Coming up for air

I will never forget the first time I got to snorkel. It came by chance really. We were just hanging out at the beach as a family. Not far from us was a couple who were snorkeling. Upon seeing that I was curious they invited me to try. I made all the black man excuses about "us" and "swimming". They convinced me that on the rock pools one doesn't need to be a good swimmer to snorkel. I took the goggles and put my head under. I discovered a whole new side to the creation, I was in awe of the Creator. I just wanted to stay there but I had to come up for air.

That's what this week feels like, coming up for air. We realised the last time we updated the blog was March and a lot has happened in our lives and ministry since then.

On the family front we are doing well. We are grateful to God for good health and provision. We are so blessed to belong to the J-Life community and the Heidelberg Methodist Church. In our grieving we have had tremendous support from these communities, friends and family. We have particularly been blessed to be part of a grief share group where we have been able to process our grief. We have received comfort, healing (a continual process), learnt new things about our faith as well as reminders of God's love and sovereignty.

We are also blessed with opportunities to train and disciple the next generation (Psalm78: 3-4, 6). We continue to journey with our Youth Worker Trainees for 2016. They were back on the training site for additional training between 2^nd and 24^th June. We also hosted our 7^th annual 6 Weeks Internship from 13^th June to 24^th July.

Our Gap Year and 6 Weeks students

Here is what some our trainees are learning...

During our time at J-Life we were trained on SU (Scripture Union) content and I found a great interest in what SU does. After returning from our six week intensive at J-Life, I connected with SU here and went on their camp and staff retreat. This opened opportunities for me to do schools ministry with SU staff at Riverton Primary in Bishop Lavis. I grew from this experience which resulted in me doing ministry in Parkhurst Primary in my own neighbourhood, Mitchells Plain. I am excited to see what the Lord will be doing in the rest of this year and the rest of my life. - Zrano, Christ The Redeemer, Mitchells Plain, Cape Town (front left in pic). 

J-Life partners with Scripture Union South Africa to give our students training in schools, kids and camping ministry. For more information read here. 

From Gavin, on having and being a mentor:
I like having a mentor as it's nice just having someone mature to walk with who can give sound advice and teachings in all aspect of life.

I like bring able to  mentor someone as it builds a great bond between you and the person as well as you get to help them grow and give them tips and advice. It also adds a good sense of responsibility. Gavin is a youth intern at Benoni Baptist Church (back row, second from right in pic)

As part of their year with J-Life the trainees are require to find someone to disciple (Mentor) them and to disciple (mentor) at least two teenagers.

With J-Life I was awakened to the basis of Disciplemaking. I had no idea of the different types of lost people to disciple (religious and secular lost).  The stages one has to go through in discipling people from unbelief to maturity. And that although you can force it- by those who are daring, it is not recommended to be discipling someone when you don’t have someone discipling you.

Andile from Gamalake, Margate was part of the 6 Weeks Internship (back row, far left in pic)

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2:2 

Insights into ministry from Tyler, a youth intern at Rosebank Union:
Ministry is never as you picture it. Mostly because we are trying to define it and put parameters to it. Having had the privilege of working in ministry I can tell you that it can be as mundane as being at church every Sunday and sometimes you don't even want to be there, and yet sometimes you are bouncing off the walls busy with your church's holiday club and loving every second of it. It can even be relaxing with friends and trying to help them out in a Godly way.Ministry is a living breathing thing that is constantly changing and constantly forces you to re-evaluate your mental stand point. So all in all, my opinion is that ministry is one of the greatest gifts that the Lord has given us in order to help one another. It is also one of the best avenues that we can traverse in order to try and bring the glory of God's kingdom here on earth. (Tyler is right in the middle of the back row)

  

My lessons in spiritual growth have really been lessons in trust; letting go of my will for my life and submitting to God's. Seeking after Him in prayer, in His word and intentionally spending private moments with Him. I have learnt to put myself in His hands so that He can mould me though I understand that this process is more than just about resting in Him. My part is to pursue love and righteousness. My part is to pursue Him above all in all that I do in my everyday life - Hlengiwe, an intern at Randpark Ridge United (2nd from left in pic)

Prayer Points: 

- Open Doors for Promotion

• Recruiting interns for 2017
• Access to Pastors fraternal
• Recruiting for GC2 groups

- Wisdom for coaching and discipling the interns

- Traveling mercies for Bhuti as he visits the interns at their churches and marketing trips. 

Upcoming Events:
- UK mission group in August
- Gap Year students third intensive
- STeM 29 Sept -08 Oct

Family and Ministry News

Family Update

As a family we are super grateful to God for the people He has surrounded us with. First, our families for the love and support they are to us. And our friends, who stood with us, supported us and prayed with and for us. During the time our son, Thokozani, was in hospital until he went to be with Jesus, we experienced incredible prayer support. God has truly blessed us with amazing families and friends. These relationships have brought comfort to us in our darkest hour as a family. Through the people around us, we felt God’s presence and comfort. God has been and still is our good, good father in this grieving process.

We are all enjoying good physical health, although Ndumiso is teething and sometimes in pain. We have been busy with training and discipling the J-Life trainees. I (Bhuti) am overseeing the GC2 BETA training and the day to day running of this programme. Jann help makes sure I don’t miss the details of running the internship. She has also been helping on the campsite with logistics during this very busy season in our year.

GC2 BETA 2016

During these first two months of the year we were working with 3 groups of interns from 12 different countries, which made the community richly diverse. An ideal environment for discipling people with a global focus of “…all nations..” ( Matt 28: 19).

The First Group: Gap Year Program

This year we have partnered with local churches to train their interns. Is this any different from what we used to do? Yes - In the past we offered Coaching teams, which were made up of 3 or 4 young people from different churches who were then sent to a church where they served as interns. We felt that this programme was not producing fruit as it took quite a long time for the young people to adapt and earn the trust needed to minister effectively.  We believe God led us instead to partnering with churches who are already running, or want to run, internships. We then train and equip the intern and send them back to serve at their home churches.  This group of interns will return for more training throughout the year. This year we have 9 trainees from 8 different churches.

The Second Group: Bethel Semester Abroad students

This is the second year that we are hosting a group of 4 students from Bethel College, Indiana, USA. J-Life and Camp Eden acts as home base for them, from which they get to experience a variety of different ministry and cultural settings. They spent most of their time during the first 4 weeks involved in training on site with our other interns. Since then, they were able to visit churches in 3 different communities and experience many strange (for them) and wonderful things. They are currently in Margate with Donovan and Chantel Olding at Norwegian Settlers Church.

The Third Group: African Initiative Programme

This programme is aimed at expanding J-Life across the continent. Participants are people who are pioneering J-Life into their countries (in a country were J-Life does not yet have a presence) or into new regions in an existing J-Life Country, helping the country leader reach the regions that are further from them.

12 participants from 11 different countries spent a total of 5 weeks with us. Of these, 5 were pioneers into new countries, the other 6 will be helping extend J-Life in their countries into new regions.  For the first time here on Camp Eden we had more French speaking than English speaking trainees. God provided an incredible translator, Yoshua, from the Democratic Republic of Congo living in Johannesburg.

J-Life Annual Summit

Each year, the J-Life family across the continent gathers together with some of our partner churches, at summit. During this time we celebrated what God has been doing in our lives by sharing testimonies. J-Life Summit 2016 was about casting #Vision2020. We had a great time listening to God direct each of us where he wants us to serve over the next 5 years. Together we fleshed out what God want us, the J-Life movement, to do towards 2020. We are excited to see how God will accomplish all of this through us.

Equipping Events
We will host two more major equipping events this year. Please be praying for us as we plan and prepare for them. Please do contact us for more info should you have anyone interested.

6 Weeks Internship: 13 June-24 July 2016
                                  5 weeks of ministry training + 1 optional extra week touring in Cape Town

STeM: 30 Sept - 9 October
            4 days of training + 5 days practical outreach in a community 

June/July Ministry News

We’ve just come through one of our busiest seasons of the year. Since the beginning of June to the end of July, Camp Eden has been a hive of activity. We are grateful to God that we get to partner with him as co-labourers in his Kingdom. We are also grateful for those who support us in the work God has called us to. Thank you to everyone who continue to bless us with your prayer and financial support.

On the home front

During this busy period Jann battled a terrible bout of flu, and in that time Ndumiso also caught a cold. There I was just feeling left out. With prayer and medication, they got better. However Ndumiso did not get his appetite back, so we got him checked out and the doctor said he has tonsillitis. He is on an antibiotic, please keep him in your prayers.

A toothache made sure I get a slice of the action myself. Next time I will be fine with being left out. 

Something we haven’t yet shared on our blog is that we will be adding another member to our family in the next 6-8 weeks. We are excited about this next stage in our family life. Please do continue praying for Jann and the new little one.

A summary of what's been happening…

Second Intensive (2-25 June)

Our Gap Year and Six weeks Interns 

Our 2015 Beta trainees came back to Camp Eden for their 2^nd training intensive. It was good to have all of them back and hear what the Lord has been doing in and through them. Everyone had testimonies of how God came through in opening doors and providing them with ministry opportunities and seeing them through the challenges they faced.

Coming to Camp Eden was also time to relax, refresh and refuel. As a community they get to build into one another and have the J-Life staff invest in them. Please pray for them as they are back in their churches and communities.

6 Weeks Internship (13 June to 25 July)

While the Gap Year trainees were here, we welcomed 10 young people from the USA joining us for the 6 Weeks internship we run every winter. They were involved in some of the training with our Beta trainees, helped at Sports Camp and were able to visit different ministries and get their hands dirty. They ended their time in South Africa with a trip down to the KZN south coast to enjoy some of the sights and sounds that our beautiful country has to offer. It felt rather surreal to say Good bye to them at the end of 6 weeks that had flown by.

Kids Camp

Part of the curriculum for our Gap year trainees is that they learn how to organise and run a camp. 

J-Life has partnered with Scripture Union for this section of training and our trainees are able to benefit from the many years of experience SU has in running camps for kids. After the theoretical training with Scripture Union our trainees get to organise a camp as part of their practical experience. They are responsible for everything from deciding on the theme to the décor on their own. Through our relationships with local churches in Heidelberg and Balfour we had 68 kids from underprivileged communities attend this camp. The kids had fun learning about God’s love for them. The theme of the camp was Chosen. Thank you to Amanzi Nokuphila, the charity society at Waterstone College, for sponsoring this camp.

Valuable leadership and conflict resolution skills were learnt through this exercise. Because they were a big group of leaders (13 Gap year trainees and 10 Six week interns), they learnt a lot about communication, delegation, team work, pulling your weight, work ethic, conflict resolution etc.  

Sports Camp

Our Six weeks interns got to be part of the counsellors on the Sports Camp. For the last 4 years Camp Eden has been hosting a sports camp, which consists of 6 days of sports training and coaching in a sport of the teenager’s choice, tribal games and discipleship. Bronson and his team of volunteers put this life changing camp together every year. This year they had 70 teenagers signed up and show up for this annual camp. As counsellors, our interns got to build relationships with the teens and pour into them. Most of them said this was one of the highlights of their time with us. It gave them an opportunity to disciple and implement their training.

Israel

I (Bhuti) was privileged to be part of the GYI summit in Israel. Visiting historical (biblical) sites, learning the context and culture enriched my understanding of the bible. I learnt a lot of things on the trip and I was challenged to live like a disciple (1 John 2:6). As this was my second trip to Israel, I was struck by how much more archaeologists have uncovered since 2008. This trip I saw more of the city of David that was underground the last time I was there. The archaeological work on the city of David is ongoing. #Lesson: Keep digging. If there is a part of the bible or Christianity I don’t quite understand, I should ask the Holy Spirit to uncover it for me (John 16:13). As followers of Christ we must always have a teachable attitude, never assume we know everything.

Hosting a Team from Hopewell Reformed Church, New York

We had a great time with the group from HRC with our good friends Warren and Lynette Jee. Hopewell church has been a partner with J-Life since its inception and this gave us an opportunity to bless them in return. Over the 12 days they spent most mornings doing manual labour at Camp Eden, with the sore muscles to prove it. Afternoons were spent at different local ministries off site. They got to play soccer at an after school care programme and children's home, visit an orphanage and help out at a feeding scheme. 

Things to pray for

Jann’s health - that she won't have sinus issues and other allergies as we head into spring

Ndumiso to be completely healed

Wisdom as we parent and serve with J-Life

Open doors with churches as we promote and recruit for next year

Prayer

Hi family and friends, and curious blog visitors J

I (Bhuti) will be travelling along with many of our J-Life colleagues from across the continent, to attend the Global Youth Initiative Summit and Study Tour in Israel. We are scheduled to visit a lot of historic and biblical sites all over Israel and learn more about Jesus. Please pray for us during our travels and studies. We'll arrive in Israel early on the 18th April and the tour ends on 30th April.

About the Global Youth Initiative: GYI is an alliance of organizations and strategic leaders around the globe who are passionate about seeing this next generation reached and mobilized for the cause of Christ and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Prayer Points:

• Safety getting to Israel for the whole J-Life contingent
• All of our travel in country
• Healthy bodies and sharp minds
• Open hearts for what the Holy Spirit wants to teach each one of us
• Excellent peer learning with brothers and sisters from around the world
• Weather: That it may allow us to visit all sites and conducive for learning.
• A continued lull in tensions between the Arabs and Israelis.

GYI Summit on FaceBook- We would love you to follow the stories and adventures of the GYI Summit on Facebook. We’ve created a special page just for the event. This will be a great way to see daily images and track us on Google maps. Please “Like Us” and “get notifications” at: www.facebook.com/GYIsummit. 

You can also join the conversation on Twitter: @gyimovement #gyisummit

When I have access to wifi I’ll tweet some of my personal highlights @bhutizak

I'm really excited for this opportunity and looking forward to learning a lot. 

As time MARCHes on

This weekend marks another Easter weekend. I’ve been struck by the thought that we celebrate Christ’s death. That seems a bit strange to me. Usually we celebrate someone’s birth or something significant about their lives, but seldomly (if ever) their death. Yet with Christ we find reason to celebrate everything – his birth, life, death and ultimately his resurrection. The resurrection is the reason we CAN celebrate the rest. Christ conquered sin AND death giving each of us who believe in him, not only hope, but the power to do the same. The same Spirit and power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in us (Romans 8:11)! Wow!!

What’s been happening in our corner of the world..

Vision 2020
A representative group of J-Life team members from across the continent met at Camp Eden for 5 days of listening and waiting on God. It’s always a special time when the bigger family gathers and this was no different. We spent time listening and connecting with God about where he is taking us over the next 5 years. It was an encouraging time as he reaffirmed many things that we are passionate about as well as challenging us to BE disciplemakers and not just DO training of disciplemakers.
Please continue to keep this visioning process in your prayers as the team works to synthesise and refine everything we heard and discussed during this week.

Coaching teams and youth workers
All our interns have been in their respective communities for just over a month now. We’ve been able to connect with the team at Heron Bridge Community Church as well as some of the youth workers back at their home churches. It’s been encouraging to see their desire to implement what they’ve learned and what they’re doing. They’ve started to experience some of the realities and challenges of doing ministry as well as dealing with challenges that life throws at them.  Please pray with us for them and for us too as we coach them through the joys and pains.

Additions to Camp Eden team
At the beginning of March we had some additions to the team on Camp Eden. We welcomed back Makgale who’s worked with us at different times in the past. This time he’s joined the campsite team who are responsible for running and maintaining the campsite.
We also welcomed the Kochan family from Iowa, USA - Rob, Jeanie and their 4 boys Tate, Austin, Tanner and Hudson. Ndumiso now has 4 big brothers to play with!

Ndumiso with Tanner, Austin and Hudson

GC2 Training

Bhuti and Leaders he is training.

Bhuti had a great time taking his group from Finetown and Walkerville through Vision (the 3rd module in a series of 4) on 20 and 21 March at Camp Eden. We enjoyed connecting beyond the classroom as they were able to spend some time having meals in our home and even saw a snake.

           

                   

On 14 and 28 March,  I (Bhuti) and Makgale (Pictured above) started  co-training a group of youth leaders and a church planter.  Makgale was my mentor way back in 2003, when he was a part of a J-Life team serving in my home town. They took me on two mission trips that I always point back to as my “burning bush” experience. That was my first taste of youth ministry, and I got hooked. Now I have the pleasure of returning the favour, as I help coach Makgale through the GC2 process. Please keep us in your prayers as we train and coach this group from Duduza, Tsakane and Jameson Park in the East Rand.  Pray also for Makgale as he learns the ropes.

In April, Bhuti will be part of the J-Life group travelling to Israel for the GYI study tour and conference.  We heard this week that everyone has been granted visas for the trip. Thank you Lord! Please pray for safe travelling and significant times spent learning more about the life of Christ. The group will be travelling from South Africa on 17th April and returning on 30th April.
If a trip to Israel is something you are interested in, J-Life is planning a supporters trip for 2016. Please contact Jann (jann.jlife@gmail.com) if you’d like to part of this.
While Bhuti is away in Israel, Ndumiso and I will be down in Port Elizabeth, spending time with my family.

An exciting opportunity for young people. Join us for a short term internship this winter (summer in the Northern Hemisphere;) Please contact the office for more info or an application form 
+2784 240 0204.

A jaunt through January

It's already the second week in February. Wow, what a whirlwind January was! Here's a little taste of what the Kheswas have been up to.

New trainees
The Lord has given us a great bunch of 14 young people to invest into this year. We have already worked through half of our first training intensive and we can see God at work in their lives. Here's what a few of them have to say about the experience so far.

2015 Trainees

Enoch is from Heidelberg, Gauteng:
This has been a good experience for me. I've really enjoyed connecting with people from different cultures and having new people around me.
I think I learned and benefitted most from the schools ministry training with Diane from Scripture Union and I'm excited about getting involved with youth.

Dana is from North Carolina, USA:
I've really enjoyed this whole experience. The training is effective and it's great that we've been able to practise some of what we've learned already.
What I love about South Africa is what I call down to earth living as compared with life in the USA.

Mvuyisi from Margate, KZN:
I've been stretched during my time at Camp Eden. I've learned the real purpose of ministry - where you should be going and taking people and why. And that relationships is the key focus of ministry.
I've also learned what real community is. I've stayed off my phone and spent time with people instead.


In addition to the busyness the new year usually brings, we also had a BIG camp during the first week of the new school year. The Waterstone College Grade 9s spent three days with us for their annual Community upliftment camp. Bhuti and I (together with other J-Life staff) each had a group of kids to work with for two days in the Ratanda and Siyathemba communities. They learned a lot about appreciating what they have and how small things you do for others can make a huge difference. We pray that the lessons they learned will stay with them and influence them for the rest of their lives.

At the bottom is my group, painting the container at ACTS Family Church Ext 23

I (Jann) had a Leadership training day at Marist Brothers in Linmeyer. I was able to pull together a great team to help facilitate the day with 80 Grade 7s. We all had a lot of fun together learning about the character traits of good leaders, teamwork and communication.

Building a tower

Learning about team work

On the home front, Ndumiso started walking! Before becoming a parent I couldn't understand why parents always spoke about every little thing their kid did. Now I'm more sympathetic to their cause:) Observing just normal things is eye opening, exciting and a great blessing. Now we'll have to seriously start considering that harness...

Things on the horizon for this month of February

Wedding anniversary
This year we'll be married for 4 years. It seems like just the other day and forever (in a good way) at the same time. We are grateful to the Lord, our families and the community around us for all their love and support. Here's to 44 and more years together.

Sending off trainees 
The trainees will be heading into different communities before the end of February. We have two coaching teams this year, with the rest returning to their home church communities.

Vision 2020

A group of J-Life staff from across the continent will be meeting together to start discerning where God is taking us for the next five years. Please join us in prayer as we listen and start to process this. If you would like to pray more specifically for this time please drop me an email and I can send you some more info.

We are recruiting a team of pray-ers as part of our support team. If this is a ministry that you have a passion and gifting for (or know someone who does) please do contact me for more details.

More pics...

From our holiday during December

At the beach

The happy traveller

Just arrived!

With cousins

January photos

Team building 

Marist Brothers Leadership Day

Enoch gathering kids for fun at the park

Kids ministry time @ Ext 23

Making friends at the park

Looking back at 2014

 The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means “God with us”. Matthew 1: 23

   As this year draws to a close and we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, we’d like to spend some time reflecting on how God has been with us during 2014.

    An ongoing praise item for us has been Ndumiso’s growth and health during the year. He is indeed a great blessing to us and so many others too. We’ve learned so much about the Father’s love for us and his desires for us as we’ve experienced parenthood first hand. I’m certain too, that this won’t come to an end any time soon.

    Our J-Life family has been, and continues to be, a tremendous gift to us. With neither of us able to see our biological families often, we do value the friendship, love and support we receive from everyone on Camp Eden, in Heidelberg and further afield. We have seen God with our community in many ways this year, in the good times and the difficulties.

   God has been ‘with us’ in the provision of ongoing ministry opportunities according to our gifts and passions. So many people live lives devoid of purpose, or of frustration at not being able to live out their passions. We are very grateful that we can do what we love and love what we do.

  Throughout the year we saw God as "Jehova Jireh" - the Lord our provider. Our ministry would not be possible without the giving of many people, in many different ways ALL through the year. We are especially grateful as we look back on this year that’s nearly done – for all that God has done and how He has allowed us to play a small part in that. 

To everyone who contributes to our ministry in any way - a BIG Thank you for your generous spirits and your obedience to God. 

Here are a few ministry highlights from this year

Beta Interns 

A total of 22 interns participated in our different Beta programmes this year. Pictured above are the year interns after their climb up Mont-Aux-Sources early in December. Seeing how they grow in their love for God and people is always a highlight

School Leadership training and camps
We always have lots of fun with the leadership camps we have once September comes around. Whether it's just a day or over a weekend, the learners go away having learned about themselves, leadership and team work.

Youth pastor training

I (Bhuti) had the privilege of working with youth leaders from Walkerville and Finetown. Training and coaching this particular group has been blessing because they are passionate about disciple-making. They have all, in different scales, been able to implement and train others in the second generation material. I've learnt a lot in terms of contextualising both training and implementation.

VAC Camp

We closed the year with our annual youth camp. This year’s theme was “Evolve”. God did amazing work in the lives of the youth and crew during camp. What a great way to end 2014!

Worship Station during Worship Evening

Afternoon activities 

Bhuti giving a talk at an evening session