Another break in on Project Canaan AND they tried to poison the dog.

August 11 Blog

Last Saturday night we had another break in on Project Canaan, but this time it was at Amber and Kenny VanWinkle’s house.  The VanWinkles are long term volunteers and were offsite visiting friends when the thieves cut through the burglar bars at their home, went through their whole house and stealing laptops, iPhone, TV, a wedding ring and some personal family treasures.  Their Jack Russell dog (Yebo) was in the house, but clearly did not deter the burglars.

This was as devastating to Amber and Kenny as it was to us when our house was broken in to back in June (http://janinemaxwell.blogspot.com/2017/07/our-home-was-vandalized.html).

We are quite certain that it is the same thieves and we are quite certain that it’s an inside job, meaning that people whom we know, trust, love and employ are directly involved with both break-ins.

We have hired a private investigator who is infamous in Swaziland.  His name is well known and as he says, “When a snake heads towards the monkeys, the monkeys will scatter”.  There certainly has been some scattering on the farm when this man started showing up on the premises to investigate.

Two nights after the break-in (with a 24 hour guard assigned to their house) the thieves came back and put rat poison in Yebo’s water bowl that was in the backyard inside their gated area. We are told that rationale was to scare us all in to calling off the investigation, but it will not be called off, we will NOT be afraid, and Yebo was smart enough to point it out to Kenny.

We are working with several experts on elevating the security all over the property, but won’t share any of those details here as many of our employees read this blog. Suffice it to say, things are changing at Project Canaan.

This morning my Facebook page popped up an image from five years ago. It was a photo of our first nine children, in their pajamas all sitting on a change table.  I went down to Saturday’s Kids Club and the Oasis and we re-enacted the photo of our first nine.  The kids squealed in seeing themselves as babies and loved crawling up on the bed to get the updated photo.

Levi, David, Caleb, Jeremiah, Emmanuel, Anna, Joshua, Esther, Miriam - 2012

Levi, David, Caleb, Jeremiah, Emmanuel, Anna, Joshua, Esther, Miriam - 2017

I sent both photos to Kenny and Amber to encourage them and remind them why we are all here.  While fear continues to want to keep a stranglehold here at Project Canaan, LOVE is so much bigger and SO much stronger than fear. I am sharing them today with you to show you what the love of Jesus looks like.  Look at the hope and joy in the eyes of our children now.  My heart is full.

We are told that the greatest commandment in the bible is to “love one another”, even when it’s hard. Today, and every day, we choose love.

Live from Swaziland … I choose love and I will not be afraid.

Janine

This blog was written for me. Fear? Yep.

Banner outside the front door of the Morrison Academy in Taichung.

What are you afraid of?

It seems that in the past few weeks I have had more conversations than usual about fear, and I am not a fearful person, so I typically find them quite interesting conversations.

I had dear friends come to Swaziland recently who were afraid (no, terrified) of snakes and didn’t want to open the windows of their room in the 101 F weather for fear that the snakes would come in.   I have spoken with High School Seniors who are afraid of not getting in to their #1 choice of College or University – how could their 2^nd choice possibly be okay?  Tonight I had a conversation with a friend about the fear of loss … losing everything we have worked so hard to gain – “what if I lose my house, my influence, my 401K?”  Of course there is the usual fear of failure, fear of disappointing others and fear of the unknown that has crept up and snared many friends and family members in the past few weeks.

“Do not fear, for I am with you…” 

Today I had a meeting with a dear friend who travels to Swaziland every year with a group of students.  Today he told me that he would not be traveling in 2015 because the people who sponsor the trip financially are afraid of the students getting the EBOLA virus.  The driving distance between Swaziland and Sierra Leone is more than 6,000 miles and you would have to travel through 13 different African countries to get there, any yet there is fear.

“Do not fear, for I am with you…”

I am writing this blog for myself today.  I am in Taiwan right now as a guest at the Morrison Academy School in Taichung.  I am a Speaker at Spiritual Life Week from Monday to Friday next week and it just so happens to be Chloe’s last Spiritual Life Week of her High School career.  Now, THAT is something to fear!  I am to stand up in front of hundreds of kids at Christian school whose parents are “real missionaries” and share the word of God.  These kids have parents who have been beaten up by the Chinese Mafia for fighting against Human Trafficking, they translate the bible into new languages, they plant churches in China with hopes that the church will not be discovered by the authorities, AND have had to learn a foreign language in which to do all of these things!  And I am to pass on a message that will be meaningful, memorable and from God.  Ugh! 

Isaiah 41:10 says,  “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. “

Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

I will claim both of those scriptures today as I prepare for God to use my voice and my life experiences for His work and His purposes.

What are you afraid of today?  Will you join me in claiming the two scriptures above and trust that “God’s got it”?  (That one was for you Sandy and Donald Wise).

Live from Taiwan … I am not afraid.

Janine

PS I am also thankful that I was here for Chloe's "Banquet" and got to take photos before she headed out.