Saturday, June 27, 2015

One House - One Vehicle - One Heart

TRANSITION BACK TO SOUTH AFRICA
Our sweet, little Gracie announced beautifully in a video (check it out on Facebook – Mason Family Missions) that, yes, the Gager and Mason family live in Africa together in a WHOLE house, ONE house.  There are 9 of us living in one 3-bedroom + loft house, driving one vehicle, united in one heart…..and it’s a beautiful thing!  The church we currently attend, Joshua Generation, is about 12 minutes from our home.  Here is a picture of us cramming into one 2-door vehicle so we could attend a church service last Sunday.  Christian, Gracie and I were in the trunk, yes, the trunk!  Josiah sat on Josh’s lap in the front while Matt drove and the rest sat in the middle.  We joked around about how we probably looked like one of those cars where clowns kept coming out! J  We are able to borrow this vehicle until mid-July, so we will be in need of another vehicle soon.

Some of you might think this is a “sacrifice”, but I have heard of greater sacrifices – like people walking for days to attend church.  Aren’t we supposed to count it all as joy?!?!  Americans have no idea just how good they have it.  I truly have a thankful heart for the things we do have, even if others have the perspective that we lack because of our choice to live a simple life.  I have never felt more blessed and rich as I have let go of materialistic possessions and “conveniences” and grown in my walk with Him.  He has captured my heart!  The toilet in our family’s bathroom had been taking about 10 minutes for the tank to fill all the way up so that it could be flushed again, which typically means that if someone else has to use the toilet they’d need to wait.  The other day I was flushing the toilet and found myself THANKING God for a toilet that flushes and has water because Josh and I experienced times in Mozambique where we had to fill up the tanks with water bottles just so we could flush them, and then there were times where we had to conserve water and not flush for a period of time or even go to the bathroom in a community latrine (a hole in the ground).  I speak to Americans because I am an American, but I encourage you to change your perspective and wake up to just how good you have it compared to much of the world.  When you find yourself complaining about what you don’t have, inconveniences or finding yourself asking for “more”, stop for a moment and thank the Lord for what you do have.  The Lord gives and He takes away, and we must learn to let our petitions be known to the Lord and then be content in our given situation no matter how He chooses to provide (Philippians 4:11-12).  We must also take a stance to fight off any attacks of the enemy to kill, steal and destroy what the Lord intended for us through steadfast prayer, but thankfully the Lord uses every situation for good to those that love Him and seek Him in all situations.

I’ve heard it said that, as children of God, we are entitled to the best of the best.  While this is true and the Father likes to give His children good gifts, in my heart I’ve been pondering a lot about what this personally means to me.  When I think of living an abundant life (John 10:10), there is nothing more I’d rather have than an overflow of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) so that I can give it away to others.  To me, becoming more like His character is one of the greatest gifts He could give me.  Did you know that when you pray for peace, God will allow you to be in positions that “test” your peace and how much you are turning to Him for strength?  When you pray for love, God will allow you to be in positions that “test” just how much you love your enemies?  He doesn’t just automatically give us the fruits of His spirit.  The only way to have these is to choose to be connected to Him, the vine (John 15).  If you are feeling empty of these things or frustrated with a certain person or situation, might it be that you have chosen to disconnect from the Lord and take your focus off Him?

Community living requires adjustment and laying down one’s life for another – something the Lord has been speaking to me about this past month.  Last Sunday he spoke to me about “giving up my right to be right for the sake of others.”  This is something I am continually growing in, especially through the transition of community living.  To me, laying down one’s life is really all about living a selfless life and honoring others.  It doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice or opinion.  It just means you seek wisdom on when it’s important to voice it or not.  I am one who likes efficiency, and this is not a bad thing, but not everyone is efficient or has experienced the same things I have.  Rather than allow pride to drop a seed in my heart, telling me my way is the only way, He is teaching me more about what His love and grace looks like as I continue to lay down my life for others (John 15:13).  I want to be a leader that empowers others and gives them an opportunity to grow.  There must be a balance between wisdom and grace, however.  The Lord told me I’d be walking into a season that would require greater grace, and I have definitely been placed in positions where I can choose to walk in grace or not.  It is my choice and sometimes I falter but continue to surrender my weaknesses to Him so that my heart can remain pure and free.

LIVING QUARTERS
Our lease for this home is up at the end of August.  We are seeking the Lord for where He would have us go next.  We have been looking for land to begin our vision of growing a garden and constructing transition homes and/or homes for children, in addition to paying parolees to help prepare the land, assist with construction, and mentor them on other levels.  Today we looked at a piece of land about 15 miles outside of town.  It is approximately 20 hectares (50 acres) and is selling for R3.5 million ($300,000 US).  This is an incredible deal for the amount of land and beauty that surrounds the property.  It has a stream that runs through the property that would provide for 11 hectares of irrigation for farming/gardening, and there is a great amount of fertile soil and level land that already exists on the property.  Currently, the house water is provided by one of the neighbors with the agreement that he can utilize the dirt road that runs through the property for driving on.  One full functioning house already exists on the premises.  There is another structure that can be portioned into 2 bedrooms and has a bathroom and kitchen (minus a stove).  There is also another small living quarter for workers.  Someone currently leases the property but is ready to move out.  They still must give their 2-month notice…..we have almost exactly 2 months left on our lease.  We’ve also been told that the owner may include the sale of his truck as part of the negotiation.  Come on Lord!  As we don’t currently have the funds to pay full cash for this property or any vehicle, we are praying for wisdom and favor on how to negotiate a lease-to-own contract.  Your prayers over this land and vehicle would be greatly appreciate.

FREEDOM WALKERS (parolees)
We were very excited to reunite with the Freedom Walkers (the parolees we had been meeting with prior to our departure to the States), but unfortunately the process has changed and now we must be approved by the government to be Service Providers for the Department of Corrections before we continue meeting with them.  Our hearts were saddened by this news.  We will be meeting with the Development & Care coordinator in the near future to present our vision.  Once a date is set, we will send out an update so you all can be praying.  In the meantime, as we develop our presentation, please pray for wisdom, creativity and passion to overflow - that the Lord’s heart for these guys would shine brightly and that no eyes would be blind to it.

WORSHIP & PRAYER



We have enjoyed spending time in worship and prayer together.  My heart is that we would all go deeper in this area.  Please pray against any distractions that would come to steal this time and place people in a state of complacency or dryness.  The Lord feeds the hungry and quenches the thirsty!  Pray that ears and hearts would be more open to His leading and that both families, especially us parents, would remain in a place of unity, peace and honor – that hearts would be transparent with the Lord and each other.  We are all in transition and it may take longer for some, so that is a great opportunity to put His power in our lives to practice.

FOUR18.ORG
If the Lord is leading you to help provide financial support in what He’s doing through us in South Africa, you can submit a tax-deductible donation on our Web site at www.four18.org.  We know that it will take an army of kingdom believers to further the vision He has given us.  What seems impossible, He makes possible as we trust in Him and walk out our faith and love for Him!  We encourage you to browse our Web site to see what other ways you can become involved.  We thank you, in advance, for following along on our journey, encouraging us and providing support in whatever way you feel led.  We’d love to hear from any of you, so feel free to send us an e-mail so we can keep up-to-date on what’s going on in your life.  From all of us, we love you and are thankful for you!




Sunday, June 7, 2015

Our Time in the States

This post contains much joy and much sadness, as I write to you about our 2-month experience in the States.  From the moment we arrived back in April, we were showered with love and generosity, as many reached out to us and offered a place for us to stay and a vehicle to drive.  We spent the first 2 weeks helping our friends, the Gager Family, get moved out of their house and prepare them for the transition to come to South Africa with their two children: Eric (17) and Abby (14).  Aside from that, our highest priority was submitting our visa applications, but we ran into some roadblocks with that from day one of arriving to the States.  Clearly, the Lord worked it all out, as we are on our way back to South Africa with visas intact.  However, it is not without much sadness in leaving our oldest daughter, Jade, behind.


Within weeks of being back, we were served court papers.  Jade’s birth mom wanted full custody of Jade and was backing out of her original agreement for Jade to live in Africa for 2 years.  As you can imagine, this was very frustrating and a complete shock for us, although the Lord had already been preparing me for this battle in my own heart before we even came back to the States.  To stay in a place of honor towards those involved, I won’t go into details of the events that took place regarding the court case or spiritual attacks that Jade came under, but in the end I will say that Jade made the personal choice to stay with her birth mom instead of returning with us to South Africa.  It’s hard to watch your children battle with discerning God’s voice vs. setting aside their emotions to make wise decisions, but we have chosen to honor Jade’s heart in this matter and pray that her desire to get to know her birth mom better will be far better than she ever expected.  Even when the enemy tries to have his way and thinks he has won, we know that all things work together for His good to those that know and love Him!  Even though it is heart breaking, Josh was finally given peace to surrender Jade into the Lord’s care.  We said our “see you laters” with much tears and look forward to when Jade visits us again in South Africa next summer.  Through this storm, mine and Josh’s hearts remained pure and we walked in integrity when others did not.  It could have been so easy for us to manipulate, lie, guilt, buy Jade’s love and get our way in this situation, but we chose to take the highroad and not seek vengeance.  In our hearts, we won and are victorious in the Lord’s sight!  We ask for and appreciate your prayers as we all adjust to Jade not being with us.  In all her life (almost 13 years), she’s never been apart from us for more than 2 weeks, and that’s only when Josh and I went to Micronesia.  She’s got a tough transition and journey ahead of her, but we pray it’s one of beauty, peace, joy and love and that her identity continues to be strengthened in the Lord.  Many have reached out to us in this situation and offered to keep in touch with Jade and take her to church and youth group, and for that we are grateful!  We pray that the Lord continues to surround her with people that walk a life with Him and can pour godly wisdom into her life while we continue to do so from a distance.

During our time here, we were able to meet with a couple that was preparing to head to Mozambique for Iris Harvest School of Missions.  We didn’t know them much personally, but it’s like our hearts were already knit together.  We were able to help pave a “realistic” path for them of what to expect based off our experience in Mozambique back in 2012.  They blessed us in return with encouragement, love and support.  We enjoyed much eating, fellowship, prayer and worship with many of our old friends and new friends.  Pastors, church staff and prayer teams from various different churches met with us and released encouragement over our family.  The Lord expanded our pastoral covering, which had been the desire of our hearts for some time now.  God worked wonders in building the foundational structure for the ministry He has called us to in South Africa.  We were given opportunities to speak and share our hearts for what is to come, and many have shown interest in wanting to support us through prayer and finances.  We’ve even spoken to people whom are praying into serving in South Africa with us for short-term and long-term missions.  How exciting!  We were gifted with a great amount of funding during our 2-month visit, which helped us with court costs, visas, living expenses, return flights and other necessities.  The Lord has been so good to us as we continue to step out in faith and obedience no matter the cost!  Some might say it cost us our daughter.  Some might say we’re crazy and foolish.  In the Lord’s eyes, we have chosen Him and KNOW that God will restore everything that has been taken from us in His perfect timing.

My glasses broke almost 2 years ago, and God laid it on someone’s heart to buy me 2 new pairs of glasses while we were in the States.  Josh and I were also gifted with an overnight stay at the Anniversary Inn, which included $50 towards dinner.  When ordering homeschool curriculum, some friends gave us material for free, which was a huge blessing!  We also received a gift card to a restaurant, personal cards and warmer clothing/shoes for our children to take back with us, as we’ll be entering the winter season (50-60’s).  It’s definitely not like winter in Idaho, but the homes have no insulation and heating, so it will be a whole new experience for us.  Our family, along with the Gagers, were blessed with free accommodations at a beautiful home in McCall for 3 nights.  It was a great time for our families to have fun together and get away from all the busyness.  While there some people from a local church body, along with our amazing friends, prayed over us and spent time in worship together.  We were also able to spend time with my family in Eastern Idaho, along with 2 visits with my brother in jail, and help my mom do some restoration work on her home in Wendell to prepare to sell it.

Matt and Josh were able to complete what was needed to setup our non-profit organization: Four18 Ministries.  We have 3 great board members and mighty men of God that are taking this responsibility full on.  You can check out the Web site at www.four18.org.  We are not about “starting our own ministry.”  This is primarily an avenue for those that have shown interest in wanting to support us financially and through prayer.  Donations can be submitted online and go directly into our joint ministry account.  Key prayer points will also be listed on this site.  It is a work-in-progress as the Lord continues to show us what He wants done.

Days before us and the Gagers were scheduled to fly out, we still didn’t have visas.  On Tuesday, June 2 Josh said he was going to make a phone call to the SA consulate.  Matt happened to suggest that, in his experience, no one typically answers until 1:30pm.  It was around 10am and I encouraged Josh to try calling anyway.  Sure enough, someone answered on the first try.  At first the lady was a bit short with Josh and asked why we were going to South Africa.  After he shared with her our hearts, her tone and demeanor took a 180 and she said that she wants to partner with what we’re doing and connect us to others within the government that can help.  This person with whom he was speaking turned out to be the VICE consulate – 2nd in command at the US consulate for South Africa.  God completely set us up with this divine phone call, of which we are completely in awe of His mighty work!  We will be in touch with the vice consulate in December, as she will be traveling to SA around that time.  For those that may not understand the significance of this phone call, in order for us to purchase land, we must have sponsors within the government.  Well, the Lord has connected us with 2 people now within the government.  He knows our needs and walks before us every step of the way!!

For months the Lord has been speaking to me about entering into a greater season of faith and trust for our family.  That season has begun.  This journey has not been without mountains to climb, but we have climbed the mountains with our hearts wide open for the Lord to use us and minister to us in whatever way He wanted.  We continue to trust in Him and look forward to learning more about the depths of His love in greater measure!!