Todd and Tom Lust

Whew!

January was a busy month.  I'll try to catch you up on the goings-on here at Restoring Hope Village over the next few posts.

Bob and Susan Niehoff, Brian's parents, left at the end of January and the same day they flew out we were joined by Tom Lust and his brother Todd.  This was Tom's 6th trip to South Africa with us, and Todd's first.  Tom is one of the hardest workers we have ever had here and he is all about getting things done.

From Left: Tom Lust and Todd Lust

During their trip the two T's spent most of their time upgrading our fence security.  God blessed us two years ago with a great deal on cement wall fencing, but one problem with that type of fence is that it is actually easier to get over than it's cheap chain link counterpart.  Now that we have lot's of children security becomes a bigger issue.  In fact, at the end of December we had a threat from a father whose son we were caring for.  Brian and Lois also lost several outdoor chairs to theft one night.  So it was important for us to make this upgrade on the fence.

The upgrade is electrical in nature, specifically that any potential breaker-inner by touching the fence would receive a significant charge of negative and positive electrons coursing from said fence, through the body, and into the ground.  A secondary benefit is that any break in the current will also trigger an alarm.  This alarm alerts us, alerts our gratis armed security company (CHUBB), and hopefully deters the potential crime.

Tom is an electrician by trade, and Todd is an Iowa farmer.  So both have lots of experience with electricity and electric fences.  Their efforts saved us a whole truckload of time.  It also provided a need here.  During their work time they also had a great chance to get to know some of the kids.  Kamohelo in particular loves to help us guys as we work, and they had a chance to invest in his life as well.

Big thanks to Tom and Todd Lust for their help here at Restoring Hope Village.

P.S.  Their first Sunday here in Welkom coincided with my first opportunity to preach at our new church. My passage was 1 Peter 4:1-6, a significant portion of which emphasizes our former lives as unbelievers as being characterized by lust.  And having two Lusts sitting in the audience was a challenge.  I couldn't make eye contact with Tom because I knew he would do something to make me laugh, and that wasn't really an appropriate laughing portion of the message.  Just one more challenge of ministry:-)