Upi giraffe?

Just a quick note to tell you what's up in the Carlson world. We have just said good-by to our friends Jon and Amy and Sage Rodquist-Kodet. Now our other good friends Brandon and Abby are with us! Game park time has left Myles looking for giraffe and elephant every time we get in the car!
"Upi giraffe?" is constantly heard.... Where is the giraffe in Zulu.

Why you wanna leave me!?!

We said good-by to Daniel on Tuesday. He has been with us for close to 2 years helping partner on the Medical campus at the University of KwaZulu Natal. Rather than write of all the individuals he has impacted, I thought I'd share some highlights through photos. thanks for being with us Daniel, enjoy re-uniting with Malinda (fiance!) and your family.

A day in the life of....

Well the school year is coming close to an end. Got back to Durban from that long weekend of Nav meetings and catching up with the guys (check out photo of me and Alex-UCT grad) and found I had a lot to work on! Working on ending the year well with the Navigators and our budget. Daniel (our intern and almost 2 year friend and workmate) is 4 weeks away from departure. Spent the morning talking through his last month and exit strategy. I took Myles to swimming lessons. Summer was supposed to arrive a couple months ago but somehow missed the memo. This evening was Lou Lou's jewelry exhibition. I'm feeling sick. Kristy feeling a bit stressed. Myles loving life. And we are surrounded by questions of Obama. A day in the life of the Carlson's.

"a little bit..."

It's one of Myles' favorite lines.... "a little bit....." fill in the blank with anything that you would like. Right now in the Carlson home:
Ben "a little bit feeling better (physical, emotional, ecumenical...)
Kristy "a little bit of needing to show a lot of grace"
Myles "a little bit of MORE SLEEP" but he would say "...treat."

Back from Jozi

It was a week in Johannesburg, and probably the best one(that is best week in Jozi) I've had yet. What did I do? Spent the first 3 days following up graduates from our ministry that I have discipled over the past 7 years. Refreshing, fun, and a wake-up call to the hardships and loneliness that meets some of these guys when separated from all of the friends, mentors and fellowship that they got used to at university in Durban with us. It's given me some insight into what to do to help prepare the current students we have the privilege to be discipling. After the time with Claude-Sandton, Tshepo-in Sun City, and S'pho -Dr. in Soweto(photo's in that order) I spent a morning judging coffee (ask me if you care:). Following this I was in workshops with fellow South African, Malawian, and Kenyan Navigators alongside a group of Navigators from Colorado Springs as we were trained, had great dialogue and dug into the Bible to learn how to best fund and develop partners from Africa for the advancement of the Gospel in Africa! Rewarding, fun and intense. Worth it? Completely. Glad to be back in Durban with Kristy and Myles? Absolutely!

Growing Kingdom

You may be familiar with my great friend Cyril, but the story I've got to share with you will give you new perspective on this yong doctor. But first let me give you a bit of backgrund.
I was just the best man in his wedding in June the week before our trip to the USA. Cyril and I got to know each other over 6 years ago. I was the coach of the University of KwaZulu Natal men's basketball team(yes, you can laugh right along with Kristy) and Cyril was the captain of the team. Over the course of the season Cyril and I spent more time together then just on the court, reading the Bible and having some deep conversations. At the end of the year he knew where he stood with Christ and wanted that to change so gave his life to Christ. Everything changed from that moment and Cyril become one of the key student leaders in the Durban Navs.
Fast-forward 6 years. Cyril gets married to Gloria (also a part of our ministry and also a Dr.) and is working hard at a local hospital. Our conversations have changed a bit since those days of him driving the lane as a point-guard, but the central component of Christ has remained the same. One of the things I love about Cyril is his desire to see the Kingdom of Jesus grow. He married a woman who has the same heart, and together they are planning on moving to rural South Africa to work as doctors and spread the Gospel to those in need where no-one else is going.
The excitement doesn't start when they go to the rural hospital though, this past weekend Cyril and Gloria were helping working with a youth camp and they helped lead 15 kids to a first time decision to follow Jesus.
Wow! I was blown away. But there's more.
After the camp owner heard Cyril speak, he asked if he would share with his staff the next morning. Cyril was the first Zulu man speaking to this hard group of Zulu men and women about Jesus. They had "heard it before" from their boss, but when Cyril shared his life's story and how Jesus changed his life this closed and uninterested group changed into an eager and hungry group with open hearts. What happened was that 17 of these men and women gave their lives to Christ!
This has been our hope.
This is our vision.
Generations passing on the Gospel and growing the Kingdom of Jesus.

What happens at Core night?

Every week between 5-15 students gather at our house to eat, pray, fellowship, learn about being authentic followers of Jesus and... have fun!
Our current theme is focused on one of our core values: To know, love, and become like Jesus. We are searching the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to look at Jesus' life, character, way of life and relationships. This has been a powerful and potent look at our Jesus and in turn, our own lives.
This week we played a lil' Guesstures to get the night off to a good start. The video should give you a much better insight into the dynamics of our gatherings. Myles (shy as ever), takes center stage. Enjoy.

A month... already?

from Kristy...
I has officially been a month since we departed the US and landed ourselves back in Durban. To be honest, it feels like we've been back just a few days in so many ways. In other ways, it feels like a year. We can barely remember the smell of Dunn Brother's Coffee or the bird sounds that are so different from the sounds here. The month has gone by quickly because we feel like we have made such little progress in some of our biggest life and ministry goals here. We are back into the swing of things, and yet it feels like we have accomplished little.
Well, at least finally the house feels like home again and no longer looks SO BARE (a feeling, we think, that resulted from spending time in lots of very full American houses). The intense feelings of being torn from the ones you love best and who love you best have faded into a dull ache. We have, actually, fully re-established ourselves here. It has just taken time we did not expect it too.
I thought I would include a description of the bird sound so wake up to in the morning. We have a group of 7 Hadedas (pronounced Haw-de-daw) that nest in our neighbor's tree. I call them the little old grumpy men.

In Johannesburg, and on the beaches and savannas of southern Africa, it is the hadeda ibis, not the rooster, whose song, if it can be called that, announces morning. Har-har-har, he calls. Loud, raucous, guttural, the hadeda’s cacophonous call sounds like drunk men laughing. Har-har-ha-de-da.

Imagine a middle-aged man, grumpy and barrel-chested. He drinks too much, yells too often, laughs a lot but is quick to anger. Now. put feathers on him and stick him in a tree. Give him avian vision, a long curved bill, and a Red Sox fan’s hoarse yawp—and hello, hadeda

Anthony Schneider

We woke up without a president

Read the New York Times article for some good insight. Click HERE!

realistically I do see long term and short term problems and pain coming to South Africa because of the ANC forcing out President Thabo Mbeki.  He was Nelson Mandela's vice president for 5 years and has served for the past 9 as a president with great foreign relations skills and has helped a country that wants to better itself become a better place.  We're going to miss president Mbeki.

2 Year Birthday bash!

Myles turned two on 12 September.  Rather than give a play by play of the b-day week (oh-yes, we did a week since cards came early and late in the mail and the party in the park was a couple days after the day:)

The quick run-down:

1. 11th, Myles and Mom make cup-cakes.  Myles learns that cup-cakes are REALY good. 

2. 12th, Myles brings cup-cakes to play school and doesn't stop asking his teacher Thandeka for "more cup-cakes please" the rest of morning!

3. 13th, Myles gets some presents, feeling a bit sick but not too sick to help mom make juice and play with his buddy Conner. Notice who Myles supports whole-heartedly in the pictures (thanks Grand-ba ba and Grandma Sue!)

4. 14th, the big Birthday celebration at the Botanic Gardens.  Lots of friends, food and mom's great B-sting cake (could rival b-day cup-cakes for enjoyability)

5. 14th, by bedtime Myles is really sick but has enjoyed his best b-day week ever!

We're Back!!!

After a 34 hour journey with our energized Myles, we made it back to Durban!  Highlight of the trip... a less then full plane that gave the 3 of us a whole row or 4 seats for the "big" flight from Washington-Johannesburg!  Kinda a big deal since we only paid for 2 seats (last time we can or would want to do that!).

My hope is that in the next days you will see some pics from our USA visit and updates on how we are doing here (ie Kristy slept for the first time in over 7 days last night, and the Frog experience).

Stay tooned!

USA

OK, were in the States and overwhelmed with the amount of stuff here.  Besides that, I'm hitting a coffee shop every day or so.  Spending time with the family.  Looking forward to meeting my new nephew David (Joe n Jen's new born).   ok, Tony and Sarah (great friends from WSU) just showed up to the Dunn Bro's I'm at, so thats it for now!

Xenophobia in South Africa

If you have been following the international news at all the last couple of weeks you would have seen South Africa making headlines for all the wrong reasons.  What has happened is that in the informal settlements and townships anyone that is not a "South African" has been targeted as a threat.  This "targeting" has lead to violence, robbery, harassment, and death.  Thousands of foreigners who already were marginalized and the poorest of the poor have become victims all over again in the country were they were seeking refuge and a new life.

Why?  That really is the question on many peoples lips.  From dinner at friend's houses to impromptu campus debates, this is a big deal!  I don't presume to know more than others on this crises,  but I see close ties to un-employment, the governments non-action on the Zimbabwe crises (I could go on and on about this, but I think I might be the only one who realy cares what I have to say about it!), and in many casses, people from other countries who were willing to work hard at jobs that South Africans just haven't tried to get or don't want and then these people from other countries end up getting more "stuff" then their un-employed South African neighbors do.

But the scary thing has been the silence from the South African government.   People are suffering, so we are doing what we can.  The photo's are of Ian and I delivering a car full of aid to the refugee camp that was hastily erected behind the University that Kristy and I  work at.

We gave blankets, sanitary stuff, baby nappies and then listened and prayed.  Most of the people at the refugee camp where we visited were from Malawi.  It was hard to hear what happened to these men and women who came to South Africa from one of the poorest neighboring countries.  Any of these sad faces could have just as easily been a part of the leadership /Pastors training that I did in Malawi just weeks before.  What we heard were sad stoies of abuse, fear, and depressed people who didn't know what to do or how they would survive.  

Pray for South Africa, a country that for so many years was leaving it's people in neighboring countries in fear becasue of apartheid and now is violently kicking those countries people out of SA.

update by snail mail!

It's on the way!  Watch your mail-box for our newest Carlson Chronicle.  Never gotten one in the past?  then you had better hurry and e-mail us your address or you will loose out.

May=oops.

Mid May and this is the first blog.... bad news as this has probably put off most blog viewers! I think that this blog has been good for me (Ben) as it has shown me just how hard it is for me to sit at a computer and write/surf/communicate in general! Not a train smash for most people but not great for someone who's ministry relies on people an ocean away remembering to partner with us financially and prayerfully!

That said, I just found out that we have a significant deficit in our funding and that if we don't make up the shortfall by Aug we will be in a situation where we will have to put all other ministry aside to focus on building our team of financial partners. For a guy who loves to be on campus and not behind a computer or on the phone that sounds like agonizing and slow death! Ok, maybe being just a bit dramatic!
But that said I'd like to invite you to pray about partnering with Kristy and I at UKZN! How you might ask... glad you did! Click here and start with a one time gift!

If you would like to make a recurring donation to a staff person, please call (719) 594-2327 or (866) 568-7827 (toll-free).

Ok, I'll keep you posted. Thanks to all our partners-prayer and financial. We couldn't be here without you. Here is a slice of life in the week of the Carlsons.