When the Clyburns and McAdamses first met at an informational meeting for a short-term mission trip to Africa, they said they both thought of the other couple, "They'll never make it in Africa."
Now more than two years later, both families are planning on not only making it in Africa, but building a life there.
Both Alabaster families have sold all they own and will be moving to Swaziland, a small country in southern Africa, in August. Both are members of Westwood Baptist Church in Alabaster.
Contributed
Mark Clyburn and Amy McAdams,of Alabaster, clean the feet of an orphan in Swaziland, Africa.
Mark Clyburn said they are working through the organization Adventures in Missions and will be moving to the city of Manzini. Their primary focus will be orphan ministries, working at care points throughout the countryside to provide meals, clothing and medical care to about 4,000 children.
After taking several short-term mission trips to the area, both families said they felt called to be there full-time.
"You can't go there and fall in love with these kids and meet the grandmothers who are trying to take care of these hundreds of thousands of orphans every day and come back and not be changed," Amy McAdams said. "You have to answer for it once you know about it."
Both couples are taking their children with them to Swaziland. The Clyburns have two daughters, ages 7 and 11. The McAdams have three daughters, ages 12, 8 and 6. Allison Clyburn is a teacher and will home school the girls once they get to Swaziland.
In preparation for the trip, the families have quit jobs, sold houses and given away almost all of their possessions. Each person will only be able to take two suitcases, Mark said.
"My kids have made a 180 in the last year. Before, I couldn't get them to sell their stuff at garage sales even for money. They were just attached to their things," Amy said. "But now they're just giving stuff away like crazy. They said to me, 'It's a lot easier to clean your room when you don't have any toys!'"
The homes the families will live in are in the Manzini and will have electricity and running water, most of the time, Allison said. There are still many dangers they may face, though.
Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world, Mark said. At least 50 percent of adults are infected with the disease. Swaziland also has a high crime rate and many dangerous animals.
"Anytime you see a TV show on the deadliest animals in the world, they're always from Swaziland," he said.
Allison said they plan to take precautions and protect their children from these dangers, just like they do here in the United States.
"We try to live smart here," Allison said. "We don't go to certain parts of Birmingham at night. We're going to live smart there, too. We're not going to be stupid."
While caring for orphans in Swaziland, the families will also be sharing the gospel. Though many people in Swaziland claim to be Christians, they often practice several religions, Amy said.
"They practice a combination of Christianity, ancestor worship and witchcraft," she said. "It's kinda gotten muddled together. We've met people that can quote scripture, know about Jesus, but would go to a witch doctor when they had an illness."
One of their main goals is to live as an example of a Christian family, Mark said. They also want to build relationships with the people, provide much-needed care to the orphans and share the gospel.
Right now the families are waiting until they gain enough financial support to cover their monthly expenses before they can move. Much of this support has come from the generosity of others here in Shelby County, Steve McAdams said.
"There a lot of people who would love to help orphans in Africa, but their not going to board a plane and fly 15 hours and live in the conditions that we're going to live in," he said. "That's how people can have an impact on the orphans in Swaziland, by partnering with us in prayer and in partnering with us financially. Those two ways are just as important."
For more information on giving to their cause and to follow their journey once they arrive in Swaziland, visit the families' blogs at Theclyburns.myadventures.org and Themcadams.myadventures.org
Yes, well, we are still here. Still not in Swaziland. Boy that verse about God's ways not being like our ways has really been alive and well in my mind lately. And I mean that in a totally GOOD way!
If we had had OUR way, we would have left the day after school was out in May. We wouldn't have wanted to raise our support, just quietly packed up and gone. Said goodbye to friends and family and hopped on a plane. But God's way was so different. We had to make our plans known to everyone!! Everyone we could think of got a letter or email or phone call. We had to put it all out there for all to see. For all to "judge". We had to hear people's opinions of why we shouldn't go, why it wouldn't be the best for our girls. We had to listen to our family's hearts breaking as they thought of the future with their kids, grandkids, nieces, sisters, sons, brothers being as far away as physically possible.
And worst of all......(at least to me).....we had to ask for help. For FINANCIAL help. Ugh. Humbling and a little embarrassing and alot hard. It is a very difficult thing to raise support. To ask friends and family to dig deep so that we can go and put the hands and feet to those dollars and love those babies in Swaziland for them. It is just so hard.
Then, we didn't get to leave when we thought we should. We are still not able to even purchase our tickets. God's timing is not our timing.
But this week, it was brought to my attention that if we had had it our way, what kind of prayer coverage would we have? Sure, friends and family would know about us and would pray. But since June.....SINCE the time we wanted to leave.....there have been hundreds of VBS children who heard about our story and committed to pray. There have been so, so many families who have committed to us to not only help financially, but to PRAY for us. There have been people that we hadn't even met back in June that I now count as friends....all because God had a plan to bring us together. To get THEM involved in what He is doing in Swaziland. Who am I to tell Him WHEN to do what He orchestrated in the first place?
So. Yeah, we are still here. No, we don't have a clue when we will leave. We feel like it will be very soon. We still hope it will be very soon. But we are learning to trust Him and His timing.
No terribly insightful words of wisdom...just an update.
Our new renters are moving in on Friday, 6/18. Only a few days from now! Honestly, I should NOT be sitting at the computer, blogging with so much to do!!!! YIKES! But our amazing friends and family have been so, so much help. Yard work, peeling wall paper, painting, laying new kitchen floor, packing, yard sale-ing....all so much easier and more enjoyable when your friends, your Mama, your Sister are helping. And when so many of you who couldn't be here to help physically have been praying. Thank you!
We are down to emptying out the junk drawer, the shelves in the laundry room, the girls' "collections" of sea shells, acorns and beads. Deciding what to store, what to "chunk", what to try to pack..... If you know me well, you know that quick decision making is not my strength. I like to have all the facts, weigh the pros and cons, think of all possible ramifications of each decision. Not a good character trait when you are getting rid of all (well MOST) of your worldly possessions in preparation for a move around the world. And if I am bad at snap decisions, then Steve is terrible!
So pray for us please. Here are some specifics:
Continued energy and physical strength to get it all done.
A permanent (inexpensive) place for us to "live" for the next couple of months 'til we have enough support to leave for Swazi
Peace for the girls...this is big. We are not just moving all their things to a new house, we are getting rid of almost all their "things" and moving to an unknown location for an unknown amount of time until we can get on a plane and fly to Africa! Big stuff for three little girls. Pray for me and Steve to be sensitive to their insecurities and not as quick to anger when they whine or cry.
Wisdom in packing. What to store, what to give away, what to try to pack.
Continued efforts in the support raising. We are still short a couple of thousand a month.
I know this is getting awfully long but I just have to list our Praises!!
Our church, Westwood Baptist! They chose us to be their missions project for VBS this year and those AWESOME VBS kids raised a total of over $3800! Much of it in pennies!
A friend in the Storage facility business who is helping us get a good deal!
A friend who is experienced in the property rental business that is managing our property for us! She keeps reminding me not to worry about this, that she is ON it!
A friend who could order and install a much needed new heat pump/AC within our tiny budget.
Friends in the cabinet business who helped us update our kitchen to make it more attractive to renters! For free!
All our small group. They have truly been a "family" for us and have gone above and beyond in helping us get ready to leave.
Friends (from small group) who were willing to hand over the keys to their house while they are out of town. We have a comfortable home to go to for the first few days after we move out.
I could go on and on. Please know we love and appreciate all your help and prayers. Keep praying!
Okay, so, this is what it feels like to step out on faith!!??
We are less than two weeks away from moving out of our house. A big concern for us in this decision to move to Swaziland has been what to do with our house. We were pretty sure that we would not be able to do well with selling in the current market. So we started to talk about renting. And pray about renting. Literally from a Friday to a Monday afternoon we found out about 4 different families that were needing to rent a home. By the next weekend we had spoken to several and one family in particular was very interested. Talking to them, we realized God was working in both our lives and the more we talked, the more obvious it became that renting our home was an answer to their prayers as well as ours.
The "trouble" was that they needed to be out of their house by 6/18/10. Steve and I talked and prayed and decided that would be ok. I mean, weren't we still counting on God to get us to Swaziland soon? We could trust Him in this. Then, I had a panic attack!! It dawned on me that we were moving out but had NO WHERE to go! What if....we didn't leave for Swazi as soon as we hoped? What if.....people thought we were total idiots for leaving our home with no place to go? What if.... What if..... What if.....
The girls were in bed and Steve was closing so wouldn't be home 'til after 11:00 pm. It was just me and God, alone in my panic. So I decided to catch up on my Esther Bible Study. (I just can't seem to keep up with Beth Moore's expectations of daily homework!) And wouldn't you know???? God spoke to me! He used his living and Holy Word to speak to ME! Why does it surprise me when He does this? After all these years of His faithfulness and ministry to me, why do I get surprised that He cares? The very lesson I started working on was one about trusting God. And WHAT IF's....... Beth's take on it is that the i.f. in "what if..." stands for IFear. Hmm. Well. She went on to have me list my worst fears.....and then called me out....did I not think God could handle finding us a place to stay til we leave for Africa? Did I really need to worry what others would think about our decision making process, as long as we knew this was what God had for us to do?
I had no doubt that God was comforting me through His word. He was assuring me, beyond any doubt, that He was in this. That this was the step He wanted us to take.
So. Here we are. I was pretty much hoping that He wanted us to go ahead and move out because He was planning on getting us to Swaziland in June. But, as usual, His timing is not our timing.
We are not able to finalize plans to leave until we have enough support in the bank for 2 months, all the one time expenses, and then at least a year's worth of our monthly support "pledged". We are very short on the monthly support. We still need a couple of thousand dollars a month in pledges. THis seems so impossible. So......well, impossible!!
But my Father is the King. He owns it all. He is more than capable of providing what we need in HIS timing. So. We are just taking the next step. Pressing on. Doing what we know we are to do, and trusting Him for the rest.
As I was cleaning out boxes and drawers, I found this quote by Joni Erickson Tada, one of my childhood heroes of the faith: "Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. it's simply taking God at His word and taking the next step."
This is a blog from our friends Kriek and Jumbo....shows why we want to hurry and get there!
My turn
Posted in General Articles by Matt (Jumbo) & Kriek Gerber on 5/20/2010
As things are when there is a baby on its way, one of the things that are changing is that when a team comes and visit, I need to spend a little more time at the care points with the visiting church. So this week I have gone out with the Capital church from Salt Lake City to their care point, Mkhombokati
It has been fun hanging around and watching the team doing their thing and how the kids respond to that. Capital is always one of our best prepared teams and we just always stand in amazement on all the creative ways they minister to the kids while they are here. They did bring a bunch of supplies for just a team of 10 people, but the kids are having so much fun and some of them even tried to skip school not to miss anything that is happening at the care point. We are in the middle of the trip today and still there is so much more to do and to experience.
One of the things that are amazing to me again was to see how content the kids are in their circumstances. The kids are just so use to their surroundings and it always amazes me that they seem to be happy, totally unaware of the desperation of their parents and the lack of resources to make sure that they have a future. This is one of the miracles that you get when you work with children, and maybe that is why Jesus says we need to be more like children.
I just have to share a little story of a little boy called Thandane. He is one of Kriek's favorites here at Mkombhokati and he speaks in this little deep voice that sounds like an adult man's voice. (A quick story from Kriek about Thandane: Last year he was sitting on my lap during the church's visit, when he suddenly said he wants to touch a mlungu - a white person. Next moment he jumped off my lap, ran to the first team member that walked by, grabbed him around the leg, squeezed the guy's leg, and then jumped back onto my lap ... satisfied that he had touched a mlungu! It was so cute; I just had to laugh at this little guy!)
So when I, Jumbo, saw him yesterday, he had a little sore on the tip of his nose. I asked him what happened and he told me a mouse has bitten him. I laughed and asked him if he was sure it was a mouse and he very firmly replied that it was a mouse and a very big one with it. He did not think it was funny that I was not believing him. But we laughed together and he told me in detail how he woke up the evening and how the mouse, NOT a rat (he said!) was chewing on his nose. I was thinking that I would have most likely freaked out if that was my boy, but then I just looked at him and realized that that is the way things are here and he is totally going to be fine.
It is good for me to spend some time at the care point and with the kids so that I do not forget that this is why we are here; for the kids and being part of making sure they grow up and have a future, even if mice might chew on their noses in the evenings.
Felt the need to share this story with all of you. Help us make things better for these wonderful people!
Finally, Blog #2! This is actually my third attempt at Blog #2. Hopefully this one will be the keeper. I apologize for not updating more regularly. Please pray for me to be more diligent in blogging. And also please pray for the AT&T technician to be available to fix our internet during times when we are actually able to be home!! ugghh.
So, here we are at the end of March. That means it is almost April, which is the month we were hoping to be able to buy our tickets for Swaziland. Not possible yet, but God is still God and we are still pressing on toward this goal. We need Him to show up in a BIG way in order to be able to leave in June. I have no doubt that He is able, and so far, we have not heard him say any different, so we are just continuing on this path. Fund raising is so very difficult. It requires much humility, much faith, much patience, much diligence. Hard.
We have been so encouraged, though, by the response of friends and others that we have been able to share our story, and the story of the Swazi ministry with. We have been blessed by the people of Sixth Street Baptist Church in Alexander City, Alabama! They let us have a whole Sunday night service to show pictures, tell stories and express to them the love that we believe God is ready to pour out on the people and orphans of Swaziland! It was a great experience for me personally because God used it to draw me out of my comfort zone. I am not a fan of public speaking, so I was more than a little relieved when we got there to set up and the sound people said, "We only have 3 lapel mics". I was so happy to be gracious and let Steve and the Clyburns have them!! Then, wouldn't you know it, they found a hand mic for me. Drat. But once we got started talking, I had to keep myself from interrupting at times to tell the people my experiences. What a blessing of God to show up like that and give me not only peace, but excitement to speak.
More recently, our friends Weyman and Sandi Prater set up a dinner in order for us to speak to some friends of theirs (and some of ours!) at Mountain Brook Community Church. When Sandi and I had first discussed this dinner, I pictured a quiet, intimate time at the Prater's home. Well, God had other plans and next thing I knew we were meeting at their church in order to accommodate the amount of people! Again, I was a little nervous to think about speaking to these people. But once we started visiting with these precious friends, old and new, I could hardly keep from talking! To be able to stand before them and share the story of these precious people and what we believe to be God's vision for them and for their country was the greatest honor. We were so blessed that night by people just serving and loving us and being truly interested in helping us get to and minister in Swaziland. God used it, too, to renew in me the excitement and joy that seems to get trampled when I focus so much on the finances and the lists of things to "do" before we go. Why am I consistently surprised when He reminds me of his love and mercy towards us?
So, dear friends, please pray for us. Pray for us to be obedient in following the paths that God opens up for us in this time of raising financial and prayer support. Pray for us to have more opportunities to speak to groups about what we hope to be doing in Swazi. Pray for us to get work done on the house so that we can begin to search for renters. Pray for someone who will rent the house from us!! There are many, many more prayer requests as I am sure you can imagine. I would love to talk or email or facebook any of you personally if you would like more details.
Please contact us anytime. It is so precious to me to receive encouragement from friends. And the prayers are definitely being felt! Please keep it up.
Well, here goes the first blog! An update of where we are on our journey to get to Swaziland.
I am coming to realize that this part of our experience, the "getting" there is just as important as once we get there. God has things he wants to teach us now, places he wants to use us now, people he would have us love on and minister to...NOW! How much time do we waste waiting for life to happen.....when I get to college, when I graduate, when I get married, when we have kids, when we get out of debt, when the kids are older, when we retire, when we get to Swaziland... I don't want to miss out on today by being obsessed with getting to "tomorrow".
So, the challenge is to figure out what He wants me to learn in this "in between time".
One major lesson is, of course, FAITH! It will be an absolute work of God if we are able to raise the financial support necessary to leave for Swaziland in June. Yet, that is the date that we all feel He has given us.
We got to meet with Scott and Marcia Borg and Kriek and Jumbo Gerber this week to do a little planning and it is very obvious that we are needed in Swaziland ASAP. The staff there needs help. AIM is now caring for almost 3000 orphans at 23 different carepoints in Swaziland. The responsibilities of these AIM staff are staggering. There is so much to do and not enough people to physically get it all done. One thing that concerns us is that those that are there now will get burned out. That is a very real concern for missionaries everywhere, but we want to try to ease the burden for some of them and make it easier to accomplish what God wants to be done in Swaziland.
To get there in June we need to have our support raised by mid-April! This will give us time to reserve our flight and prepare to leave the country! Man, mid-April is very, very close. Can we do this? No. Can God do it? I believe He can.
We love you all and know we cannot do it alone. Please pray about how God would have you be involved in this ministry. This will be YOUR ministry....we will just be using your resources to carry out the footwork. Senders are every bit as involved in missions as the ones who are actually sent. We absolutely cannot do this without you.
Please pray for Steve and for me as we try to be diligent in completing the tasks that need to be done to prepare to leave. We found out at our recent meeting with Kriek, Jumbo, the Clyburns and the Borgs that Steve and I both are PEOPLE motivated rather than TASK motivated. No big surprise to us or to any of you that know us, but it does shed some light on why we have such a hard time getting things checked off our lists. We'd much rather spend time with friends, or the girls or on Facebook even than on TASKS.
That being said, if anyone would like to get together to get more information about Swaziland, or if you would like us to speak to your church or Bible study, just let us know!! We would love to share our stories, pictures and love for Swazi people.
Thanks for loving us and being interested in this next step in our lives.....
