mitch & char

mitch & char

Wednesday, April 21

Sandcastles


Hi everyone...Char here. Wanted to share a devo a friend recently sent us - Thanks Miss Lacy!!

Max Lucado writes: "A little boy is on the beach. He packs the sand with plastic shovels into a bright red bucket. Then he upends the bucket and a sandcastle is created. A man is in his office. He shoves papers into stacks and delegates assignments. Numbers are juggled, contracts are signed, and a profit is made."

"Two builders - two castles. they see nothing and make something. And for both the tide will rise and the end will come. Yet that's where the similarities cease. For the boy sees the end while the man ignores it. Watch the boy as dusk approaches. As the waves near, the wise child begins to clap. There is no sorrow. No fear. No regret. He knew this would happen. He is not surprised. And when the great breaker finally crashes upon his castle and his masterpiece is sucked into the sea, he smiles, picks up his tools takes his father's hand and goes home. The grown-up however, is not so wise. As the wave of years collapses on his castle he is terrified. He hovers over the sandy monument he protected. He blocks the waves from the walls he has made. Salt-water soaked and shivering he scowls at the incoming tide. 'It's my castle,' he defies. The ocean need not respond. Both know to whom the sand belongs...and I don't know much about sandcastles. But children do. Watch them and learn. Go ahead and build, but build with a child's heart. When the sun sets and the tides take - applaud. Salute the process of life, then take your Father's hand and go home."

"ALL THE THINGS I HAD TOILED FOR...I MUST LEAVE...TO THE ONE WHO COMES AFTER ME." ECC 2:18.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did. Blessings to you as you build with a child's heart.

Friday, April 16

Mitch n Char's monthly newsletter - April 2010

4 months and we move!

Image too small?  -click it! :-)

 


Mitch and Charlotte Hildebrant
Missionaries to Swaziland Africa
Learn more and keep up with us here:
www.childrenscup.org  
www.facebook.com/mitchchar  
www.twitter.com/mitch1char


If you would like to partner with us in ministry, you may donate online at: http://www.childrenscup.org/v2/pgg.php  

 

Thursday, April 15

What AIDS has done to Swaziland

How blessed we are here in America:

The Kingdom of Swaziland is facing an enormous challenge in preventing and controlling the HIV and AIDS epidemic, which is growing at an alarming rate. This small landlocked country in southern Africa has the highest HIV prevalence rate worldwide. Swaziland not only has the world's highest HIV prevalence rate, it now also has the highest tuberculosis (TB) rate. One in four adults is infected with HIV; by the end of 2007 an estimated 170,000 people were living with HIV, and every year an estimated 13,000 people develop TB, the primary opportunistic disease in HIV-positive people.

The first AIDS case was officially reported in 1986 and since then the number of AIDS cases has increased every year. HIV infection levels among pregnant women attending selected maternal clinics increased rapidly from 3.9% in 1992 to 42.3% in 2004. This AIDS epidemic is characterized by increased morbidity and mortality as well as an increased number of orphans. The demand for health services has increased, surpassing the resource capacity for health care. Life expectancy has declined from the age of 55 in the late '80s to about 32 years currently, which is among the lowest in the world. As of 2004, the number of orphans was estimated at 69,000 children. This number is projected to increase to 120,000 this year. The Swazi tradition of polygamy is one of the reasons for the continuing spread of the disease. Swazi men currently have multiple sexual partners. Swazi women do not have the right to demand the use of condoms by their spouses.

The population of Swaziland is becoming an hour glass with the middle generation almost totally disappearing. Grandparents have been left with trying to care for numerous grandchildren and unable to provide the food, clothing and school fees needed. 80% of children who have not been tested and treated for HIV will die by the age of 10. Most girls will not reach young adulthood without being sexually abused or given to men by family in order to earn food or plowing of fields. Young boys left without supervision join gangs where smoking, drinking and sexual activity are encouraged and theft is promoted.

-The amazing thing to me is that AIDS is not the virus that is killing Swaziland... Hopelessness is the virus that is killing Swaziland! We DO have a cure for that, and His name is Jesus.

Mitch and Charlotte Hildebrant
Missionaries to Swaziland Africa
Learn more and keep up with us here:
http://www.childrenscup.org/
http://www.mitchionary.blogspot.com/
www.facebook.com/mitchchar
www.twitter.com/mitch1char
If you would like to partner with us in ministry, you may donate online at: http://www.childrenscup.org/v2/pgg.php

Tuesday, April 6

Pictures are worth 1000 words

I think they may be worth more than that. Todays blog is simply Photos of kids in Swaziland:

They have Hope! and Hope's name is Jesus!

(photos courtesy of Ty VanRensburg-thanks man!!!)

Friday, April 2

today

Well, it is Good Friday. The images of “Passion of the Christ” still flash infront of us. We have not watched it since it came out in theatres several years ago. To imagine that He did it for us… who are we? We certainly did not deserve that! BUT OH how He loves us, and that proved it. His death meant our life! What a conflict- it took someone dying so that we could live. We want to rejoice(and we do), yet we are saddened(and we weep). 2 emotions simultaneously.

It pails in comparison, but today was a conflicting day for us. Our flesh reacted in its “covetous” nature. We sold our home today.. we are elated-as it is one step closer to His dream in us (Swaziland Africa), but sad that we no longer have the nice house… at the end of it all-it is a NO brainer- why would we put a house on a pedestal as high as Christ… well, not as high, but I think you get our drift. It is just our flesh, and we so want those pieces carved out. We are sad, but truly counting it as joy.

This weekend, we will spend Easter with great friends(friends that are housing us for 2 weeks) then up to North Dakota(taking the antiques from the house up to storage at the family farm and speaking at 2 great churches)..then moving in with other great friends who will have their house completed and are ready for us to move in with them through August.

We are in awe of Him, of those He uses, and of the junk we still have to get rid of in our lives…He truly is molding us-and we are SO grateful!