Seasons Greetings!

Happy Christmas Everyone! Hope you are all well and enjoying the frosty weather. We had a lovely afternoon at the beach and then went swimming here at the apartment. Thanks to everyone who sent us cards and gifts they are really appreciated. For those of you who had given us some money before we left we have distributed it in a variety of ways - Christmas gifts for the patients at Genesis Care Centre, Tshirts for the children at Asissi Childrens Home, an outting to the Snake Park for the Overcomers at church and Bible reading notes for kids at Junior Youth. Thank you all for your support - it has been great to be able to respond to a need whenever we see one and there is still some left to spend in the New Year. Have a wonderful Christmas, Love Stephen and Karen.

Christmas Chaos!

Wow the South Coast has been invaded by holiday makers! The traffic was so bad yesterday the police were directing traffic at every set of lights in our area. It is bizarre though wearing shorts and listening to Christmas music about snow and sleigh bells in the shops! Tonight was the Carol Service at church, a little different from what we are used to but very interesting to see how they tried to create the atmosphere. Everyone had a lit candle but it was still bright outside!!!!

Last Sunday we went with Seeds to decorate the Genesis Care Centre and then we went to Assisi Childrens Home to do a Christmas Party. The kids were so cute as they stuffed marshmallows and other goodies into their mouths but the food was soon forgotten when we brought out the toys and gifts! We have lots of cute pics we will put on flickr for you to see.

Enjoy the Christmas chaos wherever you are
K&S

Summer Camp

Wow it was hot! Very hot! Summer Camp was a great experience there was great teaching and the worship was fantastic. Many of the kids we took from Norwegian Settlers were strengthened in their walk and some made committments for the first time. It was a tough week lying about by the pool or river in 30-40oC! Thanks to Nivea Kids Factor 50 I didn't get burnt. It was encouraging to see 1000 teenagers on fire for God and the potential they have to impact the world. The challenge for us as leaders is to channel that enthusiasm in the other 51 weeks of the year.

I discovered something very interesting this week - if your battery runs done on your XDAIIi mobile you loose everything, yes everything - all your contacts, all your telephone numbers, all your photos and videos EVERYTHING! So please would you all email me your contact details or if you don't want to hear from me - don't!

On the up side I learned how to make balloon animals at a kids club this week and it's great fun:-)

Hope you are all managing to keep warm! S

2 little girls

Hi all, I am just back from a fab weekend in Pietermaritzburg visiting a friend. The weather was beautiful and we had lots of fun - sightseeing, picnicing, eating out and of course shopping! Stephen is sizziling in Kimberley at Summer Camp they arrived yesterday after an uneventful 16hr drive and they get back Thursday, Please remember them as they travel and that the kids will be encouraged through the camp.

The church was broken into today, well actually the girls involved say they walked in through an open door but they set the alarm off and the armed response unit and one of the pastors arrived on scene. What they found was a sorry sight - two little girls malnourished and unkempt, ripping open Christmas presents that have been collected for the Childrens homes looking for food. They were suitably chastised for breaking in but shame they are very much in need. Our Pastor has offered to help them and the armed guards took them to the shop and bought them food before driving them home. Please pray for these little girls that they will come back to the church this week and accept the compassion and help being offered to them and their families, and also for all the other kids in this country whose Christmas wish list consists only of food rather than toys.

I hope you all enjoyed the photos on flickr - if you haven't seen them then you haven't emailed us yet!!! Do so and we will send you a guestpass. If you are confused as to where they are - there is a little info if you click on details.
Thanks guys K x

Contact Us!

Hi guys, just a quick word - thanks to everyone who has emailed or left comments. We really appreciate you getting in touch. We have been made aware that a number of you have been asking our parents for our postal address so FINALLY here it is -

Box 40380
Shelly Beach
4265
South Africa

Not very exciting but it works - mostly!

Hi everyone, have tried twice to get some photos posted tonight but have been totally unsuccessful :-( Stephen is away this weekend at a kids Church Camp so you will just have to wait for the techno genius to come home. I am working tomorrow so was not able to go, instead I have had a lovely day doing lunch and shopping with a friend.

Work is not just as much fun - there have been a few deaths this past week, it is always sad no matter how many times you see it happen. It is especially frustrating when prem babies in the nursery die, most of whom would be expected to do well at home.

On a completely different subject - who watched the rugby last weekend? I hope you were all shouting for SA! We watched it with some guys from church, it was almost as entertaining watching them get excited as watching the rugby itself! There has been talk of little else all week. We were all hoping for a Public Holiday to be announced in honour of the victory but it hasn't happened!

Back from Cape Town

Hey guys! What a hectic two weeks since we last wrote - Life Skills at Sheppie High went well (as you can see from the comments section - thanks Jacob!) but was very tiring with early morning starts and a hectic schedule.

We just got back from Cape Town yesterday - wow it's fab! The weather was dodge for the first few days and felt about the same temperature as home this time of year :-( But we braved the frostbite at the top of Table Mountain and the seasickness on the boat to Robben Island - they cancelled the remaining sailings that day immediately after we returned! Thankfully then the last couple of days the weather picked up and we had glorious sunshine.

Today we were at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit in Durban which was really challenging and continues tomorrow.

South Africa has a national shortage of electricity and at the minute we are having daily powercuts to conserve energy - this will last at least a week so please excuse us if we don't reply to you promptly. On the subject of which - Gary Millar we have TRIED to reply to your email a few times but it keeps bouncing back to us, sorry!

Have a great week - we will be in touch when possible S&K

Hello again

Well it’s been a while since we have updated this which we apologise for but we are now into routines and have stuff to tell.

I (Stephen) have been working in the church and they have been great accepting me and letting me get involved, they even gave me an office! The church is very busy active in the community some of the areas I am now involved are:

‘Youth’ on a Friday evening - works with teenagers, there can be between 50 and 80 each night I have been involved in the worship and did a talk last week.

Kids club at Izotcha Primary school on Friday afternoons after school – just like CONTACT.

Scripture Union run Life skills programmes in secondary schools which teach about HIV/AIDS and the importance of good values and good choices it promotes abstinence and Christian values but we have to be careful how we present this material, there are voluntary sessions during lunch and break where we can present the Christian message. Next week from 1st Oct we are in Port Shepstone High so please pray for that work and that the pupils will learn from the sessions and that God will be Glorified. Also pray for all the facilitators we will have groups of between 8-10 pupils and it can be stressful.

Overcomers – we work with a group of five 7 year old boys selected from a local school because of difficult and challenging behaviour. We have a new group and are just getting to know them. We give them tasks like making a fire or building a fort, teaching them to work together.

Youth academy is a mentoring and leadership scheme the church runs in local schools I am currently reviewing the material used and getting to know the scheme.

I have learnt a lot since we arrived and been really challenged by how God has really led us and blessed us. I will now hand over to Karen who’s English and grammar are more gooder than mine!

Sawubona unjani (hello, how are you?)
You can tell Stephen is having fun with all he has to talk about! Work for me is not quite so exciting and can in fact be very frustrating. Ultimately a lot comes down to a lack of resources – equipment and staff, but we try our best despite the difficulties. And Praise God because miracles do happen – three weeks ago a baby was born at just over 1kg, too small to qualify for intensive care in Durban we did what we could and prayed for the rest. She has survived thus far having managed through initial premature lung disease followed by an episode of sepsis and is now slowly gaining weight. In conjunction with work I am also doing a weekly ward round at the Genesis AIDS Hospice and have been added to their Medical Advisory Board – a very grand title of which I feel very inadequate in view of my still limited experience in this field. Genesis is a wonderful place though and it is a pleasure to go and add what little I can to the care being given.
Outside of work life is a lot more fun - our small group is going well and we are both taking part in Seeds – a ministry to those affected and effected by AIDS. We visit the AIDS hospice and various children’s homes and orphanages with a group of teenagers from the church. It is amazing to work alongside these kids who have such a heart for these people and approach the ministry with a maturity well beyond their years. Though they have already lost all hope of teaching Stephen any Zulu songs, he just doesn’t have the rhythm! We are both also on a new committee at the church which is seeking strategies for bringing young married couples into the congregation.

We are off to Cape Town next weekend for five days – we are both looking forward to the rest after what has been such a busy, exhausting time since we arrived. Please pray that we will be kept safe and come back refreshed.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch – we appreciate your prayers and hearing all the news from home.
Karen

first 2 weeks

Sorry it has been so long since we have been in touch but it has taken a while to get internet access, now that we are up and running we will update you more regularly.

It has been an interesting and very very busy two weeks since we arrived. We have moved into an apartment with a nice view but noisy wildlife - frogs, birds and cool little monkeys. The car we have bought is a 2004 Toyota Tazz very popular here (looks like a 1980’s Corolla) it’s a quality wee motor but A/C is the only luxury – there isn’t power steering!

Karen started work at Murchison Hospital and is slowly finding her feet – the spectrum of disease is very different but presents many challenges for the year ahead.

We have been to Norwegian Settlers Church and are getting to know people. The church is very friendly and active in the community. We have been to their youth and we joined a small group this week of young married couples, some of whom have young children who just wandered around the room or got passed around depending on age, while we did the study. So no excuses for those of you with/expecting babies!

Stephen is hoping to start studying with South Africa Theological Seminary and is getting various jobs around the church.

It’s been a good few weeks but there have also been lots of challenges – at one stage we were driving around in an uninsured car, but don’t worry it is not a criminal offence here! There has been an endless stream of difficulties with setting up a bank account and other administrative problems some of which are still not fully resolved. Also our boxes we shipped here with clothes, kitchen things and some electrical items are stuck in customs in Johannesburg - they want to manually search them and we don’t know when we will get them back and if everything will still be in them. Please, please pray about these issues.

We will be in touch soon. S&K

Prayer Points

We believe that prayer is the most important aspect of successful Christian activity, therefore we would appreciate your prayer support while we are away. Here are some points:

1 Pray that above all God will be Glorified in all we do
2 Pray that Stephen will be led to the work within the church that God wants
3 Pray that Karen will settle into her new and challenging role within the hospital
4 Pray for Murchison Hospital staff and patients
5 Pray for Norwegian Settlers Church leaders and members
6 Practical arrangements will fall into place, travel arrangements, accomodation, car....
7 Pray for our families back home (because they may miss us!)

South Africa

We are Stephen and Karen Orr and this is our blog where we can keeping in touch with everyone. We are in Port Shepstone South Africa for this year Karen is working in Murchison Hospital and Stephen is volunteering in Norwegian Settlers Church.

Have you ever walked the beach on a Sunday afternoon daydreaming about things you would love to do, other places you might serve the Lord and wondered what other plans He has for your life? As a couple we have done it many times, but it was always only a good intention, we were always too busy to do anything about it or perhaps too scared!
However the time came when we finally decided we had to investigate the possibilities. After contacting a few mission organisations and getting fairly general responses I (Karen) decided to contact the Medical Director at Murchison Hospital, South Africa, where I had spent six weeks working as a final year medical student. The response blew us away – within a couple of days I was emailed a signed contract with the dates left blank for me to choose! For us it was a clear response from God that this was where we were to go.
Murchison Hospital, Port Shepstone is about one hour south of Durban on the South Coast, in the state of Kwazulu Natal. Originally a mission hospital Murchison is now state funded but has retained its Christian ethos with fine Christian men in the most senior medical and administrative posts. It was established in 1928 by Dr. Barton who used to ride out on his horse and hold clinics under the trees in the rural villages. Since then it has become rather more sophisticated it now has 300+ beds and provides medical, surgical, maternity and paediatric services to a deprived Zulu population.
I will be working as a Paediatric Medical Officer – challenging and daunting are just two of the words that come to mind! Even more concerning is the prospect of having to cover the adult side during my on-call duties since I haven’t treated an adult in three years. Nonetheless it is with great excitement that I am looking forward to returning to Murchison, to renewing old friendships, working in a very special environment and treating patients with the most fabulous pathology who are always courteous and truly appreciative of the help you give.
For me (Stephen) I was convinced that this year was a time for me to explore something entirely different from my regular employment. At the suggestion of Dr Bill Hardy Medical Director at the hospital I contacted Norwegian Settlers Church – quaintly named because of who established the church rather than the fact that only Norwegian Settlers make up the congregation! Rather Norwegian Settlers is a nondenominational evangelical church with a real heart for the local community.
In 2001 Trevor Downham, the minister, preached a sermon challenging the congregation as to their real impact on their neighbourhood – if this church closed today would the people around us notice or miss us? As a result of that sermon and a lot of prayer the Genesis Project was born.
The Genesis Project aims to make both long and short term differences to individuals and the community as a whole. They provide hospice care for both adults and children dying from AIDs, they have an orphanage for children orphaned by AIDs, there is an adult education programme providing numeracy, literacy and IT training, community sports facilities and training programmes and they are also involved in teaching Religious Education in the local schools. I am going to work as a volunteer with the church and the Genesis Project and have no doubt that I will learn much and face many challenges in what for me is an entirely new society.
At present we continue to have lots of arrangements to make both here and in South Africa and we are looking forward to all the new experiences that the incoming year holds, however being thousands of miles from friends and family will not be easy. We would appreciate if you would undertake to pray for us throughout this year and also for those who will miss us most. Thanks in anticipation of your support, Stephen and Karen.