My South Africa Team!

Small, but mighty!

Abiola

(On left in photo)

I moved to Boston for school and began attending Park Street back in 2009. I first became interested in South African prison ministry in the fall of 2012, when Andrew May came to Park Street to share about his work during the missions conference that year. Ever since, I heard his story, I knew I wanted to be a part of that good work — to share the good news of hope and reconciliation to men rejected by society. I’m looking forward to returning this summer to the same corrections facility as last year, to continue our work.

When I’m not hanging around Park Street, I’m usually developing software at a technology startup in the area, volunteering at my old college or at an elementary school in East Cambridge, or baking pies, tarts, and other treats.

Tom

(On right in photo)

As a little boy, I went church every Sunday. However, as I got older, I lost my way with God, and had a lot more personal losses in my life. So I turned to drinking. Which got me into trouble. I was ordered to attend AA meetings, and of all the Boston locations I had to chose from, I picked Park Street Church. The very first time I went to the meeting, something was different in my heart. It took a little while for it to hit me that it was never the meeting, it was the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit which had been placing the spirit of the LORD deep in my heart. The same night I realized it, I told Him "Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be. AMEN”Now, one of my main goals is to help people enjoy life as much as possible. I take life seriously, but I know when to have fun and like to bring my sense of humor into as many conversations as I can. One of my challenges in South Africa will be keeping my sarcasm in check.

For the last few years I have felt the Lord tugging at my heart to go on a short-term mission trip, but it is intimidating. This year, I took a step of faith and signed up to go to South Africa.

One exciting opportunity I have is to share my testimony with the inmates. It includes God’s healing work in many areas - including my alcohol addiction of over fifteen years. What I get to share with the guys, is that at the time of the trip, I will be celebrating 17 years of continuous sobriety.

Please pray that all my interactions are filled with the love of Jesus and that I give my testimony in a way that also communicates God’s love and brings encouragement. Knowing that you are praying for me is very important.

Thank you for considering being a part of our mission of restorative justice in the prisons of South Africa!

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another"

Prayer Points for the team:

• That all the preparation work we should be doing, we will do. One particular task we have is reading some books about restorative justice, cross cultural ministry, and being useful on short term trips. Please pray that we all have the time to finish reading them, and that we absorb the information to be more useful on the field. (I also have a book on India, an audiobook on South Africa, and a book creating home and community while traveling to add to the pile! I would like it noted that I did not buy any of these, and thanks to the incredible supportive people for all their gifts) 
• Please pray for soft hearts among our team, among our partners in South Africa, and among the inmates. The most valiant efforts on our part will be useless if we cannot connect and if the prisoners have stony hearts. 
• Please pray for physical, mental, and emotional protection. This is challenging work, that will only be more difficult if we go into it over tired, emotionally burnt out, with a cold or flu, or with minds that wonder instead of focusing on the men before us. (please add prayers that I will have even more strength and more to give when I move onto India) 
• Pray that we will be an encouragement to the long term workers, especially Andrew and Anne. We will pour ourselves out for just over two weeks, they do it for months and years at a time. 

If you wish to give financial support you can do so here. Select "STM South Africa" from the drop down menu, and then you may put one of our names in the memo, or you can leave it blank and we will allocate where it is most needed.

Where in the World is Tatiana Going Next (A.K.A Travel Plans for 2017)

Hello my Friends.

A year ago today, almost to the minute, I was just getting home from helping in a Chinese orphanage. (Or at least I was when I started drafting this post) Now, I am in the planning stages of two or possibly three trips overseas for volunteer work in vastly different ministries in different countries. They are all countries I have never been to before, which is super cool and exciting.

I will start with the one I leave for first, South Africa. My church is planning a two and a half week trip to the Cape Town area to help Hope Prison Ministry. This is totally outside of anything I have ever done before. I have never been to the continent of Africa, or even the southern hemisphere. I have never even flown through the southern hemisphere on my way to Asia. I also have never been involved in prison ministry. However, I have applied for, and been accepted onto the team.

In the Bible, at the end of Matthew 25, Jesus describes one group of people as blessed by God and another as cursed by Him. The difference between groups is not theology, or a prayer prayed, it is concrete actions done to help "the least of these". One of the listed actions was visiting people in prison. Prison ministry is not something I feel like I am especially gifted for. I do not expect to be unusually good at it, or to come away deciding to dedicate the next twenty years of my life to prison ministry. So why go? Because visiting people in prison is something that Jesus said people who love God will do. Because there are men in South African prisons who have said that they want to learn about justice, that they want to grapple with the results of their crimes, and they want to try to mend relationships they betrayed, and they need more people to help walk them through that. I can go. I can listen. I can share. I can be vulnerable with them and help to provide a safe space for their vulnerability. I have the time, and a desire to help as much as I can. I will explain more about what my role will be in a later post.

At the end of my time in Cape Town, I do not fly home. I fly straight to Mumbai, India, where I will meet up with a friend, and get straight to work helping a local pastor. He has a number of different projects, which I will detail later. The one I am going to explain now is his fostering of education for slum children that I will be helping with. If you are friends with me, or have been following this blog, you know that children are my biggest passion. So this trip really excites me. During my time in India, I will be working with children in a new set of hard circumstances that put them at a disadvantage. Most of the kids I will be working with have loving parents. It is poverty and ideas of fate that cannot be overcome that hold these kids back. The pastor I will be working with runs a free kindergarten for children in families referred to as the rag pickers. They would more accurately be called recyclers. They go around the streets picking up scraps of paper, empty soda cans, plastic bottles, and yes, fabric rags. They then sort the reusable rubbish and sell it in bulk to recycling and manufacturing plants. These families struggle to make enough money to provide for their children, and as a result many slum kids are malnourished. The parents keep their kids home from school because the kids can add more recycling to the pile, which will mean more money for food. They also keep them back because they do not think it is possible for their children to become anything more than they are, or their parents, and grand parents were before them. Lastly, families struggling to get enough food, find it impossible to buy the uniforms and supplies required at the public schools. The pastor I am working with runs the kindergarten for a group of five and six year old kids from these families. During the two years he has the kids, he tries to increase the families' commitment to learning. Once they are finished at his school, he offers to sponsor the children in their further education by paying for their uniforms and supplies. He also uses his school to help combat the malnourishment and disease of the kids by providing one or two meals a day and hygiene classes. On weekday mornings, I will be with these kids. My main job job will be substitute English teacher. In the evenings, I will go into the slum to visit their parents.

I will fill you in more later this week, including the other possible trip. For now though, I have to get to work.

Thank you for all you care and encouragement!
All my love,
Tatiana

Please Pray:

• That my team to South Africa will do all the emotional and mental preparation we need to do to be as effective as possible in this demanding ministry.
• That the men who will come to the program will have softened hearts.
• That we will be loving towards the men even as they confess the horrors they have done.
• That the money needed to carry out this trip will come in.
• That I will have the time needed to rest and rejuvenate so I can continue to pour myself out.
• That my friend and I will have good health and stay safe in India.
• That we will show these kids how special they are and be an encouragement to their parents.

 If you would like to support me financially, you can support the trip to South Africa by going this website selecting STM South Africa and putting Tatiana Martin in the optional memo, or by putting money so designated in the offering plate at Park Street Church during Sunday service. (You would get a tax receipt for this) To support India, because it is a local doing awesome stuff and not a registered non-profit, you would just give me cash or a check letting me know what it was for. Let me know if you have any questions.