Noses to the Grindstone

Well, Jake sure looks like he's taking it easy, but this past week has been one of those weeks where we didn't really do much but work. Even our "time off" was spent doing a lot of work-related things this week. I guess we'll have weeks like that, though.

In the spirit of keeping our noses to the grindstone, we thought we'd share a little bit about the things that we are (and have been) doing at work these days:

Tricia
Tricia has a dual role for the Region, she is the 3D Program Coordinator for the Africa Region and the guest flat manager for our housing complex here in Joburg. The goal of the 3D Program is to discover, develop, and deploy African missionaries, both within Africa and throughout the rest of the world. While this program is further along in some other areas of the world, Tricia is really building it from the ground floor here in Africa. In some ways, it is good that she has just arrived on the mission field, because she remembers her training and can apply the same concepts to those called to missions in Africa.

As guest flat manager, she is responsible for renting and maintaining our guest flats here in Joburg, which serve mainly to house those who are visiting the Africa Regional Office from other countries. Whenever there is a conference, event, etc., Tricia is making sure that our guests feel as much at home as possible.

Jeremy
Jeremy's main responsibility is serving as the Special Assistant to the Finance Coordinator, but he seems to get his hands in a little bit of everything from time to time. Right now, he is working on getting the pension and medical programs sorted out for the employees of the Church of the Nazarene in Africa, assisting in the monthly allocation process (accounting of the movement of money on the region), and a variety of other projects that have been on the back burner while more pressing issues have taken people's time. His main job is to take care of those pesky "business issues" that the Finance Coordinator just can't afford to spend time on while working on improving our accounting system.

However, Jeremy has also helped around the office in a number of different areas, everything from remodeling to real estate, and from moving furniture to selling cars. The good thing is that there is always something to do, so he is never bored!

Jake's Quote of the Week

"Dear Jesus, please send us strawberries and jelly beans and gummy worms and marshmallows and some… lots and lots of candy. Amen."

(He is definitely his mother's child!)

Praises and Prayer Requests

This week, we were reminded of God's grace as we celebrated six months in South Africa. We still kind of laugh to ourselves that God would have us being missionaries. We know that it is nothing within us that allows us to be here, it is all him. We look to the future confidently, knowing that he will take just as good of care of us as he has so far.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- The Cyr family, as they are traveling to their new assignment in Miami
-- The Mthombeni family (one of Jeremy's coworkers), who have lost four family members within the last month, including one in a car accident on the way home from one of the funerals.
-- The Miller family (missionaries to Ethiopia), as they are currently in Joburg attending to health problems.

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake