CARMEL CONTACT

- Keeping you in touch - February 2003

CARMEL BY THE SEA

A CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY & CONFERENCE CENTRE

P.O. Box 294, GEORGE 6530

Tel : (044) 889 0019 e-mail:

Fax : (044) 889 0022 web site: carmel.org.za

REFLECTIONS

Although you may have been nowhere this year (even to Carmel!) I trust that you have nevertheless kept travelling on the inward & spiritual journey of the soul. When I was a child there was a well-known advertisement in the UK that probably advertised shoes, which read: “Little feet have far to go!” Jesus called his disciples “little faiths” (Mt 14:31 JBP), probably as a joke, but surely meant us to understand that - “Little faiths” have far to go! I trust your faith has grown this year. If not, why not? At Carmel we have been deeply challenged & tested at several levels & have been obliged to drink deeply at “heavenly” faith fountains in order to survive. (Where else?) In the middle of a tough period I was challenged by Luke 12:13 onwards. Take a look! We cannot gain spiritually from the things we strive to “gain” for ourselves. (“Be on your guard against all kinds of greed!” – Jesus.) In order to be rich “towards” God we must focus our possessions on things HE values or that he can use as pulleys to draw others to himself. As long as we worry about our lives, our bodies, our clothing, we are adding nothing to our lives & certainly are not laying up treasure in heaven! Let’s all be honest about the distance our faith still needs to go. “O Lord, increase my faith!”

Andrew
OCCUPATION

Overall we have had an amazing time with the holiday occupation figures frankly beyond our expectations! The results indicate an increase of 88% in bed nights & 71% in turnover for the December & January months combined! We praise the Lord for this indication that the changes we made to tariffs & special options have been well received. Thank you to everyone who has made a visit to Carmel. We did ask you to pray for some BIG fish & we certainly were provided with strained nets!

This increase has of course needed a huge increase in the amount of time & work contributed by the team & we are really grateful for the excellent contributions from all our members. For the new team members it must have seemed a dreadful time, while for the old guard the season certainly seemed to go on a bit longer! The greatest pressure was felt in food service where we went through the season without a department leader “on the floor” & Beryl needed to spend huge chunks of time in that department, encouraging & directing a team, which did an amazing job of work.

The Christian Life is a pilgrim journey, not a sightseeing tour!

HOLIDAY TEAMS

We were blessed in the provision of excellent holiday teams taking up the work of all the fun & activities of the summer season. The increased numbers meant a tougher job & we owe the leaders & the teams a special thank you for a job very well done. The Dec 14-28 program was led by ANDREW EDGAR with a team from Johannesburg, & the Dec 28-Jan 11 program by GLEN & COLLEEN URQUHART with a Port Elizabeth team. The first year we haven’t had a Cape Town team for either of these dates! What’s happening?

Transformation comes, in the end, not from an act of will, but an act of grace. We can only ask for it & keep on asking.

Philip Yancey

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.

Psalm 62:1-2

THE CHAPEL REBUILD PROGRAM

This has been very exciting & there are several pictures on our website showing the stages of development. The work became pressured towards the year-end & we did manage to get to the point of being able to use the building for teenage devotions & activities, which was a great advantage. More recently, on January 25th we celebrated Colleen McCreedy’s wedding to Bryce McKay from Australia, as the first event in the chapel, although it is incomplete & formally not in use. This was a wonderfully happy occasion, especially as Alan Blackshaw, now pastor of the Methodist Church in Oudtshoorn, led the service, bringing back many happy memories of Carmel events in the old chapel. The overall effect of the new chapel is wonderful and brilliant with a thoroughly African feel and a powerful effect on visitors. We are greatly indebted to all those who have assisted in this project, from the architect to the bricklayers! The gift income for the chapel has been wonderful & we thank everyone for their contribution. Remember that every gift received, allows us to allocate more & more of the “mere” insurance money received to other development projects! We do want to record our special thanks to an anonymous donor for a wonderful gift of R100,000 - offered with great love & concern, which allowed us to put pressure on the program at a time when we were badly needing a cash injection. God’s timing is always right!

We are planning the formal dedication of the building on TUESDAY the 22nd of APRIL at 5:15 pm followed by a special finger supper. Why not consider joining us for the occasion? We do still have space for the preceding Easter weekend as well!

AUCTION!

As a result of a contract with MTN we have been given an upmarket SONY ERICSSON T68I/IE CELLPHONE, which “retails” at R6500. We are offering this on an open auction to raise additional funds for an installed PA system in the chapel. A reserve or lowest acceptable offer will obviously be established.

Check out the features at your nearest dealer and send an offer by March 31st. “Be free – own your own, without a contract!”


For more pictures of the chapel, please look at the news & views page on our website.

TEAM MOVEMENTS & CHANGES

Many of you have been praying for Maureen Edgar over the last year & we thank each of you for that. The Lord has been gracious & Maureen’s testimony through this deep time of testing has been wonderful. She shares as follows: I read somewhere “He gives most when most is taken away” and wrote it down in May 2002 when my heart was still so sore at losing Gordon – and I have found this to be true. “He restores my soul” says David and this is what God has done for me. My thanks go out to those of you who have continued to pray for me.

We had the welcome mats out for the KING family last year as TREVOR arrived to take up the position of CENTRE MANAGER, LESLEY to join the front office team, & their daughters Amy & Grace to add a youthful touch to our large family! Later in the year & frankly unexpectedly we were joined by VALERIE POLE whose calling is to promote & market Carmel more effectively & at the same time lead the front office & reception team. We are excited & grateful to have these super people on our team & have already benefited from their experience & engifting. Join us in giving God praise for his ongoing provision of wonderful people for this ministry. Sadly we were obliged to say farewell to MARK ROUSE as executive chef, who found himself unable to keep up with the multiple demands of being head of food service & being a member of our residential ministry team. Please pray for Mark as he endeavours to find a calling & position elsewhere, probably in the Cape Town area. We have just appointed WILLIE COETZEE to the position of head of food service & are trusting the Lord that he will find this position fulfilling & an exciting opportunity for spiritual growth together with our team.

THE PAVING OF OUR ENTRANCE ROAD

After years of struggling with the legalities & implications of persuading the servitude user to complete his obligations, it all happened this year!! We now have a beautiful paved road from the entrance all the way to the fork leading to Ballots Bay & a little beyond towards reception. For those of you who have visited us & struggled with the “serious” speed bumps, we do apologise! Our problem is a future with up to 60 Ballots Bay property owners using this road as well as our own guests & SU campsite visitors. We cannot risk the lives of YOUR children on this road & MUST ensure that cars are forced to a crawl at least intermittently. We will be modifying the bumps and although cars will still be obliged to crawl over, they won’t bottom out on the bumps!

Why is it…?

*  Why is it that when you’re driving & looking for an address, you turn down the radio volume?

*  Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

*  Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?

LONG COTTAGE

As a result of a most generous donation from one of our long-standing supporters we have been able to thoroughly renovate “LONG COTTAGE” (which stands close to Chuckle & Chat coffee shop) for Fred & Paddy Empson. They moved in before Christmas after several years in our parkhome & are greatly enjoying their new home & increased space. May God bless the donor richly!

Questions? Questions?

·  Were there any woodworm on Noah’s ark?

·  Do dogfish chase catfish?

·  If one synchronised swimmer drowns, do the rest have to follow suit?

·  What was Captain Hook’s name before he lost his hand?

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE

We are still needing a qualified nurse prepared to swop accommodation at Carmel for services to needy guests & especially to Jack & Kaye in their retirement years. This would be ideal for a retired couple with a pension income who would like to be part of our ministry. There are of course many jobs & projects which can benefit from a husband with good practical skills. We will also be needing to find a replacement for CARIEN du PREEZ, our financial administrator, who is moving home from George to Somerset West as from September this year. We are wanting to appoint a trained & experienced accountant who will move on to Carmel with husband or wife, join the residential ministry team & participate in overall ministry & leadership. Accommodation & the budget shape this position for a couple without dependants or a single person. The spouse would need to play a full time role within our overall work, utilizing their particular abilities or experience. At the time of writing we are also open to applications from young people looking for an opportunity to serve the Lord for a “GAP” year or more, one for the front office/admin team & one for the property/maintenance team. In both cases established suitable skills are essential.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS!

Our property team, with much hard work & inspiration, put in superb efforts to ensure that guests were impressed with all kinds of changes & improvements. We are grateful for many positive & encouraging responses from guests on arrival. Barbara entered Carmel in the local Servistar gardens competition & we were judged the best garden in the Indigenous Estate category. Well done to Barbara & all the property team members!

PROPERTY NEWS

Our renovations on Rooms 3 to 5 have been completed & the results applauded by all who have stayed in them. Well done to Peter & his team! Frankly we are proud of the overall finishes & design & are anxious to continue with these conversions of garden rooms as soon as the budget can manage the work! Only 6 garden rooms now remain to share communal bathrooms but we will need to build additional rooms to replace those taken up by bathrooms! The work on the barn has been on hold as we tackled other work but we will return to it! The appeal for funds for The Clubhouse did not produce an income at all until a surprise donation of R1000- in December! We had to see this holding back as the Lord’s direction & have been doing some hard thinking to check on our key objectives. As a result we have shifted our focus to the most important need, which is for improved administrative facilities. We have an existing plan to extend out from the conference room (old children’s dining room) with a new reception & office area. This will allow us to convert the existing finance offices into much needed general toilet facilities with entry to the outside of the building. To do this we must find a way to provide a new facility to replace the conference room. We could achieve this by either building The Clubhouse as a separate facility, OR by completing a section of the barn for conference use, which could also be used as a youth clubhouse in the holiday season. We await further guidance & ideas on this but are anxious to move ahead as our efficiency is being stifled in the existing office areas.

Why is it…?

*  Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavour, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

*  Why is the time of day with slowest traffic called rush hour?

*  Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

LAND DEVELOPMENTS

Many of you have prayed for a successful sale of the valley property owned by Jack & Kaye. We reported a buyer in our last Contact but his efforts to raise the amount of capital required were not successful & as a result the sale fell through. It has been replaced however with an exciting project in partnership with a new buyer, in which the Trust, representing Jack & Kaye, will retain a share in future developments. This project should provide significantly more income than from an outright sale. In the meantime a substantial amount of the sale money will be invested to ensure Jack & Kaye’s comfort & security. Our proposed Associate Community Housing Scheme has moved forward step by step & at the last trust meeting we formally agreed on the areas of ground to be used for this development. We have an established list of interested parties but would be happy to hear from others interested in acquiring a home on Carmel land. Living in the home is a prerequisite of the scheme.