Lisa Harris's Blog, page 22

Annual English Camp!

It's been a busy week as we welcomed a group from Texas and Brazil who came to host this year's English camp. So far, we've had a great week with the campers who have come to not only work on their English, but also learn more about God through games, dramas, singing, activities, and service projects. We also include some of the campers from former years to be ambassadors to the new campers. I'll be putting together a video later, but for now here are a few photos.
Campers and staff divide into groups to get to know each other on day one.
Green team having fun! (Campers and staff are divided into four teams)
Painting camp T-shirts While the camp is for high school kids, there is a lot of neighborhood kids who come by to hang out.
The campers love all the activities planned by the Sugar Creek, Texas team.


Retelling of the story of Elijah and the profits of Baal through a drama.

A week in Pictures

We are so thankful for two groups who spent the week in ministry with us, both from South Africa. It was a great week, with lots of relationships built, contacts made, and work accomplished. I shared a number of other things that happened last week, if you missed those posts.
We also praise God for two women in Quinjata who have been coming to church for quite a while and who gave their lives to Christ and were baptized in the ocean yesterday! (Unfortunately, I don't have photos of them.)

Worship at David's
Teaching about how we should be the light of the world.
Progress on the well. The foundation is build and we are waiting on the pump. Progress on Mel and Mandy's house!
Foundation poured at our house.
The new church building in Magola!


Lots of hard workers.
Edna and I (what a cutie!!)Be a blessing today!

Lisa

Janu gets his wheelchair!

While it took a lot longer to have this special wheelchair built than we had planned, it was all worth it to see Jano's smile when we delivered it to him last Sunday. What a precious boy!

A big thanks goes to the Creek Kids at Sugar Creek Baptist Church who collected change for The ECHO Project to supply vitamins for children in the villages we work with and to build this special chair for Jano. Visit The ECHO Project website to learn more about what is happening and how you can make a difference!

Aleyna goes to Mozambique

Those of you following my blog know that June and July are always a very busy time for us as we host short-term mission groups wanting to get involved in the work here. This year, has been extra busy as we have two groups from the US, two from South Africa, and a group from Brazil arriving next week for English camp. On top of all of that we are also trying to build our houses at the same time.


South African group brought Jano his wheelchair! (More on this soon)This week we are hosting two groups from South Africa as well as two college grads from the US who are both spending a month here with us working in ministry. I thought you might enjoy one of the updates of one of our summer interns, Aleyna, as she shares what has been going on the last couple of days. Enjoy!

"So I am two days behind in my updates...Yesterday (7/3) we worked on the veggie tunnel and then we went into town to host the English club. About this veggie tunnel - I have a new found appreciation for any farmer! Alissa and I worked with a few Mozambicans to till the land where the veggie tunnel (which I found out today is actually going to be more of a veggie rectangle) and that was hard work clearing all the brush and roots. It was all manual labor - we had our hands and a few hoe looking things. 
Wish I had gloves because there was definitely some poisonous scorpion looking things in the ground that we had to kill. I am still sore two days later from all the bending over. When the team from S. Africa arrived Alissa and I helped sew panels of netting together to provide the covering for the veggie rectangle. I learned how to say thank you very much in Afrikaans - I have no clue how to spell it - it sounds like "buy a donkey". 
In the afternoon we went to English club with the S. African team and hosted a lesson/craft on being fishers of men. We met and talked with Jose and Alice. Jose spoke excellent English and Alice was super shy.                                                                                   Afternoon at English Club
Alissa and AlyenaToday (7/4) I wore the post patriotic clothing i could find- my Texas flag shorts from Tyler's and a shirt with the American flag - in honor of the 4th of July. Happy 4th from Mozambique! The ladies from the S. African team and Alissa and I went the the orphanage down the street. Talk about heart breaker. I wanted to take all of them home with me! There is a playground right next door so we went and played this S. African game called "Rotten Egg" that is kind of like "duck, duck, goose", Red Rover, and this other game that doesn't really have a name. 
The little boys sat in a line in front of a soccer goal post and grabbed on to each other around the chest to make a chain. The point of the game was for someone to peel off one by one each kid from the line. They were surprised that I could pull them all off! After the orphanage we went into the local market...I still had my Texas flag shorts on and EVERYBODY knew that I was from the US some people even knew I was from Texas :-) I practiced a little bit of Portuguese...thank goodness some of it is coming back to me! 

Hanging out at the orphanageAt English club today we talked about the story of the Jesus feeding the 5000 with just 5 loafs of bread and two fish. I got to visit with a lot of the disciples (yea!!) and meet some more new friends. I met a new friend named Delson who helped me with my Bitonga. He was surprised I knew the few words that I did! I am learning parts of the body now...I hope I can remember them tomorrow!
 
English CampI am absolutely LOVING my time here! Every time I come it feels like home and its especially nice to have friends and see familiar faces in town. Thank you for praying for me and those around me!!! So far the Lord has been shining His Glory on this trip and all that I have encountered so far! 

New friends
Old FriendsP.S. Scott said that there are two ladies in the Quinjata village church who want to be baptized Sunday! I am so excited! Hopefully in the next few days I can post some pictures and I will try and get a video of the baptism!

Pioneer Woman

I've decided that I feel a bit like a pioneer woman lately. My youngest has had some stomach issues lately, in particular when we were back in the States eating lots of fast food and bread. Both my mother-in-law and sister-in-law have celiac disease, so, after experiencing some of the same issues myself, we decided to look at going gluten free. In fact my eleven year old decided on his own that this was what he wanted to do, and sure enough his stomach aches went away.

One of the positive things about living in Africa is that we eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and make most things from scratch. That means, of course, less processed foods and preservatives. But while we're used to not eating a lot of bread products, we still love pancakes and grilled cheese every now and then. The only problem was that gluten-free products are still limited in South Africa and often expensive. Thankfully, I have found some great gluten free, all-purpose flours to experiment with that aren't too expensive along with rice flour and some other basic ingredients.

My first attempt at homemade bread tasted good...at least the part that wasn't a gooey mess. My second attempt today, with a different recipe, turned out much better. You can find the recipe here. I used my own flour mixture of gluten-free self rising flour, gluten-free high-fiber bread flour, and flax seed flour (ground with our coffee grinder), and will definitely make this again.

Gluten-free bread

The banana bread was also a huge hit. The first loaf was gone in a matter of minutes and honestly, I don't think you could tell it was gluten-free. Because I can't get some of the basic flours, I again substituted my own mix.

Gluten-free banana breadIf you live in South Africa, you might have already discovered these gluten-free products. They are pretty easy to find and are priced reasonably. My kids weren't fond of some of the ready made mixes, but using these, I can make pancakes, for example from scratch with my normal recipe and they love them.

What about you? Do you have any favorite gluten-free recipes your family loves? I'd love to hear about them.

The ECHO Project Update: Make a difference today!

Maybe it's just me, but I'm finding it hard to believe that the year is almost half over! A lot has happened over the past few months, so here is an update on some of the exciting things that God is doing through The ECHO Project. We started this non-profit to help support the many needs that we see every day here in Africa, and God has been so faithful to help us to more than we honestly ever asked or imagined!



In the past few months we have continued to hand out vitamins in the different villages we work in. School supplies were given out, homes built for three homeless elderly people, glasses bought for a student with eye problems, formula and food packets provided to a woman and her twins, money was also donated for a water well in Magola, school curriculum provided for Rosie, and more. (You can click on these links to learn more.)

So many people have been involved in helping us financially, including Sunday School classes, individuals, church coffee shops, and even several kids who have raised money for us by selling Alex's jewelry to their friends. We are so grateful for everyone who has gotten involved and helped us to make a difference! Thank you!

For more ideas how to get involved and make a difference, click here.

Be a blessing to someone today!

Lisa

Nine Ways to Kiss Stress Good-bye

The last few months have been exceptionally hectic for our family. Between homeschooling, ministry, building a house, short-term mission groups, writing, and life in general, I sometimes find myself feeling that all I do is run from early morning to late at night.
It doesn’t really matter what your job is or what you are going through at the moment, we all understand and experience stress on a daily basis, both good and bad. A couple weeks ago I wrote this post for my International Christian Fiction blog, and thought I'd shared it with you this week.
As I grow older, I've noticed that it is essential to find both quiet and balance in all the chaos. Especially when my 'jobs' are never ending. For example, as a writer, between writing, brainstorming, editing, and marketing, and social networking my job is never finished. And that is just one segment of my life! 

Seth Godin has a great blog post on Dancing on the Edge of Finished that really got me thinking about how while it might be true that there is always one more things to do, my life should be "a dance, not an endless grind." It started me thinking about the importance of finding that balance in my life.
So here are nine things I'm trying to implement to help kiss stress good-bye!
Learn To Say No: Michael Hyatt recently had a blog post dealing with the importance of saying no. We can only do so many things in a day, and as hard as it might be, sometimes we have to say no.
Delegate: Are your kids old enough to take on extra responsibilities around the house? Can you call on a friend to help you out on a project? It’s easy to want to keep that control and do it all ourselves, but there is also a blessing in having others pitch in and help.
Exercise: I always see a difference in the way I feel when I stick to my exercise routine. I feel better, I’m healthier, and more relaxed. Exercise can improve so many aspects of our lives both mentally and physically by improving our mood, combatting disease, and boosting our energy.
Positive Self-talk: I’ve been amazed at how many time the Bible talks about the importance of our thoughts. Paul says in Philippians 4:8 that we should be thinking about things that are true, pure, and lovely. He also says in 2 Corinthians 19:5 to take captive every captive and make it obedient to Christ.
Keep in Tune with the Spirit: In connection with positive self-talk, it is important to look at what are we filling our minds with? If we are filling our minds with constant negativity from the media and television, it’s hard to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and his active roll in our lives.
Remember You’re not Superwoman or Superman: (And you don't have to be.) It’s so easy to compare ourselves with others, and believe that we have to do it all ourselves. We look at others around us and feel as if we fall short when we can't keep up. Putting reasonable expectations on ourselves is essential to cutting out stress. 
Prioritize: Have you ever heard the old expression, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." It means that when you are facing an overwhelming situation that feels too big to handle, you need to take a deep breath and don't panic. My own kids, for example, start to panic when they find out they have to write a research paper, until I tell them not to focus on the overall goal, but instead the mini-steps they will take to get there. Break things down into small pieces. One thing at a time. One day at a time. It really does make a difference.
Laugh more: I have some good friends who send me links to funny You Tube videos because they know how important laughter is. The saying is true that laughter is the best medicine!
1        What about you? I’d love to hear your ideas of what helps you handle stress. 
          Lisa

Safari Photos

For those of you who didn't see the recent photos I posted on FB, here are some of my favorites from our recent trip to Kruger with the team from Katy, Texas. We enjoyed a day in the park on our way to drop them off for their trip home.

Enjoy!

Ministry Videos

God continues to do incredible things, opening doors and moving hearts through the team from Katy and their help in the work here. Here are two more videos from the weekend. Enjoy!

Women's Time:



Sunday:

Katy Team Update

The last few days have been extremely busy. While juggling school, preparing meals, writing, and participating in some of the activities, the team from Katy has been ministering to some of the students here in town. They have also planned a special activity for our ladies class, so I'm really looking forward to this time later today

For those of you following our ministry, here are three short highlight videos from this week.

Day One:


Day Two:



Day Three:



Blessings,

Lisa