Hey guys,

So we are going back to South Africa on November 6th, and we know that many people are still signed up for this Blog.

We have started a new website and a new blog, just in case you want to follow our new stories while we go over there for the next 3 years!

To subscribe to the new blog, go to:

http://www.sherwinternet.com

click on one of the blog entries, and on the right side it will allow you to enter your email address in to subscribe.  If you have any questions, concerns etc, our email is:

sherwinmichael@gmail.com

We love you all and thank you for your support

-Michael and Allison Sherwin

Hey family and friends whom we love!!!!

We know that we haven’t written lately. We’ve been very busy processing and debriefing and spending our past few precious moments in South Africa with friends. We’re heading home tomorrow night (for America it’s tomorrow afternoon) at 11:55 pm for our flight to Amsterdam.

We are very excited about coming home, but of course the culture shock could be intense, as we’ve just come down from the shock of Zanzibar, and now we’re going straight into the shock from South Africa. We love it here, and there is so much we’re going to miss.

We know the Lord is calling us to be in Texas for a period, so we’re ready to take on that next challenge in our lives. We know that we’re going to move to Austin, but again we don’t know how soon…we don’t have employment lined up, or a place to live in Austin, so if anybody has any suggestions or blessings that would be amazing.

So yeah! Be praying for a good and restful transition. Be praying for our hearts to be at peace. Pray against anxieties and stresses. Pray for our finances to be in order and for everything to work out on that front. Be praying for our job and living situation when we move to Austin, and for this next stage in our lives to be a blessing to us and those around us.

We love you, and we’ll update you as soon as we are home and rested! Let us know if you hear anything from the Lord for us!

-Michael and Allison

Hi people we love,

It’s been a month since we last updated and so much has happened here! Here are some highlights:

– lots of new friends – Because people here are so open and hospitable, we have been able to make many close friends in our short time here. We’ve been invited to many homes, eaten many meals with people, had long conversations with shopkeepers and friends in the park, taught teenage girls how to swim, and had an all-girl dance party in our room! We are so blessed by our friends here and are honored to learn from them and their culture and get to share our lives with them and see how God is moving in their lives.
– swimming with dolphins – Yesterday we went on a “swim with the dolphins tour” – We got in small boats and basically drove around until we spotted a group of dolphins, and then our boat driver would pull up to them and start yelling “jump in the water – go! go!” It was definitely an adrenaline rush. I realized i’m actually kind of scared of being so close to dolphins – i mean, they can kill sharks sometimes, right? – so when i almost jumped on a dolphin and was so close to a group of about 5 of them, i freaked out so much that i didn’t even take in the fact that i was close enough to touch them. but it was a fun and memorable experience.
– a day of gifts – I recently spent a day at a friends house and was so extravagantly showered with gifts and hospitality. She is an incredible girl who seriously has so much love in her heart – its so easy to talk about Jesus with her because she shares so much of his character. I’m always like, “wow, you remind me so much of Isa!” but one specific gift I was so touched by was when she took us to her backyard to her jasmine tree (jasmine is my favorite smell and favorite tea!) and she started picking some of the flowers for us (I was there with a teammate Rachel). Then she exclaimed, “Today, the whole tree is for you!” WE kept insisting that she didn’t need to give us the whole tree, but we could do nothing to stop her from picking every single flower off the tree and giving them to us. Of course we were both feeling a little bad for the tree having to lose all its flowers, but after I got over that and realized I could do nothing to stop it, my heart just all the sudden felt so touched with God’s love through this act. Through this girl, God was giving me a whole tree of my favorite flower – it was such a beautiful picture of His extravagant love.

What we would love prayers for in this coming week:
– for breakthrough in the lives of our friends here – that God would move in their lives and show His truth and love to them.
– for guidance about how to spend our time this last week and for good closure with people. That we would continue to be open and hungry for more of God’s movement even though our time here is winding down.
– continued health for Michael – he’s finally feeling more energy the past few days, but he’s recently recovered from some bad tummy issues, so prayers that God will bring full and complete healing to his body.
– safe travels back to South Africa – we leave here on Saturday the 19th.
– oh, i think Michael wrote in the last blog about how my teeth were hurting – just a report that soon after he sent that the pain went away completely and they have been fine since then. God is good and thanks for your prayers for that!

Thanks so much! We send all of you our love!!
Michael and Allison 🙂

Our wonderful family and friends (WE MISS YOU)

This past week, me(Michael) and a fellow team member helped a group of fisherman pull their boats up on shore and clean them out. We didn’t really know for sure why we were doing it but we soon found our purpose. They asked, in only Kiswahili of course, if we wanted to go fishing with them soon. We asked back in broken Kiswahili if we could join them Monday morning, at 5:00 am to head out.

We got up at 4:15 and ran to the beach to make it there at 5. (there are no buses or dala dala’s out this early). We set out around 5 in our 15th century skiff with three fisherman. (very similar to the one in the picture). Nothing, well, almost nothing (except maybe the nylon fishing line) in the boat had anything more technologically advanced then the 1400’s. We traveled by sail for 4 hours south in to crystal clear blue water. It was amazing, exhausting and uncomfortable. We stayed in that area for three hours and fished with just line, 2 hooks and a weight. Suprisingly enough for us, it was the most successful fishing trip of our lives. They are so good at what they do. We learned alot about technique and caught multiple double catches. We caught fish of all color (blues, purples, yellows, greens and oranges and reds.) The anchor was made of a huge bored out rock, and multiple times we would pick up anchor and head to a new location to fish. My job was to pick up the anchor, and after 3 or 4 times of doing so, I overexerted myself and got sea sick. It was embarrassing to puke in front of local fisherman of 40+ years of experience). I think it made my pride feel a little better when my friend also overexerted himself with the anchor and got sick also. We were out in the sun for 10 hours. Between the 5 of us we caught 200-300 fish, and between me and my friend we caught 25 or so. The way back took about 3 hours and we were DONE physically. Overall, this was a once (or maybe twice) in a lifetime experience. Just a cool story.

We worked hard that day, and though we could hardly communicate with the men in the boat, we have an ongoing relationship with them and we hope to learn more swahili quickly and communicate further. I think they know how much we respect their work ethic, and I think they experienced our great desire to serve them.

On that note, learning the language is something that the Father has put strongly on my heart. The same friend I went fishing with and I have spent many hours a week with three friends we’ve met at a local Islamic University. They are amazing people and I know that they have so much to teach us, as we have much to teach them. It’s a good mutual friendship, and we’ve spent just as much time hanging out as we have learning eachother’s language. Good stuff here. I’m also meeting with a friend in town who wants to learn English. What a blessing it is to be able to speak with him at length as a way of serving him.

Furthermore, we’ve spent time with local government leadership, university and high school students, local families, Imams, school teachers, elders, scholars, football players and maasai warriors. It’s so good. There is so much beauty in this place

I know many people write back from all around the world talking about how much they love the people they are working with and working around and this island has people of no exception to this.

I will say this about these people specifically: (For the most part) They have little or no hesitation to inviting you into their home. They don’t mind taking time out of their busy schedule to sit down with you and have a conversation about practically nothing. They stop you in the street to ask you your news. They feed you well when you visit. They are not flaky and they do what they say they will do. They are ON TIME. (for those of you who have been to Africa, this is not an expected African trait). If you give them your number, they WILL call you, often times within a few hours of meeting them.

All that to say, we are in the presence of beautiful people. Thank you L ord.

We miss you guys. It’s a busy time of year for our community back home but we miss all of you and ask that you would continue to be praying for our time here. Right now, we’re needing prayers for our health. I’ve been sick with little things off and on my entire time here, and it’s about time we were done with that. Allison may have a problem with her teeth (her root by her gums seems to be exposed and it’s hurting her). Please be praying for healing there. Furthermore, pray for our hearts.

Other prayer requests:
-Growth in boldness for Allison
-Energy, as the sickness has zapped all of it out of Michael and it’s hot out here
-Missing you guys too much

Write us back soon, as encouragement is a fuel for great things 🙂

Love
-Michael and Allison

It's the most beautiful beach I've ever seen

Hi Friends and Family,
Thanks for being patient with us.

Sunday we moved into our actual home where we have internet and it is so good to be settled! I apologize for not being able to update sooner, this has been a crazy week, but I’ll try to sum it up as thoroughly as possible!

We started our somewhat epic journey here with our sweet 16 month old team member throwing up for about 11 of our 16 hours in the car. After finally making it to Johannesburg and crashing at a friends house, we boarded a plane early the next morning and arrived here – thankfully we have a friend here who has been helping us out a lot, and he found us a house that we could rent for a week.

Here we’ve had power and water outages daily, unexpected visits (and interrogations) from the secret police, lots of lizards, centipedes, mosquitoes, and even a baby octopus. It’s been incredibly hot and rainy too. Our team has definitely faced a lot of challenges physically, spiritually and emotionally in this first week here, but our hopes are up and we know that any spiritual attack just means that God is at work and has purposes for us here.

Here are some of the good things happening:
-I’ve (Michael) made friends with a Muslim geography student named Ramadan and his friend Imani at a University down the road from me. He’s teaching me and my Zimbabwe friend Valentine Swahili (the correct term for the language is actually KiSwahili). Yesterday we met a certified KiSwahili teacher who wants to help to. My language acquisition is going very well. I learned tenses and persons yesterday.
– While with Valentine, I met a guy on a Daladala (like a bus but more crowded) named Ibrahim who invited us to meet his best friend and his family. We took a bus and walked 20 minutes into a village translated to mean “Banana tree.” and then spent two hours building relationships with the matriarch of the family and her 3 older children. Their English is amazing. They fed us treats in their tiny two room hut. They are all Muslim, of course, but they said we could pray for her feet to be healed. We plan on doing that on Thursday. She invited the whole team to come and meet the family.
– I met two friends named Massur and Kombo and we drank coffee with them. The language barrier is rough but we made it through. They want to have us meet their family. I’m trying to catch up on enough Swahili to communicate needs effectively. Pray for that.
– We met a famous Tanzanian national team player named Amour Aziz. He’s a great guy and it will be good to form friendship with him.[caption id=”attachment_59″ align=”alignnone” width=”500″ caption=
– We (Allison and I and a few others) also, independently are getting tea with the House of Representatives officiant for Stone Town on Sunday. He’s an incredible guy.
– The first house we stayed in was right across the street from a university, where I (Allison) met some really wonderful girls. They taught me and a teammate how to cook some traditional Tanzanian food and we are planning to meet weekly to cook together. They are super open and so sweet and friendly – I am amazed at how quickly they considered me a friend and we are having so much fun learning about each other’s cultures and spirituality.
– A teammate and I met a sweet woman who runs a shop near our first house. Her baby boy was there with her and he had the flu. We asked if they could pray in the name of Jesus and ask for him to be healed. His mom said yes, and the next day when we saw her she said he was completely better! We’re excited to go meet with her this week and hopefully talk with her about the God who healed her son.

This country is insanely beautiful. We continue to be amazed at the warmth of the people here and at how genuine they are.

Here is how you could pray for us this week:

-for all the people we mentioned and the friendships we are forming – that God would really move in those people and give us His love for them and guidance in spiritual conversations.
-the health of our team. Most of us have gotten sick multiple times. It’s discouraging honestly as I was sick a few weeks ago in South Africa. God healed my throat, however, within a few minutes of praying. No joke. Many of us are suffering from stomach problems, headaches from taking Doxycycline (anti malarial) and bug bites.
-grace for us with the language barrier. KiSwahili is spoken universally so it makes loads of sense to learn some of the language while we are here. I’ve taken a keen interest in KiSwahili because it’s an easy language to learn and beautiful.
-favor with the people we’re meeting. They are so open to meeting strangers.
-that we’ll be led by the Holy Spirit to the hearts He’s been preparing
-unity and joy in our team
-That we would continue to grow in our TRUST in God and learn how to walk in intimacy with Him daily.

Thanks so much for reading and praying. Looking forward to sharing more!
Love, The Sherwins

Hello friends and family,

We made it safely here this past Saturday! thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers, and i’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to update you all yet. Internet is much harder to come by here. Just wanted to quickly let you know we are safe and enjoying the adventure of being a new place. Hope everyone is doing well! and we’ll update again soon with more details.

Love,
Allison and Michael

p.s. we are learning swahili, which is the language used in the Lion King 🙂 Asante Sana means thank you very much and hakunana matata means no worries (which of course you all know becuase of the song)

Here is a picture of Red Hill, the township community we’ve been working in for the past three months.

From Red Hill you get a view of both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. It’s absolutely beautiful!

Here are some of the beautiful children we’ve gotten to know in Red Hill. The last three Sundays we all gathered in a shack and a 12 year old girl led these kids in a discovery Bible study which will continue even after we’ve gone. These kids have been one of my favorite parts about being in Red Hill – we got to hug them, love on them, learn all their dancing and hand clapping games, hear about some of their struggles in life, and pray for them. They have some great dance moves and are all-around amazing children! Please be praying for them that God would bless and protect them as they grow up and reveal His love to them.

Here is a teammate, Rashmi, with Mildred and her daughter. She welcomed us into her home every day we were there and blessed us so much. Please pray for her health and for her family to be re-united as some of them are still in Zimbabwe.

Our ride to and from Red Hill is beautiful!! Here’s a picture taken on the way home on our last day there.

Here is the amazing team we’ve been with for the last three months 🙂

I do want to be clear about this blog post. It’s about the teaching we received and the way that we are chewing through it. It’s long, but I think you’ll get some insight into what we are learning. We love you all!

Short Term commitments = short term results.

Floyd dropped that bomb on us during class a week ago and since then my head has been spinning. We’ve been here for 2+ months and we’ve seen great things happen. We’ve seen salvation, people reading the bible for the first time, people getting healed and getting jobs for the first time in their life. Despite all of this, regardless of how many days and months we stay here, we will always be in a short term mentality until we make long term commitments and have a long term attitude.
We were told two weeks ago that churches can’t realistically be formed in less than 1-2 years. How frustrating is that? We are at a school teaching us how to do church planting, when the actual school term is shorter than the minimum time needed to start a single church.

But here is why that time is so important. Here is why long term mentality is so key (according to our teachings)…

Short Term mission trips, experiences and commitments are more about ourselves then they are about the people we serve.

That felt so self serving, and I bet many of you automatically disagree with this statement. I hated the idea that I couldn’t be selfless in my pursuit of God’s Kingdom short term, and I hated the idea that their weren’t massive exceptions. What about hurricane relief trips, beach reach, grief counseling, etc. But as I wrestled through it, God gave me a bit of wisdom. Serving short term (less than 2 years or so) does not mean that we are not serving people and providing for their felt needs. I guarantee that thousands of lives have been changed, altered, rebuilt and renewed by the actions of obedience to God’s wishes in short term mission trips. What I believe now, is that those lives were altered because those people were 1st) acting in obedience and 2nd) Went with Long Term Attitude.

In my opinion, and I recognize that I am no expert (understatement), short term trips teach us how to be effective for God in the Long term. That means it teaches us how to build relationships, live in Christian community, pray, worship, sew the gospel and serve people in the place that God puts us more permanently. These skills could be effective within the sphere of a full time job or as full time cross cultural church planters, it doesn’t matter In the process we are transformed into the image of Christ. This is a good situation for everyone.

Questions of the week:
1) What does it mean to have a long term mentality?

2) What do you think David Watson means when he says WE get more out of short term trips then those we serve do?

3) Unrelated question… Can we expect non Christians to change their behaviors or patterns pre conversion? Examples: Men beat their wives, their girlfriends here. Also, 6 years olds are given alcohol by their parents.

The more consistent my conduct and activity on short term trips is consistent with how I would act on long term, the better. All I can say at this point is that Long Term attitude seems to involve deep commitment to a community, to relationships within that community, and patience. We must be sensitive to those around us, which means not shying away from growing close to people and sharing your heart. Vulnerability seems to be key in having a long term focus. Without it, you risk being prideful and damaging those you are trying to serve.

God can break through on short term trips to produce long term benefits. Have faith and believe God for fruit whether or not you are on for short or long term. There’s more to it and I am still gathering my thoughts. I’ve learned much of this in my experience in Red Hill. This is not easy, but it’s so rewarding.
That is not to say that God doesn’t and hasn’t worked miracles in speeding up this process. We pray for those things every day. Even what we’re learning feels miraculous. David Watson has started a movement which has started many others, and in 15 years they have 6,000,000 baptisms. That is NUTS.

So where does this process begin, whether short term or long term? Relationships!!! The beginning of relationship building is slow because it’s relational, and involves love and commitment. Only God can circumvent the process and often times God wants to bless you in that relationship just as much as he wants to bless them. You must learn to love them if you expect to see fruit.

No school for that. Just experience. The Spice Island should be good for us, however being there for two months means we are once again in a “full time” short term experience. So our biggest prayer request is that we would be obedient to God’s will and voice in our time there, and that we would go expecting to love and serve them patiently, quietly and relationally. We want lives to change, healings, and conversion of course, but those are all God willing.

Prayer Requests:
– For both of us to grow in our TRUST in God.
– For God to continue guiding us to our future after CPX, and pave the way for us to have a place to live, jobs, community, etc.
– That God would give us wisdom and use us to powerfully bless people in Red Hill in these last weeks. Continue to pray for Natasha and the kids group, for Lungile and nZukeswa as Michael empowers and encourages them to be leaders in their community.
– Please pray for healing for Mildred, an amazingly sweet lady in Red Hill who has blessed Allison so much. We found out recently that she was “very sick,” although we got no details on what the sickness was – probably AIDS.
– As above, that we would be obedient to God’s will and voice in our time in the Spice Island. That God would be preparing the way for us. For health, safety and smooth logistics while we are there.
– And for our marriage! We are happy and growing a lot in learning how to be married

We love you all! Please write us soon.

Love
The Sherwins

Blog Update 3/31/10

Hello people we love,

I thought I’d try and pass on a little about what our class experience here has been like. I don’t feel like I can just summarize what we are learning, because it’s all kind of swirling around in my head right now and slowly being processed through. But I thought I’d like to pass on questions we are wrestling with that are really at the core of what we are learning. Most of these questions we haven’t considered much in the past or we thought we had easy answers to, but God is really using this time to break our paradigms and assumptions. If there are any ways we have put God or his mission for us in a box in the past, we hope that we are opening ourselves enough so that He can break out of those boxes and we can know Him and follow Him more fully than we ever have.

So, we invite you to ask these questions with us if you’d like, and feel free to add your voice and ideas to the mix:
1) What does scripture actually say about church?
2) What are the core elements that must be there in order for a group of people to be considered a church?
3) If we strip church down to its core elements in scripture, how much have we added that is really just tradition, culture or institution? What impact do these additions have?
4) If you know anything about the history of cross-cultural missions, what has been the impact of transplanting a traditional and cultural model of church into a completely different culture?
5) What would it look like if we embraced the freedom we have for church to look differently? How would this impact the way we follow the great commission to “make disciples of all nations?” (Matthew 12:18-20)

There’s just a little taste of the questions we’ve been asking ourselves. We’ve gotten to hear some great guest speakers who have done incredible things and helped catalyze HUUUUGGGEEE movements of disciple-making churches all around the world. But another cool thing I’m realizing is just that the Holy Spirit really is the best teacher. I’m learning awesome stuff in class, but what God is personally teaching me and doing in me is even more awesome. Michael and I have also realized that God is using this time to heal us in a lot of ways and to help solidify our identities in Christ. It’s been challenging as we seem to face our brokenness pretty much every day, but we know it’s also so good.

Prayers:
– For Michael and I and all the stuff God is doing in us. That we would grow in our TRUST in God, in our LOVE for God and in our OBEDIENCE to God. Just that we’d be open and receptive to the Spirit in His personal work in our lives and in Him using us in the lives of others.
– For the community of Red Hill – we only have three weeks left there, so prayers that we continue with love and don’t feel discouraged by the lack of time. God keeps encouraging us that we have enough time left for what He wants to do. Please pray for the children of Red Hill. A 12 yr. old girl Natasha recently started leading a group of children in praying and studying the Bible, and it was heartbreaking to hear some of their struggles. Pray that God just pours out His blessing on this group and on all the children of Red Hill. Pray that God continues to connect us with those who are spiritually hungry and deepens the relationships we have. If you want to pray for specific people here are some Michael and I have connected with and are praying for God to pour out His love and empowerment on – Hugo, Lungile, Hans, Thina, Zukyes, Charline, Latisha, Mildred, Nandipa, Natasha and her mother, Lynette, and Gift.
– For the Spice Island- around the 22nd of April we are leaving to go to there for two months. Pray that God prepares the way and puts supernatural love in us for the people there. Pray for his work in their hearts as well.
– For our future after CPX – for clear guidance and for peace and patience to guard our hearts (I tend to get a little anxious sometimes about the future, so prayers that God can keep my heart at rest in Him)

Hello friends and family, (today it’s Michael speaking)

This is what we are here for:

We wanted to make you a short list of all the incredible things that have happened at Red Hill, our Outreach

-Yesterday I got to be a part of a Rastafarian giving his life to Christ. We felt like we should sit down and talk to him about what it means to be a believer. We read scripture and prayed over him and he broke down and cried. He related to us the pain from his childhood and how his father beat him. He’s from a place called Atlantis in South Africa and he’s by himself in Red Hill. We are going to meet with him twice a week to show him how to read scripture. This was one my most favorite parts of this trip so far. I can’t tell you how powerful it was to see him surrender.

-I got to share the story of God with a Spiritist (they believe in following the holy spirit but believe the bible is flawed so they don’t read it. This opens them up to false theology, attacks, and lies). He told me he was hungry for the word. That’s an obvious act of God, convicting him that he needs the Gospel. He needs pure truth. It’s so good to give that to him. We’re meeting soon to talk about what this all means.
– Allison is meeting with a group of women for a bible study she formed with Rashmi (our Indian friend). She has grown so close to them. Her friend Charlene greeted her by saying “Hello friend.” This meant so much to her because Allison has such a compassionate spirit and wants to form close relationships. Also, the same group (about 3 to 4 women) are teaching Allison and Rashmi Afrikaans. It’s a great way that they can KNOW they are valuable. There is so much fruit here.

– We have met and poured into several leaders in the community. I am working with a guy named Zukese. He expressed to us yesterday, after hugs, that he feels like since we have been praying for him, he’s gone from shy and withdrawn to outgoing and empowered. He’s one of 7 council members in charge of Red Hill. That practically made me cry. Furthermore, God has allowed my SA friend George and I to start a bible study with him and his friend Max. We also met Eric yesterday, another leader who seems like he’s interested in study the word with us. Good stuff!!!!

– Allison has been working with a group of 20 girls who play a game called “Net-ball.” Imagine a combination of Basketball and Ultimate frisbee. No kidding. Apparently it’s a girl’s game but we love it. Allison is working on getting them to have a bible study after their game every Thursday. Their is so much fruit there. I love Allison’s joy with them. She works in such boldness and confidence.

– Both Allison and I have shared our story with the people of Red Hill. It’s powerful to share personal testimony with others

– A group of younger guys (21-23) have committed to my friend Wonder and I starting a bible study. There are 3 of them that are going out to gather some of their friends, and we’re having it on Thursday at 4:30. We have shared the gospel with them and they feel empowered. AHH!! They want bibles, and they want commitments from us.

– We have prayed blessings and love over the children. We hold the children, even if they don’t speak english and we speak and pray blessing over them, that they would be released from the bondage of injustice and alcohol and discouragement. It’s a very powerful ministry. The children are so amazing. AH, Kanya.

The Spice Island
Finally, we wanted to tell you guys some amazing news. We are going to the Spice Island for two months starting April 27th. It is an incredible place. It has some of the most fertile soil ever. It’s rumored you can plant anything straight beneath your feet and it will sprout the next day. (that might be an overstatement). Furthermore, it’s 98% muslim and 0.01% Christian. There is a group of 11 of us and 2 young children. We don’t know our accomodations yet but just know that our leader has been here for several months and is planning on living here long term. We are very excited and know that God is showing us how to have love and compassion on our Muslim brothers.

Prayer requests:
1) I still don’t feel God’s love. I need him to show it to me.
2) Allison and I need more trust in our finances and financial responsibilities, prayers for faith in that.
3) We miss you guys. Prayers for that
4) Prayers for WHEN to start praying for our future. We have BIG questions.
5) Prayers for submitting to authority (for me)

We love you all. Please write us, and know we are TRYING to keep up with emails.

Love
Michael and Allison Sherwin
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