E-ntercession
Faces
GLOBAL TEEN CHALLENGE Strategic Outreach Report

Dear Friends,

 I sit here watching the surf of the Indian Ocean beat ruthlessly upon the rocky Durban Coastline, I cannot help but reflect on the God's unrelenting faithfulness and love for Africa. For the first time this tour I am very tired. It is not the schedule, or the meetings- we have slowed down considerably in the last week, it is the sense of despair as we look upon the human need and the sacrifices being made by missionaries and nationals who long to bring God's love to this continent and the inexhaustible extent of the need.

  It seems like what we are doing is so small when consider the expanse of human and spiritual need.

We drive by gorgeous mountain chalets in Durban surrounded by Shantytowns & tremendous poverty
We stand on a Hillside in Motshane videoing children trapped by abandonment and poverty only to see one of the King's five Palaces on the plain.
While thousands in the nation starve-the Parliament, Cabinet and the King toss political jabs deciding on whether to spend 450 million on a new jet for the King.
A father with a 4 X 4, several wives and a herd of cattle loses one wife to AIDS and says he "cannot to send her son school so as the other wives beat the child, he is abandoned to live in a pit latrine
 

Yesterday the lead story of the Swazi Observer (Nationally distributed paper in Swaziland) leads with a front page picture and a 3 inch headline cries GRABBED . The boy has been living in a pit latrine" (outhouse) 3 Kilometers from his home.They called him the crocodile skinned boy on TV because his skin was covered with scales you can see from the Front Page. The article says that social welfare has brought him here to Teen Challenge Lighthouse. The scales on his skin and personal hygiene are so frightening that the social welfare workers fear for the their safety and allow him to sit for 2 days covered in grime without touching him. While the article reveals that social welfare has brought him here to Teen Challenge Lighthouse. The scales on his skin and personal hygiene were so frightening that the social welfare workers fear for the their safety and allowed him to sit for 2 days covered in grime without touching him.


As he arrives at Teen Challenge I wish you could see the children and staff of the Ark "love on" him. As they donned rubber gloves, soap and love, they washed away the filth which the social welfare workers were to fearful to touch. Much of what was thought to be a horrible skin disease was lovingly scrubbed away by the staff and children here at the Ark

Unfortunately the work of reclaiming this tiny life will take so much more washing off the grime on the outside. It will be Teen Challenge's to he will be feed, clothe and pay for him to undergo a regimen of examination and medical treatment. At the same time, the love of Jesus will be poured into his heart by staff and the children at the Ark. The government claims credit for grabbing him in the headline, but the harsh reality is that social welfare will not give one dime. Kevin and the team at Teen Challenge will have to bear the full expense of his recovery grateful for the prayers of God's people and that Jesus paid the full price of his restoration at Calvary.

You see, once we peel away the layers of grime, only Jesus can touch the wounds of a child who has lost his mother to AIDS and he wonders whether he carries the virus which will take his won life. Only Jesus can heal the wound of the rejection delivered by the father and family members that should be carrying him through this tragic time. Who will teach him that the real heavenly father does still love him and he was not created to hide in a pit latrine.

One of the tragedies of this environment of religious confusion, disease and tradition is the children that are left in its wake. Not just orphans without a family- but children orphaned in a family. Rejected by the emotional support system God created us to find refuge in. The effect of men with multiple wives (saving up cows for the next wife) is that when the mother dies of AIDS, the other mothers and children reject the offspring of that wife so that we are not just dealing with orphans. As AIDS claims the countless thousands of lives, the families left in its wake are an unrelenting reminder that for them death is just the beginning.

 Pray for Sipho. Pray for Inkhosikati Lambikizai as she intercedes for the King sand prays for the people of her nation. When we return to Swaziland, I pray we will have the opportunity to seethe queen again and encourage her heart, whether we see the King or not.

When you observe the hammering of the waves, the inevitable conclusion is, "the ocean doesn't ever seem to give up." As the sharp crags of rock break through the coastline, acres of beautiful sandy beach are the evidence that the relentless pounding of the waves will win. Africa is a beautiful continent, with beautiful people, but they are dieing! AIDS, tradition, religion and centuries of exploitation have left a wound that only Jesus can heal.