Impi Charles

Impi=Zulu Warrior

Those who know Charles Young will not be surprised by this post... those who don't, well, sit down, get ready.

First I must tell you that there is no one on this missionfield who is more in love with Jesus and more ready to share The Blessed Hope than Charles. He and Kristen have brought energy to Children's Cup that makes my head spin.
They have been here only 7 months and already half of Manzini and Mbabane know them.

Everywhere they go there are people calling, "Charles!" "Kristen!" and waving like crazy. Charles waves back and greets each one by name, usually having a little story to tell about this one and that one. Sometimes they have a bit of food to hand out to street kids who they know are hungry. Just loving them in Jesus' name.

No challenge is too tough. No corner too dark. No person too dirty. The Youngs go after and love them all.

That said, I wish to present another side of Charles: He's crazy.

Yesterday Charles and Kristen came over before attending a wedding. And Charles was going in full Swazi costume.

Here are my pix...with a bit of explanation on each.

My Housegirl, Martha, helps Charles get the shoulder knot tied right

Young Missionaries (no, kristen didn't wear her jeans to the wedding)

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news..." Isaiah 52:7a

This Saturday, November 18, is the Youth Invasion all-day event that Charles put together--please be in prayer for all of us as we minister to thousands of Swazi youth.

The Cook's Appreciation Brunch

This week we held a very special brunch to honor our volunteer CarePoint cooks.

Kristen, Jean, Paige, Lita, Annette

Missionaries Pat Conti, Teresa Rehmeyer, Kristen (and Charles) Young along with guest "missionaries" Paige Becnel (Kristen's mom) from our own Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Lita Veron and Annette Bates from Household of Faith in Gonzales, LA; Pat's Mom, Barbara Conti, Pat's brother, Robert Conti (who got a bunch of photos for us) both from HPC, their cousin Steve from Washington DC, and I were there to express our gratitude for their faithfulness to the job. Ben even showed up for a brief time between his meetings.

Day in and day out these dear ladies get up early to go to their CarePoints to fix the food that our wonderful donors have provided for the children God has called us to minister to. They live in very humble places, and have very little themselves.

So we wanted to give them a time to have a meal that they didn't have to fix. And to make it an event they wouldn't forget!

Each guest found a long-stemmed rose at her place at the white-clothed table. Annette and Lita opened with prayer and lovely song--Annette sang, Lita signed (deaf language). The brunch was served buffet style, and I'm sure the ladies had their fill.

Some of our ladies don't know Jesus--yet. So we wanted to take advantage of the moment to let them sense His great love by the ways we treated them.

Then Paige brought an awesome message: The Story of Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand. She pointed out that the little boy with the food probably had a momma who got up early to cook the fish and make the bread. And that her faithfulness to her job was the beginning of the feeding of over 5000 people; a miracle. No one knows what that momma's name was. She's not even mentioned in the story. But she did it anyway. And see what happened!

Well, that really touched their hearts and encouraged them. Paige had our guest-cooks come forward and the missionaries laid hands on each one and prayed for them. It became quite emotional for us...

Then we gave out "award certificates" for various things they had done with excellence throughout the year. The cooks of the winning CarePoints stood and danced and cheered when their names were announced. We gave every lady a smaller certificate called "The Servant's Heart Award" for their sacrificial service to the children.

There were gifts for each lady to take home with her at the close of our party: Annette and Lita had lovely scarves for them with a scripture prayer printed on a tag attached with a ribbon. We had a pretty gift basket for them, too.

There was music, such singing you have never heard as the cooks raised their voices in praise to the Lord. Harmonies that only Africa can offer... I'm sure our Heavenly Father was blessed.

I know I was.

So sad...

So sad about Ted Haggard.

Whether he be guilty of some, guilty of all, or guilty of none, I'm just sad.

And I'm praying for him and his family.

I'm also praying for his church people.

But my heart is very sad. So many people are hurting.

God please heal hurting hearts...

The Ten Best Things to Say at Work When You are Caught Sleeping at Your Desk

Okay. I don't usually post the stuff I get in my emails. Although a lot of it is nonsense, some is incredibly funny to me. This one made me laugh aloud. So thought I'd share. Adjusted here or there this just might work at school too.

Here goes the David Letterman style countdown:

10. "They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen."

9. "This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time management course you sent me to."

8. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout. You probably got here just in time."

7. "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and envisioning a new business strategy."

6. "I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."

5. "I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work-related stress. Are you discriminatory toward people who practice Yoga?"

4. "Darn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out how to handle that big accounting problem."

3. "Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?"

2. "Who put decaf in the wrong pot?"

And the NUMBER ONE best thing to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk:

1. Raise your head slowly and say, "...in Jesus name, Amen."

A Lizard's Tale

I figured that if I didn’t start posting, that everyone would think I’d died and gone to heaven. (I’m not nearly as far behind in my posting as a certain son of mine is, however.)

The summer was spent in the USA visiting some of our precious donors/supporters for ‘Cup. Some folks we’d never met eye-to-eye before and for others it had been a very, very long time since we’d visited “live.” Before we knew it, it was time to come back to Swaziland.

Since we have been back here, we have had many guest teams come and go. They have all been tremendously helpful to us. The Dr Beyda's medical clinic was outstanding—you can read about it in the blogs of the other ‘Cup missionaries.

One very short visit included none other than Chad Daniel. Those who know Chad, know he’s a tremendous speaker/preacher/missionary to the youth of the world. But he’s also a bit on the…well…weird side.

As we (the 'Cup Team and Chad's team) ate Sunday dinner at a really cool and quaint mountain inn buffet, sitting on the veranda, Chad suddenly caught a lizard. Not just one of those wee things that we are used to having hang out on our walls and eat mosquitoes. Nope. It was about 12-15 inches long, head to tip of tail. And it had a sharp bite.

Needless to say, Levi and Kayla were delighted.

And Charles was not to be left out of the melee.

Poor critter. After he showed his strength and fierceness, he gave up and played dead.

End of the story is that the critter lives, unharmed (unless he got rabies from hanging on Chad’s or Charles’ ear). Mr Lizard was set free after all the excitement. And now he lives on to tell his children and his children’s children about the crazy day he met Chad Daniel.

Check out the photos and put your own captions on. Never a dull moment when Chad and Charles are on the same block.

So You Want to Come to Africa!

I keep getting questions from folks wanting to come to work with or visit Children’s Cup on the field. So I thought I’d give y’all a few guidelines to answer some and to stir up others.


For anyone who is seriously interested in being part of a missions trip to visit/work with Children's Cup projects, our policy is that you MUST work through your pastor.

Until your pastor can put together a trip that includes YOU, you can do some things to prepare yourself. Get busy doing something NOW.

Volunteer to do anything and everything. The yukky jobs and the happy ones. Even without being told, pick up after yourself and others in the row you sit in at church. Pick up the paper towels in the bathrooms. Wipe off the sink.

Be friendly with everyone. Shake hands with the newcomers and welcome them.

Act like Jesus.

Stay in the Word. Get to know God and His ways. Realize His love for the lost. Adopt that love for yourself, so you can truly care for others.

Teach yourself to be a servant. That's the beginning of missions work.

Then you will be ready to be a powerful tool God can use on the missionfield--and anywhere!

When the pastor feels you are ready, have him contact our office—info@childrenscup.org—for your next steps.

Pat's Pig Tails

I have SO much to blog about that I wasn't sure where to start. But this has to be the best.

Go Pat.



He endured hours of pain to accomplish this special look. The Swazi-Italian twist.

(Yikes. And I used to think sleeping on brush rollers was painful.)

Pat Conti has a huge heart for the people of Swaziland. He knows how to love them to Jesus.

So glad he's part of our 'Cup Team.