An Upcoming Birthday!

Well, Jake’s 4th birthday is coming up on June 6th, it’s hard to believe that these four years have gone by so fast. It is another time for us to reflect on how much God has blessed us to have this special little boy in our lives. It’s also a time for… Jake to get presents! This year, Jake decided that what he really wanted was a couple of goldfish. So, we decided to go ahead and take a trip to the pet shop this week because… well, because we just can’t wait for exciting things like that. So now we have two little goldfish, Tigger and Adarby (we have no idea where that one came from). Jake loves to sit and watch them, and especially loves to feed them. Looks like it was a success!

This past weekend, we have had two Point Loma Nazarene University students staying with us as part of a cultural anthropology class that they are taking (how come I never took any classes like that?). It has been a lot of fun getting to know them and some of the other members of the group. Jeremy even had three of them playing basketball with him on Sunday! We really enjoy when teams come through here and we can get to know people from all over the world.

Also this weekend, we took seven of the babies from the baby home to a park to play. They had a great time being out and about and getting out of the orphanage for a little while. A few of them even fell asleep on the ten minute ride back, they had played so hard!

Jake’s Quote of the Week

Jake: “Mom, something is telling me that I should have some more fruit snacks.”
Tricia: “What is telling you that?”
Jake: “My voice is.”

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise God for giving us another year with Jake. He is the best thing that has ever happened to us!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- The safety of the Point Loma group as they travel around South Africa for the next two weeks and then back home.
-- Jeremy’s transition to his new job next month.
-- Our family’s health during the winter months.
-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Time for an Update

We’re sure that most of you are thinking, “About time…”, and you’re right. It’s been two and a half weeks since our last blog entry, and there is some important news to share. However, before we do, take a look at Jake’s most recent masterpiece that he drew on his chalkboard. He got some new chalk, so it inspired him to write his name and draw a self-portrait. Not bad for a three-year-old, eh? :)

So, now to the news… first of all, Jeremy has gotten a new job! Starting on June 11th, he will be taking the position of Communications Coordinator for the Africa Region. It’s quite a bit more responsibility, as he will be coordinating the video, radio, internet and written communication for the Region, as well of thinking of new ways to tell the story of the Africa Region and work to better connect the African church with the rest of the global church. Jeremy is excited for the challenge and the opportunity!

Second, we got a little taste of home this past weekend when we had a telephone call with our home church! It was great to be able to share a little bit about what we are doing in Africa and to get to hear our pastor’s voice, as well as the voices of a few other congregation members! Jake sang a song and said a Bible verse for them, and everyone seemed to enjoy that. Unfortunately, we were on the call from our computer and the African internet was not cooperating too well, so it was hard to understand parts of the call. But at least we got to hear from them, and that was nice!

Finally, we want to wish a belated Happy Mothers’ Day to all of the mothers that follow along on our blog. Hope you had a very special day!

Jake’s Quote of the Week

“Dear Jesus, thank you for our lovely pizza and our lovely servillettes and please let it stay smelling “pizzaly” in our car, because we like it when it smells like pizza in our car. Amen.”

(It’s those little blessings that God bestows on us… like “pizzaly” cars.)

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise God that he was looking after one of our friends, little eight-week-old Jonathan Kanenungo, as he underwent emergency surgery to fix an artery that had not closed properly after his birth (Jonathan’s parents, Naila and Simba, work at the Africa Regional Office). Jonathan came through the surgery very well and is now recovering.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Jonathan's continued recovery

-- Jeremy's preparation for his new job

-- Our family's health this winter

-- God's blessing upon our ministry here in Africa

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Winter on the Way

Well, now that we have entered May, we are reminded that winter is on the way. This past weekend has been VERY cold (for autumn in Joburg), with highs in the low 50s and very windy, and the temperatures at night getting into the low 40s. This forced us to get the space heaters out, since houses in South Africa do not have central heating. Today is much warmer, but we are hearing that a cold winter is on the way. Luckily, winters here don't last too long!

Last week, Jeremy finished teaching his first class at Nazarene Theological College, and it was a success! He taught church administration and basic budgeting to our future pastors that are going through the program there. Jeremy still has finals and course projects to grade, but he enjoyed it well enough to do it again when the college needs him!

We have had a few days to relax in the past week, as we celebrated Freedom Day and Laborer's Day here in South Africa. Freedom Day commemorates the birth of the "new" South Africa, when free democratic elections were held for the first time in this country on April 27, 1994. Laborer's Day is essentially the same as our Labor Day, and is celebrated today, May 1st. The time of relaxation has been nice!

Jake's Quote of the Week

“I really miss my cousins. I’m going to be sad for forty days and forty nights, because I really miss them.”

(We recently got some pictures of his cousins, so he is remembering them and has been talking about them a lot lately.)

Praises and Prayer Requests

It has been a good few weeks, and we are really thankful for that. Jake has battled with the change of the seasons and sickness, but nothing too major. We also praise God because the first test in the series of tests that Lindiwe has to go through turned out to be negative for the illness she was feared to have.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Lindiwe's continued testing

-- Jake, as he fights off a cold

-- That Jeremy and Tricia can manage to stay healthy as the season changes

-- God's blessing on our work here in the Africa Regional Office

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Happy (Belated) Easter!

Jake taking a pony ride at the Easter egg hunt at one of the big shopping centers












Jake with his basket on Easter morning













Jake and our friend Lindiwe, getting ready to do their own Easter egg hunt at our house












Jake with his Easter present, a magnifying glass













Jake and Lindiwe eating the candy they found

Giant Crickets, Lizards and Toes...Oh My!

Well, the biggest news by far this week is that Jake prayed for Jesus to take all of the sin out of his heart and for him to live there forever instead! He came up with this completely on his own (well, at least as far as the decision goes), so Daddy prayed with him and Jesus now lives in Jake's little heart! We are so proud of him!

The picture this week is Jake having an encounter with one of our "neighbors", one of the small lizards that find their way into our house from time to time. Daddy and Jake found this one on Saturday, and kindly showed it out of the house. We don't mind having them around though, as there are far fewer mosquitoes around here thanks to the little guys (and the altitude).

As for the giant crickets, our dog Jozi makes sure that none of those make it into the house. Her mission every night is to seek out, torture, and half-eat the three to four inch long crickets (the specific variety most often found in Joburg is called the "Parktown Prawn"). Jozi can be seen most night digging through the grass, jumping around, and flipping the crickets through the air. To see what Parktown Prawns look like, click here: http://home.intekom.com/intekom/parktown_prawns/

In other news, we had a minor scare this week when we thought Jake broke his big toe while clowning around with Daddy. After a trip to the doctor for x-rays (it was all swollen and purple the next morning), turns out it was only sprained. He's walking around fine on it now, so I guess it's true what they say, kids really are made out of rubber!

Jake's Quote of the Week

“No, my name is not Jacob, my name is Jake Africa Johnson. No, my name is Jake Africa Spirit Johnson, like the Spirit of the Lord God.”

(Seriously, where did this kid come from?!)

Praises & Prayer Requests

Of course, our big praise for the week is Jake's acceptance of Jesus into his life! We are happy that Jake can start on his Christian walk at an early age and that all of the prayers, Bible stories, etc. have paid off! Please pray for Jake as he starts on this lifelong journey.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Tricia's sister's family, as they have recently had a traumatic experience that the whole family is dealing with

-- Jeremy, as he prepares to teach at NTC next month
-- Tricia, as she will be the only present member of the Missionary Personnel department her in Africa while the Cramers are on home assignment for the next 7 weeks

-- The upcoming worldwide Nazarene theology conference in Amsterdam during the first week of April
-- Lindiwe, the little girl that we play with at the orphanage, as she undergoes tests next week for a life-threatening illness
-- Unspoken requests

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

New Experiences

Over the past couple of weeks, we have had some new experiences, which we are glad to have, after being in Africa for over a year now. Sometimes, working in the regional office can feel like it gets a bit dull, since you are not in typical "mission work". There is not much front-line ministry that we do, other than what we find to do on our own.

Last Saturday, we attended the graduation ceremony at Nazarene Theological College here in Johannesburg. Since we go to the church located on the college campus, we have gotten to know many of the students, and it was nice to see them graduate. Now we will have friends pastoring in local churches in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, with another friend that wants to teach at the college in Mozambique once he finishes more schooling. The picture this week is Jeremy and Jake standing with our friend from Mozambique, Arcenio Manjate. He has had a very interesting and difficult journey to graduating from NTC (where he took classes in English, his 4th best language), so it was especially meaningful to see him graduate. Jeremy will be teaching an Administration and Accounts class at the college next month, so we are getting more and more involved with the college as time goes by, which is nice. In 10 or 15 years, the students we knew from NTC will likely be our pastors and district superintendents throughout Africa, so it's very nice to start those relationships now.

The following day (last Sunday), Jeremy preached his first sermon in Africa. It was also just the seventh morning sermon at the newly formed Africa Trinity Church of the Nazarene, which made it a double honor for Jeremy. Like a good Nazarene preacher, Jeremy preached on holiness, and the Gauteng district superintendent and many others that had attended the graduation were also there. It was definitely a different experience than preaching in the US, or even preaching to a Spanish-speaking congregation, as there are some interesting nuances to being a guest preacher in Africa. However, all went well, and it ended up being a nice service!

Jake's Quote of the Week

"I'm a funky man." (while dancing his way across the living room)

["Funky" is not a word we use a lot in the Johnson house, and neither of his parents are known for their dancing prowess, so we really have no idea where Jake got this. Please keep this on the down low and do not report Jake to World Mission, we want to keep him here with us in Africa. :) ]

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise God this week for new opportunities to minister to others in his name. He has really blessed us to be able to experience so much just in this short time that we have been in Africa.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Jeremy, as he prepares to teach at NTC next month

-- Tricia, as she will be the only present member of the Missionary Personnel department her in Africa while the Cramers are on home assignment for the next 8 weeks

-- David & Patti Cramer and Linda Braaten as they travel around the US for the next few months on home assignment

-- The upcoming worldwide Nazarene theology conference in Amsterdam during the first week of April

-- Lindiwe, the little girl that we play with at the orphanage, as she undergoes tests next week for a life-threatening illness

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Touchdown, Kan-sas City!

The picture you see here is Daddy and Jake playing tackle football in the common area of our townhouse complex. Over the past year, Jake has decided that he is a big Kansas City Chiefs fan (just like Daddy, coincidentally), and he wears Chiefs t-shirts, likes to play tackle football, loves anything with the Chiefs logo on it, and randomly yells things like, "Go Chiefs!" and recently "Touchdown, Kan-sas City!" (for those of your not familiar with Chiefs football, that is the Chiefs' radio announcer's signature phrase). Anyway, he is a Chief-aholic, so any LINKS churches that wonder what Jake would like, anything to do with the Chiefs would be a safe bet. :)

We missed writing last week because we were at a spiritual retreat for missionaries working in the Africa Regional Office. It was a nice time to take a step back from the pace and pressures of the office and just to refocus on why we are here and what God wants to do in our lives. The place we went to was a remote, peaceful location in the Drakensburg mountains, about a 5 hour drive from Johannesburg. It was a nice little break to do not much else but spend time in prayer and reflection on the Lord.

Work has been busy, but good. We both have felt like we have actually been accomplishing some things lately, which is always nice encouragement to keep going! Jake has been doing well in school, although we are looking for a different school right now, as the one we have him in is just not meeting his needs. On the home front, things are good and we cannot believe that in less than 3 months we will have a 4 year old in our midst! On that note...

Jake's Quote of the Week

"I am the king of nothing!"

(Jake had been running around earlier in the day saying, "I am the King of Peace", which he had heard at school. Mommy corrected him in the ensuing theological discussion, and you can see how it went.)

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise God that he brought us closer to him this past week at the retreat. It was more fun and more beneficial than we expected it would be, and we didn't find ourselves as far behind as we had feared when we returned to the office.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Lindiwe, the little girl that we play with at the orphanage, as she undergoes tests in a couple of weeks for a life-threatening illness

-- The search for a new school for Jake

--Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Our Church

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago that our church was in the process of changing from a preaching point to be a full-fledged church. It's something that we are really excited to be a part of, and a way that we feel that we can minister in the community, as opposed to our work in the Regional Office, where we are more in "support" ministry and less involved on the "front lines.

The picture you see is of our co-pastors, Madela and Meshack (they are twins). They will be sharing responsibilities, as there is huge potential for outreach with many informal settlements (a.k.a. squatter camps) near the college campus. Right now, there are about a dozen or so adults from the community that come regularly, in addition to about 30-40 kids. Then there are about ten missionaries (including kids), and probably around 15-20 students from the college. We really feel like there is a good core to build from and a lot of people that can and will get involved in active ministry. We are really excited for the potential!

Pastor Madela has asked Jeremy to meet with him tomorrow night to help prepare him to be a pastor from an administrative standpoint. It's really nice for him to feel like he can use his skills in ways other than just the Finance office!

Jakes' Quote of the Week

"You think I'm awesome because I have my shirt off, don't 'cha?"

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise God for the opportunity that we have to really make a difference in establishing a church. We are all very excited to be a part of it!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Jeremy's meeting with Pastor Madela

-- Our upcoming missionary retreat (this weekend), that it would be a time of refreshment and spiritual growth

-- Today's closing of the General Board meetings in KC and sending service for, among others, our missionary friends from Guatemala, the Armstrongs

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Visitors!

Tricia's best friend Amber and her husband Luke flew in from Kansas City to visit us for the last two weeks, so we ended up being too busy showing them all around South Africa to post to the blog last week. We had a wonderful time in Johannesberg, Pilanesberg, and Cape Town while they were here. So now that they flew out this evening, we find ourselves left with the memories of their visit (cue sappy music)...


Jake welcoming Amber to South Africa














Amber and Luke hanging out with some of the "locals"













The Johnson family at Boulders Bay (yes, those are penguins in the background)













The best friends at Cape Point












Jake's Quote of the Week

"Dear Jesus, thank you for our bread, our vegetables and our chicken, and I don’t have any ketchup. Amen."

(Such a subtle little boy...)

Praises and Prayer Requests

Well, we really want to praise God for the time that we had with Amber and Luke, and especially the time that Amber and Tricia got to spend together. This past year has been the longest that Tricia and Amber have been apart in the last 20 years, so it has been hard on both of them. We are very thankful that they were able to make the 9,000 mile trip to see us.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Amber & Luke's travel back to the U.S.
-- The floods currently affecting Mozambique
-- General Board meetings in Kansas City
-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Pizza Party!

This week was capped off by us teaching children's church at our church this morning. We had 32 kids and were able to treat them to a pizza party due to the generosity of a few donors that sent the funds for this to take place. The kids were able to sing and dance along to one of Jake's worship DVDs (which they loved), and also watched a Veggie Tales movie. A good time was had by all!

This coming week, Jeremy will be taking part in an audit of Financial Services by an outside accounting firm. The results of this audit will be used by Jeremy and the rest of the department to rewrite procedures, form a policy manual, and then make sure that they pass the "real" audit later this year. Exciting, huh?! :)

Next Sunday, Tricia's best friend Amber and her husband Luke will be coming to visit us for two weeks. We are all really looking forward to that! Hopefully we'll be able to write again next Sunday, but we can't guarantee anything, as it will be a busy day. We'll write soon though!

Jake's Quote of the Week

Mommy: “You’ll always be mommy’s baby.”
Jake: “Mommy, how about I always be your cool dude now?”

(We think he skipped straight from two to his teenage years)

Praises and Prayer Requests

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Our church becomes and actual church (right now, it is considered a "preaching point") on Feb. 4th. Please pray that the move to an actual church allows us to minister the community to a greater degree.
-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Back to School

Jake and his friend Benolo from the children's home at which we volunteer. Benolo is three, just like Jake, even though she looks a lot smaller.










Jake and some of his friends from our complex, Jordan and Sky. They are 6 and 7, but Jake follows them around everywhere.

Jake is back to school now, and unlike the beginning of last year, he really looks forward to going every day. He is in the "Doves" class this year, which is two years prior to "Grade Naught" (what they call kindergarten here). This year, they begin teaching the kids more intensely, doing more letters, numbers, etc., and having actual classroom time for a little bit each day. He loves it, and it's great, since there's a shortage of kids his age around our complex, it's a good place for him to make friends as well.

Well, other than that, it has been pretty normal around here. Jeremy is working on a lot of different projects in the Finance department, and Tricia is trying to figure out what her "new direction" means in a practical sense. Just another day at the office!

Jake's Quote of the Week

"Dear God, thank you for your hand. I would like to play in your hand and have lots of fun in your hand. I would even like to slide in your hand, just like Jesus. Amen."

Praises and Prayer Requests

It's hard to go through a day not feeling blessed for everything that has worked together to bring us to where we are. We have also recently been astounded by the love that has been shown to us throughout this holiday season in the form of cards, packages, e-mails, etc. We never knew that so many people were praying and caring for us! Thank you, everyone!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Tricia's second cousin, Eric Carlson, is battling a heart condition and is trying to recover from his latest surgery.

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

More Friends Visit...

Well, so far, so good for 2007! The year started off with a bang here in South Africa, with the Third Wave conference for youth leaders. Leaders from 55 different countries and 2 general superintendents were here at the Good News Conference Center for a week of seminars, networking, etc. From what we hear (we only stopped by a couple of times), it was a very good experience and everyone learned a lot. Our highlight of the conference (since we weren't really participants) was getting to see friends that we hadn't seen in a while. We saw a lot of friends that we hadn't seen in a while, including our missionary friend, David Webb!

We went through our missionary intern training with the Webb family in the fall of 2005, and now they are serving in Costa Rica, where David and Shelley are in charge of evangelism and youth for the MAC South (southern part of the Mexico and Central America Region). We, of course, got to know the Webbs very well during our internship and were glad to get the chance to see our dear friend David while he was here (that's him in the picture)!

In work news, Tricia had an exciting week, as she met with Marty Hoskins, the Director of World Mission Mobilization, who was here for the Third Wave Conference. Part of Marty's responsbilities includes overseeing the various 3D programs around the world. So during his visit here, Marty gave Tricia a new direction for her assignment. Now, she is essentially going to be trying to raise awareness of missions on the Africa Region by promoting what Africans are doing in missions. Programs that are "handed down" usually prove to be short-lived and do not make much impact. On other regions, this new approach has worked to create more of a sense of ownership within the region, and the results have been better.

Jake's Quote of the Week

“Dear Jesus, I love you very much and I need you to do everything that I want you to do. Amen.”

Praises and Prayer Requests

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

--The Webb family, as they adjust to their new envrionment in Costa Rica

--Tricia, as she learns her "new" assignment

--Jake, as he gets back to preschool

--Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Happy New Year!

Well, 2006 was quite a year! It was one year ago on the 5th that we arrived here in South Africa, and even though it seems like a long time ago, at the same time we still feel like newbies in some ways. We would say that now we are comfortable living in our new environment, that things feel more like "home" than they ever have, but in a lot of ways, still foreign as well. Yeah, that doesn't make much sense, but I guess it's kind of hard to describe in a lot of ways.

Of course, the one year mark also means that we are one third of the way through our internship. In a little under two years, we will be headed back to the US for our first "home assignment", which will be comprised of seeing family and friends, traveling to and speaking at churches all around the country, and also interviewing with the General Board of the Church of the Nazarene for consideration to be Global Missionaries (right now we are considered missionary interns). That will be an exciting and hectic time, but one we are looking forward to as well. After one year, we definitely can't wait to see our family and friends again. Just a side note, we are already trying to schedule deputation services for Jan 2009 - April 2009. If you would like to have us speak at your church during that time, please contact us and we will let you know when we will be in your neck of the woods.

The holidays have provided a nice time of rest for all of us. We didn't realize how tired we all were until we stopped to take a rest. Tricia and Jake ended up getting sick once they stopped moving for a while, but it was just the flu and only lasted for a few days. Jeremy is already back to work at the Regional Office, and Jake starts back to school this next week, which will allow Tricia to get back to work as well. We look forward to moving forward in our ministries in 2007!

By the way, the picture above is Jake at Gold Reef City, an amusement park here in Johannesburg. He and Tricia went with a missionary family from Zambia that came to stay in South Africa for the holidays. He had a blast! More pictures from Christmas, etc. later this week.

Jake's Quote of the Week

"Dear Jesus, thank you for my chicken and my yogurt. And thank you for my fork that picks up my chicken and my spoon that can scoop up my yogurt and thank you for this mouth that can open and eat my food. Amen."

Praises and Prayer Requests

We praise for giving us the strength to make it through our first year on the mission field. It hasn't been easy, but he has provided for our needs and carried us through. We are nothing without him! We also praise God for all of the support that you all lprovide to us in so many ways. We wouldn't be here without you either!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Tricia and Jake's continued recovery from their flu bugs

-- A safe and productive year for us here in South Africa

-- The Third Wave (NYI) Conference currently taking place in South Africa

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Merry Christmas!

Here's a sampling of our pictures from our first Christmas in Africa:

Jake with a new game!



A Lego helicopter and ambulance!



Play-Doh!


His first bike!


Lindiwe, a baby from the children's home we volunteer at, modeling her new outfit and shoes that she received while celebrating Christmas with us!

More later....

Jeremy, Tricia and Jake

It's Not Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

It has been so strange for us to prepare for Christmas when it feels like summer. We have procrastinated on buying gifts and decorating because it just doesn’t feel right. It is funny to be singing Christmas carols about the snow when most people here have never seen snow. So the song “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” will just continue to be a dream for the people of Johannesburg, South Africa.

For the last few weeks we have enjoyed the company of Jeremy’s friends Nate and Roy (from high school). It was a lot of fun to have them here. It feels like we aren’t so far from home when we have visitors from the States. Jake really had a hard time seeing them go and asked if they could come back to stay with us again. His “uncles” spoiled him rotten while they were here. But with Christmas right around the corner we were able to get him to stop being so sad that they were gone and to focus on Christmas.

Sometimes, we think Jake understands the meaning of Christmas, but then he surprises us by adding his own twists to the story. He says things like, “God sent his Son, Jesus, to the earth so that He could love us, and then after that he had a Christmas party and ate fruitcake”. And then there was the other night, when Jake said, “But I don’t want Jesus to take my sins away, I want to keep them.” Obviously, we still have some work to do…

We wanted to thank all of you who have sent us card or packages. It is really hard to explain how much it means to us to know that we aren’t forgotten. Plus, getting fat on all of the goodies makes it easier to come up with a New Year’s resolution! :) But really, thank you so much, all of you. We hope all of our blog readers have a very merry Christmas and may God bless you!

Jake's Quote of the Week

November 2006: “I want to be a Chiefs football player when I get bigger.”

December 2006: “I want to be a pee-wee golf player when I get bigger.”

This change happened after going to a huge miniature golf course with Daddy, Mommy, and his uncles (pictured above). We tried to explain the financial ramifications to him, but he insists that he only plays for the love of the game. By the way, "pee-wee golf" seems to be a Chicago-area (Tricia) term for what the rest of the world (Jeremy) calls miniature golf or putt-putt.

Praises and Prayer Requests

Well, it's Christmas time, so we'll let you fill in the blank on the praise side of things. What greater reason could there be?

As far as the prayer requests go, please remember the following needs this week:

-- Our adjustment to a warm, sunny Christmas without our family

-- Safe travels for all of those traveling during the holiday season

-- Unspoken request

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Jake's "Uncles" are Here!

We have been on "holiday" since December 1st, when Jake's "Uncle Nate" (one of Jeremy's high school buddies) arrived from the US. Then on the 8th, Jake's "Uncle Roy" (another of Jeremy's high school buddies) arrived as well. Needless to say, Jake has been spoiled with all kinds of attention, candy, and mischief for over a week now... and he is loving it!

It has been a good time of getting reacquainted with friends and catching up on what has happened in the last year. We have done most of the typical Johannesburg touristy stuff, and now Nate and Roy are in Cape Town for a couple of days to take in the sights in one of the most beautiful areas on Earth. We will see them back here on Wednesday, and then they will spend a few more days in Joburg before leaving for the US on Friday.

It has been nice to take some time off and see some friends before the holidays. Christmas will be a bit strange this year, both for the fact that we won't be with our families and also that it will be about the hottest time of the year here in Joburg! Celebrating Christmas in temperatures in the mid-to-high 80's will be a new experience for us!

Jake's Quote of the Week

Jake's Sunday School teacher: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Jake: "I want to be four.”

Praises and Prayer Requests

We thank God for our friends and the joy that a visit brings. We also thank God for all of our friends and family that may not be able to visit, but support us in so many other ways. We love you all!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Our family during this first Christmas away from home

-- Our safety during this time of increased crime rates in South Africa

-- Those travelling for the holidays

-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Just a Bunch of Turkeys

We are constantly amazed that God would ever call a bunch of turkeys like us to be missionaries. And as we have reflected back on this year in a spirit of thankfulness this past week, we realize just how small we all are compared to Him. We are living testaments to the fact that he can take ordinary people and give them the ability to do something for Him.

We have so much to be thankful for, even though sometimes we might lose sight of that during the tougher times of being missionaries. Too often we find ourselves saying, "Why me, God?!" instead of "Thank you, God." It's cliche, but only because it's true, that God has been faithful. He is the one constant when the storms of life seem to have waves crashing down upon us. Even though those waves hit us and we might feel like we are going under, he has always pulled us through at the exact minute that we needed it.

So, as you can probably tell, this week was a "learning" week for us. During the week of the year set aside for thankfulness, we found ourselves feeling like everything that could go wrong was going wrong. First, we took our car back to the shop, as it has not been running correctly since the last breakdown. After some tests, the shop came back saying that we need to have some pistons replaced, which will cost approximately $2,700. Yikes. Then, the following day, Jake started to get these little red bumps all over him... yep, chicken pox. Those two things, combined with other small annoyances, started to make us question God a bit. Why would he bring us all this way to have all these "issues" in our first year?

However, reflecting on everything that God has done for us in getting us ready to go and then here in South Africa, we realize that those things that are crises at the moment seem to pale in comparison with the wonders he has worked in our lives during the last year and a half. So many things falling into place, so many doors opening, etc. It has just been undeniable that he has been at work. Plus, in the grand scheme of things, which is what God directs, our problems are minimal. Sure, a sick kid is no fun, but in two weeks time, chicken pox will be a distant memory. Sure, we don't have $2,700, but our car is still driveable for the time being and we know that God working out the details of us getting here makes this problem seem small. We are truly blessed to have a God like this on our side, and our insignificant contribution is to try to help Africa get to know this God. A small price to pay for what he has done.

Jake's Quote of the Week

“Hey Mom, sharp things are very sharp, eh?”

(See, that preschool is paying off already!)

Praises & Prayer Requests

Well, this section seems kind of irrelevant, considering the rest of the post, but for those of you who prefer lists to prose:

-- Jake's health as he battles chicken pox
-- That God would lead us in the right direction on what to do with this car, and how to pay for it.

Thank you for your prayers!

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Happy Thanksgiving (next week) !!!

We're not sure if we will have another post before Thanksgiving or not, so we thought we'd go ahead and say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you back at home! We are going to spend our first Thanksgiving in our lives working! Then after work, some of our missionary friends are having us over for a Thanksgiving dinner, which will be nice.

Life has been good here... uneventful for the most part, but good. Jeremy just completed a big project at work this week, one of those that really makes you feel like "this is the reason I am here". Tricia is still making good progress on her programs, and more and more applications for missionary service are coming in from all over Africa on a daily basis.

Jake is growing up so fast that it's scary sometimes. He has really been working on his letters and can identify every letter of the alphabet and spell his name verbally. We are now working on writing his name as well as writing the alphabet. He is doing a great job and learning very quickly.

As the holidays approach, we have had several questions about how to send packages, so we thought we would answer the question on here. The best way to send packages is by the Post Office, using their Global Priority service. they have letter-sized envelopes that you can put anything in, and then we think you can also send large padded envelopes and packages this way. We have received the letter envelopes and the padded envelopes very quickly... boxes seem to take much more time. So when you send whatever it is you send, here is the address:

Jeremy Johnson
Church of the Nazarene
PO Box 44
Florida 1710
Republic of South Africa

Alternatively, because postage is SO expensive and can take a lot of time, you may send money to Nazarene Headquarters in Kansas City at the following address:

Global Treasury Services
Church of the Nazarene
6401 The Paseo
Kansas City, MO 64133

Make the checks payable to General Treasurer with the notes field of your check saying, "Jeremy Johnson Family Christmas". You might also want to include a short note with an explanation that we are missionaries and this is Christmas money, just to be sure.

In any case, we are humbled and thankful even for the thoughts that you or your churches would be sending us something at Christmas time. It feels very nice just to know that we are on people's minds and they are praying for us, as well as caring enough to send gifts. "Thank you" just doesn't seem to express our feelings of gratitude. May God bless you.

Jake's Quote of the Week

“I may never march in the infurry, ride to the Calvary, shoot the Camry, I may never fly into January, but I am the Lord of me, yes Sir!”

Praises & Prayer Requests

Thank you for all of the cards, encouraging e-mails, and packages that we have received recently. We praise God that we have such a great support network of people back home that can makes us feel so loved and appreciated!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Jake has had a bit of an allergy flare-up this last week, the first since his tubes were put in. Please pray for his health
-- For strength to make it through our first holiday season away from family and friends. It won't be the same, but we know that we are part of a bigger family that we will be celebrating with here.
-- Unspoken request

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

We Don't Have a Good Excuse...

... so we won't try to come up with a bad one. Busy times, internet down for almost a week, you know the story. But anyway, we are back now and ready with an update:

Since we last posted, some cool things have happened. One of those things is that one of Jeremy's friends is coming out next month for a couple of weeks, which should be a fun time. We haven't had any "just for fun" visitors since April, so that will be a welcome diversion. Also, our fellow missionary friend, David Webb from Guatemala / Costa Rica will be coming to an event in Africa in January. We went through our training in KC with the Webbs last year, so we are very excited to at least get to see David again!

As far as what we've been up to these past couple of weeks, Jeremy found out this week that he will have the opportunity this coming April to add another facet to his ministry in that he has been offered a teaching role at Nazarene Theological College here in Joburg. Pending his boss's approval, he will be teaching a two-week intensive course called "Administration and Accounts". He is really excited for the opportunity, as he has always wanted to teach at the college level. Looks like that master's degree is paying off in more ways than one!

Tricia has been working for the past couple of weeks on planning a program that resembles Work & Witness in the United States. This one, however, will be Africans traveling to other places in Africa to get involved in short-term missions. Few people realize how many career missionaries felt or confirmed their call on a short-term missions trip. Thus, this program will help Africa, yet it will fit in nicely with Tricia's 3D program. Also, in other Tricia news, she has gone to an allergist, who put her on a strict diet in order to see if any of the foods she is eating are causing her severe allergies. She is limited to chicken, grass and tree bark for her foods. Only kidding, but it is a very strict diet that she has to suffer through until December 1st, when they can start slowly adding foods back in. Hopefully this will help!

Jake is still Jake. These past few weeks, we have accumulated a collection of quotes that will probably keep us until mid 2007. There have been many times lately where Mommy and Daddy have had to hide their faces or bite their tongues (literally!) in order not to embarrass Jake. Man, who knows what this kid will say next?! Not us. :) Other than spouting wisdom, Jake has been keeping to his routine of school, gymnastics and mischief quite well!

Jake's Quote of the Week

"Dear Jesus, I love you very much and I want you to jump in my heart and make some sense..."

(Well, this is not exactly the "Roman Road", but I think God knows what Jake means.)

Praises & Prayer Requests

We praise God that he has brought us safely and successfully through our first 10 months on the mission field. We are just now starting to feel like we are getting the hang of things and that things in our ministries are starting to pick up steam. We praise God that he is big enough to made us succeed where we never knew we could!

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- That the source(s) of Tricia's allergies would be discovered so that we can deal with them better.

-- That we would continue to make progress in our ministries

-- That God would begin preparing Jeremy to teach the class at NTC next year

-- For safe travels for our friends coming to visit

-- For the Garey Miller family, former Kokomo First Church pastor and current Iowa District Superintendent

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake

Is This Thing Working?

I'll bet that's what some of you thought as we have strayed a bit from our weekly updates.
Looks like we're at about a week and a half on this one, so I suppose it's time to give another update.

We received a huge blessing this week when a family friend informed us that they were making a very generous donation toward the repairs on our car! Thanks to those who were praying with us through these past few days and a very special thanks to our friend! God always has it under control, even when we feel like the ride is getting a little too bumpy for our comfort, doesn't he?

This weekend we also took Jake to the Ushaka Aquarium, which is where these pictures are from. He had a blast and we ended up definitely getting our money's worth, as we went through it four times that day! Funny little story from the outing:

Jake and Daddy were looking at the jellyfish when a worker that Jake had spoken to earlier walked up for another round of the talkative little American. She asks him if he likes the jellyfish and he replies that he does, and that sea turtles eat jellyfish, but they don't eat trash, because that makes them sick (Jake learned this while playing the Tuga the Sea Turtle game on www.nickjr.com). The lady's eyes got big and she sort of laughed, called him a "clever boy" and then walked away.

About 15 minutes later, we went to the sea turtle tank to watch the feeding, and who was the narrator, but Jake's new friend. While she was giving her little sea turtle speech as the diver was feeding the turtles, she explained that one of a sea turtle's most common foods is jellyfish. Of course, she also explained to the kids the importance of not littering, as sea turtles often mistake discarded plastic bags for jellyfish, then eat them and get very sick from it. While she was giving this part of her speech, she looked at Jake with a huge smile and winked a him. Our little genius... :)

Well, what other detail about our week could really top those two? Probably nothing, so I'd better end it on a high note!

Jake's Quote of the Week

"Dear Jesus, thank you for Daddy, because he is my son..."

(must...not...tell...redneck...joke...)

Praises and Prayer Requests

Well, in addition to the answer to prayer of the donation we received, we also are happy to report another healthy week! In fact, it has been quite some time since Jake has been sick now. Tricia's allergies are also getting better since the weather is warming up and we are getting more rain. We are thinking that it is the cool and extremely dry winters that are going to be getting to her over the years that we are here.

Please remember the following needs in prayer this week:

-- Our continued adjustment to missionary life
-- Unspoken request
-- The 3D program that Tricia is working on, that it would meet the needs of Africans who are called to missions and be useful in preparing them to follow that call

Until next time,

Jeremy, Tricia & Jake