Dear Family, Friends and Faithful Supporters

As my time has finished in Jeffreys Bay, and the completion of my first year with AIM, my life and ministry are at some important crossroads. Because you have been so faithful in your prayers and support of me, I wanted to share these changes with you and would appreciate your continued prayers.

Jeffreys Bay Update

This year has been great for all us as we have experienced both incredibly blessings and hardships. We've seen people healed, we've seen people die, we've been loved and we've been hated. This is AIM's third year sending an FYM team here and we have seen many lives touched and healed by both present and previous students. God is stirring the people of Jeffreys towards Him and we are so grateful for the opportunity to experience it.

The upcoming season of FYM in Jeffreys Bay is going to look different. The FYM program is launching a new course, called the Awakening, hoping to emphasis more time on training and discipleship. Instead of it being a nine month continuous program it will now be in two parts. The first semester will be used as a three month long discipleship and training program in hopes to see students properly trained. The second semester the students will spend in there selective countries or region of South Africa living out all that they have learned. Jeffreys Bay will be the host of the first semester program the Awakening. And at this point it remains uncertain if Jeffreys will be a destination for a team of students second semester. Please be with us in prayer even now for that time in September!

Personal Update

Much to my surprise and as a real "God Thing", at missionary training camp this past August God brought into my life a wonderful and godly young man, Chad Mustain, who is also an AIM missionary serving in Manchester, England. And in the shortened version, God brought together our love for people and missions, and then brought together our hearts as a couple, and we were engaged this spring and are to be married in Colorado this August 2^nd.

So What's Next

This rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows has definitely deepened our prayer lives, focusing us on what God has for us as a missionary couple. With England out of the picture due to the closing of the AIM base there, we began to pray about whether God would open doors for us to lead and serve in South Africa. Initially we thought yes, but then through prayer and the wise counsel of family and veteran missionary couples, the advice seems to unanimously be to build and guard our marriage during our first year, and this would be difficult to do with the rigors of a demanding overseas leadership position.

Missions In The Next Season Of Life

AIM's home office is located in Gainesville, GA (north Atlanta suburb) and they have offered both Chad and I the opportunity to minister and serve through some key assignments that would allow us to live and work primarily in the Gainesville area this next year. This is still a developing job description but it would include some assignments such as:

• Continued development and working with the Ambassador Program, a short-term one-month mission trip program for 16-18 year-olds
• Provide leadership and instruction for various missionary training camps including the Ambassador, Real Life, and First Year Missionary Programs
• Travel and lead some short term international AIM trips in the spring and summer of 2009
• Speak, lead worship, and provide missions education for churches in the Atlanta area

Committed To The Call

God has brought much into our lives this past year. For that we say "YEA God". We haven't and don't understand all God is doing, but one thing we are sure of - WE are committed to the call!

The great missionary mandate found in Acts 1:8 says,

"But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell the people about me everywhere - in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

We are prayerfully content that in being committed to the call that God is leading us to minister via Jerusalem for the next phase of our missions journey.

One thing remains constant for a faith based missionary, whether single or married. We do not draw a paycheck from a ministry organization and rely upon God bringing financial and ministry partners alongside us.

Chad and I have both been blessed individually with a wonderful team of prayer partners and financial supporters. We hope that you will prayerfully consider continuing your support of us during this next year of ministry and as we serve together as a couple.

As a married couple our financial needs and monthly support goal is $3,380 per month for the next year. This amount covers our organizational fees, taxes, social security, health insurance, and what we would live on each month.

It is through your generosity and monthly or one time gifts that we are able to take the love and message of Christ "everywhere . . . and to the ends of the earth."

We would love to hear from you if we can answer any questions related to our ministry or your support thereof.

Be Blessed,

Heather and Chad

hmichaele15@hotmail.com

Before we left for Cape Town our students put on a couple huge events for the kids they work with. The Ithemba crew put together a carnival, where over 90 kids attended! Check out these pictures below. It was a crazy and fun time, a time where kids could be kids again!

The Joshua Project team put together a last supper, to say the least with the kids they work with. It was a fun filled day with laughter, dancing, egg races and food! Check out these pics from the day.

I am beyond proud of our students this year.  They have truly made a difference in this community.  They have forever left a footprint in the lives of many. 

Thank you for helping make a difference!
Blessings,
Heather

Well the end is close in sight. I still can't believe that in two days I will no longer call Jeffreys Bay my home. It's been a challenging experience, and there is so much waiting for me at home, although it doesn't take away the sadness of leaving a group of people who you've invested into for the last eight months. It's been an incredible experience, one to not be forgotten. God has challenged me, stretched me and refined me once again.

Last night we returned home from Cape Town. We spent four full days there, visiting and touring the sites. Although the weather was not pleasant, the fog never lifting off of Table Mountain, it still was a beautiful time of rest, reflection and fun! We hiked Table Mountain, we visited the penguins, we ate American food, Cinnabun and Subway, we saw three movies, and we climbed Cape Point, the most southern tip of Africa. It was a great way to spend some last moments with our students.

The View at the top of Table Mountain.


Christina and I at the top of Table Mountain.


Penguins!

The drive to Cape Point, including a rainbow!

Cape Point, where it is believed two oceans meet.

The Cape of Good Hope.

The next couple of days we will be packing up and saying our goodbyes. Most of us leave on Thursday to return home. I will be meeting up with Chad at the Frankfurt Airport on Friday morning and from there we will fly to Atlanta where we will spend two weeks visiting our AIM family and doing some pre marriage counseling. From there we will head to New York to visit with my mother, step dad and brother for five days and then back to Colorado on June 3^rd.

I cannot thank you enough for all of your love, prayers, financial support and encouragement as I have been here. I truly would not have been able to do it without you. I have been meaning to post an update on Chad's and I's plans, but with the craziness of this past week, have not been able to. Once I return home I will post an update about our upcoming plans! I love you all and hope to visit with you when I am home!!

Blessings,

Heather

South Africa is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, I'm just sure of it. I have felt so blessed this year to have been able to explore and see another part of God's world, his handiwork and masterpiece. On Friday Katie, Melissa and I went to TsiTsikamma National Park and hiked Storms River Mouth. It was such a peaceful day, as God found me right where I was at. It was a perfect ending to a really hard week. Here are some pictures. Thank you for making this possible for me to experience.

Heather

I sit here trying to think of how to even begin explaining the events of this last week. It was beautiful, heart breaking and everything in between. Our time here is closing, this last week being our last full week of ministry. And of course it ended up being one of the hardest for both me and our students. I cried, prayed, laughed and struggled right alongside the girls I have been meeting with every week for the last eight months.

Monday was probably the roughest day of the week. Holly and I were out trying to do the grocery shopping, which on a public holiday is impossible, and ran into one of the street kids here. His name is Dion. He is sixteen years old and he has AIDS. He weighs 95 pounds and refuses to take his medicine. He literally is dying in front of our eyes. He has resorted to drinking and friendly smiles and exchanges are no longer had with him. He is utterly hopeless and is begging to die.

From there we receive a call from some of our students who do ministry at the health clinic in one of the townships, Pellsrus. They ran into a woman and her two month old baby on the street. The woman is drunk and holding her child like a sack of potatoes. Our students pray with her, take the child and walk her home. Upon arriving at the woman's house, they see a man rolling joints and at least 6 cats roaming the home. The house is an absolute disaster, and talking to the neighbors we find out they are all alcoholics and the neighbor tells us, "They need a lot of help." Our minds and hearts go back to that child finding out it has not eaten more than flour and water for the last four days. It weighs only 2.5 Kilos, making it about 6 pounds. It has a rash over its entire body. The mother is too drunk to have patience to feed and hold it properly. We sat there wondering what is going to happen to this child. We buy some formula for the baby and try to teach the mother how to do simple things like feed it, burp it and hold it. And then we leave, praying and hoping that God brings restoration and life to that family.

From there we come home. I meet with one of my students and we start talking about the street kids and the most recent situation that has developed over the weekend. There are a couple men here who have started abusing the children and telling them that they are going to hell. They are referred to as the Rastas, so their religion plays a part in both their abusive behavior and condemnation of those kids. The kids go there because the men give them marijuana, yet the men are beating them for sniffing glue and petrol. Either way those kids are in danger.

And that's a wrap. The day is over. My heart still hasn't been able to process all these things, I still feel overwhelmed and heart broken. Today at church, I wept for Dion, for that baby, and for those kids. I don't understand these things. I don't understand why there has to be so much pain in the world. And I guess that's where I'm at. I heard God tell me this morning to surrender. And I guess that's what we have to do as our time in Jeffreys comes to an end. The Lord has really been speaking to me through His word. I'm searching for strength and peace to finish these last weeks strong.

He says…

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock." Isaiah 26:3-4

"a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged." Isaiah 42:3-4

I guess all that to say, please be praying for us here. Today at church the pastor said something that struck my mind and heart, he said through out life we may lose some battles, but we will win the war. So we continue on to fight for the things the Lord cares about.

We leave on Wednesday to go to Cape Town for four full days. It is our last debrief time with our students. We will start to process the events of the year and how to begin to reintegrate back to life in the States. I'm not sure I have any of those answers. Pray that our time will be full of peace, rest, and laughter. Pray for safe travels as it is a 8 hour drive from Jeffreys.

Blessings,

Heather

This week has been a bit different than most weeks here in Jeffreys. Because our ministry sites are still closed for Easter Holiday, we had a bit more room in our schedule to really try and challenge the students this week. So we took advantage of the extra time and decided to structure our days around a couple spiritual disciplines that Richard Foster discusses in his book Celebration of Discipline. We focused on solitude, fasting, prayer and celebration. Each day has many testimonies of the things God did within our students and within me, but for this blog I wanted to share what God did on our solitude day. On Tuesday we took the students hiking up a mountain and gave them the day to reflect and mediate on the semester and allowed room for God to speak into their lives. Before we were allowed to hike we were to pick an object that represented something we needed to surrender to God. Once we had that object we were released to start the climb. My attitude this day was not poor, but trudging through the bushes in Africa and rock climbing isn't necessarily the way that I prefer to find God. But I don't think God really cared about how I preferred to find him, because He's found in everything! Tiredly I started trudging through the thorny bushes and stumbled upon a bush with flowers that were perfectly intact, but had obviously been through a fire. They were completely scorched, but somehow they were still beautiful. I picked one and used it as my object, and began asking God to reveal himself through this scorched flower.

A few minutes later one of our students approached us and asked if we wouldn't mind her tagging along with us, of course we said we didn't. She was really scared about trudging through the bushes alone and I was reminded that sometimes on our journey through life we need the help of others to get us to where we need to be. Because of her vulnerability with us, God allowed that truth to penetrate my heart. So we prayed and continued on our upward climb. After a while we stopped on some rocks and took some time to start journaling about the truths God was bringing to our hearts. As I began journaling I was reminded of my attitude in starting this hike, so I confessed that and asked God to speak. We moved forward and the higher we climbed the more of God's beauty we were able to see. When we were a bit higher we took another break and soaked in the beauty of God's creation around us and I started reflecting on my little scorched flower. I realized why I picked it; it was because this was and is how my heart feels. My heart still intact, but so scorched, I felt almost dead inside. The flower was obviously dead, but somehow it was beautiful. And I realized that even though my heart may feel dead and that there may be nothing to give, God is still beautiful and that beauty radiates any scorched heart.

When we reached the highest place, I was blessed enough to experience three of our students explain their objects and what it represented to them, and then see them yell "I surrender!" and throw it off the mountain. Again I was reminded that God uses the weak to lead the strong. The whole day I felt so weak in every area of my life, but God used me and others to forge the way up and down that mountain, and to help students experience freedom from things that were hindering their journey with God. That is a true blessing of doing what I do and I am so grateful to have experienced that.

That is just one of the many things God spoke to me this week. It truly was a great week, tiring in some ways, but renewing in others.

"And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." Isaiah 58:11

Thank you all for your steadfast and faithful prayers. We are approaching the end of the trip with just 4 weeks left! Please continue to pray for strength for me and that I would be able to just pour out everything I have. I look forward to seeing most of you if not all of you this summer.

All my love,

Heather