Lin's Blog

Five more days in Canada!!

2009-01-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving Monday, January 12th for Africa! I haven't got my visa yet but I phoned today and they said it should be here by Friday. Talk about cutting it close! It has been quite the struggle to get to this point with preparations but I persevered through it all - of course with God's help : ) He is a faithful God.

I'm more than ready to leave once again. I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend back at home, being with friends and family. I've not so much enjoyed the cold weather but, I guess that comes with being in Canada. : )

To those who read this that are in South Africa: See you very soon! And for those here in Canada, I pray the very best for you this year!

Pray for safe travel and that I do get my visa and passport in my hands on time : )

Thanks
Lindsay

2008-11-08T14:38:00.000-08:00

I miss Africa...

2008-11-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

I think about Africa more and more each day and I just desire to go back again... soon. I loved what I did there and I found that I had purpose and "life" there : )

I miss my Judy. I miss each child I got to hang out with. I miss each of my team members. I miss having good, deep talks about life and God. I miss being foreign.. haha. I miss trying to learn the Zulu language. I miss the church there. The congregration members. I miss my friend Andrea. I miss so many friends there. I want to go back for another year again. When I'm there I want to travel around more and see more of South Africa as well. It is such a beautiful country! And I want to go on more camping trips there too! And I just want to hang out with my friends/team members there more than last year. I want to make the MOST of it! It is such an incredible experience so I want to do all that I can do while I'm there : )

K, back to the present/past few weeks... I've been in Stoon for two and a half weeks now. Been able to see many many friends which has been great! I've went to three movies at the theatres.. pretty awesome. Been able to share my pictures and stories of Africa with some friends. Went to visit my two previous job places and see my co-workers again. That was nice. And I went out for lunch with my boss, Lisa. Got the chance to practice driving standard IN THE CITY!! in a Honda Prelude (thanks Pam!). Um... I got to go to this fancy dinner with T at the TCU place... and found out we were the ONLY ones wearing jeans! haha good times. AND GOT TO MAKE CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES!! Carley and I decorated them. Took us about 2 hours to decorate about 30 of them. We listened to Christmas music as we decorated. It was soo much fun. I miss Christmas!!

AND I went to Regina two weekends ago and met up with Jenny and Helen (two girls from bible college). It was SO awesome! Us three LOVE hanging out together. We have a good time every time and every year we try to get together and meet somewhere.

So ya, its been fun being in the city. On Tuesday Car and I are heading out to Leader to visit Chris and pull an all-nighter till 5 in the morning and drive back to the city in time for Car to get to her class 8:00 in the morning on Wednesday. I hope we can do it! Then I will be going back to Meadow for a bit until I get to go to Nipawin!! I'm so excited for alumni weekend! Friends!Indoor soccer! Hockey game! Late nights!

So I wanted to add pictures to this new post.... but apparently it's not wanting to work for me...sorry.. I know how pictures make a post much better and interesting!

Check ya later

Being back at Home : )

2008-10-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well hellooo there!!! As I'm writing this i'm actually wondering if anyone will read this because they've probably checked my blog every day or few days since i last wrote and have now given up on it.... so if you read this let me know : )

So, I've been home for 40 days now. Wow that is alot of days. And I've been having a great time. First few weeks I was at home with my mom in Meadow. That was nice. And we even got to go the cabin and while we were there we watched 11 hours of Christy movies. I've never watched that much TV in my life at one time. But its such a good show. And my grandparents from Ontario came up for the past three weeks which I am soo happy I was here for. And I've been hanging out with friends in Meadow again and doing some odd jobs around Meadow. Window washing, staining a shed, painting a fence, painting a room in my mom's house, cleaning my aunt's house, a little bit of childcare and ya, that's pretty much it. Chris came home to visit me and we went swimming in the lake September 21. I really missed swimming in our Saskatchewan lakes so i really wanted to swim no matter how cold it was. And actually it wasn't that bad. We had a great time doing random things at the lake. Then the week before Thanksgiving weekend I went to Edmonton to see my sisters. We got to go to a free photo shoot session and watch the whole third season of Prison Break!!!! I was soo pumped about that! And I got to hang out with my good ol' friend Ang from Bible college. She is great and we went out for Starbucks and to Value Village; our two favorite places to go. On Thanksgiving weekend my whole family was able to get together which was the first time since they came to Africa to see me in May. There were about 16 people at our house for the delicious supper. And on that Saturday night some friends came out and we had fun playing on the bales in the field and had a sweet big bonfire with hotdogs and smores! I miss Bonfires so much!!

Ya, and so now I'm here in Saskatoon for a few weeks staying with Carley.. and actually I'm going to Regina tomorrow to see Helen and Jenny!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sooooo excited to hang out with them!! It's gonna be a great time.

Im really happy to be in the city again too (Stoon) and seeing Car and Travis and Pam and Cait, and some other friends.

So ya, that's what has been happening in my life lately.
Africa is very much on my heart everyday and I miss it a lot! But I know that I'm hear for a reason, and probaly more than one reason and I know that being back home is a blessing from God and that I need to make the most of being back! And just enjoy being here and not always wishing I was back in Africa. I will be going back, that's for sure. Unsure of the dates yet but I'll definitely post it here when I know : )

Here are some pictures since I've been back home.

I'm Coming Home!!

2008-08-31T03:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone for the really long space between this blog and the last! I don't have excuses so I'm just gonna say sorry. Anyhoo, I'm coming home in 7 days!!! One more week in Africa! Really I'm so super exited to go HOME! One year definitely does fly by but still, one year is one year! I'm so excited to be home and be in Canada and see my family again and my FRIENDS!! Praise the Lord I was able to see my family in May. What a huge blessing that was for me and for them : )

I'm feeling fine about leaving in a week. Yes, a bit stressed but emotionally I'm ready. It feels good to know I'm going home... and I think its been easy for me emotionally because I am trusting the Lord to bring me back to this place in a few months time. I plan on coming back for another year or so. It is a big step and decision and it was quite difficult to discern what God wanted me to do a few months back, but about a month ago He revealed His desire for me to come back. Honestly some days I question Him... but that is only because my desires get in the way of where He is leading me. But ya, if you could pray for me about that. Just that I would not shift and waver but continue to follow and walk in the way God wants me to and that I would be thankful about it and have peace.

This weekend Judy, Andrea and myself went CAMPING in AFRICA!! It was about 2 hours away from Dundee. It was such a great experience camping in a little 3 man tent in the middle of the mountains with baboons, jackals and warthogs roaming free around us. hahaha serious! It was crazy. Yes there were other people around us : ) We climbed a mountain 4.5 hours on Saturday and had a picnic at the top with the magnificent view of the Drakensburg. So incredibly beautiful! And perfect weather too. The Lord is so good to us. AND He protected from the swinging baboons in the trees above us. haha. We went Friday afternoon and came back Saturday night. And during the night there was some strange animal outside our tent sniffing and make a clunky sound as he walked. We still had no idea what it was. We thought maybe a Eland (big buck) then a cow with a bell on it... and then Pastor Peter heard the story and thinks it must have been a warthog.

So I will see you all very very soon!! I leave South Africa September 8 and I arrive in Hamiliton, ON, on the 9th. I need to stay there for a few days for de-briefing and then I'm home home on Saturday (13th). I'M SOO EXCITED!!! Till then, God bless you and enjoy your week!

Love you all,

Lindsay

2008-07-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

2008-06-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a few things with you that have been happening around here. Exciting things, new experiences, randomness and just other different things : )

Two weeks ago the creche was donated this awesome playset by a couple from our church and the kids absolutely LOVE it! The first day or two Sibongile said she couldn't even get the kids inside at all! They were all just piled on this thing! As you can see you can barely see what is actually is! haha.

Yesterday we received the biggest donation we have ever recieved from a local frozen foods place called Cold Chain. So many bags of fries and mixed veggies and pizza's and meat pies. Me and D had fun with the Pastor Peter and Angeline as we sorted through it and packed it all in the coolers. We don't even have a freezer big enough to put all of it in so we gave some away and stored the rest in coolers.

Also this week we were able to give out nice toques, mitts and socks to some of the children of the families that we give a food parcel to each week. It was so nice because it is soo cold at night and in the mornings here! I just wish every child could have a pair! It's so hard to see and think that most of them feel so cold for so long : ( Next week we hope to give out some blankets.

Last weekend we have an outreach for a group of virgins from the township here at the mission. Every month these girls get together on a Friday night and they are encouraged and go through a testing to make sure they are still virgins. The pressure to have sex is SO high in the townships but these girls have been very strong and we are proud of them for it! There was a morning program set up for them and then at the end they performed their virgin dance and song for us. So different from what our culture would think! Topless girls would not be thought of as virgins! It's so interesting/wierd how different cultures can be.

Then on Monday night us girls had a crazy night of dressing up random and funny and sharing a meal together and having fun laughing lots in a game of 30 seconds : )

So ya, there's just some things that have been happening over here lately : )

Cheers!

Family in Africa!!

2008-06-01T04:41:00.000-07:00

My time with my family was soo incredible! Wow! They were actually HERE with me! That is just way too cool : ) Once again, I give all the glory to God for making it all work out for them to come to Africa. They truly enjoyed, each one of them and they experience A LOT in just two and half weeks! But even though it was busy it was well worth it. Plus there was many times for us to just relax as well. Praise the Lord, they didn't experience ANY jetlag! Really that is a miracle because 8 hours difference really can mess up your body.. Dione and I sure suffered for at least a good week! I think Dione a little long even.

They arrived May 12, in Durban (a city on the coast) and we spent a few days there, seeing some of the sights, going out for supper and playing in the waves and Aaron and I tried to learn how to surf. Oh yeah! And my birthday was so awesome, first because I got the best b-day present ever! (My fam coming to Africa of course) and also because the restarant we went to was very African style and the waitress and waiters were all dressed in their African gear and our waitress came around washing each one of our hands and painting our faces. And the BEST thing was having 4 black singers dressed as the Jackson 5 come around the table to sing happy birthday to me in a sweet African tune. haha, so great.

Then we flew to the famous and BEAUTIFUL Cape Town, on the other coast-side of South Africa and spent a few days there. I didn't realize how much there was to do in Cape Town so our time was quite a bit too short but I'm still so thankful we went because we were blessed so much there. Every thing that we were able to experience and seeing and getting to know Joseph and Eileen better was so worth it. Such wonderful, hospitable people who really love the Lord. While there we got to see a castle, a beautiful botanical garden, HUGE crashing waves. Seriously I've never seen such big ones! We did a lot of street vendor shopping and got nice cheap stuff.. haha. We went to Robben Island which is the island where many blacks, including Nelson Mandela, were held in prison during the aparthied years. We enjoyed a very nice fancy meal along the waterfront. We saw magfinicent mountain ranges, and rocks and so much green! There were a few things I would have loved to do but they just didn't work out for us but that was fine. That will just be for the next time I visit!

Having my family get to see what I've been doing here in Africa was so special to me. And I'm sure very special to them also. They enjoyed it a lot. Playing with the children at the crèche, play center, during the hospital visits and in the townships on outreach and Kid’s Club; giving food parcels and praying with families in great need; gardening (my mom), and physical labor around the mission (my brother). For those of you who will be seeing them soon, I’m sure they will tell you much more! They were touched with the great need here and at the same time greatly encouraged at the work the Lord is doing here at Melusi.

As well we got to enjoy some African animals on the Saturday. We went to a game reserve called Ithala with Dione and Judy and it was fun just to see more of Africa and enjoy the fellowship together. Warthogs are now my favorite animals...well one of my favorites! They are TOO cute!

The Lord is so good and I know I have been very blessed to have had my family share with me the ministry here in South Africa.

Enjoy the pics!

Lindsay

WEC Conference

2008-05-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Last month (April 3-7) we had the WEC Annual Conference, where all the missionaries which are a part of WEC working in South Africa come together. It was such a great time for me, just to see people that I had met before here, and to meet new people.

We had times of laughter.. especially at the "Fun Night". Here is bobbing for apples....

And this is the children doing a dance to some music off a CD. It was too cute!

And the classic... Kareoke!!

Dione and I had the blessing of being a part of the worship team and playing with the main speaker, Elfi. She and her husband, Hans, are from Switzerland and were missionaries in Gambia. They were a very special couple.

This is Elfi and Hans. Lots of time was spent praying for WEC and all the different ministries WEC does in South Africa and for personal needs. This is Ameila, a very precious lady. She is Irish and so great and makes everyone around her laugh... and her absolute favorite topic is discuss with anyone is marriage/relationships/etc.. haha, she calls herself The Match Maker.

Lots of time to hang out with friends and to make new ones...And, alas! Another fellow Canadian! This is Amanda. She married a guy from Zimbabwe, Sipho, and now they are living there and starting up a children's ministry. They are such an amazing couple. They are living in this tiny little house.. well, not really a house, looks like a little shed, no electricity, no running water... and yet they are so happy and joyful and the Lord is in their hearts very much.
Then Dione, Judy, Sofia and I got to see some AFRICAN ANIMALS! It was amazing. I still haven't seen an giraffee or an elephant yet.. but soon.. very soon :)

The beautiful African skies.

So ya, the conference was really great and it was so fun to just be able to get a break from the mission and just to see what God is doing around the rest of South Africa. Please continue to pray for the people's of Africa and that God's people would continue to bring others to Him.

Cheers,

Lindsay

8 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

In 8 days I get to see my WHOLE family again!! My mom, Hil, Tiff and Aaron are coming to visit me!! I'm soo incredibly excited! They arrive on May 12 and will be here till the 29th. A nice good two and a half weeks!
I will be meeting them in Durban and then we will be staying there for a few days and then we will be heading to Cape Town, the most beautiful city in South Africa, for 4 days. I've been looking at pics and trying to plan what we will do and it looks so fun and so much to do : ) And it's such a blessing because we have places to stay at both cities. There is a WEC headquaters in Durban and Cape Town and both of them have been soo welcoming in letting us stay with them! I'm so grateful to God for how He is working things out for us.
Then on the 18th to the 29th my family will be coming to the mission here and will work alongside with us, doing the different ministries (children's ministries, food program, outreaches, hospital visits, etc) and as well, my brother might do some electrical work or something practical a few days he is here. I know this is God's will for them to come. I'm really needing a holiday and lately I've been just needing to see my family and it's so cool how perfect God's timing is.

It would be super if you would pray with me about a few things:

- safe flight for my family to South Africa
- that my family wouldn't experience much jet lag
- safe flight to Cape Town and safety in Cape Town/and Durban (Durban is a little dangerous...)
- planning our time together - things to do in Cape Town and at Melusi. It's kinda stressful when I've never been there (Cape Town) before and I don't know how far away things are from each other. But praise God Andrea and Katy are from Cape Town and so I'm planning on asking Andrea to come over one night this week and help me plan our time/activities there!
- Oh! Yes! Please pray about driving. As maybe some of you don't know, here we drive on the left side of the road... and so please pray that as my family drives they will be confident, and wise and will not get into any accidents. Especially driving in Cape Town. It's a really big city. It will definitely be a fun adventure for us!
- That God would really be preparing their hearts for what He has for them here and that he would do a great work in each one of their lives as the meet the local people (Zulu's) and see their cultural and lifestyle and minster to them
- That the Lord would richly bless our time together as a family in Africa

Thank you to those who will be praying for us! I will definitely share with you the pics of our time in Cape Town and at Melusi.

THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS HUGE BLESSING!!!

A Hammer and a Wall

2008-04-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you guys something the pastor shared with the team this morning about prayer. It was soo powerful and a new and neat way of looking at prayer. Maybe right now you are praying about something that you have been praying about for weeks, months and even years. It can get disheartening when you haven't seen any change in that situation and you feel just like giving up and saying "Where are You?? Why aren't You listening to me?!?"

Here's what the Pastor shared this morning:

"Praying is like taking a hammer to a wall. Every time you pray, you knock off a piece of the wall and you get closer to the final result. Sometimes we get weary and sometimes we will stop using the hammer. This is when we fall into unbelief and in unbelief nothing will happen. What we don't know is that maybe one or two more hits may have crumbled that wall."

So ya, sometimes it's going to be tough, really tough, but God knows the perfect timing for His answers to our prayers and we as Christians must continue to believe that. The pastor also talked about the verse Jer. 29:11 where God says that he has good plans for us and plans to must us propser and not to harm us. Pastor said that verse is useless and irrelavent in our lives if we don't BELIEVE in that verse. He said the Bible isn't magic and that things won't just happen like that, we must have faith in it and believe with all our hearts.

Don't miss out on the results because of one final swing of the hammer!

YEAH CANADA!!!!

2008-03-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

We were able to convert SIX South Africans and ONE Hollander to be Canadians for a little while Friday night. It was SO great. hehe. The highschool where three of the children that live of the mission attend had a rugby tournament going on this past week and a Canadian team from BC came to play against this South African highschool team. Sadly, Canada saw defeat... but that didn't matter to me. I was just too happy that I got to put on my Canadian flag tatoos all over my face and see them on my foreign friends : ) hehe D was a proud and faithful Canadian and brought her beautiful big flag. Actually funny thing is we didn't even make it to the game! We got there when it finished! But we still got a pic with the team and talked with the coach for a bit. Hey, maybe one of you even KNOW someone in this group?? Anyways, I'm SO proud to be CANADIAN!! CANADA I LOVE YOU!! AND I MISS YOU!!

Hospital Visit!

2008-03-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Every Tuesday we walk to the hospital, about a 10-15 minute walk, and visit the children's ward. There are a few times when we decide to visit the mamas and the babas in the different wards. Everytime we go we do different things with the children and bring them different things. Some days we color with them, or bring balloons and play with the balloons in the hallways, or make hats and random animals out of the balloons (because none of us are skilled in the art of making cool things with balloons). Sometimes we bring danone (yogurt) or candies or cookies or juice to the children and the mamas. Sometimes we sing with the children. But one thing that doesn't change every time we go is praying for them. It's such a honor to be able to go into the hospital and pray with the mamas for their children. I'm so thankful for the religious freedom in this country. I love giving them some sort of hope that they are not alone in their situation and that God IS really watching over their precious children and does love them!

Here are some pics I took this week.

This is a two week old (maybe 3) GORGEOUS baby that was abandoned by the mother here in Dundee. Someone found her wrapped up in blankets on the street. Sofia had made a comment about adopting her and the nurses right away started talking seriously to her about it and what she would all have to do! haha, so maybe it is easy to bring one of this beautiful black children home after all....ummmm : )

When I first walked into the room of this little girl she wasn't too sure about me, but eventually, soon after I used my little bit of Zulu, we had a lot of fun together learning to count to ten with our fingers. I wish she was smiling in this picture so that you could see her beautiful smile!

As you can see, this little boy is wearing a necklace and a little string about his body with a little sack sewn on it. This is all part of ancestral worship. Ancestral worship is soo huge here in Dundee and people will still call themselves "Christians" even when they still wear the necklaces and braclets and put up the furs of different animals related to ancestral worship. It is such a huge problem here. They wear it and put it on their children for protection against different spirits.

This little girl is enjoying coloring with her mommie. I think she is one of the most beautiful little girls!

God's Goodness

2008-03-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

I just want to testify that the Lord is such a wonderful God. My prayer/advice to all who read this is to just remember all that the Lord has done for you in your life, all that He has saved you from and all the many undeserved blessings He has showered upon you and your family and friends. Remember all that He has given you in your past and in your present and what He promises to give you in the future. The Lord has been showing me that I am still and always will be His precious child, even when I mess up. He is right there beside me in the situation to lift me back on my feet. He is showing me that even when I forget about His goodness to me, he is still faithful all the time; continually pouring out His goodness in my life, amidst my lack of trust, or time with Him. How truly great is our beautiful God. He will never let me go through anything I cannot handle and He promises the same for you.

Prayer Request

2008-03-05T04:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we found out that my physio therapist, Andrea, and her boyfriend, Neils, are now in hospital. They were severely burned on Sunday while camping in a cave. A oil-gas lantern exploded on them as they were trying to tighten it. Some gas had leaked out. They had to walk an HOUR out of the bushes to get help. They have burns all over their arms and legs, but luckily their faces did not get anything, which is a total miracle. Her hair was burnt as well. They have 2nd and 3rd degree burns and they both went into theatre (operation) yesterday. Please pray for a quick recovery and that no infection would take place. Also pray for Katy, her roommate. She is pretty shaken up about this. Thank you so much.
(If you don't remember, Andrea and Katy are the girls that came out with us for the Valentine's supper.)

The Play Center

2008-02-20T05:48:00.000-08:00

Here are my adorable little kid's that come to the Play Center that I started up here at the mission. AREN'T THEY PRECIOUS?! I love them, (even when I have to change poopy pants, and hear screaming and crying for awhile...) Enjoy!

Girls' night out

2008-02-15T23:12:00.000-08:00

Here's some pics from our Valentine's girls night out. We had so much fun talking and laughing about different things and about our different cultures/countries. That's one thing I really enjoy about being here. I have friends from Venezala, South Africa, Holland and learning and hearing about all the different lingo (words) and ways people do things is quite interesting and sometimes brings many laughs : ) Good times, good times.

Will You Be My Valentine?

2008-02-14T03:46:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

For those who have that special someone, I pray your day is full of blessings in each other's presence.

For those (like me) who don't have that special someone, I pray that you know that you are soo beautiful and cherished by ME and by your friends and family.

And for those who don't care about Valentines Day.. well... I pray your have another great normal day.. being boring...

As for me, my valentines day has been really great so far. I helped Dione help the pastor this morning with decorating Angeline's office with hearts and flowers and words. They really haven't done anything for Valentines any year so she is getting A LOT today. It's soo cute! Then we are planning a candlelight supper for them tonight : )

And I did recieve a beautiful red rose from some anonymous person...but, I should let you know that all the women at the mission did as well. haha.

Tonight I'm hanging out with 8 girls and we are dressing up all fancy and going out to the Steak House for supper. 6 of us from the mission, plus, Andrea, my physio therapist and her friend, Katy and another girl, named Terese.

Remember, God loves you! And me too : )

PACKAGE FROM HOME!

2008-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, yesterday was soo exciting. My mom and our friend, Terri, had sent us a package beginning of November and it came yesterday! 3 months later... haha. Oh well, it was the perfect day to get it. Thank you soo much mom and Terri! And thank you Gramma! It was a great surprise to see a gift and card from you too! I love you all so much! It was nice to have a second Christmas in Africa : ) Thank you for the gravy, the sweet santa hats, the amazing cute soft fuzzy socks, the beautiful family picture, and the PROGRESS! Oh my goodness, I never thought i would ever be so excited to get a newspaper in a care package but I was. haha, it's funny cuase i never read the paper at home but now that I'm here I was soo interested in it. I gave it to Sanjay to read. He saw the job listings and now he wants to come to Canada. What a guy. haha Today I took a lot of the candies and some of the toys that were sent to the hospital vist and it worked out soo perfect for us to give the gifts away to mourning mamas and mama's going through great stress and worry and for the children who are stuck in the hospital. So thank you so much for being a part of the ministry here through the gifts from Canada!

God's Answer to My Prayer

2008-01-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

This is Judy. I wanted to share with you about her because she is so special to me and because she is God's answer to my prayer. Before I even came to South Africa, about 4-5 months before, I started asking God that He would send someone around my age that I would really be able to connect with in Africa. Someone to hang out with and just be able to be myself around and build a strong friendship with. And I know without a doubt that Judy is His answer for me and I really just wanted to share that with you and to give the glory and praise to God.

Judy came in Novemeber, along with Sofia, from Venazuela. She is not fluent in English yet...but she tries so hard to learn it. Her language struggle is yes, a struggle, but such a blessing too because we have some good laughs with her as she tries to describe what she is saying through sometimes very funny actions and gestures. But, most of the time I understand what she is trying to say which is really great. She definitely is getting better. She is a nurse and so she helps a lot with the care center here and is a really get help on outreaches when we find people who have wounds, cuts and more.

Judy is soo crazy, and Dione will agree with me, for she lives with her. She is crazy and yet a very sweet, gentle person. And she is 25, only 4 years older than me! She is such a joy in my life and I'm soo thankful to God that He brought her here. Our God is so great and I'm so thankful that He listens to even our simplest prayers. What a faithful God we serve.

Update on Pieter and family

2008-01-30T00:59:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for all who have been praying for Pieter and his family. His operation last Tuesday (a week ago) went very well. It was four hours long! They removed an huge ulcer that was attached to his stomach, liver and pancreas. And the first few days after the operation we needed to pray hard that no infection would come and it didn't! God has been so good in this situation and please continue to pray for proper healing with the wound and stitches. Please along with his physical health, pray for his spiritual well-being as well as Marties and their children. The devil really tried to get us down and away from the Lord during the times when we are weak. And on behalf of the family, thank you so much for your prayers from across the ocean : ) God has heard your prayers.

Oops

2008-01-20T01:36:00.001-08:00

Sorry, D just let me know that I gave you guys some wrong info. It was not a couple months ago Pieter almost died, it was two years... Ok, that's all I wanted to let you all know. Have a happy Sunday! Oh ya, I guess I can let you know that he is now in really good care in the ICU and he's blood count had gone up. And they had really good nurses and help when they got to the hospital so praise the Lord. The doctors say that if he doesn't bring blood up again they will do an operation on his stomach Monday or Tuesday. So you can keep that in your prayers. And if you could pray for his wife, Martie, to find a place to stay in New Castle while he is there in hospital. For some weird reason she had to come back home to Dundee yesterday because the hospital wouldn't let her stay in the ICU with Pieter... I dunno but I sure would have put up a great fuss if I was in that situation. She tried but didn't work... Thanks everyone for your prayers.

Please Pray

2008-01-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone

I'm asking each one of you who reads this to pray for one of the families that me and D work alongside with here at the mission. Pieter, the dad of the family, has been taken to the New Castle hospital today because he is having great problems with losing blood. He went into the Dundee hospital Friday because he was vomitting up blood and getting really weak. He stayed there till Tuesday and was back at the mission until Thurdsay when he started vomitting up blood again and his blood count is now going down. It was 9 then 6 and now today it is 4. So that is why he is going to the other hospital. Please pray for his wife, Martie, and family of four kids. Martie is not doing very well and is really stressing out because she is re-living the time when the same thing happened some months ago and he almost died. Pray that the whole family would continually lean on our Father and that they would give Him the glory in the whole situation and trust that He is in control of all the happens. Pray for the children as they have to stay home and continue going to school. Pray the rest of us at the mission would help out in anyway for the children as their parents are away from home and just give them the attention admist our own shedules. And please pray for healing of Pieter and that God would give the doctors wisdom in how to deal with Pieters health condition. Thanks you so much. God bless

This is Martie and her second oldest, Claudette.

This is Pieter and his youngest son, Andre.

My Tour Part 2: The Care Center

2008-01-07T00:36:00.000-08:00

This is the care center we have on our mission. It is a carecenter only for HIV/AIDS patients. And unforunately, for those who are living their last days because of this terrible disease. The Lord has been doing incredible things here though. For instance this guy whos' name is Sifiso, came in to the care center about four months ago and he was very weak and hardly able walk and now he is walking around helping around the mission with little things and he even came with me and D to the black church and was dancing with us! He is so cute. Here am I trying to teach him guitar. It was so funny the way it happened. I was doing devotions with the patients one day about setting your mind on things of above and just as I was leaving I asked them "So what are you going to think about today?" And Sifiso, who doesn't know much English, replied "I will be thinking about playing guitar.." haha I was like "Oh.. ok..." And then I thought, why not teach him something? So then I told him, yes I will come back that day and teach him a few chords and oh boy was he ever excited about learning it!

The Lord has also been working in the lives of the voluntary care givers. One lady came here with bad alcohol addictions and now she is totally changed and has become a Christian and was offered a paying job in a different town! The Lord is so good.

Judy has also started working at the care center, along with Lynn and Denise. Sorry about the sideways picture...

The carecenter takes up to 10 patients at a time and is strictly only for those with HIV/AIDS. They are such a blessing to us. They are God's special children as well. Please remember our care center and the patients and caregivers in your prayers. For salvation mostly, and healing too. Thanks so much

My Tour : Part 1

2008-01-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

I thought I would show you around the Mission a bit, the best I can... So I know these pictures won't protray where I've been for the past four months the best but it will have to do : ) Here is a picture of me.. all excited to show you guys around. haha

First I'll start with my place. Welcome to my livingroom. This is the view coming in from the front door. See my nice setup of my laptop WITH wireless internet. Ya, I'm pretty spoiled there... And as you can see the piano on the right.. ya, when I first walked in to my new place I was like "Are you serious Lord?! My own piano in my PLACE?!" My overflowing joy quickly diminished when I started playing it to find the keys falling off and a very unpleasant out-of-tune sound... Well, I guess I can't be too spoiled right? I'm content with my wireless. There are my two lovely comfortable chairs, one of which was recently fixed due to me sitting on it and breaking it while sitting down with a bowl of icecream! Oh and yes, and notice my strand of Christmas decor??

Let us go through to my cute little kitchen. Welcome to my kitchen. I don't have an oven but I share that with the lady I live next door to. And a toaster.. and a bathroom.. oh I will need to put I picture of my bathroom on here! Anyways...I'm blessed to have a fridge because when I first came here I didn't have it.. and I was sharing with Denise for a few weeks. So ya, thanks God for the fridge!

And lastly, my cozy comfortable bedroom.. which this picture is kinda lying because pretty much most of the time it does not look like this... I just cleaned it. haha Anyhoo....

And yes, I do have a random sink in my bedroom...and it works too! Well one tap does...

And here is the view looking out the front door. The building to the left is where the residents stay. The residents are men who are struggling with drug and alcohol addictions and they come here to work on the mission and try to start clean again. And on the right is where we park all our vehicles.And this is the view from the back, looking out the kitchen window. That building is the main building where the office is and the team meeting room and the church and a big donation room full of clothes. And on the left.. the lower building is the kitchen/dining hall.

So there you go! That is Part One of the Tour. My place. So for those of you who might be worrying about my living conditions... (namely, mom...haha just kidding mom) I am very blessed to live where I'm living. I definitely wasn't expecting a cute little place like this.

Crazy New Years Eve!

2008-01-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

Check out Andre giving himself bunny ears. haha i love it. He is such a cutie. He always comes to my door and gives me flowers that he just picks around the mission. And as you can see, Judy is a pretty crazy character too. She is soo funny! I just had to put this extra picture on because Nukathula looks soo hilarous! Like, what she is doing?! haha. She is the black girl for those who don't catch onto the Zulu name...

We had a deadly New Years Eve here at the mission. The five of us girls, D, Marysa, Judy and Sofia and I hung out with the five kids here that live on the mission. Nukathula, Pieter, Andre, Claudette and Valeree. We are a crazy bunch and the kids are so funny and great so we had many laughs and lots of screaming playing games D and I use to play at camp, and eating good food; hotdogs, cinnamin buns, chips and chocolate and juice and coffee. We also had a lot of fun taking random pictures. Hope you enjoy the pics! We hung out 7 to 11 and then we had to clean up and get ready for a team meeting at 11:30 in the chapel. The pastor wanted us to pray into the New Year and thank God for this year and what He has in store for us this year. We also shared communion together. It was a great New Years for us all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Christmas Time in South Africa

2007-12-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some pic's of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in South Africa. I'm so glad we had each other. It was so different celebrating Christmas far away from home without my family but God blessed my Christmas time here as well. Enjoy!

We had some red bull that night to keep us up and so this is the result of it

This is what it looks like when Canadians are desperate for a Christmas tree.Our beautiful hand-made Christmas tree and Christmas treats.

Cute Judy. She was so crazy that night!

On Christmas Day we had a braai (South African BBQ) with the whole mission. It was such great food and fellowship. Peter and Angeline's kids also came up for Christmas so it was really nice having them around all together.

From left to right : D, Micheal, Timothy, Megan, Angeline and myselfUmballi, Nukathola, Sofia and Judy

The men cooking the meat

Megan and MarysaI got to talk with my family Christmas night which was SO great! I really missed them that day. Hearing all of their voices again and laugh with them was so great and such a blessing. And while on the phone they laughed about the way I pronounce my words! haha I guess I'm becoming more and more South African? I dunno.. it was funny though. Aaron said I'm going to be bugged when I get back home...haha

At night we had a great night of card games at the pastor's house with their kids. It's nice that they are close to my age. They are a lot of fun and we have many good laughs together.

Well, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year as well!
Cheers!

Craziness at WIMPY'S

2007-12-18T21:11:00.001-08:00

Sunday was our last day before the guys left for Christmas to visit their families so we decided to take them out for lunch to WIMPY's. We had such a good time. They tried, again, to teach us more Zulu words and how to make the clicking sounds they make with their language. Its really hard! Its a good thing they are so patient with us 'cause we spent so much time on just one word! Trying to get the right pronounication. haha. And on Saturday they began teaching us this beautiful song in Zulu and so we began practicing that again, right in the resturant! It is so cool how we just don't care. They are soo fun to sing with because all our voices blend really well and they can do harmony so well. After a while they started to get a little wierd... (well, I did too as you can see in the pictures). D was the only normal one. It's awesome how they can feel comfortable around us to just be themselves and be goofy. Good times good times. Hope you enjoy the pics!

Blessed be the Lord

2007-12-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness today was SUCH an amazing day! I think the best day I've spent here in Africa. God is so incredible and soo awesome and His plans for us and blessings for us are so great. I love how He blesses us so hugely when we are least expecting it and today was definitely one of those days. So... last week Tuesday we met three guys, Lucky, Sepiwae and Lindo, who are SOO in love with the Lord. They are such a huge encouragment to me. Since 1999 they have dedicated themselves to the work of the Lord and have been on a crusade (with a pastor) preaching the Word of God in different townships and villages around here. They are young godly men, 2 are 23 and one is 25, and they are so dedicated to the Lord and His work and completely live by faith. Me and D were talking about how rare it is to find young men dedicating themselves fully to Christ. It is soo encouraging. They are so kind and easygoing and comfortable to be around. We met them because we always need transulators for our kids club and so a lady we know told us about these three guys. They came and helped us do kids' club last tuesday and it was so nice having them there to help us and be with the kids. They got right in there and joined in on the games and they spoke in Zulu for the puppet play we did.

So, now about today : ) After church D and I went to our very first black church service and it was sooo deadly! Wow I really felt like I was in Africa today! It is the church where our 3 friends have been preaching for the last 6 months (and we only met them last week!). They invited us and so we came at 10:30 cause they told us that's when it started.. so we get there about 10:35 and there are only 4 sisees there.. and we were like.. "Um, is this the right place?" (It is just a white and blue striped tent that they set up) It was the right place but no one was there yet.. not even the preacher! haha, so we just walked around the streets, the only white girls around, and it was just so nice to do that. Then about 11:15 we heard singing from the tent and so we went back to join the service.

Black church services are SOOO awesome! Soo lively with their sweet dance moves and beautiful, powerful singing voices. Soo passionate about the Lord and His work. Soo welcoming and kind to all who enter there little tent church. One lady even came up to me and she shared how it was soo great to worship in one body, whether we are black or white and I totally agreed with her. It was amazing. Even though me and D, I'm sure, looked very "out of rhythm" with the dancing and couldn't sing half the songs because of the language, I felt so welcomed and a part of that church family. Oh my goodness though! They made us go up to the front and share our names and where we were from! And they even got Dione to come up and help a girl come to the Lord through a prayer! haha I told D I was so glad it was her the pastor picked and not me! lol. Shame she was nervous and unsure of what to do. The service just kept going and going until about 2:30. Three hours long! And the pastor was so loud and shouting and he was so into his message. It was deadly. It was an incredible message about the walls of Jerusalem being the protection of the city and how holiness in our own lives are the walls around us and how holiness is what will protect us, and how the walls of Jerusalem fell down and needed to be rebuilt just as the holiness in our lives and communities need to be built up again but there is so much unholiness being lived out.

After the lively, uplifting service D and I decided to invite the 3 of them out for lunch. And oh my goodness was it ever a blessing to them! It was there first time ever being at the resturant and when they opened the menus they didn't have a clue what to do! We had to help them choose their food cause they just didn't know how to go about doing it. And after a big, hearty lunch of steak on a bun with fries and a nice big cold coke, we offered them some icecream and they just couldn't believe it. They were so grateful to us for taking them out, what we would think, a small blessing, but to them it was so huge. Shame though, we fed them so much! They had a hard time finishing it all and then they ordered icecream and when we got it they were soo BIG! We were all so surprised and so the poor guys struggled to get it all down but in the end they said that is was a battle to be won and so they all finished it. Except for me cuase I didn't care if I lost.

Oh man, it was hilarous. So just before we invited the 3 guys to come to lunch the pastor said that he had to go to a prayer meeting... and he was already late cause the morning service went for three hours! So he is in his car and saying goodbye to everyone when he finds out that we are taking the guys out for lunch. Then one of the guys tells us that the pastor is going to join us too. Man I love how the Africans view time. They are never on time for anything and in this case today, when they are very late already for something it's still ok to go and do something else before getting to that previous meeting! Soo funny. But it was great having all four of them there.

Lindo(left) and the Pastor are in the picture with me, and Lucky (middle) and Sepiwae are in the picture with Dione.

Then when we finished about 5:30 we drove them back home in time for them to get ready for their next service which started at 6:30. The three of them preach every night at 6:30, Monday to Sunday! In that same tent church. Amazing hey? Here is a picture of Lucky's adorable nephew and of us and them and Lucky's mother.

When D and I got back to the mission we decided to go to the 6:30 meeting as well, cause we loved it so much in the morning, plus we wanted to hear our friends preach this time. Shame, they were so surprised they saw us back there again. The people were so welcoming once again and this time D and I started to get better with our Zulu dance moves! haha. It was so fun just laughing with the sisee beside me as I tried to dance and praising the name of Jesus with everyone there, so loudly and freely.

These 3 friends of ours are so great and we are so blessed to have met them. They are a huge blessing to us. Please would you pray for them as they continue on in their ministry of preaching the Word of God to many different townships and towns around the area. At the moment they are praying for a car so that they can drive around to the places they wish to minister to, as well for a sponsor from overseas, like a church or a group of people, to help them with their ministry vision. They have a desire to one day go to Canada and do their ministry overseas. They also have this great vision to start up their own mission here in Africa, similar to ours here at Melusi, with a care center and different ministries. So please, would you pray for them in these areas. Thank you so much. And thank You Jesus for your many blessings of this day.

Kwazitole Kids Club

2007-12-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I went with Denise to a township I had never been to and it was soo much fun! Denise leads a Bible Study there with the older ladies and she had the idea to start up a Kid's Club there so me and Sofia, one of the two new girls here from Venezuela, did the very first Kids' Club there. The children were a bit hestiant at first to come to us but once I took out the soccer ball we went from about 9 children to close to 40! From ages 3 - about 16. It was pretty awesome. We did a few other games and then I did a Bible lesson. That is the picture where I have the lovely Zulu transulator beside me. Her name is Cling-eeway (that is totally not how you spell it but how it sounds! haha) She also is a volunteer caregiver at our HIV/AIDS center. Transulators are soo great! But still, I really wish I could understand the kids even a little! I need to learn more! Pray I will take the time to sit down and learn some more! Please keep this kids that we are ministering to in your prayers and pray for us as leaders that we would show them more and more about who Jesus is.

Graduation Day!

2007-12-01T07:50:00.000-08:00

Today was soo cute!! The creche I have been helping out had their graduation day today. They were all so cute dressed in their best clothes and the grads in their adorable gowns. Their were five children that graduate. It was quite the African experience for me. The program was suppose to start at 10:00 but didn't end up starting till 11:00. Precious and I went to her house at 10 because she wanted to change! It was weird leaving when it was suppose to start but really no one was there, so I was like ok.. maybe we will be gone for 10 minutes cause she said she didn't live to far away. It;s true, she didn't live very far away but we will still at her house at 10:30. I was so nervous! I thought everyone was going to be seated waiting for us! But, luckily, when we got back there was still nothing started. So 11 it started and went till about 12 ish. I have been teaching them songs (in English of course : ) and so we sang to their mamas four songs. It was so cute. I'm so proud of them. Then we had a very nice big meal. Rice, curry chicken and mutton, and mixed veggies and cake (cause it was one of the kids bdays) and chips and cheezies and pop. It was really nice. It was soo soo hot outside though but it was alright. Everyone here uses umbrellas here when it is so hot. But it was a good ceremony, not like any grad ceremony I have experienced. It was very relaxed and just "whatever goes, goes". That is kinda nice about the African people here. No one was upset that it started an hour late and that is was so hot. They just accepted it. It didn't end till about 2:00! Here's some pictures

Worse Shower of my Life!!

2007-11-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw my first big ugly scary spider since I've been here. And of ALL places, it just had to join me in my shower. Sick man.
So here is the story. After a tiring long day of working over time and getting dirty from painting and moving things around and what not, I hop into a very welcoming shower to get all nice and clean and head to bed. Unforunately, "welcoming shower" was not really truthful. As I was shampooing my hair I looked over to see a big black blurry spot right beside my shoulder. I squinted, due to no glasses, and FLASH! I was out of that shower with shampoo and all in my hair, shower still going. I grabbed my towel, ran to my place, grabbed my DOOM (spray that kills bugs) and rushed back to the shower only to find that it was no longer there, or should I say.. in sight. But luckily, if you can call it luck to find a big ulgy spider on your bathroom roof, it was there. The DOOM came out and that sucker would NOT die! He was a fiecisty one. It was so incredibly gross. His thick ulgy legs running down the wall, running away from his death. Oh yes, I need to let you guys know that it was not I who was spraying this thing. The lady that lives next to me came to my rescue. Actually both of them did. It was a housemate bonding experience! lol.
And you want to know the sick thing? My house mates said they have never ever seen a spider like that in this house in the whole year they have been here. So ya, lucky me, I got to see the first one, and, of course, it had to be in my shower.
Sorry I didn't take a picture, I was going to take one of the first big spider I saw here, but this one kinda caught me off guard a little.
Cheers

Home with Jesus

2007-11-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Please pray for us as a mission during this time. This Saturday night the mission lost a really really close friend and co-worker. He had a heart attack at his nieces wedding. He served at the mission for close to 2o years and he was a huge part of the leadership. His name was Lowelyn. He has a wife, Lynn, and an "adopted" little Zulu girl, Nukatula, who is 10. Lynn is one who helps run the care center here. Please remember them in your prayers. They are taking it very hard and it is going to be a long journey. Please remember to pray for the whole team as well. It is very sad and everyone is taking it pretty hard. I myself am very shocked about this and my heart is breaking. I'm soo incredibly thankful to God that I got to know Lowelyn, even if it was only a short time.. two months. He affected my life soo much in this short time and so I cannot even imagine the great pain the rest of the mission is feeling. He was such a kind, gentle man. He was so caring towards me and he was so genuine and he loved the Lord with all his heart. I'm going to miss him a lot on outreach. He always transulated the Zulu language for me and his heart was with the poor and the needy. Me and him always prayed together for the people in their homes. He always said that we needed to listen the cry of the poor and the needy. I'm going to miss him at team meetings too. What he shared was always so powerful and strong and uplifting. He was 63, and we were just last week, talking about celebrating his birthday which is in two weeks. He always made me feel loved and welcome here and he always asked me everytime we met around the mission, "Howzit my sister?"
For me, and I can say this for the rest of the mission as well, it does not feel like reality. I am still expecting to see him walking around doing the different things he does everyday. We are all in great shock so please, pray for us. Pray for wisdom, for healing, for unity and for protection over the lies and attacks of the evil one. Please pray that at the funeral the Holy Spirit would be working in the lives of his family members. They are unsaved and I'm sure one of Lowelyn's deepest prayers was for them to know Christ.

All of this is bringing back so many memories of just over two and a half years ago when my dad went to be with Jesus. It is good for me to " go through it" again because I believe this is a powerful way that God is going to heal me from my pain of lossing dad. Now that I know it was reality I believe God can deal with my grief and pain once again but in a different way. Because before, it was hard to deal with it all because I felt so numb for the longest time and in a way, blocked it from my mind. But I want God to do His work in me and bring me to more healing and restoration. I miss dad so much and even though it is hard, I love to think about him and remember who God made him to be, from all the little things he did to the greater things. I love to remember how much he loved us and mom and all that he did for us. My dad was so gentle and strong and incredibly compassionate. He loved people dearly. Didn't matter who you were, he cared for you. He accepted everyone in his path and LOVED to talk with anyone he met. My dad is so great and I can't wait for the day when I will hug him again and hear his voice and laugh with him again and hold his big, strong hand and live forever together with Jesus. Thank you Jesus so so much.

Mouse in the House

2007-11-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

I have been blessed to have not even seen ONE huge spider here yet! Amazing hey? It's funny cause D gets them often in her place.... poor girl! But, last night I did have my share of a creepy crawler in my place.. but I guess a mouse isn't really a creepy crawler.. anyways, it was enough for me I ll tell you that! Here is a picture of Sanjay trying to kill it for us, but that didn't go far.... we ended up with a unleveled fridge and Sanjay breaking a plate and cutting himself on the foot and hand.. All due to a stupid little rodent. haha, it was so funny. The lady in the back ground is Denise, the lady who I share a kitchen and bathroom with. She is really great and we have had some good laughs together and good talks. She works in the missions care center with Lynn. So ya, that night at home group Martie gave me some rodent poison to put in my place.. I really hope it works!

This is my great friend Martie : ) I love her. She is the cook and I work with/alongside her every morning. She loves to make trouble and do crazy things.. like spray me with a water hose as I make food parcels and like starting a yogurt fight... and more. And here is just a random picture of her feet. She was proud that day that her's were the dirtiest on the mission.

This is the buckie just before heading out for Outreach. As you can see there is a lot of crates full of bread and veggies and other food for the families. And I love this picture because the Orange Grove truck is right behind it. Orange Grove is a local dairy place where we get all the yogurt, maas and juice for our food parcels. They give us all the outdated things and damaged. But most of it is still great to eat which is a great blessing to the mama's and their families.

Apples

2007-11-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
Sorry it's been a while. Things are going well with me here. Today was soo nice because it was my day off. I worked in the kitchen all weekend, by myself, cooking... and so ya, right now i'm sure some of you are laughing or just curious to know how that went. haha so i will tell you. It was actually rather quite ok. I made scrambled eggs and toast for breaky and potatoes and wieners and veggies for lunch and pancakes for supper... and that day was great. Sunday.. someone esle offered to help make breakfast for me cause i had worship practice at 7:30 so taht was really nice. And then came lunch... lets just say I made spaggetti and mince... but I didn't boil the water first before i put the noodles in... yeah.. so, for those who don't already know, the spaggetti was very sticky and I had some pretty fat noodles to serve. Oh boy.. that's why I shouldn't be in the kitchen.. especially cooking for 25 people. haha, but no it was actually fun and different.. and then supper was easy.. i was going to make garlic bread and so i put it in the oven and then when i went to check on it there was mold all over it.. so ya, that was thrown out. But hopefully I haven't scared you all away from ever wanting to come over to my house to eat cause there are some things that I can cook well.

Today I went for a full neck, back and shoulder massage for the FIRST time in my life and it was sooo nice! agh I'm so thankful there are people who have that job! and it was soo cheap! 30 minutes for $12! That is a deal hey? So I think I will be going to that place a little more often now....

As I went to town I filled my purse full of apples. It's funny how in Canada I would never do such a thing but here it is so easy to do and you don't get strange faces when you hand them out, but rather, smiling faces filled with thankfulness for one small little apple. It's such a simple thing but such a wonderful way to bless those around you. I think I brought about 7 so I gave them to some babas (older black men) and mamas (older black ladies). And as I was walking I ran into my friend Uncoseapa and chatted with him for a while and so I gave him an apple too.

Here are some pics of two weekends ago. Dione, Maresa and the kids, Valerie and Claudette and Pieter and Andre (the kids are the kids of a couple here who works at the mission as well) took our friends, the skipping boys and Wellington (their coach), to the dam to swim for that Sunday afternoon. We had a great time hanging out playing with the balls in the water and soccer in the beach and trying to try the sport kayak. It was soo hard! I tipped over soo many times but at the end I was getting it.. a little bit.

Claudette, Lunga and Wellington in the back of the bukkie.

Andre, myself and Maresa in the back of the bukkie.

Trying out the sport kayak

Paul doing some hand stands and whatnot..

Dione and Claudette soaking up the sun... under an umbrella... lol

It was all good except the little leeches that were all over my feet and the huge spider that was crawling up my back... sick man. I hate bugs. That was the first time I got leeches on me. Thankfully they were not the big ones.

Such a great day

2007-10-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Oh today was such a great day! First, me and D and this lady, Denise, from the mission went out for breakfast at the this little coffee shop called "Emenez". It is so relaxing and cozy there and the people are so nice to us and the food is great. We had a good time talking about different things and Denise shared her crazy story about her house being broken into and then this man coming at her with an axe while she was in bed! Man it was scary! Don't worry, that didn't happen here. It's happened at Rainbows, which is another ministry WEC is involved with in South Africa.

Then we drove Denise back to the mission and then me and D went back into town and went to the library to get some books and DVD's. And then we went to buy food for a family in the township. We know a boy, his name is Lunga, he is one of the skipping boys I talked about on my blog.. and we found out his family is really struggling with food and money and so we went and bought food for them.. and then we went there and it was soo incredible. Lunga was not home, but his mom was and his two little sisters (twins) and they had no idea we were coming. It was soo great to bless this family. The mama could not stop crying and every time she looked at all the food on her counter she started crying again. We talked and visited with them for about 15-20 min. and invited them to come to church and the girls to come to kids club on Fridays(Lunga comes to Kids Club already along with the other skipping boys). They were so incredibly thankful . I am so thankful to God that D and I had the money and opportunity to bless this beautful family. They are living in a one room house. The mama and two 10 year old girls and Lunga (14 years old). It is crazy to see and soo sad but praise God they have a way nicer home then so many others around here. We are praying they get a bigger home so please pray with us. Thanks.

Then we went to another lady's house. For the past few weeks we have been praying she would find a new home because the place where she was staying was very dangerous for her kids. The people they lived with even threatened to poison her kids! And so she got a house last week and moved in (actually, she lives just one house over...but she says it is soo much better) and so she wanted us to come see it and have us for tea/coffee. It was really great. Her kids are soo cute and nice and respectful. And this house was way bigger then Lunga's. It has four rooms, two bedrooms and a kitchen and a sitting area. It was so great to be there and just visit. Oh and it was so cute. They gave us pop.. but it was flat. Yet they still were soo happy to give us something. We also blessed them and brought them tea and sugar and sweeties (candies). We visited there for about an hour.

Then as we were driving back to the mission we saw a group of Zulu's drumming and wearing their layers of fur skins and whatnot.. it looked like they were teaching little boys how to dance and do all the tradition Zulu dancing and chanting moves. Wow can they ever move! But it is so sad.. there is soo much anscentral worship here.. and they mix it in with the Christian faith as well.. It was soo funny cause I saw this going on and it was just a little bit from the road.. and then D just stopped the bakkie (truck) and we totally looked like the biggest tourist ever!! Two.. well, not two white girls.. but one white girl and another foreigner staring and pointing and smiling and having the expression of amazement on our faces. haha, wow, it was funny.. they looked at us.. and then just kept going and doing their thing. We stayed there for a few minutes just watching. I really wished I had had my camera then.

Oh ya! And earlier when we were in town we met up with Yuri. Ok, here is just an example of how nice the people in our church here are. Me and D were driving out of the shopping centre when we saw Yuri driving in. As we were passing each other in the vechiles he was like "Hey girls! Come! I will buy you a milkshake at Wimpy's!" Wimpy's is like a fast food place here. And so then we turned around and went back into the shopping centre and met him there and we went into Wimpy's and sat down and had smoothies and just chatting for about 15 - 20 minutes. It was so random and so great and just really cool how he invited us instantly when he saw us. Even as we passed each other in vehicles! Oh, there are so many nice people in our church here! They give hugs all the time and I've already been to some of their houses already for lunch and for a movie and for homegroups as well. Very kind, welcoming people.

So ya, today was just so nice and I really want to praise God for it. He have given me many wonderful days like this one and I'm so thankful for them.

PROUD CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD CUP!

2007-10-21T02:24:00.000-07:00

Dione and I had and have the great priveledge of being in South Africa to celebrate with this country the well deserved championship of the France 2007 World Cup Final of Rugby. Lol oh you guys! It was soo much fun last night as we went over to the pastor's place to watch the game 'South Africa vs. England' together and literally scream and yell and stand up from our chairs and some of us almost black out (Dione... haha) from the tremendous excitement and nervousness and laughter as we got to experience how crazy and passionate we each were about this. I want to tell you all that I have never ever been so into a sports game on TV before. And I didn't even know how rugby is played! I guess I still don't.. but a little bit now. But D and I were really really wanting this country to win because they hadn't won in 12 years! And seriously, everyone here is soo into Rugby! Even the pastor's wife and the ladies from our church are so into it! Actually, last night it was the pastor and six woman watching with him! now imagine that hey? It is so cool to see how proud and supportive they are of their country and how far South Africa has come from the past. It's really really cool to see.

Me and D, the "two Canadians" were publicly announced by our pastor in church today as Honorary South Africans. Yesterday we bought T-shirts of the Spring Bokke team (that is the team of SA) and wore them all day and of course, we wore them in church today again too. The pastor explained our huge support and fanship of the Spring Bokke team and so ya, he made us stand up and the whole church gave us a huge round of applause. haha it was soo great!

Now, I do need to tell you about our experience as we were buying these shirts... Let's just say we really looked like two very blonde Canadians... Anyways.. So we saw these shirts being sold and we were so excited we wanted to get one. We got there and we saw that all the shirts said France 2007. I said "Why does it say France? I want it to say South Africa!" And Dione was not sure why either so we finally asked the guy selling them and he said, "Because that is where the finals are." Wow, we must have looked soo retarded and not "South African" as we were searching hard for shirts to say South Africa... haha. We are such posers! And as you can see on the top picture.. we have little SA flag stickers on our cheeks. We wore those all day.. everywhere we went.

Anyhoo, that was definitely a highlight of this week and one that me and D will never forget.

So ya, I need to tell you more about that same day because it was soo great.. but I need to get the pictures from D. Then i will talk about it k?
Cheers! (people say that all the time here.. it means goodbye)

Thieves in the Night!

2007-10-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to no water coming out of my taps. Ok, so no shower for me this morning.. no big deal. It's all good. But in the next half hour I found out that it actually was quite a big deal. And that is wasn't good... Last night someone or some people jumped the wall around the mission and stole all the copper pipes outside a main bathroom here. Many people were without toilets, showers and a sink all day. The cost to replace all the piping a lot of Rand and it's not cool because our mission is struggling finanically, just like most missions I'm sure. It's also frustrating and discouraging because we do so much good for the community around us and help people and try to make a difference here in Dundee and the surrounding areas but yet we still get abused. Anyways, so today the men here were busy fixing the pipes and now tonight a few of them are taking shifts in security watch. Poor guys! But really, I'm so naive about actually thinking people get into the mission and roam around at night. Its kinda scary actually... Never know who could be behind a tree or a building when I walk around at night.. I guess that's why they tell us not to really do that... um... makes sense.

Little Blessings in Africa

2007-10-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I get to experience my very first braai. Braais are a big deal in South Africa and people have them all the time. It is similar to a barbeque but here they make a big deal about it and it is just a time to hang out with a lot of friends/family and enjoy some great food. I'm pretty excited about it. Dione has been waiting for me to have my first braai and so tomorrow its finally happening : )

Oh! And yesterday was my very first time playing soccer with the African kids. Wow they are soo good! Man do they ever have great ball-handling skills and techique. It was very fun to play with them. It was very hot but it was so much fun. And I have been playing soccer with the boys here, the three of us kicking around the ball and playing one-on-one soccer and it is soo great. Such a blessing to just be able to kick around a ball and get my heart rate up. I really miss playing soccer, but this is a great blessing. As well, Marysa and I have been power-walking in the mornings from 6:30 - 7 ish. It is really nice waking up early and getting some exercise in before the day begins. Very refreshing and makes me feel good.

The hospital visit this week was so great and so much fun. Dione, Pieter and I went and we had a great time walking there. We, or I guess I should say Pieter, took 161 pictures in just two hours! Ha so fun. And the kids were just so much fun at the hospital and this one little boy was soo adorable. Right as the kids saw us coming this little boy came running towards us and hugged my legs. It is such a precious moment. Oh he is soo CUTE! They are all very cute!

I just love how we can be a light to there day and bring a smile to there face and a laugh in there heart : ) These poor children. I feel so bad they have to stay in a hospital and not run and play like other children. But I guess they will not be there forever, but still, it's sad to see them that way.

Pieter and Dione just being goofy

This is not an unfamilar site. Barbwire and spikes all fences on every property.

This is one of the signs just outside the hospital. Pretty crazy hey? But here it is a necessary sign I guess.

Here are some of the cute children at the hospital. The little boy not looking is the one who ran up to me and gave me a hug : )

The one of the left is the same little boy and this little boy on the right is just soo tiny for the age that he looks. So sad but he is oh so cute.

The kids absolutely love playing with the balloons we bring. Usually we bring them sweeties (little candies) as well too, but the mama that we usually buy from was not there that day.

If you notice here, the boy in the bed has his whole core of his body bandaged up. Poor guy, this is probably from a very severe burn he had.

This guy haha, wow made my day even better! As we were walking back from the hospital he noticed us taking random pictures and all of a sudden he was down on the middle of the road telling me "Take a picture of me!" haha and he was so serious and so I did because it was too funny. Then he said "Put it on the internet for me k?" haha so this is for him.

My First Random Blog Posting

2007-10-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

This is just a random blog of mine.. I just want you guys to know little random things that are different here..
lets see..
I'll start with how people say they want to go to the bathroom. You don't say washroom or bathroom because they will think you are going to take a bath. You must say "I am going to the toilet." It's really weird to say.. I still don't say toilet.. it sounds improper coming from our culture! To me its still "washroom" : ) They understand me now.
And in many public places you need to pay to use to 'toilet'. It is one Rand which is like 16 cents or something like that.
There taps here are seperate.. one hot water tap and one cold water tap. And many homes have a seperate room for the toilet and a seperate room for the sink and bathtub.
When you go into stores you can't take bags in. You need to put them in cubbies and get a number and than fetch it when you are done in the store. Oh ya, and they say fetch instead of get or pickup.. Like if someone is talking about getting someone they say "Ya, Im going to go and fetch Lindsay." Sounds like I'm a dog or something.. haha. it's funny
They call stop lights robots. I love that. Robots. And they are on the sides of the roads.. not in the middle hanging above.
They drive on the other side of the road. WOw that is weird for me.. it's getting a little better but I 'm so scared to learn to drive here cause it is very confusing to think everything opposite of what you know and have been use to for so long.
Lots of street vendors selling random things. And really sweet china shops. With really nice clothes and shoes and whatnot. I love shopping in them.
Oh ya, they have no heating or insulation in their buildings so when its cold out, it's cold everywhere! Hence the reason I had on three bunnyhugs (oh they call sweaters jershies) and my big feather vest this morning. Its' cold today : (
We have security gates that need to be locked at night.. plus our normal doors.
Oh! You can't put your feet up on chairs or couches. Some people here really do not like that and sometimes I will catch myself doing it and I will put them down soo fast! I'm jsut so use to it I don't think about it. It's really hard cause back home it's so normal to do that.
In the townships, children make their own toy cars out of wires. It is so cute to see but sad as well. Kids play soccer with flat soccer balls.
Today it has been raining most of the morning and it rained all through the night and it's cold and today as Dione was driving me to the creche we say a lady walking, looking very cold, with no shoes on. Just seeing that little picture made me very thankful to God for all He has given me and it really humbled me cause I was complaining earlier that it was raining and I was cold.. and here is this poor lady, having it so much worse them me. Actually I don't even have it bad one bit. I have shoes, I have a place to stay where rain does not pour in. I have food to fill my stomache, whenever I want! Let alone three times a day. I have a change of dry clothes when mine get wet. I have electricty. I have a shower to get clean. I have it soo good. And yet here I am, finding myself again and again, complaining about little things. I don't have a right to.
Something else here, here at the mission and with the church people, they hug everyone to say hello. It's very welcoming. When I first got here, people I just met hugging me and making me feel like a part of them. Everytime they see each other they hug. Even if they just saw them the day before. Very cool
So ya, that is all I can think of right now. I know that there are many other things. when they come to mind I will let you know.

Crazy Dundee Lightning Storms

2007-10-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Well, it feels like its been a long time since I wrote on this.. only if it hasn't even been a week yet. haha anyways, there is a lot of share with you guys. Well there has been many thunder/lightning storms here that are really crazy and dangerous. I found out that the Dundee area use to be a volcano and so there is iron in the rocks around here... which causes the crazy lightning around here. So ya, our mission got struck by a huge loud lightning bolt on Friday. Wow it was soo loud and a bunch of us screamed. It struck the phone lines so we have been without phones here at the mission all weekend. And as well on Friday the pastor had said the internet got struck too.. so i was like.. ok, no internet for the weekend. I found out today that the internet was ok : ) haha oh well. But seriously, the weather here is soo weird and very unpredictable. It will be a nice day and then within 10 minutes a crazy storm and the wind is just a going and the rain is just a pouring and the whole sky is light up by the lightning. Like last night! Me D and Marysa tried to watch a movie but then a storm came so we had to unplug the TV and I had no battery power on my laptop and D had a little bit.. so we watched half the movie and then jsut sat back and watched the storm. It was so bright it hurt the eyes to watch it at some points! And then it just rumbled the whole building and the windows. That was scary.

I know that it is Thanksgiving at home right now and I was sad that I would not be there to be with my family and relatives at the big yummy meal and games around the table. They do not celebrate Thanksgiving here BUT! Me and D were very blessed today because we were invited over to a couple's house from our church and it was soo nice! We got there and we were celebrating her (even though it is a little late : ) and another girl's b-day. We had cakes and filter coffee (yummy! soo good!) when we got there... and then we watched "Second Hand Lions". And in the middle of the movie we stopped and got our food which reminded me and D of a thanksgiving meal. God is soo good that way : ) Chicken, potatoes and rice and veggies and salad. So good. Then we had a delicous fruit salad and more filter coffee. There were a few other people from our church there as well so it felt like a nice big gathering being thankful for friendships and church family and just life in general. Me and D also went out and played fetch with this huge dog they have! It was really fun to play with him for a while. He was soo BIG! And he slobbered all over my pants!

Then there was yesterday. The three of us girls went to NewCastle which is a city only 45 minutes away from us and it was soo great. We shopped till we dropped and went out for lunch at this great place called the Gecko. I had chicken and veggies wrapped in a crepe. But it is called a pancake here. It was really good. You should try it. And the service was just so nice and friendly and comfortable. Really nice place, and once again, great coffee. And God was soo good to us that He protected our car from theft cause you are always suppose to put your things in the trunk and not having any thing valuable showing in the car.. but between the three of us and a little car we had to put stuff in sight... but one of the car guards was sooo nice for us and we paid him extra.. actually alot extra! haha to watch our car extra special. He was great. Here is a pic of us girls of that day. We stopped on the side of the road and saw this cool big tree and so we took a picture.

On Friday we had Club 5 which is Kids Club. That was fun but interesting because neither of our Zulu transulators showed up... so we were unable to do the Bible story and it was a little hard explaining the games we played.. but there were three of the kids out of 35 ish that spoke both English and Zulu so they helped and that was a blessing. Here are some pics of the kids playing the balloon game where you try to pop other balloons while protecting your own. Just as Club 5 was starting all the kids started playing some of their Zulu games and got us to join in even though we didn't know the words or what we were suppose to do but it was really fun. And wow! can these kids sing and dance! Back home when kids sing it's hard to get them to even sing let alone be loud but when these Zulu kids sing! wow! they are soo enthusiatic and loud and they just love to sing. The girls and the boys. And they do harmony too and ya black people are really talented for sure!

Bed time for me.. I will have to write more later. Happy Thanksgiving!

Now here's a Challenge

2007-10-02T02:48:00.001-07:00

I've discovered my first big challenge I will be facing and am already facing here in Africa. Its the creche. Today was so challenging there. Wow! I guess first of all.. it was a little bit of my own fault. I only realized last night that it was Tuesday the next day which is creche day. And so I was totally not prepared... and so ya, but anyways, as I was searching the net for preschool kids games and activites and Bible lesson ideas I realized that we don't have many resources here and a lot of the fun games involved certain equipment.. say like a hola hoop or paint, etc. And then I also realized that wow, the creche doesn't even have the space to do a lot of things that would be fun for the kids.. Like painting, and making crafts and whatnot. I think I told you before but I will explain again. The creche is a very tiny house and about 50 kids come to this creche. There is one teacher and sometimes she has a helper or two. There is not much room at all to be able to do crafts or painting or other things. I found myself saying and thinking, oh man, if only we were just in Canada where we HAVE bigger buildings and more space and more resources and just where things are a lot easier to do and handle. It would be soo much easier! And then on top of that is the language barrier. Wow! That is something that really frustrates me that I cannot understand what the kids are saying to me and it frustrates me that I don't know what to say when they do something bad, or when I want to explain something to them or when I want to tell them where to go/what to do. Yes I do have a transulator and i'm soo thankful for her, because it would be impossible to do anything, but still, it's really hard and humbling because she will say what I say and then they will talk to her and I don't know what they just told her. And then when I ask her to explain, say a game to them, she does but then when it comes to playing the game they don't do what was expected and then I wondering if they didn't understand because they are younger or because she didn't explain properly or if she herself did not understand what I told her. And then I feel so helpless and like I'm not really doing what I was asked to do because I can't speak the language and so it seems like Spaangelay (the teacher) is doing most of the work because she is explaining to them and getting them into there places and dealing with the little fights the kids have and all the questions they ask.. All because I'm such a foriegner and don't know the language : ( Urg! It's really frustrating! Wow and so ya, this is my HUGE challenge for sure. It's very humbling because all my life when Ive dealt with kids it's been, well, I won't say it's been easy to deal with them.. but it's been and it's felt like I've been in alot more control and now at the creche it's totally out of my hands and I can't do much about it. I believe this is one way God is going to get me to lean on His strength and power more. I guess ya, that God has pulled me out of my comfort zone and placed me in a place that will make me to grow in different ways.
But don't get me wrong, it's fun going and seeing the kids and playing with them, it's just me.. umm. that makes me think.... that its' really not about me, but it's about the kids and it's about God and not what I want to have happen but what God wants to happen. Ill keep you updated on how this whole thing progresses.

2007-09-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

oh this computer is making me angry! sorry>> k<>> ya<>> it wouldn"t tell me>> so that ending part is suppose to say that i"m reading that book "Obsessed" and it"s sooo good> It by Ted Dekker>> but ya ok i"m gonna get off this computer>

Phone call from Home

2007-09-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

I got to talk with my mom and my little brother yesterday! It was great> urgh! (sorry>> my computer is being retarded and making me upset right now because it has gone to this wierd setting that whenever i press the number keys it actaully types !@#$%^&*( instead of one two three four five six seven eight nine!! urgh! and it won"t let me type periods> or other things like aposterphies! Aaron if you read this can you tell me what to do to fix it>> or anyone esle who is reading this and knows how to help me> thank you so much>
So anyways<> It was nice to hear their voices again! and to hear that things are good at home> My mom is enjoying her job yet there are lots of stuff that needs to be organized and set up still>> and now she is once again in charge of people>> which she was trying to get away from but she says it will be alright> Aaron got his jeep working finally so that is a blessing> I"m happy for him> and then mom was telling me that my little sister at bible college is kinda homesick : ( so that is sad but i totally know how she feels> First year away from home meeting new people>> or actually LIVING with new people is a really stretching thing and is hard> It definitly was for me and i even had my older sister with me my first year! But it was great and then D came into the office and me and her put our phone on speaker phone to talk with aaron and then i told him to put his phone on speaker phone and so the four of us talking together over the phone for a few minutes> It was really cool cause we were laughing and just having a good time together even though we are so far away from each other>

Today has been a nice lazy day> i helped with lunch and i gotta go and get supper ready for the guys here> Not very hard to do> just bread and gravy! But we had church this morning and I got to play piano in worship> It was fun> But its way differnet than playing with Rob> I miss playing in church back home> But it was still good> we don"t have any drums>> so pray for someone to learn how to play the jambae! that would be sweet

The pastor had a really good message about really really truly knowing the truth and really studing Gods Word and living in Him and asked us the question<>> no> i don"t really feel like i"m truly rejoicing in the Lord and ya<> Please pray for me as God takes me through this and that i will be dedicated to make the effort to rejoice in Him more>

but ya<> Oh and Car<>

Creche Day!

2007-09-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

This morning was my very first time being a teacher in the creche and it was soo great. I did the story about Daniel and the Lions Den and the Zulu teacher there transulated for me. She is a very nice Christian lady and that is soo great. That was weird having a transulator cause it was my first time but it is soo nice to have because I wouldn't be able to get anywhere with the children! And it's not hard at all. It's just kinda is a drag that I can't understand what they say to me or vice versa. I have to learn more Zulu! Praise God they understood the story though. They are from the ages of babies to about 3. So cute. Then we played pin-the-tail-on-the-lion. They liked that. And as you see in the pictures I gave them some Canadian flag stickers and they really liked them and they were learning how to say "Canada".

After lunch we went out and did outreach. We went to this one house who is full of orphans. The aunt and the uncle are caring for about 8-9 children because the parents had died. Oh it was such a blessed time and a very heart touching experience. We brought them lots of new clothes and food and the kids and the older people were so happy and dancing around and being all goofy because they were soo happy for these gifts. Then we started singing and dancing! They were about 15 of us, children, adults and five of us from Melusi. Every got up from sitting and joined in. It was soo cool. Everyone was so happy that they had gotten this things. It was awesome cause even the baba (older man) was singing and clapping away. And they sang so loud. It was just such a new experience because I have never seen a family who has recieved gifts be so happy and celebrate like that over a little bit of food and clothes. It was a priceless moment for sure. And they are such nice people and adorable kids!

Pictures at the Museum

2007-09-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the museum's little coffee shop/restarant. We did actually go into the museum.. just to the gift shop there. There was a lot of neat African stuff there. After as we were driving back we saw the skipping boys and their coach practicing so we went to visit them. Oh ya I didn't tell you guys about them yet. Oh man they are soo cute and will have to put a pic up here of them. They do really sweet things with skipping ropes and they are actually going to nationals this Wednesday! Till Saturday. The four boys are Loounga, Seethlay, Paul and Boongani and the couch is Wellington. Only three of them made it to nationals though. But they are all really good! So ya, we went and visited them and then gave them a ride back to their home because they had been practicing for close to three or four hours in the heat and they had to walk all the way back home. Its really really far! It's so crazy. But they are so used to walking all the time and very long distances. Wow we are so blessed to have vehicles!!

Me and Dione : )

Maresa, Valerie and Claudette

The two younger girls are the kids of the cook. They also have two little brothers.
And no they aren't twins, even though they look like it. They are 11 months apart.

2007-09-23T03:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was so great! Me and D went to town for the whole day! 9 to 4. We walked around everywhere that whole time so we definitely got our workout for the day! And wow it was so hot but the wind was really nice. And really the heat didn't bother me too much, but i think it was because of the wind : ) We got dropped off in town and first we went to this adorable coffee shop! And the lady was so nice. We loved the CD she was playing and she let us take it home and bring it back next time we came! Oh man and the coffee and muffin were so good. It’s filter coffee and I liked it better than perked coffee! Then we walked around to all the cute little different shops here. Wow shopping here is so fun and such nice stuff and so cheap! I bought a sweet fake billabong hat for $4, (yes mom, now you know I have a hat and I will be wearing it) and me and D bought sandals for $4. And the jewelry is so beautiful here! But surprisingly I haven’t bought any yet! That’s pretty good I think, for me anyways.

Oh man and then we were walking down the street and this drunk man came to me and was grabbing my arm and telling me to buy the hat I was looking at because it was a nice one and “it was look good on you.” Oh man he was so drunk and then we just kept walking and he staggered down the street. Crazy man.

Today I also bought a cell phone and the guy there was so nice to us. He gave me a sweet deal. 250 Rand instead of 300 Rand and he gave D a coke and me bottled water AND haha, he gave us each a back pack! And it totally has actual speakers built into it! Oh it’s soo ghetto, I love it. Haha. But the guy took out something.. and so it won’t work. Me and D had a good time laughing about the fact we both were wearing matching backpacks around town. But it was really nice cause then we didn’t have to carry everything we had.

And then we saw a guy holding this snake and we got to touch it. Dione was pretty scared of it and then I asked the guy to put in on the ground and Dione freaked. so he didn’t do it. Oh Dione : )

We went out for lunch at Spur’s. It was very good food, and really great service. It was so nice to finally sit down and rest our feet. Its been so fun being with her and just hanging out again. It was such a great day.

Today was my first church service here and it was really nice. After church we had coffee and then Dione told me this one boy here played the piano as well and so he started playing and then I played and the four of us. (me, D, Daniel and I can't remember the other boy's name) sang for about 45 min in the church. It was really neat how we could all come together and sing even when we had just met.

And now in five minutes we are going to the museum here : ) Should be good! There are five of us girls going.

Oh ya and this is just a random comment but in October there are gonna be two Venasulan girls coming to the mission to help out! I'm excited. They are about 23 I think so close to my age!

Anyways. gotta run... Have a great Sunday!

Lins

Life lived so differently

2007-09-19T00:55:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how blessed you and I are. And on top of that, how we always want more and how we can never just be thankful, truly thankful, for the things we have. You guys, God has given us SOO much! My eyes are watering up as I type this.

Tuesday afternoon a group of us went out in the bakkie (truck) with about 20-30 crates full of half full, overdue, broken yogurts, juices and maas, a mixture of cottage cheese and sourcream. It did not smell to great. We drove out to a part of the township close to here and handed out all this "waste" (as the store calls it and what we would call it too) to many of the families and children who live there. I felt so bad giving them this food because it was soo gross and messy and some of it rotten. But at the same time it felt so good to give it to them because they were soo incredibly deseparate for it! It was soo hard to see. When the kids saw the bakkie coming they started yelling and running towards us shouting "Please! Please! Juice! Juice!" and "Mahyeno! Mahyeno!" (which was the name of the mission but it just changed to Melusi) They would congregate around us in the back of the bakkie and reach out their hands and some had huge smiles on their faces and others had this concerned, desperate look on their faces like they wanted some juice and food soo soo badly. SOO many kids! Everywhere! I never have experienced this before. It was very overwhelming.

Yesterday morning I went with Denise to visit the creches and oh my goodness! I loved the kids! They were soo adorable. Here are some pics of them. Some mornings during the week I will be teaching this kids. Not sure exactly how I'm going to do it because they don't really understand English, only Zulu. haha so ya, I guess the teachers are there too (I think!) and they speak English so hopefully they will transulate for me! Here we visited the school to bring them some food. They were soo cute wanting to help out and carry the crates and ran back to us when the crate was emptied. They were soo excited to see us and grabbed onto my hand and just smiled and laughed and wanting to be held. SOO CUTE!!

Then in the afternoon I went out on the outreach with Dione and some other team members. We hand out parcels of food to certain families and at the same time visit with them and pray with them in their homes. I got to pray for two ladies and it was really neat. They are so thankful and happy that I was here helping the poor and needy. All the way from Canada : ) hehe. They are precious people.

I have never in my life seen such poverty though. Here are some things I saw while I went out and hopefully this will give you a feel for how things are for these people. A chiildren, maybe 2 years old playing in the dirt with a bare bottom. A little boy washing in his home standing in a little tiny basin filled with very little very dirty water. A man about 30-40 years old weeping in front of us and his people as he suffers from great physical pain in his heart. Garbage and glass EVERYWHERE... and little kids not wearing any shoes and walking around everything. Mom's using towels as diapers for there little ones. Soo many kids with ruptures in their stomaches sticking out. This one lady the mission was able to give her a mattress and bedframe and she is 84 years old. And that was the first time she ever slept on a mattress in her life. 84 years of sleeping on the ground. Literally shacks for houses. Made with any they could find. Oh man the list goes on but I just wanted to give you a little taste of how life is for these people. It's so incredibly sad and breaks my heart so much. It's very hard for me to see such poverty. We take for granted sooo many things! Or I know I do anyways!

Here are some pics from the outreach yesterday. One of the 30 families we gave food to.This is one of the little girls who has a huge rupture in her stomach.

Last night I went with Dione to her cell group on this farm with a gorgeous house oh my goodness. So nice. And the people were soo kind and soo nice and really excited to have me here. They are people from the church here I will be going to. (the church is right on the mission here) The mission leader, Peter, is also the pastor. ya, so it was really fun and it is like a half hour drive out of Dundee and so me, D, and Maresa got to lay in the back of this truck with pillows and blankets and relax and talk and watch the African sun go down. Oh it was beautiful.

It's so hot here oh man! Yesterday it was 33 and i'm sure today is hotter. They say it gets the most 36-38.. yikes! and that is everyday until about March!

Oh my! And seeing Dione has been soo incredible amazing!! Wow! It seems soo weird and surreal!! Its crazy that I'm in Africa! with Dione! God is too good : ) The first night I got here to Dundee, Monday, she took me out for supper at the Steak House here. OH it was soo good and she has been such a sweetheart to me! Oh and has helped me soo much to feeling comfortable and settled in. IT's been so funny and it just soo good to laugh with her again and just be with her.

In about an hour we start Kid's Club, called Club5. We are doing a skit out of the book "You Made Me Special" (or something like that) by Max Lucado about the Wemmicks. Remembering that story? IT's a gooder. and then playing some games with them and having snack. Should be good : )

Sorry I havent written on this in a while. But here it finally is : )

Oh ya and I really really have to learn the Zulu language or some of the more important words to get by at least! It's very frustrating! So if you could pray that I catch on fast that would be perfect! Thanks!

Bye bye for now.

Touched By One of God's Children

2007-09-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

Today I was greatly touched by one of God's children. Her name is Sarah and I met her at the flea market June took me to this afternoon after a wonderful church service. Sarah was selling these gorgeous skirts from Malayisa and I just feel in love with them and she had a lot of fun making me model all the different skirts in her little shop. haha. anyways, it was fun. I think she put four of them on me : ) As I finally decided which one I wanted I went to take out my money and sadly, I found out that I was short 30 Rand (that is about 5 dollars canadian.. but alot for being Rands) This skirt was 160 Rand and I only had 130 Rand. Before I went to pay her we had gotten into conversation and I told her I was doing mission work in Dundee and she said "Oh you are doing God's work?" and I found out that she as well , was a believer and she was very happy to hear that I was here in SA all the way from Canada. So back to the moment of when I was going to pay for this skirt... I looked through my wallet inside and out trying to find more money but that's all I had. Then Sarah told me, "I will let you take it for 130 Rand and I will pay the extra 30 Rand. Because you are a missionary for the Lord I want to do this for you. " I was soo humbled and didn't know what to say but thank you and God bless you! Then she told me " This is what happens when you do the Lords work. He blesses you." I just stood there for a second and thought about those words. Wow, such a blessing I tell you. Her words so true.

God has been blessing me richly here so far with my time in South Africa and it's only been less than a week. For those of you who dont know.. and I think that is pretty much all of you because I forgot to mention it, but anyways, I don't have to take the bus to Dundee anymore : ) Lynn, a lady who works at Melusi is here in Durban for the weekend because she had to bring a child to the hospital here and so tomorrow she will be taking me back to Dundee! What a huge blessing!
I'm sooo excited about getting to Dundee finally and meeting the team there and seeing DIONE again!! She phoned me the second day I was here to welcome me to South Africa. haha she is too cute. I love her. It was so nice to hear her voice being here in a foreign country.

I am soo blessed to have Dione here with me while I'm here. God is just so great. I have some one I can trust and talk with and share my frustations and uncertainites and questions with and she will understand where I'm coming from. And I know that Dione will listen to me and help me in the best way that she can and I'm ever so grateful for her and her friendship. Plus she is super deadly and a ton of fun so we are gonna have so many great times together. I'm really looking forward to it all. And thanks so much Dione for all the help you have been to me soo far and for your encouragement. You are a huge and wonderful blessing to me. Love ya

Oh ya, and I had my first cup of African coffee. My oh my its delicious! Very nice taste and I'm going to be drinking alot more of it for sure! And it was only about
1$ for a cup : )

As well, today was my first time participating in an African church worship service. It was very different than any Western church I have been to. Even though there were probably only about 75 people in the church when they sang it sounded like 200-300 people! Everyone sang so loud and energetic and with passion. And we sang for about 45 minutes. The pastor was very good and very passionate and loud and spoke a very sound message. And there were many many Amens! being said through out the whole service and message. I did feel out of place there,(because of their style of worshuip) but at the same time very not out of place.. like absolutely no one was in that church was being judging or not really wanting to be there but that everyone there was there because they were passionate and deeply in love with Jesus. It was definitely a challenge to me and the way I worship, and just a challenge to be more free in the way I would like to worship God.

Well today the city will be without power from 6 - 7. Some electricty problems here...i guess they always have this and sometimes they tell the public but other times not. haha some times it's longer than just an hour. Good thing I brought my flashlight : )

That's all for now. Later, Lindsay

My Great Mango Adventure

2007-09-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Today I picked my very first mango fresh off the tree! It was soo exciting. I discovered that we have a mango tree right in our yard! So I spotted a really ripe and fresh one... only thing it was quite a ways up.. so I had some fun getting this mango of mine. It was a little bit of an adventure. First I tried shaking the branches.. didn't work. Then June gave me a broom to try and reach it. It was too short. Then I had this great idea to throw the broom up and try to knock down the mango. Well that didn't work to well because, first I missed the mango completely and second.. the broom was now stuck up in the branches. Then June brought out the ladder. And what a old, rickety, wooden ladder it was. It was a bit scary climbing up but it did the trick. I used another broom-like thing to knock down the mango and then also, I saved the other broom from the tree. What a workout trying to get this thing! But it was a mango and I LOVE mangos and I just had to pick one from a REAL mango tree! So I got down off the ladder and took my mango into the house. I cut it open, very very sadly to find that IT HAD WORMS IN IT!! Oh man! That was sooo gross! And depressing I tell you... but, I did get to atleast try a bit of it because there were some parts where there were no little sick white worms. I made sure of it cause I scanned that piece of mango and broke it all apart to make sure I wasn't about to eat one of them before I stuck it in my mouth. It tasted soo good! It would have been such a perfect one! It tasted so sweet and yummy : ) But ya, at least my great determination to get this mango gave June a bit of humor to her day. haha. Hopefully next time, I will get a mango that is completely worm-free and I will be able to enjoy it alot more!

Today June took me to one of the biggest malls in Durban. Maybe even in South Africa. It was soo big and wow, it was a really nice mall! The fashion here is SOO indentical to Canada. Pretyy much exactly the same. It felt like I was back at home seriously, except that the stores are different stores here. But there was a Billabong store and a Roxy store so that was the same. And they played all the same music and songs you here in Canadian malls and on the radio. And most of the stores are huge! Not like normal mall stores. You can spend so much time in just one store. And it is sooo cheap here! Wow. I love it. haha but don't worry I didn't spend too much. I did buy a skirt and some flipflops and some icecream of course : ) I probably would have bought alot more but I was like k. i'm here for 6 months and I will im sure, pile things up to bring home throughout the months. Anyways, it was a full busy day. We went from 10 to 4. I had a really good time. June is a really nice lady and she is really fun and outgoing and loves fashion (like me), and loves going out for coffee (like me), and loves just getting out and doing things (like me). And she loves the ocean so much and so she took me there yesterday afternoon for hot coco. And she took me to a casino for coffee! haha I thought that was soo funny. We had a good laugh about it. She said they come here alot to hang out. Its not actually right in the casino/gambling section.. it is a cute little coffee shop in the same build as it. It also has a cinema there too, and some candy shops and icecream shops. And then we walked along the beach in the soft sand and I played in the tides as they came up for a while. It was soo relaxing and just such beautiful weather.

Here are some pics from yesterday at the ocean.

I loved watching the surfers.

They looked so cool! June is a surfer! Actually, she is a body boarder. Which is still really cool!

Tomorrow I'm going to church with June, to the Church of the Nazerene. I'm looking forward to going.

Well, it's almost my bed time. Jet lag is getting better.. or so it feels like it right now.. haha, two nights ago I woke up at 2 and coudln't go back to sleep till 5! and then i had to get up at 730. Last night I slept alot better, so i'm hoping tonight will be a really good sleep.

Make a comment if you read this. I'm wondering if people are actually reading it or not....

I hope that all is well for each of you. Nite: )

Lindsay

First Full Day

2007-09-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day : ) Ann and Jeremy took me out for lunch overlooking the Indian Ocean. It was soo beautiful looking at the waves and the huge ships over the horizon and watching the sweet surfers and the palm trees and all the different little trinkets and jewelry and people selling things. It reminded me a lot of Mexico. We ate subs and chips (which are fries). And there are many of these people who crave amazing things in the sand. they are soo good. Here is one guy working away. It is normal here for one to take a picture and then give him a little bit of money, so I did. Everything here is soo cheap! Wow, Jeremy bought lunch for three people and it came up to 68 Rand and that is only about 3 dollars!!

Oh ya! And I might get to go body boarding in the ocean on Saturday. There is a lady here named June and she does that and she said she would take me if the weather is good and the water is good. I guess it can get really rough out there, cause there can be a really strong current on this side of Africa so ya, hopefully it is a good day! It is somewhat like surfing.. except you don't stand.. but whatever! it's close!

yes and another rare thing today was that there was a helicopter on the pier. Usaully it's on the other side of the harbour.. so we weren't quite sure it was there at the time.

Here they have car guards. They are people who stay around your vehicle while you are gone, because there is so much theft here. When you get back you usually give them a little tip for their service. They are everything. Downtown, and in the underground shopping mall parking lots. That is different for sure. WEC here has had three cars stolen.

Oh ya, while I was exchanging my money here the power and the phone lines went out in the WHOLE shopping mall. Ann said it was very rare, and that is was the first time it had happened to her. Of course, we were in the bank part of it and so automatically the doors locks and we had to stay in there for a while. Oh ya, and when you want to get into a store someone lets you in, either the people working there... or in the case of getting into the money exchange place, there were guards outside that let you in and as you went in the scanned you up and down with this little stick thingy. Very different for me.

Every where you look there is gates around everything and bars up on the windows and doors. Crime is so huge here due to the years of the apartheid. For those of you who don't know, the apartheid is when there was segragetion of the whites and blacks. That ended only about 20 years ago so the affects of it are still around, but getting better slowly.

Um, they call their traffic lights , robots here. And driving on the other side of the ride is a little trippy. I haven't driven yet but just being a passenger is quite interesting. And when I cross a street I look at the wrong side of when the traffic is coming cause it's opposite! Its' soo wierd!

When I got off the plane in Durban it was instantly humid. and very windy! It's there spring time right now. Jeremy said it's usally not this windy here. And tonight it is quite windy and stormy out. Getting some rain.

Here is Ann and Jeremy. They are super nice and soo welcoming and Jeremy likes to joke around a lot.

um. what esle can i say.. well how bout you guys ask me some questions here and then I will try my best to give you an answer : )

Time for bed! Nite!

2007-09-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!! So here i am in Africa! Wow, its such an incredible feeling saying that, or actually it's an incredible feeling BEING here! God is soo wonderful. He is soo good :)

So ya i'm super out of it right now.. i think I ve got about 8 hours of sleep in the last 2 -3 days.. so ya, Im quite disorientated and "slow" right now, haha. But i'm doing great still. Its just super amazing i'm here. Hopefully what I write will make sense. I'm not feeling all that focused right now. I'm so tired that it constantly feels like the ground is moving back and forth and so i feel dizzy lots. that is bad i know.. it's not a very good sign.. but it's really hard to sleep on the plane and at the airports. I got a few hours in at least.

But yes my flights were great. Very good service. I didn't get too lost in all the different airports and I got good seats both the long flights. Aisle seats. So that was a blessing. And the people I sat with were nice too. The first couple, the lady, wanted to support me and she wanted WECs address to mail the money! It was soo encouraging! A stranger wanting to give money! God provides in the most uncommon ways. It is so neat. She was really nice to talk with.

Then the next lady I met on the next flight started up a school for girls in Kenya and did work there for 12 years, if i remember that correctly. So ya! It was neat who God placed on my trip.

Oh I wanted to show you guys my first picture I took in Africa. It is my first African sunrise I get to see : ) It was this morning on the plane. On my 11 hour flight. It was incredible waking up to such a sight and realizing where I was, flying all the way across Africa.

Um.. Oh I can tell you guys about my first African experience here. hahah oh boy, it's quite funny actually. I think anyways. So I got off the plane from London into Johannesburg. I wasn't too sure where to go and I had two hours to get on my next flight. I knew I had to grab my luggage and go through customs again and so I had to find all that stuff.. that took a while.. and then when I finally got my luggage, my next thing to do was get my plane ticket and re-drop off my luggage. So, I started looking when very soon a man came up to me wearing this very bright orange coverall and offered to take my luggage and asked where I needed to go and what to do. So, I told him and he showed me where to go and it was about a good 10-15 minutes and I was soo thankful for him cause it was a bit confusing and i probably would have missed my flight. So after he was done and had brought me to the right line up he said, "So a tip for me please." And I was like, oh.. um, (I didn't think I was going to have to pay him! Cause he was dressed in uniform..so i thought it was his job) So I was like. Oh ya and he asked me for a 20$ US tip. I was thinking, wow that is a large tip! But I didn't know for sure how things worked there so I wasn't sure if I had to pay him or not and if not paying him was the wrong thing to do. So.. I looked around and all I had was 10 pounds. So I gave it to him. The whole time after that and till I got to Durban I was thinking wow i think i got totally ripped off. And of course, when I told the leader here about that he was like "What!? Wow! That was like Christman to him!" hahah oh boy, It's funny cause the leaders say that they would only give 2-5 Rand and I gave 100 Rand! haha so I can see how that was Christmas for him! I just looked like this big white rich girl. haha oh boy.. So ya, I thought that was pretty funny. Here I am trying to look like I'm not a "tourist" and this has to happen to me!

So ya, then the leaders here at WEC South Africa picked me up at the Durban Airport. They are soo nice. There names are Ann and Jeremy and they have two kids, 7 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. They are great.

But ya, I think that is good for right now. I ll definitely let you guys know more :)

Later!

So Many Emotions!!

2007-09-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Wow! The time has actually come now. And tomorrow is going to be a HUGE day for me. It's hard to express how I'm feeling all in one word. So ya, I will just share with you guys a few thoughts I've been having lately.

First, yes, I'm scared. haha Not to the point where I don't wanna go, I DO wanna go! It's been my dream for so long! But just that there are so many uncertainties that I'm facing in the next couple of months. And changes. And I know that they will not be small changes. But I guess that what would life be without uncertainities right? It would be rather boring for sure. There is no adventure and excitement when you know what God is going to do in your life and what He is going to bring to it. But at the same time, I wondering SO much what its gonna be like! And how I will do over there and if I will like it! I sure hope so and I'm really believing I will but you just never know. I know it's just my fears right now that are keeping me from knowing that it will be super amazing : ) Stupid fears! But like that saying goes "If God brings you to it, God will bring you through it" No matter how many challenges and trials and frustations, He will bring me through it and with many many blessing along the way.

I realize that South Africa can be a dangerous place as well. Now that I've signed up to go and bought my plane ticket the crazy scary stories and facts come out! haha God can be funny. haha no, but I know that God will be my great Protector and Shield from harm and so I do not need to fear...(even though I do) It's hard sometimes to control your fears but yes I know deep down the truth of God that He is always there right beside me. And that is quite encouraging. Plus I know that this is God's will for me and so already in my life I've learned that when you are in God's will it is the best place you could ever be, even when there will be great struggles and challenges.

So I found a spider in my bed this morning. A big black one. That was pretty scarring. And once again, God has a sense of humor cause I just sensed He is preparing me for bigger, quite bigger, ugly spiders. God, just please don't let one crawl into bed with me!

And of course, it's super hard leaving my family. I've really grown a lot closer to my family in the last couple of years and it's priceless. I appreciate them soo much more for who each of them are and I am just realizing that I really really love my family and that they are indeed the most important people to me.

I'm soo excited for my little sister, Tiffany, going to Nipawin Bible College. I'm soo excited for you Tiff! It will be sooo amazing, You will LOVE it. And my little bro wanting to be an electrican : ) I'm so proud of him and how godly of a guy he is and is becoming. And Hil, how beautiful and strong she is and how I just have fun hanging out with her being retarded together. lol. And my mom, who has loved me and supported me and been so patience with me. And for how beautiful she is, and her beautiful heart of gold. I love you guys tons and I will miss you so much.

On the flipside, I'm going to AFRICA!! : ) How awesome is that? Like Aaron said "It's a sweet story to tell all my friends that my big sister is going to Africa. It sounds so safari'ish." It thought that was soo cute. haha Aaron, I love having you as my little brother. I'm super excited for all the new experiences I will get to do like hold baby lion cubs, and hand out food to the poor (I have wanted to do that ever since I was a kid!), and learn (hopefully) a new language, and play with and hug and hold the most adorable looking kids in the world!!! Oh man! God is sooo goood!! I just get to experience a whole different world over there. Which is both an exciting and a little bit of a nervous thought too : )

So ya, I guess that is a little bit and mostly how I have been feeling lately and right now, the night before I header.

Not looking too forward to the (in total) 32 hours of travelling, flying time and layovers. But I'm sure God will have blessings and surprises for me along the way : )

God bless you all. Thanks soo much for your many prayers guys.

Cultures are soo Crazy!!

2007-09-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

sorry guys... just wanted to correct myself and say that my flight to London is only 7 hours. ONLY seven hours! what am i saying?!

I'm doing good here in Hamilton. Getting the very last and final things done for this trip. I'm in a bit of that stressful mode again that i have been in off and on. Getting a little bit more nervous but I know that God will be with me and work things out for me. He always seems to do that for us : )

Today and yesterday we have been learning in class about culture and just how important and significant it is while doing missions, and ya, wow, I'm definitely learning tons and ya, I am definitely expecting to be frustrated and confused and discouraged many times! But we were reminded in class that God places those kinds of things in our lives to bring us to totally dependance on Him. I am just blow away by how DIFFERENT other cultures are! It's just soo crazy and even in class i'm like "what?! how can people BE like that!? that is soo wrong! And doesn't make ANY sense!" But we learnt that it's not about being wrong or righton the mission field but just about totally sacrificing what we are so use to and how we are so use to doing things and living life and just accepting their culture and becoming like them and fitting in. It is only when that happens will we be able to effectively reach out to the people around us and share Jesus with them. And really, that makes complete sense. So that would be awesome if you could pray that I would be able to adapt well to the culture and be willing to sacrifice my many different ways of thinking about things and just accept how they do things. Becuase it's going to be a great challenge for sure!

one more week!!!

2007-09-02T16:56:00.000-07:00

I leave in exactly 8 days. It's 8:00 pm right now and that is when my flight leaves on Monday the 10th. How exciting! This is crazy! I am not really looking forward to entering into the Toronto airport....but I am excited to leave it and then again.. not soo looking forward to the 9 hour flight I have to London. Once I'm in London it should be pretty cool. I have 11 hours to take in all that I can take in of London in 11 hours. (haha wow, i don't know if that makes much sense.. but whatever... my other half of my brain is three provinces away : ( haha. oh Carley :)
I get to London at 8 in the morning and fly out to Johannesburg at 7 pm. That is a lovely ELEVEN hour flight. From Johannesburg I fly to Durban where the South Africa WEC Headquarters is located. I will get there on the 12th and stay there for a few days, (to recuperate from some of the jetleg and do some more orientation/training which will be more specifically for being in South Africa) till that Sunday. Then I get to take a 4 hour bus-ride from Durban to Dundee. There, hopefully!, Dione will be the one to pick me up at the bus depot!

Travelling alone is definitely going to be interesting and somewhat a little stressful... but I'm not too worried about it yet.. I just have this fear of losing my luggage.. of getting to Durban and realizing my bags have not been with me along the way... But I'm trusting God to work that all out for me. Also trusting Him to work out the details of being the in the airports and getting to the right places and not getting too lost in the big international airports. I'm sure I will be asking lots of people lots of questions!

I just wanted to share with everyone something that God has been teaching me lately. It's such a simple thing but it has just been really important and awe striking to me lately. It's about prayer. I discovered that I had been taking for granted when a prayer request was answered. Not just my own prayer requests, but just any prayer request answered. I wasn't really putting my full faith in that God was the one answering the prayer. I was developing in my head that the need came "just because"... "just because that was how it went" or "just because that is what happens in life" or "just because it was a coincidence" even! It was not encouraging or enhancing my faith and i was kinda getting discouraged. But just this week God spoke to me and has been teaching me that it truly IS Him who is being the Provider and Listener of our prayers. I love how God speaks to me in such simple, not complex ways. I kinda laugh cause I believe that is just how God knows I will best learn and understand the things He wants to teach me. In a simple way, because He knows my brain cannot always comprehend big, deep theological things... haha. Anyways, He has truly humbled (and blessed) me with this thought He has given me.

In Isaiah 66:1-2 God says: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.....Has not my hand made all these things and so they came into being?"

Isaiah 40:21-22a says "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth."

GOD IS IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING! It's that simple! God allows things to happen! He is the One who is soveriegn and gets to decide what happens, whenever. So therefore, answers to someone's prayer is God answering that prayer! It's so very simple : ) God is wanting to provide and supply that certain need to His child and so He allows it to happen.

I just love these verses. They really speak truth about God and I just love how they speak of His great soveriegnity and power over all things. They really put you back in focus in life. Focus you on how life came about and how desperately we need our God!

So ya, it's soo simple but it's soo huge for me lately. I hope I have encouraged some of you with what I have been learning so far.

I just have a little prayer request for you guys... I have not been feeling well.. just started this weekend when I went to Barrie. I am feeling sick with a cold now and I just really would like to be over it soon. Especially before I have to fly out. Thanks guys

Miss you! Let me know how you are doing!!

2007-08-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

And here are the pictures from my going away get together at home. Aunt Tina and Uncle Keith came too.

pics

2007-08-28T17:15:00.001-07:00

K, I'm back to write some more.. or put up some pics anyways : ) I just went for an hour walk tonight. It's really hot here! The neighbourhood is beautiful with all the big trees that hang over the streets and the beautiful old houses. Love it.

K so last Thurday I went over to Travis' house and we went quadding down to the Waterhen River and went fishing down there. It was soo beautiful! I'm just amazed every time at how beautiful God creates things. It was soo much fun and I sucked at casting but whatever.. we didn't actually catch anything.. even though the fish were jumping lots that night. It was really nice hanging out before I left.

Here are some pics of when me and Tiff went to Edmonton for the weekend of August 17-19. It was really awesome to see Hil again. And then on Saturday Carley and Katie came up from Old MacDonald and Tiff, me, Hil, and Marty all hungout at WestEd, went for supper, then went to the Water Park at night. It was soo much fun! That weekend I had to say goodbye to Hil and Marty cuase I wasn't going to be seeing them again before I left. I thought it was going to be my last time seeing Car and Katie too but then she ended up coming home last weekend so that was soo sweet!

This is my crazy friend Amanda (Rob, my youth pastors', wife : ) I love her. I hungout with her Friday afternoon doing some shopping around good ol' Meadow and eating lunch and getting Eastside icecream and tried to figure out how to use the hotcurlers on her hair.. haha.. it didn't work to well.. I just don't know how to use them!

My First Stop...for a couple of weeks...

2007-08-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! So I've offically (and finally : ) ) started my way on my adventure to Africa! I got into Hamiliton yesterday at 3:30 and Heather and Randy Barnes (a couple who works with the WEC candidates) were the first people I met, before very many! They picked me up at the airport and when I got to the headquaters house I was introduced to many of the staff and other candidates/missionaries. They are all so very nice and welcoming and fun. There are 7 other candidates taking the course with me... or rather I should say, I am taking the course with them...becuase they are all going to be here for 4 months and i'm only here for 2 weeks. I'm the only short-termer. But there is a guy here from Venasula, a family from Korea (who were actually just in South Africa for a year and so they were telling me all about it down there...now that I'm freaked out about attacking baboons and whatnot! haha, no, its all good.), and a couple from El Salvador, I believe, and a family from Guelph, ON. They are all really great.

All of us (including some staff) live in the same house. It's a beautiful 1921 house. I just love it! And it's soo nice here too! The weather is really sunny, clear blue sky and in the 20's for sure. Right now I'm staying in a room by myself. I've got my own phone and internet access right in my room which is nice.

Before I left I had another going away get to together at home with my family and friends. It was a really great night and soo awesome cause Car came back home that weekend too! She stayed over that night and we stayed up late watching "Take the Lead" and visiting with Mike and Charlotte. It was just soo fun to hang out with all my relatives again and with some of my friends as well. We had lots of food and played a few rounds of foosball and pingpong and ltos of laughs. Thanks all you guys for coming!

On Sunday I said goodbye to everyone after church. That was a really great Sunday. The Mexico team shared with us about their experiences and it was just really encouraging and fun. Lots of laughing during that church service : ) I will miss all you guys! Thanks so much for supporting me in prayer.

Then Mom, Aaron and Tiff drove down to S'toon. Got there around 4 and just hung out ate some pizza and watched "Crash". I got to hang out with Ang again for a short while. It was still great and we had some good pizza : ) I miss you so much girl! I also got to talk with Hil and Jenny on the phone that night too.

Then came yesterday morning... a very early morning... woke up at 4:45... at the airport about 5:30ish and then off into the air at 6:20. It's really wierd but I haven't been too nervous about this trip at all... just excited.. I suppose yes, there are those little fears and uncertainties, but nothing too huge. It's been an answer to pray for sure. Saying goodbye to my family was hard to do but not overbearingly. That was also a huge answer to prayer! I will miss you guys soo much!

Well, I was gonna write more.. but supper is early today so I better head down there...
Talk to you soon!

Surprise Going Away Party

2007-08-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

This past Friday my friends in S'toon planned a surprise going away party for me. It was soo cool. They are so awesome and such great friends : ) I'm really going to miss them next year and it's hard for me to leave knowing I will be missing out on what the group does while I'm away but they are all really encouraging and supportive and are excited about me going which is sweet. I know that I will miss alot of things here but I know that God has many great and fun and new experiences for me in Africa which is super exciting. Here are a few pics of my party. It's kinda funny but I felt really bad but the party was suppose to start at 7 and Heather was going to pick me up and we were all going to go out for "coffee". The plan was for Heather to go pick up Matt for coffee too and then when we were at his house I would come in I would find out it was a party for me.... But.... just 5 minutes after talking on the phone with Heather about our plans for "coffee", work called me and needed me to come back for a few hours! So I actually didn't get there till almost 9 (and the whole time I didn't know it was a party for me.. i just thought it was coffee) and so I felt bad when I found out that I missed out on the hamburgers and hotdogs everyone had at 7. But they were totally ok with it and we still shared a delicious DQ icecream cake and watched "Shooter" and sat around talking and laughing. The top picture is of Graham, Clint and Matt. The third picture is me and Heather eating our icecream cake and the bottom is Janaya and Marion. : ) Thanks so much guys! I will miss you lots!

Last "Cya laters"

2007-08-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend Christy came up to visit. It was soo awesome hanging out and watching movies (Step Up!) and checking out The Fringe and doing random things in the city. She is soo cute! And tonight Pam came over and we all had supper together and had a fun walk down 8th Street and came back to eat fresh raspberries and strawberries! Pam is such a sweetheart. These girls are so awesome : ) So ya, this is us eating our dessert!

ONLY 19 MORE DAYS!!

2007-08-08T23:54:00.001-07:00

Hey Guys! So this is my very first attempt in writing on my blog.. lets see if I can do this right : ) So I'm going to be using my blog to update you all on how things are going for me in Africa and I will be sure to put pictures up too! I'm getting quite excited about all of this, and at the same time very nervous!! Only 19 more days till I leave! It is soo crazy. It has come up really fast but I think am I all ready and set to go along and see what God has in store for me : ) It's going to be tough to leave my family and my friends here in S'toon and my close friends from bible college but God is good and He will help me out with ALL things. God has been so good to me thus far in getting plans all in place and flights and ya, God is just soo good : ) Hope you are all having a great summer! Later