The Winds of Change - Following God's Direction

God has been speaking to us quite a lot since our return to South Africa 4 months ago. And while we don't always understand His direction, we do trust in His mighty plan. 

We returned to our home in South Africa in January excited and glad to be back. Our furlough was a wonderful time to catch up with friends and family, and to promote The Fold. But we missed our 15 Fold kiddos, Paul and Micky, our apartment, and just our life here in general, plus adjusting to America again was hard.

About a month after our return here I began to hear God whispering that our chapter here was done. That He has another plan. We've experienced this before several years ago on our journey to the mission field and it is confusing. We have plans for The Fold, hopes and dreams. Yet God continued to assure me that change was coming. About a month later, we were in Durban. Trying to refresh after a very busy furlough and get back into the groove of African life. One day while sitting on the beach, God spoke to me as I watched my family play in the sand and waves. He told me this was our only family trip in Africa and to make most of it. Again, utter confusion. I began to pray fervently, very much believing this could be Satan at work.

A couple of weeks later, just as our situation several years ago, I sat down with Adam for dinner while Ethan and Caeley were at youth group and found that we had been having the same promptings from the Lord. What could they mean? This chapter finished? We had no desire to return to life as it was, and no desire to leave here. But that night, God said trust me, and He gave us peace. A peace we have only experienced 2 other times in our lives. When He redirected our missions path several years ago, and when he sent us here to The Fold. We had no direction, no timing, no comprehension of what God had in store. Maybe a change in our roles here? Maybe a different ministry focus in this area? Maybe we wouldn't know for years. So we waited and we prayed and we went to scripture. But we kept living life as normal.

The last few months we have had quite a bit of crime in our area. Text messages warning us about axe murderers on our road. Rapists that could be headed our direction on our road. Lots of trespassers on our property at night. And the people, strangers, in the nearby towns are even looking at us differently than ever before. Looks that seem say they want us dead. An American friend and I were together last Saturday, and she began to describe this happening with her family. They are here 6 months a year and just returned in December. They have never dealt with this in the past. Neither had we.

We were scared. The crimes that are being committed are urged by the government. Things were holding together better when Nelson Mandela was alive, but as soon as He died, some of the people were glad to no longer honor him with his wishes for harmony. Many do not want white people here, owning their land, effecting the economy they think they would like to have. We are considered farmers, because we live on a farm (large parcel of land in the bush). The crimes that are happening are hate crimes against farmers. Horrendous acts meant to hurt, destroy, dehumanize, and kill white people.

What does this mean for us? Certainly God calls people to live in and serve Him in dangerous places. But does this match up with God's promptings for us the past couple of months? Adam has had the most stress of his life as he has been dealing with his responsibility of protecting us, his family. He has spent a lot of time in prayer and reading scripture. God began to give him direction that moving us back to the states was His way of protecting us at this time.

Adam was still unsure, and continued to seek God's divine wisdom and direction. And God continued to confirm His direction for us. We sat down with our kids and began to share with them everything that God had put on our hearts. We found out that they both had been feeling like God was preparing them to return to the states the last couple of months. They didn't understand it, and hadn't talked to us about it, but had confided in one another. Ethan shared with me that God told him in Durban that our time there would be our only trip like that here. The same thing He told me. We all four prayed and continued to seek God. He gave Adam Proverbs 2:1-11. And that same day, as I began a study of Making Wise Choices and Following God's Direction, He gave me the exact same scripture:

1 My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within
   you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to
    understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden
   treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the
    Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and
    understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the
    upright,
    he is a shield to those whose walk is
    blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful
    ones.
9 Then you will understand what is right
    and just
    and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to
    your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
     and understanding will guard you.

We have been consulting with a couple of our friends/mentors through this process and I just now received this verse from one of them:

God is to us a God of deliverances; And to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
Psalm 68:20

God has given us an urgency to obey Him now. To use the wisdom and discernment to honor Him in closing this chapter at this time and returning to the states. We don't know why exactly, or what His purpose was for our time here - how He's going to use it (although it has been incredibly impactful, and we have been drawn so close to him through this experience, and we are so grateful for this time we have had to shine the LIGHT and share so much love with these children), or at all what is next. But we know that we serve an Almighty God, a Father that knows so much better than us. So we trust him.

We place it all in His hands, as our utmost desire is serve Him and be walking in His will, whether that is in South Africa or Indiana, or who knows where. Thankfully our Father does!

While safety can be an issue here, it is not our reason for leaving, our reason for leaving is obedience to God's direction, and He is telling us that this is how He is choosing to protect us amidst the violence. Does that mean that people should not be missionaries in South Africa? Absolutely not. We believe that God calls people to live and minister in places all over the world that aren't "safe", but we also believe that the safest place to be is in God's will!

Paul and Micky will be continuing on. And we are praying for the people God calls to work with them. It is a wonderful ministry and we trust and know that God is even more in love with it than we are, and He will provide.

If you have questions for us, please ask. We are a bit in shock with this veer off the path we were on, but we are at peace.
We will be leaving South Africa this coming Friday, arriving in the states on Saturday, May 9th.

There is a fully furnished apartment in Greencastle that has been graciously offered to us for the next 3 months, and Adam has a job interview in 2 weeks. But beyond that....we are unsure. We trust that God knows what is best and that He will provide for us as we resettle in the US at this time. Resettling will be quite a task as we sold most of our belongings, all of our furniture, and our vehicles before we moved. If you are interested in helping us financially as we "get back on our feet," CTEN will continue to handle donations for us for the next 3 months, which should be through August. You can find our CTEN page at www.cten.org/adamhayes.

Please keep us in your prayers as we mourn the closing of this chapter, and as we step into what God has in store for us next.

With big thanks in advance for your prayers,
Adam, Jennifer, Ethan, and Caeley Hayes

Blasts from the Past - Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas - 2013!

The children enjoyed several Christmas parties throughout the month of December by companies in our area! We love having the local people involved in the ministry of The Fold!

Junior opening a Christmas gift from visitors!








We became parents of a teenager! Yikes!

Ethan turned 13 on December 20th!

We gave him a bow for his birthday. He had done a ton of research and knew exactly what he was interested in. It was fun to give him something that he can keep and use for a long time.

We celebrated with The Fold, enjoying chocolate cake and ice cream!

We celebrated as a family with German Chocolate Cake and Taco Night! 

Our first tacos in South Africa and Ethan's favorite!

We are friends with some students from ECHO, a school in Florida doing research at a farm here in South Africa. Here we are with Chris and Arun. They brought us 50-60 moringa trees to plant in our garden!

If you aren't familiar with Moringa Trees, please take a few minutes to check them out. The vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that they nourish your body with are amazing, not to mention the protein content! The internet is full of info and Organic Moringa can be purchased many places in the states, including Amazon.com.

Another Christmas celebration! This time with OK Grocers. They had an "angel tree" for the kids set up in their Lephahale store location.

Sweet little Junior!

Caeley, the mamas, and a couple of the kids making Caeley's Grandma Lynne's Christmas Shortbread Cookies! They were so yummy!







Reading the kids the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve! It was an interactive felt book, and the kids enjoyed each having a piece and coming up to help with the story.

We do Bible Story Time every night, but we especially enjoyed it throughout this month of December. We did advent lessons every night and the kids decorated a new ornament each evening for their Jesse Tree, which followed the lineage of Jesus through the Old Testament.










Caeley and I made Christmas sugar cookies!
















The Christmas tree in Ruth House
with round one of gifts!

The girls with some of their new gifts.

L - R

Gadibo, Anna, Mpho, Jessica & Maria

 The boys with some of their new gifts!

LR
Ronnie, O'Neill, Kamo, Shimane, Teyani, Pete, Tebogo Sello &

Below:
The kids loved their new Fold shirts that Micky had embroidered for each of them!

Our home - Christmas Morning!



















Caeley with the painting supplies that we bought her with money from her Grandma Lynne and Grandma Carol. The grandmas love to paint together, so we thought this would be a fun gift with the money they sent. She loves it all and has used it a lot!

Ethan with the knife and leather case that Adam and I got for him.

A new doll set with a baby, stroller and crib.









Adam with the grilling set that Caeley bought for him!

On Christmas morning our windows were open, fan was blowing and we were hot hot hot! We had to wipe sweat off of our faces for pictures!



















New doll house for her room. We were so happy to find this for a decent price!





Below:

The Bow family joined us on Christmas day and spent the night. Meda and Randy brought their bows along and Ethan enjoyed trying out some of the new bow accessories that we gave him.

We had a braai for Christmas dinner! 

Steak and boer voers on the grill!

Jennifer and the girls brought homemade cookies in the shape of stables and lots of sweets to put on top! The children loved decorating stables with Baby Jesus and animals on Christmas night!

We ended the evening with just us and the Bows relaxing together and watching Elf, one of our holiday favorites! And again thanking the Lord for providing this sweet family of five to be our family here in SA where traditions are different and the warm holiday weather just makes things seem weird.... :)

Blasts from the Past - Thanksgiving 2013

 I am going to catch up as quick as I can...

We spent Thanksgiving 2013 with our friends, The Bow Family! We were so excited to find a choice of 4 turkeys at our local grocery store - imported from North Carolina! Can you believe it? We couldn't either! Jennifer and I worked hard to create an American celebration. The food was not exactly the same, but was so very yummy and filled with so much love! Everything had to be made from scratch, including the french fried onions for the green bean casserole, the "Stove Top" stuffing, and the pumpkin pies, which involved me up in the middle of the night squeezing fresh cooked pumpkin through cheese cloth.

The beautiful table settings that Jennifer, Meda, and Mabry organized were so beautiful and helped me to forget about Adam dropping one of my pumpkin pies on the kitchen floor that morning, pumpkin puree, shards of glass, and my sweat and tears....everywhere. Oops. Back to the tables, aren't they absolutely beautiful?!








We were so blessed to be able to spend our first big holiday with this sweet family! We were missing our families, and special traditions so much, and this day of celebration with the Bows was a joy and a comfort.

American Thanksgiving food -

                                 

                                        South African Style

Ethan, Evan, Mabry, and Caeley, I think Meda was in the kitchen. They are enjoying Ginger Beer with their dinner. It is like ginger ale, but kind of reaches in and grabs your throat. I don't like it, but Ethan sure does!









You've probably noticed by now that we are eating outside. November here is summer time, with some of the hottest weather right around the corner...









Caeley capped off the day swimming with Mabry in the main lodge's pool at the farm that the Bows stay at. It was a beautiful place to relax and visit with full bellies!

I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 7:17

Blogging and Website!

www.thatsthecryofmyheart.com

If you haven't been to our new website, please visit! It is filled with all kinds of information and pictures, as well as multiple ways for you to be in contact with us over this great distance!

www.thatsthecryofmyheart.com

I have been working to try to upkeep our blog for over a year now and our internet has been too poor. I think I may finally be able to work on it AND get it to publish! That's a big deal to me after many many hours spent composing blogs, only to have them delete in the process of publishing over a period of 6 or more hours...Eish!

If you would like updates to be delivered straight to you inbox, please fill out the email box in the top of the right hand column on this page. It is a great encouragement to have subscribers (then I know that my time spent blogging is not wasted) and we would love to hear from you as well! It gets lonely in the bush!

:) Jen

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