My 50th Birthday Celebration…It was AWESOME!
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- Dancing to the 70′s in Richmond!
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- “Momma” Bland
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- “Daddy” Bland
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- I love “soul food”!
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- A “kodak” moment with my parents!
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- Takia & Richard III joining in the festivities!
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- Some of my favorite friends!
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- The 70′s dance room!
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- Another friend all the way from South Africa!
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- Headed to watch “Alvin Ailey Dance Theater”!
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- Howard Gilmer Opera house in Brooklyn, NY
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- Feeling young at heart @ 50!
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- Special ladies that made my birthday celebration special!
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- “Juniors” has the best cheesecake and sweet potatoe fries in NY!
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- Off to Mahatten for tea!
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- Tea @ the Ritz Carlton Hotel!
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- Lots of sweets!
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- My sistahs blessed me & made my birthday weekend special!
A special thanks to my family and friends for making my 50th the best birthday celebration ever. I’m extremely blessed and grateful to have such a wonderful support system and community.
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Ubuntu – It’s Harvest Time!
The Ubuntu national student conference was more than a gathering. It was a life changing experience that’s still going on now. Students showed up from various places around the nation with an eager heart to “know their God, stand firm and take action.” (Dan. 11:32b)
The first evening’s coffeehouse event helped everyone get to know each other through humor, dance and song. Some people’s characters revealed themselves early creating a sense of connection that continued throughout the rest of the weekend. Various speakers, workshop facilitators and instructors did an excellent job addressing aspects of the theme, which set up participants to spend Sunday afternoon doing outreach in partnership with Mamelodi Baptist Church. While chanting, “It’s harvest time”, students and staff, along with the church’s youth, went door to door sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Within one hour, 111 people were talked to and 59 people trusted Christ as their Lord and Savior…Praise Him!
Transformation not only occurred in those that accepted Christ but in the lives of the participants as well. One student said, “It was truly an amazing experience that definitely changed my perspective and the direction of my life a couple of degrees.” Stay tuned…the best is yet to come!
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- Ubuntu participants!
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- At the coffeehouse!
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- Jerrah & Tammi hyping up the crowd as emcees!
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- Students showing off their moves!
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- Us staff showing the youngin’s our groove!
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- Preparing to give the students a charge to “take action”!
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- Pastor Jentile greeting us at his church!
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- Tommy – a new comer to our ministry at Tuks!
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- Mom and kids went witnessing too!
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- Brothers giving the gospel as an alternative to alcohol!
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- People hungry for the gospel!
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- Pastor Jentile’s oldest preparing to join us!
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- Organizing the troops to hit the streets!
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“Hope of Glory” Ministry Brings Chirstmas to Hammanskraal!
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- Preparing the fun snacks!
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- Violet witnessing to the kids!
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- One of the very young!
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- Volunteers helping with preparing the meal!
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- Thelma bringing order to the chaos!
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- Somef our kids hungry and ready to eat!
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- One of those attentive to hearing the gospel!
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- The jumping castle!
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- Preparing to distribute clothes!
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- Sharing the gospel with Daddy Legodi and Esther!
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- Enough clothes for everyone…Praise Him!
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- We’re blessed to be a blessing!
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- Potentially their only meal for the day
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- Some of our younger volunteers!
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- The grannies & aunties were happy…so were we!
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- He’s telling Maria the names of 7 other orphans in his household!
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- Ready to hear the gospel!
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- Everyone got a copy!
On 19th December, Thelma, Maria, Violet and I headed to Hammanskraal with our cars loaded down with donated clothes, food and a heart to serve. We decided during our meeting the previous month to bring “Christmas to Hammanskraal” for many who are considered orphans in this particular area. It’s amazing how it doesn’t take much to make it feel like Christmas to many of these kids. As usual, the kids with their grannies and aunties were waiting for our arrival. It took some time in the 90 degree weather to prepare a simple meal, put together a fun snack for the kids as well as coordinate sizes for the number of clothes donated. But we managed with other volunteers to lend a helping hand. Not only was every child fed and clothed with tops, trousers and shoes, but we were able to rent two jumping castles that seemed to be the best Christmas present ever. This is just the beginning of things to come as we continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus!
(James 1:27)
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Pamoja Africa: Backwards Never, Forward Ever!
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- First night celebration – a parade of nations!
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- Pamoja conference praise team!
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- Students going buck wild on stage from excitement!
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- Joyce – an old friend from Uganda!
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- Waiting on others for the Jesus march!
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- A kodak moment with Igshaan – one of our students from Cape Town!
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- A market in Abidjan, Cote d’voire
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- Austin – the tallest man I know from Nigeria! Celebrating International Night!
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- Marching with the band – it felt like a Black College Reunion experience!
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- Abidjan – a busy city!
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- Welcome Pamoja Africa!
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- An Ivorian taxi!
On New Year’s eve night, 1,100 students representing 35 nations chanted the above statement to commit to taking a stand to redeem their countries with the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to transform the continent of Africa. The days leading up to this event held main session speakers challenging the audience to holiness, integrity and purity from the word. There were training seminars as well as topics addressing various needs. A special treat was a visit by the First Lady of Cote d’Ivoire. She gave a powerful message challenging the audience to not hold back but to go for it in light of who God has created them to be. Although the weather in Yamoussoukro, the new capital of Cote d’Ivoire, was a sweltering 97 degrees with high humidity, we did a Jesus march down one of the main streets. Like every winter conference I’ve attended lives were impacted, life time decisions were made and several more laborers raised up for the harvest!
(Luke 10:2)
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“Hope of Glory” NGO
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- Inside Mr. Legodi’s hall!
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- Grannys coming to be interviewed at “Hope of Glory”
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- Maria interviewing a granny!
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- One of many homes in Hammanskraal!
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- Hammanskraal – location of “Hope of Glory”!
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- Mr. Legodi with the 9th of his 18 children – Violet!
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- “Hope of Glory” team – Maria, Faith, Voilet and Me!
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- Central meeting place – Mr. Legodi’s property!
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- One of many outdoor toilets!
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- One of many children in need!
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Ethiopian Adventure!
Here are a few snap shots of my time in Addis Ababa! Enjoy!
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- I had to take a picture of this!
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- Tiny transport!
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- New Year’s dinner!
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- Emerging Leader’s class in Addis Ababa!
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- Diaspora square – where everybody sells, shops and pick up transport!
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- Some of the tallest bill boards!
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- Rebuilding the city after communism!
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- Facilitating discussion on “teamship”!
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Welcome Friends!
Welcome to the beginnings of “JBMemoirs”, which captures a glimpse of my heart, my service, my tips and travel adventures right here in my blog.
Feel free to journey with me as you read, look at pictures and add comments as you feel inspired to do so. I pray that this website will give you a fuller picture of my experience here in South Africa. Enjoy the journey with me!
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