Wednesday 17 July 2013

Update

Well we are back in the office again, the team from Church of the Resurrection have returned home to the U.S.A. The  two training events that took place in Welkom and Bloemfontein went well.
We are now in that quiet period of the year as we hibernate for the winter months. There is now the preparation of reports for annual conference which takes place in September.
I have a visdting team arriving from Dalles Texas in the next three weeks and so will send a few days with them in the Kruger National Park, as the saying goes this is hard work but someone has to do it.
Then we are in to the last quater of this year.

Monday 20 May 2013

Well Synod's for the Methodist Church of Southern Africa are just around the corner with all starting this week. I will be at Synod of the Highveld and Swaziland District which is in Piet retief this year.
Then for a short break. Then the team from Church of the Resurrection arrives in Mid June. This team is here to carry out leadership training in the N.F. & L and also the KNB District. These two training events will take place from the 20th June though to the  30th June.  The N.F.& L training will take place in Welkom and the KNB  training taking place in Bloemfontein. We have been working on this since the beginning of the year. Looking forward to this.

Some report back have been in Mozambique assessing the project at Chidenguele. this project still has potential but things are moving along slowly. The site still needs to cleared of some of the bush and the road to the site still needs to be completed.
We travelled to Mozambique with Anthony Tibbbet from the M.C.O.  as well as Bruce the architect. We now have a plan of action of what needs to be done.
There is a new minister in Maputo who is really keen to go and work in the Chidenguele area. This would be a great help to have a person on site.
Well all things are now in God's hands as are all things with regards to the project.
And so life goes on as we seek to serve the Risen Christ and to make a difference in the lives of His people.

Thursday 18 April 2013

Mid Year Plan

We are now planning mid year projects.
Swaziland schools project is is an ongoing project of late we have had interest being shown in the project by the YMG from the Highveld and Swaziland District. they are keen to get involved in a school in the Mahamba region of Swaziland.
Mooiplaas we have had numerous meetings with the Queenstown District as well as Rev. Cayce Stapp from COR this project is slowly getting going. COR have a team that will be in South Africa in October for the opening of a church that they helped build in Pinetown and this team are interested in going to Mooiplaas and spending a night or two there. This would be really great as they would then be able to go back to COR and help with promoting the project. 
Mozambique. The decision has been made that we will use tents for acommodation here and not get into building structures here. we have looked at one of the tent manufacturers in Ladysmith in KZN and liked what we saw there. There are many ways to use tents and there are a number of different designs that can be used. tents go from budget to luxury.
We have planned a trip to the site for the week 5-9 May to go and begin the work of laying out the site for the first tents. We are hoping that we will be able to accomodate the first paying guests by the last quater of this year.
Then off to synod in Piet Retief and for all that, that holds instore for us.
June then has us working with a team from COR running leadership training seminars in Welkom for the N.F. & L District and then to Bloemfontein to do the same for the KNB District.
And so again a busy time and a fair amount of travelling away from home.
Then we are in to the second half of 2013 a scary thought that half of this year has gone by already. Time goes by far to quickly.

Monday 4 February 2013

Well January has beeen a busy month.
We have started the year with a bang. from the day that we reopened the office we were on the run.
Firstly two young Interns from GBGM arrived, they are at the beginning of a year with us here in South Africa and will be working with rev Pierre Naude in Tzaneen.
Then team arrived from Church of the resurrection in transit to Malawi.
Rev Ketshabile and I then travelled to Tzaneen to take the two interns Michelle and Rebekah to Tzaneen and to get them settled in there.
The COR team then arrived back in South Africa, with three of the ggroup staying here while the rest eturned to the U.S.A.
Rev Cayce Stapp with Elisha Velez-Makar as well as Rev Ketshabile and I then travelled to Bloemfontein vis Welkom to look at venues for the training that will take place in June in conjunction with M.C.S.A. and COR in the the NFS&L and KNB districts.
We then travelled back to Johannesburg COR group went on to Durban for the dedication of a church in the Clearpine circuit. they then travelled to East London from there, I then met them on Monday morning in East London. We then met Bishop Noqayi and travelled to Mooiplaas to look introduce the COR group to the project.
We then all travelled back to Johannesburg and the Americans then on to the U.S.A.
Now a little time to breath as we plan for the rest of this year, which at this point promises to be a busy one.
Well all for now I will continue to keep you all informed of the life of SAMVIM.

Friday 23 November 2012

Thursday 15 November 2012

Mooiplaas

We have been quiet over the last while but will from now post regular updates of some of the work that SAMVIM is involved in.
We are in the process of setting up a new old project in the Queenstown district. The project is the Mooiplaas project which is situated outside of East London.
The project was originally stated in the early 1990's.
Although over the last number of years it has not really done much.
The M.C.S.A. Mission Unit in partnership with the Queesntown District and the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City U.S.A. are looking to restart the project, so that it can again benefit a community that is need of a project of this nature.
The project will looking at farming and look at best practice models. It will also look to get community involvement in the farming and maketing of the produce that will be grown on the site. They will also be looking to start chicken farming on the site.
The local community are looking to renovate the rondavels that are on the property so that they can be used as a rettreat centre. This has already begun with one rondavel in the process of being renovated, and the others will follow as finances become available.
Eventually we will also be looking to teach skills that can be used by folk from the local community, skills such as brick making and laying carpentery and others.
The project is at present in it's infancy, but we are looking to the future.