayer is that the Holy Spirit would go before us and rock up on Sunday, please join us in prayer for this.

Plant A Tree

2012-01-08T18:44:00.000+02:00

This morning was a morning of mixed emotions for the Macassar crowd as it was our final morning as part of Love & Grace Church as we're planting into Macassar from next Sunday.

The mixed emotions are born out of the many friendships we've all built with folk in Mitchell's Plain and the excitement of moving into something new with God. We'll miss our friends at Love & Grace but we know we'll see each other again soon and we'll remain in contact with each other.

Our time as part of Love & Grace has been incredible as God took us all on a journey of healing, restoration and growth. At the point at which we joined Love & Grace we were very down and were all hurting quite badly and as such we had no idea where our time with Love & Grace would lead us, we certainly weren't looking to plant a church at that point!

Thankfully we serve an amazing God who gave the leadership of the church the vision of planting back into Macassar. The journey this took all of us on has been far from smooth but we are utterly convinced of God's hand on this. We've seen some great stuff happening in folks lives and we are convinced that God has a plan for Tree of Life Church in Macassar.

So there we have it, Tree of Life Church will begin meeting on Sunday mornings from next Sunday, the 15th, as well as the usual mid week stuff going on as it has been for many many months.

Please pray for the church as we plant, we know attacks will come but we want to stand firm on the Word knowing the gates of hell will never prevail!

Our really big prayer request is for new folk to join us and for someone who can lead us in worship.

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000+02:00

A very Happy Christmas to you all!

Lots of love

Dean, Paula, Joel & Eli

XXXX

Eli's 6th Birthday

2011-12-21T09:04:00.001+02:00

A very happy birthday to our special six year old bundle of endless energy and fun!

It hardly seems possible that it is six years ago today that Paula flew to Bloemfontein and held Eli for the first time as she waited to bring him home.

This little bundle of joy has transformed our family life with his boundless energy and sense of fun and also making us a truly international family.

We're so grateful to God for the miracle that is Eli and especially grateful that he blessed our lives!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!

♫♪♫School's Out For Summer♪♫♪

2011-12-10T16:47:00.000+02:00

Many of you who heard us speak on our last mission education visits or came along to one of our Facing The Mountain Roadshows will remember our two biggest prayer requests. Firstly we asked you to pray that we might be able to go church planting again, although we had no idea how this would be possible at the time. Secondly we asked that you join us in praying for our boys coming year at school but especially for Joel as we had some reservations about his year ahead.

Thankfully we serve an amazing God who answers our prayers.

God is indeed amazing and we've had some massive answers to these prayers! Firstly, we're on the cusp of planting a church back into Macassar, more on that next year, but needless to say we're really excited about it all.

Secondly, we can also report that our boys have had truly amazing years at school this year. We always knew Eli would as Teacher Chloë is brilliant and Botiswa is an absolute treasure who has known Eli for a long time now. But Joel's year has far outstripped our expectations, he's built a great relationship up with Mrs T who has worked really hard for Joel and acknowledged his areas of strength and need and really encouraged him to the point where he's grown massively in confidence through the year.

Thank you Lord!

Now we're really excited and expectant for the 2012 school year as both boys are going to have excellent teachers, both of which already know the boys quite well.

For now though we've got a long hot summer holiday to enjoy!

WHCYIAMWOTGOC

2011-12-09T19:47:00.000+02:00

On the BBC News website there is an article entitled "What would Jesus do?: The rise of a slogan"

It makes for an interesting read but I find myself disliking this logo quite intensely. I've always felt that it's a bit of a silly question for two reasons. Firstly, as the article points out, we don't really get much of a clue as to how Jesus conducted himself away from the limelight and so we can't really answer the question. Secondly, we often see Jesus popping off a miracle in a variety of circumstances and whilst Jesus told us in John 14 that we would "..do even greater things.." I and the vast majority of Christians have yet to fully understand and grasp that. So looking at a WWJD? wristband when confronted with a situation is not really a great help.

I have preached on this before and feel that rather than asking the question What Would Jesus Do? for most Christians we'd be better off learning Philippians 1:27 as a memory verse and applying it to our daily situations. It goes like this:

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ."

For me I really ought to get it printed in big bold letters and have it pinned onto my dashboard. Where would you pin these words to help you in your daily walk? I particularly like the fact that the sentence begins with "Whatever", it's not the 'whatever' of stroppy teenagers but rather the whatever that covers every situation and eventuality with no exceptions.

Sadly WHCYIAMWOTGOC doesn't trip off the tongue in quite the same way as WWJD? but I prefer it!

On The Stoep

2011-12-07T20:24:00.000+02:00

As summer finally heats up we're able to spend more and more time out on the stoep in the early evening and it makes such a refreshing change from wasting time in front of the telly.

It's a real privilege on the evenings when the southeaster isn't blowing to sip a chilled glass of vino and enjoy dinner alfresco, especially when the Hotties mountains are illuminated so beautifully by the sunset.

It's a great way to relax after a busy day!

Joel enjoying a late evening swing as he gets a bit of sneaky time outside with us after Eli's gone to bed

Rosie, the nosy neighbour!

Joel messing with Rosie

Eli's Birthday Party

2011-12-06T15:03:00.000+02:00

Once again we celebrated Eli's birthday just before the end of the school year so that as many of his friends were able to come as possible.

Much fun was had as 13 of his friends ran riot around the garden, climbing on the tree house, playing on the jungle gym, bouncing on the trampoline and getting dirty in the sand pit.

In fact so much fun was had we only had time for one organised game. Pass the Parcel went down a storm as ever and we even got away without having the inevitably distraught kid that can't accept they didn't win. Phew!

Eli wanted a picture of himself on his cake (and why not?) but sadly the icing was ruined when the cake slipped off the car seat.

So Eli's birthday month is well under way and he's really looking forward to sharing his birthday on the 21st with his middle cousin, Bethy who's joining us for Christmas.

Click here to see the full album.

Another Year Gone

2011-12-03T11:05:00.001+02:00

Not too sure what happened to the school year that was 2011 but it seems to have whizzed by. There is one week left but let's be honest, very little gets done in the last week. that will make up for the busyness of this week with awards ceremonies and school concerts, but it's been really good fun.

It's been a great year for the boys, not least for Eli who can now read and write. we're very proud of him for this achievement!

We had our concerns too at the outset of the year, particularly for Joel but he's coped admirably and had a really enjoyable year. We're really grateful for this massive answer to prayer as many of you may remember that one of our biggest prayer requests on our mission ed' trip last Christmas/New Year was for Joel's school year.
The feedback we've had from both boys' teachers has been very encouraging and we're really excited for them as they start in Year 2 for Eli and Year 4 for Joel in Jan. Both boys have excellent teachers lined up which is great to know. In fact one of the things that really excites us for the coming school year in January is the fact that just the other day we were discussing church planting with one of the teachers. Brilliant!

Click here for more pics.

Girls Will Be Girls!

2011-12-02T23:35:00.001+02:00

I had a very eagerly anticipated "girly" coffee morning with 4 special ladies at my house today - it was time to get my wonderful HOPE home based carers out of their community for a few hours to just spend time chatting, laughing, eating and reviewing the past year! Each lady is a special nugget of gold, they will definitely be taking their places at God's top table one day!! It was so good to enjoy some lovely food and to potter around the garden chatting about patients and friends and our lives. We definitely don't get time to do this often enough and I really thank God for the constant encouragement that each one of these special friends adds to my life, despite the fact that often their own lives are beyond difficult!!

As we reviewed 2011 it was really fun to show the ladies the DVD that we had made over a year ago now to take on our mission education trip last November to January! We are filled with anticipation for 2012 and the team is committed to moving onwards and upwards in loving and caring for their community. Please remember these ladies, Aunty Henna, Aunty Poppy, Lizbeth and Anne in your prayers and we are particularly asking God to move more powerfully amongst us in practical healing next year.

Please also pray for Elise in her own community who couldn't be with us today because she was busy with a World AIDS Day initiative, she really needs a partner to go around with her as she visits various patients, for safety and in order to increase her patient base. We believe God for this.

World Aids Day

2011-12-01T06:41:00.001+02:00

The world seems to have gotten a bit complacent about AIDS and the devastating effect it has so it takes a bit of shock tactics to get the world to sit up and listen.

Hopefully Willy the Tourist might help to do this.

The video doesn't seem to appear on the blog so here's the link to it: http://youtu.be/DjSv9jLt_vY

Encouraging Evening

2011-11-24T18:51:00.000+02:00

Our life group in Macassar last night was such an encouraging and humbling time.

It was a real privilege to hear testimony after testimony of how God has moved mightily through the year to bring folk to the point of being excited about planting a new church into Macassar early next year. For some of the guys there last night this has been a torrid year, starting with the collapse of the church and the hassles resulting from it. Some have then lost jobs, had to move house a number of times, had family members die, one of our number has lost two brothers this year! Others have had to look after extended family to help out financially in tough times and one family have had a terrible time with drug dealers and all sorts of related nonsense.

Through all of this each of us was able to testify to the goodness and faithfulness of our God and how he's moved throughout the year to bring each of us into a very different place from where 2011 started. Some have new jobs, some have moved jobs closer to home, some have got new homes and others have seen their daily lives transformed through prayer and God's amazing grace.

We floated home last night!

On top of all this I feel so incredibly humbled by this amazing group of folk who are so committed to planting into Macassar and seeing God's kingdom extended and his name glorified.

To be a part of these guys lives is an awesome privilege!

Weekend Stuff

2011-11-14T19:30:00.000+02:00

Summer seems to be toying with us at present as the weather has generally been pretty good during the week and then pretty horrid at weekends. Winter is definitely hanging on to the bitter end!

This last week and the weekends either side of it has been a good time for us as we've managed to sort out and rise above a bit of rubbish that was thrown our way and as a consequence find ourselves in a stronger position than before.

Praise God for friends who believe in the best of you!

Dean has particularly enjoyed the last two Sundays as he was invited to preach in Simon's Town last Sunday and at Love and Grace yesterday. It is a real joy to be able to share the Word with folk and an immense privilege too.

Our big news of the week relates to Sunday 27th and whilst we're not posting the news here we would ask that you pray for us but particularly for Dean on that day. It will be a significant step as we move closer to planting a church into Macassar. If you receive our monthly updates you'll know what we're talking about.

To that end we had an excellent time together on Wednesday and the Macassar folk are really excited about the future, especially now that plans are firming up and dates are beginning to be written down in diaries.

Sadly we had to postpone our planned potjie with friends as the weather was truly foul in the morning, however it gives us something to look forward to next weekend.

We decided to go ahead and have a potjie anyway, Joel's disappointment at the thought of not doing it was palpable! Thankfully the afternoon was one of glorious sunshine after the hail storm had cleared.

The potjie was enjoyed by all and excellent practice for this weekend coming.

Encouragement Through Perseverance

2011-11-08T19:37:00.000+02:00

I've been really encouraged of late by John Wesley and more particularly by an excerpt from his diary. John Wesley (with his brother Charles) is one of the biggest names in 18th century British history, though his impact goes way beyond Britain's borders.

So here's the excerpt from his diary:

Sunday, A.M., May 5 Preached in St. Anne's. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, P.M., May 5 Preached in St. John's. Deacons said "Get out and stay out."
Sunday, A.M., May 12 Preached in St. Jude's. Can't go back there, either.
Sunday, A.M., May 19 Preached in St. Somebody Else's. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday, P.M., May 19 Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, A.M., May 26 Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, A.M., June 2 Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.

Over a period of five short weeks Wesley was handed a seemingly never ending stream of discouragement and an endless array of obstacles being put in his way to prevent him from continuing in his ministry.

I wonder how many of those closest to him suggested that maybe he wasn't in the right job or perhaps suggested he hadn't heard from God as clearly as he thought he had? I'm sure from my own experience of fellow believers that some of his biggest discouragements came from them.

Thankfully however, Wesley persisted and his diary entry for the afternoon of the 2nd of June reads as follows:

Sunday, P.M., June 2 Afternoon, preached in a pasture. Ten thousand people came out to hear me.

WOW! What an amazing encouragement! Wesley persevered and God honoured his faithfulness.

I like this definition of persevere: to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly. - This is exactly what Wesley did despite weeks of discouragement. For most of us, and certainly for my part if I had been told on May 5 "Not to come back anymore" I probably wouldn't have gone back and would probably have given the evening service at St. John's a miss too. Wesley however preached seven times in five weeks, each time being left in no uncertain terms as to what was thought of him. Certainly that's enough discouragement to chase away the most persistent of people. Thankfully it wasn't enough for Wesley, he persevered, he fixed his eyes on the things of God and chased after them.

The rest as one might say, is history!

A Tale Of Two Guys

2011-11-04T21:31:00.000+02:00

Here's a tale of two guys I care for very much and have a huge amount of respect for and two guys who are struggling through very different but equally tough times.

As I said a few posts below Ernest has just suffered a massive stroke. Thankfully he has an amazing family around him who are taking excellent care of him. As an outsider looking in it's a real privilege to see just how well loved Ernest is. My family circle consists of Paula, my fantastic sons and my brother. Ernest had 40, yes 40 members of family by his bed the afternoon after his stroke! He's back home now and being the fighter that he is he's slowly picking up, though his speech has regressed and it's hard to understand him which obviously frustrates him. Despite this I was very moved when he asked how Paula and my boys were this morning.

Please keep Ernest in your prayers.

Micheal's life seems to be a real rollercaoster at present but if truth be told he's never recovered from the loss of Hayden in April last year. Read more about this saga here. It's not my place to go into detail here but I would ask that you also keep Micheal in your prayers. He's a great friend to me and the whole family and he's a very dependable character and we value him a great deal. He's also an excellent gardener!

I love the photo above in which Ernest and Micheal met, they also got on really well which made for a cracking morning. It was a real privilege to be able to introduce them to each other and a real thrill for me to see guys who I've had the privilege of spending time with growing in their faith.

A Little Bit Of Admin

2011-11-03T19:21:00.000+02:00

Hopefully many of you will have received our November update by email. If you haven't had it and would like to receive our monthly updates and quarterly prayerletters let us know and we'll add you to the list.

Now that we're (almost) no longer Crosslinks mission partners we're taking control of our monthly updates and prayerletters and we want to distribute these by email as much as possible. In fact we will no longer be sending the monthly updates by snail mail, apologies if this impacts you. If you have been receiving our news via snail mail but you have an email address please let us know as it's so much easier (and cheaper) to email them. If you're old fashioned like me and want a piece of paper in your hand then it's easy to print.

It feels good to have spent what feels like ages sifting through the mess of the various mailing lists etc we've inherited back. I think we've rationalised and organised everything appropriately but I guess time will tell. One thing we are excited about is that after a lot of work our email lists are fully up to date and as a result the potential readership of our updates has just doubled. Fantastic!

In time we also plan to publish links to our updates and prayerletters here on the blog but that's for later. For now we hope you'll enjoy receiving these updates, especially those of you who are new to our mailing list.

Meanwhile, should you wish to be removed from our mailings please let us know and we'll oblige as swiftly as we can. Equally, if you wish to be added either leave a comment or use the "Contact" tab at the top right side of the blog.

Occupy St Paul's!

2011-10-30T14:52:00.000+02:00

I've been watching with interest over the last week or so the debacle surrounding St. Paul's and the ridiculous way in which things are being managed.

I feel I should make some things clear at the outset. Firstly, I support the Occupy London protest and think it has a very simple and valid message that the City and govt need to listen to. Secondly, St Paul's is not a 'house of God' or a 'house of prayer'! Many may well disagree with this but as far as I am concerned it stopped being either of these things the day it introduced an admission charge. Today if you want to enter St Paul's it will cost you £14.50. I've never paid to enter a house of prayer and don't ever plan on doing so! Put quite simply, St Paul's is a museum, nothing more.

The administrators at St Paul's have clearly made some poor decisions in their management of the museum during the protests. The most obvious one being to close the museum under the pretext of 'health and safety'. So much of what is good in life is destroyed under this pretext. The media then had a field day over the wedding last weekend which was disrupted as the bride and party had to use a different entrance. In fact despite the more negative approach by the right wing media the disruption was minimal with protestors having given assurances they wouldn't hamper the proceedings. Read more here. Unfortunately, the negative spin won out, as usual.

I feel saddened that in the midst of a totally bona fide protest the protesters and St Paul's have become the baddies in the eyes of the media and therefore the public. This is particularly sad because the villain of the piece is the City and in particular the bankers who brought financial meltdown on us and yet because of the way things have been managed they've got away with being the focus of the protest.

To add insult to injury, the govt (who are also co-villains in this) refused the protestors permission to protest in Paternoster Square by the Stock Exchange because it's private property. So it's fine for the City and bankers to disrupt business but not OK for anyone to upset their business. Hmmm, something not quite right there!

I like this response to the debacle: Occupy London could be protected by Christian ring of prayer. It does beg the question what would Jesus' response be to this? Personally I think he would chase the 'money changers' out of St Paul's so it could once again become a house of prayer. Interested to know what you think?

B. A. Eli

2011-10-28T17:34:00.000+02:00

In honour of our school's International Day tomorrow Eli asked for his hair to be like B.A.'s and Daddy simply couldn't refuse the opportunity to have a go at doing it.

Eli's well chuffed with it!

Not sure what his teacher or the Principal might think of it, I guess it might have to disappear in time for Monday morning.

On a more serious note we had a great life group meeting together in Macassar last night. We had an excellent turnout and were able to talk about how we want church life to be in Macassar and I think we all left feeling very encouraged. We all agreed we need to be more committed to each other and the pending church plant and also for the need to reach out to friends and neighbours in the community.

Personally I can't wait to see the group take more shape and for us to grow numerically and spiritually in preparation for planting the new church.

Neighbourhood Watch CNP Style

2011-10-27T18:11:00.000+02:00

So often in life it is the same people who do everything and this is often met with criticism or complaint. In the case of Chris Nissen Park we are always so thrilled to see men and women who are solid, full of Jesus Christ and committed to serving in their community taking on the roles.

It is so exciting to see again two of the HOPE Home Based Care team taking the lead in Chris Nissen in the fight against crime. All of these ladies are loved in the community and we are proud of them. In particular go Anne and go Aunty Poppy!!