Monday, March 12, 2007

Lots of Gear!



Wild Hope was just given 250 nice soccer jerseys, plus LOTS of shorts, socks, warm-up outfits and goalie gear!

The lovely Lynzi Blacker of u2u donated what she had collected from the AYSO league in Santa Ynez Valley so that we can outfit future teams!

The photos above show our Small Nyotas before uniforms and after :-) These uniforms were brought over in a separate donation by another group. Now we have matching sets for an additional 8 teams, and many more in mixed batches.

We are so thankful to Jez and Lynzi at u2u!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

God is With the Poor

Just to share this clip of Bono accepting his award from the NAACP a few days ago.

Wild Hope won't be getting an award or an ovation. Still, we are proud to take our place among those who have committed their lives to bring hope in Africa.

Why? Because we believe in the call of Isaiah 58 to spend ourselves on behalf of others. This is OUR calling. Insignificant as we might seem in the face of the crisis in Africa, we respond.

We know that God is in this because, as Bono says in his speech, "God, my friends, is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them."

That's where we want to be.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Work Permits and a Red Moon!


Peter's email yesterday said "I've got your work permits in my hand!"

This was definitely the best news of the day :-) We Bordens (still in the States preparing to move to Tanzania) hooped and hollered and then sighed one big sigh of relief.

Wild Hope had been notified that our work permits were approved some time ago but then there were a few little complications. I will not elaborate except to say they were par for the course. They were enough to make us hold our breath and pray quite a lot.

And the red moon?

Many of you will already know that a strong part of the vision of Wild Hope is to receive teams of young people into our community and allow them to participate with us in what God has led us to be involved in there in East Africa. We know that Africa has so much to give and we are thrilled to be a part of bridging Africa with Europe and the States. We are very pumped to be able to pour into these teams during the short time that we have them with us.

One of the networks God has tied us into is the 24-7prayer movement. With 24-7's emphasis on prayer, mission and justice, we have like hearts and minds. If you are not familiar with this wild and wonderful movement, please check them out and please read Pete Greig's book, Red Moon Rising, about what God is doing in this generation. (And while we're at it, let us also recommend Pete's new book, God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer. It's really good!)

Well, all of this is to say that we're excited to be on our way to join the rest of the Wild Hope family in Tanzania soon.

Peter and Tammy said that on the night of the day that he recieved our work permits they looked out and noticed a big red moon rising. A lunar eclipse has painted the moon and while we're not saying it MEANS anything, maybe we shouldn't say it was just a coincidence either. Whatever it was, it certainly made us smile :-)

Oh Lord, thank you for letting us be a small part of your big plans to bless Africa!

(Photo by Jeremy)