Mother's Day

Yesterday was a particularly special day as Tree of Life honoured all the mums amongst our family on Mother's Day.  We had a brilliant time together in church during which each mum was given a little, beautifully created posy of flowers with an attached t-light. We then got the men praying for their women, which was very special.

Before going to spend the afternoon out with friends chilling and having a braai we had to make some special stop offs on the way giving flowers to the wonderful HOPE team ladies as well as one of our patients who has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Many of you may remember Betty whom we have spoken about in the past, she used to be full time carer to Ernest who was blind and not even a family member.  Sadly Ernest died over a year ago and now Betty has terminal cancer combined with TB. She is a lovely lady and would very much value your prayers.  Almost without fail the flowers were greeted with tears and comments such as, no-one has ever given me flowers or, I'm going to freeze them so I can bring them out again next year on Mother's Day!!!  Such a small gesture brought so much love and warmth to some very special women. 

The picture above is a testament to the heart of our HOPE ladies, Elise branched away to live in her own neighbourhood having been trained by the Chris Nissen HOPE team.  She has been caring, often alone, for several people in her community for no pay for over 2 years now.  Always with a smile and a cup of tea and ready to have a chat and a pray. Elise has warmed people's hearts and she is not afraid to share the gospel and make sure that patients are right with God and not afraid of the future.  Little by little as Elise has been blessed from time to time with small gifts from friends in the UK she has saved this money up (though she could certainly have used it for any number of immediate needs).  We were thrilled yesterday to see that she has now used the money to extend her house giving her some much needed extra space for her growing family.  What a witness she is!