On a Mission From God

Hello everyone... After 4 days in Africa, its good to be sending you an email. There is so much that I want to share, but only have a minute because there are 6 other guys waiting to use the computer.

The big story here is the kids. With so much needed in this country it is hard to share everything in an email, but what I can tell you is that the people we are helping are truly gracious that we are here. The stories here will absolutely break your heart... I have cried, we have all cried.... But we are on a mission from God and it is so apparent that God wants us here helping these people.

We have gotten so much done already on the Pastor's home and the orphan homes. The work is different than in America because we can't run to Home Depot and get supplies! What is good, is we were able to get power to our job site so we have some power tools to help with the work. There are several local guys that are helping us and its good to see them in action.

I have already started to bond with several of the kids and I must say its very hard to see them in such pain. These people literally have nothing and you could not imagine how wide spread the problem is. With every day, comes a new challenge and new hope in the eyes of the people we are helping. I truly believe that we are making a difference.

I hope all is well in America, and can't wait to share more stories. Keep us in your prayers.

Kevin Rutledge

Construction Team 2

Laughing Together All Day Long

In a recent message from Heidi Miller, here's what she had to say about our second construction team...

Team 2 has arrived safely and they are terrific! These guys act like they've known each other for years and they laugh together all day long! They are so well prepared and are making great progress on the pastor's house. They get up super early, cook breakfast for themselves and have been getting to the jobsite by 6:30. They have a good portion of the interior walls up already and are starting on the plumbing and wiring today. Pastor Augustine and his wife are getting very excited.

I love the part that says they “laugh together all day long”. You know, joy is an attitude (not an emotion). We must choose to delight in the Lord and His blessings. Joy is also the result of obedience. When we are abiding in God, fulfilling His will for our lives, spending time in His word and going to Him in prayer, our hearts cannot help but overflow with joy.

Psalms 97: 11 – “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright heart”
Psalms 119:11 – “Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart”
Isaiah 65:11 – “My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts”
Acts 2:28 – “You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence”
I Thessalonians 5:16 – “Be joyful always”
Hebrews 1:9 – “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy”

Even though our team is in a country ravaged by HIV/AIDS and poverty; where people are dying daily; where thousands of children are being orphaned; where spiritual warfare is a daily battle; where hope is in short supply – our team is 'laughing together all day long' for their hearts are erupting with joy. They know that no matter what, they belong to Christ who loves them and gave himself up for them. The Holy Spirit is cultivating joy in their hearts as they draw their strength from God! How awesome is that!!

May you too know that "the joy of the Lord is your strength" - Nehemiah 8:10

Prayers from a Traveler's Children

One of the men on our 2nd construction team, Kevin Rutledge, left a wife and two young boys here at home to pray for him while he is gone. His sons, Kamron and Kaleb, have written notes of encouragement and prayers for their dad while he is away. At their request, we share them with you here:

Kamron's Prayer

Dear God please take care of my dad and please help him. Please protect him and the other men. Please help him find a little sister. Watch over the families of the other men. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Kamron's Message to Dad

Hey Dad, it's Kam. I got the cards and yes I do remember when you buried me in the sand at the beach. I miss you like crazy too and I love you like crazy too. You’re the best Dad in the world. I'm being helpful to Mom and I do hope you find a baby sister for me. I wish you luck on the trip. Is your team building a school on this trip?
I love you this much 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 x over the moon.

Kaleb's Prayer

Lord I know I have it a 1,000,000 times better than them. Please let them enjoy the gifts my dad brought. I know they will looooooooove the nerf football.
In God's name I pray, amen.

Kaleb's Message to Dad

Hi. Hope your having a great time. It's good here.I miss you SOOOOOOO much why did it have be 2 Hole Weeks. I had a lot of fun at the beach and woodland alters thanks for the cards I kinda miss you saying PUT IT ON MY TAB every 3 seconds. Litterly hurry back. I LOVE YOU SOO much. Don't forget put it on my tab


As you continue to pray for the men traveling on the construction team, we also covet your prayers for their families. We ask that they would sense God's peace while their loved ones are away and we ask that God would protect them and keep their hearts united until they are reunited.

Team 2 Arrives Safely

Thanks to those of you who were praying for traveling mercies for our second team. They arrived in Swaziland, as expected on Thursday evening about 7:20 p.m. (1:20 p.m. our time). Their total travel time was just about 24 hours!

The great thing is, not only did they arrive safe and sound, but all 14 pieces of their checked baggage arrived at the same time they did! Since the plane from Johannesburg to Manzini is small, the liklihood of all baggage making it onto the plane is pretty slim. Praise God for this small gift.

Please continue to keep the team in your prayers. They will be in Swaziland until June 2nd and will arrive back in Dayton on June 3rd.

Team 2 Takes Off For Swaziland

God has onced again graced us with a beautiful day for travel. The men serving on our 2nd construction team to Swaziland left today, full of anticipation, excitement and energy! They are looking forward to getting to Swaziland and getting to work.

Team 2 will focus on rehabing the building that will be the home for Pastor Augustine, his wife and their children. The team will be framing in the interior walls, running electrical wiring, installing the plumbing and bathroom fixtures, and hanging cement board (our equivalent of drywall). Jeff Girard will use his skills as a general building contractor to lead the rennovation work on this project. Chris Harrison is a certified plumber. Alan Clark, Pat Haley and Kevin Rutledge all have educational backgrounds in electricl engineering/electrical systems. Ryan Hines will offer his general "handyman" skills wherever needed.

Paul Conover is also traveling to Swaziland with team 2, but will be extending his mission's experience until the first part of July. He will continue work at the job site once team 2 returns home and will work on other related projects at the request of Kevin Ward.

The members of team 2 will also have the opportunity to visit some local homesteads and provide general maintenance services as identified by Pastor Augustine.

If all goes as planned, team 2 will arrive in Swaziland at 7:20 p.m. on Thursday (1:20 p.m. in Dayton). We ask that you pray for traveling mercies for these men over the next 24 hours. Further, we ask that you keep them in your prayers over the next two weeks. May God use them to change hearts and lives in Swaziland and may He bless them for obeying His call to serve.

Starting to adjust to life here in Africa...

Friday, May 09, 2008
It’s been several days now since the team left and for some reason I had the misconception that things would slow down here a bit once they were gone. Not really the case. I do miss them a lot, especially in the evenings, but there’s more than enough going on around here to keep one’s mind occupied, or spinning I should say. Monday, after seeing the guys off at the airport, I was invited to Kevin and Helen’s for dinner. I hadn’t really had much of a chance to get to know Helen yet, as she had taken the children to the shore for a few days while they were on holiday from school. Fried chicken, sweet potatoes, broccoli and fresh fruit….could someone please let my mother know I’m eating very well? Anyway, I felt quite comfortable with them as we shared details and stories about our families and our lives on opposite sides of the world.
Tuesday was very busy. Kevin has been spending time with me every day discussing ways I might best use my gifts to assist the ministry here and helping me to prioritize my tasks. There are four main things I am focusing on here at this point. My primary role is to be the key point of communication with CLC; keeping the church informed of everything that is going on here related to our teams and our project, and brainstorming ideas to streamline the processes. Secondly, I am collecting and recording all expenses related to the travel teams as well as the construction project. Thirdly, I am working directly with Kevin to develop a comprehensive marketing piece that will include a bit of history on Teen Challenge Swaziland, detailed stories of the children that have been brought into the homes here and also descriptions and costs for a wide variety of projects which can be sponsored by churches like our own. I have spent several days now just studying detailed materials Kevin has provided to me about the various ministries here and reading dozens and dozens of newspaper clippings about the horror that these people are faced with daily. I would have to say that when I try to think about the adversity and challenges that we as Christians are faced with in the US verses what they are up against here, it couldn’t be more different. In the US some of our biggest battles seem to be with materialism, greed and pride; we live in a physical world where our possessions can own us and our careers can take priority over our families and even our relationship with God. Here, however, the battle is completely in the spiritual realm. The witchcraft and ancestral worship are such an everyday part of this culture, and combined with the overwhelming death due to HIV/Aids and the abuse, addition and abandonment of the children, it is amazing to me how these people can keep going from one day to the next. It’s so obvious why God has brought our church here to help. There is so much we can do and every little thing we do really matters so much. I asked Emma one night, “How can you stay here month-after-month and year-after-year and not let it get the best of you?” She basically explained that she just has to focus on helping one child at a time. If she starts thinking about the whole picture, she absolutely can’t function. I somehow understand that already.
Emma and I left the office a little early on Tuesday, as we had to rush home and move all of our things up to another house to make room for another team that will be arriving on Saturday. It didn’t take too long to get moved, and we’ve settled in quite well already. The nights are starting to get colder, but I am still doing okay in my sleeping bag. We have a bathtub at our new place and plenty of hot water for right now, so we like that. The cost of electricity here is going up 200% next week, so we will have to drastically limit the use of the hot water heater (I think they call it a geezer). It was about 40 degrees F this morning, but the days have been sunny, so it’s still hitting about 70 in the afternoons.
I was invited to a cell group at the farm on Tuesday and another one in town on Wed night. Pastor Kevin has been preaching the last couple of weeks on submission to authority, so at the cell groups we have been watching a great DVD series by John Bevere where he teaches about the authority figures in our lives and how and why we must be submissive, even when they are wrong. It’s really a great series and I have had the opportunity to hear some really great testimonies from the group.
Its now Friday afternoon and I’m sitting here in the sun behind the house trying to catch up a bit on my journaling. A tiny little boy named Piwa and and another little boy, not sure of his name….(these Swazi names are really tough), have hunted me down so my time is up. It’s really difficult to tell how old any of these kids are because many of them are so physically underdeveloped at birth due to illness. Many of them literally appear to be half their age. One of the guys on the first team, I think it was Joe Pamer, was teaching them how to whistle by putting a blade of grass between his thumbs. (you know, like we all did when we were kids). Now every time the little ones see me outside, they come over and want me to show them how again….. so I need to go and shut down my laptop for a while and find the perfect blade of grass……

1st Construction Team Returns Home

After 14 days abroad and 23 hours in airplanes and airports, our 1st construction team returned to Dayton at 9:36 a.m. today! We are so thankful that they traveled without incident. Families and friends waited anxiously at the end of the exit way and greeted our team with open arms and special gift bags. It was a joyous occassion!

Despite their long journey, the men were in good spirits. You could sense the bonds that have been established among them as a result of sharing this experience together. Their skin showed signs of hard work in the sun and we noticed a couple of bruises and scrapes, but other than that, everyone seems to hav returned home in good shape.

We look forward to hearing their testimonies and getting first hand accounts of the work that was accomplished in the last two weeks. We are grateful to these men for responding to God's call to go into the world to serve and pray God's blessings upon them. WELCOME HOME TEAM!

2nd Constructioni Team Prepares for Travel

On Tuesday, May 6th our first constrution team will return home to Dayton with incredible stories to share about how God worked in them and through them during their time in Swaziland.

While many of us will be interested to hear what they have to share, there is one group in particular who look forward to those testimonies; the men of the 2nd construction team! The men serving on this team are:

Paul Conover
Alan Clark
Jeff Girard
Pat Haley
Chris Harrison
Ryan Hines
Kevin Rutledge

The second team will depart Dayton on Wednesday, May 21st for a 14 day trip and will return home on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Orientation and training for this team has already begun and they are excited to talk with the men from the first team to learn anything and everything they can to prepare them for this experience. We have repeatedly heard from the first team that having a sense of unity among the members is critical and so we covet your prayers for the men on the second team. We are confident that God has called these men together and now we ask for His guidance and encouragement in building strong relationships among them.

In I Thessalonians 5:13-18, Paul writes these words:

"Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other's nerves you don't snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out. Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. "

Please make it your prayer that the men on team 2 will:

• Work together well
• Be patient with one another
• Attend to one another's needs (spiritual, emotional, physical, interpersonal)
• Encourage one another
• Pray with one another constantly
• Praise God without ceasing

Thank you in advance for lifting these men up in prayer! It won't be long before they leave to continue the work that has begun on our ICBC. We look foward to hearing from them, just as we heard from the first team about all that is being accomplished in Swaziland for God's glory.

Updates from the Jobsite

We received an e-mail from Heidi Miller which offered various updates regarding what has been happening with the team in Swaziland. Here are some excerpts from her message:

Daily Schedule: Breakfast is usually around 7:00 and the men are typically at the jobsite by 8:00. Lunch is usually between 1:00 and 2:00 and dinner is around 6:00. In between times the team is at the job site working on the construction and rennovation or is visiting homestead in the surrounding area. Evenings are sometimes spent visiting with the children living in some of the homes at Hawane and playing games with them, etc. They REALLY look forward to this. They are all WONDERFUL kids and its really hard to hear some of their stories, but the focus here is showing them love, so every smile and every laugh makes God smile a lot!

Flexibility and Relationships are Key: We learned very quickly to be VERY flexible. Sometimes the game plan changes hourly, so we have to "go with the flow". Pastor Augustine and the team usually have a pretty good idea about what needs to be done and how to best organize the events of the day. The most important thing here is our relationship with every person: the leaders here who help manage the construction, the local boys who will come along side us to work, the gogos and the kids at the homesteads and the kids and staff at Hawane Farm. We have to do everything we can to show them love and respect and spend as much time as we can talking to them and sharing with them. We are constantly reminded that we are here to serve, to share and to listen to others.

Job Site- The construction on the church is behind schedule due to some obstacles which occurred prior to us arriving, problems with the steel trusses and measurements, and a lot of rain the past few days. Pastor Kevin and Pastor Augustine are a bit disappointed; not with our efforts at all, mostly just in the amount of things we've all been forced to overcome. We all know that this church will go up in God's time and as anxious as we all are to see it, we can't rush it to satisfy ourselves. There is much work to be done around the homesteads also and this is very, very rewarding.

Pastor Augustine - Pastor Augustine is the Pastor of the Church at Hawane Farm, and he will become the Pastor of our new church once it is completed. He and his wife, Elizabeth have three beautiful children and are an amazing family with many testimonies about how God has worked in them and through them and blessed them in times of need. Our team had the privilege of being invited to their home for dinner and we prayed for specific needs for them regarding transportation for Pastor Augustine (his car is in need of a new computer which has been ordered from Singapore, but will take several months to arrive and may or may not be the right part), Elizabeth's mother (Elizabeth has only seen her mother who lives in Ghana one time in the last eighteen years- she is having a lot of difficulty sleeping at night because she thinks of her so much and would give anything to be able to see her one more time before she dies) and Elizabeth's business ( she used to be a full-time teacher, but because they now have three children, she sells clothing, traveling from shop-to-shop with her goods. Many of the people do not pay her and die of AIDS, so she is not really making any money. We prayed they the Lord would bring her honest people to do business with and that someday she may have her own shop to attract the right kind of customers.) Prayer is a powerful expression of our trust in God. We ask you to share in our prayers for Pastor Augustine and his family.

It's hard to believe our first construction team will leave Swaziland on Monday and will return to Dayton on Tuesday, May 6th. Please keep them in your prayers these final days and praise God for the work He continues to accomplish in them and through them. Some members of the team will be sharing their testimonies with the congregation during services the weekend of May 17th and 18th. We encourage you to be there!