Life in a Third-World Country

Living
in a third-world country is different to say the least… you really
learn the “Fruit of the Spirit” called patience in whole new ways.

You can wait for your meal at a restaurant for two hours, they bring it
in shifts – when people say we will be there “Just Now” that means
maybe today, sometime – if your meeting with the government, a pastor
or a business man, you will wait and wait and wait – the only time you
get traffic violations is lunch time and dinner time; you pay right on
the spot and you can negotiate the price of the ticket or just give
them any food you have on hand!

(Lisa’s first ticket, she didn’t have any food!)

It
also brings other challenges; last week Tyler, our 16 year old, took
one of our missionary teams over to South Africa – while driving back,
traveling 120k down the road, a car pulled out right in front of them.

Casey, one of the leaders here that was driving said that the Lord
literally picked up the car, moved them over and they just side swiped
the car instead of the semi-truck headed toward them! Casey, and one of
the other leaders, Kate said, “after we slammed into the guy and were
sitting there stunned, Tyler had already checked on the other car,
taken his shirt off to wave down the police and had the team checked on
and safe”! Kate said, “I’m 27 years old and this 16 year old ‘Boy-Man’
of yours was like an angel. He took care of us as if he was 40 years
old and a professional EMT”! The guy that caused the accident put them
up in a 5 star hotel!

Our 14 year old, Michael, is up in Mozambique with one of our World Race teams
(You have to click on this and see Michael’s picture) – between doing
his school work, serving orphans, preaching to locals and rebuilding
homes that have been destroyed by floods, he sent me this email
yesterday:

hey
dad hows stuff goin?? well i have been spending a lot of time with the
lord and he has made it pretty clear that i am suppose to stay with the
team as long as i can.. they have basically made me part of the team
and r wanting to no if i can stay with them.. we just had a meeting and
they r waiting on an answer on were to go next… Danny and Kiel are
really wanting to meet with u and the whole team thinks they need to
come out to Nsoko there this month or toward the end so they can
physically and spiritually hold us up… God is really doing awesome
things and i am more alive than iv ever been!!! i love u all a lot and
hope to hear from u soon.

love u all
mike

Caleb and Noah, with our guard, just found two baby black Mamba snakes in our yard!

Our two girls, Lex and Em, are
camping with a World race team in Nsoko, next to lions, since February
1. They are developing our “Children’s Village” teaching program.

Lisa and I sit amazed and in awe of life in a third-world country.