While this morning's snapshot of Karen looks like she's going on a trip, she's not. However, the stuffed duffel bag is going all the way to South Africa.
This story goes back twenty-three years from when Holger & Maria came through apprenticeship at MMS Aviation. They've served in South Africa ever since and are now focused on youth outreach in a in town and in nearby remote villages. Maria is a gifted potter and Holger, besides being a top-rated missionary aircraft mechanic, is also a very skilled artist in wood. Along with their musical skills, Holger and Maria use their artistic abilities and their love of Jesus to create transformational opportunities for youth in need. And one of the needs for the young ladies are quality sewn dresses. That's where Karen comes in.
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We've posted about Karen's sewing ministry before but this is the largest shipment of dresses yet. When Karen talked with Maria earlier in the year Maria was so excited and shared what a blessing new dresses would be for the girls. The challenge is how to get dresses from Graham, NC to Holger and Maria in South Africa when there isn't any reliable mail service between here and there. When there's no mail, missionaries usually rely on visitors coming over to personally deliver the goods in person, quite often as luggage. Hmm...who do we know with connections in South Africa?
The next part of the story goes back ten years when we arrived in North Carolina. I leased an office downtown and my "neighbor" in the office next door turned out to be a young man, Jensen, dating a young woman from South Africa, Mtende. Fast forward, Jensen and Mtende are now married and, even though we no longer share office space, we've remained in touch as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Every couple of years Jensen and Mtende return to South Africa for Christmas.
We had a duffle bag full of dresses that needed to get carried to South Africa and weren't sure how to get it there when God connected relational Kingdom dots (from 2013 and 1997 to today) as we connected Jensen and Mtende with Holger and Maria. Ta Da! The dresses are on their way to South Africa.
What a crazy story. You can't make this stuff up. We'll post photos of the girls with the dresses after they've been distributed. THANK YOU you for being part of this story and we praise God for how He connects his people to accomplish his purposes in ways only He can do.
With me a surfer from Southern California and Karen a nurse from Pennsylvania. Go figure!
15 comments:
We are so so excited to received those amazing dresses and to be able to give them to girls who come from extremely poor back rounds. Summer is here and Karen’s dresses just in time. Thank you Karen and Keith for your love and friendship and that you deeply care.
You guys are so special to us. What a pleasure and a blessing for God to have woven our lives together with yours so many years ago as friends and co-laborers for Christ!
Awesome
Awesome, indeed. Thanks for your being part of it all.
That’s amazing!!!
Wow. There's nothing God can't do. This is truly a God thing. Jackie Balderston
It truly is, Jackie. Cool huh? Thanks for being part of this story!
God has blessed you and all those girls who will.recieve new dresses
Karen and have been, and continue to be, blessed beyond belief. Thanks for joining us on this journey!
Such a great God story!! Thanks for sharing and for all the two of you do to share God’s love!!
Don't ya love it when all the puzzle pieces come together? 😊
Providence! You go God!
Thanks for being part of this process, Rosie!
How wonderful to read these blogs and to see what God is doing in and through you both. We love you and are praying for God to richly bless you and all those that you come in contact with,
Jana
Thanks for reminding us of the full story about the dresses-to-Africa venture. What an exciting experience, for all involved and especially for those precious girls who received the dresses. And how like our Father to work it all out, in perfect detail! Karen, the dresses are beautiful, and so are the expressions of the girls wearing them. Mom B.
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