A long Hartley update!

I need to ask a favor of you… In the future, our mission organization will only be sending 6 hard copy letters per year and will send the other 6 via email. If you could take 2 minutes to sign up to receive our letters via email, it will save me HOURS of typing all your addresses in. Go to www.onechallenge.org and click on the link in the upper right hand corner for “sign up to receive your missionary’s letter electronically” and then click on “E through I prayer letter sign up” and then scroll down to click on “Hartley”. They will send you a confirmation email. Thank you!!!

The comfort of our own bed, a nice portable heater, access to the internet, eating normal food again… We just got back from our first youth conference here in South Africa. We were roughing it on a farm about 5 hours away with 250 youth from the Foundation Ministries Churches. We enjoyed the experience and loved watching God work. We are now home nursing ourselves back to health. We all caught a bit of a flu bug!

There are a few ways that this African youth conference differed from retreats we have served at in the states. There wasn’t a huge draw like water skiing or snowboarding to get kids to come. There were only teaching sessions and worship and in the afternoon free time, they played soccer, watched a movie or flirted! We were surprised that so many youth came just for teaching and worship. By “youth” I mean anyone from age 12 up to 35. “Youth” has a different definition here. Obviously, there was a very diverse group of ages, races, and languages.

The accommodations were a little rugged at the camp. On the farm, over 80% of the buildings were under construction. The girl’s dorm was a converted stable. They slept 4-5 gals per stall! There was no heating, but at least there was electricity. I didn’t see where the guys slept, but Dan and I were glad we opted to stay off site at a nearby B&B.

A pastor from England came and taught on prophecy, hearing the Lord’s voice and how to practically take Jesus to people out on the streets. It was down to earth, challenging and very practical. On one of the days, he encouraged them to try laying hands on people and praying for healing. He figured if they were going to “practice” they could do it in a safe place where they could debrief later with leaders. Around 10 people raised their hands wanting to be healed and were prayed for. One young guy’s eyesight was restored, a seized neck released, a girl who broke her back the year before in a horse riding accident felt her back moving into proper alignment again. It was amazing! I think the youth were equaled shocked that their exercise of faith actually produced results. On the last night, the worship session lasted from 7pm-2am! These youth were hungry for an encounter with the Lord. We left around 11:30pm and transitioned my flute and Dan’s sound board to other people. Miesha was a trooper and was a delight to everyone who helped us care for her.

I don’t think the conference would’ve run without Dan! He was in his element serving behind the sound board all day every day. He was constantly adjusting the faulty equipment until it finally ran decently, he recorded all the messages, and in his spare time was soldering cables and wires. When Miesha let me, I was able to contribute playing flute on the worship team. The Holy Spirit moved in ways that are new to Dan and I and we are still processing some of the ways we saw God work. We are standing with open hearts before the Lord, expectant and eager to see what will happen in the future. We are thankful to have been a part of such a wonderful experience.

In the coming weeks, we are focusing on finalizing the plans for the short term teams that are coming to us in June and July. Currently, our sign ups have been super slow – we had 11 last year and this year we have 2 teams of 2. Since it is SO much work to prepare everything, we are planning to extend an invitation to South Africans to join the teams as well. It is obviously cheaper for them to help (no plane ticket!) and will likely take them out of their comfort zones as well. Please pray with us that we will have South Africans join us. We would love to have at least 6 people on each team, but will wait to see who God will bring. Please also pray that the details will come together quickly and easily. We have 4 of the 5 weeks planned, but need wisdom to know what to choose for that final week of service. There are so many different ministries we could choose to help. Please pray God will clearly guide us for that week of ministry.

Please also pray for balance for me! In addition to the short term team planning, I am trying to finalize a bunch of writing for the group with HIV/AIDS and hope to get a lot translated a head of time so that I can take those 5 weeks off to work with the teams without disrupting the lesson plans. Being Dan’s wife and Miesha’s mom are my most important priorities and I still haven’t figured out do everything else I need to do during Miesha’s sporadic nap times or after she goes to bed!

Dan is in process of researching the purchase of a slightly larger vehicle for us. The one we have currently has worked perfect for us, but with the addition of Miesha’s car seat it is becoming too small. It will work fine for one child, but since we eventually hope to have more children and we are constantly giving people rides, we’d like to upgrade now since the exchange rate is great, our mileage on the car is low, and we got some money back from our taxes this year. Please pray that our vehicle will sell quickly, that we can find a good deal on a larger vehicle, and that our finances will add up to keep us debt free. (Generally vehicles cost 50% more here in South Africa than the US due to high taxes and customs tariffs.)

Dan is also researching the purchase of a second form of transportation for him to drive. It will probably be a motorcycle because everything else is too expensive! We are currently sharing one vehicle and that is challenging. In this country it is not wise to be left “stuck” at the house without a vehicle and the team vehicle which we have often borrowed in the past is being sold.

Lastly, in the past 2 years we have been exceedingly blessed because the Lord has always provided over and above what we have needed financially through your support. However, in the past 4 months we have been “in the red” about $1000.00 per month. Please pray that the Lord will provide the needed finances for us. Perhaps you can help the Lord answer this one either by becoming a new financial donor, or possibly increasing your current support if it is within your budget. We are so grateful for your partnership in finances, but more importantly through your encouragement and prayers for us. We couldn’t do it without you. Thank you!!

Bunny loves Kitty

Okay, this week something really weird happened at our house...something I have never seen before.

We have been wondering for awhile whether our rabbit is male or female and now we know. Our white bunny Marshmallow (pictured in the blog below) is definitely a BOY. We know this for certain because he was totally hitting on our female kitty Cheeto. To keep this blog PG I am not going to give details, but she could definitely sue him for sexual harassment!

Good thing Cheeto is neutered otherwise we might have a litter of "Bittens". You know, bunny/kittens.

More good money down the tube for therapy!

And yes, all our animals are named for food we miss from the states! Java is our dog (coffee is WAY better in the states) Pepsi and Cheeto are our cats, and Marshmallow is our bunny. Here there are no regular flavored marshmallows. You can buy chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and litchi flavored mallows. Yup - litchi. That one doesn't really work in smores.

My Little Easter Bunny

I know it is WAY past Easter, but I can't resist posting some adorable photos of my daughter.

Miesha wasn't comfortable sharing the spotlight with our real bunny. This one is probably going to really cost me with her therapy bills someday...but SOOO cute!

Taking a sip from the cup of JOY

I have recently been challenged recently both by the Joyce Meyer study we are doing in Mom’s Group – Battlefield for the Mind - and also through watching a friend here work through some tough circumstances.

My life here in Africa can either be good or hard and I truly can decide what it is going to be.

I can either focus on the fact that I really miss my family and that my nieces and nephews are growing up without me in their lives, the fact that the crime here is ridiculous and that I need to always be alert and watchful so I don’t become a victim, that ministry is hard and unfamiliar, I make cultural blunders, I don’t understand enough language to get their jokes, I can’t buy some of my favorite things to eat here, imported things from America you have to pay too much for, our car is too small, the cost of gas, and on and on…

OR I can remind myself that being a missionary has been my dream since I was in High School, we are living in one of the most modern cities in Africa so it could be a whole lot worse, the people here are super friendly, forgiving and accommodating when I make mistakes, we have a wonderful church family and are deepening friendships with many people, I am in a great Bible study, the sunsets are amazing, African game parks are SO fun, the ocean is warm, we have internet and web cams for keeping in touch with our families, we love our work here, my husand is watching the baby so I can get some computer time…you get the picture.

My friend started a blog called “instead…bless”. It is this same concept. Instead of complaining…bless. Instead of focusing on yourself…bless others.

It truly is in my mind and I can choose. Today…I choose JOY!

USA trip summary

Where do I begin?

I have four weeks of wonderful memories floating around in my head that I am trying to sort through and decide which to share with you. Warning – this may be a long one!

We are home now, back in South Africa. Funny that I am saying “home” referring to Africa since for the past 2 years we have been referring to “home” as where our families live in the States. I have been thinking about this throughout our visit and on the LONG journey back and I think that I am more settled about living here now that I have been back to the States. Home to me now means both places. While I am here in Africa, I will always be homesick for family, church, and friends in the USA and while we were in the states, I found myself homesick for Africa – wondering how ministry was doing without us and missing friends from here.

There are many things that we love about both places. We love the tortilla chips and restaurants in the states and we love the wild animals and the weather here in Africa. We love family and friends back home and we have great friends and teammates here. I love that there were an equal amount of phone calls from American teammates and African friends calling to welcome us back. We were missed and that feels good.

When our parents purchased our tickets last September so we could visit them, we were terribly homesick, a little depressed, and a lot discouraged. We tried hard to put a good face forward and to press on with the wonderful ministry we have the opportunity to do here, but there were many days where the sacrifice of being pregnant so far from home and wanting to be near my sisters who were also pregnant, the stress from living in a city with so much crime, the unknowns of our future ministry opportunities, the challenges of attending a church where we didn’t feel included in the fellowship life of the congregation, and no friends in our current season of life…lets just say we took turns talking each other into continuing to be missionaries. Thankfully neither of us wanted to quit on the same day!

Last September we changed churches and this has made a huge difference for us. We are now fully embraced and loved by an international church that isn’t too far from our home. We are leading a wonderful group of Christians in a Bible study at our home and Dan is playing drums on the worship team. It feels GREAT to be in a fellowship where we are being fed spiritually and where we can also serve.

Now, after being home to the States and being embraced by three amazing congregations who fully support us and who are extremely excited about what God is doing in and through us in Africa, it feels like we are recharged to continue pressing on here. From the bottom of our hearts we are thankful to all of you! We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of giving financially for our work here, and especially overwhelmed by all the beautiful little baby girl things that were given to Miesha. She ended up with more luggage then Dan and I combined going back! She is a blessed little girl!! Again, we are so thankful to all of you.

Sidenote: please be patient with me on the thank you notes…have tons to do!

Here are a few highlights from our trip ~

Fairfield, ID: This was where we spent our first weekend and it was amazingly restful for us! It was about as opposite to Johannesburg as could possibly be. A small mountain farming community verses a huge metropolitan city the size of Los Angeles. We were told, “The keys are in the car – help yourself. Just follow the tar road into town, you’ll see the church right there.” There was close to 4 feet of snow in Fairfield and we left African weather in the high 80’s F. It was a WONDERFUL and restful change of pace for us. Thank you to all of you in our Fairfield family for taking such good care of us. A special thanks to Jerry for all the planning she did and to her family for hosting us, rescuing us from the snow bank, and for teaching us to snowmobile. Thank you also to Pastor Chuck and Fay for the lovely meals and for keeping us in faithful prayer at your church.

Being in Portland and Vancouver was my favorite simply because that is where I grew up, where all my family still lives, and were I attended the same church for 11 years and have deep friendships. My family got together almost every day we were there. We made some amazing memories and have some really fun pictures of all the babies. Baby Uriah was born in Oct, Miesha in Dec, and Kyla in early Jan and Jake just turned 4. Here are my sisters and I with all the babies!

Being at Summit View Church…it is hard to describe. The depth of friendships, all the memories from retreats, worship team, and working in the office all have meant so much to me and helped to form both Dan and I into the people we are today. It was good for our hearts to be back, great to be with friends, amazing to sing familiar worship songs again, and to share our passion for Africa. A special thanks to all the SVC staff and to all of you who contributed so generously towards our ministry here. We are so blessed to have you partnering with us!

We also loved being in Seattle. I love Dan’s family and it was really fun to spend time with them all. We ate salmon with the family at Jon and Elena’s and we went to a local game reserve with Tommy’s family and had a fantastic time spotting deer, moose and bison. We think it is ironic that Miesha’s first “safari” was in Washington! I loved staying up late talking with his parents and we learned a lot about them while planning their 50th wedding anniversary party. It was a beautiful celebration of their life together and it was great for Dan and I to get to introduce Miesha to many relatives and close friends who came. Dan spoke at a men’s retreat and enjoyed talking with many of his friends and mentors in the camp setting and I got to visit with many friends at a baby shower they did for Miesha.

What we wanted on this trip was for our families to get to meet Miesha and to spend some quality time with us and we really feel that happened. We also were able to spend time with the maximum amount of friends because of all these special events and all the baby showers! We love you all. Our next visit will be longer and we hope to connect with many more of you.

We had a wonderful visit home – thanks to all of you who made it so special! If you have good digital pictures to share, we’d love to receive some. Please send them via email in a condensed format to me. (janellhartley@oci.org)