African Winter

 African  Winter!

It’s COLD here in Africa! And with no indoor heating and air it feels even COLDER.  It has been winter break for the last 3 weeks, so the pre-school at Ithemba where I volunteer was not open, and Emi was also out of “school” too.  I tried to do a few fun things with Ems during her break. She went to a petting zoo with her Korean friend Yieon where she fearlessly rode a horse!

She also went on a game drive with some other friends, Abi and Ian, and saw some wild animals.

And we did some baking and gave some beautiful cookies to some of our elderly neighbors. 

Also during these past few weeks I've been on a committee planning a big fundraiser for Ithemba. We're hosting a Woodwind Band to come and play in Jeffrey’s Bay and they’re going to donate all of the proceeds to Emi's Closet. Even all of the refreshment sales. Yeah! Please pray that LOTS of people come to our concert on August 1st.

Emi’s Closet will be giving ½ of the proceeds to Ithemba, the Family Support Center I work at with vulnerable children and orphans, and the other half we will be donating to the building of the new Global Leadership Academy.  Here’s a 3-minute you tube video that showcases the school which our organization - Global Challenge Expeditions - is busy breaking ground to build.  Check it out – it’s really so cool and such a privilege to be a part of!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbpUMPaGbG4

I have also been distributing some more of the funds from our Emi's Closet sale that was such a great success earlier this year! We are now supplying daily vitamins for 250+ kids, and I’ve been continuing to do my weekly puppet shows, with Bible lessons and life stories.

And thanks to the Jingle Jog, I'm still handing out lots of fresh fruit each week as well.

It has been a bit of a tough winter for me. I had a  bad bout with bronchitis for 6 ½ weeks! And I have never really regained my energy. So many of you responded to my prayer request and told me to rest. And I have tried to – it’s just hard to do that when you’re here on the mission field and when you have a WILD 3 year old who doesn’t comprehend the meaning of REST! I’m very grateful to all of you for your prayers and encouragement. I am lots better -THANKS!

Marius has also been working very hard lately. He has been helping out at our friend's Christian coffee shop here in J-Bay. Their baby had lots of complications when he was born recently, so since Marius had restaurant experience, he volunteered to step in for a while to help manage the coffee shop while they took care of their new baby son. The couple that owns the coffee shop has been so impressed with Marius's help there, that they have actually offered him the opportunity to be a part owner of the coffee shop. Of course we don't have that kind of money lying around, but we've actually been praying about and considering this.  This couple is also full-time with Global Challenge (the mission's organization we work for here) and they use the coffee shop for all sorts of Christian events - meetings, concerts, Bible Studies, prayer meetings, and then just being a shining light in this community in the sphere of business.

Global Challenge is considering adding a new program to their short-term missions department, in which students who complete their 1 year mission trip would have the opportunity to stay here and continue a discipleship/mentoring relationship at the coffee shop (and a few other businesses) for a 3 month internship where they would learn business principles and learn to balance that with living their life as a light in the community. It’s actually a great opportunity for some of our students who experience amazing things on their year-long journey and need a place to transition back into “normal” life. This shows them that missions is not a trip – it’s a life! Regardless of whether they decide to go on to become doctors or professional football players or pastors – their lives are to live out the mission of loving God and helping others to know HIM too.

While I continue to do my Ithemba and Emi's Closet work, I personally think Marius should do this coffee shop thing. He's very good at the restaurant business, he's good at discipleship, and he can still balance his time to do his training at the beginning of each year as well as take a shortened motorcycle mission trip throughout the year.   We will let you know how as things progress, and if we are able to source the capital it would take to purchase our share - around $25,000. We just want to be where the Lord wants us to be, and doing what the Lord wants us to be doing. 

Thank you so much for your prayers, for your love, and for your encouragement. 

We genuinely appreciate and love you all.

Love,

Jodi, Marius, & Emi

Emi's Closet Part II

Here are some photos from Emi's Closet's Community clothes sale. After the big sale at the mall, we took the one rack of leftover clothes to the community. This year, in an effort to be wiser and safer (thanks again Neal!), we set up after church at a township  church which meets in the Ithemba Family Support Center. It went so well, and people were so happy to be all the clothes at 1/ 2 price of what they were marked. Many happy faces for warm, winter clothes at a great price! 

Thank you again for being a part of the Emi's Closet Project. It is really making a difference in many lives. In my next post, I will include pictures of the cute little kids at Mommy's Day Care who are receiving daily vitamins as a result of this project. Awesome stuff!!!

thanks and blessings!
jodi, marius, and emi

Emi’s Closet Sale -- a HUGE Success!

Wow, I just have to share with you about our recent Kids’ Clothing Sale for Emi’s Closet. So many of you in the States donated clothes and craft supplies, so you just have to know the wonderful end result of your generous donations! Rather than writing a long blog, I will just show you the pictures and explain as I go in the captions. Thank you so so much for being a part of Emi’s Closet – a project created to help orphans and vulnerable children of Southern Africa to thrive!!

This was my living room after unloading 13 suitcases full of clothes to sort, launder, hang, and tag for the sale.

This was a good new friend Krissy from Lakeside, Montana, who came to help for a week in J'Bay. She really helped so much! What a blessing it was for her to be here with us! 

The local mall in Jeffrey's Bay allowed me to set up my Emi's Closet sale in an empty store for FREE! It was an absolutely awesome location.

We had a 2 day SALE - Friday and Saturday of last week

We were able to borrow tables and clothing racks and hangers from generous department stores in the mall, when they heard that all of the profit would benefit the vulnerable kids of our community.

It really looked like a real shop! We made banners and signs.

Everything was very well organized so people could easily find exactly what they needed.

My dear friends Noekie, Hanna, and Nancy helped make it all happen!

Following some good friends advice, I even hired a security guard who was a former college basketball player to be extra safe. (Thanks Neal for my basket plan!) 

We sold some of our cute handmade owls - which I designed and my friend Nancy from Zimbabwe sewed.

.

Everything was nicely displayed in wooden crates made by a man in the mall who let us borrow them.

We really sold a LOT of clothes - R28000 in sales for 2 days. AMAZING, huh?  All of the profit is for the less fortunate kids in our community! We're already starting by providing multi-vitamins for the YEAR to 52 kids -at Mommy's Day Care. We will also be helping them to repair their fence and help with ground cover as a start............ So cool - thanks to all of you who made this possible!!

Out of all of those clothes, this rack was all that was left! Stay tuned to hear what we did with these clothes - - PART II of this blog coming soon...........

THANK YOU SO SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU WHO ARE A PART OF THIS VERY WORTHWHILE PROJECT!

Love,
Jodi & the Deetlefs family

Fresh Fruit, Multi-Vitamin Syrup and Sunshine!

ITHEMBA KIDS SAY THANK YOU  TO  JASPER JINGLE JOG!!!!!!!!!

Fresh Fruit and Multi-vitamin syrup help keep the doctor away! Thanks to our friends in Georgia who ran the Jasper Jingle Jog in December,  we were able to buy enough multi-vitamin syrup for all the Ithemba kiddos for the whole year! AND they will each receive yummy fresh fruit packed with vitamin C every week. This is the only fresh fruit that lots of them receive at all! 

And that is just the beginning. We were also able to significantly help with the Ithemba food budget, and there are funds to still help with other much-needed basics. It really takes people contributing a little amount each to make a HUGE difference!

Jodi teaching the Ithemba kids about what vitamins are and how you get them from sunshine, vitamin syrup, and fresh fruit

Thank you Bonnie, Lisa, and Carrie for having this vision and implementing it, and for all of you runners and walkers who ran to make a difference- we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Love,

Jodi & Marius & Emion behalf of the children of ITHEMBA