Missions Update:

Hope you enjoy the video! It’s really harder than it looks!

Cara and I are currently back in the States until December and will then return to Swaziland. There are a couple things we’re here to do:

1. Cara has continued to battle with health issues while in Africa so we are making a trip to the Mayo clinic in Phoenix to see if we can get some things figured out for her. The great news is that since being back God has begun a healing work in her and we have seen a real improvement in her physical and emotional health. Thank you my Father, it’s been a long, hard road.

2. We have been commissioned to raise support and recruit missions volunteers for the work we are doing in Africa. Our goal is to develop partnerships with churches, organizations and individuals seeking to advance the Kingdom of God through:

a. Supporting the care of orphaned and vulnerable children through self-sustainability projects we have developed.

b. Sponsoring individual children and families.

c. Sending short and long term missions teams to our Mission Impact cross-cultural experience.

What we do in Africa (in it’s simplest terms):

1. Missions and Intern Teams. We work with missions and intern teams from all over the world. We get them connected to what God is doing in Africa, from working with children to visiting the sick in the hospitals, from building mud houses to medical field missions, from planting gardens to worship and discipleship training.

2. Swazi Youth Impact. We are powerfully moved by the youth of Swaziland. These kids are on fire for God and working with them are our greatest joy in missions by far. We facilitate team building and spiritual retreats with these guys to help them grow to a whole new level. It has been awesome!

3. Hospitality. Cara is really developing a gift for hospitality. When international teams arrive she makes sure they have everything they need, clean linens, food, water and she will prepare meals for teams as well. She truly has a servant’s heart. Have I mentioned that Cara is awesome!

4. Self-sustainability. We are helping to turn dependance into self-sufficiency through creating projects like family gardens, animal production and even recreational tourism, thereby taking advantage of the incredible natural environment that God has given us in Swaziland to work with.

Interested?

If you are interested in getting involved or feel like you could connect us to a ministry, church, organization or individual that might like to get involved please contact us. We are looking for opportunities to meet with people and share our heart and vision.

My phone number is the States is 918-804-1094 or you can always drop me an email at jason@africarevolution.org

Thanks for reading.

“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for the world is eternal.”

The leadership team praying for a boy who was oppressed by an evil spirit.

As we look back on the year we see that God has done some amazing things in our lives. We are truly honored by God’s calling on our lives to His beautiful work of restoration and healing. Here are a few end of the year ministries that He has had us be a part of.

Revolution Youth Camp

We just finished leading a three day youth camp called “Revolution, Standing Up and Stepping Out for Christ.” It was an absolutely amazing event. There were nearly 100 kids who participated. There was an incredible outpouring of God’s Spirit bringing true and deep repentance in the hearts of the kids.

This was what most of the three days looked like

Casting Out Demons

The leadership team prayed for the boy who was oppressed by an evil spirit. He had told us that he felt like something was keeping him from coming to Jesus. He drew us a picture of his heart with pictures of the cross all around it but the cross was unable to get in because there was some kind of shield around his heart. Inside the heart he drew

some letters in a dark language that only he understood. As we prayed for him a demon manifested and did not want to let him go. We prayed and cast out the demon and the boy was set free. During the three day event several demons were manifested and were cast out as well.

Healing the Broken Hearted

We spent hours in worship together and prayer for the kids. There was an incredible release of forgiveness and deep

wounds were healed. We hardly did any speaking we just invited Jesus to show up and we got out of the way. I have seen the blind see and the lame walk in big crusades but I must tell you, there is nothing more beautiful than seeing the broken hearted be healed and set free.

Food for Christmas

Hungry people. That really sucks. How else can you say it? It just really sucks to see little children and old people going hungry. Let me tell you, looking into the eyes of a hungry child will change the way you see the world, promise. For Christmas this year Cara and I took some food packages to various children and old gogos (grandmas) who are caring for children themselves in our community.

Pictured above is Cara with a group of boys whom received food packages. Each boy got a food package and some candy as well. The little boy (pictured above right) in the blue shirt was herding the cattle you see behind him when we delivered a food package to him. These boys are extremely poor and would have not received anything for Christmas. Most of how they survive is living off of the land. They hunt for small animals, raise a few chickens and grow some vegetables.

This little girl (pictured to the left) was so precious. Man, she just made me realize that I’ve taken so much for granted in my life. She just broke my heart when we gave her a food package. The little girl (pictured to the right) loved having her picture taken. When we pulled up to her homestead, her and her brother were having a swim in the big plastic bucket.

Mannies and Peddies for the Gogos

Cleaning fungus out of an old Gogos (Grandmorthers) toes may not be the most glamorous job but it is one more way that we can show God’s love to the elderly widow. Cara  and a group of women spent a day taking care of some beautiful old ladies. They did their nails and their toes, gave them a special meal and then sent them home with a gift and a package of food.

For our friends and family taking the time to read this and stay connected with us we want to thank you so much. We love and miss you all.

For our friends or family that have felt the Lord might be leading them to help us in some way we wanted to share with you a current need.

Our old little jack rabbit needs to be replaced

One of our biggest challenges is transportation. The vehicle we are currently driving is quite small and inadequate for what we are trying to use it for. There is no room for transporting food and work items nor is there even room to carry many people.

We have found a newer model Mitsubishi Pajero that is four wheel drive (a must where we live) and will seat seven people with a large storage space in the back. It is owned by an American missionary who has returned to the States. He is willing to make us a very good deal on it but we do not have the funds we need. He has spent over $13,000 on it and he is willing to sell it to us for $7,000. He is willing to finance it but the Lord has led us not to take on debt to purchase it. We can sell our car for about $2,000 so we are looking to raise another $5,000. If you are interested in joining us in our work, this is a really easy and practical way to partner with us as we seek to  have this vital need met.  (All donations are tax deductible.)

Thank you all for your continued support, prayers and encouragement. May the new year be your best ever.

If we don’t show up…who will?

That question constantly haunts me. Because when we do show up, when the followers of Jesus actually do show up, the light of God and his goodness can then, (and only then), be found by those who are desperate in their search for hope and love and life. When we show up, lives are transformed and healing springs forth. But when we don’t show up, Satan’s kingdom is built and established in the hearts and lives of God’s precious ones, and there is only death and destruction in that place.

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 ESV

“God making his appeal through us.” Of course He is, how else will they hear, how else will they know, if not through us. Are we getting this?

Cara and Nicolas praying with Sam at a youth conference

A few weeks ago I had an experience that shows just what happens when those who have been reconciled to God don’t show up. I was in Bulembu making preparations to move when I got a call from the local clinic manager. He asked if I would mind helping him search for a boy who had run off into the forest. This boy was 21 years old and lived with his twin brother and mother on a little homestead up in the hills. It seems this boy had recently turned away from smoking marijuana and had began going to a church in his community. You see marijuana is a huge problem in Swaziland because, well, the plant that is grown here is considered one of the best qualities in the world. So much so, that they even call it Swazi gold. I found out from his friends that he had been smoking several days a week for about three years and had given it up completely about a month earlier.

So it happened that after church one day the boy began acting quite strangely and told his twin brother that his time on earth was now over and he was going into the forest to go and see God. Later that evening he ran away from the homestead, he stripped off his clothes and he ran into the forest. His brother chased after him but eventually lost him in the thick woods.

Jason praying with Rita during worship

The following day, on Monday, was when we found out about all this and so we went to go and look for him. We didn’t have any luck the first day. The second day some of his friends found the clothes he had stripped off and we all felt sure that he would be near. The third day there were more members of the community that came to help search the vast forest and that’s when we found him. He was lying dead at the bottom of a steep and jagged cliff face. He had been laying there for at least a couple days. His body was scarred and broken from tumbling down the mountain face. The stench was horrific and his mouth and crotch area were full of maggots. We carried his stiff and cold body back up the steep mountain and then sat with his mother and twin brother as they writhed in agony over his meaningless death.

I can’t seem to get his lifeless eyes out of my mind. He was a son. He was a brother. He was a friend. He was a precious child of God. Satan oppressed his mind and convinced him to kill himself. Satan left him alone as long as he was serving the purposes of his kingdom but as soon as he began seeking the Christ, Satan showed up and took his life.

So where were the ambassadors of Christ?

Children's homes on the Hawane Farm

This boy was seeking answers to his deepest heart questions, but the church he went to was not equipped to show him the Way. And this story is being repeated over and over and over again all around the planet.

This makes me furious. The work of Satan makes me furious. Satan is killing God’s precious ones day by day by day. Will I sit idly by while Satan continues his devastating destruction of God’s children? All this boy needed was someone to show him the Way, someone to show up for him.

Now that brings me to the work we are doing now in Hawane, our new home. We are here just showing up. Much of the time we feel under-qualified and ill-equipped to do this work. But we are willing to just show up.

What happens when we do just show up?  Amazing things can happen. There are two boys who are both developmentally disabled who are now living in the children’s homes where we’ve recently moved to. One boy, Mandla, was abandoned and was raised with dogs. He could not walk or talk, he could only crawl on his hands and knees like a dog and he would fight the animals for food. He was 11 years old when he was found. Today he is with us and learning to talk and he is walking and is always smiling and jumping up and down. Real healing is taking place.

Jason with Mandla at his new school on the Hawane Farm

The second boy is Bandile, also 11 years old. Both of his parents died from AIDS and he carry’s the deadly disease as well. He also has cerebral palsy. When he was found he was living with his 77 year old great-grandmother who was going blind and could not see to give him his medicine. He was severely malnourished and I was told that he had never had a toy in his life. He also could not talk either. Now, he is talking and learning and playing with toys for the first time. I never see him without a smile on his face.

And Cara will be working with these two boys and other developmentally disabled children that come into Hawane. She has never worked with children like this before, she is under-qualified, she is a little scared, but still, she is willing to just show up. Will she make a difference? Of course she will. Because she does it with love and compassion.

Bandile, always with a smile

“We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 ESV

I am so proud of my wife. She faces all the same accusations from Satan we all face. You’re not strong enough, you’re not smart enough, just give up, wouldn’t your life be easier if you just gave up and went home? But she faces the accusations with the truth of the Word and stands firm. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that this work is hard. It is hard being away from family and friends and all the comforts of America that aren’t here. It is hard standing on the front lines and constantly engaging in the battle for the hearts of God’s children. And Jesus said it would be hard. He said the road to life is narrow, few people find it, and that it’s a hard road. But let me tell you, with all my heart I can say, it is worth it.

Kefa reading, his favorite new pastime. Who knew?

Thank you to our friends and our family for your support and continually encouragement. The needs around us are so vast and it is in our face every day. It can feel overwhelming at times and it always helps to lift us up when we hear of your prayers for us and we hear your words of encouragement. Thank you also to those who send us financial support. We could not be here if it weren’t for your faithfulness.

If you would like to help with the work we are doing in Africa we always have a place for you here. There are short term volunteer opportunities and long term opportunities as well. We are also constantly in need of prayer and we have not yet met our personal monthly financial needs if you would like to help us with that. We are also now planting new churches and orphan homes in the poorest areas so there are also financial and work opportunities to help one of those projects if that is on your heart.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Jennifer and I hugging at the 20 year reunion party.

This past weekend a friend of mine from high school, Jennifer Schoolfield, was killed in a tragic car accident. Her truck that she was driving veered off a gravel road and when it came back onto the road it rolled over, throwing her from the vehicle. She was instantly killed. I had not seen Jennifer in twenty years but recently began speaking to her on Facebook and then saw her for the first time at a 20 year reunion party a couple of weeks ago. She greeted me with a long and warm embrace, like we were the closest of friends, even though we really weren’t. To be honest, I hardly knew her, but I could see she was deeply hurting as she told me about a recent difficult divorce.

But now her pain is over.

She knew Jesus and now she is with Him in Heaven.

As I reflect on this, I once again realize how fleeting our lives are. We waste so much time on selfish things that have no lasting value. How many people are around me that are deeply hurting and I can’t see it because I’m so focused on myself and worried about all my own problems. Lord forgive me for not seeing the brokenness in the people right in front of me. I want to love like you love, without selfish intent. Open my eyes, that I may see those around me who are in need of a tender word or a warm embrace. Strengthen my feeble arms and my weak knees that I might lift my hand to help someone else in need. Give me courage to reach out beyond where I am comfortable. Give me a deeper passion and fire within my heart for the broken and lost soul.

My prayer is that through Jennifer’s physical death, the spiritually lost and dead will find eternal life in Christ Jesus, that they may join her in Heaven one day. There are many who are seeking an answer to their loss and pain, may they find it in Him alone.

Jason and Cara Mitchell in Southern Africa.

Bottom line-we are at war. No matter how hard we try we can’t escape this fact. And if we view our lives outside the context of bloody battle, nothing is going to ever make sense. It will cause us to ask questions like these in great wonder, “Why do bad things happen to good people? Why are there starving children in the world? Why is life just so dang hard?” Because we are in a world at war.

Yes, Jesus is coming and all will be restored. But not yet, not yet. That’s just not where we are in the story right now. It’s not the time to be seeking our own comfort and safety. That’s for another time.

Now we fight.

And we all have a role to play in this Great Story. It’s a story of an epic battle taking place between good and evil and even though we know how the story ends, we still have a part to play in the meantime. And if we fail to play our part, lives will be lost.

Some will play their part valiantly, giving all they have. Some will be taken out by a relentless enemy. And then some will run. Most of us, including me, will do all three. But we can’t ever give up, there’s just too much on the line. What we are defending is worth fighting for.

Our lives and all that we love and all that we are seeking and building that is good is under attack. It is simply a rule of warfare. All that is good will always be attacked. Simply look at any empty field, most of what you see growing there are weeds. A field of corn will never grow there unless someone plants it. Weeds are automatic. Anything that is good and fruitful must be planted and tended but if it is ever left alone, even for a season, the weeds will take it over. Just like our lives, everything that is good must be protected, defended and fought for.

As Cara and I head back to Africa, we head to the front lines of the battle. There is great suffering where we are going but we go to plant good things and to fight for what is already good there. We go to bring the beautiful love of Jesus to the broken and the wounded and we go to bring the fierce strength of Jesus to protect and defend the defenseless.

Join us.

Stand beside us in the field or stand behind us with your support. All our lives were meant to be a part of something big and beautiful and life changing. Don’t miss that for you. Together, we can change lives, restore hope and rescue the perishing.

“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” -Albert Pine

There are so many stories to tell. So far, our journey to Africa has brought us through many trials, adventures and hard lessons. We have learned so much more than we have taught. We have received so much more than we have given. And we have just begun.

So where have we been?

We’ve been in southern Africa…

Bringing food to the hungry widow...

Preaching the Gospel to the Lost Sheep in the township...

Loving the orphaned children...

Building a baby rescue home...

Building friendships...

Building trust...

Laughing a little...

And loving a lot.

And where are we going?

Well, we are going deeper. Deeper into the work of the Kingdom and deeper into the heart of God. And we have discovered that the less there is of us, the more there is of Christ working in us. So to go deeper, we are learning how to die, so that we may live. Dying to our own comforts, our own freedoms, dying to our material things, dying to positional power, and dying to the applaud and reverence of man.

We have returned to America for a brief sabbatical with just a little bit of apprehension. So much has changed in us over the last year, precious and delicate changes that could easily be lost. We have been broken and humbled and have come to deeply love the African people. And we have once lived and know the seductive power and the subtlety of materialism, comfort, and apathy. So we pray, Lord, keep us in our humility, no matter where we go.

We will soon be returning to southern Africa to continue where we left off. The needs and the opportunities to serve the King abound. We pray that you might be a part of this great work in some way.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9

Jesus calls us to a place of our deepest joy.

Since we’ve moved to Africa there have been plenty of difficulties and challenges along the way. But the enemy opposes this kind of thing. So we expected that. We knew things would get tough. So there were no surprises there.

The surprise has been in the joy.

Reaching down to embrace an orphaned child in your arms as they gleefully reach for you is something that makes your heart skip a beat I think. Knowing there may not be another hug for them for a while, it does something to you.

To sit beside a lonely abandoned child and wipe away their tears reaches deep into your soul and touches something there. You can’t leave that moment unchanged.

There is no sacrifice to be here. I wouldn’t be anywhere else. My heart is overflowing, like it never has, I never knew it could be like this.

“The place where God calls you, is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”
-Frederich Buechner

The hills were covered in a thick, misty fog. Although it was the middle of the day we could hardly see ten feet in front of us. The rain had begun to fall and the cold air felt sharp against my skin. I was wearing only a short sleeved shirt and the exposure to the weather was taking its toll. And we were lost. We knew we were somewhere in the foreboding hills of South Africa but which way back home, was anyones guess at that point.

Earlier that morning Nathi and I had ridden a few miles out of town on borrowed four wheelers to search for an abandoned army barracks that sat on the South African border. Nathi knew the area well. He had grown up in Malanda, a homestead village not far from where we were going. But today was different, we had gone too far and we were at a dead end.

We had been driving along the top of the hillside and had reached the slopes edge. We were blinded to what was below but we could see it was too steep to continue riding. The rain began to fall harder and I could feel the chill seep deeper into my skin. We turned around to search for another direction and in the thick fog we got separated. I turned down what looked like a familiar hillside but soon discovered I had driven down a hill too steep to climb out of. I slowly turned the four wheeler around to try to get out, but the bulky machine refused to make the climb.

I was in danger and I knew it. I held tightly to the brakes and prayed, “Lord, keep me safe, protect my life.”  I made another attempt to climb out when suddenly the quad began to roll and it threw me off down the hill. I quickly tried to stop the rolling of the big machine but I knew right away that it was too late.

Together we tumbled down the rocky hillside out of control. Faster and faster I began falling with the quad right above me,  threatening to crush me at any time. Then in an instant, that moment came when I knew I was probably going to die. I was violently thrown by another impact by the quad and was turned, facing downhill. I could see that I was heading face first into a large pile of rugged boulders. It seemed liked there were a lot of thoughts running through my mind in that instant but what I remember thinking was, “I can’t believe I’m not wearing a helmet, I’m going to die because of it.” (Yes dad, I promise to wear my helmet from now on.) But then, I found myself lying below the field of rocks and boulders in a soft, grassy area helplessly watching the four wheeler continue tumbling several hundred more feet down the hill.

I had fallen over 100 feet down the steep hillside. As I looked up all I could see were rocks and boulders protruding out of the ground. How did I make it through that alive? I began searching all over my body for broken bones or deep cuts and although I was aching in a few places (mostly my pride) all I could find were a few minor scratches.

I found myself in a state of deep repentance and thankfulness. I knew the Lord had saved my life. I called out to him in thanks. “Lord, you are the helmet of my salvation.” I was weeping and praying as I traversed down into the deep canyon to search for the broken four wheeler. I had misplaced hope that I would still be able to drive it out of there. I climbed down into where the grassy hillside turned into thick forest and discovered the quad resting upside down in a low water creek bed, crushed and distorted. The giant ferns all around me were thick and overgrown. Standing there, surrounded by the steep walls of the creek bed, I knew there was no way I was getting that thing out of there today. But I was still lost and needed to get out of there.

In the dense fog I climbed back up the mountain searching for something that might tell me where I was but I had no point of reference to begin with. I walked for what seemed like hours and in just a brief moment, the fog opened up and I could see one of the buildings from the army barracks in the distance. As I made my way over I found Nathi, walking the hills looking for me. I had made it out of there alive.

When I told the story to my family the following day, my mother and my aunt both said they felt a need to pray for my safety the day before. During her prayer my aunt Rita was given Psalm 91, (I will only quote a portion of it here)

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.”

Satan tried to take my life that day. But I was rescued by the angels of the Lord. There is no way I could have fallen over 100 feet down that steep hillside through all the rocks and boulders and not be severely injured or killed. Unless, of course, the Lord intervened on my behalf. And He did.

Thank you Lord for saving my life. I pray my life would be worthy of your rescue.