So a lot has happened since our last post.  The lion park was great!  We got to see a lot of lions up close and even got to pet and hold some of the lion cubs.  They were adorable!  We got in the cage during nap time so they would pretty much let us do whatever we wanted with them.  

The next week my group taught at Limakatso.  It was really good to finally be able to work with the students.  There were 11 disabled students and only one of them had actually been diagnosed.  Sadly, this is a pretty common occurrence here in Africa.  We spent most of our time playing games and bonding with the children and also taught them a bible lesson each day.  They loved having us there to give them attention and just simply love them.  That week was really really cold, but we have gotten used to it, so it didn't slow us down too much.  While we were at Limakatso, Christine's group was on the base oiling cabins.

On Saturday we had fun with a Christmas in July party.  It was also a surprise birthday party for Char, the director of Next Step.  We enjoyed some cookies and cake and had a ridiculous white elephant gift exchange.  Dave, one of the staff here, even dressed up as Santa.  It can get pretty boring on the base on the weekends, so the party was appreciated by all.  On Sunday,we had the chance to repel down one of the mountains on the base. (Mount Everest)  It was AMAZING!!!  Halfway down the boulder, I realized just how high up we were, but it was definitely an adrenaline rush.  I can't wait to repel more in the future.

This week, our two groups switched jobs and Christine went to Limakatso while my group stayed back to oil cabins and staff houses.  Surprisingly, it is one of my favorite projects we have done so far.  We have had great weather in the 50s and 60s and our group has really come together.  I have had the chance to talk to some of the interns I usually don't see that much and we have all gotten to know each other a lot better.  

This weekend we are going to get the chance to go into town and buy shoes, toys and blankets for all of the youth we met at the children's home.  We have already raised over $1200 just from the money we all brought with us and are hoping to raise more.  Please let me know if you are interested in helping.  

It's really crazy how everything is coming to an end here.  The time has gone by SO quickly.  We leave next Thursday morning for debriefing.  We still don't know where exactly we are going, but we know that its about a 6 hour drive to get there and that we will get to go on a safari while we are there.  We then leave Johannesburg on Saturday night to come home.  I still can't believe that it is so close!  We will be home before we know it.  I'm looking forward to get home, but also can't imagine my life outside of South Africa right now.  After the first few days of spending time with friends and family at home, I think I'm going to realize just how much I miss this place and all the people I have met.

Photo time!

Me with some of the kids in Children's Ministry in Qwa Qwa.

Christine at Children's ministry in Qwa Qwa.

Our mission group at one of the houses during relational evangelism.

My group with another family in Qwa Qwa.

Some of my cabinmates plus Christine, but she spends most of her time in our cabin anyways so she is pretty much part of our cabin.

These pictures are really old, but I guess its better late than never.  I will try to get some newer pictures up soon, but uploading pictures takes forever so it might be a little while.  

Alison

A Week of Milestones

We recently hit two milestones.  Sunday marked the halfway point and as of yesterday we have been here in South Africa for one month.  Time is tricky here.  Time is flying by way to quickly, but at the same time I feel like I have lived here forever.  Thinking about going back home is definitely bittersweet.  Of course I miss everyone, but I am not ready to leave this place.  I have loved my time here and all of the people I have met.  Sadly I know that this trip will all be over before I know it.

We have been meaning to update the blog, but we have been really busy the last week or so.  Last week was similar to the previous week.  Half of the group worked on the remodel at LImakatso while the other half stayed on base and worked on lesson plans.  Friday was supposed to be the last day working at Limakatso, but pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  We got there and there was a huge puddle of water outside of the classroom.  One of the pipes had burst during the night and water was leaking out.  Also, the floor we had put down the previous day was bubbling like crazy and looked awful.  There was no way we could leave it like that, so we decided to pull up the floor and put down something else.  In the process of pulling up the floor, we also began to pull up the very thin layer of cement.  While all of this was going on, the field next to the school caught on fire and we had to help put it out.  Nothing seemed to be going right on Friday.

Out of a difficult situation came a great opportunity.  We had planned to spend the first two days this week doing relationship evangelism back in Qwa Qwa.  We changed these plans so that all 24 interns could work all day at Limakatso on Monday and Tuesday.  This opportunity allowed us to accomplish more than we had originally planned.  We fixed the floor by chipping out the rest of the cement floor and replacing it with a new layer of cement.  We then painted the floor and added some area rugs.  We also decided that the fresh coat of white paint on the walls of the classroom were too boring and would get dirty very quickly, so we repainted the entire classroom a nice shade of green.  Some of the talented artists of the group also painted a mural on one of the walls.  We rearranged the playground and repainted all of the tires.  On top of all of that, we also repainted all of the desk frames and sanded and varnished all of the tops of the desks.  I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough room or work for all 24 interns, but we all worked very hard and came together to really make the school look great.  I am excited to see the students’ reactions to their school and I hope they see it as a symbol of God’s love for them.

The last two days we have worked in a children’s home in Qwa Qwa.  Most of the people in this home were either sent here because of behavior problems or because their parents could not take care of them anymore.  Alison and I were both in the group that worked with the teens.  We talked about issues that generally are kept quiet, like drugs, sex, AIDS, etc.  We went in with plans to mainly focus on these issues, but when we split up into our small groups we discovered that most of these students had very little access to church or even a Bible, and they struggled with the idea of who God really is.  It has been a neat experience to be able to share with these teens about God and to also give them a safe place to talk about these issues.  One major issues that affects South Africa is AIDS.  South Africa is affected more than any other country in the world and one out of every four people has AIDS.  Despite these staggering statistics, I had not met anyone here who was affected by AIDS in some way, at least not that I had been made aware of.  After hearing the stories from some of the teens, I now have a face to put with the stats.  One of the girls had lost both of her parents and was struggling with whether or not she should explain to her seven year old brother, who is HIV positive, why he has to take certain medication everyday.  Hearing these types of stories make the stats so much more real.  We are going back to the children’s home in the morning to finish up the work we have been doing.  In the afternoon we are going to the hospital to pray with patients.

This Saturday we are going to the lion park.  I’m not really sure what we will be doing, but I do know that there are lions and I’m pretty sure we get to hold some of the lion cubs, so I am pretty excited.

On a side note, I have strangely become a morning person recently.  In the past two weeks I have woken up to watch the sunrise almost every morning.  The sunrise is amazing here.  This weekend I am going to go on a sunrise hike with a couple of friends.  We are going to wake up really early and climb Mount Everest in time to be at the top to see the sunrise.  Those headlamps we bought will definitely be put to good use. :)

We will try to update the blog faster next time.

Christine

Happy 4th of July!

Even though we are all the way in South Africa, we managed to celebrate 4th of July.  Most of our celebrations revolved around food, which everyone was pretty excited about.  One of the most common topics discussed by all the interns is American food.  It seems to be the one thing that we all miss from home.  With the usual toast for breakfast, PB & J sandwiches for lunch, and rice with an unidentifiable meat for dinner, we were all craving some variety.

Like Christine's group did last week, my group got to go into the town of Harrismith for the morning.  After buying some snacks at the food store and walking around the different shops for a while, we all went to a restaurant called Nando's.  There, we all ate some delicious chicken.  It was definitely the highlight of our day, or at least we thought it was at the time.  We thought we could try to make the trip into town a little better, so most of us also grabbed a smoothie at the popular Juicy Lucy and then headed back to the base.  We spent the next few hours with the rest of the interns and (once again) ate some of the snacks we had purchased.  We had been told earlier in the week to be ready for a "surprise" at 5:00 to celebrate 4th of July, but most of us had no idea what we were going to do.  At 5:00, we all piled back into the cars and went to a Native American themed restaurant called Spurs.  They had decorated a section of the restaurant with balloons and American flags for us and served us the one thing we had all been wanting the most...a hamburger.  It was crazy to look around and see how much joy a simple hamburger could give everyone.  The celebrations continued with sparklers (something most American restaurants wouldn't even allow) and giant ice cream sundaes.  If that wasn't enough we went back to the base for a movie night at June and Char's house to watch The Power of One AND eat June's delicious home made kettle popcorn.  

I really don't know how we all ate that much food...I'm pretty sure I ate more in one day than I had eaten in the previous 3 days combined, but it was a good way to celebrate the 4th of July. 

We are all preparing for another week of construction work and lesson plans.  Our lesson plans are almost done, but the construction work is going a little slower than expected and we need to be done by Friday, so we are trying to figure out the best way to make this possible.  We are also going to start planning some lesson plans for an orphanage we will be spending 3 days at in a week.  

Our classes are also going really well, although the piles of homework seem to be getting bigger and bigger.  I wasn't really expecting to do homework over my summer break, but I think the classes are going to be really beneficial and I'm excited to see what I learn from them.   

Alison

"It's the elevation!"

That is a joke we have here on base.  The base is at about the same elevation as Denver.  We blame everything on the elevation.  If we are having a difficult time making it up the hill to the classroom, it’s the elevation.  If we are hungry, it’s the elevation.  If we can’t focus, it’s the elevation.  We have found ways to blame pretty much everything on the elevation.

Last Saturday my group got to go into town.  We walked around the shops and got some snacks for the week.  I was excited to go into town, but it was also kind of weird to be back in civilization in an area that didn’t look that different than what I am used to seeing in the U.S.  That afternoon I had the opportunity to hike Mount Everest with a group of people.  Mount Everest is one of three mountains we have here on base.  Ironically, it is the smallest of the three.  It was a difficult climb, but it was so worth it!  The view from the top was incredible.  It is impossible to be up there and not be amazed by God and His creation.  I will try to post some pictures soon.  On Sunday all of the interns went to African church in the community we worked in in Qwa Qwa.  Let’s just say it was an interesting experience and it was alot different than what I am used to.  It did spark some good discussions afterward, so that is good.

On Monday we started our work at Limakatsu.  In the morning half of the group went to the school while the other half stayed on base.  The group at the school took down the ceiling, renovated the playground, and planted a garden.  We are still in the process of putting a new ceiling up and renovating desks.  Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to start painting the classroom and ceiling.  The group that stayed on based worked on lesson plans.  In a couple of weeks each group is going to spend a week in the school teaching the students about God.  So far each group has had two days on base and two days working on the school.  In the afternoons this week we have been taking classes on Leadership, Missions, Community, and Kingdom Living.  I didn’t really expect to be spending my sumer sitting in a classroom, doing homework, and writing papers, but the classes are really interesting and I think I will get alot out of them.

Yesterday I found out that I was picked by my team leader to be part of a Barnabas crew.  We are responsible for encouraging others.  There are six people doing it (the two team leaders and two people from each team).  Alison and I are on different teams and have different leaders, but we were both picked to be on the crew.  I guess people see us as being encouraging?  We were each given a list of interns and staff that we are going to pray for and leave encouraging messages and notes for.  It will be a new experience, but I am excited to be apart of it!

On a side note, one of Alison’s cabin mates, and someone we have both become good friends with, passed out on Sunday night and hit her head really hard on the wooden floors.  She has a condition where her heart doesn’t pump enough blood, so it wasn’t completely unexpected, but still not good.  She is doing better now, but she has a concussion and has damaged the soft tissue in her neck, which is actually good news compared to what the doctors were concerned about.  She has to wear a neck brace for the next two weeks and if she were to hit her head again, it would probably do permanent damage.  Please pray for her healing and comfort in this painful process.  

Christine