Here's a couple more photos to give you another taster of the photos we've just posted at Finnie's in Focus.We hope you enjoy them
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Dean and Paula in Blighty, autumn 2025 -
Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering -
Our beloved Palace - FA Cup winners 2025 -
The Gathering -
Baptising in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit -
Leaders preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen -
Soup Kitchen Xmas lunch
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Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng -
Thankful Thursdays -
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HOPE Home Based Care Team -
Gathering Ground -
The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
JN 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."I love this passage simply because Jesus let's his followers know that troubles are guaranteed (not promised) for no particular reason (not for character building or testing etc) other than we are of this world and have to live in it. So being robbed or living through Hurricane Katrina are not judgement by some vindictive deity but rather just part and parcel of life on this planet.
Here are a few 'taster' photographs, you can see more on our Photoblog 'Finnie's in Focus'.We'll post some more over the next few days too.
We've finally managed to get back onto Blogger after 3 days, apparently our monopoly phone company messed up and barred access to the service which is about what you'd expect from a monolithic uncompetitive monopoly. Gripe over and on with the posting...
Quite a lot has happened and we'll try and give a brief update on each thing...
Quite a lot has happened and we'll try and give a brief update on each thing...
Dean has just been to an excellent meeting at the municipality with Dina & Mama Jane regarding the vegetable garden in CNP and the proposed netball court for the community. Amazingly, the parks dept have agreed to give the community R1000 towards the vegetable garden for seeds, fertiliser etc so after almost 2 years the garden will now be utilised properly. The parks department have also agreed to fund the construction of the netball court and to supply the basic equipment such as hoops and balls. Needless to say Dina & Mama Jane were delighted and the community will be thrilled when they hear about this.
Dean was quite angry afterwards as he feels that Michael & Joyce were steamrollered by Douglas's lawyer as they had no legal representation themselves (legal aid was refused and they can't afford legal fees) into signing a settlement document. This then allowed the lawyer to make direct representations to the chief magistrate in his chamber rather than having to go into court.
Here's one to whet your appetite
Left to Right: Cyril (in blue shirt),Danny, Michael, Basil, Peter, Trevor, Vicky, Alfred, Ernest & James.
Here are some photos taken this morning before Joel went to nursery. Joel seems to love Eli more with each day that passes and currently really enjoys wheeling him around in his pushchair. Between doing this and playing his guitar Joel is as happy as it's possible to be! Despite this we are experiencing some behavioural challenges as Joel copes with going to nursery 5 mornings a week and getting less attention from Mum & Dad than he's used to. We're going to try and address this so at lunchtime today Paula & Joel will go out on their own for lunch, hopefully they'll have a lot of fun.
These last few days in Chris Nissen have been really good in terms of time spent with people, but also in terms of putting life into perspective.
On Thursday last week we started our men's Bible study again after a long break. It was really good to catch up and hear everybody's news. Sadly, Cyril's cousin died earlier during the week, they shared their house in CNP, and now Cyril concerned about what will happen to the house as his cousin's family don't like Cyril very much. Also, Danny has been thrown out of his house, this is all very sad, but you may remember some of our posts about Anna Bop who died last year. Danny's house belonged to her, but after her death he remained in the house, but now Anna Bop's mother has sold the house. This is illegal in CNP as the properties belong to the CNP Trust, so now we're involved in sorting out this mess. Meanwhile Danny is staying with friends in the community but can't stay for long as his host are already severely stretched! Despite the bad news, I was really encouraged by the group and their attitudes and faith that as I drove home I realised that this group alone make my time in CNP more than worth it!
On Thursday last week we started our men's Bible study again after a long break. It was really good to catch up and hear everybody's news. Sadly, Cyril's cousin died earlier during the week, they shared their house in CNP, and now Cyril concerned about what will happen to the house as his cousin's family don't like Cyril very much. Also, Danny has been thrown out of his house, this is all very sad, but you may remember some of our posts about Anna Bop who died last year. Danny's house belonged to her, but after her death he remained in the house, but now Anna Bop's mother has sold the house. This is illegal in CNP as the properties belong to the CNP Trust, so now we're involved in sorting out this mess. Meanwhile Danny is staying with friends in the community but can't stay for long as his host are already severely stretched! Despite the bad news, I was really encouraged by the group and their attitudes and faith that as I drove home I realised that this group alone make my time in CNP more than worth it!
We've not posted much over the last week or so, partly because we've been very busy but also because we were feeling a bit demotivated after a number of events which haven't made 2006 the best start to a year we've ever had! Dean being robbed was awful, but at least he was unharmed, then the head gasket on his car blew leaving us with a hefty garage bill and then our Harddisk crashed and we lost 3 months worth of photos (yes dean does do weekly backups but still disaster struck!).
Paula had another good morning in CNP today. Dina went with her to introduce her to some new people and she met 6 new women, which is great! Her Tuesday evening social evenings will now start to be held in the homes of these people. They are all keen to get to know her and spend more time with each other. It was interesting that half of them were sick to a varying degree, from eye infections to asthma to bad hip, and none will go to the doctor. This is not because of cost, but because they don't trust them and are either scared or embarassed or both to go. This is not surprising as people are often needlessly and publicly humiliated by the doctor at the clinic. It is a long, hard slog to convince people that they must go. Paula now goes into CNP with an obligatory pack of Ibuprofen to dish out, but this is really not good and certainly isn't a long term solution. One of the ladies was so sick we had to lift her up to take the pills. Please pray for God to move so that this stigma is removed. They all want Paula or Dean or someone to go with them to speak to the doctor, but this just isn't possible.
Paula went back in to Chris Nissen on Friday for the first time since Christmas week and all our activity collecting Eli and getting ourselves used to being new parents!! 'Her ladies' were so pleased to see her again, but can't really understand why she won't take Eli in to see them there yet. We are doing this purely for health reasons in that Eli's BCG jab takes 3 months to kick in and the TB rate in CNP is so high that we can't take the risk. Maybe, making this stand ourselves as a family will shake people up to take their medication and see what a serious problem TB is in the community.
Here Joel's attempting to wake Eli up. Joel doesn't really understand why Eli is so boring at the moment, however we know that will change all too quickly.
Check out Troy's Blog: RAVEN Team
I've been wanting to post about Katrina again for a while but didn't know what to write or how to go about it, so I'm really grateful to Troy for taking time out to comment on our Blog.
Dean has the rest of this week off so we're making sure we have lots of family time together, particularly making a point of spending time with Joel. So yesterday we went for a walk along the Lourensford River so Joel could throw some stones in (he loves doing that) and then we cut across to the sports fields so that Joel could try and fly his kite again. Thankfully the wind wasn't too strong so the kite flew really well. As you can see below, Joel really got the hang of the kite and he had a great time flying it.
Joel & Dad digging holes in the sand on Strand Beach. How else were we supposed to spend New year's Day?
Joel and Sam playing on the beach at Strand. We had a lovely morning with Pete & Ash and the kids, rounded off with a McDonalds lunch. It was such a pleasure to spend time with the Smyth family again as we rarely get to see each other these days. Pete & Ash were incredibly supportive friends during our time in Zim, especially as we struggled with the issue of moving on from the Just Children Foundation. Pete now leads the 'God First' church in Jo'burg.
Some of you may remember that Roger was Best Man at our wedding back in 1991.
On Thursday Dean joined some of the key CNP residents for a Thank you / Christmas lunch hosted by Chris Nissen himself. The lunch was great and the guys from CNP relly enjoyed the venue as the restaurant juts out into the sea with stunning views of False Bay, Table Mountain & the Cape Peninsula. Sadly, Chris Himself never pitched which was a real shame, but a good time was had by all regardless. Usefully, Dean got to meet some of the key players in the local police force including the station commander of Somerset West police station and the provincial director of Helderberg area police. Contacts which will definitely come in handy!
Dean & Joel went to the Nature Reserve again yesterday, mainly to give Paula & Eli a bit of a break but also to give Joel some special time with Dad. We had some real fun as you can see from the 'Dilemma' video posted below. We're not sure where Joel gets his flirting skills from but they're definitely not from his Dad (probably gets it from his mother!).Whilst we were feeding the ducks the Cape Weaver Birds were getting quite bold so we put some crumbs on a post a watched them swoop in and take them.
NB. The clip below is about 5mb and without a broadband connection may take a while to download.
The quality of the video is low but if you listen carefully you can hear him saying things like: "Yes Lord" & "Thank you very much". Also, watch for the hand and then listen carefully as he ends his prayer and launches into playing his guitar.
We hope you enjoy the video below as much as we do!
Here are a few photos from our 'flying' trip to Bloemfontein. We had a good trip despite the disappointment of not returning home with the baby. The good news is that we will definitely get the baby as soon as s/he is born and we'll keep you informed of happenings.
More photos can be seen on our Photoblog
Here we had just arrived in Bloemfontein. The weather was really hot with cloudless skies, beautiful!
Well, we're home...... without the baby!!! It has been a very emotional time in Bloemfontein. The birth mother has been induced 4 times - poor woman, but nothing happened. Her due date isn't till Sunday, so we're not quite sure why they advised us to come this week, but there we go, there must have been a reason.
Debs (together with Rachel) runs Emyezweni pre school in Lwandle (a township just outside Somerset West) with support from Ukuthasa a UK charity and Helderberg Christian Church. The pre school offers a valuable service to many parents who would otherwise have to stop working to care for their kids.
As promised, here's a photo from our trip. You can see more on our Photoblog; Finnie's In Focus.This photo shows Paula with Cyril, Danny, Michael, Alfred & Peter standing over Cape Town.
We had an excellent morning looking at Job. We concentrated on the character of the man, looking at the first 2 chapters, a little at his interactions with his friends and then a bit more in depth at God's response in chapters 38 - 41 and finally God's amazing blessing on a man of great faith. Our study was followed by an excellent time of prayer which is so encouraging as I was struggling to get 2 men to commit to regular participation at the beginning of the year. Praise God! We now have between 8 & 9 men each week and look to be growing.
We've had an excellent time with Andy Clasper from Queens Road Church in Wimbledon, it was a pleasure to spend time together and to be able to show Andy a little bit of what we're up to. Andy has also had a brilliant 3 week holiday in SA and has been able to experience things normally not on offer to tourists including playing Santa for 70+ children in Emyezweni, our pre-school in Lwandle township (enjoy the photo below).
On Thursday Dean's Bible Study met in the containers in CNP again, after a few months of not being allowed access. Praise God! It looks like we'll be able to meet in there each Thursday which will be so much better as it is so big. Also, this means as a group we can grow, which is one of our key aims for next year. Please continue to pray that we would be allowed to use the container without all the nonsense of CNP internal politics getting in the way.
Andy is with us from the UK and we're enjoying his company, Joel seems to have clicked with him and particularly enjoying running around on the baech with him. Yesterday morning we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguins and then in the afternoon we went to Chris Nissen. This morning Andy will be joining dean for the CNP Men's Bible Study.Hope you enjoy these photos from yesterday. There will be more on our Photoblog this afternoon.
As promised here are some photos from the Launchpad party held in honour of John & Sophie. To see more of Dean's better photos look at our Photoblog.
Thank you for your prayers for Joel, he woke up this morning as if nothing had been wrong over the last three days, Praise God! Today has been an almost normal day for him other than being quite tired. His cough has almost totally abated and his temperature is completely normal. We really value your prayers and we're really grateful to God for answering them so swiftly for Joel.
Joel is really struggling with his fever and has now developed a nasty chesty cough. As we write he's struggling to sleep as he can't stop coughing, also it's really hot tonight. please pray for healing and peace for the boy, he's really tired and desperately wants to be asleep. Pray for healing for him.
Thanks!
Thanks!
A quick update... last night (Thurs) we went out with a group to say goodbye to John & Sophie. After 11 months serving here at Helderberg Christian Church, on the Frontier Year Project they're off home to the UK. We're all sad that they're leaving but know that God will use them mightily for His kingdom. In the morning John & I took our CNP men's Bible study group out for coffee & cake to say farewell to John, we had a great time and the men expressed real warmth towards John who will be sorely missed by the group. These 'jollies' were topped off with a staff breakfast this morning which was very pleasant.
We will continue to post some photos here, but obviously we'll post the bulk of them on the new photoblog. We'll try to post as regularly as possible and will include alternative views of the stuff you see on this blog.
On Saturday we went to the aquarium and met up with Richard & Felicity with Matthew. Joel and he had great fun charging around and shouting "Wow! Look at that!" when they saw the sharks. Joel has been to the aquarium more times than we can remember and yet he never seems to tire of it, which is great as it makes for a good morning when we go. Afterwards Dean went with Joel on a 30 minute boat tour of Cape Town harbour and they both really enjoyed it. Joel was a natural on the boat and so we're (or at least Dean is) now planning to take him on one of the glass bottomed boats in Hout Bay. Sadly we didn't have a camera with us so you'll have to believe us when we say the views of Table Mountain from the harbour were stunning.
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