Where do you live?

We live in Cape Town, South Africa. We did live in Harrismith, in the Free State. We moved to the Cape Town area in November.

Why did you decide to move to South Africa?

Marc came to South Africa on a mission trip as a team leader in 2007. On the way back to the airport in Johannesburg, he knew he needed to come back. In fact, he started raising money and preparing to come back before he even knew where he’d be in South Africa.

Katie came to South Africa on vacation in 2007 with some friends–it completely changed her life.

We both moved to South Africa in January of 2008 to work to work with Thrive Africa (now Ignite South Africa)–we didn’t know each other before we came. We met and fell in love in South Africa-it’ll always be a huge part of our lives!

What are the major issues in South Africa?

The big ones are HIV/AIDS & poverty. But there are a lot of others too–drug use, alcoholism, men not taking responsibility for their families…it definitely feels overwhelming!

How do you pay your bills?

We raise financial support to cover our expenses. If you’d like to get involved you can do so here!

Do you live on a missionary compound?

Ha, no. We live in a 2 bedroom flat. We have a killer view of the Indian Ocean (rough, I know…)–there are a lot of things that are more expensive in South Africa (namely gasoline–nearly $6 a gallon. Ouch!), but housing seems to be a bit cheaper. We love where we live–God totally provided in a miraculous way. We’re blessed.

Where did you meet?

We met in South Africa and got married just over 2 years later (April 2010). You can see wedding photos here.

What kind of work do you do?

We work mainly with a job-creation program, women’s ministry (Katie), and teach music classes (Marc). We also continue to be involved in Ignite South Africa.

We mainly work in Masiphumelele and Ocean View–two townships within a few minutes of our home.

I want to get involved, what can I do?

There are all sorts of ways you can help! Send us an email, we’d love to hear from you.

Are you associated with any churches?

Yep! Katie’s home church is First Baptist Church in her hometown. And Marc is a member of Orchard Ridge Church of the Nazarene, in Michigan.

I want to be a missionary, but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have an advice?

Yay! We’d love to talk to you! Contact us and we’ll chat.

We had about 20 people over for the 4th of July last night.

In all the excitement we forgot to take more photos–but a South African friend shared a tasty dessert with us! We enjoyed spending the holiday with a bunch of Americans, South Africans, and even a Zimbabwean.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

Over the last few months, we’ve been able to help our missionary friends with their blogs/support websites.

It’s fun for us to be able to help our friends in such a tangible way–crazy that in an online world, even missionaries need websites!

Here are a couple Marc has designed/developed over the last few months. (Click the images to find out more about the families!).

We’ve both helped Ignite South Africa (the ministry that took over what we were doing at Thrive Africa), as much as we can from at distance.

These days Katie is editing and writing blogs for the Ignite ministry site. Check out recent posts here!

We’re thankful to be able to part of what’s still happening in that part of the country–even from a distance!

We live walking distance from penguins. And, no, it’s not a zoo.

We’re right down the road from Boulder’s Beach-home of African Penguins.

Here’s a photo:

We helped at a Friday Afternoon kids club recently.

They started with 11 kids 2 years ago. Crazy, right?!

Now they have nearly 400. It’s exciting to see how God is using the leaders to raise up these kids–it’s typical VBS style, with music, a short message, and a craft.

They kids filed in one by one and they kept coming…and coming…

And when they got up to do their craft–it was out of control. Definitely a bit chaotic. But, so much fun!

Marc finished the African Hope Crafts website and it’s live.

It looks fabulous! He did an amazing job.

You can see more here.

…like hanging out with 200+ high schoolers.

We had such a good night at Hillsong with our friends Sarah & Casey on Friday night, it’s their youth night and we took a bunch of kids from Ocean View (many of them are in Marc’s music group).

I’ve been helping a friend with a women’s Bible Study in a nearby coloured township, Ocean View. The women are all amazing–it’s been a blessing to get to know them.

Last night Sarah, Marc and I took the ladies to Masiphumelele. A lot has happened since the fires last week–people have been busy rebuilding their shacks.

In South Africa, women hold much of the responsibility of the family. And no one understands this as much as other women. So, Sarah wanted the Ocean View women to find other women to pray with and encourage.

We went at dusk and prayed with a woman who had lost everything for the second time (there was another fire late last year). She also has a 6 year old boy who is handicapped and is confined to a crib now because his stroller burned in the fire. He eats out of a feeding tube.

As it was getting dark, it was amazing to be able to be there as the women prayed for and with the women from Masi. They sang and worshipped together by candlelight.

It was one of the most significant moments I’ve had living in South Africa.

There are huge cultural differences between coloured and black South Africans (unlike the US, these are both politically correct and commonly used terms in South Africa). To find 10 women that are willing to go into a black township and pray with women is amazing. One of the women told us that this was only her second time in the area, and she lives less than a mile away.

Love it! God is faithful.

The Bible is clear about the call to care for widows and orphans. Yesterday, Marc and our friend Andy, helped a friend with her roof.

They had some help from her son and a neighbor (thankfully!).

Veronica and her family have been on a waiting list for a government built home since 1994 (crazy!). The roof was leaking, so they patched it with new sheets of metal, sealed the seams and used a pole in the middle of the house to lift up the flat roof enough to allow for rain to run off the roof instead of sit in the middle.

Thankfully no one fell through the roof into the house and Veronica was REALLY excited!

Happy Friday!