22 July 2007

Hello everyone,

I hope this email finds you all well. I am currently sitting in the living room. It is a gorgeous Saturday afternoon & is surprisingly hot outside.

Lyn has a decorating program on while Pru is chasing the 2 babies round & round the coffee table & they are screaming with delight!

I was spoilt rotten this morning. Aaron brought me breakfast in bed….it was the most delicious English breakfast I’d ever had! He is getting so good at cooking! & then later on he gave me a big bunch of red roses & he’s taking me out to dinner tonight.

The biggest news I have is that Baden’s mum is ringing up social services everyday, demanding to have him back. I think I mentioned it on another email that they have already recommended he goes back to be with his birth mother.

Well the social worker rang on Monday asking to have a meeting this Wednesday (18th) to discuss the matter. The meeting was later cancelled till Friday 20th, but then they never showed up & when Lyn rang it turned out a baby had been abandoned & they had to place him quick. Lyn almost told them to just bring them with & leave them here but she decided against it…….’just for now anyway’ she said lol! however, just from talking on the phone, Lyn has discovered that Baden’s mum has not told the social workers half of Baden’s conditions and illnesses…………………they didn’t even know he was HIV positive!

Lyn has come up with 19 points that they do not know, saying why it is not best for him to go back.

The main ones being, his medicines alone cost more than she earns in a month & her earnings provide not only for herself, but for her Gran and little sister also! Lyn has been given the girls budget for the month & it turns out she has R600 left each month to use as she pleases………………..she hasn’t visited her baby since last Dec, and b4 that it was March………….Baden does not know her nor she him. We don’t know if she has electricity for his nebuliser & meds.

This same thing happened last year when his mum found out she could get a government grant for his meds. She made such a fuss about getting him back because the extra cash could pay for her drugs. What she doesn’t realise is, most of Badens meds are not on the roll out program from the government because they are too expensive. His Ziagen (ARV) is R1000 a month alone, & he takes 5 different ARV’s all together.

So this meeting needs a lot of prayer. I know Lyn & the family would really appreciate it. Poor Dave is hating being away when all this is happening.

The meeting has now been re-scheduled for Monday morning at 10am.

Lol Pru is now playing Ringa-Ringa Roses with the babes………….they fall down & shout yay! As they jump up again & fling their arms in the air…………they are

such a delight at the moment! Yesterday they both followed me to my

house…..I went to the bathroom & when I came out both boys were in my room!

Luke was jumping on the bed & Baden had emptied the contents of my makeup bag & smeared lipstick all over his face!!!!!!!!! I just laughed and cuddled them both.

The children all got Disney character outfits from Australia & Paullina has an Ariel 1 (little mermaid) well Baden LOVES the bright orange wig! I’ve attached a pic for you to see………..he was squealing and running all over the house like a little munchkin from the Wizard of OZ!

Becca & Suzie left on Tuesday & I have to say it seems so quiet with out them. They were so chatty & bubbly. Di is missing them. They called her mummy Di lol.

We have finished another school term here so next week is holidays. There’s lots else going on thought & I’m looking forward to working in the garden & maybe going across to the camp with Di to play netball. Diane is loving her work with Quazenzele. She goes almost everyday, taking food & blankets for the needy. She plays netball twice a week with the girls there & has just started a prayer meeting once a week with 2 Gogo’s (old ladies) they walk a 4mile round trip to come & pray & they’re both in their late 80’s! 1 of them has 8 grandchildren to care for as her daughter died of AIDS. Aaron sometimes walks home with them when they have food or blankets to carry & he says they’re inspiring & it’s an honour to walk them home.

The ground for the new church building has been prepared & the foundations will be laid in the next few weeks. Yesterday Jon & Kuz (workers) emptied the old stables………you should have seen the sight! I never thought to take a photo! I couldn’t believe the stuff that was in there. The greatest discovery was Anthony’s snooker table! And it looked brand new! So I think Chris & Aaron are racking their brains for a place to put it up. But the funniest thing was 2 rats came running out of there & Lyn screamed and ran for her life! Bear got both of them! The children were rolling about laughing, but I have to admit I was just as bad with all the spiders!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr just shivering at the memory! &last night I saw a huge rat run from under mine & Di’s house euuuuuuw! They’re everywhere this time of year.

(Baden is tapping me on the arm & pointing at the computer over & over)…………..oh he’s walked off now.

I have started looking at Correspondence courses in child care. I’ve enquired at a college in Ireland. They have a lot of interesting courses & if I need to I can return to England & continue studying with it being in Ireland & not SA.& the other good thing is they’ve had lots of students from all over the world so I feel reassured that they have a good system. But I haven’t had a reply yet so we’ll see.

I think that is all for now. The poor pup is going from bad to worse she still has her cast on its looks like she’s got a mite or something in her skin as she got bald batches of dry skin! The vet has given her a few injections for it.

Please let me know what you’ve all got planned for the summer. It still mid winter here but the day is already in the 20’s (degrees C) by midday! I think I’ll be passing out by October! Lol

Anyway………..take care

Lots of love & God Bless

Erin

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6th July 2007

Hello Everyone!

I think my emails are just becoming a monthly thing! lol! I text my friend the other night apologising for hardly emailing but by the time 7pm arrives and I'm finally free, I flop down somewhere for rest........and don’t get up for the rest of the night! lol!

Well I don’t even think I've emailed since Dave's dad got ill. Dave had to fly to the UK on the 19th June (I think it was the 19th anyway-I have lost track of the weeks!) because he had received news that his dad was seriously ill. His Dad's name is Baden and he'd seemed to have a blocked bowel and doctors had to remove the whole of his large intestine. It was a miracle that he pulled through the operation as his health is quite frail anyway. Praise the Lord, Baden is now home and is recovering well.

Dave was meant to fly to the UK on the 9th of this month and then fly to the U.S on the 12th; He is still going so please remember him in your prayers as he tours America. With the extended visit because of his Father's illness, Dave will now not be back at Ebyown until the 8th August and he is terribly homesick. He rings almost everyday and Lyn has the ministries mobile constantly in her hand texting.

Then on the 22nd, Paulina, thanks to a lot of prayer and donations......................got a wheelchair!!!!!!!!!! it is a beautiful black and pink one and it is better than we could have ever imagined! I went with Lyn, Aaron & Di to collect it and we all got very emotional seeing her ride in it for the first time..........her life has already been drastically changed by it......she has gained a whole new level of independence and her self confidence is growing by the day! she no longer has to crawl on the floor to get anywhere. however we have had some screams with her driving........and it doesn’t help when she doesn’t know her left from her right! lol!

I hear you have all been having bizarre weather the last few weeks...........well so have we. last Tuesday night we had a terrible lightening storm and howling winds, then at 1.15am(well I suppose that would mean it was early Wednesday) I get a text off Roxanne Wells (friend) telling me 'not to kill her cos its so late but to look out my window cos its snowing!' well as you can imagine at that time I was not with it so I pulled back my curtain and could only see the silhouette of a tree blowing in the wind so I went 'huhhhhhhhh????' and then collapsed back asleep. (I should also point out I wasn’t sleeping well that night because I was starting with a bad cold and throat). so I was awake at 3.30am when Diane's phone started to ring, when she didn’t answer I got up and woke her in case it was home calling her..........the missed call was off Alen Wells (Roxy's dad......goes to our church)..........so while we're both terribly confused and our sleepy brain are struggling to think, I go to the bathroom and on coming out I glance out of our front door and what do I see...............................SNOW! AND LOTS OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. so i run into Di saying it’s snowed, Roxy had text me.....that must have been what Alen was ringing for......................"what there's snow?????" "yes Di"(pause)"what..........here right now" "yes Di there's snow quick come and see!!(pause)"are you joking???....you telling me there’s snow outside our door?..here.....in South Africa?" "Di...............GET UP AND SEE!"

Well we had so much fun running round at 3.45am taking pics of everything!, I got Aaron up and we had a little snow fight. At 4.15am we thought we'd better go back to bed.

When I woke in the morning I was feeling a little ruff, but not too bad..............and the snow was still there! We played allllllllll morning in it until it melted, and then we back in T-shirts by the afternoon! it was so crazy! that afternoon I took all the =ive kids for their blood tests. It was a 45 minute drive there and back and the tests took over an hour so by the time we got back in the evening I felt TERRIBLE! and was in bed the next day.

I am still trying to get over it and still have the sniffles! lol! but the whole household has got a cold so I'm not the only one.

Then poor Polly got a very bad infection in her bad foot on Tuesday and I had to take her and Lyn to the doctors. Her foot was like a baseball and the doctor asked why she hadn’t been seen by the hosp yet (if you remember, she has a cyst on her bone and was meant to go the hosp for special treatment) when Lyn said we were still waiting for an appointment the doctor was shocked so hopefully they will get thing moving now. Polly had to have an injection of antibiotics right into her leg, it was that bad an infection and she had to go back yesterday and today for two more injections. Me Lyn and Aaron have also been out every morning doing the monthly shopping so I am so tired from driving, I don’t thing I’ve ever driven so much!

Another sad story is poor phoenix the puppy.

Rouge had broken her front right leg at the top joint. She had had it in plaster for 2 weeks. Last week the plaster was removed and she was just starting to put weight on her leg and use it again when Rouge attacked her again yesterday evening for chewing on Rouge's bone. it was the same leg as well and this time........there was blood poring out of her wound. & she was howling with the pain......we had to immediately take her to the vet again. We rang today and apparently it looked worse than it was but her leg is back in plaster. We may not be able to keep her if Rouge doesn’t take to her soon which I would be so gutted about because she has kind of become mine and Aaron’s and she is very attached to us and sleeps next to Aarons bed at night.

After reading all of that I guess you can imagine that schooling has kind taken a step back the last few weeks.........so we have taken the opportunity to start making the new calendars for next year. We make them every year and send them to all of Ebyown's supporters. we usually make around 200 and the children help too.

I think that is all the major news.........oh another thing.......S'phiwe has got a new hobby...........hiding in the boot of the combi when Salvador goes out! he's done it twice now and we've had to go pick him at various places in Gauteng and Salvi travels far and wide! it’s almost like he's on a secret mission and is a stow-away!

anyway i will sign off now........I promise I shall email a little sooner next time, and I hope you are all well.

Take care and God Bless

Love Erin

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So You have Chosen to Not Believe!

There is a bible verse which says ‘taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.’ (Ps 34:8) and yet as we talk to people about their faith, so often we come across those who have given up going to church, even when they have come from a strong Evangelical background. I know that verse to be true from my own experience, yet it wasn’t an instantaneous understanding, but a gradual realisation as I discovered the truths sifted away from the ‘fairy tales that surround much religious dogma.

I was brought up in a ‘christian’ home, attending church, Sunday school, choir. I attending a Church school, being indoctrinated with dogma, and observing how it was a case of do as I say rather than follow my example. I went on to getting married in church, for which I am very grateful for although I didn’t understand the implications at the time, and to teaching the Sunday School. I had my Christian principles and felt they made me a better man, but no-one had really shown me the person of Jesus Christ.

One of my Sunday school teachers ( I was now the Sunday School Superintendant!) decided to start inviting me to some Christian meetings, which I enjoyed and started hearing facts from the bible that no-one else had told me. Why Jesus entered this world, why He is God, why He had to die upon a cruel Roman cross and how it all foretold biblical prophesy of hundreds of years before it happened. I was challenged, that if there was something that try as much as I could, I was unable to succeed in, then to give God a chance, ask Him for forgiveness of my sins and to take control of my life as I wasn’t making that much of a good job of it anyway! To cut the story short I surrendered my life to the Lord one September evening in Central Hall, Liverpool, and went out a changed man. That night I realised what I had asked God to do and had severe doubts, but fortunately I had the good sense to allow God to prove himself which He really did. Why did God wait (waste!) 39 years to draw me to him and how was I to live this life from then on?

Many people have ‘experiences’ and say they have become a Christian, but so often there is no change in the lifestyle ( apart from going to church), or the initial enthusiasm soon fades away. Jesus said this would happen, when He told us the parable of the sower and it’s a sad fact when one has seen the joy of a new ‘convert’.

But many of us hide behind masks of our own making. We want to look good so that we have friends and get on in the world. What better than to get a God who does things for you and a bunch of new friends who are making you very welcome. Better just enjoy this and do the right thing.

Surely that doesn’t happen does it?

Well when you became a Christian, did you repent of all your sins, admitting that you are a sinner having broken God’s laws? Because many people do not, often because no-one has shown them how they are breaking God’s laws, only to ‘be happy and have Jesus in your life’. Well that’s not a bad thing as a starter, but unless we have repented and allowed God to be in control of everything in our lives, that first enthusiasm will soon die out. Whist I fully repented on that first evening, I ended up over a 2 year period surrendering more and more of my life to Him as God showed me.

So you have repented, what now?

Well lets sing some happy chorus’s and some light sermons, but don’t bore me with some deep teaching, keep that for those clever people. Unfortunately many preachers serve up a weekly diet of milk, which is fit for spiritual babies, but never progress to the real meat of the bible message. Can you imagine a baby who does not progress to solid foods. It would never grow and get strong able to survive in this world. Likewise, a Christian who is not fed on the whole biblical message will be stunted and will soon start feeling that God has let him down.

I have studied the bible now for some 30 years and whilst I still do not understand it all, I have never found it to be wanting. Always take scripture in context, try and understand the culture of the time, compare texts and never accept a teaching of one part which is in contradiction with another. There are some very good commentaries as well as some very bad ones, but if you have repented and accepted Jesus as your Saviour, then He will be your teacher and will not leave you bereft

You have doubts about some things like Genesis?

Good, you are not alone. I did too, until I was shown through archeological evidence that there is a strong case for a ‘young earth’ and that Genesis 1-3 is true. I now wonder why I was so stupid to believe the evolution theory just because a lot of ‘educated people’ have accepted it. So far there is NO proof for evolution and the fact that a Mighty God – why put your trust in anything else- created this cosmos in all its complexity is much easier to believe.

We had an evening recently devoted to biblical archaeology, which was fascinating and reinforced many parts of the bible. Biblical cities have been found and the artefacts confirmed many bible stories. Wall paintings have confirmed activities of the day and clay tablets have given accounts again confirming biblical stories. The Dead Sea scrolls discovered in 1947 gave us the oldest copies of the bible. When the scroll of Isaiah was compared with a modern bible, they were almost identical, the differences in translation were so small that the understanding remained the same. As more and more discoveries are made they all confirm the faith of Christians through the ages who have often suffered for their beliefs, because they have known without requiring proof. In this century, even more are suffering and dying because they have ‘tasted and seen that the Lord is good’. They have experienced the living presence of God in their lives and know that it is true.

Finally, did Jesus really exist, despite what I have written?

I ask you, did Nero live or Ramaddes? Of course you will say yes, so why do you doubt Jesus, when The documented evidence for the existence of Jesus is much greater than many famous names which we remember from History. The new testament contains 27 different documents, written in the first century with eye witness accounts of what ‘had been seen and heard’. Jesus is recorded by the Jewish historian Flavious Josephus in AD 37, by a roman historian Cornelius Tacitus in AD112 and by Seutonis a Roman Historian inAD 120 to name just a few. This Jesus really did exist, he did die for our sins and he did rise as the ‘first to rise from the dead’ making the way for you if you really have repented of your sins and allowed Him to be Lord of your life.

If you feel let down by God, I urge you to find a Bible Believing Church which preaches the whole bible, come back to God, repent afresh and allow Him to lead you into truth, but this has to be a partnership with you. Study the bible, meet with other Christians to get a clearer understanding and open your mind to what the bible really is telling YOU. If you are already in such a church, then do ask for help in understanding God’s promises better and for proof of them. If we can help in any way, we will try to do so, but remember, even with Paul and his Damascus road experience, God laid him aside for many years so that experience could grow into a hard certainty. Most of us have a Journey of discovery, leading to an inward Joy and outward confidence gained through trials and temptations.

Here are some verses from Pauls’ letter to the Ephesians to encourage you

Eph 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no-one can boast.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)

Do you Cry out for God?

Someone recently said to me “It must be wonderful to have a faith and a belief”. And it is, they were correct. It is kind of wonderful.

There are so many people around these days who seem to be disillusioned with life and with things in general. Some voice their frustration privately and other more publicly.

The person who was sort of envious of what I seemed to have needn’t be, not at all.

Here’s the message then – very simple and very straightforward too.

Anyone can share the same belief and faith that I do, absolutely anyone.

So what if I turn out to wrong then, so what if there really is nothing after this life – what if it all is mumbo jumbo!!

Well, I know one thing you won’t be able to do – tell me “I told you so!!”

I know in my own heart, and after careful consideration of the facts, there is someone there waiting for me – someone who gave me this life and will give me the next.

Oh, I cannot actually prove the existence of God, not in the way you would want me to. I can’t take you to him and introduce you to him in person. But I can show you the evidence and let you make up your own mind.

Someone recently suggested that my faith is a crutch helping me prop up my life. I actually used to believe that about faith and God a few years ago too.

I would have said people who hold a belief and faith were frightened of facing the truth. That death was just a part of this existence and an inevitable part of this earthly toil.

Now, far from being a crutch which props me up, my faith and belief is a tower!

A framework for my life – this one and the next.

And if I am wrong, well I guess we shall all have to wait and see won’t we!!

Take Care and trust God – He is there.

Bill