On Saturday we were supposed to have gone whale watching but I believe there was another event in town that would have resulted in heavy traffic. Too bad, we would have had a whale of a time but instead of whining about it we wine tasted at two different locations in Franschoek.

Afterward we stopped off at this small shopping area and it happened. An alcoholic gentleman approached us and then looked at me with his eyes wide opened. He started shouting “Jackie Chan”. He started hugging and squeezing me and I thought he was going to call me George. He even said he wanted me to go up the mountain so I can visit his place. Boy, I did not have the heart to tell him that I am more of a Jet Li fan…

That evening we went to Spier to eat at a restaurant called Moyo, an all-you-can eat place with South African dishes. We had our faces painted while enjoying the local entertainers dance and sing to the beat of South African music. Some of us even went out to dance but I was focused on eating four plates worth of food.

Well Sunday was our last day together. My client dropped by to give me a great gift, the book “Long Walk To Freedom” by Nelson Mandela. I know for sure I am going to miss him and his colleagues. Most of us had afternoon flights to get back to the States so that morning we shared and encouraged one another as we prepared to return to our own little worlds. So, what is next after going through two weeks of intense fellowship and service for the Lord? Each one of us must have to grapple with this question. Just as Jacob had to wrestle with God, hopefully, God will also bless us and continue to reveal His will.

One more note, on Monday I arrived at SFO in the afternoon and decided to forgo the taxi. I took the BART to transfer to the CalTrain. I just missed the train by 20 seconds so I had to wait another 30 minutes for the next one. My entire luggage I was carrying prevented me from getting to the train sooner. Tired, I was asking myself why. Well, while waiting for the train I had a chance to talk with a young man who arrived from half way around the world to start his graduate studies in mathematics at Stanford. At the station and then on the train, I shared with him about equip and we talked about life,
mathematics and sushi. I gave him my number just in case he needed any help. When I finally arrived at my stop, I had to walk from the station 1.3 miles to get to my apartment. Because of the heavy luggage and very warm weather I frequently had to stop for a break and eventually I was so tired I wanted to give up. I asked God for help. Then this man came by and offered his help and I gladly gave him two pieces of my luggage. He himself just came back from the east coast. We talked and I found out I have met him once before at a missions conference. Now, why I am sharing this? There are many opportunities to minister to people whether if it is South Africa or in the Bay area. In addition, God ministers to us and provides us the help we need to make the journey of life.

In His peace,

— Rich

Everyone reported that the venture with equip was a divine appointment with God that exceeded their expectations. There were stories of marketplace miracles, personal revelation, and rededication of businesses to a new purpose – working for a new CEO – God Himself.

Our clients spanned the spectrum of 7 Eleven to auto sales, computer animators to medical technology. Each of them had one thing in common – a call to repurpose their business. What they discovered through the two weeks was that this also involved repurposing themselves, and reconnecting their families and communities.

Common themes were:

• Trusting that God WILL work for the good of those who love him (Rom. 8:28)
• Trusting that God will direct us to guide business decisions
• Before equip dreams and passions had no order to them
• Even where we are unfaithful – God is faithful
• The equip trip was a divine appointment with God
• Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you
• the other P’s will fall into line

We as consultants were equally blessed. While we came as “experts”, we too were molded, stretched, refined and repurposed. Each of us returns to our lives with a refreshed perspective. While we thought we were here to help our clients, we found we were helped and blessed, equally if not more!

South Africa – we thank you!

— Ryan & Tiia

Today began with a trip into Kayamandi Township, a shanty town about a half hour from where we are staying. Shanty towns are “made up largely of the ubiquitous tin shacks (and) are one of the visible legacies of the apartheid relocation scheme.” equip has a continuing involvement in this community including supporting a bakery business and holding a consultation with local entrepreneurs a year ago.

We spent the morning visiting the bakery, hearing about the work that is being done in Kayamandi, and walking through the township. We met tons of adorable children who followed us around, wanted hugs or to hold hands, or to have their picture taken. Vivian and I accidentally ran into Tebojo, a past client, who graciously walked with us through town to visit with two other past clients, one who runs a fruit stand and another who makes straw mats. We also took a moment to pray for Tebojo and his dream to start a cabinet making business. It was certainly a very different side of the Cape Town area that we visited this morning, one filled with music, activity and friendly people.

We’ve really been blessed with the opportunity to experience things in addition to our consultation time. For example, last Friday night the women on our team were invited to speak to a gathering of Christian women who were interested in being mentors to other women. We were able to share about our equip experience and encourage them to participate in a version of equip training that will be offered to them. Then on Tuesday night, Ryan’s client the Olivier’s kindly hosted Ryan, Stacie and me at their lovely home where we had Braai (BBQ) with their friends and beautiful children. It was such a blessing to experience South African hospitality for a second time. Our first being experience was another Braai at Danny and Garitha’s beautiful home in Stellenbosch last Thursday, Danny being a past client from a year ago.

The afternoon was spent completing our documents summarizing the goals our clients have set for their businesses. In addition, the clients came one by one to attend a prayer and visioning session where they were stretched to think even bigger about their company purposes.

Not home yet, and already missing Cape Town,

— paige

We started the morning bright-eyed at 7am with an inspirational talk from Graham Power. He is the owner and founder of a very successful construction and development company. And now, more importantly, God has called him to lead, “Transformation Africa.” He told his powerful testimony of how God called him to lead this prayer movement. Starting with one stadium in 2000, God has blessed this ministry and expanded it far beyond what Graham could have accomplished by his own power. In fact, in 2005, the global day of prayer touched 156 countries and is expected to span the globe and include 500 million Christians in 2006. Praise God for his faithfulness!

We then began our last day of teaching at 8:30am. We began the day with “People.” Eric kicked-off the day by soliciting client testimonies. Perhaps most exciting was one from Victor who shared that Stacie and Vivian had come last Thursday to pray over Helderberg Honda. The following Saturday morning, while Victor was alone in the showroom (the salespeople were all deployed to a car show at the mall), he sold 11 cars. Not only was it a miracle that customers waited in line to buy, but also it was more than half of their average monthly sales in one morning without a single salesperson on the floor!

Later that morning during our teaching time, Brett challenged us to see our businesses as our households and to plan our actions accordingly. Then, Greg spoke about the importance of affirming people. We immediately put the lesson into action by affirming the people around our tables. Though Greg was a tough act to follow, Richard rose to the occasion and presented the parable of the “Workers in the Vineyard” (Matthew 20:1-16) with some homemade animation that really brought the parable to life. Afterward, we had some time to develop our People scorecards and then headed upstairs for lunch. Per usual we all ate too much – this time the staff made the most delectable Paella and peppermint tart for dessert. If we don’t each gain ten pounds upon our return, it will be a miracle!

After lunch, the last afternoon of the last formal teaching day, we were a little less productive (read – downright punchy). Brett and Chris managed to keep us focused and entertained long enough to take us through Process, our final “P.” I must commend them because we were a tough crowd!

We finished the evening with an alumni dinner at the beautiful Devon Valley Hotel in Stellenbosch. It was such a pleasure to get to know past clients and consultants. And, it was especially wonderful to hear stories of how their lives had been impacted since they first got involved with equip.

Dominique was the first to speak. He was open about his initial skepticism of equip and then shared how his faith and walk with Jesus had grown substantially since becoming involved. Next up was Andrew who gave a brief testimony of giving even our business problems to God. His accountant had recently found a significant gap in their projected January-February cash flow. He and his staff prayed about it and already God has provided two extremely profitable clients that close more than half the gap! Finally, Carlo (right, with his wife and Vivian) spoke about how the Lord had convicted him to involve his wife in his business and how it has blessed the business and their marriage since the April venture. Finally, Brett ended the evening by accrediting five new consultants – Errol Smith, Derek Eaton, Mike Bullock, Doug Johnson, and Carla Fortunato-Olivier to continue the work of repurposing businesses across South Africa.

In case you thought the excitement was over, it wasn’t for Tiia and me. We were greeted home by an itsy bitsy rain spider hanging over her bed (spread out your hand to get a visual – it’s on 1” molding). Thank goodness Richard and Hendro bravely came to our rescue armed with an umbrella and a lunch bag to catch it. Thank you for saving us from nightmares of creepy crawlies…

So, that was Wednesday. Thanks to everyone for reading our daily updates and your continued prayers and support!

— Kim

As an "off" day from teaching, we spent the first half of the day touring Cape Town and learning the history of both the City and the Country. Although many of us have heard about Apartheid and South Africa’s struggle with segregation and prejudice, getting first hand knowledge has been very significant and moving.

This was followed by lunch and a refresher course on planning, process, and patience (patience isn’t an official P, but found its value) as we attempted to divide 13 people among 4 vehicles to make 10 meetings in 2 hours spread across a 50 kilometer area. This made the story problems from math class in school seem easy.

We were able to spend the afternoon praying for past clients. Coming from America where there is such a separation of God and the workplace, many of us found the experience quite intimidating, yet encouraging. Tiia, Kim, Richard, and I visited Capesoft, a software development company. Once we got there, one of the owners gathered all 15 employees into the lunch room to pray for the company. We affirmed that the business is God’s and asked that He provide the resources and skills to use the company to show people His love and salvation. Nobody protested or showed any opposition, even with one of the employees being Muslim.

The day really made many of us think. How many of the rules and boundaries we have in our lives are really truth, or just fears or past failures we have become accustomed to? If God wanted to move in our lives in a new way, would we even realize it?

— Chris

Anyway, we had a few guests speak at our program today. Mark Julie, a past client, talked about his property development company, Power Developments, and what has happened since he participated in the equip Venture a year and a half ago. Danny de Witt, also a past client, talked about Naries, his guest farmhouse in the Macroland area, and how God has redeemed the place from its dark past. Finally, Stacie interviewed Sonya, who, with her husband, own the Ivory Heights Guest House where our team has been staying. Their care and attention to the details of the guest house has made a huge difference in making us consultants feel right at home!

All in all, everyone’s stories and testimonies have been very encouraging to all of us, especially to our clients. After the equip program, there was a meeting over wine and cheese in regards in getting our clients involved at Kayamandi (investing in the township community, arranging for shadowing opportunities, etc.).

In the evening, Ryan invited consultants to join him in praying at and anointing his client Dr. Oliver’s office.

— Vivian

We started our trip on 9:45 am from Ivory Height, a luxury guest house in Sommer West, Cape Town, and arrived on the Beach around 12:00 am.  The first picture shown Brett not only in control of our consulting program but also controlling the door of our mini-bus.

Baesmanland Plaaskombuis was our first target of visit, it’s a buffet type of restaurant with local environmental setting, each of us received two plates for our food; as much as we like. Music and local singer were also there to entertain us, how much blessing that we had for our lunch. The picture shown one of our consultants had a chance to come to SA not only for practicing Kingdom principles in market-place, but also interacting with local people and trying to cook a traditional food in the restaurant.

A fantastic view with boat racing was in the beach. Two consultants were laying and enjoying sun-shine in the beach, one consultant was fighting with a dog and even one consultant was falling in love with mermaid.

On the way home we visited the Farmyard, a unique farmstall and coffee shop near Melkbos. Wood fire breakfast with giant muffins and delicious cakes served all day in traditional farm style junches outside the shop. In the shop old fashioned pineapple beer, ginger beer, farm bread mixed, cape preserves, raw honey and more were provided for sell. How was a blessing place.

Arriving at the Guest house, one of the consultants was so kindly to climb and open the gate for us.

We closed our day by worshipping God together in Shofar Christian Church - Stellen Bosch. Pastor Michael Cassidy preached about “The six firsts of Jesus”; as Christian we need to put Jesus as the centre of our life, to love him fully and have a close relationship with Him. As Jesus said:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:37)

Thank you all and God bless you!

— Stephen

(Note: Stephen is one of two Indonesian equip Consultants who has joined the team in SA for the September venture.)

Okay, I admit, I lured everyone out there so I could re-enact my own childhood in Hout Bay, but I’m sure they enjoyed it. Well, fairly sure.

Then we headed over Chapman’s Peak to Cape Point, and hiked around, enjoying the stunning views. We concluded our adventure with a relaxing stop at Cape To Cuba, overlooking the beautiful harbor of Kalk Bay.

After a bbq back at the B&B, we had a very special worship and prayer time.  The guys prayed over the ladies, and I was blown away by their love for God and respect for women. Since I can’t possibly do it justice in one paragraph, let me just say it was touching and moving and healing and refreshing and perspective-changing. At the end they washed our feet - I hope that doesn’t end up on my room bill :-)

Wow - what a day - I could have written an essay, but I leave it to each person to individually share their experience to you.

Love,

— Tiia

The ladies were able to go to a women’s ministry meeting and were greatly blessed, as well as were able to share and bless the ladies of that church community.

For us guys, it was a welcome night off, so the men went either to bed to catch up on sleep, or ventured out of town to see the sights. Although I was about to collapse from exhaustion, I had a Red Bull and headed into Cape Town to visit with a friend of Eric’s who was having a house warming party. How great to meet and spend some people of the city! I likely will be remembered as the American Guy who looked glass eyed and kept yawning the entire evening.

Pray about the people of South Africa – all the different cultures and economic groups amaze me. Pray also for the safety of those who are here to minister.

— Ryan