Gratitude

In light of seeing what many people in the informal settlements live without, these are the things for which I am truly thankful:

> God's unfailing love, grace and mercy
> The love and support of my family
> A steady family income
> A safe and warm place to call home
> Clean running water in the house
> Legal electricity
> Healthy food options
> A refrigerator and stove
> Readily available healthcare
> Good schools for the girls
> Being able to shower and brush my teeth on a regular basis
> Transportation
> Clothes that fit (relatively)
> Shoes without holes
> A bathroom in the house
> Bedrooms

A Little More About Masi...

One thing I was surprised to discover is that many of the people living in informal settlements don't necessarily have an issue living there.  We wonder, how can this be?  Don't they want this?  Don't they want that?  The truth is each of the settlements we visited has a sense of community.  Also, this is the life they have known for some time.  Originally named site 5, residents renamed the settlement Masiphumelele which means we will succeed.  There are some active individuals and groups who are working to make positive change.  The difficult thing is that even though Apartheid has ended the most recent government doesn't necessarily have the best interests of the people in mind.  And, racism is still alive.  It is hard to know how to turn things around.  People need work and there are not enough jobs. Education needs improving.  There is a high rate of substance abuse, child and domestic abuse (physical and sexual), and promiscuity resulting in the spread of HIV.  Living Hope has come alongside several of these settlements to partner with them in HIV/AIDs education and prevention, substance abuse rehabilitation, programs to strengthen families, and programs to provide life and entrepreneurial skills.  And of course they introduce God's redeeming love, grace and mercy which will change a person's life even if they are enduring difficult circumstances.

Home SWEET home

I arrived on my front porch a little after 2 p.m. yesterday.  It was so good to be home.  It was great to see Jeff even though I couldn't get much of a hug since he was on a conference call.   Mojo was able to give me an overly enthusiastic welcome however.  He's definitely grown.  I was thrilled to find him still here considering all his naughty behavior.  Rusty also seemed happy to see me even if he can't show it quite like Mojo.  I had a little bit of time to get unpacked and settled before the girls would be home.  Jeff and the girls did a great job keeping the house in pretty good order.  However, before I was even done unpacking I found myself doing things around the house.

I am extremely blessed to have parents who love me as much as they do.  The prayed with me over the phone before my departure.  They sent me an email message a few hours before I arrived in South Africa.  My mom emailed me again prior to my departure with encouraging words which I know she meant.  However, there was the underlying subtle message of 'call us when you get home!'  Then when I returned home there was a loving message, again which I knew she meant, gently cloaking the message, 'Are you home yet?  You should be home.'  I credit my parents with so much in my life.  I know they have spent more hours praying for my well being than I probably have.  I LOVE you mom & dad!!!!

I was so excited to meet the girls at the bus stop.  We missed each other terribly.  A couple times in Dezi's email messages she said, "I want you home right now."  As they rounded the corner and saw me they ran full speed into my arms.   That was a wonderful moment holding onto my babies who aren't so much babies anymore.  They were very sweet as we were catching up on things…however, I could tell they were scouring the scene to see what might be awaiting them.  Delanie sweetly asked if I had brought other things beside the Rooibos tea she saw piled on the counter.  And of course I did…I can't go on a trip of this magnitude without bringing them some goodies.

It was definitely dinner out last night.  I was fading fast.  After returning home after indulging in pizza we all cleaned up, watched a little MNF, and got ready for bed.  I haven't been to bed before 10 p.m. in a long time.  However, I probably should have tried to stay up a little longer because at 2:45 a.m. my eyes popped open and I was wide awake!  This would have been noon in SA and we would have already put in a half day of volunteering.  I thought about coming downstairs and catching up on email and such, but decided to lie in bed thinking about the trip…and keeping Jeff awake.  When I did get up I checked email and found three of my other teammates were up around 3 a.m. sending messages!!!

I made it to Bible study this morning and sure am glad I did.  We wrapped up the study of David focusing on the 23rd Psalm and it was powerful.  I was also glad to participate in fellowship with the lovely ladies at my table before possibly not seeing them until after the first of the year.  I've allowed myself to kick back this afternoon and not do much, but tomorrow it is back to my normal routine.  However, I will be refocusing and doing all of the things I typically do with more gratitude and appreciation.

Amazing Worship & the Trip Home

Sunday morning we worshipped at the Living Faith Church pastored by Jeremy's cousin, Clive.  It is a church in a Colored community where they speak Afrikaans.  However, the service was given primarily in English…possibly for our benefit.  (I find it difficult to use the Black, Colored and White labels, but this is life in South Africa and unfortunately this is still their reality.

The service was AWESOME!  Jeremy, our guide and amazing man of God, was in the middle of it all. The singing was so passionate and people did not hold their joy in at all…it was pouring out and rising to the heavenly realm.  You just knew God and His angels were smiling.  After church we visited with members of the congregation.  People with beautiful spirits and smiles to match.  I wish we could have visited all day.  I would have never guessed that we had been there almost 3 hours!!!!

After our goodbyes we were off to the airport where we found a bathroom and changed from church clothes to travel clothes.  I don't know if I have ever changed so quickly.  After an emotional goodbye to Jeremy we were on the first leg of our approximately 21-hour return trip.   Now that were were actually on our way I couldn't get home fast enough!

After flying from Capetown to Johannesburg we encountered full force security screenings - first customs, then typical luggage and body scans, then pat downs, and going through each carry on.  Honestly, I have no trouble with the screenings as long we arrive safe and sound at our destination. We had a 1-hour layover in Dakar for refueling just like before, but this time security scoured the plane and we had to take all of our carry on luggage out of the overhead compartments.  It's interesting that coming into Africa the security is a little lax, but leaving to come back to the states in stringent.  I guess they are not overly concerned about our riffraff coming into their country.  I don't understand how people are supposed to sleep on planes in these very confining spaces. I wish I had photos of all the interesting sleep positions we all had.  I didn't sleep much so it may take me a little while to readjust here at home.  I did watch the Notebook as I've heard it is a great movie.  I thought it was okay, but the ending really got me.  I wonder how many people heard me softly sobbing and sniffing!  The nearly 4-hour flight from Washington to Denver seemed like it took forever!  I tried sleeping…didn't happen.  I tried to write thank you notes…I kept making mistakes.  I listened to music…that was good, but it just felt like time had slowed down to a painful crawl.

Packing up

Well, it is 11:30 pm and after a cold and soggy final day we are packed up and ready to return home.  We will attend service at Jeremy's church and then head to the airport.  I'm not really ready for all the time on the plane,  but I am ready to see Jeff and the girls. Still so much to share, but I can't keep my eyes open.  It will have to wait.

 See you all very soon.

Photos

This year we were limited on the photos we could take...which I totally understand.  Living Hope doesn't like the residents of the townships feel like their space and privacy is being exploited.  The team will be compliling all of its photos that we were able to take and I will post a slide show in the near future.  Also some of my photos were taken vertically and I am unable to rotate them right now.

Winding down...

Today is bittersweet.  We served at our last event - a diabetes health screening today at Oceanview, another township.  This particular township is similar to what we may label as the projects.  There are government-built multiple- family dwellings with some shacks and some houses.  This township actually has a very strong community and family feel with generations of families having lived here.  Unfortunately, drugs have seeped into the fabric of the community and is threatening to tear it apart.   The cycle of poverty and employment certainly does not help.

Back to the health screening.  My role today was feet washing.  I met several amazing, beautiful, wise, faithful women.  You don't need money and material items to have diginity, be righteous, and be joyful.  Each woman (and a couple men) were so grateful for the special treat of having their feet washed and I was blessed to serve them.  Serving others can really be all it's cracked up to be.  There were times that some individuals seemed annoyed with us, but I figure that really is their problem and not mine.  I will be praying that attitudes will change and that they can experience joy in their lives.

This afternoon we were able to decompress a little and do some shopping around Capetown.  The architecture is amazing.  We saw the president's former residence and the parliament building.  We also saw a church where Desmond Tutu preached…amazing.  One small part of the church had been turned into a type of Apartheid gallery featuring photos during that time.  It was heart-wrenching to see in black-and-white images the injustices that were perpetrated towards people based on the color of their skin.  The gallery also showcased numerous images of the Black and Colored communities bravely fighting against Apartheid.  We were thinking about heading to the top of Table Mountain (even though with my fear of heights I'd prefer not to) but some major weather has moved in.  The wind really came up and it started raining.  On our way out of the shops a wind burst got us and sent us flying backward several feet.  Crazy.  We are back at the Team House and we are experiencing high winds and terrential rains.  I don't know if I will get much sleep again tonight.  I will be praying for the sun and clear skies tomorrow for a day of site seeing before we have to pack up and prepare to head out Sunday morning.

I have pretty much been getting things down without a lot of introspection.  So now that I have some down time I will be looking back over the week and considering the lessons learned and the blessings I have encountered.  I know there are so many emotions I have yet to share.  It all hasn't hit me quite yet.  Thank you all for you support, encouragement and love.  Your prayers have been received!  

South Africanisms

We use many of the same terms, but here are just a couple South Africanisms I've heard the last couple of days:
> Engine garage - gas station
> Get into a punch - get into a fight
> Robot - traffic light
> Cue - line or waiting area

First Time

On Thursday we had the privledge of being the first volunteer group from Living Hope to serve in the informal settlement of Mfuleni.  It was far on the opposite side of Cape Town from where we are staying.  This community had a much different feel than Masiphumelele.  It seemed less crowed and calmer.  The settlement actually had a good amount of commerce albeit from shacks or storage containers.  The mood seemed lighter and not so heavy.  People seemed to have purpose in their movement throughout the neighborhood.

We assisted with a mobile health screening.  While we provided the typical services of blood pressure and TB screenings, blood sugar testing, and bmi checks, the primary purpose of this screening was to test for HIV.  One of my roles was to invite people througout the neighborhood to attend the screening.  It was necessary for me to inquire as to their HIV status which was difficult.  If they were positive there was no need to be tested again.  If they were negative, but hadn't been tested in more than three months we encouraged them to test again.  Some people had never been tested so we encouraged them to be tested as well.  It was so strange to me how their HIV status is a part of their identity.  Several people I approached knew their status and chose not to be tested; I believe most of them were positive except those who had been tested in less than three months.  There we some others who said they did not know their status and did not want to find out.  This was so frustrating.  Don't they realize the risk in which they are putting themselves and others?  We prayed with one young gentleman (18 years old) who was afraid to take the test.  He sat there for quite some time contemplating the idea; hopefully he chose to find out after our team had left for the day.  It is so scary how people are either in denial, are irresponsible, or just don't care.  It is no wonder there is such a high rate of HIV.  I do realilze it carries a strong stigma in this community.  I am praying that through edcuation progress in preventing, identifying, and treating HIV will be made.

Things we don't usually see back home:  a large crowd was waiting at a corner when a small pick-up truck pulled up.  Jeremy encouraged us to go check out the 'meat truck'.  Ah, the unrefrigerated meat truck loaded with all kinds of sheep parts - hooves, intestines, organs...the works  There may have been other animal parts in there as well.  I'm sure some of it tastes just fine; it's just a little out of my comfort zone.  It was also hard to see the people load the meat into large paint-type buckets to carry away.  One woman brought her bucket over to the screening and left it sitting outside uncovered.  Isn't this a health risk???

For lunch Jeremy took us high up on a hill in the middle of the informal settlement of Khayelitsha.  This is the biggest settlement I have seen.  The population is around 2.5 million people.  This community is much more like a town, with businesses and newer conveniences.  They even have a visitors center. There are sturdier government-built homes, but there are also a great number of shacks as well.  We saw one set of shacks nicely aligned that looked like Tuff Sheds that we put in our backyard.  Still so hard to comprehend.  Jeremy mentioned that some communities have larger houses with three bedrooms.  However one family occupies each of the bedrooms!   From atop our perch we could see the entire community.  I am not sure how many square miles it is, but it is big.  And, just beyond the hill where shacks form a border you can see the skyline of a city.  Then in the other direction you can see the majestic Table Mountain.

Silly note:  We got Jeremy to try a peanut butter and banana sandwhich.  He loved it!!!!

After lunch we headed back to Masi for our final afternoon at Kid's Club. It was hygiene day.  When we arrived there was a little bit of a buzz outside the church.  There was a group of unfamiliar people and among them was a man who looked a lot like Jesus.  The children were all around him.  As it turns out they are filming a movie about Jesus here.  I will have to research what that is all about.  Before Jacki made it into Kid's Club some of the LSEs offered Jacki a taste of a smiley outside…Jacki was brave and had a bite of the tongue.  She said it wasn't bad, but I made sure not to go outside.  Hygiene day was a little disorganized (from my perspective) and got off to a late start, but once we were underway we cleaned little ears, faces, hands and feet. When getting the event underway I had to step back from how I do things and trust God to work this out the way it needed to be worked out. Eventually everything came together and went well.  The kiddos loved it. This was our last day working with the kids and that makes me sad, but it was such a blessing to have four fun Jesus-filled days with them.  I felt especially sad saying goodbye to Patience.  She blew me a sweet kiss goodbye. I will be specifically prayer for her and a boy named Lalani (sp?) as well as all the children in Masi.  We had prayed over the children the day before on on this day we prayed over the teens before bidding them a fond farewell.  I pray they will be strong in their faith and achieve their dreams.

Once again we were exhausted from the day's activities.  We headed back to the Team House for dinner with Jeremy.  He is a fantastic guide and he is amazing man of God.  He shared so much knowledge and insight with us and is an incredible blessing.  He did this not only at dinner but when we were driving from one location to another and to another.  I didn't post last night and was able to get to bed by 10 p.m.  I fell asleep listening to Pastor Farmer's podcast from this past Sunday.  Needless to say I'll need to listen to it again.  It was another great day.  Cheers!

Spiritual Chess

Good morning!  I woke up a little early this morning and I thought I would try to get caught up just a little bit more.  Typing on the Team House laptop is much faster and I'm a little more accurate.

Wednesday of this week was another wonderful day.  We had the opportunity to work at the Living Grace homeless and rehabilitation center.  Here they assist the homeless as well as recovering addicts.  We joined a group of about 25 people at their morning devotion.  The morning kicked off with singing which was very moving.  This group was primarily men and most of them were singing straight from their hearts.  My teammate Crisann described it as feeling more like a church service that a recovery meeting.  She hit it spot on.  Then  Pastor Ray gave a high-energy devotion from 1 Samuel 30.   Scripture we have recently studied at Tuesday morning Bible Study.  It talks about David's men turning on him and wanting to stone him.  However, David strengthened himself in the Lord and inquired of the Lord as to whether he and his army should retaliate against the Amalekites and recover their wives and children.  The Lord said yes.  In this same chapter David grants mercy to an Egyptian slave showing that even when we ourselves are in tough circumstances we can show kindness and mercy to others.  David goes on to win the battle against his enemy and shares the wealth won in war amongst all his men, even those who were too exhausted to fight.  All great faith lessons.

After morning devotion we served the clients tea rolls then they were off to small group discussions.  Crisann and I assisted in the clothing bank sorting clothes.  Some of the clothes were stained and tattered but deemed okay to give out.  It was hard not to want to throw a large number of the clothes away...we did throw a few items  away that were just awful and certainly would not give any diginity to the person who wore them.  This is from my perspective, but maybe if I had absolutely nothing I would be grateful for anything.  Many of the children we have seen daily at Kid's Club have worn the same ill-fitting clothes each day.  People here cannot be choosey.  After working in the clothing bank I came downstairs to find clients playing chess.  I immeditely thought, ah, here is an avenue for me to strike up conversation.  A board came open so I invited a young woman to play.  She didn't know how to play, but I told her I would teach her.  When another gentleman showed interest in playing she said she would learn better from watching.  So new game began.  This young man knew the basics, but he was a novice.  From the first move he was on the defensive.  As we played Pastor Ray came over and with his charismic way he made lessons out of different moves.  Trying to get the young man to look ahead and be strategic.  Figure out why I made the move I did; take chances.  This opened up an opportunity for me to throw some lessons out there about protecting your move and not rushing into a decision.  I am only an okay chess player, but I think the Lord helped me in relating to the other player and helping him understand different strategies.  I have to admit as a somewhat competitive person it was hard when Pastor Ray exposed some of my moves or vulnerabilities.  However, I realized I needed to humble myself and let God teach the lesson that needed to be taught at that moment - very hard to do sometimes.  This 'spiritual' chess game was amazing.  I learned from it as well.  Thank you, Lord!  I know you are wondering...who won the game?  Well, it ended before a winner was declared because the clients had to go to another class. However, I think in this moment God intended for both of us to be winners and we were!  Beautiful.

While I was sorting clothes and playing chess, other team members were sorting through donated food and helping put it away.  Some of this food, much like the clothes, was somewhat questionable.  Anything that was too far gone was collected to be given to pigs.  As I write that, it makes me sad to think that whoever donated this food didn't take the time to remove items that weren't fit for human consumption.  Once the food was stored, our team was put to work prepping veggies for a large stew on the lunch menu.  The Living Grace staff was at work in the kitchen cooking the meat and getting some vegetables underway.  Oh my gosh it smelled good!  This was a meal truly being made out of love.

Unfortunately, we had to leave before lunch was served.  We took our sack lunches and ate at Muizenburg beach.  We came to find that the beach was closed to swimming due to a shark siting.  Our awesome guide, Jeremy, thought it would be a great time to head up the hill to the point where the shark spotters watch over the beach.  Once there we could see the entire beach...it was remarkable.  I spotted a seal swimming down below and shortly after the spotter saw a shark...a great white shark!  With Jeremy's polarized glasses I could see the dark figure swimming through the water.  So cool.  South Africa is the shark capital of the world and this beach is the beach most active with sharks.  The next morning when Jeremy picked us up he said the news reported 14 sharks spotted near Muizenburg beach later that afternoon.  Oh wouldn't that have been cool to see!!!!!

I didn't want to leave the shark watching post, but we needed to get to Kid's Club.  On the way we stopped by a Masi barbeque to buy a treat for Desmond, Theo, Noxie, Cydie and Ntdazzo (sp?) the life skill educators who run Kid's Club.  The staple food in Masi is pop - a grit like food.  Meat is indeed a treat. On our way back to the Masi Baptist Church I saw a man who looked like Pastor Nevson walking along the street.  It was him.  We had worked with Pastor Nevson in 2011.  He is still in Masi and his wife Akona is expecting her third child.  He seems to be doing well and is reinvigorated in the church.  It was great to see him again. Our time with the kiddos went quickly, but it is just so fun much to love on them and sing with them.  At Teen Club it was my turn to share my testimony.  I don't want to write all that here, but I basically shared with them that my faith in Jesus and God guided me away from behaviors and actions that could have drastically impacted my life.  I encouraged them to cling to their faith and be strong in their convictions.  It really is harder to try to live righteously.  However, in the long run it may be harder to deal with the consequences of various actions.  Crisann aslo gave her testimony which is a testimony filled with an awful loss and much heartache.  It was very powerful and focused on forgiveness and walking (or crawling) through difficult situations trusting that God has us in His hands and will use our pain for our growth and good.  Crisann has amazing faith.

P.S.  Jacki and Donna got to see their first smiley today...a barbecued sheep head!

Falling further behind

After another full day I am ready to hit the sack.  I think falling asleep in the back of the car this afternoon is a good indication that I need some serious sleep!  If you know me well you know that I don't ever nap unless I am exhausted.  Tomorrow things will begin to wind down so hopefully I can get on the Team House laptop and bring you up to speed for yesterday and today (good stuff).  I am over tapping out these posts on the iPad.  Good night!   Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Another incredible day

Yesterday we were up a little earlier and on our way to the township of Capricorn closer to Cape Town to help out with a health and wellness clinic.  Since I don't have any medical training I invited people to attend, manned the registration table, and served refreshments.  Believe it or not, each of these roles gave me great opportunities to connect with various people.

In addition to HIV/AIDS and TB, diabetes in prevalent in the townships.  At this event Living Hope provided health and wellness information, BMI checks, sugar level testing, and blood pressure, HIV/AIDS, and TB screenings. People of means can take exercise, active lifestyles, and food options for granted.  People in townships don't.  Some may not even know of such things.  Living Hope staff introduced simple exercises with an elastic band and the participants loved it!  The trick now will be getting them to incorporate some purposeful movement or activity into their lives on a regular basis.  A dietician was also on hand to talk about the symptoms of diabetes and a better balanced diet to ward off the possible onset of diabetes.  Unfortunately, it is a struggle for many of these families to eat healthy due to a lack of financial resources and nutrition education.  Overall, the event was a wonderful success.  Before our team departed Capricorn, Rhoda, a Living Hope coordinator, prayed an amazing prayer over our team...very powerful.

After the health and wellness event concluded we headed over to Boulder beach to eat our sack lunches and visit the African penguins.  Though I have seen them before there is just something strange about penguins in Africa.  Too cute.

After lunch it was back to Kid's Club.  I was able to avoid more swinging by carrying their legs making them human wheelbarrows.  They loved that too.  Sometimes the kiddos don't respect each other very well so I took these opportunities to remind them how Jesus would respond to the situation and resolve the conflict.  After singing and praying it was craft time.  The crafts we brought were a big hit.  For the
little ones we made color your own puzzles and the older group made journals.

At Teen Club Heidi gave a powerful testimony about how living apart from God and his will adversely affected her life and the lives of her sons.  However, she returned to her faith and relies daily on The Lord in all of her circumstances.  the teens then made these very beautiful salvation necklaces.  boys and girls alike loved them.

We returned back to the Team House for dinner with John and Avril Thomas, the founders of Living hope.  These are two amazing people of God.  I could listen to their numerous stories of heartbreak and joy in working in the various communities.  A documentary is currently being finished for release next year.  As of right now they will be premiering the film in Denver in March.  I will be sending invitations for you to attend with me.  It's a great way to learn more about Living Hope and missions, and be inspired.

Well, once again it is 11 pm at night and I am not up to date on my posts.  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
Please keep the McGhee Family in your prayers as we are missing each other terribly.  Also, Mojo, our new family member is being a very naughty boy!!!!!

Off and running...

It is another late night, but I want to write this post so that I don't get too far behind and so that I get down all my experiences and thoughts while they are fresh in my mind.

Yesterday was our official first day of ministry.  We started the day with a tour of Living Hope's main campus with its offices and the health care center on site.  Taking the tour with us was a group of 19 people from Singapore; their youngest member was 10 years old.  We learned quite a bit about the four programs under the Living Hope umbrella:  Living Way, Living Care, Living Grace, and Living Right.

Our tour then took us to the Wetlands area of the township of Masiphumelele (Masi).  Masi is a community that was created to house 5,000, but is now busting at the seams with over 40,0000 people.  The Wetlands is the 'bad' part of town in the larger, overpopulated, and poverty-stricken township.  This area is filled with thousands of small makeshift shacks, all dangerously close to one another.  During the South African winters there is a lot of rain.  With these homes being located in a wetland area the floors have standing water on them all season long creating damp conditions that breed disease...primarily tuberculosis.  due to electrocution concerns, rather than illegally obtaining electricity residents burn candles, paraffin, and sometimes gas stoves creating a major fire hazard.  Over 4,000 shacks were destroyed in a single fire (I believe last year).  firefighters could not access the area due to the density of the residences and no planned infrastructure.  There is so much to this, but I am only scratching the surface of the situation.  Among all the shacks I did see one that seemed carefully crafted with actual wood.  One note about Masi in contrast with my visit in 2011.  I can't completely put my finger on it but things seem/feel more positive.  Maybe I will be able to figure out why after my week there.  One thing I did see was work being done in Masi...community improvements possibly.

After visiting the wetlands we were off to view the 'tunnels' or as we would call them, greenhouses.  this is part of an agricultural program Living Hope started a few years back as part of their Living Way program.  Through this project they plan to teach gardening and farming skills so that residents
of Masi who left their farmland in the Eastern Cape can return, farm their land, and support their families.  In one tunnel they had close to 3,000 tomato plants.  They are also utilizing some eco-friendly and extremely efficient techniques.  Living Hope hopes that the revenue from this project will sustain some of their other programs.

Our tour wrapped up with a drive by the 19 acres Living Hope recently acquired to expand their agricultural program and so much more.  God has blessed this ministry in incredible ways.

After lunch we met with the Life Skill Educators to prepare for Kid's Club.  LSEs are wonderful young adults who live in Masi and coordinate this program for living hope.  They have hearts for Jesus and want to be part of positive change in their community.  After the meeting we were off to Kid's Club.  Boy, were they happy to see us.  For the first half of club we played with the kiddos.  We
were lavished in hugs and so many of them wanted to hold our hands.  the children flocked to Heidi an Crisann with their long hair and began twisting and braiding it.  I do believe that both of them were able to get all the knots and tangles out!  Actually, one little boy helped Crisann with that!  A couple kids wanted me to swing them so I did...well then more kids wanted to be swung.  About 40 minutes later I was sweating and about to fall over from exhaustion.  They kept returning to the line and other kids joined them.  Thank goodness the singing part of the program was about to begin.  The joy on the faces of the children while I swung them was priceless.  some of these kiddos have it pretty rough.  There is a 60% abuse rate - physical and/or sexual.  It's mind boggling.  And, there is so much more that makes these sweet little people's lives so complicated.

I loved singing with the kiddos.  They sang their hearts out and because there was almost 200 of them I sang my heart out, too.  No judgement on my less than stellar singing.  ;o). My next favorite moment was when this young girl, Patience, translated the bible story of Joseph being told in Xhosa into English for me.  So sweet.  At the end of Kid's Club we gave each child a half sandwich of some kind of bologna with cheese and butter, and an apple.  This May have been their only meal of the day.  Next was Teen's Club.   My teammate Donna shared her testimony.  She did an amazing job and it generated many questions from the teens.  Surprisingly most of the questions came from boys.  Even being so much older than these youth, we were able to really connect.

After Kid's Club we returned to the Team House for dinner.  In preparation for Kid's Club the next day we were up for awhile getting our crafts sorted out.  I was pretty much brain dead by then.  I had no energy or mental capacity remaining to do a post.  And now it looks like I am going to have to write about today's activities tomorrow.  It is past 11 pm here (2pm your time) and I am tapping away on this small iPad keyboard in the dark while my roomies are asleep.  Until tomorrow...

Too Pooped to Post

My apologies...today has been a very good, but extremely long day.  It is late and I'm exhausted so I am going to call it I a day.  Hopefully I can fill you in tomorrow on the details of today's activities -good stuff.  :o)

Inspiring first day

While I am still suffering from a lack of sleep (I don't guarantee this post will be coherent), I have been reenergized in my soul and am even more anxious to get out in the field tomorrow.  At church this morning Pastor John Thomas, the amazing founder of Living Hope, preached on living selflessly and not selfishly in today's 'it's all about me' culture.  Drawing on 1 Corinthians 13: 2 - 7 he discussed  how we can live selflessly in our marriages, workplaces, and day-to-day interactions with others.  We have to choose to love - choose to be patient, choose to be kind, choose not to be envious, boastful, or rude, choose not to insist on our own way, choose not to be irratible or resentful, choose not to rejoice I wrongdoing, but choose to rejoice in truth, bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things.   This is how our Savior lived and this is how we are called to live.  In some circumstances it is easy to choose love; in others it is not.  However, we need to choose love of others over a selfish love of ourselves to emulate the life of Jesus.  I am sure I'm not doing the sermon justice in this blog, but needless to say it energized me.  (Jeff and the girls, you will be immediate beneficiaries of this).

After this service we attended church in the township of Masiphumelele.  The amount of joy pouring out of the members of the congregation is inspiring considering the environment in which they live.  They do not let their environment and circumstances define them; their faith in Jesus defines them.  And the singing...oh my gosh the singing.  While the words were Xhosa, the sounds and tones left me mesmerized.  So beautiful and heartfelt.  Our teammate, Donna, led the church in a beautiful song as well.  Wow, what an amazing gift she has.  Good singing is not a gift I possess so I kept it parked in the seats and made my own joyful noise!

Finally, we visited Cape Point and  the Cape of Good Hope giving us a glimpse of God's glory.  It gives me chills even as I write about it now.  God is good.  No, God is something so great there is no word for it.

P.S.  About 20 baboons provided some fantastic entertainment roaming the beach and getting in people's (people who don't read warning signs) cars taking food items and then dancing and rolling around on cars.  God has a sense of humor!

WE are here!

After leaving DIA at 10:45 am Friday our 4th and final flight of the trip landed in Cape Town a little after 11 pm South African time  Saturday night.  We were greeted by the smiling faces of Ramos and Jeremy from the Team House. We did not get into bed until around 1:30 am Sunday morning.  Now it is 6:30 a.m. on Sunday.  the sun came up very early so  we got around 3.5 hours of sleep!  We are off to two church services this morning.  One at the host church King of Kings Baptist church and then to a church in the township of Masi.  we have found out that we will be doing some work in two other townships as well as Masi- Capricorn and Oceanview.  We will be working at Kid's Club, health clinics and the homeless ministry.  On our flights over we encountered so many diverse cultures and languages.  I know I put this in my log a couple years ago, but it is truly amazing how big this world is and and the diversity it  contains.  We are all anxious to get to work tomorrow.   I apologize in advance for any typos my posts may contain...I am using an iPad and am not very proficient on the keyboard yet.  :o)