Last news update from 121@VMA Catalysts for 2007!

What an exciting year this has been! In so many countless ways we have been stretched and challenged as a team and are more prepared than ever for the increase in ministry that awaits us in the new year.

This month, we had the opportunity to play our MoneySkills boardgame at a primary school in Brooklyn. This boardgame is a fun way of teaching financial literacy to children (and adults!). We had 100 grade 7’s playing the game, and one of our facilitators, Jacques, gave a wonderful talk on ‘gaining the world but losing our souls’.

Just before this, we treated the staff at Pretoria North High, where we have been running the detention program this past year, to a finger lunch. We also used the opportunity to fill them in on how things have been going this past year. The feedback we received from the staff and school management was very positive.

In this month, we also met with Clapham High and they have agreed to take us on board to run their detention program in 2008. We are very excited about this opportunity to try out the detention program in a new context, but are sure there will also be new challenges and learning curves!

A few Saturdays ago we held a Christmas party for the children at Siyafunda, the Day Care Centre in Soshanguve that we have been marginally involved with, in cooperation with students from the local technikon. Two other orphanages were invited and some 100 children sang, danced, played games and enjoyed a great spread of food and treats.

So its been a busy month, but one that has left us with an anticipation of what lies ahead. Next year, our team will almost double with a few of the young adults joining the 121 team. We will have two schools at which to run our detention program. We will start marketing our MoneySkills game as a way of introducing ourselves to schools. We will keep up our involvement at Siyafunda. And we’ll take hold of every opportunity we get to speak into the lives of young people and plant seeds that we pray will change their vision, minds and attitudes and transform lives.

We hope and pray you all have a blessed Christmas and New Year, and that you too will have an anticipation for what God is planning in 2008!