National Women's Day

On 9 Aug 1956, women participated in a national march petitioned against 'pass laws.' Pass laws were legislation that required African persons to carry a document on them to 'prove' that they were allowed to enter a 'white area' during the Apartheid regime. Over 20,000 women of all races and ages from every corner of South Africa marching in protest against the pass laws that proposed even further restrictions on the movements of women.

Faith Baptist Church in Snake Park celebrated with a women's conference, which included praise and worship, testimonies, prayer and lecturers (from the Bible, adult education & social development).

But these are a few pictures of how I spent my Women's Day with the children & youth:

Getting my hair did or as they say plaited. It hurt as you can imagine with 5 girls pulling at your hair!

"Can you borrow me your camera?" This is what happens when you give a child your camera. This car belonged to one of the speakers... you don't see many Mercedes around Soweto, so of course Karabo wanted to pose in front of it.

I was taught how to use a towel to create a sling for a precious baby. 

You swing the baby onto your back as you lean over forward, you then put the blanket around you and the baby. Tie it at the front at the top and then tuck it under the baby's bottom. The baby's legs are open with feet facing towards your waist and then tuck the towel to secure. This is how all the women carry their babies around. 

It is pretty amazing!

Summit Team pt. 3

We had a busy but amazing week. 

Here are a few adventures that were had:

We went shopping at the Bruma Market (for Amber and I’s third time). Shopping is always fun but the best part was lunch. Matt, Jackie and I fell in love with Turkish shwarmas, which was basically a chicken, lamb or beef wrap. It was delicious! Matt loved it so much that he got a second one. This is a picture of Jackie and I with the owner, Yuksel. 

A Proposal. Amber and I with the help of the team wrote a list of reasons why we needed the Condor. We fell in love with the car even with all its quirks (like not being able to unlock the door with the clicker). We had a good time racing on the “dancing roads,” which are dirt back roads named by the locals because you are forced to dance up and down in the car as you go over the many bumps. Lets just say the Condor can handle it a little better than our Corolla. Please ask the team about the awesome ride I gave them one day.. I found a new love for off road mudding!!

Amber and I enjoyed giving the team cultural experiences and what better way than by trying new foods… “little gems of the citrus family” are eaten with the skin and all. When Amber and I purchased the fruit, the man said to eat quickly because the skin was sweet and the inside sour – as you can see from our lovely faces. Kumquat anyone?

We went on a safari in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. We were able to see warthogs, mongoose, elephants, hippos, rhinos, zebra, giraffe, baboons, wildebeest, and many antelope type animals (including springbok the national animal). The animals and landscape of Africa are just beautiful.

Darin entertained us all with the sign game... he would interpret what the different signs on the side of the road meant. This was quite hilarious as we drove around the city. 

“Do not put your bed on the highway."

Summit Team pt. 2

Thank you Summit for sending an awesome team over to support us and to help with ministry. It has been such a blessing! There is never a dull moment for sure.

The team has been brainstorming a name for Amber and I... which name do you like the best:  (1) Ramber (2) Amchel (3) Raber

The team treated us to a really nice dinner at Moyo restaurant. I had Senegalese Chicken Yassa... delicious! We got our faces painted African style. Love you girls.

Talk about doing ministry as a family... Here is a picture of father, son and daughter sharing the love of Christ with these children. I have enjoyed working alongside them!

And... to show their love for us they played Amber & I's favorite game. Nerts! Of course we dominated but it was a lot of fun.

Summit Team pt. 1

Cruisin' in style! We are going to be the chauffeurs for the Route 56 team this week. One perk is that we got to upgrade our small Toyota Corolla to a Condor. Too bad the trade isn't permanent.

Shopping at the Bruma Market. I love it! It is quite an experience as you get to talk with the store owners and play the barter game. We have become friends with quite a few people because we went 2 times last week, once with crazy Johnson from the team who is headed back to the States early. We will be going back with the others this week for our 3rd time. Good thing I love to shop :)  In this picture I am trying pineapple with chili powder. It was actually really good, I'm a fan.

Making friends already…. All the kids love him! On Sunday, the team led a Holiday Bible Club. They sang songs, taught a Bible verse, made a craft, played games and shared a Bible story. They will be having Holiday Bible Clubs and Soccer clinics all week.

Christmas in July! The team brought over extra suitcases filled with goodies for us. Thank you to them and to my awesome family and friends for thinking of me.

Dinner by candlelight.… but not by choice. The electricity went out on Sunday night and because I had not yet eaten dinner I had to find something to eat that didn’t require cooking. I’m not complaining because I’m thankful we can get peanut butter here!

Say A Little Prayer

Mayibuye Primary School

Please pray for our ministry within the schools. We hope to meet with the principals of 4 primary (elementary) schools in a week, including Mayibuye pictured above.  We are going to offer a “girls club” where we will teach life skills based on the Bible and mentor the girls. Pray that the principals would be excited about this and would allow us to be a part of the school in whatever way is needed.

Gogo (Grandma) Mumsi’s House 

South Africa is a melting pot of religions. Please pray that God would open the eyes and hearts of the people in Soweto and break the strongholds of ancestral worship. We are currently a part of two churches – Faith Baptist in Snake Park (meeting in Gogo's house, pictured above) and Lehae Baptist, also in Soweto.

Route 56 Trip 2008

Please pray for the team coming from my home church that will be working in Soweto (July 25 - Aug 2) They will be hosting many Holiday Bible Clubs that we will use to meet children and their parents. This will also be a way for Amber and I to kick off training members in Snake Park & Lehae to teach Sunday School. We are so excited to see them and to get a goody bag from home J Thanks mom and dad!

Sanele, Nmbobelo, Linda

These are the grandchildren of Gogo Mumsi whom I love! Please pray for the children of Soweto that God would protect them. Many bad things happen here daily. Pray that they would grow up to know and love the Lord.

A pretty nice little Saturday

Days off are going to be hard to come by... 

but thanks to the Holidays for taking me to my first Rugby game.

Lions vs. Cheetahs

GO LIONS!

One of my favorite parts of the game is a Lineout... this is how the ball is restarted after it has been kicked or knocked out of bounds. Basically, players lift up other players by their shorts to try and secure the ball. Quite amusing.

Amber and I chillin'

We went down to the field with Joshuwa to try to catch a picture with Mufasa, the Lions mascot.

Group shot with the Holiday family (minus Ruth Anne)!

I Love Soccer

We have joined Zach (a fellow journeyman) & Given (a youth we work with and who is very involved in the church and community) in helping with their soccer clubs. The children are on holiday which is a 3 week break from school.

The soccer clubs consist of running, drills and a soccer tournament. We then share a Bible story with the kids before taking them home. 

The kids don't seem to mind piling in the back of the bakkie (truck)! We usually have to do 3 trips in order to get all the kids there which is a good problem to have.

The boys play soccer but I noticed that the girls are not really included... so I asked Given if we could get some girls together. Well, he found a few who were interested and they taught me how to play netball.

Cheetahs vs. Zebras... my team lost... probably because I was on it. Oh well, we hope to play again next week!

Group shot of about 60 kids!

Halala ngosuku lokuzalwa

Happy Birthday in Zulu

When I asked our friend Given how old he thought I was... he said 42!

How awesome is Amber?

1.  She sang Happy Birthday to me more times then I can count.

2.  She made me brownie sundaes for dessert.

3.  She took me to the movies

4.  She bought party hats because I said a couple days before how it's not going to be that kind of birthday because it's not like we are going to have hats or anything. She proved me wrong :)

I love my Ruth Anne!

Isn't he the cutest? Never a dull moment when Joshuwa's around!

Group shot... thanks guys for making this day so special for me.

And thanks to Kurt & Janna Kay for surprising me the night before with cake AND tennis. Ha!

Home Sweet Home

This is a picture of the outside of our "flat" with our toyota corolla.  We have 3 bedrooms therefore we have an extra room...  come on over for a visit!

This is our kitchen/dining room/living room. You can see the wooden steps that lead up to a room which we plan to use as our office. What you can't see is that I'm wearing multiple layers including my jacket... which I often wear when inside. There is no central heating and it is 0C (32F)... therefore we stay downstairs beside the gas heater. The gas heater has wheels so we move it back and forth between the living room and our bathroom when it's shower time.

This will be my first birthday - July 6th - celebrated in the winter!!

This is the master bedroom that Amber graciously allowed me to have. I wish you could see how many layers are on my bed... only 4 blankets and an electric heating pad under the fitted sheet. My typical night attire is leggings, long pants, long socks, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt and a fleece jacket.

Let's just say it gets a little chilly at night without heat.

And of course I had to take a picture of the bathroom or as they call it here... the toilet or the loo.

I'm in Africa!

I thought I would give you a list of some fun things that have occurred thus far:

1.  During a 10 hour layover in Germany, I felt the need to brush my teeth so I used the faucet water.  A couple hours later I see a sign on the bathroom door instructing people not to drink the water because there is evidence of E. coli in the city.  Who would have thought you would have to worry about drinking the water in Germany?

2.  We went to a mall in Soweto... as we were leaving, a guard had us roll down the window and asked "are you okay?"  In reality, he was checking the ignition to make sure there were keys in it... you could say that there are quite a few cars stolen around here.

3.  Driving... Most cars are manual which I love since my first car was a stick but I have not driven one for a few years. I'm trying to get used to that as well as driving on the left side of the road. The hardest part is turning left or right and remembering which way to look for oncoming traffic. I have to keep telling myself when turning... short left, long right. 

This is a picture of my first time driving!
Check out our sweet ride