Back in Action

Well, I arrived safely to White River after traveling for over 30 hours. The mos difficult time was the eight hour layover in Heathrow. Not only are they renovating the terminal, which they've blocked off my secret area to catch a few zzz's, but my American dollar was getting pounded in the terminal shops. As soon as I arrived to South Africa, I caught a forty hour flu bug. Let's just say I lost a few pounds, very quickly and then I had some food poisoning. The weight was just puring out of me, to be as descriptive as possible. The following weekend a few of us YWAMers went the Northcliffe Union Church in Johannesburg to be a part of their mission's conference. About ten missions organizations were asked to come and setup a table presentation, giving a platform to introduce what we do and how we do it to about six different churches. We presented our Compassion Discipleship Training School, the training arm of of Ten Thousand Homes, with video, fliers, posters and our personal charm. We presented the table for three days and had a slew of Afrikaners (White South Africans of Dutch descent) come to the table. There was a lot of interest. Actually the Northcliffe Union staff were so good to us. They served us with food and basically anything we needed. It's funny how we get in the mode of serving and blessing in the the Father's name and in the midst of service, we become more blessed and served. Staying in my friend's home, they have a cleaning lady come once a week. Her name is Lizzie and she works very hard. One day my friend was running an errand and couldn't prepare Lizzie her lunch so she asked me too. Man, it was such a great feeling toserve her lunch...as my friend Herbert says the joy in serving the the server. This thought of service is such a powerful thing. Serving is an act that represents the Father's heart to bless, to love one another. With love we find it that it's the best choice possible for you and everyone involved. I find it that there's an element of selflessness involved, were we gain nothing from the decision. Jesus showed it best...He did not come to be served but to serve. All throughout the New Testament, you read Jesus healing people, raising people from the dead. You have a women, so desperate to be healed from her bleeding. For years she's tried every known possible cure, but nothing. She's left unhealed, more shunned and financially put out. Then when she hears of the Jesus and his healing power, she pushes through the crowd, with the utmost determination, not caring of what the people are saying to her. I'm sure everyone knew who she was, "the bleeding one." I'm sure some thought that her unhealed wound was a result of some sin in her life. That's a familiar feeling...but she pushes through, grabs his cloak and in an instant, she is healed. And Jesus knows that his power has been used.
Jesus never asked anyone to say the four spiritual laws. Don't get me wrong, I've used the four spiritual laws and have seen them bring people the Christ. Studying the Jesus and healing, he never asks anyone to receive Him, to confess their and then He will heal. In the majority of written accounts of Jesus healing, it says "He had compassion." Jesus freely healed. He freely served. No questions asked. I think this is when love shines best, when it's given as a gift.
We're moving into a community called Mbonswani. Here's video clip of some of the boys

It's a poor community in which a gugu (grandmother) named Victoria is caring for as many orphans as she can. Her and her husband, ten years ago, were driving home and saw children rummaging through the trash, looking for food. They saw children playing with used condoms, found in the trash, thinking that hey were balloons, putting the condoms up to their mouths and blowing them up. That day they took in ten children. Well that ten has grown to over two hundred children and Victoria, her husband and a few more volunteers from the community are helping with home visits to the orphans, if they have homes, and basically helping with anything else they can do. There is a tremendous need so please pray for us. We are in the building part of our relationship with gugu Victoria and have started bi-weekly Saturday programs which involve a meal for the orphans and some sort of activity for them. Last time was painting and it was a hit! We know that we are the body of Christ being God's people intentional in giving Christ away and so our sole responsibility is in obedience to the Father, no matter what it is. This is the highest thing, this is love. Also our Compassion DTS (www.compassiondts.com) is on their outreach in Malawi. They drove from Maputo to the Malawi border and it took them 18 hours, driving. They're in a new country so pray that they acclimate well to the new culture and have favor with the Malawians. Also we're starting our second Compassion Discipleship Training School in September so if you're interested in the HIV/Aids crisis and/or would like to take some time with you and God and sort out life or if you know of someone with these interests, check out our website and email us.
I am looking to purchase a car. This is an old prayer request so I'm looking to raise about $6000 for a car. Without transport, it's hard to get around and especially get into the communities. If you are interested in donating or maybe have a creative idea in helping in raising the funds, please email me at davidsong@tenthousandhomes.org. Also if you'd like to donate, you can click on the donate button, on the side of the page, or if you'd like a tax receipt, you can mail in your donation. All the details are on the bottom side panel on my blog, so just scroll on down if you don't see it. Next Monday, Jeremy (our YWAM base leader, my good friend and band mate) are going to visit the DTS outreach team in Malawi. We're flying in on the 2nd of June and returning on the 9th. Please pray for safe travels and no hassles at customs. There shouldn't be any problems but please cover us in prayer. We're visiting the team to encourage them and to see how they're doing. Lastly, please pray for the band. As many of you know, I'm in a rock band and we're all here in South Africa, working with Ten Thousand Homes/YWAM Kruger Park. Since I've returned our times of practice and creating music have been great. Here's a picture of our practice space/studio. It's my bedroom as you can see. Practice times have been so great that we're looking to drop our original recordings done last Christmas and record a whole new CD. Since our dream is to create space for God to move on people's hearts, through honest songs of life, hope and love, we need support in prayer to continue to move forward, with the Father. So please pray with us so that we walk through the right doors and make the right decisions, especially at this current time.
Well, that' it for now. I love you guys and send me some email to let me know how you're doing. If you are interested in what we're doing we always encourage friends to come and visit and stay with us. Don't be shy. Here are some photos of what I see everyday here.