Oh Sweet Prairie Canola Fields of Home Im Coming for You!

ITS TIME!

My goodness, my friends I have never longed for home as I am this time around. It feels too good to be true I will once again get to breath in clear and dry Manitoba air as I walk out of the Winnipeg airport doors, drive up to my mom and dad's house, take off my shoes and walk through the yard under the safety of those towering old friendly maples and oaks. Can it be?!

Good bye for now you  beautiful Capetown Mountains...(Taken from Mikes Balcony window!)

I have come through an extremely difficult two months, delayed to update this blog due to my own need to process and pray and cry. Today I have my last farewell to a dear resident at the safehouse who is moving on, restored to her right mind and her family, heading home. Ill give my last goodbyes over Rooibos tea and cake and that will close this time with Scape Home as my two year commitment is finished. Only as time goes on, will I realize all my Scape family has sharped and equipped me with as I enter my next season.

Before leaving on this adventure two years ago, I felt the following verse was for me, having no idea of how that would play out...now as Im looking back, indeed this describes a fair summery of what our Faithful Father has carried me through,

Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. "He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth."…Hosea 6:1-3.

The pain of journeying this new reality of the ugliest violence and deadly fear and shattered spirits every day as I have walked with these women in this country has torn me. I remember wondering two years ago as I was preparing for S.A, just who would I become signing up to work in this field of human trafficking? Would I loose myself, my faith, my hope in the face of so much hopelessness? My friends, I write to you today to tell you indeed, God has gently lead me through this dark valley, has allowed brokenness and desperate questions to surface in my spirit as I have cried out for his justice, but let me say, I am more convinced than ever that all this pain is for a purpose. His master plan is perfect, he will not lead us into what we can not bear, he will carve out a deeper trust in the sheer goodness and beauty of his heart through these times than we could have ever known before. And this is worth it all.

He will revive us once again...

He is good, but he is not safe as C.S. Lewis put it. He asks us to risk trusting him above all else, especially when there is no understanding or answers to the "why" question in all of us. He asks us to make a permanent home in his love, the only place we are truly safe in this world. On days when it just seems too much, he promises he will fiercely fight for us and breath his breath into our lungs to revive us, and raise us up again. Believe with me, we do not suffer in vein, he will come to us and water our spirits, and make us grow into our truely whole selves as we come to know him, which would not have been able to come to life without experiencing whatever impossible circumstance we find ourselves in. Magnificent unimaginable redeeming beauty out of the ashes, this is his promise.

He is the Resurrection and the Life.
He is the answer.
He is the I AM.
There is no safer place than being in his will, there are no safer hands to put ourselves in.

Whewwww where do I go from here?! Ok an update on all the unknowns I shared about in my previous post....to start... I got a car!!!! My Malawian sister Thoko Zilla named her Ruthie, and she looks like a newer version of the little white mobile my Grandma fast used to zip around in! So thankyou to everyone who made contributed, this is such an amazing blessing of safety and accessibility. Now lets see if I can attempt keeping it up to the Rick Fast spotless standards!

The Fast Family thumbs up!

A couple of hitch hikers...

Taking Ruthie for our first test run!

Let the cruizing music begin!!

Regarding my housing, our dear lovely home of peace and joy and crown moldings has been sold and we will need to leave beginning of November. So we shall see what opens up as it is difficult to find housing in Muizenberg.

Ah yes and of course for those of you who have faithfully persevered in this extensive post, get this hot off the best press news...Mawande will be jumping on the plane north with me to enjoy the first holiday of his life here in Grunthal...destination location indeed! It is a quite a miraculous story actually, his first Canadian visa application was denied and he was told not to bother re-applying...so what does an African man full of faith do...re-apply the next week.... and send out calls to pray amongst friends and family. Well lo...a few weeks after that he received a five year multiply entry visa to Canada...the best visa issued by the Canadian government! Until we will be sitting on that first flight when I look over to see him beside me, I don't think Ill believe that this dream is actually happening! The blessings of our God knows no bounds or borders, his word stands over all governing authority! Mawande is so excited to meet my world, I am so excited to show him!

And finally, to answer the question as to what direction Jesus is taking me in next, I still only know that it will be back here in South Africa, and as mentioned working/training into the counseling field more directly with these beautiful people of this nation. I am taking wise counsel to take a break and play at home before setting my sights clearly on what God will be showing me next. This goes against all of my control freak nature, and is putting me in the seat of faith to wait and to rest, which I believe will prepare me for whats coming before I just go on and run ahead. Ill be home for about six weeks and will come back to South Africa, making more concrete decisions as God opens up the new way before me. All of your prayers are more than welcomed in this whole transition process, thank-you from the bottom of my heart!
A few random pics...and I'm out!

Honoring all the beautiful mamas on mothers day at with Mawandes church family

And especially honoring Mama Mawande with some delicious fish n chips!

Feeling a little sick on my couch, Claudia thought it was a bit of a silly sight in my pity party beetles glasses...thought maybe someone else would too?!

See you soon!!!!
Love Charlene