By: Aleisha Marina Pienaar
We have our tickets booked! We will be leaving New Zealand on December 3rd, and we will be back on the 21st. It was a bit of a juggle, but we found the best flights at STA travel today (Start The Adventure! For sure!). Not many people make the trip we are doing, so it was interesting finding flights and connections that worked well. We will be landing in Santiago, Chile, before carrying on to Lima, Peru. From there we trek into the jungle near the Peruvian/Brazilian border, and then God will do the rest. We've started to make lists of things that we will need over there, discussing the practicality of various items, and overall getting very excited. There is something affirming about having the tickets booked. It makes the dream all the more a reality. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us with prayer, offering speaking opportunities to us, and helping us out with the financials. There is still much to be done between now and December, but it is encouraging knowing that you guys are out there, helping us to make it work. God is providing all the time in the most amazing ways, and we are so grateful for His faithfulness and the clarity of His voice leading us forward. Glory to our Lord!
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By: Emil André Pienaar Hey Tribe, Here is my video testimony of how I made the decision to go to the Amazon Jungle. Music Credit to Arnold van der Spuy. Song title: "Have you made?" God Bless By: Aleisha Marina Pienaar
Hello Tribe! One of our Heavenly Father's titles, Jehovah Jireh, means "The Lord will provide." Admittedly, I'm not the best at trusting God to provide for me. He always does, but I always doubt, and constantly need to remind myself that He will provide. On this website, you may have seen our "sponsorship" page. While this does lead to financial support details, it also mentions other ways that we ask people to support us. For example, praying for and with us that God will use us in the jungle to do amazing things in His name and for His glory. We would like to share a little though about God's amazing provision financially. Emil and I are pleased to announce we are only $900 away from purchasing our flight tickets for our trip to the Amazon at the end of this year. Before you stop reading and think, "Oh dear, here are a couple of missionaries crying out for financial support again," This post is not about asking for more, its about celebrating how God has provided! Do you know the story of Gideon and the fleece? It can be found in Judges 6. Basically, the story goes about a man (Gideon) who feels unfit to lead an army that God calls him to lead. In order to make sure that He is hearing God correctly, he lays a fleece out before going to bed, and says, "God, if you really want me to do this crazy thing, when I wake up let the fleece be wet with the morning dew, and let the ground all around it be dry." Next morning, he wakes up, and God has caused the fleece to be wet and the ground to be dry. Now, Gideon's thinking that this could be coincidence, so that night he lays out another fleece and says, "Ok, just to make sure, how about tomorrow morning, let the fleece be bone-dry, and the ground all around it wet with dew." God humours Gideon, and does as he asks. This way, Gideon knew that God was calling him to take this step of faith. Now, Emil and I wanted to go to the jungle in January, just past, but things didn't work out. We had a few dark days, not fully understanding why God didn't allow us to go, so we prayed about it and lay out our symbolic fleeces. In February, we asked God to provide us with $500 by the end of April to boost our faith a little, and to indicate that we should go at the end of this year. I'm a very time-oriented person. I hate being late, and I hate when things don't happen when they should. In fact, I like it when things are done earlier. So nearing the end of April I started to lose faith, and disappointment started to set in. Emil, ever convinced of God's faithfulness, reminded me about the story of Lazarus, where Jesus only came four days after Lazarus had died. Despite that massive obstacle, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11). Emil smiled at me while I was complaining about the situation, and said to me: "Remember, God is always on time. Even if He is four days late, He is precisely on time." Sound a little like a certain wizard from Lord of the Rings? ;) Well, just to show that God has a sense of humour, On May the 4th (Star Wars reference. The geek in me is really shining tonight!) God provided that sum, unexpected, and very welcomed. It also came from a channel neither of us expected. It just goes to show that God provides - ALWAYS. Please celebrate this victory with us, and join us in prayer as we continue to prepare our hearts for the work God is calling us into in December this year. by: Aleisha Marina Pienaar
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? The verse above is so pivotal in the life of a Christian. When we decide to follow Christ, we literally let go of who we were and allow Him to shape us and form us into His image. This doesn't mean that we lose our identity and our uniqueness, but it does mean that we are shedding the skin of the past and becoming a new creation. How exciting to know that Jesus wants to change us into His image? He wants to present us blameless before the Father. This is why He gave his life. He died, and took on all the punishment of the past, present and future. He suffered and was cut of from the Father - all because of His endless love for us. This is why Emil and I are so passionate about reaching the unreached people in the Jungle. If we do not go, who will? God has given each and every one of us a mission. Today I would like to encourage you to ask God what His mission is for you. Stay tuned to our blog to find out a little more about the journey that has led both Emil and I to making this decision to follow Christ to the Amazon. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Jesus Matthew 28:18-20 |
Emil & Aleisha PienaarWe are Missionaries who travel to the Amazon Jungle. Our home base is Dunedin, New Zealand. Our heart is to reach the unreached. Archives
October 2018
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