Erick Osawe

Last week Tuesday, the world lost a brother and a friend. The world is wept and the Kingdom of Heaven rejoices that another soul, another spirit man, another divine being has gained cuz to live is Christ.

He is many things in memory.... a pavement warrior, an orphan, a son, a sufferer, a dreamer, a tortured soul, a triumphant father, a teacher, a student.......

Above all you will be remembered my brother for the change wrought in your life by the hands of Grace; you learned the gospel - an inner dynamic wreaking cataclysmic outer expressions of Kingdom. We were different then, you are different now.

We remember you with love.

Rest in Grace

Yeah

A minute it's been ........

Well for those who don't know.....I'm now an ordained Youth Pastor! That happened on Feb 7th this month. Since the Singapore trip I've agreed to embark on this journey for a year with Lerissa (we're working together). It's been amazin so far in that my job is basically to be as creative as possible out here! Luvin it......

By the way, been meaning to tell y'all about my cell group:

fabolus peoples

all beautiful ppl we are Zimbo's, Zulu's, Congolese, Indian and of course Canadian. We've shared a lot of great moments together from engaging around God's word, sharing our stories with each other and eating. THe great thing too is that leadership is developing amongst them to the point that i'm in the middle of transitioning out of being the cell leader.

both sides now!

Well Moms and Pops came down for a season. Was blessed to have them around and introduce them to everyone and everything. It must be important for parents to know what their kids are dealing with on the day to day you know? They were here for the ordination but Leri's famz also put on a nice engagement celebration:

Us wit Mam Noels (one of my pastors)

I should also let y'all know to please remember Tatenda in prayer. He's actually just arrived in Kunming, China where he'll be for the next few months. He's working with some folks at a medical university, sounds like he's having a blessed time so far! He was actually in Hong Kong for a few days before that and he linked up some of our old school friends. HK sounds like a nice place too, reminding me of places like Singapore. He wants to get a blog up but apparently that's not allowed in China so we've been communicating through email and phone. Aight, so please remember him.

Yes, yes my people stay bless!



Luv

There and Back Again....

Uncle Greg and Aunty Noeleen who led us on the trip

Well, i'm back from my SE Asia trip for about 2 weeks now......it was........catalytic! It was really eye-opening and paradigm shifting too. We went to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Korea - that's nuff for 13 days eh? we really maximized every moment and i have to say that in Singapore i was like a kid in a Candy Heaven! i was luvin every moment of it - the urban culture, night life, presence of the arts, role of the youth.....it actually reminded me a lot of TO in these ways. Singapore is not the most popular of nations when it comes to our western conceptions of democracy and liberty but it was like breath of fresh air to me. It gave me something to aspire to, especially when i saw the role of youth in the Church. They really have their place - in one Sun am service we seen b-boys and b-gurls doing their thing! The Church also has a lot of influence because they are interested in engaging current issues in a relevant way - Singapore will host the first ever Youth Olympics because of City Harvest Church and a Christian based youth NGO bid for it! Dat's influence fo sho...

View of Singapore from 30th floor church

Korea was madd cold! We were in Seoul and it was jokes cuz all the SA'n were saying how they look forward to Seoul's negative temps cuz they prefer cold over Singapore's and SA's heat. Well....it just took one gust of minus something wind and flurries to make dem dizzy! They must've bought out an entire store - 3 scarves, 2 hats, and much more per person! lol. But Seoul is an amazing, it's a HUGE metropolis - 10 million strong. We looked out from the Seoul Tower and all i could see was skyrises to the horizon. We also visisted Dr. Paul Yongi Cho's church and heard him teach - was a really interesting place. The Church there also has a lot of influence. We even went to prayer mountain and joined the ppl's there for late night and early morning prayers; that was an experience - you sit on the floor on these mats with little back supports....they're serious about prayer there.

Yours Truly proudly reppin da Dot in the Seoul Tower

Indonesia was interesting - we went to the island of Batam which is only an hour ferry ride from Singapore. It's quite underdeveloped in comparison to Singapore, but i enjoyed the rawness of the experience if you know what i mean? reminded me nuff of SA and everyone there rides a motorbike - some had 5 ppl to one!

Motorbike Galore!

Malaysia....well i missed this day trip as i was back at the hotel sick with food poisoning from Indonesia - terrible thing. Had me upchucking (lol - nice word) my guts out. Thank God, after an injection in my backside (those hurt!) i recovered quite quickly and was ok for the rest of the trip. We also had 2 nurses on the trip who really helped me out.

That fateful restaurant in Indonesia where my stomach met its Moses

Ya, it was catalytic in that it gave us a picture of what happens when certain principles within the Kingdom of God are lived out.... it helps one to conceive of what they're striving towards - not that we aim to mimic what we've seen but we've mos def been encouraged by it...

But on to better things - as you can see on my FB page i've extended my hand (or been extended to? Queen's english...) in marriage to a young damsel by the name of Lerissa Paul. Wow - it's been a journey, a beautiful one! God has more than restored, renewed, revitalized....as His word says, the latter will be greater than than the former! Our God is so great - when He restores what the locusts and caterpillars have eaten He makes it better than what it was before. Nuff said, in the pic below we were on a cruise in and around Durban to celebrate the engagement with close family > an epic night.....

So Family, stay intensely focused on this plane (you know which cliche i'm avoiding?).

Til we meet again,

Wunness

Gogo Sikakane

Ps. Sikakane and Aunty Emily

Farewell Aunty Emily - sizokubona Gogo. You left a legacy that can never be erased, you were a rock that could not be effaced. So many were made rich because of your kindness, your smiling eyes, the love that you shared so freely. I am excited to know that this is only a beginning, that we will be in each other's presence again around the throne of the Lamb of God. We remember you, we miss you, we love you.

Wow it's been a while....

And i'm leavin on a jet plane.......on my way out of the country tomorrow.....

I'll be boarding a plane to Singapore where i'll be for about 2 weeks with some of my church family. It's not so much a mission as it is an educational, inspirational trip. The focus is actually paradigm shifting. We've been meeting once a month as a church and to connect with ppl who did unconventional and innovative things - breaking through paradigms - to become successful at what they do (of course your defn of success is important). It's amazing cuz many (all?) biblical leaders had to allow God to break their paradigms in order for Him to do mind-blowing things in and through them - Moses, Elijah, Nehemiah, Paul, Jesus! So we'll be meeting with similar ppl out there...should be exciting....we also gonna hit Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea in the same trip - should be intense!

A Chinese Tea arrangement that my boy's friend served us,

I was fascinated by the size of the cup and all the tea making instruments

ya apart from that things are shaping up. Here at AE i've been working steadily on the film festival; the good thing is that now my workload is spread out among more staff. For a while there i was pulling the whole load on my own - was too much! It's looking good for next year tho - any interested visitors????

My car was in the workshop for a bit; had to do pretty much an overhaul on the engine. That was kind of sad, but at least i was still able to get around using Lerissa's car (luvin respeks!) and it's healthy again. There are a few other things to mess around with on it though....i'll do that after the January blues most likely.

Nelson Mandela's house in the Transkei

What else..........oh, believe it or not i'm playing piano in church! I used to play years ago (over a decade) and didn't remember much. In fact, i wasn't even interested in relearning it. But God is amazing eh? I went to a women's conf our church was hosting and this lady prophesied into my life about how the piano playing ability was laying latent in my fingers - she said she could feel it. So the very next weekend i took a step of faith and began playing for our worship team - God is great and greatly to be praised! Things are happening on that front which is kool cuz it's opened a whole new way of experiencing God in the music....beautiful!



Aight famz, that's all for now! Be strong!

Tapfuma

Xcelleraaaaayshunnnnnnnnnnnnnn>>>>>>>>>>>>

Forward movement, God is good.......

The new season is already here and the Kingdom is getting established in ways we never realized. it's amazing cuz i'm seeing acceleration and release all around me right now in people's lives - people walking more fully into their inheritance as children of the King.

Me: "music and social justice" That latter term i think has been adulterated by our common western move to try and find something to fight for - all too often a self centered motivation that has wrought a lot of damage. Unfortunately, many of us have fought for justice out of bitterness because of what's been done to us and our people; not out of deep compassion, empathy and love for sufferers - empowering them to bring change and release even for their oppressors. "Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?" I know this because i used to be a passionate hater of oppression and its agents - in this my whole life mission had become determined by the "other". I've now learned that my life mission originates in an eternal, extra superior, peerless, majestic, unsearchable, gracious, forgiving, caring, beautifully divine Creator (words fail me). Whose life mission could ever be determined by a mere human being?????????

Anyway, God has been great in bringing a lot of this back into my life. I'm excited cuz the possibilities of what is to be done are endless! I pray the same for you, that you would just kool in the quiver - this ain't retreat, it's the patient waiting for the time of release. For those who already launched, enjoy your flight...........

Nuff blesses! Wun

The Latter iz Greater

Ya Fambz,

it's about time i sign in again and speak to you. Let's get all the formalities out the way first though - how you been, wut u up to, ndiepi, lei ho ma (sp?). Me? I'm grand by God's great grace!

I was hugely blessed by a visitation from Dad and Phil a couple of weeks back. They were here for only a week but it was incredible to reconnect and our time was so fruitful. They were here on personal business which required a lot of meetings, etc. and God gave us the grace to accomplish what most human beings should only be able to do in a month! haha, it was great.

Last week i took time out, for the first time in my life i realized i needed a holiday. You know before holidays were fun family trips - a luxury so to speak. Now, i know the meaning of getting away to get refreshed! It was good time, didn't relocate but just did my own thing - no time requirements, no early mornings and a lot of music.

I feel that i'm moving into a new season. This season has many dimensions. Firstly, i'm stepping away from facilitating the Intern program at AE. This means i plan to be at AE 2 or 3 days a week during which i'll only focus on the Film Fest. Secondly, it's time to get down with music - i feel that it's a time of release in that area of my life. I feel i'm called to that and i have been for a minute but now i'm ready to make more moves. Pray for me there. Thirdly, i'm still in the community and working with different types of people - esp. Zimbabwean refugees. I want to take that further and tie that up with the music... i'll explain more as it unfolds. Fourthly, there's a young afro-dread in the happenings.......

Yup, that's wut it is for now. Okay, stay chuned!

BLessd