…Which means it’s getting cold and darker, but also that the continental market is back in front of Belfast City Hall, and that lights are up around the city.

Here are some of the things that are in our prayers at this time:

• Work. That we may work well and build good relationships in what we do. Specifically, Renee has started her work a couple weeks back, and there’s a lot to learn and a lot to do.
• For YWAM Ireland’s progress in the UK visa areas: they have recently undergone an inspection by the Home Office so they can get approval to give their staff 2 year renewable visas. This will mean a whole lot to people who want to work with YWAM long-term, as it costs a lot to renew more frequently (if it’s possible at all), and it allows them to work towards residency in the UK. This has been a struggle for the last two years, since the immigration laws changed in 2008. Though we’re not YWAM staff anymore, this will mean a lot to people who we are close to and are doing work we continue to support.

If you receive our newsletter updates, you know that these last few weeks and next few months mark a season of transition for us. After five years of staffing with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), we will be leaving our full-time positions to pursue a time of equipping ourselves for the future.

So what does this mean?

We are no longer YWAM staff, though Mikael will continue to work for YWAM in Northern Ireland on a limited part-time basis. Both of us want to pursue developing our gifts in new ways over the next few years. Mikael is entering a three year undergraduate degree programme at Queen’s University in Belfast, and Renee is looking for work – hopefully in caring for adults with special needs, a field where she has prior experience.

We will appreciate your prayers for this new season. We continue to remain committed to seeing justice and mercy for the downtrodden and outcast through living the values of the Kingdom of Christ. Our life in missions isn’t over; this is simply a new chapter.

Excerpted from a recent newsletter sent 5 July:

We returned to Belfast on Friday after six weeks in South Africa leading a Discipleship Training School (DTS) outreach, making about 9 weeks total away with the prior three weeks with the team in Cork. Our team continues their work in South Africa for another two weeks without us, then they will be back in Northern Ireland for their final debriefing at YWAM’s new base in Rostrevor during the last ten days of this month.

Our time in South Africa went really well. We had the opportunity to work alongside a few partner organizations in kwaZulu-Natal (Durban area, mostly), and our team was involved in quite a few different types of ministry: leading worship, home visits with the sick, youth discipleship, running ‘Bible camp’ and kids’ programs, practical work, prayer ministry, giving teaching and testimonies. We (Mikael & Renee) were active as well in trying to facilitate spiritual growth and leadership abilities in our team members. As usual, we tried to open up opportunities for them to be active in their particular gifts and talents, as well as help them take more and more responsibility in every aspect of the outreach. Thus, we’re confident in them and their progress while we are away. Each team member has clear responsibilities (from organizing team times, to doing the accounts and organizing grocery shopping), and we turned the overall leadership over to two of them.

South Africa is a beautiful country of many contrasts. It has one of the largest income inequalities in the world, with some of the poorest and richest people within its borders. In some places, we felt as if we could easily be in an opulent Southern California suburb. Out of town and down the road are the offspring of informal settlements, with open sewers, ramshackle dwellings and no indoor plumbing, where the inhabitants (almost always exclusively black) live on less than $2 a day. With 11 official languages, South Africa is layered with different cultures. The kwaZulu-Natal province, though, is 80% Zulu, with English and Afrikaaner whites fitting into the remaining percentage alongside the other people groups. Durban has also the largest Indian population outside of India.

Our work was mostly in Zulu communities. When not with YWAM Durban, we had the opportunity to stay in the tribal areas, once at a community centre, and the next with one of team member’s (Spha) family. We traded indoor plumbing, showers and privacy for the beautiful views of valleys and red earth, spotted with brightly-colored traditional round houses. Alongside our official ministry, it became apparent that our presence as a team of mostly white people in areas where white people don’t often come was a ministry of reconciliation in and of itself. People were delighted to see us fetching water, crammed into the noisy minibus taxis, and trying out our lackluster Zulu language skills. We often heard the phrase, ‘You’ve made us feel human.’ Our words about Christ came more alive in these experiences.

There is much more to say about our time in South Africa – about the beautiful and inspirational people we met, the challenges they face, and what we’ve learned – but we will save it for another time.

You can see photos from our trip in our photo gallery, or by following the link below:

	South Africa: Outreach 2010 Pictures from the DTS outreach we lead around Durban area May – July 2010. The last two weeks are student-lead, and we are back early. 54 photos

Also, we encourage you to check out some of the amazing groups we’ve been blessed to work with in South Africa. Here is a summary (they’re all Christian organizations, by the way):

• YWAM Durban – They do a whole host of stuff, but we have been (and the team will be again before they leave) primarily involved in outreach in a local township called Burlington.
• Maskhane – A community organization in kwaNzimakwe tribal area (South Coast) where we did story telling, discipleship, and kids programmes, as well as some home visits. They do counseling, home care for HIV and AIDS patients, and many other things.
• Light Providers – A organization in kwaNyuswa in the Valley of 1000 Hills that seeks to empower youth with vision for their life. It was started by Vusi, who did his DTS in Closkelt, and a couple of their staff have done DTSs now in Belfast.
• Sethani – A community organization working in kwaNgcolosi, Spha’s community, offering life skills, counseling, and youth programs. We ran a program for kids and youth there.
• World Changers Academy – Offering life skills and leadership training in various communities around kwaZulu-Natal. It was started by a YWAMer about a decade ago. Several of its staff have done DTSs in Belfast, including our current trainee, Spha, who works for them. Our team is working with WCA this week, helping with life skills courses.