Jonathan and Kelly Missions

Take Away

2011-08-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

It's been about three weeks since we've been back from Uganda and Rwanda. We've adjusted back to our busy lives fairly easily. This trip was very different than our last one to Africa. South Africa left me feeling a little depressed and hopeless that the little I was able do there on the ground would change anything. However, it also left me with a sense of urgency to do more once I got back, not just in South Africa, but in all things. We began working with a refugee family in San Antonio that came to be like part of our family. That stirred in us doing missions work full time. We struggled to find where that place was and within a few months, we knew where God was pulling.

Our lives changed drastically after that South Africa trip, but this East Africa trip was so different. We knew there would be no drastic game plan for us when we returned to the States. We were coming back to Chamblee to continue our work with Communicycle and Open Table Community Church. This trip, instead of breaking me down and opening my eyes to pain in this world, lifted my spirits up. I experienced joy and hope. We saw God working and changing the plans of our trip so artfully like a potter molding his clay and it was a beautiful masterpiece starting to take form. I came back ready to serve more faithfully, work harder to get to know those our community, love deeper those who surround us, and let go a little more the plans I had for my life to allow God to rearrange his clay to his liking.

This Saturday, we will set up Communicycle Clarkston. From our first week in Atlanta we knew we wanted a Communicycle shop there, but we couldn't see how to make it happen. Within the last few months, that dream has finally come to fruition and it is a joy knowing this is not something we did. All the pieces fell into places little by little and it is truly the work of God.

We will never forget Rwanda and Uganda. It has changed how we see this world and how we love people. It has fine tuned our work here in Atlanta, given us new fervor in our purpose and we are thankful for the chance to grow.

Day 7- last day in Africa

2011-07-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

We awoke in our Ggaba Road hotel to a stuffy room, as the power never came back on to power the fan. Like I said before, this is what happens in Africa. It seems so strange to us to live without electricity for more than a few hours, but no one here has air conditioning and everyone has a generator if they can afford it. We had a small breakfast, packed our bags for the trip home, and waited for David's van to pick us up.

We made our way across town through the crowded Saturday morning Kampala traffic to pick up the boys for a day of fun. Kampala traffic is great! Speed limits are implied, there are no stop signs, and there are very few street lights. Everyone, pedestrians, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, cars, and vans, all just share the road. There is also no concept of "safe distance" or "personal space." Anything with wheels is used to haul every sort of cargo: human, animal, plant, or object. Jonathan enjoyed the libertarian approach to traffic.

We picked up Nicholas at his home, then Stuart and Brian at theirs and headed off to a market for a little shopping. The market was clearly set up mostly for tourists, so we bought a few gifts for our friends back home and left, lest we bore the boys. Onward to Garden City Mall.

This mall was pretty similar to an American mall, but with an outdoor kind of feel. The boys had not had a lot of experience with shopping malls (perhaps none at all), so this was a very new experience for them. We wandered around the mall a bit and soon decided that we were hungry enough for lunch. Ugandan mall food courts are a bit different from their American counterparts. The basic layout looks just like what we are used to, but instead of approaching the restaurant and ordering, you just sit down and waiters from all of the restaurants swarm your table to hand you menus. There was a pretty wide selection of international foods so Kelly and Jonathan had Greek and Chinese food while the boys all fried chicken and chips (aka fries), with rice and Coke. The food court has a balcony that overlooks a beautiful golf course so we all stood there and watched the golfers and storks that roam the landscape.

We found our way upstairs to an arcade where we spoiled the boys with video game tokens for a while. The boys might never have played games like this before. Most of the games were a bit out-dated but fun nonetheless. They were really into the equipment-heavy games like the ones that have plastic motorcycles you actually sit on and guns you fire at the screen.

The arcade also has a bowling alley, which proved to be the most fun. We thought it best to put up the bumpers on the lane, reasoning that chucking the ball at the pins without gutters might better suit the skill level a group of boys. We were right. We also eschewed all convention and played the most anarchic game of bowling ever played. No one took turns and no scores were kept. The game's computer keeps score, but everyone just hucked the ball at will any time they felt like taking a turn. There was probably more dancing and hand-standing than bowling that afternoon. We had the whole place to ourselves!

Bowling was followed by ice cream! We lounged lazily at the ice cream shop and enjoyed some sweet, cold treats. Jonathan got a coveted energy drink instead, the first in about a week, which is very difficult for an addict. We took the boys to a grocery store downstairs and gave them a little free spending money. Stuart and Brian bought very practical food items instead of toys, which surprised us. Nicholas bought a soccer ball (please note we had given Stuart a soccer ball yesterday so maybe he felt he had what he needed in that dept) Stuart fell asleep in the van on the ride home and Kelly held on to his melted icecream so he would not spill it on himself.

We dropped off Nicholas at his home and met his caretaker, who told us a great deal more about Nicholas' story. It turns out that he has been passed around among family members for several years and no one could take care of him long-term. One person, an Uncle, even tried to kill him at one point. We also heard the story of another girl, Rachel, that his caretaker brought into the family. It is a real blessing that this sweet family has given Nicholas and Rachel a home and that the Africa Renewal Ministries US office can sponsor Nicholas. We left him with some snacks and toys (including a Frisbee we showed them how to use), prayed with them and said our goodbyes.

Next, we visited Stuart's family. Mamma Gitta welcomed us in again and Stuart retrieved a borrowed bicycle to ride with Jonathan. Jonathan, being unable to shut off his bicycle mechanic instincts, pulled out his tools and made some minor repairs and adjustments. Jonathan and Stuart raced up and down the dirt roads in the neighborhood and a small crowd of children gathered on the sides of the street to witness the mzungu on a bicycle doing wheelies in the street. Breathless and sweating, the boys finally returned to visit with Mamma Gitta, Kelly, and Reagan. We gave Stuart a few more gifts, drank some awesome juice, and got to see pictures of their family as they tell us more about their lives. Mamma is an extremely resourceful woman who is friendly and hospitable. Reagan is a bright young man, we see he has a bright future despite the fact that he doesn't have a sponsor to help fund his education. Brian is quite, but friendly. He also doesn't have a sponsor. Mamma Gitta funds their education by selling both her own produce in the market and also working in the market selling others produce for them. She uses the money we send her wisely, buying goats or chicks that she can raise and then sell. They have a nice little house with electricity and all, with 4 banana trees and a small crop of maize in the back which they grow to sell. Mamma Gitta had saved two (live) chickens for us as a gift to take home, but we had to explain that we could not take them home. Even if we could carry them, customs would have never allowed them into the country. The fact that we would not know what to DO with a pair of chickens if we got them home. We did not want to handle them anyways because their were fierce looking chickens. Tiny dinosaurs with feathers! It was the sweetest gift though. We asked her to either eat them or sell them at the market instead.

Saying goodbye was difficult. We have spend several years now sponsoring Stuart and returning his letters, and this time in his home was way too short. We wished them all well and took in all the love and images we could before shuttling off in the van. Stuart was very strong, trying to hold back tears, but who knows how he managed after we left.

We attended the Saturday evening church service at the Ggaba Community Center Church with our guides. This seemed to be the youth-driven service, similar to Sunday evening college ministry services we have attended in the US. The music was loud and the message uplifting. We could not stay late though, we had a plane to catch. We picked up David's girlfriend and drove with them and Michael with his wife toward the airport. We passed miles of suburban Kampala, mostly old buildings, shacks, shops, and crowded roadsides. It was Saturday night and everyone was out walking and riding bikes around the neighborhoods.

We ate dinner at a nice restaurant near the airport and Lake Victoria. It was a lovely cool evening and we were just three young couples enjoying a night out with dinner. It was just like any other night out with friends for us, but these Ugandan friends were new and very different from us in several ways. It's amazing how dinner and Jesus can make all those things fade away and we can just enjoy each others' company.

We were dropped off at the Entebe airport with warm goodbyes, but our hearts were heavy with knowledge that we would soon be leaving this wonderful warm place. The flight back was the usual blur of zombie-like consciousness. We shared a plane with several of the crew we left in Rwanda just a few days earlier, who were all following roughly the same route back to the US through Amsterdam. We had (more) coffee in the airport at Amsterdam and caught up with our crew there to swap stories about the things we did after we split up. Apparently the Saddleback group had more than a few close encounters with baboons in Rwanda. Fun!

We finally arrived in Atlanta after what might have been the longest day ever! We had been chasing the Sun around the globe for a few hours. The day was also our wedding anniversary, but we were too pooped to go out and celebrate. Ian picked us up from the airport and we made our customary visit to Taco Cabana (there's only one in Atlanta, thank goodness it's there though). Every journey should end at Taco Cabana with a friend sharing our journey.

Day 6- Kampala and meeting Stuart

2011-07-18T03:57:00.000-07:00

We awoke early to the sound of loud birds, roosters, and honking cars on Ggaba Road. We can see Lake Victoria through the smog and mist from our balcony. We ate a small breakfast with some wonderful fresh juice before Michael and David from ARM picked us up in the morning.

Our van took us through the bumpy dirt roads along the lake, which are lined with tiny shops, salons, and grocers. We visited the Ggaba Community Church Campus, including the ARM offices and Ggaba Road Schools. It was great to see where all the ground-level work goes on for the organization where Kelly worked for several years in America. We met nearly everyone on staff including an old friend, Kenneth, and learned more about their programs and future plans. It's located right along Lake Victoria with a breath taking view.

David then drove us to the Loving Hearts Home for Babies, an orphanage for babies age 0-2 years. The house has about 18 babies in it and we spent the following two hours playing with the toddlers. They were very intrigued with our glasses, our hair, and Kelly's necklace. These children were either found abandoned, surrendered to the orphanage, orphaned by death of parents and various situations. We were left alone in a room with about a dozen babies who wanted to be picked up, sang to, and just needed someone to climb on. We were barely in the door before about 4 started walking toward us with open arms. It's exhausting work and we were only there a short time! We helped the "aunties" settle the kids in for lunchtime and fed them cereal. It was difficult to leave knowing how much attention these kids craved, but we had to head off in other direction.

We ate lunch with David at an Italian restaurant. It was a nice little joint, nothing fancy. It was cool to eat somewhere local. There's an abundance of "international" food in Kampala.

Next, we visited the school that Nicholas, the student that Kelly's former office staff at Africa Renewal Ministries US sponsor together. Nicholas was a very quiet boy at first, but we asked him a lot about his classes and home and such. He is in Primary 4 grade about 11 years old and lives with a caretaker who lives close by to the school. We learned more about his story later, but essentially Nicholas had been passed around among family members for a while, none of them could take care of him. He is now in the care of a wonderful family and supported by ARM to go to school.

Lastly that day, we visited Stuart's school in the Deo ARM Project. We drove into the gate of the school and parked, seeing kids running everywhere in the yard and wondering which one is Stuart. Instead, Stuart found us immediately as we exited the van. He was so quick that we didn't have time to react. It was a wonderful reunion of sorts. We have been writing to Stuart and reading his letters for so long and we finally got to meet our little guy! We went with him to the school office to meet with the staff for a bit and talk to him about school. His english is great!. One of the translaters there asked him in Lugandan if he needed help translating. He said, "No i've been practicing" He's a bright kid, funny, strong, healthy, loves soccer and outdoorsy boy things like handstands. You could tell he was pretty proud of us being there. It became obvious though that Stuart was getting bored sitting in the office while his peers played in the yard or waited in the doorway to meet us, so we went out with him and asked him to show us his soccer moves. He was delighted to show us! Stuart and the students played the wildest soccer game we've ever seen. Every corner of the yard was fair play, with no goals in sight. It was total pandemonium, but it was a game that would never end if allowed to go on.

Eventually we gathered Stuart and his brother Brian and walked back to Stuart's house a few blocks away. He lives in a house behind some shops, guarded by a steel gate. They have concrete porch and a small parlor where we sat and visited for a while. Stuart's mom, who we call Mamma Gitta, was wonderful. The whole family speaks excellent English, so we were glad that language was not a barrier. They decorated the house with posters of photos that we sent them mixed with photos of their family. We learned that Reagan, the oldest brother, is attending a college to study mechanical engineering. We were also sad to learn that Stuart's dad died a few months ago, leaving the family without his financial support. They seem well-off, considering this fact, and we know that Mamma Gitta is a very smart lady who knows how to handle money and resources well. Kelly and Mamma really hit it off. She is such a cool lady. We gave Stuart some new clothes and a soccer ball and just enjoyed each other's company for a while before heading out. We knew we would be back soon enough.

Dinner at the hotel was lovely. Kelly made a special request for matoke and local fish (tilapia) , which was not on the menu. It's a staple food in Uganda made form steamed, mashed green bananas. It is a lot like mashed potatoes but with a slight banana taste. As we finished eating, the power went out and a generator at the hotel kicked in. The generator would continue to power the hotel until about halfway through the night when we noticed the room get warmer because the fan stopped working. The climate here is cool enough that we don't ever recall seeing and air conditioner, just lots of open windows and fans. Sometimes in Africa, the power goes out, and it does not come back on for a long time. Everyone seemed to be pretty used to that.

Day 5, Thursday

2011-07-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

This was our final day in Rwanda as we traveled to Uganda. We ate breakfast and said our goodbyes, knowing that the rest of the SBL team has a long, challenging next few days ahead.

We were dropped off at the airport at 9 am for our 10:30 flight. Security was a breeze but check-in was a bit of a hassle for some reason. Once we boarded the plane, Jonathan was seated next to a man named John Baptist who is a evangelist in Uganda. Jonathan had a great conversation with him for a few minutes but then the flight crew told us to exit the plane. It turns out that the cargo doors would not close, so flying would probably result in dropping our luggage all over Lake Victoria. We waited again in the airport and talked to John for a bit, then met a Chinese man who was working and flying with the Chinese ambassador to an east African nation (we can't remember which now, either Sudan or Rwanda).

Then the airline invited us to go have a complementary drink at the cafe, so Jonathan had an espresso and Kelly had a Fanta limon. We met a couple who were from Canada and Panama and talked to an Australian lady about the availability of Fanta in her country. The flight finally boarded again, two hours late, but we had a much more international experience than we bargained for. Jonathan continued his conversation with John on the plane. They talked history, economics, and culture and learned much from each other about each ones' respective country.

The plane ride over Lake Victoria (source of the Nile River) was short, but waiting in line for a Visa was not. Finally, we exited the airport and met Michael and David from Africa Renewal Ministries, who would be our guides in Uganda for a few days. The hotel is very nice and we'll be staying here two night and spending our time visiting with ARM staff, working at Loving Hearts baby home, and of course, hanging out with our students, Nicholas and Stuart!

Day 4 Wednesday

2011-07-14T09:56:00.002-07:00

Day 4 Wednesday-
Another night of good sleep. Let's make a regular thing out of this.

Most of day was spent at the Kayonza school visiting with kids and touring the facility. Some kids at this school are orphans and others have families in towns in the region. We drove the bus a few miles out of Kigali before one of our team got very sick. We decided to turn around and take him back to house for the day in case he had further problems. Take two.

The drive too the East Provence took about an hour and took us through even more mountains and villages. We arrived at the school and learned about the houses where small groups of children live most of the time except holidays. Each house has about 16 kids in it and a house mother and they intentionally arrange the house to be similar to a middle-class home so the kids will strive for good jobs in the future. We sat with the kids in the cafeteria and talked to them about their classes, their homes, and their aspirations. While eating corn bread and beans, several boys told me that they are in 4th or 5th grade and most of them want to be doctors or pilots. Jonathan sat with some boys named Moses, Isaac, and Kevin.

After the student's lunch, we our our own lunch and relaxed in one of the houses before the tiring, endless task of entertaining dozens of children outside with games. We emerged and jumped into games of Frisbee and a dodgeball-type game with a home-made ball from plastic bags and rubber bands. Between activities, the kids hugged and clung to every adult they could. These kids have a great loving school staff to support them, but they are affection starved most of the time.

Kelly, Betsy, and Joe of the SBL customer service team got to meet Joyce, the 17 year-old student the customer service team have been sponsoring together. Joyce had been driven from many hours away and stayed the previous night at the school so she could meet us. (Betsy and Joe will see her again tomorrow.) She spoke little English but Obed, a Rwandan student from the same school who now lives in the US, helped translate. Both Joyce and the Americans were a bit overwhelmed and had little to say, but meetings like this require few words to understand the love and appreciation that is shared. As you can imagine hugs were abundant.

Lastly, we visited the decrepit volleyball or basketball, not sure which it was, that we are contributing to so it can be re-done to be a viable athletic court again.

After leaving the school, we visited the home of Emmanuel and his family, the sponsored student of Jimi and Dana on our team. It was a very emotional, eye-opening time for us all, especially for Dana and Jimi. Our presence in this agricultural neighborhood caused quite a sensation. We also learned that Obed's family lives right across the street and met his brother Eric and his mother. We really enjoyed hanging out with Eric. He's is a delightful young man that was a joy to be around and very sad to have to leave him. They have a lovely garden with sorghum, bananas, and corn. Seeing Emmanuel with his sponsors has us very excited about our meeting with Stuart on Friday.

The evening's debriefing discussion was very rich. The illuminations we are receiving are amazing and will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

Day 3- Tuesday

2011-07-14T09:56:00.001-07:00

We slept a solid eight hours for the first time in several days. Everything seems so much more lucid today with some decent sleep instead of the zombie state we have been in for the last few days. Breakfast was pleasant and relaxing and we headed back to the Africa New Life Dream Center to tour the women's program there.

Africa New Life invites the most vulnerable women in the city learn to sew professionally so that they can survive on their own financially. We learned that they cost of the program is about $60 a month and the women need a manual sewing machine that costs about $100 to get started when they graduate. The program graduates 70 women each year for the last few years and has been in operation for seven years. We Americans got very excited about this because we realized the opportunity that we have to assist them from overseas.

After touring the training workshop, we met at the church to meet some of the ladies. They sang some songs for us and half of us, including Kelly, danced with them. Africans and sing and clap in such a way that stirs the soul in ways no one else can. The clapping is infectous and you can't help but try to sing along even if you have no idea what the words mean. Their style of singing and dancing expresses so thoroughly their faith and joy, and the faith and joy of this country is tremendous, considering their recent past.

We learned all we could about the program and then some of the ladies shared their stories with us. Both of the stories we heard were very painful, albiet devoid of much detail. These stories of hard lives punctuated with troubles during the 1994 civil war are so painful that they cannot share all of the details. Most profound to us was the story of a lady who, as a young girl, was dropped in Lake Kivu to drown, twice, and survived. That episode would have not had much effect on us if not for the fact that, entirely contrary to our plans, we all considered the possibility of drowning in Lake Kivu ourselves as our rickety boat threatened to capsize. We may very well have walked on the same shores where this lady was sent to die, and the ones where she was rescued. That made it real. That was part two of God's plan on Lake Kivu that seemed so much like a mistake.

We then visited the workshop where some of the graduate women work to support themselves and the education program. Jonathan was measured and has a shirt being made for him and Kelly is having some wrap pants made, which we hope to get by the end of the week. Our small purchase will hopefully lead to more people buying clothes and bags and helping this program to grow.

After lunch, we toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial and it's museum. The grounds have several symbolic gardens and about a dozen mass graves where genocide victims have been given a respectful burial over the past few years. As Kelly approached the last burial slab, she heard and then saw children playing in the village downhill from the memorial. School had just gotten out and the kids were coming home in a city that, from what we can tell, is moving forward away from it's dark past. It's becoming evident as we all share our stories that the museum must have planed this area for the location on purpose, building in a place where life is full and wonderful. It really brings the perspective of change and hope.

The museum exhibits start with a brief history of Rwanda and how division was implanted by colonial powers and how the rivalry between these contrived groups festered and turned to violence. Then it discusses the long-term affects of depression, disease, and destruction crippled the country as a whole for generation. The reconcilliation process is the justice the country is seeking now. Rather than simply punishing the "bad guys," Rwanda is using a tradional African style of court in which perpetrators must stand trial and confess their crimes to their victims and ask forgiveness. This is the only hope they have for long-term healing and we agree that it's much more effective and morally pure than punitive "justice."

In the other section of the museum, the exhibits explore in detail other genocides in Nanimbia, the Holocuast, the Armenians in Turkey, Cambodia, and the Balkans. It's interesting to learn that the US, the UK, and a few other countries are complicit with Turkey in denying the Armenian genocide by refusing to formally acknowledge that it happened. The abilities of humans to be swayed by propaganda to become ruthless killers over religion, race, and culture is astounding. This whole section of the museum has odd-shaped rooms that are difficult to navigate, which is very disorientating, and probably intensionally so. The museum and memorial make a point of education for the purpose of preventing future genocides, so my only criticism is that no mention of genocide in Sudan is made. Maybe they are working on it, maybe they don't have the spare right now. (after thought- Little did we know at the time documents were being signed for South Sudan. When we got to Uganda we found this out. We were told "this is an answer to our prayers. We are so excited for our neighbors)

The last room of the museum is dedicated to child victims of the genocide. A bright-lit room has about a dozen enlarge photos of children age 15 months to 12 years with their names, favorite foods, family members, and how they died. Some were hacked with machetes, beaten with clubs, or shot. One was slung bodily into a wall. Jonathan only made it halfway through the exhibit the first time through and left without reading them all, only to return with a slow-moving Kelly to view the whole thing. Kelly was pretty devastated by this part of the exhibit. Wanting children of our own so badly finding it hard to realize anyone could do these things to a child. The most upsetting that will stick with her, a baby killed by being thrown against a wall.

In the evening we returned to the guest house and visited the market again. We bought a few gifts and exchanged some Rwandan vocabulary for English. One of the teenage boys on our team initiated and thoroughly lost a break dancing competition. More children approached us and demanded cash. They were wonderful kids but we had nothing to give them and it's probably best that we didn't give them handouts. Having satisfied our urge to shop and pursue adventure, we left for home to eat and reflect on our day. One of our team had his passport and ID lifted from his backpack, but we made it home otherwise unscathed.

Day 2

2011-07-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

Awake at 4:30 am for breakfast after about one hour of sleep for Jonathan, zero hours for Kelly. A cocktail of noisy neighbors, fighting dogs, airplanes, and general over-stimulation kept us both up most of the night. Coffee, awesome samosas, oranges, and we were on our way to Lake Kivu, in the dark, in a crowded bus. The plan was a ride a small boat to Iwawa, a small island in the middle of the lake where what Americans might called "at risk youth," young men specifically, are sent to learn job skills and personal development so they can be put back into Rwandan society in hopes that they won't return to crime.

After about three hours of cruising the most gorgeous mountain countryside on the planet (fact, not opinion), we arrived at the north shore of Lake Kivu.

*Jonathan's side note- I seriously considered wandering into the bush and becoming a farmer just to enjoy the view. I had moments of inner illumination that I can't describe easily, but it stuck a deep chord in me to see such profound beauty. The mountains, volcanoes, the plants, the people and their seemingly simple ways, it all just drew me in and for a minute there, I didn't want to leave at all.

We arrived at the beach where after a very interesting and adventurous women's pit stop, we would board our boat and much to our dismay, we were going to need a bigger boat. The boat was narrow, wooden, and long enough to hold about 40 people, but it was old and leaking. Speaking of leaking, many had full bladders from breakfast and the subsequent roller coaster ride through the mountains. After taking care of that ( see kelly for more details on this adventure), we boarded the boat and shoved off. About 30 passengers, 3 crew members, and one engine to travel to the center of one of the largest lakes in Africa. About 15 minutes into the journey, we heard a scrape-splash sound as one of the crew members started bailing water out of the boat. it was filling more quickly than the confines of our comfort zone, but after he began bailing for the third time, it stopped bothering us.

What did bother us was the size of the waves on the lake. The boat was old and flopped like a wet noodle on the lake surface. The reason we had to leave so early was because the boat operators know what time the waves get too choppy for the boat and apparently we got there a little too late to avoid wave rush hour. We prayed for a miracle or at least direction, the waves did not calm down and no one volunteered to be the first to walk to the island on top of the water, so we turned back after about an hour of traversing the lake.

* side note the sermon the day before was Matthew 14:22-33 where Peter walks on the water with Jesus. This is the perfect sermon for what we were about to face. We too were in scary waves and looking down on them in fear. What I hadn't realized until this sermon is Jesus doesn't immediately stop the storm. In fact Peter walks out to meet Jesus DURING the storm. Jesus mearly says Don't be afraid I am here. Also going on at the begging of this story what I always saw as a transition, i found out had more meaning. This story backs up to the feeding of the 5000. So this great miracle happens and then "²² Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd." and guess what Jesus doesn't go with them and they enter this scary storm. So they go from a happy place into a trial. That don't get to linger in that happy place for very long do they? So we sit in this leaking boat on Lake Kivu praying and trusting God's plan... instead of looking down on the crashing waves. Believing God has something else in store and in a sense walking with Him during this storm.

What happens next?

We were bummed that we did not make it to the island, but we landed at a different beach and met some kids that just come out of school. A girl named Diane was very intrigued with Kelly's (my wife) tattoos, so Kelly made some connections with them with that and her general warmth. We at some packed lunches and made a plan B to visit Land of a Thousand Coffees! Oddly enough, LTHC originated in Atlanta and we just visited there. I have been talking to them about working with them through their coffee initiatives and bicycles for coffee growers and our plans changed to include that without my prompting. This truly is the work of our Lord!

On the way, we found difficulty finding a bathroom. We stopped at a gas station in a small town and it became quite an event. The locals saw a group of muzungus roll in and kids appeared from all around. As we others waited in line to use the latrine (a cement outhouse with a hole in the ground), I started gathering trash from the van to throw out. We had accumulated bottles and aluminum trays from lunch so I carried them out to find a trash can. A local boy came and collected them for me. I thought he was just being helpful but then he ran back to a group of boys who started digging through the trays looking for scraps of food. Some of them began pushing each other around trying to take on another's food. My plan to responsibly dispose of the trash backfired and it put a damper on my excitement for the day.

We cut out bathroom break shortbecause the taxi motorcycle drivers started gathering around us and it started getting weird. we kept driving through the mountains and found a spot on the side of a mountain to stop and pee. I can honestly say that I stopped in the most beautiful places I have ever seen and peed there. Some african children spotted us and started gathering around these strange white people. One of our team approached one of the boys and asked him his name. "give me money" was his reply. kids learn early on that muzungus are a great source of money. we were told not to hand out cash to children because they are all supposed to be in school. getting cash is such a rare occasion for these kids that they celebrate by skipping school the next day, which of course is the worst possible thing for them.

We found the entrance to where the farmers are and started barreling down the dirt roads past the farmers' houses. I am not sure of the exact nature of the situation, but I think the whole area we explored is part of a cooperative of farmers who grow a variety of crops. We skidded down mile after mile of narrow, rutted roads with sheer forest drop-offs and switchbacks and roads that were clearly meant to be traveled by foot, motorcycle, bicycle, or four-wheel drive vehicle, not a bus with 20 people in it. Since we didn't seem calmed waves or walk on water, I suppose that not getting stuck, getting a flat, or rolling off the mountain was our daily ration of miraculous events.

LTHC facilitates selling the coffee and gets the farmers a fair price. I ate a fresh coffee cherry and we received a tour of the coffee washing facility. The drive back to a paved road was dark, bumpy, and would have been terrifying if we were not so tired. It took at least an hour to get out but I think that every farmer in the region saw us and waved at some point.

days 0 and 1

2011-07-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

hey there muzungu world!

my wife and I are in Kigali, Rwanda right now. a layover in Amsterdam and a long flight across the Sahara dropped us off Saturday night. I didn't sleep for at least 36 hours due to uncomfortable planes and adrenaline.

Kigali airport has scary guards. there are soldiers with machine guns at every major street corner. brick walls everywhere, often topped with shards of glass. most of the major roads here are paved but all the side roads are rutted dirt. everyone rides motorcycle taxis, rides very old-looking bicycles (single speed- push the bike uphill and hang on for dear life on the downhills), or drives like crazy in Landrovers or vans. or they walk, lots of walkers. it's pretty dry and cool here due to the altitude. all the posh buildings are at the tops of hills and the slums are at the bottom of the hills.

We attended an English language church service this morning and stayed for part of the local dialect service. It was awesome. The praise music as we expected was incredible. We ate at Hotel des Mille Collines, site of the story in the movie "Hotel Rwanda." the hotel is super swanky! I have managed to not get sick or go hungry on my narrow vegetarian diet so far. I'll probably accidentally de-veg myself before the end of the week, I hope I don't get sick. I couldn't help but look at this beautiful pool and realized 17 years ago that was the only drinking water. It was starting to become real.

Tonight our group of about 20 met a man, Athanase, who was 4 years old at the time of the 1994 genocide and survived. only to become a drug-dealing, thieving orphan. he ended up in jail and when he was released, he went back to the streets. he started visiting the children's services at Africa New Life and eventually got his life straight. now he's going to school and staying the straight path. Here more of his story here: http://vimeo.com/23416242

Tomorrow we are driving three hours to Goma on Lake Kivu, then a two-hour boat ride on the lake to this island where the hundreds generation of boys who were orphaned by the genocide are getting occupational training and education. it's apparently a controversial program but it seems to be working to rebuild the country. (we also learned that the government should be done linking up the whole country with fiber optic cables soon.) thousands of boys like the man we met grew up with no parents, no schools, and no one to care if they lived or died, much less got good grades in school, got jobs, took care of the families, etc.

other interesting things:
*having the word "muzungu" shouted at you randomly. it basically means "white person" and we whities stick out like something that sticks out a lot.
*dudes holding hands. when you're walking home with your brah after a soccer game, you hold hands. it's just part of the culture.
*scary traffic- very few stop signs, no speed limits, sharing the narrow roads with bikes, motorcycles, pedestrians, and vans is nuts. the cops stopped us because two of the people on our bus were standing, but you can drive around as fast as you want and do u-turns in the middle of a street and no one seems to care.
*markets- you can shop among mounds of tiny fish, knock-off fashion clothing, used clothes, and just about anything else. I have not converted any USD to Rwandan Francs yet, so I have not bought anything.
*eating at a swanky restaurant and then roaming the streets with beggars and limping children holding their hands out for spare change is really uncomfortable and I'm glad we won't do that anymore this week.

We still have a very full week ahead of us, including visiting our sponsored kid in Uganda, and a spotty internet connection, so I'll upload photos and more stories when I can. I will try to upload photos in here later, our internet connection keeps crapping out every five minutes.

-Jonathan

Safely in Rwanda!

2011-07-09T13:46:00.001-07:00

We are safely in Rwanda and exhausted. We've had about an hr of sleep in the last 34 hrs. Amsterdam airport was really cool. So we just unpacked and ready for bed. Looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow. :)

Students we sponsor

2011-07-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Please be praying for the students we sponsor. We will be meeting Stuart and Nicholas. The Saddleback Team will be meeting Joyce a few days after we leave for Uganda, so unfortunately Jonathan and I won't be meeting her personally. Please pray for ours and our teams interactions as these relationships are on going.

This is Ingabire Joyce. Her birthday is 8/5/93 and she is 17. She is living in a refugee resettlement camp in Kageyo in Eastern Rwanda that is mostly populated by women and children. She has 4 brothers and 3 sisters. She enjoys singing and her best subject is English. Her dream is to be a doctor.

She is sponsored by Kelly and her co workers at Saddleback Leather (Customer Service). We just started sponsoring her a few months ago.

This is Stuart Gitta. He is in the Deo project and lives on the north side of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. His birthday is is 6/10/2001 and just turned 10. He is in third grade. He enjoys riding his bicycle and drawing. At home he fetches water and does the dishes. In this picture his mother is on his left and one brother, Brian who is the middle child on his right with some gifts.. one gift being a chicken. Not in the picture is Stuarts eldest brother, Reagan. He recently started college.

Sponsored by Jonathan and Kelly We've been sponsoring him for 3 years.

We will also be visiting with Nicholas Nzaramba in Kampala. He is sponsored by the US office staff of Africa Renewal Ministries of which I used to be a part of and there for also sponsored for some time. Sorry I don't have a picture on me. He has been sponsored for about a year and a half.

Our Schedule

2011-07-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

Friday July 8th

5:30 pm depart ATL

Saturday July 9th

8:15AM arrive in Amsterdam

10:40 AM depart for Kigali

7:00 PM Team Arrives in Kigali

7:10PM Staff Intro and short orientation

8:00 PM Debriefing

Sunday, July 10th

7:00 AM Breakfast at Mission house/ Guesthouse http://africanewlife.org/take-action/go/mission-house/

7:45 AM Church at Dream Center http://africanewlife.org/ministries/dream-center/

12:30PM Lunch- Hotel Rwanda

Afternoon Kigali Genocide Memorial

6:00 PM Dinner-Guesthouse

8:00PM Debriefing

Monday, July 11th

7:00 AM Breakfast

8:00 AM Depart for Iwawa

12:00PM Lunch

Afternoon Iwawa all day http://africanewlife.org/?s=iwawa&x=0&y=0

3:00 PM Depart from Iwawa

7:30 PM Dinner

8:30 PM Debriefing

Tuesday, July 12th

7:00 AM Breakfast

7:30AM Team devotions and prayer

8:15 AM Depart for Dream Center http://africanewlife.org/ministries/dream-center/

8:30AM Tour Women's Center

9:00AM Lay bricks for Jesus R.E.S.T. http://africanewlife.org/take-action/projects/rest/

12:30 PM Eat at Mission House

Afternoon Shopping and Market while Jimi, Dave & Chuck business coaching-Anlm

Afternoon - meet with executive staff

Afternoon Home Visits in Kigali

6:30 PM Dinner

7:30 PM Debriefing

Wed, July 13th

7:00 AM Breakfast

7:30AM Team devotions and prayer

8:30 AM Depart for Kayonza

Morning Kayonza School and Orphange Home Visits

1:00 PM Lunch- sack lunch

Afternoon village visits or programs for kids?

5:00 PM Depart for Kigali

6:30 PM Dinner

7:30 PM Debriefing

Thurs July 14th

7AM breakfast with team and farewells

8AM leave mission house for Kigali Airport

10:15AM depart Kigali for Entebbe

12 noon --Arriving at Entebbe airport in Uganda and travel to Kampala

1PM quick lunch

2PM- Check in at the Victoria travel Hotel

3PM – Visit and tour ARM head office and Gaba Community Church campus and meet with Child Development Manager or other officers http://aster.nowsprouting.com/africarenewalministries/#/childcare/child-development-program

7pm? - dinner

8pm- debrief and devotional time

Fri July 15th

8am- breakfast

9am-11am – Visit and serve at Loving Hearts Babies Home |http://aster.nowsprouting.com/africarenewalministries/#/childcare/loving-hearts-baby-home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c4-HDmcP10

Noon- lunch

2pm-5pm-Visit Sponsored children in Deo Project (Gitta Stuart and Nicholas

Nzaramba), visit with children at their project and school

6 or 7 pm? Dinner

8pm-Debrief and devotional time

Sat July 16th

10 am –visit at children’s home and take them out for Lunch

5.30pm-Attend Saturday Service at Gaba Community church

7.30pm-Dinner and farewell

8.30-Leave for the airport

11:30 pm- flight departs from Uganda

Sunday July 17th

6:30AM arrive in Amsterdam

9:00AM depart from Amsterdam

12:55PM arrive at ATL

Less than 3 weeks to go!

2011-06-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

We'll be leaving for Rwanda on July 8th, stay there through July 14th, and fly on to Uganda to meet Stuart. Stuart has been asking to meet us for about six months in every letter he writes. We wrote him for his tenth birthday two weeks ago to let him know we are coming. I know he will be so excited! We'll leave Uganda the night of the 16th and arrive back home on the 17th. Please be praying for safe travels, good health, to gain an understanding of these cultures, to love without any hindrances, fears, or conditions, for us to gain new understanding and encouragement in life from these people, and for us to be open to what they bring to us as we come along side them. Pray for this trip to effect the way we do ministry back home and communicate God's love to our own community in new ways. Pray for the people we will meet, for them to be open to what we bring, to see we have come not as the white man to control them or say our way is better, but to come along side them.

After three fundraisers and numerous financial supporters we are about 98% funded for our trip! This last week John Ibsen of New City Theaters called us with a great idea for one last fundraiser. This Friday we are watching a movie about Rwanda (to help those in our community really understand where and why we are going) called Beyond the Gates. We will be selling cups of Rwandan coffee for the fundraiser. The coffee comes from a local ministry here in Atlanta called Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company, which helps Rwandan coffee growers get fair prices among other ways of ministry. This is a great way to bring local and international ministries together. I love it!

One more quick story about the Ibsen family and the example John is to his family.

After church this past Sunday, Jonathan was outside by the playground. One of the Ibsen girls came up to him and handed him a quarter. Jonathan asked "What it is for?" She explained that it is for our mission trip to Africa. As Jonathan relayed this story to me and handed me the quarter in the parking lot, I could not help but be overwhelmed. This mere child gave her money to benefit God's kingdom. She has been taught well and loves pure, she is wise beyond her years. I am humbled and stop in my tracks as these scriptures flood my mind:

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Matthew 11:25At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

Matthew 21:16 They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.'"

There have been weeks in the past where I was worried about money, stressed about fundraisers, and confused about God's path. This, my friends, is not one of those weeks. We have a lot to accomplish in this next two and half weeks, but I come with a renewal and peace that only comes from the Lord. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us!

Isaiah 57:10 You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, 'It is hopeless.' You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.

Kelly

we're going back to Africa!

2011-06-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

Three years ago Jonathan and I started thinking about missions work for the first time. That in turn has lead us here to Chamblee, but before we got here God has taken us through a journey of slowly calling our hearts. We were called but also we were stricken with fear at the idea of sharing the gospel as well as a possible language barriers if we went abroad. I started working for a non profit that sponsors children in Uganda. I learned of their hardships, there lifestyles, their country, but even more so their heart. They are a people strong in Christ and constantly full of hope for a better future. For the first time I saw faith as I've never seen it before, truly steadfast, never wavering. Last year God finally called us to Africa, but to Johannesburg, South Africa. We went for a week and shared the gospel with prisoners, fed hungry children and wept with those dying of AIDS, it changed out lives. We knew from that moment on we would never be able to go back to our old lives of a self-serving lifestyle. We starting working with refugees in San Antonio and finally giving up everything to move to Atlanta with no jobs, for Jonathan to pursue a bicycle ministry planted in a community desperately needing more of God's arms to fix their bikes. So here we are, God has asked us to be here with you in Chamblee, that doesn't mean he won't ask us to be used else where in short term and what a better place for us to renew our spirits, but to go back to Africa! This time East Africa!

Jonathan and I have been offered the opportunity to go to Rwanda for a week the first of July on a mission trip through my job,with more than half of the costs paid for by my employer. With that being said we feel even though we are missionaries here in Chamblee we should not pass up something God has clearly lead the way in us being a part of. So we need your help.

While we are in Africa, we hope to take an extra day to go to Uganda to meet Stuart, the 10 year old who we have been sponsoring for 3 years so far. We are so excited to finally meet him!

We will be going as a team with my company Saddleback Leather. For years they have been working with Africa New Life Ministries(ANLM) and would like us co-workers and their families to come share in that this year.

Here are some of the many activities we can be a part of with ANLM depending on their needs at the moment:
* Street children’s ministry
* New Life Family Center ministry
* Kageyo re-settlement camp
* Kigali Genocide Memorial
* Basic construction or work projects
* New Life Christian Academy
* Day camps
* Children’s Homes
* Sports camps
* Prison ministry
* Village visits

Lastly, if you know of any others that would be interested in supporting us please let them know. If you would like to add our giving page to your own website, facebook, blog, or twitter here is the link: http://bit.ly/NolteFamily2Africa It is case sensitive.

You can send tax deductible donations here: Help the Noltes get to Rwanda!
If you donate using a credit card, ANLM removes 3% of the amount for the processing fee. If your donate using the "EFT" or electronic funds transfer option, the charge is a flat $0.25. Checks can also be mailed to Africa New Life Ministries, 7145 SW Varns St. Suite 201, Portland, OR 97223.

Thank you!
Kelly and Jonathan

how did i get here?

2010-09-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

Last night, I spent several hours in the apartment of some Eritrean refugees, chewing sorgum, listening to Tigrinya music and helping them with their citizenship class homework ("What is the Star Spangled Banner?"), and I realized the distance I have come along this tradgectory. Six months ago, I did not know where Eritrea was, let alone imagine I would be helping one of its former residents build a bicycle and eat food from his country in his own home. So I may ask myself, well, how did I get here?

When I was 12 years old, my family rented a house to live in for a summer. The landlords cleaned out the garage just before they got there and two bicycles were in the trash heap waiting to be picked up for the dump. (For those of you privy to literary devices, this is Foreshadowing!) I scavanged these bicycles out (also forshadowing for my many dumpster-diving ecapades) and managed to cobble together a single bicycle out of the two. It was a horrible, outdated beast of a BMX bike, but it rolled and that's all I cared about. I had a lot to learn about making a bicycle work, and I learned the hard way.

Fast foward a few years and you can skip middle school and riding around the neighborhood alone every day and trying to learn flatland riding with no outside knowledge of what I was doing. When I was a freshman in high school, my family moved from Wisconsin to Indianapolis. I hated the move, but it turned out that, out of the thousands of students at my high school, three were fellow BMX riders, and they all lived within spitting distance of my new house. There was an empty parking lot across the street from our house where I would spend countless hours riding my bike, alone, with headphones on, and a workbench in the garage where I probably spent even more hours working on and experimenting with my bike. Living in an urban area, unlike my former rural home, allowed me to explore street BMX riding with friends. Riding led me to become a photographer, which led me to college and a short career in Journalism. It also led me to my wife, whom I met when she sent me an IM to ask about bike parts.

In 2007, I got a job at a newspaper and worked there for a year honing my skills in interviewing, writing, and photography. This led to a better paying job editing a magazine, which allowed us to get out of debt quickly. Around that time, Kelly and I started exploring a future in international missions and pined a sign that read "August 2010 or bust" above our computer screen, indicating that we would be somewhere else, living intentionally by that date or we would be homeless. The best thing to happen to me at that job was being laid off. After only six months with a decent salary, a leisurely bus commute into downtown San Antonio, and good benefits, I lost all of it. We persevered to get out of debt and do something meaningful. I spent months agonizing over the lack of a "career" and explored dozens of routes with no success. Metaphoric doors were slammed in my face again and again as I tried careers and jobs. No one wanted to hire me, an honest, college educated, hard-working young man willing to work for peanuts to do just about anything. I always wanted to go back to working at a bike shop but I did not think anyone would hire me or pay me enough to stick with it.

In June 2009, a bike shop did hire me and I spent the subsequent year learning everything I could from some of the best wrenches in San Antonio. A friend who was working there helped me get my foot in the door and I was off! In fact, I learned a lot from the Best Mechanic in the Universe and another who's just a Big Deal.

I had taught myself a lot about fixing my own bike over the years, but most of my knowledge was limited to BMX bikes. With a year (hardly enough to be an expert) of experience under my belt, I was much better prepared for the next phase.

In January of this year, Kelly and I visited South Africa to minister to prisoners, squatter camp dwellers, and school kids for one week, leaving a dear friend behind to continue that work. We decided shortly after returning that we would return to Joburg to continue that work, but every door was slammed in our faces again. It seemed hopeless and unfair that passionate, energetic young people such as ourselves should have such a hard time being sent across the world as missionaries, but no one would budge. We decided to go back to my old standby, bicycles.

We have a notebook with all kinds of notes about pursuits in my life. One page was to be devoted to bicycle-related ministries. There are one or two organizations listed, then "Communicycle, Josh Feit." There are no further entries on that page because shortly after I wrote that, Kelly and I visited Atlanta and decided to move back here in August. So here we are are. I am back to pulling bikes out of the trash, spending whole days with my hands covered in grease and ground-up chromium molybdenum, instructing people to replace tubes and adjust derailleurs and admonishing them for the use of WD-40 on their bicycles. (WD-40 is not a lubricant! Stop using it on your bikes!)

We might not have ended up in South Africa or Northern Ireland (yet), but all those people from broken parts of the world have come to us, often with their bicycles, and I am able to serve God by serving them (or am I serving them by serving God?) I could not be more content with my situation now, and pray only that I live in such a way that is worthy of this kind of satisfaction.

The move

2010-07-11T18:47:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since we've written, three month actually. So much has happened! In May we visited Atlanta and got to work a few days with Communicycle, a bicycle co-op in Chamblee. It was a perfect fit for Jonathan and even I managed to get my hands dirty. The people are great, the community is fantastic, and the church in only one visit already felt like a new home.

After careful consideration we have decided to make the move. We will be working with people on the northeast side of Atlanta in an area called Chamblee. There is a huge influx of immigrants, many being refugees. This felt comforting since we have been working with refugees here in San Antonio. After being torn between living in the same comfort we are used to and living among the people, we have decided to move in to the neighborhood we are serving and fully embrace all the good and hard times with them.

Our move date is July 30th, we will arrive August 1st. We don't have any definite jobs yet, but great prospects. Until we can prove we have jobs we can't move into permanent housing, but I know the Lord will provide. All He asked was for us to follow and so we do with open hearts and no expectations.

We are incredibly sad to leave San Antonio, our friends and our church. We know they fully support us though and will keep up on facebook, skype, blogger and video streaming. We are thankful for the growth we experienced and the desire for missions Grace Point instilled in us.

Sharp,
Kelly

The best place to be

2010-04-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

It's almost been a month since the decision was made not to go to Johannesburg. Finally I can see though the fog that comes with breaking off something so big and life changing. I didn't know what to think, other than I'm not in control, God is and I trust Him with my life. Other than that I was a complete mess for a few weeks, confused and depressed. Not understanding where he wants us to be. As we were figuring out we weren't meant to be in S. Africa at this time, we got an email from Corrymeela. This is the organization in Northern Ireland we applied to two years ago and didn't get into because competition is high. They emailed us asking to reapply. So we did. We will find out this week if we are moving there. I've been trying not to get my hopes up, just in case we don't get in. We also though about moving to Atlanta, a place we'd never thought we'd live. There is a christian bike program there that Jonathan would love to help with. So we are looking at a few option and will have some sort of answer soon. So where am I now? At peace. I still know God is in control, but instead of being confused by it, i am comforted by it. He will put us where we need to be. If Northern Ireland is it, then we will go. If Atlanta is it, then we will go. If San Antonio is it, then we will stay. I'm excited that no matter where we go we will be serving him and that is the best place to be.

Kelly

time for a new perspective

2010-04-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Today we announce publicly, we will not be moving to Johannesburg. We feel God is asking us to either put it on hold or go elsewhere. We are saddened and confused, but following His will instead of forcing our own.

Squatter Camp(out)

2010-02-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

When we came back from Johannesburg, I thought i would have this epiphany. I would know if we were meant to go to Joburg or not, but instead it was cloudy. We had too many fears and too many questions. Finally we said, well we enjoyed the work there and love the people there so it can't hurt to go. Still it wasn't that 100% feeling that i expected. But last night in our own squatter camp we created in front of Grace Point. In the cold with only canned goods in my belly, I heard God tell me "Run! Run with every fiber of your being to Joburg, forget all the fears and Go now!" It was clear as day. So we will find a way to get there and soon. Nothing will slow us down, we are chasing after God as he in turn gives us purpose for our lives and propels us further running beside Him. So with no more shuffling of feet, the new chapter in our lives begins now.

Sharp,

Kelly

what's stopping YOU?

2010-02-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

Responsibility lays heavy on my heart. God's justice is waiting to roll like a river through my life and the self gets in the way. I am wearing blinders on my heart, shielding me from the tremendous love that can pour through me to the people. I wonder what it is that I fear, what do I have to loose?

To take a break from my verbose ramblings, I'll say what it is in concrete terms. A few things are keeping me from dropping all that I have and giving my life fully to God for God's purpose. In order of importance, here is my confession:

1. Bicycles. As silly as it sounds, bicycles have been an important part of my life for over 15 years. I have built a lifestyle and a self-image that defines me as a cyclist. I anticipate difficulty and pain in the possibility of separating myself from this. There are a few places where we can go that I can bring a bike and use that passion, but there are also places we could be sent that would be a bad idea. For example, rolling through Joburg on my blingin $2000 bike would be A) difficult as there are few recreational riding spots and scary roads and, B) a great way to get myself shot in the head. People are armed and steal stuff in third world countries. Hell, people will shoot you for your bike if you're in the wrong place and the wrong time in San Antonio! But nothing looks more like a target on your back than being a white guy on a nice bike in a African city.

I have tried to convince myself that my passion for bikes is a gift that I can use for the Kingdom. Bicycling brings people together socially. A working bike (I am a bicycle mechanic as well) is a means of liberation for people who need to get to work several miles away. Bicycles are good for the environment (compared to cars, at least), something that is also important to me. Bicycles are fun and healthy. But looking back on my years of obsession with pedal-powered vehicles, I find that I have done very little deliberately for the Kingdom with my bike. I have been put in situations where I can form relationships that glorify God, and God will do all that God wants to with those situations, but my efforts have been pretty flimsy.

Bicycles for me are mostly about me. The most I can ask for right now is the tranquility to let go of this aspect of my life if it is asked of me. If God sees it fit that I be placed in a situation where I can make and occupation of serving the Kingdom with bicycles as a vehicle, I will humbly accept that this is a gift from God. I remember that the Lord gives and takes away. He could take away my bike, my ability to ride, my body, someone I love, or all that I have and hold dear at any moment and I would thank God for the gift of simplicity that it would bring.

2. Vegetarianism. For reasons that I will not explain in too much detail here, I have chosen a strict vegetarian lifestyle and I have held onto that for nearly ten years now. It is out of my yearning for God's justice on the Earth and love for creation and all the creatures that I have withheld my support from the industries that enslave animals for their edible and wear-able byproducts. I feel that these industries generally waste incredible amounts of land, food, water, and beauty at the cost of immeasurable suffering of animals and God's green Earth in general. I know full well that, to many cultures, my choices will seem like a bourgeois cop-out on my part from participating fully in their culture. It could shut the doors of communication and make my work difficult or impossible.

However, vegetarianism for me is sometimes a witness to my faith. Again, I often waste the opportunities that I might have to tell people about my desire to be a part of God's reconciling work with creation and instead appeal to secular environmentalism instead. My reluctance to give up this part of myself is two-fold: A) I truly believe that vegetarianism is a good way for me to continuing living and that it glorifies God and leaving it would be somehow dishonorable, and B) I do not wish to change my lifestyle as it would inconvenience me to adapt to eating dairy, eggs, and especially meat. After a a few months, let along a decade, of not eating these things, my body will feel quite a shock as it tries to cope with digesting such strange things. I don't know how long or difficult this would be, but I know it will be unpleasant. The first reason is, I feel, noble. The latter is admittedly selfish.

3. Leaving behind stuff, friends, pets. Two years ago, Kelly and I experienced the traumatic loss of a pet. I still bear the burden of a sense of responsibility for this, although I know rationally that it was not my fault. I do not want to burden anyone with my animals (a dog and a cat), and I do not want a repeat of what happened in 2007.

Then there is all our stuff. I would like to do the financially responsible thing and sell all that we have so that we can put the money toward our mission work. I have learned that selling your old used stuff is a lot of WORK. We could also just give it away, which will happen eventually, but I would rather find places that need our "stuff." Again, the notion of selling or giving away my bikes (I have two) is daunting. I have put a lot of time and effort into building up my bicycles just the way I like them and it pains me to let go of something that took so much passion to create.

I do not want to half-ass my service to God. I want to continue to learn and grow close to God in my will and my actions. I want to live in such a way that negates the systems of domination that are responsible for the murder of our Lord. I want to turn the world upside-down.

That is it for now. I can probably think of other things that get in the way, but I should not dwell on that. If you want to help unburden me from all my junk, please let me know. I want to be liberated from it and leave these items and concerns with someone who will be comforted by them and use them for God's glory.

-Jonathan

Monday, February 8

2010-02-08T20:38:00.002-08:00

Two weeks later…
We have had enough time to begin to process all that we saw, heard, and felt in South Africa. We have shared our stories and photos with everyone who will listen and we are trying to draw conclusions about how our lives have been forever changed by this experience. We have a newfound sense of responsibility to the “least of these” in our own community, since that is where we can have the most direct effect on lives for the Kingdom of God. We are now responsible for all that we saw. We have committed to consistently visiting and feeding the homeless who gather under the Commerce Street bridge downtown on Monday nights (come join us!) We are looking into mentoring a refugee family in San Antonio to ease their transition into American culture. We are working with Ryan in Johannesburg to feed and support more children in Joe Slovo on a weekly basis. (Please contact us if you are interested in sending funds to feed children in this impoverished community.)

In the big picture of our lives, our vision of becoming missionaries has been further cemented and we are moving forward with a new sense of purpose. We long to be with God’s children, serving them in whatever way we are called. We are prayerfully seeking and waiting for further guidance to know where we will be sent. We might end up on any continent at this point, but we have it narrowed down to a few places to which we are being called. Please pray for our quest, that we would be given clear direction.

Johannesburg, Day 8

2010-02-08T20:38:00.001-08:00

Sunday, January 24
Our last church service at Mayfair Baptist was a blast. We led part of worship in the main service, then left to help organize snacks and activities in the children’s church. There were soooo many children in that room! This Sunday was the day for children in different age groups to graduate into their next class, so there was lots of paperwork to fill out. We had our hands full the whole morning.

We ate lunch and packed for our return trip back to the States. Leaving was a terribly sorrow and we tried our best to take in all the Africa we could on our way out. We said our goodbyes to Juma, our driver, and Ryan as we paraded into the Joburg airport. The flight home was another long, sleepless (for Jonathan at least) journey through the night, but we managed to find our way back to San Antonio.

Johannesburg, Day 7

2010-02-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 23
This would be our final full day in South Africa, a day mostly of rest. We ate breakfast at Wimpy and headed out of town to visit the lion park. The drive through the South African countryside was amazing! This large, outdoor park gets visitors an up-close visit with giraffes, lions, gazelle, zebras, meerkat, emus (?), cheetahs, hyenas, and several other African animals. We also got to enter an enclosure with lion cubs, where you can play with the cubs up close.

Stefani contacted a friend named Anna who cooks traditional African food and serves it in the park near Johannesburg University and we bought several meals from her. We ate at the mission house and tried to soak in our last African evening together. After reflecting on our experiences and what we left back home, we had grown very close together. While we missed people and places in the US, we were already anticipating how much we would miss Africa and Ryan.

Johannesburg, Day 6

2010-02-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 22

This would prove to be the earliest and busiest of our days in Johannesburg, partially due to some plans that did not pan out for the day before. We started the day with a visit to the Joburg prison women’s’ section to lead a devotion time with the prison guards. We were taken to a waiting room and left to wait for an uncomfortable amount of time. We amused ourselves and shot some group photos before being informed that the guards would not be able to meet us at the time due to schedule conflicts. Instead, the guards would join us for the scheduled worship time with the female inmates.

We set up in a kitchen and dozens of women filled the room to hear us sing and speak. Some of the women from our group shared their powerful testimonies with the women and Rosie from Mayfair Baptist also spoke. Willie delivered another one of his dynamic sermons. Ryan brought the house down with a song he wrote after his previous visit to Johannesburg. The women truly went bonkers over Ryan’s singing. We sang more some songs and were later blessed by another stirring round of prisoner-led worship songs in Zulu. We witnessed an impromptu celebration among the women when one of them brought news that she was getting out of prison that very day!

This video does not show much, so just close your eyes and listen to the women sing:

That afternoon, we made sandwiches and prepared a table for some of the local street guys to eat and receive some donated clothing. Willie knows where many of these guys hang out and put out word that they would be invited to church with us that afternoon. These are young men who, for whatever reason, don’t have a permanent home. Many of them abuse drugs and alcohol. We handed out some sandwiches and sat down with them. Eventually, most of them opened up. Jeff shared with them his story alcoholism, which clearly touched some of the young men. One of the men sang a song for us at the end to thank us for inviting him over.

After this gathering, we returned to the Joe Slovo squatter camp with food and toys for the kids. We arranged for the children to wash their hands, distributed sandwiches and popsicles, and then brought out several new soccer balls and jump ropes for the kids. The appearance of these new toys caused a bit of a frenzy at first but soon some jump rope games and soccer circles started up and everything fell into place. We were never let down by the ability of kids to just be kids no matter their situation.

Friday is the youth ministry night at Mayfair Baptist. Dozens of middle and high school-aged kids come to church every Friday for worship, games, and snacks. We opened the evening with a game of “Chubby Bunny,” in which contestants must stuff large marshmallows into their mouth and say the phrase “chubby bunny” after each marshmallow until they can’t get the words out clearly anymore. We led worship with songs and testimonies, one from Kelly for the second time on the trip.

Afterward, we facilitated a game of limbo and red light, green light in the church hall. (We learned earlier in the week that South Africans call traffic lights “robots,” but the game is still just “red light, green light.”) The evening culminated in an indoor soccer match of Americans versus South Africans and team USA won!

Ian is a chubby bunny!

Friday evening brought some welcomed rest!

Johannesburg, Day 5

2010-02-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 21
Our day started with a visit to another school. This time, we had an actual stage! Kids love singing silly songs with dances and this school was no exception. Willie preached and we distributed newspapers to some of the teachers.

Our next prison visit was a grave one. This section of the prison held prisoners who were awaiting a trial. Some of the young men had been behind bars for several years for alleged crimes and would stay there until their meeting with a judge. Regardless of where these men would end up, they were scared and eagerly awaiting someone to give them some hope. After some music, testimonies, and preaching from Willie, many of them expressed a desire to know Jesus. Many individually stood up and identified themselves. As with all of the other prison visits, we noticed that 99 percent of the prisoners are black, which is disproportionate in a country that is 10 percent white. I noticed that one Arab man announced a desire to be a Christian and I wondered what his presumably Muslim community might think of his decision.

When we finished, the men swarmed us to get Christian literature. We had some pamphlets in several languages, and the Zulu ones went the fastest. I think we ran out of Zulu but many of them read English and Afrikaans as well, so I think everyone got something to read. There was an overwhelming demand for copies of the Bible and we had them sign request forms to get them each a Bible.

It rained heavily most of the day. We ate lunch at a trendy restaurant called Catz Pyjamas" which had a lot of Mexican-inspired dishes, something we all craved after a week away from Texas. Nasty weather and exhaustion kept us from doing much more work that afternoon, but we needed the time to deflate emotionally, write in our journals, and share our experiences and feelings with our comrades.

Johannesburg, Day 4

2010-02-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 20

Another early morning brought us to a small, crowded, poor school. We had previously visited this school to make sure that it was still open, as Mayfair had made failed attempts to reach the school by phone. The school’s lack of funding resulted in its phone lines being disconnected, resulting in some difficulty communicating. The children crammed into a room to see and hear us.

Kids at this school were very mature and wanted to be involved in our songs and Biblical quiz game. We were astonished at some of the incredible answers these small children produced! Though seating was limited and rain fell outside, the children did not want to leave this little room and we did not want to leave them and their singing. This is among the schools that Ryan will visit during his stay in Joburg to teach the children Bible verses.

We next visited yet another section of the Joburg prison. Most of these men were on their way out of the prison system, back to freedom. A heavy rain during the previous night made an intimate outdoor worship service difficult, as the men were not allowed to stand in the muddy grass in front of our “stage.” The men seemed at first to stand far off, ignoring our music and stories. We had little direction but that which the Spirit gave us and everything worked out at the end. Paul, a man from Mayfair Baptist, shared his testimony in which he turned his life over to God after going to prison for armed robbery. Some of the men started singing along with us and opened up to our stories. In the end, it turned out that they were very eager to speak with us. Kelly approached a man who was very eager to learn about God. Jonathan was amazed after speaking to a man whose theological articulation rivaled most preachers. God is moving among the men in Joburg prison, creating educated leaders and men thirsting for God.

We then gathered food at Makro (South African equivalent to Costco) to distribute at the Simon Pilo (spelling?) squatter camp. We bought enough sacks of corn meal (a staple in the local diet) and canned fish to make 75 parcels for the families there. We prepared the parcels at the church and loaded them into the van. Upon arrival, we distributed newspapers to the residents and told them we would be distributing food. As the line grew, we quickly realized that we did not have nearly enough food to feed all of the 4000 or so residents in this community. I have never seen such desolation in a city. We spoke to the people about Jesus and sang a few humble songs. We learned later that many of the people here have HIV and they cannot get medicine to deal with the symptoms until they have severe AIDS. This camp serves as a hospice for many of the people who this society would rather forget. This was the lowest moment of our trip: looking in the eyes of hundreds of families and saying, “Sorry, we have food for some, but not for enough for you.” It was very humbling to know the limits of our actions, but we left reassured that, although we did not get food to everyone, the few who did get food were profoundly touched.

Pastor Willie and some of the mission house residents prepared a braai, South African barbeque, for us back home that night. It was odd to eat so lavishly on home-cooked meal that night after seeing the stark poverty of the squatter camps. There was a fierce soccer game of keep-away on the lawn while the rest of us enjoyed the sunset and the warmth of the grill in the carport. We watched bats zipping around the trees above us until it got too dark to see bats.

making pap.

Willie and the mission house crew cooking the meat.

the mission house, our home for a week.

Johannesburg, Day 3

2010-02-07T14:33:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 19

We woke up early again to the “caw!” of our favorite noisy birds. A simple breakfast and a prayer sent us out to the school we attempted the day before. An unexpected crowd of over 1,100 kids met us in the schoolyard. We recognized some of the children from our visit to the squatter camp on the previous day. We were astounded by the discipline of these children when we compared them to our experience of school children in the U.S. Kelly shared her testimony with the children on a microphone! She never expected to do such a thing but God gave her the courage and the words to have an effect on these children. We sang a few fun songs and handed out some worship CDs. Pastor Willie spoke to the children with stories and parables about how Jesus can make their lives complete.

We followed our school visit with our second visit to the Joburg prison. A large inflatable pool was being filled in preparation for baptisms that morning. We led the prisoners in some songs, shared some testimonies, and worshiped with them as about 35 men were baptized. Several others decided to give their lives to Jesus that morning as well. We learned that many of the other men present had been baptized in previous years because of Pastor Willie’s ministries. It was a beautiful sunny day, unlike the rainy one the day before. Jonathan met one man named John who is scheduled for release in a few months. John said that he has been studying broadcasting while in prison and plans to use his knowledge and skills to spread the Gospel when he gets out.

John is the man on the right with dreadlocks, in the photo below:

We spent part of the afternoon searching for souvenirs at the Bruma Open Air Market. This is very similar to an American craft market or a flea market. Some of the items sold there were of questionable quality. Many of the sales people were very pushy and would tell you anything to make a sale. It was very annoying at first but after a while, it became fun to see what kind of outrageous claims the salespeople would make. We al caught a little sunburn and carted home some bargained trinkets.

Johannesburg Day 2

2010-02-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

Monday, January 18

We woke up early and somewhat groggy to go speak to children at a local school but the rain made setting up a large outdoor convocation of students impossible. We would have to return later in the week. Instead, we got a head start on our ministry at a Johannesburg prison. We piled our 12-person team into a passenger van and splashed our way to the prison. Security was very tight but the guards at the gate is used to seeing the Mayfair Baptist Church van there, so we got through easily enough. A chaplain led us through the maze-like prison corridors to a section where medium-security prisoners live. We fanned out in the courtyard to distribute Gospel newspapers and invite the residents to a worship service. One of the guards told us that our message would be well received on such a gloomy, wet day because the prisoners appreciate visitors on rainy days.

The mission team set up in the back corner of the section kitchen to play some worship songs, share testimonies, and introduce Willie’s message to whoever would show up. We did not know what to expect but gradually the room began to fill with men in bright orange jumpsuits. Just when we thought we would start worship, one of the men started singing, presumably in Zulu. A few men answered the song and began what would be the most intense worship we have ever experienced. This was Kelly’s favorite moment of the whole trip. Dozens of men poured into the room, singing loudly, clapping, stomping, dancing, and sweating for what seemed like hours. When it came time for us to lead worship our way, we felt inadequate in face of such devotion. We humbly led the men in some new English songs, testimonies from the team, and Willie preached. Many of the men expressed interest in enrolling in a discipleship class and many more requested copies of the Bible to read for themselves.

two similar videos of some singing:

longer video of other songs including vocal mass-prayer at the end:

After leaving the cheerful men in that dank prison, we went back to the church to make sandwiches to bring to the children of the Joe Slovo squatter camp. About 3000 people live in this dusty, crowded community of rented shacks and debris. The children were playing soccer in the street among shattered bottles, many of them in their bare feet, while a pile of burning trash constantly fouled the air a few yards away. We distributed sandwiches to the children in the most organized manner we could manage. The children LOVE to have their photograph taken and grab at our cameras to see the digital image after each flash.

A new soccer ball emerged from the van and a new circle of kicking, knees, and head butts opened up there on the street. The 2010 World Cup begins in just a few months and we can tell that the local are extremely excited to host the event. It is amazing to see how something as simple as a soccer ball instantly crumbles all barriers of color, language, race, and nationality.

We ate dinner that night at a trendy restaurant called News Café. It was emotional difficult to muster up and appetite after all we had seen: joyful prisoners who see nothing of the world but the often-cloudy South African sky and children who will dance and laugh for anyone despite their empty bellies and cold homes.

A Johannesburg story, day 1

2010-02-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 17

We arrived in Joburg the night before but could do little but sleep that first night. Jonathan had trouble sleeping most of the week due to mental over-stimulation and Kelly was suffering from a stomach virus for the first day. We were both drowsy but kept our heads up. Pastor Willie Dengler of Mayfair Baptist Church preached that morning to his congregation and we got our first taste of South African worship songs. The church sings a mix of songs in English, Afrikaans, and Zulu when they gather.

We ate, gathered supplies, and rested to refuel ourselves from the long journey so we would be ready to serve for the rest of the week. Sunday evening worship at Mayfair was much more energetic since we had gotten some sleep. The people there are very warm and welcoming.

back home, back to normal?

2010-02-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

We have returned to San Antonio but our hearts are still in Joburg. After a week of jetlag and processing all that we did and saw, I think it is time to write about it. I will soon post more photos and stories. For know, enjoy this little moment.

almost there!

2010-01-10T21:11:00.001-08:00

10 January 2010

We are finally almost there, as we leave Friday! Our bags are packed and all of our funding for the trip to South Africa is in, now all we need to do now is hop on a plane. We want to thank everyone so much for the contributions, prayers, and encouragement that has brought us this far. We certainly could not have done this alone!

We will bring back mementos, photographs, and most importantly stories to share with you all. We want everyone to live this experience with us because all of you are, in some sense, going with us. We invite you to share in our joy and our suffering as we witness life in a very different world and serve the people to whom Christ has called us. We will come back with changed hearts and a new sense of responsibility to serve and to be thankful. We hope some of that rubs off on you as you hear our story.

We ask for only one more thing as we embark: encouragement! We need your thoughts and prayers as we strive to live the gospel in a place that desperately needs hope. Pray that we show up surrendered to God’s will, ready to fearlessly do anything as it suits our mission to do so. Pray that we stay focused on the present moment and not our worries back home or the way we are going to tell our stories when we get back. Pray for group unity as an unfamiliar environment and discomfort might wear on our nerves and shorten our patience. Pray for our safety as we travel, work, sleep, and interact with people of South Africa, a place that is known for crime. Above all, pray that we touch lives and that our lives are touched as we work. The names of all those going are:

Stefani Burkholder
Crystal and Ian Armitage
Ryan Callahan
Kellie Hardin
Eyole Mbongo
Kevin McPherson
Jonathan and Kelly Nolte
Nicole Polanco
Jeff and Katy Reininger

Stefani is our leader for the week and may need special prayer for peace. Ryan is not coming back to American after this trip but staying in South Africa for at least a year. Please pray for his transition, his work, and his finances.

Thank you for the support and we look forward to seeing you all in about two weeks!

Love,
Jonathan and Kelly

Dec 6th Meeting

2009-12-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

We had our newest S.Africa meeting today. It was great, we got to know our companions stories and also their strengths, this will help alot for the trip. We recieved our newest record of funds, and it is going great! Thanks to you all we only need a thousand dollars more! This is so fantastic! We are so thankful for great friends and family as well as new folks who are partnering with us.

2009-12-02T15:41:00.000-08:00

Day two of fund raising. We sold a ton of fudge and gathered a lot more money for our trip. See you December 13, hopefully!

first bake sale fund-raiser

2009-11-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

We sold baked goodies at church all morning and it was a blast! Kelly and I stayed up late making peanut brittle, fudge, chocolate-covered Nutter Butters, muffins, and all other sorts of sugar-filled goodies. We got up early to make hot chocolate with marshmallows too. The gingerbread cookies and peanut brittle were the biggest sellers next to hot chocolate.

THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by and bought something. We raised $270 so far but we still have a long way to go to get to South Africa. Overall, we are a little way past 1/2 of our fundraising.

-Jonathan

Bake sale November 22 and 29!

2009-11-19T22:01:00.000-08:00

We will be selling hot chocolate and other goodies for the next two weeks at Gracepoint to raise money for our South Africa trip. Bring a few extra bucks to help us out and come home with some yummy treats.

November update

2009-11-13T21:54:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone!

We are back safely from our trip to the East Coast. It was a great experience and nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Here are some pictures from our trip if you would like to see all we did.

A lot has happened while we were away. Financially, we are half-way to funding our South Africa trip, only $2600 more to go! Thank you to all who have helped us get this far! Prayerfully, we have requests and praises. Kelly’s cyst is completely gone and surgery was not needed! This means she will not have to worry about my recover before we leave for Johannesburg. God works great miracles!

Please be praying for our upcoming bake sale. It is three Sundays in a row, November 22th, 29th, and December 6th. Pray that we will bake not too little or too much, and that they will sell, sell, sell! Continue to pray for our teams’ preparations physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

On vacation we came to a decision to change the avenue for looking for long-term opportunities. Instead of looking at specific places first and hoping our skills fit, we are now looking in multiple places that are the best fit for our skills. Please pray for direction in that area. Right now we are looking mainly at organizations within the States. If we are lucky they might pay us or give us a stipend… so that we won’t need to rely on you guys. We have not ruled out overseas locations, just making sure we cover all bases.

The Jonathan and Kelly Missions blog is up and running. Right now not much is on it but these here newsletters. Jonathan will put his writing to good use by updating this with more posts. So check it ever so often.

Thanks for your support and prayers. If you have a donation to make, do so through the GP Give Ministry site and be sure to check the “other” box and specify that it is for the Nolte’s South Africa trip. Or mail a check with “Nolte South Africa” in the memo area to: Grace Point Church, 9750 Huebner Road, San Antonio, TX 78240.

Love,
Jonathan and Kelly

2009-10-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Our church, Grace Point, is sending a small group to South Africa in January 2010. We will work alongside members of Mayfair Baptist Church to help children and adults living in the poverty of squatter camps, share the Gospel in prisons and help that church in any way we can. We will be in Johannesburg, South Africa from January 15 through January 24.

This is an opportunity for us to become acclimated to this kind of work and point us in the direction we should go in the near future. We hope to become full-time missionaries within the next year and have such faith that we are not renewing our apartment lease in August 2010. We have much work ahead of us to achieve this goal and we are writing to ask for your support.

We will need, more than anything, your prayers and encouragement as we endeavor to walk in faith and prepare for this lifestyle change. Please pray that we will increase faith and abide in God for all of our spiritual, emotional, and material needs. Pray that doors will open and the way be made clear for us to travel. Pray that Kelly’s surgery to remove an ovarian cyst goes smoothly and she has a speedy recovery. Pray that the hearts and minds of people we serve are receptive to God’s love and that we are faithful and effective servants. Lastly, we need prayer that God provides financial support for us and our team as we prepare to go to South Africa and beyond.

Please consider being involved with us in the ministry. It would be an honor for us to have you as my sending partner by prayer and/or financial support. You may make a tax-deductible donation to Grace Point Church. You can make a payment online here: Online Giving. Be sure to make a note with any donation to earmark it for Jonathan and Kelly Nolte's expenses for missions. Please know that your financial support will allow our team to share the Gospel with many people in South Africa. I will keep you up to date on the trip and give you the opportunity to celebrate the victories.

Thank you so much for your support. I look forward to hearing from you.

Jonathan and Kelly are being sent!

2009-10-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, we are Jonathan and Kelly. We are a young couple living in San Antonio and we have been called to go do God's work in the world. We are currently seeking a long-term missionary work with a leaning toward Northern Ireland and Africa.