Dan Irving, group leader from Chico EV Free Church/Amor Ministries sends a great update from South Africa detailing their work day # 4:

“Ladies & Gentlemen, Saints & Sinners, lend me you ears, your eyes, your minds, your hearts and if you can send a check ($) to Amor Ministries will do a lot of good. What is happening here is nothing short of God’s love and His plan; His Story is taking place. I truly believe that God has planned all along for this to take place and it is getting ready to take a quantum leap forward in South Africa, where the needs are so great; where there is so much poverty, suffering, AIDS, unemployment and homelessness. Amor Ministries has been working on this for years, laying down the infra-structure, making connections, building relationships-Godly relationships-and the pieces of this puzzle are coming together in an unbelievable way. No! The pieces are coming together in a most believable way.

This is an amazing Mission Trip and yesterday I said to Steve Horrex, “Steve, is it possible that this is too good!?” I spoke too soon, because of course there are problems. What is happening here is BIG and Satan is really upset, and doing whatever evil can do to rock the boat, tip us over, even drown us in our desire to help each other. God is not going to let that happen, not here, not now, not anymore, where the suffering has been going on for so long in South Africa. This is a turning point in time, in History. Apartheid (separation) has ended and reconciliation is hard at work. Now is South Africa’s time and it is always the right time to do what is right. Gandhi said, “Be the change you what to see in the world.” The Pastor E. V. Hill said, “If God can get through to you, He will get it to you.”

OK, down to giving “THE NEWS,” which will only be a highlight of what is going on, because so much is happening here with the hundreds and hundreds of stories, interactions, and most importantly the relationships being built by the ones who are blessed to be here.

Yesterday, Steve Horrex and Luke Makwakwa met with fourteen Pastors from Delmas, an agricultural area where Amor Ministries will go from building ten houses at Ebenezer’s Community Center to building hundreds, then thousands, then God only knows… how many homes. These Pastors, mostly Black, have the poorest of the poor ministries. They are meeting in a yard, a home, a metal shack and working at bringing the Gospel to their people. They watched and listened closely as Steve Horrex explained what Amor does, how these homes can be built and how Amor works with the local pastors who are the ones who will determine who will get the homes. Amor’s only condition is that the family has ownership in the land so nobody can take it away from them. Amor’s vision is that this will spread throughout South Africa and to all the other countries in Africa. It is not dream, it is visionary and we hope and pray it will be like a virus that will not go away, impacting everyone.

Ebenezer’s Care Center was founded 22 years ago by Pastor Thomas Mirime and his wife Shirley who were both raised as orphans. They have been married for thirty-two years and their hearts and their faith are a work in action. Shirley has become known as the “Mother Teresa of Ennerdale.” Eighteen months ago Tommy said he was a “Doubting Thomas.” He told me was amazed by houses being built in five days with unskilled labor. He said he didn’t believe it was possible. But it happened and Thomas then said we could do more to help and change South Africa by teaching the youth how to build these houses than anything else in the world; that by educating the South African youth how to build these homes they will gain confidence and hope in their lives and they will think that they can do anything. Praise God! Thomas Merime says he has changed his name to “Tommy” and he is no longer a doubting Thomas.

The Delmas area and the surrounding three communities has a population of 150,000. The unemployment rate is 60%. Amor plans in the next 4-5 years to build every family in the four communities, those with the greatest needs a home. A good solid home, with a solid foundation, a good roof, insulation for the cold of winter and the heat of summer, and it will be impervious to termites and insects. But the most important thing about these homes is what Gayla Congdon, who co-founded Amor Ministries with her husband Scott said, “By building a family a home you are helping to keep families together.”

The most incredible thing is how the surrounding community is catching on fire with this Amor building concept. We have had government officials, church pastors, local school kids, local Muslims and community leaders visiting the work site every day and they walk away saying, “I cannot believe this, this is amazing, we want to help – Thank God, Praise God!” I’ve learned that everyone truly wants to give, yet we usually give in a way that makes us feel good. And yes, of course, it is in giving that we receive But it really helps if there is a plan to our giving; a plan of what to do with it, how best to put it to use. Experience, perseverance and faithfulness is at work here through Amor Ministries with thirty years of experience building thousands upon thousand of homes in Mexico. Steve Horrex and I did the math. How many homes have been built through Amor Ministries? How many volunteers has it taken to build those homes? How many family members have been impacted by these homes? We stopped when we hit one million. We stopped when we realized only God knows.

This South Africa Amor Mission has been launched and is ready to move into the next phase. To everyone reading this blog, listening to the podcasts and seeing the pictures, please keep on praying for us and please give to Amor Ministries, so they can do more… And oh yes, we are having a blast; we are having the time of our life!”

Pastor Lou Diaz from EV Free Church of Chico just sent this from the Amor Camp in Johannesburg updating us on their third work day there:

“This was an incredible day! Dan Irving, Jessica Lundberg, and Erin Gulbrandsen from the Evangelical Free Church group with Amor Ministries left at 5:30 am to be interviewed by Humphrey Birkenstock on Rainbow Radio 90.7 FM. They shared about how the love of the Lord is their motivation for service and told something about their lives. When Erinn told about how she has organized volunteers from churches to mentor High School students, the radio station received a number of calls from teachers who want to come out to meet her to hear more about this program! Jessica Lundberg told about her work as an executive with Lundberg Farms that provides rice and rice products around the world. After the interview, there was enough time to stop by at a grocery store to see if rice from Lundberg Farms was being sold in South Africa, and sure enough, Jessica was thrilled to find Lundberg Farms Rice here! She bought it and donated it to the Ebenezer Care Center and Orphanage.

The rest of the Ev Free Team and the Arizona Team began work at 8 am. Shovels were flying, wheel barrows were rolling, trowels were spreading and texturing, and styrofoam “Lego” blocks were being attached. In one day, the three existing houses had stucco inside and outside that was textured to a smooth surface and two of them had roof frames in place while the double-wide house went from one layer of cement-filled styrofoam blocks to five layers, now over six feet high, complete with windows and doors.

The EV Free group had a tour of the Ebenezer Care Center. There wasn’t a dry eye among the group as they saw the orphans for whom they are building the homes and heard stories from Shirley, who with her husband Tommy, founded Ebenezer’s twenty years ago. Among the stories was of a day-old baby that was left outside – the police brought the baby to Shirley and she named the baby “Grace” because God allowed her to be found and brought to them. This baby had a condition that spread poison throughout her body, but thanks to medical care and nurture from Shirley, she is now healthy – you can imagine the joy the group had to see Grace in person as she was smiling, healthy, and sitting in a stroller. The older children looked so sharp in their uniforms to go to school. Tommy and Shirley make sure they do chores in order to learn responsibility and that they get a good education and learn about the Lord. One of the Amor volunteers said through her tears, “I needed to see that what I was doing is making a big difference!“

The bakery on the campus feeds the 260 children and adults and senior adults - which includes refugees from Ethiopia, Sudan, and Ghana. Shirley told how they pray for God to supply their needs and that she and Tommy don’t eat until everyone has food. Sometimes they have to wait on the Lord for a few days. But God
is faithful and takes care of them. What the Amor Team is building will be called Amor Village and will house these orphans.

Dan Irving witnessed a meeting between Steve Horrex, Vice President of Amor Ministries, Luke Makwakwa, who is training to be the Director of Operations for Amor South Africa, and eleven South Africa pastors to explain to these pastors how Amor works through the local church to build houses for those in need. The pastors were overjoyed when they heard of Amor’s approach and vision to have nationals and Christians from around the world help eradicate poverty in South Africa. The representatives for these pastors will be coming to the work site tomorrow to see the homes. Already the hope that these initial homes would become “Model Homes” for pastors and church leaders to see and to work with Amor Ministries to replicate is being realized. How much more will be the ripple effect when pastors from all over the continent of Africa see the model homes next year after the Soccer (Futbol) World Cup here in Johannesburg in 2010! The youth group from a local church that was here on Monday came again today to help. This is the vision of Amor Ministries International: South African Christians and Christians from around the world working side-by-side to build hope, one house at a time.

Meanwhile, back at the work site, children were laughing and playing with the Amor Team as relationships are deepening. One Volunteer said that it will be difficult to go home and leave them. Another said that he wasn’t going to go home! (Don’t worry – we’ll bring everyone back). Pray for the Amor Team tomorrow as we are determined to complete as much as possible by Friday. Also, pray for Dave Newquist and Heidi McCune as they are to be interviewed on the radio tomorrow. After the interview, Dave, a Fire Captain from the Yuba City (CA) Fire Department, will visit a fire station and exchange Fire fighter shirts, which is the fire fighters’ tradition. Good will is being built with community leaders and civil servants that all may work together for the sake of those in need. To God be the glory! “

The photos below were take on work day 3 when the Amor staff met with eleven South Africa pastors to discuss and plan the future work and ministry of Amor in Johannesburg and South Africa. Pastor Lou Diaz from Chico EV Free church captured the excitement and enthusiasm of this historical moment:

“Dan Irving witnessed a meeting between Steve Horrex, Vice President of Amor Ministries, Luke Makwakwa, who is training to be the Director of Operations for Amor South Africa, and eleven South Africa pastors to explain to these pastors how Amor works through the local church to build houses for those in need. The pastors were overjoyed when they heard of Amor’s approach and vision to have nationals and Christians from around the world help eradicate poverty in South Africa. The representatives for these pastors will be coming to the work site tomorrow to see the homes. Already the hope that these initial homes would become “Model Homes” for pastors and church leaders to see and to work with Amor Ministries to replicate is being realized. How much more will be the ripple effect when pastors from all over the continent of Africa see the model homes next year after the Soccer (Futbol) World Cup here in Johannesburg in 2010! The youth group from a local church that was here on Monday came again today to help. This is the vision of Amor Ministries International: South African Christians and Christians from around the world working side-by-side to build hope, one house at a time.”