ST KIARAN'S

CHRONICLE

October 2016

Thanksgiving
Sunday 6 November 2016
At both services
This is a special,
sacrificial offering over
and above your normal
tithes and your regular
disciplined giving.

St Kiaran's gives all the

cash received directly
towards the projects and
people listed below.

We propose R15,689.07 be raised for the projects and people we would like to support from 1 November
2016 to 31 October 2017
Missionary Support
Mark and Lorraine Liprini
Eugene and Tina Wessels
Social Outreach Projects
Joyce Chevalier Centre
Happy Valley
Living Hope
Masiphumelele Church
Phumlani Creche

20,400.00
12,960.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
2,000.00
2,000.00
40,360.00

Less interest on R50,000 Investment

maturing May 2017

3,560.00
36,800.00

Less carry forward in Fund (approx.)

TOTAL NEEDED

21,110.93
15,689.07

Please use the envelope provided for your Thank Offering.

Hand it in during a Special Offering on
Sunday 7 November or return it to the office.

Give Prayerfully !!!

Give Cheerfully !!!

Give Generously ! !!

Dear family and friends of St Kiaran's

To Give Thanks this is our theme as
the year draws to a close. What do we need in
order to give thanks to God? I want to suggest
that it is this one thing: gratitude. Gratitude is
a state of being, not an action that we engage
in from time to time. Its like a ball floating on the water. It can
be forced under for a short while but eventually it bobs to the
surface. Gratitude is part of what it means to be a follower of
Christ
It has been suggested that thinking precedes thanking.
When we are presented with a gift, it is because we think of its
significance and meaning that we are led to express our
appreciation. As Christians, what thoughts do we think which
might lead us to giving thanks? Somewhere in our thinking there
should be thoughts of God. Perhaps we should start there.
Thoughts of power, wisdom, goodness, grace, love, careto
name just a very few.
When Paul traces the downward path of mankind, he begins
by saying that men,although they knew God, they neither
glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him (Rom 1:21).
Men were not thankful that they had a revelation of God; instead
of being thankful, they made it their business to erase God from
their lives and thinking. For us, in addition to thoughts of God,
there is so much more that we could also think of. For example,
we could think of ourselves and our privileges in Christ. God has
loved us and made us significant, through sending His Son to die
for us. The Father has accepted us in the Jesus. We could also
think of the many ways in which our lives are enriched through
our families, friends and other acquaintances.
Why is it, then, that some folk find it difficult to be thankful?
The truth probably is that we dont stop to think. The anxieties,
cares, riches and pleasures of this life choke the plant of
gratitude, and our lives become unfruitful. Thanksgiving is thus
really the product of careful cultivation. It is the fruit of a
deliberate resolve to think about God, ourselves, and our
privileges and responsibilities. By giving thanks we make
manifest the fact that our lives are not controlled by the
domineering cares and concerns of this life. By giving thanks we

bear testimony to the fact that material things do not dictate how
we live and move in this world as Gods people.*
Dr. David Soper, in God Is Inescapable, suggests that
basically the difference between a prison and a monastery is just
the difference between griping and gratitude. When a criminal
becomes a saint, a prison may become a monastery; when a
saint gives up gratitude, a monastery may become a prison.
And so I close with this thought that I found very helpful to
lead us in lives filled with gratitude as Gods people: When you
drink from the stream, remember the source. (Chinese proverb).
As we live our lives, remember God is the source of all things and
we can trust Him with our future.
With much love and gratitude
Mike
*Adapted (quite a lot) from an article called Think and Thank in the
Prairie Overcomer

The marriage of Tamsyn Maidwell,

daughter of Chris and Denena,
to Jaco Deacon
was celebrated at St Kiaran's on
24th September 2016
May God's richest blessings be theirs always.

WHAT IS THE JOYCE CHEVALIER CENTRE?

The Joyce Chevalier Centre in Fish Hoek is hugely
important, in that we provide a Protective Workshop

for intellectually disabled adults, who are unable to work in the

open labour market.
The story of The Joyce Chevalier Centre started in 1972. Our
founder, Mrs Joyce Chevalier, had a son, Phillip, with Downs
Syndrome. She felt there was a need for parents with children
with similar problems to meet in order to share their feelings,
ideas and expectations for their childrens futures. Supported by
Rev. Glen Craig, then minister of St. Kiarans Presbyterian
Church, The Beehive was started, based in a room at the
church.
Over the years and based upon changing needs, we updated
our focus to provide employment for intellectually and
moderately physically
disabled
adults.
In
1980 Joyce Chevalier
decided to purchase
land for the Centre
near Valyland Shopping
Centre in Fish Hoek,
where we are now
situated. Sadly Joyce
passed
away
soon
thereafter but a fte,
organized
for
Staff and Students at the Joyce Chevalier Centre
September 1981 by
Joyce and volunteers, received overwhelming community
support, and enough money was raised to fully pay for the
Centres land. In memory of Joyce, the Centre was named the
Joyce Chevalier Centre. By 1985 the first workshop was built
and over the years additional extensions have resulted in our
current Centre.
And we continue to grow, providing a secure, healthy and
happy environment for approximately 40 intellectually disabled
adults.
They provide activities covering a wide spectrum of
contract work supplied by: Bean People, Ina Paarman
and Diva Nutritional Foods
Wish to help? We appreciate receiving adult clothing for men
and women, and wool, as some students enjoy knitting.

It is due to our continued growth, and the very real need for
affordable residential housing, that we very much wish to extend
our existing building upwards, allowing us additional space for
the Centre, and hopefully to even fulfill the very real need for
accommodations.

News from Mark and Lorraine Liprini:

We are relocatingbut not leaving
MAF
When we joined MAF back in 2001, we moved to
Johannesburg because that was where MAF is based. Over the
years MAF RSA has grown and changed, mainly by becoming part
of MAF International way back in 2002, and as a result Marks
role within MAF has grown and changed.
We have come to a point where we realize that we no longer
need to remain in Johannesburg; we only need to remain within
striking distance of an airport for Mark to be able to deploy fairly
easily on MAF business.
Our 16 years in Jozi have been good years. We have made
excellent friends, become part of a vibrant church, and a
fantastic home cell group. Lorraine has become very involved in
the life and ministry of that same church, and has been employed
there four days a week in admin and ministry roles for the last
15 years.
Our children have left home, David and his wife Marehette
living in Stellenbosch and Ruth making her life in Pretoria.
Jozi life has not been easy in some respects. Pollution, noise,
pace of life, crime, traffic etc. have had their impact on us but we
have remained willingly (sometimes less so) because we knew
that this was where the Lord wanted us, for as long a season as
he desired. However we have now prayerfully come to the
recognition that its now time to relocate.
We recognized that Lorraine would need to find employment
in our new location as her income plays an important part of our
budget.
Along with a few precious prayer partners, we have prayed
through things, explored opportunities and made enquiries, and

slowly things started falling into place.

In January 2017 we start our move down to George in the
Western Cape. Lorraine will be employed at Carmel Guest Farm
working in a similar role to where she is now. We still remain full
time staff members of MAF RSA, fully committed to MAF, and
Mark still continues his service as a relief pilot and as a member
of the Disaster Response (DR) team. He will also be representing
MAF in the Southern Cape in a PR role when he is not on
deployment somewhere.
We look forward to being much closer to David and
Marehette, to Lorraines family who are in the Western Cape, to
Mark's parents who are now around their 80s and to his family
who are based in the Western Cape too. Ruth looks forward to
having her parents at the coast so that she has great holiday
destination now!
It is going to be hard leaving the friends we have made, the
awesome church we are part of, the home cell we meet weekly
with, and the amazing spring and summer weather in the
Highveld.
We ask you to please pray for us as we mentally and
emotionally make this transition, pack the house, select the most
affordable but best movers, work out the logistics, find a rental
home, and make the great trek. Any advice on movers, home
rentals in the George area, and the like will be greatly received.
We have been advised that rentals in the area are hard to come
by so this is an item of much prayer right now.
Thank you for all your loving support over the last 16 years,
and we look forward to spending more time with you now that we
will be closer to Cape Town.
God bless
Mark and Lorraine

WEEKLY CHUCKLE
Once upon a time a devoted Christian old lady lived next
door to a committed Atheist. She really irritated her neighbour by
going out every morning and loudly praising and thanking her
God for all her blessings. He would retaliate by shouting, There
is no God. However she fell on hard times and so one morning

she went out to pray for food for she had nothing to eat. When
she went out the next morning she found a parcel of food and
she began to praise God. The Atheist jumped out and yelled, I
brought the food. There is no God. Undaunted the old lady
cried, Praise the Lord, not only did He provide for me, He let
Satan pay the bill.

MEET THE STEPHENS

Josephine was born in Bow, London - so a real Cockney. She
is the second eldest of four children. All her family are still in
England. Her family was very closeknit - as most East End families are.
Josephines mother was the glue in
her family and brought the children to
the Church of England Holy Trinity
Church in Mile End Road every
Sunday - she remained true to her
faith all her life. After passing O
Levels Josephine trained as a Legal
Josephine and Rod
Secretary and worked in a law firm in
Gray's Inn. Although the working day was formal and demanding,
the nights and weekends were great fun with dances, bacardis
and hilarity! Josephine is a great fan of Elvis Presley and admits
that she was one of those screaming girls/young women every
time Elvis appeared. Josephine also loved sport and was Game
Captain at school - her love of sport continues to this day. In
1969 she left England to take a years working holiday in the then
Rhodesia. On New Years Eve 1969 Rod and Josephine met on a
blind date and this probably accounts for Josephines delay in
returning to the UK. Rod was at the time a civil engineering
student at UCT.
Rod was born and raised in Rhodesia and was also keen on
sport - particularly tennis. His family of two sisters and a younger
brother live in the USA and East London.
Josephine and Rod were married in Harare in 1971 and

proceeded to a road construction unit near Birchenough Bridge.

They lived in a caravan at first and then a temporary cement
block house. Rod refused to kill insects/spiders/scorpions etc in
the house which were attracted by the generator lights in the
evenings. Josephine very quickly adapted to the bush life and
every morning swept up the insects which were lying on the
cement floor - sometimes amounting to 1 1/2 bucket loads Their
first child, Iain, was born in Chipinga. Rod was posted as
Resident Engineer to another construction unit near Shabani
where Paul was born. A number of transfers and promotions
ensued giving the young family exposure to many different parts
of the country. Jill was born in Harare. The last posting was to
Rods home town of Sinoia where their youngest daughter Dawn
was born.
The family attended the Presbyterian Church in Sinoia which
was literally across the road. The excellent education system in
Rhodesia/Zimbabwe at the time prepared the children who all
went on to universities for further studies.
Josephine and Rod moved to Harare in 1984 when Rod left
the Roads Department to join a consulting engineering firm. In
Harare the family were members of Highlands Presbyterian
Church and is still good friends with a number of that
congregation. In 2009 the living conditions in Zimbabwe
prompted a decision to move to Cape Town. Permanent
Residence permits were obtained allowing Rod and Josephine to
move to Fish Hoek to join their daughter Dawn in 2010. Dawn
left a few months later to take up US residency which she had
won in the Green Card Lottery. Not long after arriving
Josephine started attending services and activities at St. Kiarans.
They love the people, the fellowship but most of all the joy of the
Lord which is so present at St. Kiarans.
Rod and Josephine were recently blessed with a trip to the
USA followed by England to see their children. It was truly
marvellously, and invigorating, and a special gift to see all the
children. We attended Dawns church in Lowell, Arkansas which is

very active and well funded. As an example, WEEKLY receipts of

Church income are approximately US$270 000.00 or roughly
ZAR 3,750,000.00 per WEEK! Our elders would not grumble at a
fraction of this weekly amount as an annual income.

News From Eugene and Tina Wessels in

Moambique Greetings to all. A picture, it is said, is worth a
1000 words. Viewed in the light of what God is doing here, we
often say, Wish that our missions supporters could be here right
now, with us, to see what God is doing through them. An
enormous amount has been going
on over the last month and I
cannot write all of this down in a
single, brief news-update, so here
is a group of pics Let them talk
for themselves. The food-aid
project is still ongoing. World
Outreach International, Central
Office, recently sent in relief
Rio Zambezia at sunrise:funds, along with friends from N.
Super-spiritual moment before
Carolina, U.S.A. and a number of
the dawn baptisms? Actually just
praying
that no crocodiles disturb
churches from S.A. Our gratitude
us.
toward you is immense; we simply
have no words that can express our response to the love you are
showing toward a people you have never met. The crisis
continues, suicide rates are skyrocketing as people prefer to
leave this world rapidly, instead of
lingering on in slow starvation. We
cannot reach everyone, but we can
reach those whom God has placed
around us. The aged, the widows, the
orphans and those who seem without
hope. With your help we have given
them Hope. Thank you. The young
leadership team from 3 provinces
An aged widow and her grandson met in Mocuba for some discipling
receive sustenance for another
work, upskilling and a bonus
month and bags of maize we
introduction to natural medicine
purchased being prepared for
milling at the local mill.
using plants from around their
houses to help cure the common
Taenia (ringworm) infections in children, break the fever of
malaria and how to use the wonderful Moringa tree to
supplement their diet during this time of crisis.
It is simply such an incredible privilege and a blessing to be

able to serve the Lord in this harsh environment and to see the
fruits of His love spreading throughout the nation, especially
during this terrible time of war, drought, famine and extreme
hardship.
Looking back 15 years What has the Lord done? 62 new
churches planted, hundreds baptized, 37 Biblical Literacy schools
up and running across 3
provinces, a core group of men
and women leaders, firmly
established in their faith, waterwells dug, the widows and
orphans fed, sight brought to
those who cannot see, new legs
and wheels given to the lame.
Job-skills and tent-making
Young leaders
talents taught to hands that had
previously only held a hoe, but now are able to cut, sew, type,
use a computer..etc.
The Lord used YOU to do all of this Lets just return
thanks with a grateful heart.

More photos can be seen in the church porch where they are displayed.

St Kiaran's Women's Fellowship

There will be a talk on 26 October
The last gathering for the year will be Breakfast out on

23 November
Contact Anne McLeod 021 7823415

GOD'S COFFEE
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got
together to visit their old university professor.
Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress
in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the
professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of
coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass,
crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some
exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the
coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand,
the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking
expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the
plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to
want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of
your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no
quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more
expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup,
but you consciously went for the best cups... And then
you began eyeing each other's cups."
"Now consider this," he continued... "Life is the
coffee. The jobs, money and position in society are the
cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of
cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of
life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the
cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups... Enjoy your
coffee!
Contributed by Mike Muller
Phumlani Presbyterian Educare Centre
As hinted at in a previous newsletter, changes were afoot.
Firstly, it was recommended that we drop Grade R, the year
before formal schooling. Secondly, the teaching method would

change to an Open Plan System. This means that each teacher is

responsible for preparing and organising theme-based activities
in one area (outside play, creative activities and fantasy play) for
a week.
The transition has not been without difficulties. Numbers
have dropped with the removal of grade R. The much-needed
opening of two purpose-built pre-schools in Masipumelele has
probably also contributed to this drop which has resulted in a
drop in income.
Changing to an Open Plan System has left the staff very
insecure even though they have been trained beforehand and
been assisted with weekly planning sessions. Avril Muller has
given more training so hopefully the programmes will run more
smoothly.
A big improvement of the premises has been the erection of
a shadecloth awning over the sandpit and adjacent play area.
This allows a greater use of this area on hot days and even when
it rains. As outside play is one of the young childs most
important learning environments, spending more time here in
greater comfort is a huge bonus to the school.
Outings are a major part of our curriculum, as it is vital to
expose the children to new environments. Going to Boulders
Beach to learn about the African Penguin is always delightful.
We had a special treat this year, as each class had the
opportunity to go to Fish Hoek Beach; not just to swim and play,
but to have a meal at the restaurant. Many thanks to the kind
gentleman who sponsored this. The children learnt a whole new
set of behaviours; waiting quietly for their food, eating with a
knife and fork, thanking the waiters and eating with good table
manners. For some it was a little overwhelming, but I can assure
you that they all enjoyed their food.
There is so much to explore at a local nursery too: shapes,
sizes, colours, smells and textures. It is a new space to explore,
especially wandering through the jungle a small area with
trees. There is so little greenery in Masiphumelele, and the
children want to do this over and over again. The staff has
started to grow some vegetable in tyres, and hopefully this
project will expand.
Valuable parts of our project that are continuing are our play
sessions at Sinethemba Special Care Centre and Nalibali. The

younger children have adapted easily to playing with the disabled

children of Sinethemba: of course it helps that they have a very
cool playground! The children still receive and enjoy their weekly
Nalibali booklets. Nalibali also organises special events at the
library, in which our children are involved.
Eva van Belle

It's not how much we give but how much love we put into
giving.
Mother Theresa
We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what
we give.
Winston Churchill
I wondered why somebody didnt do something. Then I
realized, I am somebody.
Unknown
I have one life and one chance to make it count for
something My faith demands that I do whatever I can,
wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with
whatever I have to try to make a difference.
Jimmy Carter
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have
lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of
others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
Nelson Mandela

St Kiaran's Presbyterian Church

Cnr. Central Circle and Recreation Road
P.O.Box 22146, Fish Hoek, 7974
Church Phone: 021 782 6118

Minister: Rev. Mike Muller

All are welcome at our

Regular Sunday Services
Sunday Worship Services at 9.30a.m. & 7p.m.
Holy Communion is served on the 1st Sunday of the month at both services

CHURCH PRAYER MEETINGS

Tuesdays: 11.45 a.m. in the Craig Room

Prayer is offered after services for healing or other needs, by members of our Prayer
Ministry