- The Finnie family in Blighty, December 2021
- Dean and Paula pastor The Gathering together
- The Gathering
- Baptisms at The Gathering
- Preparing to serve at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen
- Soup Kitchen Welcome To 2022 lunch
- Serving hands - the heart of The Gatheirng
- Thankful Thursdays
- HOPE Home Based Care Team
- Gathering Ground
- Staying fit as a family
- The Helderberg - The prettiest of the mountains we face
Merry Christmas
We hope you're as excited about what God is going to do in 2019 as we are.
Have a fantastic year!
Future Plans To Present Realities
The first one was our Christmas Lunch for 120 of our regulars and the second was taking our soup up from 70lts to 100lts, but we were really going to need some miraculous blessings for these to happen.
Load Shedding
I can't quite believe that I've never blogged about this farce issue before, especially as it's such a regular occurrence due to Eskom's incompetence mismanagement corruption breakdown in supply infrastructure and its inability to manage its affairs.
Homework Club Awards Ceremony
This is a week overdue but it was great to celebrate another fantastic year of The Gathering's Homework Club last Friday 23rd as we held our now annual Awards Ceremony.
It's always a joy to celebrate the kids achievements and to show their families just how well they're doing, and some of our kids are doing incredibly well.
City Elders
Decisions, Decisions...
As the year winds down towards the summer holidays it would be nice to have a bit of breathing space, but as ever that's rarely our experience and once again we find ourselves having to make some pretty major decisions ready for the new year.
Homework Club
As the school year winds towards the end we've had a few kids drop out of the Homework Club. Some have moved away from Firgrove and some just think they're too cool for school.
Loving Local Literacy
I have been reading with them once a week all year and have absolutely loved the experience. I have learned so much, and they tell me that they have also - so that can only be good!! I was asked to come in today to receive a token of their appreciation.
On arrival a small group of the 170+ children came to give me a certificate, a card and a lovely plant to say thank you. One of the learners addressed me beautifully in English and expressed how they all feel about my help.
I am humbled and can't wait to start back again in 2019.
It's so good to build relationships in our Firgrove community!
Easy Riders, Firgrove Style
...two easy riders on their bespoke choppers.
This is a local guy in Firgrove who decided to turn his welding skills to bike making and produced these two prototypes.
Anyway, just before we left for holiday Paula showed us all a picture of Daisy and it snowballed from there. So having been approved by Animal Welfare and having passed their home inspection, they neutered her over the weekend and said we could collect her this morning. So we did.
It was great to be back in Montagu (though we missed Greyton) and trying some new accommodation. Paula found this little gem online and we had a very peaceful two weeks with great views and were only a five minute walk from the town centre.
Before You Moan About The NHS...
This week we're missing the dear old NHS and the fact that if we were in Blighty Eli's current infliction would have been treated for free, but as it is we're in a land with no real welfare net and so our pockets are feeling the squeeze.
Almost Over?
So after an average August and a wet start to September, with the promise of a lot more rain over the next few days, our dams now sit at a respectable average of 65.9% full.
We still have to be conservative with our water usage and the restrictions still seem to be a long way from being lifted, but we are at least heading in the right direction for the first time in three years.
Food For Thought
New Chairs
As The Gathering grows and is blessed, so we need to step out in more faith trusting that we will see the Kingdom extended in Firgrove, South Africa and beyond.
So recently we stepped out in faith and bought 50 new chairs of which we received the first 25 this morning.
50 To 70 Litres
It turns out that there were a few more issues involved than just doubling the quantity of ingredients and so it made sense to address a few issues and take a smaller step forwards....for now.
One of the main issues we've had has been washing the 50lt pot in the sink, basically it's too big to fit under the cupboard, so rather than just raise the cupboard, we decided to move it to the other side and then install some shelves where the cupboard used to be. This will allow us more space above the sink which we'll need with the new 70lt pot, though we still need a plan to figure out how it will fit in the sink (see below) 😂
The Story Continues...
Stay tuned for more news later in the week.
Term 3 Competition Winners
Our kids are progressing nicely and are becoming quite a dominant force in the termly competitions held online by Green Shoots.
This is a real encouragement and I can't wait to hear how each of our kids has done at the end of the school year.
Also, the FB challenge says not to give any reason or any other information about each book, so again I'm going to be rebellious.
I have to say that having over 700 books in the house has made this very tricky and I have chosen not to include any Christian books, maybe sometime I'll do a Ten Christian Books post.
So, having whittled it down to ten books that have had a massive impact on me, it seems only fair to start with the book I've known and loved the longest of these ten.
Charlotte's Web was first read to me as a 6 year old and I fell in love with it immediately. I've read it more times than I can recount and loved reading it to both of my sons. I really love this book!
Women's Day 2018
So today The Gathering with help from Father’s House in Simon’s Town celebrated Women’s Day.
We hosted a free event in which we invited local women to come and be pampered and treated like the million dollars they truly are in God’s eyes. Or as Paula put it on Facebook: Helping women understand that they are "the apple of his eye" (Zechariah 2:8).
Heroes Of The Faith - Pt 4
Each of my previous posts were anonymised, but today I'm naming, proclaiming and celebrating Linda for her faith, her perseverance and her never giving up, even when it would have been easier and more comfortable to do so.
Bath Time.... Not
Our drought seemed to be a popular source of conversation in Blighty as I was asked countless times about it, especially as it had hit international headlines a few months ago as Day Zero was scheduled to happen within days of that news breaking.
Good To Be Back
This morning has been largely about getting a few of my UK purchases up and running which will hopefully make church and especially our Homework Club run a little better.
Adopted Son
I've had a fantastic time, reconnected with many good friends, and spent time with school mates I hadn't seen in 35 years. I had the privilege of spending time with some truly inspiring fellow pastors & ministers and can't believe that a few of them even let me preach in their churches (I'm sure one day I'll be found out 😂 ).
But the greatest joy has been spending time with family, and this last week has been special as I've never spent so long with Paula's sister & brother-in-law on my own before. All I can say is that my love and respect for Lisa & Stephen grows exponentially each time I see them and realise just how much they quietly get on with as they serve and support others around them. I really love you both! XX
Going Home.....Not Quite Yet
It has been a great time, but it has been quite tiring, and the first two weeks were a bit of a whirlwind as I caught a train from London to Stockport, spent a few days there then got a train to Sheffield where I spent a couple of days before getting a train to London where I spent a few days in Wimbledon -which included a train ride out to Witham in Essex- before getting a train to Abingdon, and then finally a train to Weald to spend the last week or so with Paula's family. I have to say, it's nice to be able to hang a few shirts up rather than grabbing bits out of the suitcase!
Coming To Blighty
Quite simply we cannot afford to all come and the boys can't miss school like they once could. ðŸ˜
So, if you are in or around the Manchester, Sheffield, London or Sevenoaks areas, please come and say hello at one of my Roadshows or Church Visits, the dates are in the image to the right.
For the Sheffield and Wimbledon Roadshows, please save the date and I'll confirm the venues ASAP.
Secret Ingredient
I first encountered Amasi in '97 in Tanzania, where one morning I joined the workers for their morning break at the project where we were serving, and they thought it highly amusing to watch me being grossed out by it and almost vomiting.
Sad And Frustrated
Frustrating because it was of a theme that keeps rearing its ugly head, and sad because we the church are responsible.
Glorious Rain
After a few minutes of messing about in the rain enjoying its cooling touch (it was 35°C just after lunchtime), we grabbed every available bucket and got busy harvesting as much rain as we could. In the end I reckon we got about 200Lts, which isn't a lot but it will keep the loos flushing for a while longer. 😃
It was fun to watch Eli revel in the rain and even funnier to see him get pelted by the brief hail storm.
So today I finally got around to changing the plumbing in The Gathering's toilet so that we can harvest the grey water from the sink and use it to flush the toilet.
In doing this The Gathering is no longer wasting valuable drinking water to flush the loo and that is a win win situation.
Every little bit helps as we try our best to avoid Day Zero, the day that the City of Cape Town turns off its taps and loses its status as a world class city.
Showcasing Homework Club
It's been quite a journey from not having a clue what the Homework Club would look like to now being a growing and confident outfit, and we're always happy to share the journey with others.
2018 Gets Going
The New Year is a strange thing out here in that it falls in the middle of the summer holidays, with industry shutting down for a few weeks, so most people don't go back to work until the second week of January. Schools only went back last week and so The Gathering's Homework Club only just started this week and won't do a full week until next week.
Wednesday and Thursday were brilliant as The gathering's Homework Club kicked off again and welcomed 11 new kids and 21 returnees. The Homework Club is full now and we have quite a waiting list which is great.
Having learnt a few lessons last year, we started the year with a few ground rules and boundaries which seemed to go well, I guess time will tell. The big difference though is that we now have eight kids per session so Precious (our facilitator) can't sit down, so she was constantly walking around the table and that kept things a lot more orderly.
Twenty Years
Homework Club
It's been a great journey since we set out in January last year with 12 kids and not really knowing what the Homework Club would look like. Here we are a whole twelve months later and we're setting off with 32 kids and looking to expand it to 48 sooner rather than later.
Please stand with us in prayer as we believe that The Gathering will grow through this outreach into the community.
Dirty, Scruffy Ministry
Thursdays are brilliant (and even better in term time when our Homework Club is running). I spend most of the morning making the soup and then in the afternoon I get to prepare the venue and then serve the soup (normally with help from Joel and one or two church members), whilst Errol provides a semblance of order outside and encourages passers-by to partake. He's a natural evangelist.
It's very easy to look at The Gathering's Soup Kitchen and think what a nice piece of work it is without fully appreciating just how serious a need it fulfils. It's also easy to look at the pics of the many kids that regularly come and think how cute they look, but again it's all too easy to miss just how serious the need in the community is for The Gathering's Soup Kitchen.
Homework Club
We've had some great feedback from some of their families and hearing how certain kids have increased their maths grades from 1s to 5s and above is fantastic.
Also learning that none of our kids are repeating the year is also great news, especially for one young lad who has been stuck in Gr4 for three years!
Homework Club Party
22 kids were eager to get in with a few siblings and friends trying to slip in too, but we managed to contain the numbers.
Pray For Zim
Sadly though, all has not been well in the former ‘bread basket of Africa’ and since 1999 has been the basket case of Africa, and that can be attributed to one man and his colossal ego.
Competition Winners
When each of them saw their names on the login page they were thrilled and excited for what they had achieved, and rightly so.
A lot of credit goes to Precious, our facilitator, she's great with the kids and they love her.
Stay tuned too for a big announcement about our Homework Club for next year as it grows and changes. We're really excited about what's happening!
Soup For All
It's also a joy to see our venue take on a real world practical use as it's packed to the brim with locals wanting soup and sandwiches.
Tekkie Walk
The walk was brilliantly organised with one person being given a ribbon (for each stop sign) and the responsibility of praying for whichever topic they had been given. Then before moving on to the next street, they tied the ribbon to the stop sign.
Growth Of A Soup Kitchen
It’s Thursday so in social media terms that means I must be about to post my obligatory weekly pic on Instagram, which then automatically re-posts said picture on Facebook and Twitter. However, this week I’m posting the inevitable photo right here on our oft neglected blog.
Our holiday is precious time, not least because we get so little of it out here. Dean has posted on this before, but in Blighty we used to enjoy 5 weeks of annual leave, now we don't even manage a full fortnight.
Gift Of Letters
I have to say it was a lot of fun. It was great to rekindle the letter writing skill (we used to write to each other constantly before we got married), especially in this age of connectivity and constant social media interactions when pens are rarely required. The whole experience was enjoyable and the highlight was intentionally setting aside a few minutes each day to write a letter or card. It meant that for a few precious minutes all I had to do was think about Paula and what I wanted to say to her.
Before & After
It's been quite a journey getting to this point but we're thankful for all the blessings that made this possible, and to our guys at The Gathering who worked so hard to prepare the space ready for the installation. I also enjoyed sorting the plumbing and electrics, it felt like old times doing that stuff again.
Privilege To Serve
This week the queue for soup went out the door and didn't seem to end for the first twenty minutes and by 25 past six the soup had all gone which was pretty gobsmacking.
Secret Weapon
Since The Gathering moved into the heart of Firgrove our Soup Kitchen has been steadily growing, especially amongst the elderly who were too afraid to cross the busy R102, and who could blame them?! So, over the last few weeks many new faces have become familiar faces as people feel much safer coming for soup within their own community.
Karma Chameleon
This is a Cape Dwarf Chameleon indigenous only to the Western Cape and close to Table Mountain, though they have been found as far out as Agulhas.
Personally I'm thrilled to have this lttle guy in my garden and would love to see him again sometime.
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