One of my "heroes" is a lady named Lura Garrido.  She was Floyd's secretary in Amsterdam many years ago.  Lura speaks Spanish and was very concerned for the Spanish speaking prostitutes in the Red Light District where we worked.  She asked Floyd for half a day a week to minister to those ladies.  Then she needed a day a week, then 2 days, then.......she went full-time working with them.  She eventually planted a church among the converts.  That church has grown to become quite large and is thriving.  She went on to plant churches in other cities as she led more women to the Lord.  Lura is now 89 years old, still living in Amsterdam, still pastoring/mentoring, still vibrant, still going strong.  She's such a wonderful example.  She's truly a hero for me!  What a wonderful, Godly lady.  Someone said, "what we weave in time, we wear in eternity."  Lura is going to have some beautiful "garments" in heaven!!

I recently turned 60 - the big Six-O!  I told Floyd he's married to an old woman now.  :}  A friend told me that 50 is the new 30, so I guess 60 is only 40 - so actually I'm not very old yet!  The amazing thing is my mind still tells me I'm about 25!  I'm not sure how all that works.  I guess whatever season of life we're in, attitude makes all the difference!  I want to still do so much.  It's just some days my body can't keep up with my head!

I actually don't mind becoming older.  I've found that as the years add up, God's faithfulness multiplies!  I love thinking of His goodness, His faithfulness, His provision, all the answers to prayer.  What an absolutely wonderful, fantastic God we serve.

I've decided to enjoy my age.  With great glee I got my first "senior discount" this past week!  I always love a bargain!  I couldn't wait to tell Floyd about it.  One of my friends encouraged me that I'm now in a season when your kids and grandkids begin to tell you you were "right" about things.  I look forward to that!  :}

Birthdays, especially the big ones, are a wonderful time to reflect.  I've been thinking that growing older isn't a time to coast, but to climb.  I want to keep moving into all that God has for me.......which, hopefully, will include many more years here to serve Him.  I trust my best years are still to come.  I want to die young at an advanced age someday.

"They shall bring forth fruit in old age....."  Psalms 92:14

Baby Safe is our ministry to young mothers in need and babies that are at risk. This story is written by Bethany O'Connor who leads Baby Safe.

"There was a young girl I had been looking for this week, after having been told about her, from friends in Masi.  I found her yesterday. Basically she had a baby a week ago, she was so desperate as her boyfriend was supposed to take her in, as she just arrived from Zimbabwe, but he left her, because he has a wife here. He would not take her calls and she described wanting to take her life. She had the baby at False Bay Hospital but then left him in the field next to Food Zone grocery store. So she is staying with her cousin, and he asked where the baby was, she said that it died at the hospital, but he didn't believe her and so then he made her go back and get the baby who was alive. She was so afraid and distraught because she had nothing, no money, etc...and her cousins wife, didn't want her there, etc.. I was told before meeting her that she still didn't want the baby, which is why I sought her out.

But after one week with us, she is feeling much better, she has attached to the baby, she does want him, she has made some friends, and although her cousin's wife is being very mean and will share nothing with her, including nappies ( she was using a towel).. she wants to keep the baby. I explained adoption, what the options are for the baby, etc.. She was very closed to the idea, as she really seems to want her son. I was very comfortable with her state of mind, she was very sweet and she was honest about how she feels so much better about things now. She does know the Lord, and said she loves Jesus very much. She named her son, a Shona name which means "thankful to the Lord" . I left her with some nappies, clothes, blankets, etc that the Michigan team brought. We prayed together. It is great because Porcia and Nosiviwe ( two girls from our house churches) have become her friends now. They prayed with us. You can pray for her, as she desperately needs a job, and also needs to get her asylum paperwork figured out at Home Affairs. She had tears in her eyes, when we talked about God having good plans for her here, plans of a hope and a future, for her and Dion ( her son).

Thats the second Baby Safe client this week. The other was a 19 year old in Ocean View who I was connected with through the clinic. I counseled with her; her mom was forcing her to have an abortion ( her 2nd) on Monday. But she didn't want to do it, and thus needed a place to stay for her pregnancy. We found her one of the last beds in Cape Town, available for a pregnant woman. When I left her, we prayed the Lord would turn her mom's heart before I came to pick her up on Friday to go to the home.  Thats exactly what happened and her mom had actually decided to not make her abort, and let her stay living with her. Pray for her, as she battles drug addiction. She has been clean since she discovered she was pregnant. I am going to see if she will commit to outpatient drug counseling (which I know of a free place and nearby). She gave her heart to the Lord a year ago, but needs to be cared for and discipled desperately."

Bethany O'Connor for Baby Safe/All Nations

I've been reflecting lately on how many things we know and learn in life that we just take for granted.  They don't seem like a 'big deal.'  For instance:

• knowing how to plan/organize
• knowing how to study
• having/managing a bank account
• knowing how to use an ATM machine
• having a budget
• how to mail a letter
• learning how to drive

As we grow up, we learn so many of these life skills so easily.  The opportunities are there to learn them.  We don't really stop to think about them, we just learn and do them.

But many of the poor and disadvantaged in the world don't have this opportunity.  In our almost 2 years here, I have found myself helping so many people fill in a bank account deposit slip - or showing them how to use the ATM machine.  The look of helplessness on their faces at facing these simple tasks and not knowing what to do is heart breaking.  One day I stood in line at the ATM for a long time behind a man.  I couldn't imagine what he was doing that was taking so long.  Finally he turned to me with a look of agony on his face, and said, "could you please help me?"  I was so glad I was there to do that.

A friend here told me of a recent experience she had.  She knew her husband was meeting a couple of young men from Masi, one of the townships nearby, at the bank to do something.  She went to the mall, and was surprised to see one of the young men just wandering around.  She asked him about the appointment with her husband, and he gave some vague explanation of why he wasn't there.  They talked for a few minutes, and it suddenly dawned on her.  He didn't know how to get in the double lock security door at the entrance of the bank!  You wait for a green light, open the first door and go in, let that door close, then wait for a green light to go in the second door to then enter the bank.  She went to the bank with him and helped him get in.

Such a simple thing - but if you don't know how to do it, it's a big thing!  In the culture many of us have grown up in, we would have looked at the door/system if we didn't understand it and thought "what's wrong with this door?!"  To those who haven't had the opportunities and training we've had, they look at the door and think "what's wrong with me?!"

It is so important as part of our "mission" here that we impart self-worth, security, and dignity!!  It's one way of spreading the "glory of God" when we let people know how valued they are in God's eyes because He created them.  When we have opportunities to teach and pass on simple life skills, it does so much to do that and to help a person feel good about themselves!

"God created man in his own image."  Genesis 1:27

When the storm drains are cleaned twice a year in our area, the city's waste management reports seeing small, dead, baby bodies. This is traumatic for the city workers, and its reported that a psychiatrist is on staff to debrief the workers. "Baby Dumping" is officially undocumented by officials, but it is not uncommon.

What is more alarming than mothers literally throwing their newborns away, is that no one is doing anything about it in our area. Until now. "Baby Safe" is a ministry to rescue unwanted babies. A team working under the auspices of All Nations has come together from various ministries and churches to make the project a reality - including caring for the mothers who are struggling with poverty, fear and abuse. We have prayed, done "due diligence" research, and now we ready to launch the ministry. Through Baby Safe we will be able to help mothers who choose life over death for their babies.

One baby's life was radically changed when he was found in Masiphumlele, one of the poorer communities where we work. He was tossed aside, still in his mother's placenta, abandoned in a black garbage bag. He was left for dead, but thankfully found by a group of children. This little boy is now a thriving 5 year old. He was adopted by a wonderful couple found through a local church. Through Baby Safe we aim to save other baby's lives like little Luke.

Baby Safe is committed to presenting an alternative to abortion, and we hope to prevent children from being abused and severly neglected by presenting mothers with an alternative.

Children rescued through Baby Safe will be placed in loving, Christian adoptive families. The precious hope of Jesus will also be presented to women in crisis as well as other social service resources meant for women and children in need.

When the little boy mentioned above was rescued and brought to his new home, this verse was read over him: "On that day you were born, your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean...no one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather you were thrown into an open field, for on the day you were born, you were despised. Then I passed by and saw you kicking in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood, I said to you, "Live!" (Ezekiel 16:4-6 NIV).

We believe that God will rescue the helpless through Baby Safe and make a life long covenant with the children who will be saved.

If you would like to learn more about Baby Safe, contact Bethany at bethanyallnations@gmail.com Bethany is a graduate of CPx, the All Nations training program. If you would like to receive information about CPx, write to allnationssa@gmail.com

Click the first image below and you will take a short journey to see faces and visit places where All Nations serves in Red Hill, Cape Town, South Africa. More than 75 fire-destroyed shack homes rebuilt. Micro businesses started. Simple churches begun. Lives changed. Servant leaders called out. Gardens planted.

Take the Red Hill journey....

Floyd and Sally McClung
[mygal=moreredhill]
These photos were taken by Paula Watts, a CPx student and professional photographer - www.paulawattsphoto.com

Recently I read the story below of the starfish.  It made an impact on me!

"Once a man was walking along a beach.  The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.  Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and the beach.  Back and forth this person went.  As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was struck by the apparent futility of the task.  There were far too many starfish.  Many of them were sure to perish.  As he approached, the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person, he said, 'You must be crazy.  There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish.  You can't possibly make a difference.'  The person looked at the man.  He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean.  He turned back to the man and said, 'It sure made a difference to that one.' "

I remind myself that this is the approach and attitude I must continually keep in my heart.  The needs are so overwhelming here in Africa.......impossible to meet them all, but I can daily look to make a difference in one person's life.  I think this is true for all of us whether we live in Africa, Asia, America, or anywhere.

Last year I noticed a man living in an empty lot on a busy corner by a traffic light.  He lived under a tree with some pieces of cardboard, a wooden box, and several dogs.  People would sometimes stop and give him money or food.  I often looked at the man, thought about him, wondered about him, prayed for him.......but I never stopped.  One day I noticed he was gone - and then I found out he had died.  I felt so convicted!  I had never once stopped to talk to him about Jesus, and now he had passed into eternity.  I don't know if I'd talked to him if it would have made any difference.......but it could have.  One person......a few minutes.......it could have been like the starfish.

It's made me more sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit to say something, do something when I feel that tugging on my heart.  I can't make a difference for the hundreds, but I may be able to make a difference for the one.

"Rejoice with me for I have found my (one!) sheep which was lost."   Luke 15:6

It is a sober time in South Africa. Violence has swept through the nation like a wild fire.

I have to tell you about the terrible events unfolding in South Africa, and what God is doing in the midst of tragedy. But it is a long letter. I understand if you are in a rush....

You've seen the news: Unbelievable racial violence has broken out all over the country. There are xenophobic riots taking place in every major city of the nation. Much of the violence has actually been under-stated for a change. It is worse than any one TV network can cover.

It is a case of the poor attacking the poor in the townships and shantytowns and squatter camps. No one knows how it actually started, but it has spread from one part of the country to the other, until tens of thousands of people are homeless and hundreds of people have been killed.

It is mainly jobless, homeless poor people turning against political and economic refugees from Zimbabwe, Malawia, Mozambique, Angola, Somalia and the Congo. There are 3,000,000 refugees from Zimbabwe alone in South Africa! South Africa is looked upon as the breadbasket of Africa, a safe haven for the destitute and oppressed. There are ruthless dictators in Zimbabwe and the Congo and other countries close to us that squash any sign of criticism or freedom of speech. So people come from those countries to South Africa looking for jobs so they can survive and send money back home.

Massiphumelele, or "Masi" as we call it, was spared from the violence. Many people worked tirelessly to stop the violence from breaking out. We held prayer meetings, worked with the local pastors and community leaders and police, and did what we could to help.

Community meetings were held in Masi, foreigners from neighboring countries were invited back to the community (many had fled in fear for their lives), and people went door-to-door recovering the stolen property of the refugees who had left in haste, fearful for their lives.

I spoke with some of our Malawian friends in Masi, and they were frightened for their lives. About 25 Malawians, Somalians, and Zimbabweans fled Mai and spent the weekend sheltered in our team house. Vuyo, who is part of one of the little churches we have started in Masi, got assaulted - he is a local but was in the wrong place at the wrong time - he got hit  twice  on the jaw and head.

Last Saturday night there was a joint community and police effort to recover all stolen property by going door to door, and Sunday morning people were still spontaneously bringing stolen stuff back. A national Television news station reported on how local Masi community pastors and leaders acted to stop the violence. In effect they were saying the violence was not acceptable in their community. They condemned the violence, acted proactively to stop it, and set an example for the rest of the country!!

Sun afternoon the premier of Western Cape Province arrived in Masi to congratulate the pastors and community leaders. A deputation took a memo to the refugees to invite them back to Masi. More than 70 foreigners were welcomed back to Masi with a KFC supper late last Sunday evening!

But things were much different in the refugee camp just a few minutes walk from where Sally and I live. This is the camp for the foreign refugees driven from other communities by the violence.

I would like to quote from a report I read about what the conditions were like in the camp:

"There was Alvin from Angola, whose brother was killed on Friday, and who was so traumatized by the guilt of leaving the body to save himself, he could barely speak. There was Maria (not her real name) from the Congo, who was raped on Thursday, didn't know where her teenaged son was and just wanted to be given a pair of panties and a place to sleep. There was Noor-Ali from Somalia, a very smart young man in a stylish leather jacket, who had spent years working his way up from cleaning cars for change to owning his own business, only to have absolutely everything he owned snatched away from him in minutes. They, and most of the estimated 1500 people there, were in an extreme state of shock…

"…, two more buses arrived, offloading yet more shell-shocked people. Tensions amongst those who had been waiting 24 hours already without a single word from the authorities on what was going to happen to them began to mount. Sharp words were exchanged between Somalians and Congolese, each feeling more vulnerable than the other… many of the refugees have survived genocide once already in Rwanda and the Congo…

"...Unlike the foreign residents of Masiphumelele, who were evacuated by the police on Friday as a precaution, these people - from Phillipi, from Du Noon, and from Khayelitsha - had been violently chased from their homes…"

The camp where the refugees are staying is a few-minute walk from where Sally and I live. These people are homeless and without hope.

Please pray for us, and more importantly, for the refugees as we try to serve them.

If you want to give financially to help in the relief efforts for those suffering from the violence, you can send your gift to - please mark "Crisis Relief Fund" in the reference.

All Nations Crisis Relief Fund
Standard Bank
All Nations account:
Account number: 072 110 619
Fish Hoek branch - Address: 77 Main Rd., Fish Hoek, 7985
Branch code: 03600980


Being here in Africa reinforces to me how great the need is for leadership training. There is a desperate need for honest, servant hearted leaders, for leaders who seek to find significance in God's eyes, not success in man's eyes. Leaders who want to make a difference like the leaders in Masi did this last weekend.

All Nations Leadership Institute is involved. The students from the All Nations CPx leadership school are involved in Masi and in the refugee camp. They have been serving the Zimbabwean refugees for months, feeding them, bringing them blankets, and sharing the good news of Jesus. I am proud of them for serving without recognition.

These are the men and women who are the hope of Africa.

Yours,


Floyd and Sally McClung
All Nations
Cape Town, South Africa

In recent weeks we've been encouraged by things that are happening here in South Africa.  At the same time, we've also been overwhelmed by the wave of upheaval and violence that has shaken our nation.

Some of the things that have blessed and encouraged us have been taking place in Red Hill (the community that was destroyed by fire in Feb.).  Every week there are individuals who are coming to personally know Jesus.  There are now 7 small house churches started......most being led by new believers as students from CPx (our church planting school) coach them.  Namandla (a former bar owner), David (a well known drunkard in the community who was saved & delivered of his addiction), Shepherd (who was touched by the story of Zacheus), and Archie (captain of the soccer team)........all are new believers and growing in their faith.

Just as we've been rejoicing in these wonderful testimonies of new life, some very distressing events have taken place.  They call it "xenophobia."  Many of the poor in the nation have turned in violence upon the foreigners, the refugees in our midst, from other African nations.  Many have been beaten and killed.  Others have lost all their possessions.  The spirits of hatred and fear have run rampant through the poor communities.

The events of recent days have been "shocking," to say the least.  "Unbelievable" would be more like it.  "Heart-breaking" only touches the surface of the emotions we've experienced.

Our workers have helped house and feed the refugees who are, yet again, trying to find security and safety.  We've joined with community leaders and pastors in trying to quiet the rising violence.  We've supported those who are trying to recover all the possessions that have been stolen.

Through it all, and indeed in facing so many of the needs/problems that we've encountered in South Africa, I find myself feeling helpless, even hopeless.  How can we meet such huge needs?  How can we see things changed?  How can our small efforts make a difference?

The conclusion I've come is is.....we can't - but God can!  We may feel helpless, but we aren't hopeless.  Seeing the need confirms to us the importance of what God has called us to do to make a difference.  The hope of Africa is a new generation of leaders who are not caught in the grip of greed, hatred, or fear.  God is up to something!  He's at work!  The enemy would have us see the needs, the problems, the bleakness.  God would have us keep our eyes ON Him, our trust IN Him.

We don't have all the answers, but we can live here, love and serve those around us, pray, share His goodness, and be faithful in the things we face each day.  These may seem like small actions, but in God's sight they are powerful weapons.

There IS hope!  In fact, the tide may already be turning - we just can't see it yet.

"When everything was hopeless, he hoped anyway."  Romans 4:18  The Message

I am so excited to send you news about our ongoing work in Red Hill. We are deeply encouraged. The report below is written by one of the students who attended our leadership/discipleship program. Take a few moments and be encouraged with us, will you?

Blessings,

Floyd and Sally


"These last two weeks we've felt so humbled and honored, like Jesus said, "These fields are ripe for the harvest! I sent you to reap what others worked for. They have done the hard work, you are reaping the benefit of their labor." With the same enthusiasm that we saw for getting the nicest shack and filling it with the best stuff, people are hungry for Jesus! About seven house groups are meeting now! Also, Nick + Paula + I (Liana) are finally moved in to Red Hill! We felt we must move in and believe that "all these things shall be added". Specifically, we're hoping for electricity, beds, and warmth to be added at some point...

A few highlights:

+ Paula has been meeting with a woman named Namandla. (Floyd wrote briefly about her- a shabeen/bar owner before the fire, she realized that God still loved her when she saw the skit that some CPX students did.) She's gathered her friends and is excited about leading the bible study! She's had such a revelation of God's grace towards her and is getting a vision to share/pray for her friends and neighbors. Paula meets with her before the bible study and helps her prepare.

+ David, the notorious drunkard, has renounced the drink!! Late last Thursday the Spirit of God spoke to him. We sat with him as he prayed to ask Jesus to help him quit drinking, then exclaimed, "There will be no more drinking for me!! You will come to my house and study the bible, and soon I will be the one leading it!" God plants his vision in his people.

+ Shepherd, after hearing the story of Zacheus and how his heart changed just by being with Jesus, pressed Alexander, "It seems like there's a difference between believing in Jesus and in following Jesus. Tell me about it." After presenting the basic gospel, Alex asked if they'd like to consider these things for awhile. Wonderboy said emphatically, "I need this change in my heart NOW. I don't want to wait until next week." Shepherd agreed. "I want to follow Jesus now."

PS Thank you for your love, prayers and financial support for Sally and me. We are very grateful!