1st World meets 3rd World and then vice versa

This sums up our day today as we spent 3 hours today with Dennis Nkosi traveling from Durban south area into a vast black township named Clermont and then out again. Dennis and his wife Violet and their 4 children serve as ABWE team members and Dennis is senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Community Church in Montclair, Durban. Dennis is actually Sotho, not Zulu, but he speaks it fluently and 9 other languages as well. He once worked for the government and helped to make some of the most dangerous parts of Clermont township less dangerous, though it took from 1993 to 1996 to make it happen. He eventually stopped working for the government and has been in full time ministry doing door to door evangelism in Clermont. He's quite knowledgable about these townships and the Zulu worldview and ways of life. He says their ancestor worship is the biggest barrier to belief in Christ for salvation, especially among Zulu men. He is very knowledgable about cults and false teachings that plague the Zulu population. At no time did we sense any danger there, but it would be much different if we weren't with Dennis or if we were there at night. Please pray for Dennis and Violet and their ministry at the church as well as among the Zulu population in Clermont township.

We also had time these last two days with Barnabas and Peggy Chung and therr 3 daughters who serve among the 4,000+ Chinese in Durban. They are a wonderful family who have had a lot to adjust to cross-culturally. They've moved from a flat in Hong Kong where all repairs were handled by the superintendent and workers to living in Durban where they must handle all repairs themselves. They only began to drive since their arrival in 2006 to Durban. They've also experienced first hand the prejudice of government officials towards Chinese. They have a vision to establish the ministry among the Cantonese and Mandarin speaking Chinese population through Peace Chinese Christian Church. Pray for strength to carry on as they have had to deal with a lot of challenging things, not the least of which was having their car windows smashed several months ago and assailants stealing valuables out of the car while they were stopped at a traffic light. We had an encouraging time of prayer with Barnabas and Peggy on Saturday morning related to all of this.

We also spent time on Friday with Des and Sharon Venter. Des is the senior pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Amanzimtoti, Durban. They have seen much growth in the church lately and are trying to begin a Zulu church in a nearby township next January. Des is a graduate of The Master's Seminary in 2004 and we have mutual friends who are professors at The Master's College. Des and Sharon just adopted a little abandoned black girl at 2 months old and named her Talitha (now 2 years). They are in the process of adopting a 3 year old boy named Ben and also have 3 biological children. Pray for the new adoption to be finalized in September. Pray too that they will continue to see growth among the youth in their area and the plans for a Zulu church plant.

Also on Friday we spent time with veteran ABWE missionaries of over 20 years, David and Virginia Morris. They were so helpful in answering questions and showing us the ministry at Grace Baptist Church in Amanzimtoti, which they helped establish as a church plant 20 years ago. Pray the Lord will lead them during a ministry transition time. A proposal is being considered for them to return to minister at GBC in a ministry to 25+ seniors. Jason and I really enjoyed our time at their home, which is nestled among giant trees next to a nature reserve. Their love and concern for the people of Durban and the other member of the ABWE Durban Team comes through as they shared with us about the work in this country.

Jason has been enjoying interacting with missionary kids these last two days. Having grown up a missionary kid, he is in his element as he has gone from playing with 4 little tykes on his lap all at once (all under 7 years old!), to playing ping pong (Chinese style) with the Chung girls (ages 19, 17 and 15). They also spent about an hour just playing guitar and singing worship songs together. Then today he hit it off with the Nkosi children (ages 21, 15, 13 and 11). Jason had a great time with Dennis's teenage boys, Nkululeko (Leko) and Neo Nkosi. They took us down to the harbor and showed us around, while explaining more details about the city. We all especially enjoyed driving around the World Cup 2010 stadium, which will be finished in September and tested in a soccer match, Japan vs. South Africa, in November.

Finally, please pray for me as I preach on Sunday at The Phoenix Fellowship. We will leave on Sunday at 5pm and arrive at LAX on Monday at 2:30pm. This return trip is longer through JFK so it will be 25 hours in the air! We praise the Lord for this trip and have seen His sovereign grace as we have interacted with some amazing folks ministering in a very difficult setting. In the days and weeks ahead I hope to make regular posts with snapshots related to our survey trip. That is, real pictures and also info and stories to go with it. It's been too short in some ways and I feel I didn't have enough time to get answers to some questions. However, it's been the right timing for interacting with the team members. Still the goals of enhancing our vision for the ministry here, strengthening relationship ties and getting firsthand exposure to the culture and real life concerns when serving here, have been accomplished to the extent that it is possible in 5 days time. Pray for the Lord to continue to confirm our intentions of serving here with the ABWE team and BBC. Finally, pray for Darryl and Casey Meekins and their little 2 year old Emma as they give leadership to the college and the students.

Communication with Kim and family back home has shown they are doing well. Tiffany returned to The Master's College on Thursday and everyone is missing us as we are missing them. Thank you for all your prayers.
Blessings, Robert and Jason for all the Clarks

Greetings from Durban, South Africa

We are grateful for all your prayers for us. Our journey was long but we arrived after 29 hours (23 hours flying) to Durban and were greeted by Darryl Meekins. We've been staying at Darryl and Casey's home. Their two year old daughter Emma has been a delight. We have been unable to access blogspot until tonight, but have sensed your prayers for us as we have had extremely busy days, moments of weariness physically and exciting conversations with missionaries on the ABWE Durban team. We are enjoying the opportunity to hear firsthand the vision, love and commitment that these wonderful people have for the people of Durban. Keep in mind that this team is made up of American missionaries, South African nationals of several ethnic heritages (white, black, Indian) and missionaries sent from Hong Kong. It is rare to have a team like this and some have grown and served together for over 25 years.

Confirmed Impressions - From day one we realized that Durban is a city of contrasts...big contrasts. This was confirmed by missionaries living and working here for 5 to 20 years. There are very affluent sections and impoverished sections of the city, sometimes just on the other side of the road. Downtown there is a kind of Beverly Hills, Rodeo drive area and behind these same stores there is a squatter area that the poor have built up with whatever they can find and it "houses" approximately 11,000 people. Major security is found everywhere: high fences with wicked looking barbed wire and electrified fences or wire. Signs are everywhere related to armed response security being enforced. Yet this contrasts with parts of the city, especially down by the beaches, where it is beautiful and so pleasant to walk along the sand or boardwalks. Missionaries are telling us of the false socio-economic situation of the country and the vast needs. There is a need for vigilance while they serve in a very dangerous city. So much poverty and yet if you look at the sea it is full of ships waiting to unload their cargo at the largest port in Africa. Crime has been a long standing problem and all the missionaries have been effected by it with some situations that have been very traumatic.

The ABWE missionaries are clearly committed to the work here and we have been enjoying it as they share their heart for ministry in all their contexts. It has not been easy for any of them though. The contrasts and the needs are glaring. Yet they all are trying to serve in such a way that they will glorify the Lord by loving the people, meeting their needs and giving them the gospel of Christ.

We've spent each day speaking with missionaries and team members who are South African. We've also had the opportunity to see their ministry context at Baptist Bible College, Fellowship Baptist Church, The Phoenix Fellowship, The Community Connection Church in Ballito and heard from the missionaries serving in Richard's Bay. Two missionary families serve in HIV/AIDS ministry. Today we joined in an important time of prayer with the team and attended their team meeting. Jason and I have also attended a couple of growth groups in their churches. We've also had the opportunity to see Phoenix Fellowship's property that they have been trying to build on for 2 years. This land was a neighborhood dump that nobody wanted. They bought it very cheap and then a government official wanted to cancel their sale contract. It took 2 years to settle it in court. Now that they've won, they are cleaning it up and preparing it by fencing and leveling it off. Pray for the Lord to provide so they can build on this land in the next year. Also, pray for me as I will be preaching at Phoenix Fellowship on Sunday morning (9 hours ahead of California time). The Phoenix section was primarily for non-whites over the decades under apartheid and this meant that the citizens are mostly ethnic Indian (primarily Hindu, but some Muslim). Darryl and Casey live just across the road from the beginning of the 12 sections. They go in order from 1 to 12 and as they increase in their designation to 12 then each section shows to be more poverty stricken. The church's property is in section 10 of Phoenix.

Conversations with Darryl about the college and its students have been great. We will be working on my preliminary job description which will essentially be for a role as Dean of Students. There is a pressing need for oversight of the apprenticeship/internship program. The great concern is that this college will be training and graduating students who are well prepared. Students who are not just preparing for the ministry through academic courses, but who are being prepared in their character, personal walk of holiness, dependence on the Lord and practical use of the Word. There will be further opportuities to serve in this ministry such as teaching courses and administration. The process of getting their own accreditation with the government looms high on the list of priorities for the college as well. Kim too will have a role in this since there are women training at the college for ministry in their local churches. Also, the launching of online courses is set for January 2010 and Kim may have an opportunity to help with this part of the college ministry. All of the above is still to be fully determined so we ask you to pray for the Lord's will to be revealed, but Kim and I believe the Lord can use us effectively in this ministry.

Please pray for Jason and I in these last days as we will have further discussions tomorrow about the college ministry and also see the ministries of missionaries serving at Grace Baptist Church in the south of Durban. On Saturday we will meet with the missionaries serving among the Chinese population and also with a national who serves in and near a black township. That should be very eye-opening!

Jason is doing great here. He's made friends with students of the college, young people at the churches and children of missionaries. He's especially enjoyed time with the worship and youth leader at Fellowship Baptist Church. Jason has also been interacting with the missionaries in conversations. Pray that we can glean as much as we can in this short week and with the few days we have left. Thank you for praying for us and for this wonderful opportunity. I expect to be able to write at least one more post before we return as long as the internet is cooperative.

Snapshots 2

Snapshots of Family in Cambria

Here's just some more shots from our vacation.  Cambria is a quaint little coastal town just after Morro Bay and before San Simeon, the Hearst Castle area and Big Sur.  There's lots of little shops and our friends live not too far from town.  We're still seeing good effects from our time together as a family.  It may have been the last family vacation that we will have as a full family of 8, so we are praising the Lord for it.

A Few Snapshots from Vacation

So we went to Cambria via LAX and picked up this weary traveler from South Africa, Jason Hanson.  This is Tiffany's boyfriend who had just arrived after over a month there on a mission trip.  We then took pictures and then took off for Cambria.  Other snapshots will follow of our days on the beach at Morro Bay or hiking, browsing shops and searching tide pools...