happy easter...

we took a few group photos after church... say cheese!

It actually rained pretty hard most of the afternoon, so everything was held inside...

look at all that food, glorious food...

yeah, me being the easter bunny... maybe it was a sugar-high...

Emma Grace getting a little help finding some eggs...

the bunny cakes that Jordan (one of our students) made... it was red velvet...

time to relax and play a few games...

Rich didn't quite make it...

Lynn found an easter lilly... a nice end to a nice holiday...

dinner's served...

Tuesday, I did something that I never would have guessed that I would ever do...

It was my night to make dinner and I choose to make Breakfast Burritos. Lynn, Heidi and Kathryn had only ever had like McDonald’s and were grossed out by them. So I decided to enlighten them. Unfortunatly, you can’t always get the same thing here that you would be able to get in the states. We have been making our own flour tortillas because to ones here don’t taste right. So I made my own for dinner. I didn’t ask Lynn to get hash browns at the store because we already have potatoes so I figured I could make them myself. Well, think again. I tried ‘baking’ them in the oven (a little healthier than frying) and that didn’t really work. Then Lynn tried “frying” on the stove-top and that didn’t quite work either. But they were good enough to eat. The eggs were the easy part. But the thing that I NEVER thought I would do was… Let me back up again… There’s a butcher here that we use when we need… well beef, and the like. Though, we’ve had some trouble with finding some of the same cuts that we get in the states. So, I asked Lynn to pick up some sausage (ground pork) for my dinner night. She left the order with the butch and when she picked in up it was small (finger-size) sausage links. Not what I was asking for. But the links wouldn’t work very well for the burritos (too big) so… I pain-stackingly cut open each one and ‘squeezed’ out all the pork. Yeah, gross. And that’s something that I never thought I would do.

P.S. they were great! Not exactly like home but everyone liked them.

mix it up...

This was a week full of local outreach. We had a speaker, a very good speaker. But there were several opportunities for different outreach locations so I took advantage of them. Wednesday we started the morning with a farm school; it’s a school out in the bush for local children (sometimes kids of farmers). We have a team from the states with us for 2 weeks, so they came. One of the women is a dentist so she spoke to the kids about their teeth.
At the end we got to pass out tooth brushes and toothpaste.

They didn’t speak much English but who needs English when you have Play-doh and Jenga!

After lunch, we went to an after school program. The kids actually spoke English pretty well so we were able to play some different games with them. Heidi and Kathryn taught them Surfer/Chick/Wave – it’s like rock/paper/scissors only it’s interactive. The kids really seemed to like it.

Next we played Tag – or Touch as they call it. They definitely liked that!

On Thursday, our regular place fell through because the after-school program was canceled. None of the kids showed up because of the holiday weekend. So we found another opportunity in another town. It’s only suppose to be about 45 minutes away, but there’s construction going on and we were told it could take an hour and a half. And that’s about how long it took! Good bonding experience. When we got there the kids were SO happy to see us! They up on some music and showed us their dance moves. They were good too! Then we split up the kids and took the younger kids inside to play with Play-doh, which they liked. Heidi and Kathryn tried to teach them Surfer/Chick/Wave but it didn’t go over so well. So they started playing relay races with the DTS students. After all the games, they put on the music again and this time it was our turn to show off. Right. They kept pulling us into the circle to bust a move. I was very reluctant but I did, but a made another girl come with me. :-) Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car....

they come baring gifts...

My pastor from my home church in Texas, Keith Spurgin, is the speaker this week. He doesn’t really have a title for what he is speaking on. It’s somewhat on Leadership, somewhat on Relationships. He shared practical lessons for any relationships that you might have - how to handle conflict, 4 levels of communication, how to build lasting and life changing relationships. Very practical things to know. I’ve actually heard him speak on this before, but it’s been a reminder.

It’s always nice to see a friend that you haven’t seen in a while, but it’s even better if you know that they are baring gifts! My family sent some gifts with Keith for me. They don’t have chocolate chips in South Africa, so I asked my mom to send some and she sent SIX bags. Holy-moly! They also sent some DVDs that I asked for. I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings and it made me want to watch them, so they sent them and a few others. I think Kathryn (Hodge) put it best when she said (while we were opening the dvds), “I love your family!” I agree, I love my family… and not just for sending me Lord of the Rings!

HIV testing...

This week’s local outreach was on Monday and Tuesday. We worked with a local ministry that goes to schools and offers HIV testing for the students. I think the youngest we tested was 9, but if they are younger than 13 they had to have a consent form signed by their parents. If, by chance, the child is HIV positive, they don’t tell them right then. They first meet with the parents and tell them before telling the child. But at the school, they teach the classes about AIDS and HIV and tell them to ‘fear the blood’- to never touch someone else’s blood. It was a good experience. There was enough of us (staff and students) to man the tents and to play with the kids when they were on break.
The school was huge and we had our tents set up in the ‘playground’ area. That meant that on breaks there was a FLOOD of kids! And I mean a flood. The kids really enjoyed coping whatever you were doing, like Simon Says or Follow the Leader. And since only a few of the older kids spoke a little English, we used a lot of games and songs with hand-motions.

The first day went really well. It was rather hot, but none of the kids tested positive. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, 2 kids tested positive. One of the kids was 14, the other was 10. When they meet with the parents, they instruct them to go take the child to get tested at the clinic where they actually draw blood for the test. The test that they use for the schools only requires a few drops and sometimes (very rarely) has false positives or false negatives. I pray that the kids that tested positive were one of the false positives.

photos...

Here's the photos that i tried to post on my last blog...

it was a good day...

Thursday ended up being a better day than I thought it would. :-) It’s one of the days that we have local outreach. Not that I don’t like local outreach, it’s just this particular place wasn’t quite my ‘cup of tea’ last week when we visited. It was fine; I got involved; I had fun. But you see, it’s an after-school program for teenage boys - the one ‘kid-group’ that I don’t work very well with. It’s SO easy for me to play with little kids; girls or boys. And I can handle teenage girls for you see, I have 3 younger sisters; only 1 younger brother. So, I wasn’t quite looking forward to this week. But as we were preparing our game plan that morning, I started getting my priorities right and I started getting excited for the afternoon with the kids. I kept reminding myself, ‘it’s not about you’. :-) I forget sometimes. As a team, we put together a sketch (drama) and decided to break up into small groups to discuss the sketch with the kids. Then we had a game for the end. So when we got to the school, we found out that we would have the boys and the girls for the program! That’s how outreach goes. :-) Anyhoo, the day went really well. The sketch went great, the teenage girls in my discussion group understood the point of the sketch, and all of the kids loved the game. All in all, it was a good day...

i was going to posts some pictures from the day, but this lousy internet cafe isn't letting me...

for the beauty of the earth...

I can't even being to explain how beautiful this area is. I've taken some pictures... they still don't quite do this land justice...

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise.

saturday...

It was a busy day. We moved the Price Family into a new house. They moved out of their other house for a family that is coming on staff with Ten Thousand Homes. Jen (and Jeremy) had been packing all week so that we would be able to move everything in one day. Which we did. :-) We started at 9am and finish unloading the last trip sometime around noon. Afterwards, we helped move some furniture around, put some beds together, stored away food, etc. As a ‘thanks’ for helping them move, we had a BBQ, or braai as they call it here (pronounced like buy only with an ‘r’) at their friends house. They had a pool. Fun was had by all...

a week of firsts…

First day of class…
Well, it wasn’t a great day and it wasn’t a bad day. This week’s subject is Identity in Christ. The speaker was having a hard time getting feedback/questions from the students. I think it was for several different reasons. Yes, it’s a somewhat quiet group, but it was Monday, it was overcast, and it was fairly hot in our classroom. After lunch he was able to engage them more. I think everyone got or will get something out of the teaching by the week of the week. It’s a good teaching. (Wednesday was the second day of teaching and the students were more verbal. Much better response)

First day of local outreach…
Tuesday at 10am was the start of our local outreach. (Thursday will be the same) We will be working with different orphanages, organizations, churches, etc. for the next three months. Anyplace that has orphanes and vulnerable children. This Tuesday we worked at an orphanage that is just a temporary home for children while they find them foster homes. There were 9 kids under the age of 3 or 4. They are all pretty mellow and enjoyed us even if we just sat and held them. Unfortunately, most of them were sick with a cough and some had fever. One kid threw up twice on one of the students, Jordan. She was a trooper.
I was involved in a little 'accident' too. The little girl that I buddied-up with needed her diaper changed. So, as I have changed many a diaper in my lifetime, I figured that I should take care of it. Well, it was one of the fullest ones I’ve ever had to change to begin with. Then just as I’m finishing up, but before I put on the new one, she decides to pee. Which proceed to run all over the changing table and got her clothes all wet. SO, I took off her clothes, cleaned her and the changing table up, put on a new diaper, and just as I was finishing up…. She spit up on herself and the table. Nice. I just had to laugh. Sadly, we don’t have any pictures. We figured since it was our first time to work with them that maybe we shouldn’t. Maybe next time.

Here are some other pictures though:

This is how we decided to keep the ants from getting to the muffins that Heidi and Kathryn had made. We hung them from the ceiling fan. :-) Ants are everywhere!! You can not leave a crumb out; they will find it.

These are the dogs of the property owners where we live. Oscar and Josey. They're pretty good dogs, but BIG. a little too big for my taste...

This grasshopper was massive! It was the biggest one i have ever seen. I think all big are bigger in South Africa...

poetry?

Oddly enough, today was the first day for me to attempt poetry. You know, besides making up different lyrics to Roses are red, Violets are blue… I’ve never considered myself very good with words, my own words. But I’m currently reading The Fellowship of the Rings and I do believe Mr. Tolkien has inspired me…

the air is dead
the air is dense
it needs to rain
to ease my pain

the air is hot
the air is still
I need some relief
it is my belief

that I need the rain.

I hear the thunder
I see the clouds
the storm is coming
over the mountain lips its foaming

the wind is blowing
nature is stirring
the effects, I feel them not
for it is still hot
inside the house

and I need the rain.

now I am out
no longer in the house
the wind is still rushing
the thunder is not hushing

I feel the coolness
I feel the newness
the weather has changed inside and out
but just one thing I still care about
there is still no rain.

and I love the rain.