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https://notforgottensa.com Releasing Purpose, Awakening Dreams Tue, 01 Mar 2016 22:08:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.8 The Golden Door of Freedom https://notforgottensa.com/the-golden-door-of-freedom/ https://notforgottensa.com/the-golden-door-of-freedom/#respond Fri, 24 Jul 2015 21:37:25 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=852

Exciting things are happening here in South Africa! Just last week we received news that we are now officially registered as a Non-Profit Trust in South Africa. This has been a long process that has taken over 9 months. We are so thankful for God’s faithfulness in bringing us to this point! Now, we can really run with the mission God has given us to care for the orphaned and vulnerable children of South Africa.

Our mission is comprised of a three-fold strategy: Education, Discipleship, and Development

This month we would like to update you on our first strategy: Education

We firmly believe that by providing a quality Christian education, we will provide greater opportunities later in life that will help propel the children out of poverty. Education is also one of the best ways to jump start the process of transformation in a community.

what we doOver this past year, Mimi and I have been managing a preschool in the township. Mimi has been working tirelessly to hire and train teachers to provide quality care to the children attending the preschool. At the end of last year we had about 40 kids attending the preschool. Due to lack of quality teachers this number of kids was overwhelming for our teachers. In January, Mimi implemented a new strategy and reduced the number of students to 20. This also allows us to be very intentional with our investment in the children and their parents.

IMG_3559At the preschool we have created a “fun” learning environment, where dreams are encouraged and learning is “playing.” The children learn through songs, cooking lessons, Bible stories, and field trips to a local farm to learn about animals and agriculture.

Thanks for your prayers! We are able to provide two highly nutritious meals and a snack a day . This is very important, cause most kids in this community only eat once a day. For most of them, the nutrition they receive from the preschool boost their immune system and keeps them healthy.

We are excited to be able to provide jobs to 4 mothers: 3 Teachers and 1 Cook. Each week Mimi
has discipleship meetings with each individual teachers and teach them how to dream. So, through your support you are not only providing jobs to mothers, but also discipling them to follow Jesus! You are actively:

Releasing Purpose, Awakening Dreams!

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/the-golden-door-of-freedom/feed/ 0 Dorah’s Journey https://notforgottensa.com/dorahs-journey/ https://notforgottensa.com/dorahs-journey/#respond Mon, 22 Jun 2015 21:24:45 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=849

What do you do when you see your disciple get it? I can only imagine what Jesus was feeling when he saw his disciples understand the Word, and transform their life to the fullest… to see them get it!! That’s what we’ve experienced for the last 3 months. Mimi has been discipling Dorah for almost 2 years and we have seen her eyes open and really trust Jesus with her life. Talk about life changing for her and for Mimi! Mimi has learned and been transformed as much as she has through this journey together… so this is the journey they’ve been on:

Dorah has been in an abusive marriage and is currently in the process of getting a divorce, getting out of debt, being trained for Early Childhood Education on the weekends, and working full time at a local preschool. About 6 months ago, Dorah’s eye were opened. Jesus became real in her life and it was an exciting day. Mimi had been meeting with her and encouraging her that God has not forgotten about her, that He loves her.

DSC_7570In January 2015, Dorah tithed for the first time, gave a tenth of her gross income and she tithed with a cheerful heart!! After 6 months of faithful tithing, she has decided to tithe 15% of her earnings rather than 10%. To us, these might sound like small accomplishments, but in the Townships, it’s unheard of.

Since then, God has blessed her beyond her dreams. She’s learned how to dream because recently she wrote a business plan to better her community. Our heart is full as we watch her cling to God and really trust Him with her whole life. The veil over Dorah’s eyes have been removed and now she has an understanding as to how to help others in her community.

Eric and I have decided to really focus on discipleship… go slow and go small. We normally have 60-90 children at our weekly outreach, but we are determined to see transformation in their lives. We’ve decided in July, to only take 20 children that have been faithful in coming to our outreach and really invest in them and their family. We will also start a bible study/church in the Townships on Sunday mornings due to high demand. It’s been really exciting to see the Youth of Ikageng dream about what they want to do in the future.

We are excited, because the active vision for Not Forgotten is: Releasing Purpose, Awakening Dreams! Slowly, we can see that eyes are being opened and people in Ikageng are starting to dream.

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/dorahs-journey/feed/ 0 Red Thread https://notforgottensa.com/red-thread/ https://notforgottensa.com/red-thread/#respond Tue, 05 May 2015 21:20:04 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=846
Mimi and I are excited to announce that we have officially launched Not Forgotten’s first sustainable job creation project, Red Thread!Since September of 2014, Mimi and I have been managing a preschool in the Township of Ikageng. We have been busy implementing the strategy that God has given us by educating the children in the preschool and focusing on discipleship through a weekly outreach. During this time, it became very
clear that for us to see true transformation in the lives of the children we had to have some influence in their homes.

Our goal is to teach sewing skills to parents from the preschool that we manage. After an initial training period, our desire is to create quality South African products and sell them locally and internationally.

By investing in the lives of these parents and teaching them a practical skill, we are empowering them and providing an opportunity to better care for their children.

IMG_4349 Another exciting aspect of this project is that local South Africans are getting behind us and want to partner with us to make a difference in their community. A real good friend of ours, Minette Bell, has volunteered to manage the day-to-day training of Red Thread. Minette is a local business woman in Potchefstroom and a former runner for South Africa’s National Team. She can also sew exceptionally well!Currently, we are training two mothers, Daphne and Mieta, on a weekly basis. They meet three times a week and they start off each day with prayer and a bible study. Minette has been teaching them the basics of sewing, they started out learning about the machine they would be working with, sewing lines on paper, and learning needle work. In the past couple of months, Daphne and Mieta have progressed very quickly. They even made their first bag a couple of weeks ago. They were both so excited!

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/red-thread/feed/ 0 Celebrate God’s goodness https://notforgottensa.com/update-january-15/ https://notforgottensa.com/update-january-15/#respond Thu, 01 Jan 2015 12:25:15 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=283

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Well, 2014 has come to a close and 2015 has started with a BANG!

As you know, our family is busy working hard with the South African government to sort out our Visa situation, but we wanted to take a moment and celebrate God’s goodness this past year.

God’s goodness shined upon our family in 2014. Our kids started school, made friends, Caleb won a 1st place medal in swimming, Ethan bagged his 1st hunting trophy, Josiah earned an academic achievement award, and Abigail, Mimi and I were blessed to visit home and see family and friends.

In ministry, Mimi and I started an outreach to 40 children in the township and watched it grow to over 100 kids. Mid way through the year we had a movie night where 70 children responded to accept Christ in their hearts. Mimi started training teachers in the township and we specifically started helping to empower a local preschool in the same township. We also had our first volunteer, Angelika, come and serve with us for two months. And to top it all off, Mimi and I stepped out in faith on a word from God and started a non-profit called ‘Not Forgotten’. Not Forgotten is devoted to awaken the love of Christ within the people of South Africa through discipleship, development, and education.

All of these exciting things that happened were because of God’s faithfulness and goodness. More of that goodness happened at the end of 2014. We held a preschool graduation and a Christmas Party for kids who faithfully attended the outreach every week this past year. Both events were stellar moments for the kids who participated. 9 children graduated from preschool and every care giver said that they believe that their child was very prepared to enter and excel in Kindergarten. We also had over 80 children attend our end of the year Christmas Party. All 80 children spent a year coming faithfully to the outreach where they learned the importance of loving your neighbor, how to pray, and that Jesus loved them so much that He died for their sins.

Thanks to your financial and prayer support these children have been able to hear the Gospel, respond to that Gospel, and now are learning to follow Christ and live out that Gospel.

As we look forward to all that God has prepared for us in 2015, our prayer is that you will be full of God’s joy and blessings in this New Year! We want to thank you for your support which is making a difference in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in
South Africa.

Love, The McMillian Tribe

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/update-january-15/feed/ 0 A Year of Fruitfulness https://notforgottensa.com/a-year-of-fruitfulness/ https://notforgottensa.com/a-year-of-fruitfulness/#respond Tue, 16 Sep 2014 09:29:29 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=306

 

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It has been one year since we have moved from White River, SA to Potchefstroom, SA. In that time God has made it clear to us how he wants us to help the orphaned and vulnerable children of South Africa. Last month I said that their was so much exciting news that we wanted to share with you. Let me start by recapping this past year.

Last year around this time we started an outreach at a local Preschool where children of all ages gather after school. Dora, the founder of the Preschool, asked us if we would start teaching the children the Bible because she was worried about their spiritual health. For the past year we have been doing just that and man have we seen God’s blessing. When we started we had about 50 kids coming to the outreach, today we have around 120 kids coming to the outreach. We have volunteers coming on a weekly basis and they help out with everything from leading games, dramas, leading the kids in worship, teaching Bible lessons, and loving on the kids. But, the most exciting thing is that we have seen over 75 kids accept Christ! Now we are working on discipling those children to be followers of Jesus in a way that transforms there community.

As the year progressed, the outreach grew, and the more we prayed Mimi and I sensed that we needed to serve Dora on another level. Dora founded the preschool from a desire to serve the children in her community. Without formal training this process has been difficult. Mimi and I both have degrees in Early Childhood Education and Child Development respectively. We also recently became qualified to train teachers to use the Step-By-Step Bible based preschool curriculum. Since August, we have been busy training Dora and her teachers to use this curriculum. We will continue with the training until December.

Lastly, we have been blessed for the past few weeks to have our first volunteer come help serve alongside of us. Her name is Angelika. Angelika has a passion to share the love of Jesus with the orphaned and vulnerable children of South Africa. Since she has been here she has fell in love with the children and with South Africa.

what we do

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/a-year-of-fruitfulness/feed/ 0 Jesus: He Lives Among Us https://notforgottensa.com/jesus-he-lives-among-us/ https://notforgottensa.com/jesus-he-lives-among-us/#respond Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:09:30 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=318 86169032-8e17-4100-9621-f107d127098f 66fe931a-6254-42e0-9186-2dfa87851b96

This past month for Easter, we hosted a movie night for the children in Ikageng ext. 7. We showed the Voice of the Martyr’s animated Jesus film, Jesus: He Lived Among Us. We printed out movie tickets, permission slips, and had snacks for the children. The childrenwere required to bring a signed permission slip, which allowed us to know how many were attending. For most of the children, it was the first time to watch a movie, so we had the signed permission slips in minutes. The response was overwhelming. When the movie started we had 200 plus kids crammed inside a small aluminum siding building with standing adults in the back. In fact, we had at least 50 plus standing for the entire movie due to lack of space. For most of the kids it was the first time they had seen a movie about Jesus. You could hear the oooh’s and the aaahhh’s as Jesus was being crucified. To explain the movie we shared a short Gospel presentation and a large percentage of kids responded to the call to accept Jesus as their Savior. We’ve had amazing favor and response from the community.

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]]> https://notforgottensa.com/jesus-he-lives-among-us/feed/ 0 To Save A Life! https://notforgottensa.com/to-save-a-life/ https://notforgottensa.com/to-save-a-life/#respond Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:53:59 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=314 DSC_3686What does it take to save a life? Only Jesus can save souls, but we are called to demonstrate the Love of Jesus to all that we meet. What we can do is be in the right place at the right time and just maybe God can work throughus to save a life! And I believe that is what Mimi just did this past month.

Let me explain. Mimi was ministering in Ikageng at a preschool that we serve on a weekly basis when she noticed a little girl with ringworm on her face. With her experience working with kids beforeMimi reached out to the mother and began educating her on how to take care of the ringworm. Then she noticed that the lady had a son who was covered in dark sores all over his body. The boy was unresponsive and seemed very sick. Mimi asked some doctor friends about the sores, and they said it sounded like Staph infection and suggested he get immediate medical attention. Mimi explained this to the mother and made a plan to take little Christopher to the hospital.

At first, the hospital did not want to admit him, but after much persuasion on Mimi’s part they finally admitted him. The doctors looked at him and confirmed that he had Staph infection, but also said that he was on the last stages of malnutrition. They said if the mother would have waited any longer to bring him to the hospital that he would have died!

Today Christopher is healthy, happy, and very responsive. We are so thankful that God led Mimi to be in the right place at the right time and worked through Mimi to help save little Christopher’s life. We check up on Christopher regularly and Mimi is currently working on developing a food basket system that we can provide for families in Ikageng.

Please pray for Christopher and his family. Pray for their health, that his parents can find a stable income, and that more doors would be opened for this family to fully embrace Jesus who can not only save their lives but also their souls!

Thank you for all of your faithful prayers and financial support! You are the real heroes that made it possible to save a life.

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/to-save-a-life/feed/ 0 Go Slow, Go Small https://notforgottensa.com/go-slow-go-small/ https://notforgottensa.com/go-slow-go-small/#respond Mon, 03 Feb 2014 09:45:22 +0000 http://notforgottensa.com/?p=298 1618625_10152202036818680_1234914274_n

As the New Year began we felt very strongly that God’s word for us this year was, “Go slow, and Go small”. Our family is making a long term commitment here in South Africa because we want to see transformation in the people’s lives that we minister too. That can not happen if we rush to establish processes and programs.

For us ‘Go Slow’ means build relationships inside and out. Take time to get to know the people we are serving. Take time to get to know the leaders who are already serving the community. We do not want to sacrifice relationship for our own agenda’s.

Right now we are currently building a strong relationship with Dora. Dora gave her life to the Lord a few years back and immediately decided to make a difference in her community by opening a pre-school. We have developed a close friendship with Dora and she has opened up her pre-school for us to use for bible studies and outreach meetings to the community.

‘Go Small’ means to be focused and intentional about all that we do in the community. Sometimes that means saying no to specific opportunities and ideas. People have said to us, “Why don’t you start a feeding scheme?” or “Why don’t you take over this specific ministry?” Our answer has been “No”, because we want to stay focused on where God has called us and we want to be intentional with what ministry we do so that our actions are not mis-interpreted.

For instance, as Americans coming into a black township community, people automatically see us as a source of money or handouts. Starting a feeding scheme, even though it is an act of compassion, would only fuel that stereotype further and in the end cause them to be dependent on us instead of God. We want them to know that God is their source and that God created them in such a way to take dominion over their own circumstances.

The challenge for Mimi and I right now is that we are experiencing such favor that the movement of activities are pressuring us to move at a quicker pace. We have only been ministering here since October, but a friend of ours who recently visited us said that the relationships we have developed looks like we have been here for a couple of years. We take that as a source of encouragement!

So what are we doing?

Since October, Mimi and I have been visiting a local Township community near where we live. The name of the township is Ikageng. We have been busy building relationships with people in the community and ministering the Gospel to the children.

Eric started out specifically leading a team of College and DTS students every week into the community. When we first went out we ministered to about 25-30 children. Then each week we noticed the number of children were growing from 30 to 60 to 80 to over 100 kids!

We have been busy starting bible studies as well. Mimi has two separate Women’s Bible studies. One of about 25 Women in Ikageng on Wednesday’s and another one to 2 influential business women on Monday’s. Eric has started a weekly Bible study of about 15 youth and a Men’s Bible study with 10 men in Ikageng.

Our goal is to see lives transformed through the Word of God washing over their lives. We want them to have a personal encounter with God that is life transforming! We are facing many obstacles: witchcraft, alcoholism, drug abuse, hopelessness, HIV/AIDS, and the list goes on and on. But one thing we have faith in is this, “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit!”

Please pray with us that as we pray and preach the good news that the Holy Spirit will begin to change the environment in and around Ikageng.

Thank you for all of your faithful prayer and support! We love and appreciate you greatly!

]]> https://notforgottensa.com/go-slow-go-small/feed/ 0