So I just wrote this long blog and then the internet died and lost all of it, so yeah, slightly (very)frustrated, but I'll try to recreate...
For the most part its been much of the same stuff I wrote about a few weeks ago, although things are always slightly different. One new thing I did though was drive on a hospital run last week. There are a lot of hospital trips with this group and a lot of different hospitals, so thankfully i got to go to one of the nicer ones. For the most part it was a long day of waiting in the hospital and entertaining the boy we took for his appointment. It was kind of fun hanging out with the kid though. We also had to pick up 4 big boxes of medication for the kids, which is only half of the medicine the kids take here... its crazy. I went on the trip with Sarah, who is nurse by trade and another one of the volunteers. She will be missed when she leaves in December, I'm not sure how we are going to handle her work as none of us have any medical background. Also, we lose 6 volunteers in December, so it will be a crazy time.
I guess the first interview/business class went alright, because they asked me to come back the next week and teach some of the interview skills to a different group that is taking a Life Skills class at the community center. But from that lesson on I feel like my teaching skills are struggling a little bit. This includes 2 more business skills class and also a lesson on self-discipline and self-esteem to the Life Skills class last week. Much of it is probably because along with never having done anything like this before, I’m struggling to relate to where these people are in life, they don’t understand all my English (especially the Life Skills class), and South African and Zulu culture is very last minute so I’ve been given very little notice for the Life Skills classes I’ve taught (like a few hours before or the night before) which leads to basically no prep on my part. So yeah, I need to figure out what works, prep a little more and probably make lessons more interactive so I get less bored eyes staring at the wall behind me. So please pray for that. Also, Lauren had dinner with her German roommates and some of the Zulu volunteers in our class and it seems that Germans and Zulu people can't understand me, even though they understand other people's English. Nobody else can figure it out, and it's kind of become a joke that has me a little frustrated and self conscious! ha.
Now to jump around some as these posts seem to be a random collection of thoughts and events... the other day one of the nursery kids came into the office during our devotion and gave everyone high-fives and it was adorable, after he left though one of the other volunteers said that a few months ago that never would have happened as he was affected by nightmares and scary visions during the day. Praise God for the healing in his life and many of the other changes He's had a hand in here. That being said, a lot of these kids have been through awful events before coming here that surely have left them deeply scared. Many could probably use counseling, but please pray that God continues to work on their hearts and uses this loving environment to help them grow and heal.
I continue to say how much I love things around here, and that is definitely true, but like any "workplace" we have our problems and tensions. Please pray that we make communication a priority. Pray that regardless of differences and varying ideas on how things are run/handled, that we can put relationships first. Pray that we can be open to changes and improvements where necessary. Pray that in all things God's will is sought first. And finally, please pray that the staff can continue to grow together.
One last event to comment on is that Nick Vujicic was here on Saturday for an event which the kids seemed to really enjoy. If you are interested in learning more about his ministry, check out http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
Miss all of you back in the States. Hope all is well. Many blessings.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Back Again - the fun stuff
Sorry for the lack of posts folks. I meant to update on my being here a month and then just never got around to it. For one thing I'm just pretty busy and exhausted. Things are going well, but just the energy to learn new things, being around so many kids and just the complete life change have wiped me out. Hopefully after resting up a little my body will have adjusted to it all. It would probably be easier to rest though if it wasn't for the roosters crowing all through the night, dogs barking at ridiculous hours, tons of mosquitos, hundreds of frogs, oh and the water heater that makes noises like a machine gun going off. Seriously, if my roomate Mike hadn't warned me of the water heater noise the first night I was here, I probably would have woken up in a panic thinking someone had been shot. As for the mosquitos, all I have to say is thank God there is no Malaria here. I've always been a mosquito magnet, I'm going to need to get a net or start burning 15 citranela candles in my room...
Another reason for my lack of posting is simply that I've been spending a lot of my free time getting to know the other volunteers better. We have a great group and I feel like I've known them all for much longer than a month and a half. I've mentioned a few names before but here's the list: my roommates are Jonny from the UK and Michael from Germany, while the female volunteers at the children’s village are Sarah from Mississippi, Katie from Illinois, Aislin from Florida, Palmer from Tennessee, Carissa from Winnipeg, Rosa from Germany and Lani from Cape-Town. There are also 5 more German girls that live with Lauren and work at the Community center, as well as the Christensen family. Lauren and I had the chance to have dinner with the Christensen's last night and it was great to hear about their mission and how they gave up everything back in LA to go into missions for good. I only hope I have the boldness to follow God's call like that in my life.
So yeah, I'm really enjoying everyone, which is a blessing since we spend so much time together! A few of the volunteers have had birthdays this month so all of us went out to dinner twice, which was a lot of fun. Both times we went to restaurants in Ushaka which is their marine world out here. They were definitely touristy, but fun. The first restaurant had Zulu dancing and everyone got their face painted, and the second one looked in on one of their big shark tanks and was supposed to feel like you were underwater. Most of our days off are unfortunately just spent going to the mall to run errands and use internet, not to mention there is not much else to do when it's raining and you kind of need to get out of the orphanage and unwind. There is a bowling alley and movie theater in the mall though, so i've used those. One fun thing we did the other night though was go to the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic concert. Most other patrons there were dressed up and I felt a little out of place in my grungy clothes, but oh well, it was a fun night out and turned out to be the 25th anniversary for them, so that meant a live band and dancing afterwards! It was weird though again just seeing how different things are here. For one, nobody scanned or even looked at my ticket, I could have walked right in. Also, everything just seems a bit second rate to what I'm used to in the States and LA. That second rate feel was seen again when we went to a restaurant on Saturday to watch the South African Rugby championship. We had a lot of fun, but this is the most watched sports event in the country every year, and it had a local channel feel, weird. The local Shark's won though, so we celebrated with a very excited Warren (lily's manager) and other locals as I ran around waving a Sharks flag!
Another reason for my lack of posting is simply that I've been spending a lot of my free time getting to know the other volunteers better. We have a great group and I feel like I've known them all for much longer than a month and a half. I've mentioned a few names before but here's the list: my roommates are Jonny from the UK and Michael from Germany, while the female volunteers at the children’s village are Sarah from Mississippi, Katie from Illinois, Aislin from Florida, Palmer from Tennessee, Carissa from Winnipeg, Rosa from Germany and Lani from Cape-Town. There are also 5 more German girls that live with Lauren and work at the Community center, as well as the Christensen family. Lauren and I had the chance to have dinner with the Christensen's last night and it was great to hear about their mission and how they gave up everything back in LA to go into missions for good. I only hope I have the boldness to follow God's call like that in my life.
So yeah, I'm really enjoying everyone, which is a blessing since we spend so much time together! A few of the volunteers have had birthdays this month so all of us went out to dinner twice, which was a lot of fun. Both times we went to restaurants in Ushaka which is their marine world out here. They were definitely touristy, but fun. The first restaurant had Zulu dancing and everyone got their face painted, and the second one looked in on one of their big shark tanks and was supposed to feel like you were underwater. Most of our days off are unfortunately just spent going to the mall to run errands and use internet, not to mention there is not much else to do when it's raining and you kind of need to get out of the orphanage and unwind. There is a bowling alley and movie theater in the mall though, so i've used those. One fun thing we did the other night though was go to the Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic concert. Most other patrons there were dressed up and I felt a little out of place in my grungy clothes, but oh well, it was a fun night out and turned out to be the 25th anniversary for them, so that meant a live band and dancing afterwards! It was weird though again just seeing how different things are here. For one, nobody scanned or even looked at my ticket, I could have walked right in. Also, everything just seems a bit second rate to what I'm used to in the States and LA. That second rate feel was seen again when we went to a restaurant on Saturday to watch the South African Rugby championship. We had a lot of fun, but this is the most watched sports event in the country every year, and it had a local channel feel, weird. The local Shark's won though, so we celebrated with a very excited Warren (lily's manager) and other locals as I ran around waving a Sharks flag!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Mexican food, Bible Study, and adorable little kids
The other night I went over to one of the female volunteer houses (there are 3 girl houses and our one guy house… highly outnumbered) where we had a Mexican feast of burritos. They even made their own tortillas from scratch; it was so good and made me feel at home. Mexican food in South Africa, who’d a thunk it. For all those who were worried about me losing weight here… don’t. My roommates and I find it hard to keep our fridge and pantry stocked cause we eat so much. Seriously, it must be being on my feet all the time, but I’m always hungry. We went out to eat on Sunday night after church and I ordered and finished 2 meals. Also on Wednesday nights for our volunteer Bible study we have a ‘bring-n-share’ dinner, which is basically just an unorganized pot luck, and it’s a feast every time. In fact, I started running in the morning to stay in shape. But I still need recipes…
In the last paragraph I mentioned 2 things I haven’t talked about before: church Sunday night and Bible study Wednesday night. First off, we take about 12 of the older kids to a Church of England service in Pietermaritzburg every Sunday night. It feels kind of like a church I would go to in the States, which is nice, but I’ve still been meaning to get to the local church in Mophela here. I hear the Mophela church breaks it down into dance mid worship… I’ll fit right in. I’ve also heard that any white male that shows up is expected to preach on the spot that day. Soooo, I’ll need to think of something I could talk about, I hear you don’t have to talk long though. Maybe I’ll just use the material from our Bible study the previous Wednesday, as we’re going over the best sermon ever given… Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have the Bible study with all of us volunteers here and the manager of the orphanage. It’s a great time of fellowship. We start out by singing a few worship songs, which probably isn’t the most pleasant sounding thing. We have a few girls trying to learn guitar for the occasion, and they do their best, but are still pretty new to it, and then with only 13 people in a small living room, my terrible singing voice brings us down a few notches. After that we study the scripture and then pray for each other. I’ve heard the Sermon on the Mount a bunch of times, but it’s still a great read and spiritual health check. One verse I never really noticed before, but that blew me out of the water this time was Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Wow! Talk about intense, what a call. That’s what God desires for us; thank goodness we have such a savior in Jesus Christ for all the times we fail and the Holy Spirit to work through us so we can be reaching for that goal. Please pray for the spiritual walk of each of the kids and volunteers here, including one of my roommates who isn’t a Christian but has been forced to be totally immersed in that culture. May the experience bring him to know Christ.
One thing I’m really excited about here is that on Monday we started taking Zulu classes! Some people from the community who have been touched by some of our projects and classes decided that in return they would like to help us out and teach us volunteers some Zulu. So yeah, I’ll be doing that 2 nights a week. It’s tough stuff! I hope to pick up on some useful words though. At least I can say hello now… Sanibona (that’s the plural variety)! I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pronounce everything properly though with the weird clicks they sometimes use. Oh and its getting to that awkward time where I’ve been here long enough that when kids test me on their names, I feel terrible when I don’t know… it’s so hard, there are so many of them (114 to be exact)!
Alright, one more story to finish us off, and its one of my favorite moments so far. The other day I was hanging out in the office and Uncle John (oh yeah, male volunteers are called Uncle, so I’m Uncle Ben, and girls are Miss ____) came in with 6 of the little kids (age 3-5 prob). The kids are ridiculously cute, but like any little kids you have to watch them closely cause they want to pick up everything. Anyway, after a while John left and called the kids to come with him. All of the kids ran to the door except for one who hung back and stared at me. He then came up to me and held his thumb up. It’s a common thing in Zulu culture to rub thumbs together while in a ‘thumbs up’ position, or at the end of a handshake. So we did the little thumb tap and he still stood there, but this time puckered up cause he wanted a kiss. So I gave him a kiss and when all of the other kids saw this they came running back in to get their kisses. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Oh, also, side note, almost every kid under the age of twelve has asked me what my leg and arm hair and my Adam’s apple is… I tell the boys they’ll hit puberty eventually.
Please pray for the direction of Lily as they are in the midst of a lot of changes right now, especially with some changes in management at the top levels and also a desire to grow across South Africa and beyond.
In the last paragraph I mentioned 2 things I haven’t talked about before: church Sunday night and Bible study Wednesday night. First off, we take about 12 of the older kids to a Church of England service in Pietermaritzburg every Sunday night. It feels kind of like a church I would go to in the States, which is nice, but I’ve still been meaning to get to the local church in Mophela here. I hear the Mophela church breaks it down into dance mid worship… I’ll fit right in. I’ve also heard that any white male that shows up is expected to preach on the spot that day. Soooo, I’ll need to think of something I could talk about, I hear you don’t have to talk long though. Maybe I’ll just use the material from our Bible study the previous Wednesday, as we’re going over the best sermon ever given… Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have the Bible study with all of us volunteers here and the manager of the orphanage. It’s a great time of fellowship. We start out by singing a few worship songs, which probably isn’t the most pleasant sounding thing. We have a few girls trying to learn guitar for the occasion, and they do their best, but are still pretty new to it, and then with only 13 people in a small living room, my terrible singing voice brings us down a few notches. After that we study the scripture and then pray for each other. I’ve heard the Sermon on the Mount a bunch of times, but it’s still a great read and spiritual health check. One verse I never really noticed before, but that blew me out of the water this time was Matthew 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Wow! Talk about intense, what a call. That’s what God desires for us; thank goodness we have such a savior in Jesus Christ for all the times we fail and the Holy Spirit to work through us so we can be reaching for that goal. Please pray for the spiritual walk of each of the kids and volunteers here, including one of my roommates who isn’t a Christian but has been forced to be totally immersed in that culture. May the experience bring him to know Christ.
One thing I’m really excited about here is that on Monday we started taking Zulu classes! Some people from the community who have been touched by some of our projects and classes decided that in return they would like to help us out and teach us volunteers some Zulu. So yeah, I’ll be doing that 2 nights a week. It’s tough stuff! I hope to pick up on some useful words though. At least I can say hello now… Sanibona (that’s the plural variety)! I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to pronounce everything properly though with the weird clicks they sometimes use. Oh and its getting to that awkward time where I’ve been here long enough that when kids test me on their names, I feel terrible when I don’t know… it’s so hard, there are so many of them (114 to be exact)!
Alright, one more story to finish us off, and its one of my favorite moments so far. The other day I was hanging out in the office and Uncle John (oh yeah, male volunteers are called Uncle, so I’m Uncle Ben, and girls are Miss ____) came in with 6 of the little kids (age 3-5 prob). The kids are ridiculously cute, but like any little kids you have to watch them closely cause they want to pick up everything. Anyway, after a while John left and called the kids to come with him. All of the kids ran to the door except for one who hung back and stared at me. He then came up to me and held his thumb up. It’s a common thing in Zulu culture to rub thumbs together while in a ‘thumbs up’ position, or at the end of a handshake. So we did the little thumb tap and he still stood there, but this time puckered up cause he wanted a kiss. So I gave him a kiss and when all of the other kids saw this they came running back in to get their kisses. It was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Oh, also, side note, almost every kid under the age of twelve has asked me what my leg and arm hair and my Adam’s apple is… I tell the boys they’ll hit puberty eventually.
Please pray for the direction of Lily as they are in the midst of a lot of changes right now, especially with some changes in management at the top levels and also a desire to grow across South Africa and beyond.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Pictures
First set of pictures are up... the internet is soooo slow. My camera isn't working, so I took some photos from other volunteers. Enjoy
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567737408cGJEbv
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/567737408cGJEbv
Beach and Business
So I just posted a blog I wrote a few days ago saying that it's been raining all week... well today it was nice and sunny and we headed to the beach. It was beautiful and just a nice relaxing way to spend most of the day, lounging around and recharging. Winter just ended here so it will be warming up and I plan on going back a few more times. One thing we noticed though when we drove to the beach is that unlike much of California where beach towns are areas of affluence, here the poverty went right down to the beaches, although the beach we went to was pretty nice.
So I had mentioned earlier that I would be helping to teach some business skills to some people from the community... well it turns out I'll actually be leading it, just me and Lauren. So definitely pray for us in that. We were a little nervous going into the first meeting yesterday as we didn't really know what to except. We're also nervous as we weren't sure how much of our experience would carry over to here as the culture is different and also when it comes down to it we're just kids at 24 years old. It went pretty well though and as it went along we gained confidence. Also, right after we left we thought of a bunch of things we could have done... I think that will be happening ever week, so this first set of classes (3 months long) will definitely be a learning period for us as well. We'll mainly be going over writing resumes and interview skills and then leading some sort of business game of which I've yet to figure out. We're meeting with a guy who has the materials for the game this week, but they were written for businessmen in the US and we're working with people at a pretty low level, so I'm going to have to do a lot of tweaking - we'll see how hard that is. Our first session was mainly a meet and greet and then we started talking about the basics of what is expected in an interview, like how to look, act and basic things to say. They need a lot of work, but everyone opened up and participated which was a great sign as that doesn't always happen in Zulu culture. We lasted an hour this Friday, but from now on we're supposed to lead the class from 1-4 every Friday afternoon. 3 hours is a long time! So yeah, please pray for the people in our group and for us leading it.
One other thing I started doing this week was giving chest physios to some of the kids who have lung damage, mostly caused by TB that went untreated for a while. The volunteer nurse here is really busy and needed some help so she trained the rest of us volunteers on how to do the physios. It mainly involves getting the kids to jump on a small trampoline in the clinic to get them a little winded, then having them do some breathing workouts like blowing up balloons, then finally having them lay belly down on your lap while patting their back to break up some of the buildup in their lungs. Its pretty easy, but is probably the most medical thing I'll do in my life, ha. Oh, and when I did one yesterday the kid wanted to pat my back for a while in return after, it was really funny and cute and it felt almost like a mini massage, haha. The kids have so much personality and I get a good laugh everyday. Of course I get frustrated everyday too, but I'm having a great time here so far. Can't believe it's been 3 weeks. It's flown by, but at the same time I feel like I've been here for a while now, just in that I'm more comfortable here and feel like I've known the people longer than 3 weeks since we live in such close quarters and spend so much time together.
So I had mentioned earlier that I would be helping to teach some business skills to some people from the community... well it turns out I'll actually be leading it, just me and Lauren. So definitely pray for us in that. We were a little nervous going into the first meeting yesterday as we didn't really know what to except. We're also nervous as we weren't sure how much of our experience would carry over to here as the culture is different and also when it comes down to it we're just kids at 24 years old. It went pretty well though and as it went along we gained confidence. Also, right after we left we thought of a bunch of things we could have done... I think that will be happening ever week, so this first set of classes (3 months long) will definitely be a learning period for us as well. We'll mainly be going over writing resumes and interview skills and then leading some sort of business game of which I've yet to figure out. We're meeting with a guy who has the materials for the game this week, but they were written for businessmen in the US and we're working with people at a pretty low level, so I'm going to have to do a lot of tweaking - we'll see how hard that is. Our first session was mainly a meet and greet and then we started talking about the basics of what is expected in an interview, like how to look, act and basic things to say. They need a lot of work, but everyone opened up and participated which was a great sign as that doesn't always happen in Zulu culture. We lasted an hour this Friday, but from now on we're supposed to lead the class from 1-4 every Friday afternoon. 3 hours is a long time! So yeah, please pray for the people in our group and for us leading it.
One other thing I started doing this week was giving chest physios to some of the kids who have lung damage, mostly caused by TB that went untreated for a while. The volunteer nurse here is really busy and needed some help so she trained the rest of us volunteers on how to do the physios. It mainly involves getting the kids to jump on a small trampoline in the clinic to get them a little winded, then having them do some breathing workouts like blowing up balloons, then finally having them lay belly down on your lap while patting their back to break up some of the buildup in their lungs. Its pretty easy, but is probably the most medical thing I'll do in my life, ha. Oh, and when I did one yesterday the kid wanted to pat my back for a while in return after, it was really funny and cute and it felt almost like a mini massage, haha. The kids have so much personality and I get a good laugh everyday. Of course I get frustrated everyday too, but I'm having a great time here so far. Can't believe it's been 3 weeks. It's flown by, but at the same time I feel like I've been here for a while now, just in that I'm more comfortable here and feel like I've known the people longer than 3 weeks since we live in such close quarters and spend so much time together.
The week - lots of new things
Well, the thunder storms have rolled in this week…might as well be living in the Midwest, sheesh. While the rapid shifts from hot to cold are getting annoying, as is not being able to dry my laundry, it has been really cool to watch the lighting strike over the hills behind us. It is beautiful and I love the rain and how it turns the hills green, something LA was lacking most of the time. Whoa, thunder just shook the house (yep, I’m definitely a California boy who gets excited the few times he gets to be in a thunder storm). Enough about the weather though.
Last weekend 3 of the kids left the orphanage to move onto different homes. These are some of the brighter kids here that another organization chooses to take on to help develop them more than they would be able to here. The kids get placed with a family in areas where they have access to better education. While it’s definitely exciting that these kids have such a great opportunity, it’s also sad to see them go. I’ve definitely started to get attached to the kids already and it’s only been a few weeks… leaving in 9 months is going to be tough. Another cool thing was seeing how much the house mothers care about these kids. When I first got here I had no idea if the house moms took there role as more of a job or if they cared deeply for the kids, and I got my answer when I saw the house moms sobbing as they said bye to the kids. Please pray for the kids as they make their move.
All of the kids were back in school this week and that means we had homework club. I am now helping out with the 1st through 3rd grades kids, although many of the children are much older than we would have in our 1st through 3rd grade classes in the states. Many kids got a very late start into school or just struggle a lot. Monday through Thursday we have 8 kids at a time for 30 minutes and we either help them with their homework or teach them an English or Math lesson. This week has consisted of reviewing English phonics with the kids and many have struggled, but you can already see improvements. There are 2 sets of 1st graders, one at 2:30 and one at 3 and these kids can be either adorable or complete rascals; they are definitely a handful, even now that we have 4 volunteers for 8 kids. They only have to be there for 30 minutes, but they can’t sit still for more than 3. Then at 3:30 are the second graders who can also be a handful. Finally at 4 we have the third graders who are thankfully pretty cooperative. The kids go to two different schools, so half the third graders had homework on fractions, and the other half we just taught the phonics to. All in all I’d say it was a successful first week of homework club for me, but the kids definitely need a lot more than 30 minutes of work a day. Please pray that they may become willing learners and make great strides this term, and that I can handle them and do a decent job teaching. Thankfully we’ll rotate actually leading the sessions even though all 4 of us volunteers will always be there.
Last Sunday was also the first time I led Sunday school. From now on I will be leading the fourth through sixth grade boys Sunday school on my own. We’re currently finishing the Ten Commandments and last week’s lesson on not stealing went really well. The kids were great and their knowledge of the bible often surprised me. In fact, they went off on tangents and started asking me about the final judgment and Revelations… they definitely asked some difficult questions that I couldn’t always answer. Sometimes I’m not sure they understand me or take all the stuff to heart, but for the most part they were willing participants. Please pray that the Lord speaks through me every Sunday and that he works on the kid’s hearts.
Some of the kids performed as a choir at a wedding at Tala (the game reserve right next to us) last week and between that and Sunday school I now have all of their songs stuck in my head. Yeah, get excited for me to come back to the states singing kids Christian songs complete with hand motions. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Jesus, sweet Jesus, what a wonder you are…
Other jobs in the last week or so have also included some painting as well as grocery shopping for the orphanage (that’s a LOT of food for a week). One thing about the kids is that they always want to help, from the painting to helping unload the food off the truck, they get really excited. It’s awesome to see their attitudes, but a lot of the time they ended up causing more work and more of a headache than if the volunteers just did it on their own. So I just try to remind myself that it’s more important to foster their serving spirit and just spend time doing anything with them, then trying to rush through it on my own, and also just be thankful for the help. So yeah, please pray that my heart is right in those times and that I can maintain some sense of sanity over a hoard of kids running around.
Another fun story from last weekend was that we had no water for a bit. I guess it happens decently regularly, so we all have water jugs saved up in our houses for those times, and you better believe we bought even more for our house. It’s just tough when you’re in a house and are used to things being normal and then suddenly you can’t wash dishes, do much cooking, shower, wash your hands or use the toilet in a regular manner. Luckily there is a small pool here for the kids (which we haven’t been able to clean and get working… hopefully by summer), so everyone gets buckets and uses that water as toilet bowl water. There were literally like 20 kids around the pool the other day scooping out water. Thankfully it was a short outage, and hopefully we don’t have many more as it’s not much fun for anyone. Some of the older youth were complaining about having no water, so on the way to church Sunday night Warren (the orphanage manager) told them to pray about it, and when we got back there was water. It was pretty cool watching the amazement on some of their faces, I’m not saying God for sure specifically answered that prayer, but maybe he did…
When I get back from this trip I’m definitely going to be a much better cook than before. Figuring out what to cook every night and then actually doing it is a tough job. Much respect to my mother for doing that my whole life… I did break down the other day and get a cheap bbq which is my one cooking talent, so I’m pretty excited about being able to use that, we just need it to stop raining! Speaking of barbequing, Warren was telling us the other night that his family used to have a barbeque (a Braii they call it here) and play cricket on Christmas day since it’s during summer time here. I’m picturing a 4th of July type Christmas… weird. It’s definitely going to be strange being here for the holidays.
Siyabonga (that’s thanks in Zulu) for all the comments, emails and continued prayers. Hope all is well; let me know if there is anything I can be praying about for you as well.
Last weekend 3 of the kids left the orphanage to move onto different homes. These are some of the brighter kids here that another organization chooses to take on to help develop them more than they would be able to here. The kids get placed with a family in areas where they have access to better education. While it’s definitely exciting that these kids have such a great opportunity, it’s also sad to see them go. I’ve definitely started to get attached to the kids already and it’s only been a few weeks… leaving in 9 months is going to be tough. Another cool thing was seeing how much the house mothers care about these kids. When I first got here I had no idea if the house moms took there role as more of a job or if they cared deeply for the kids, and I got my answer when I saw the house moms sobbing as they said bye to the kids. Please pray for the kids as they make their move.
All of the kids were back in school this week and that means we had homework club. I am now helping out with the 1st through 3rd grades kids, although many of the children are much older than we would have in our 1st through 3rd grade classes in the states. Many kids got a very late start into school or just struggle a lot. Monday through Thursday we have 8 kids at a time for 30 minutes and we either help them with their homework or teach them an English or Math lesson. This week has consisted of reviewing English phonics with the kids and many have struggled, but you can already see improvements. There are 2 sets of 1st graders, one at 2:30 and one at 3 and these kids can be either adorable or complete rascals; they are definitely a handful, even now that we have 4 volunteers for 8 kids. They only have to be there for 30 minutes, but they can’t sit still for more than 3. Then at 3:30 are the second graders who can also be a handful. Finally at 4 we have the third graders who are thankfully pretty cooperative. The kids go to two different schools, so half the third graders had homework on fractions, and the other half we just taught the phonics to. All in all I’d say it was a successful first week of homework club for me, but the kids definitely need a lot more than 30 minutes of work a day. Please pray that they may become willing learners and make great strides this term, and that I can handle them and do a decent job teaching. Thankfully we’ll rotate actually leading the sessions even though all 4 of us volunteers will always be there.
Last Sunday was also the first time I led Sunday school. From now on I will be leading the fourth through sixth grade boys Sunday school on my own. We’re currently finishing the Ten Commandments and last week’s lesson on not stealing went really well. The kids were great and their knowledge of the bible often surprised me. In fact, they went off on tangents and started asking me about the final judgment and Revelations… they definitely asked some difficult questions that I couldn’t always answer. Sometimes I’m not sure they understand me or take all the stuff to heart, but for the most part they were willing participants. Please pray that the Lord speaks through me every Sunday and that he works on the kid’s hearts.
Some of the kids performed as a choir at a wedding at Tala (the game reserve right next to us) last week and between that and Sunday school I now have all of their songs stuck in my head. Yeah, get excited for me to come back to the states singing kids Christian songs complete with hand motions. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Jesus, sweet Jesus, what a wonder you are…
Other jobs in the last week or so have also included some painting as well as grocery shopping for the orphanage (that’s a LOT of food for a week). One thing about the kids is that they always want to help, from the painting to helping unload the food off the truck, they get really excited. It’s awesome to see their attitudes, but a lot of the time they ended up causing more work and more of a headache than if the volunteers just did it on their own. So I just try to remind myself that it’s more important to foster their serving spirit and just spend time doing anything with them, then trying to rush through it on my own, and also just be thankful for the help. So yeah, please pray that my heart is right in those times and that I can maintain some sense of sanity over a hoard of kids running around.
Another fun story from last weekend was that we had no water for a bit. I guess it happens decently regularly, so we all have water jugs saved up in our houses for those times, and you better believe we bought even more for our house. It’s just tough when you’re in a house and are used to things being normal and then suddenly you can’t wash dishes, do much cooking, shower, wash your hands or use the toilet in a regular manner. Luckily there is a small pool here for the kids (which we haven’t been able to clean and get working… hopefully by summer), so everyone gets buckets and uses that water as toilet bowl water. There were literally like 20 kids around the pool the other day scooping out water. Thankfully it was a short outage, and hopefully we don’t have many more as it’s not much fun for anyone. Some of the older youth were complaining about having no water, so on the way to church Sunday night Warren (the orphanage manager) told them to pray about it, and when we got back there was water. It was pretty cool watching the amazement on some of their faces, I’m not saying God for sure specifically answered that prayer, but maybe he did…
When I get back from this trip I’m definitely going to be a much better cook than before. Figuring out what to cook every night and then actually doing it is a tough job. Much respect to my mother for doing that my whole life… I did break down the other day and get a cheap bbq which is my one cooking talent, so I’m pretty excited about being able to use that, we just need it to stop raining! Speaking of barbequing, Warren was telling us the other night that his family used to have a barbeque (a Braii they call it here) and play cricket on Christmas day since it’s during summer time here. I’m picturing a 4th of July type Christmas… weird. It’s definitely going to be strange being here for the holidays.
Siyabonga (that’s thanks in Zulu) for all the comments, emails and continued prayers. Hope all is well; let me know if there is anything I can be praying about for you as well.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Weather, day off and the community
Seriously I don't understand the weather out here. Yesterday it was really cold and rainy, but the day before it was in the high 80s at least, so hot the kids didn't want to play outside until we pulled out a tarp and set up a little slip-n-slide (so much fun, my roomies and I were slingshoting kids down, they loved it). The weather really just changes suddenly without warning. I guess its' spring now and the start of the rainy season, so I'll be preparing for that.
Today is a day off so a few of us headed down towards durban to a shopping mall to use the internet and hang out. I was thinking I might just stay in the house today and relax, but you kind of have to get off site on your days off cause the kids were already banging down our door this morning before we left. I'm here for the kids and want to hang with them when I can, but everyone here has warned us how important taking your off day is or else you'll get burned out quick, and I definitely see that already.
There are many aspects to Lily besides just the orphanage, and those include many projects around the community. One project they are tryin to add is one where they take in volunteers from the community, give them jobs with Lily in the community for 3 months and use it to give them experience to hopefully make them more employable. Unemployement is high in the area and most people apply everywhere saying they will do anything. Our hope is to equip people with more specific skills so they have a better chance at a job. Along with the job they'll have for 3 months we'll be teaching them some basic skills. This is where I may come in, as I might be setting up a game that teaches business and accounting skills as well as doing mock interviews with them and helping write resumes. I would do this one day a week and be at the orphanage the rest of the time. I'm kind of excited about this opportunity as it would allow me to use some of my other God given gifts. Please pray that we can get the program going and get some enthusiatic people in from the community. It'll be trial and error for this first run, so pray for our guidance as well.
Speaking of the community, it's kind of crazy because at night you look out and see all the lights and think it's a normal town, but in the day more of the poverty becomes visible as the houses are pretty much just shacks. Also, people just hang out everywhere, mostly in the streets. They walk in the middle of the road which makes driving an interesting experience, I'll have to learn to use my horn more. People also walk on the side of the freeway which is crazy.
Alright, I'm off for now! The UCLA Bruins are playing football tonight, lets hope they finally get win number 2! Wish I could see the game (or maybe not)...
Today is a day off so a few of us headed down towards durban to a shopping mall to use the internet and hang out. I was thinking I might just stay in the house today and relax, but you kind of have to get off site on your days off cause the kids were already banging down our door this morning before we left. I'm here for the kids and want to hang with them when I can, but everyone here has warned us how important taking your off day is or else you'll get burned out quick, and I definitely see that already.
There are many aspects to Lily besides just the orphanage, and those include many projects around the community. One project they are tryin to add is one where they take in volunteers from the community, give them jobs with Lily in the community for 3 months and use it to give them experience to hopefully make them more employable. Unemployement is high in the area and most people apply everywhere saying they will do anything. Our hope is to equip people with more specific skills so they have a better chance at a job. Along with the job they'll have for 3 months we'll be teaching them some basic skills. This is where I may come in, as I might be setting up a game that teaches business and accounting skills as well as doing mock interviews with them and helping write resumes. I would do this one day a week and be at the orphanage the rest of the time. I'm kind of excited about this opportunity as it would allow me to use some of my other God given gifts. Please pray that we can get the program going and get some enthusiatic people in from the community. It'll be trial and error for this first run, so pray for our guidance as well.
Speaking of the community, it's kind of crazy because at night you look out and see all the lights and think it's a normal town, but in the day more of the poverty becomes visible as the houses are pretty much just shacks. Also, people just hang out everywhere, mostly in the streets. They walk in the middle of the road which makes driving an interesting experience, I'll have to learn to use my horn more. People also walk on the side of the freeway which is crazy.
Alright, I'm off for now! The UCLA Bruins are playing football tonight, lets hope they finally get win number 2! Wish I could see the game (or maybe not)...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Old
I forgot to tell my other favorite story about my roommates... On the first night I got in I was up talking with my German roommate and eventually he randomly asked me if I knew how to clean. Somewhat bewildered I told him that I did in fact know how to clean a house, to which he responded with great excitement, "so you've lived on your own before?" yep... for about 6 years kid. For 3 boys and no dishwasher, I'd say we've kept a pretty clean house even with the lack of experience. On our first big cleaning day though I got assigned the bathroom as neither of my roommates had ever cleaned a toilet before... baby steps.
Keeping in line with me feeling old, today a kid asked me how old I was. This has been a pretty common occurrence and so I just responded "24." This kid however seemed very shocked and proceeded to say, "No! You look like you're 30." Yep, I thought it was kind of funny coming from a 7 year old. I'm used to being told I look more mid to late 20s though, 30 is a bit of stretch...
I probably looked younger a couple days ago though when I had my mohawk. Hopefully I'll get you some pictures soon and that will be one of them. I thought it was fun and the kids loved it, but according to house rules I had to cut it off and I can see why, within the first hour a couple of kids asked if I would cut their hair the same way. oh well. I guess in the past kids have tried to imitate volunteers who have tattoos or piercings which leads down a more dangerous path filled with sharp objects... at least hairstyles are a little more harmless. It does make you realize how much of a role model we are to these kids, even in such a short amount of time. It's something I take very seriously and I pray that with God's help I can be a good example everyday.
Keeping in line with me feeling old, today a kid asked me how old I was. This has been a pretty common occurrence and so I just responded "24." This kid however seemed very shocked and proceeded to say, "No! You look like you're 30." Yep, I thought it was kind of funny coming from a 7 year old. I'm used to being told I look more mid to late 20s though, 30 is a bit of stretch...
I probably looked younger a couple days ago though when I had my mohawk. Hopefully I'll get you some pictures soon and that will be one of them. I thought it was fun and the kids loved it, but according to house rules I had to cut it off and I can see why, within the first hour a couple of kids asked if I would cut their hair the same way. oh well. I guess in the past kids have tried to imitate volunteers who have tattoos or piercings which leads down a more dangerous path filled with sharp objects... at least hairstyles are a little more harmless. It does make you realize how much of a role model we are to these kids, even in such a short amount of time. It's something I take very seriously and I pray that with God's help I can be a good example everyday.
Contact Info
For letters ONLY: (I've been told nothing else would actually make it to me)
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 508
Cato Ridge, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
For packages: (this is the main Lily administrative office in a bigger town)
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 185
Gillitts, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
I also got a local cell phone on which I get free incoming calls. So if you feel like calling me sometime, email me for the number as I don't really feel like posting it for the world, and remember its a 9 hour time difference right now for you folks back in Cali.
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 508
Cato Ridge, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
For packages: (this is the main Lily administrative office in a bigger town)
Ben Clark
c/o Lily of the Valley
PO Box 185
Gillitts, 3603
Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
I also got a local cell phone on which I get free incoming calls. So if you feel like calling me sometime, email me for the number as I don't really feel like posting it for the world, and remember its a 9 hour time difference right now for you folks back in Cali.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Adventures
Really everything is an adventure so far, but I'll just tell a few stories now.
First off, I've learned how to drive stick shift (yes Corey, I'm rounding out my manhood). This was no small feat as I am learning how to drive stick while sitting on the right side of the car (shifting with my left hand) and driving on the left side of the road. It's all very confusing, but I drove a group of us around doing errands today and didn't stall once or drive into oncoming traffic by forgetting I had to drive on the opposite side of the road. So yeah, great success. And we got a new vehicle today for volunteers courtesy of Lily of the Valley Endeavor USA!! I'm excited about that, and many thanks to them!
Lily is bordered by the Tala game reserve (which makes for beautiful sunsets over the undeveloped hills) and on Friday a few of us got the chance to drive through it. You drive your own car through and we saw rhinos, hippos, zebra, warthogs, water buffalo, a bunch of different elk and antelope and the like, and giraffe all really close. It was pretty cool and the giraffe was even larger than i had anticipated. I hope to eventually get to a bigger park and see some lions and elephants, but it was a great day close by at Tala and a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get you a few pictures soon. I'm on the orphanage's computer and the data is limited per month and always runs out so we can't upload or download anything here, as last month we ran out of internet with about 5 days left, which is why I'm on now on the first! We can check email and whatnot occasionally, but its mainly for the manager who runs the place as he actually has important stuff to take care of on the computer. Internet will still be limited, but at least i get a little here.
Finally, my last story of the night and definitely the craziest. I feel like some of you might not be surprised that it took my only 9 days on a MISSION trip before I was in handcuffs in the back of a police car... seriously I think cop trouble just follows me. This has to top the list as one of the stupidest moves ever though. So we were on an errand the other day and my roommate was driving on the freeway when all of a sudden a cop runs into the road (yeah, the highway!) and waves us down. Turns out the guy was speeding. Well we almost run this cop over as we slam on the breaks to stop and pass only a few feet from the cop... which means he's had a clear view of the driver and me in the passenger seat. Well after stopping about 150 yards down the road the driver freaks out cause he doesn't have an international drivers license and jumps out of the drivers seat into the back seat! Well now there is an open driver's seat and I have to slide over into it in complete shock as I don't really comprehend what is going on, I'm so bewildered I can hardly think and tell the kid to stay put, I just move. It takes a minute for the cop to reach the car and you can bet he's surprised to see a different guy in the drivers seat and nobody in the passenger seat! so he makes me and the other kid get out of the car and asks if we think he is stupid and why we switched. we have no good answer of course. he then tells us that we have committed fraud by switching drivers and that we're going to jail. I quickly throw my phone to Lauren and tell her to call the orphanage manager. Meanwhile the cop's partner walks up and they put both me and the other kid in cuffs and take us back to the cop car. The female cop then asks me if I've ever heard of Westville jail and when I say no she proceeds to laugh in a sinister way and tells me that I'll be telling her tomorrow about Westville jail and that I'll have boyfriends that night. she even tells me that rape is legal in jail!!! needless to say I'm freaking out at this point. I try to explain to her that I don't deserve to get raped, to which she agrees but says "what you did is very very bad and you deserve jail" (all in an accent). The cops continue to stall and talk to us and it is clear they are now just looking for a bribe. The other guy and I are thinking we're about to oblige and pay them off to avoiding getting raped when Lauren walks up... she has the orphanage manager on the phone who tells us that if we bribe the cops he's sending us home immediately. He gets on the phone with the cops and we talk with them as well and after a very long time they end up taking off the cuffs and just booking us for the speeding ticket... phew. Turns out the other kid didn't even need an international drivers license, and freaked out for no reason. And the best part was that in the back seat of the cop car we ended up having a very delightful conversation with the lady cop for the last 10 minutes about south africa, zulu words, politics, the states, and orphanage work. She was a very sweet lady when not threatening me with jail rape... So another dumb funny story in hindsight but let's hope I got that out of the way.
I probably didn't do those stories justice by writing them quickly in a blog, but hopefully you got the idea. Hope all is well with everyone back in the states! God Bless.
First off, I've learned how to drive stick shift (yes Corey, I'm rounding out my manhood). This was no small feat as I am learning how to drive stick while sitting on the right side of the car (shifting with my left hand) and driving on the left side of the road. It's all very confusing, but I drove a group of us around doing errands today and didn't stall once or drive into oncoming traffic by forgetting I had to drive on the opposite side of the road. So yeah, great success. And we got a new vehicle today for volunteers courtesy of Lily of the Valley Endeavor USA!! I'm excited about that, and many thanks to them!
Lily is bordered by the Tala game reserve (which makes for beautiful sunsets over the undeveloped hills) and on Friday a few of us got the chance to drive through it. You drive your own car through and we saw rhinos, hippos, zebra, warthogs, water buffalo, a bunch of different elk and antelope and the like, and giraffe all really close. It was pretty cool and the giraffe was even larger than i had anticipated. I hope to eventually get to a bigger park and see some lions and elephants, but it was a great day close by at Tala and a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll get you a few pictures soon. I'm on the orphanage's computer and the data is limited per month and always runs out so we can't upload or download anything here, as last month we ran out of internet with about 5 days left, which is why I'm on now on the first! We can check email and whatnot occasionally, but its mainly for the manager who runs the place as he actually has important stuff to take care of on the computer. Internet will still be limited, but at least i get a little here.
Finally, my last story of the night and definitely the craziest. I feel like some of you might not be surprised that it took my only 9 days on a MISSION trip before I was in handcuffs in the back of a police car... seriously I think cop trouble just follows me. This has to top the list as one of the stupidest moves ever though. So we were on an errand the other day and my roommate was driving on the freeway when all of a sudden a cop runs into the road (yeah, the highway!) and waves us down. Turns out the guy was speeding. Well we almost run this cop over as we slam on the breaks to stop and pass only a few feet from the cop... which means he's had a clear view of the driver and me in the passenger seat. Well after stopping about 150 yards down the road the driver freaks out cause he doesn't have an international drivers license and jumps out of the drivers seat into the back seat! Well now there is an open driver's seat and I have to slide over into it in complete shock as I don't really comprehend what is going on, I'm so bewildered I can hardly think and tell the kid to stay put, I just move. It takes a minute for the cop to reach the car and you can bet he's surprised to see a different guy in the drivers seat and nobody in the passenger seat! so he makes me and the other kid get out of the car and asks if we think he is stupid and why we switched. we have no good answer of course. he then tells us that we have committed fraud by switching drivers and that we're going to jail. I quickly throw my phone to Lauren and tell her to call the orphanage manager. Meanwhile the cop's partner walks up and they put both me and the other kid in cuffs and take us back to the cop car. The female cop then asks me if I've ever heard of Westville jail and when I say no she proceeds to laugh in a sinister way and tells me that I'll be telling her tomorrow about Westville jail and that I'll have boyfriends that night. she even tells me that rape is legal in jail!!! needless to say I'm freaking out at this point. I try to explain to her that I don't deserve to get raped, to which she agrees but says "what you did is very very bad and you deserve jail" (all in an accent). The cops continue to stall and talk to us and it is clear they are now just looking for a bribe. The other guy and I are thinking we're about to oblige and pay them off to avoiding getting raped when Lauren walks up... she has the orphanage manager on the phone who tells us that if we bribe the cops he's sending us home immediately. He gets on the phone with the cops and we talk with them as well and after a very long time they end up taking off the cuffs and just booking us for the speeding ticket... phew. Turns out the other kid didn't even need an international drivers license, and freaked out for no reason. And the best part was that in the back seat of the cop car we ended up having a very delightful conversation with the lady cop for the last 10 minutes about south africa, zulu words, politics, the states, and orphanage work. She was a very sweet lady when not threatening me with jail rape... So another dumb funny story in hindsight but let's hope I got that out of the way.
I probably didn't do those stories justice by writing them quickly in a blog, but hopefully you got the idea. Hope all is well with everyone back in the states! God Bless.
Good News
We got our 3 bags and everything was in them! Great news will come when the 4th bag full of backpacks for the kids is found. Also, I forgot to give a little shout out to my mother who had the great idea for me to pack the spare clothes in my carry-on. Yep, she's a smart lady and I'd have to say a pretty awesome mom as well, still looking after me after all these years.
I'm feeling great these days and as healthy as ever. I could use a little more energy though, these kids are wearing me out. The kids have this week off school so us volunteers had to set up different activities to keep the kids entertained all week. There are multiple things going on at once and the kids sign up for the ones they want to do. People have been doing everything from dancing, card making, computer time, reading, card games, juggling, drumming and more, but you better believe I've pretty much done nothing but sports. Hard to imagine right? I've taught the kids frisbee, played soccer and basketball with them, and we even played some cricket which i learned along the way from my British roommate. It's been a great chance to hang out with the kids in smaller groups and bond with them more.
Lily is set up with 6 kids in a house with a house mom who looks after them. Every house boy or girl has a house mom as well as relief mothers who swap in when the house mom's need to time off. Well their is one house with the older boys that has a house father instead of a house mom and the other day when he was gone I was called upon to be the house dad for the day. This really just meant sitting around the house watching them when they had lunch and dinner and then hanging out for the night and sleeping in their house. Thankfully it was a pretty low key night and they were pretty well behaved, but I hope it opened up the door for a better relationship with those kids.
As for my own house, that could be interesting. I'm living with an 18 year old from the UK and a 19 year old from Germany. It's been pretty fun living with them and sometimes i feel younger for it, but sometimes i feel like an old man... When I first showed up I didn't have a chance to go shopping and had to live off of their food for a few days. This meant eating coco pops for breakfast (chocolate cereal) and frozen pizzas, chicken fingers and hot dogs for every other meal. Thankfully once I was finally able to go shopping I cooked them a few good meals which they were really excited about as well. That being said, my cooking knowledge is very limited, so please send along any decently easy recipes you have! The stores have most things you could find in the states although not all, but just send along what you got and I'll figure something out. Thanks!
As for the living situation, the house is decent. I have my own room with regular bed and small closet, pretty bare bones otherwise. There is no insulation though and i think just carpet on concrete, so if it's hot outside it's hotter inside and if it's cold outside, well it feels colder inside as well. Also the windows and doors don't seal all the way so we've been getting destroyed by mosquitoes at night... good thing there is no malaria here. We have a pretty normal kitchen which is nice although the oven and fridge are miniature. We even have a small washing maching in our bathroom which is great, but we have to hang dry our clothes outside and well... the first load of laundry i did I forgot about my clothes line drying adn it started to rain and they got soaked... Also, there are no showers, so someone before us hooked up some tubes with a showerhead to the tub faucet that we now use as a kind of makeshift shower. Problem is you can only pull it up to about shoulder level and there is no shower curtain so we get water everywhere. My and I roomate are hoping to fix that. The other problem is that the hot water doesnt' always work right, so i just buzzed my head to make it easier(didn't shave it, got that out of my system in march) and shower less (yeah, i probably smell). Oh, and there are different faucet heads for the hot and cold water here, so can't mix them to get warm water in the sink! highly annoying when washing your face, shaving or doing dishes! But I can't complain, for a mission trip in Africa I have it pretty good.
Alright, enough of that for now. Please pray for my relationship with my roomates and the kids, that I be used fully here, and just that I can continue to figure out how things are done here. Also please pray that I spend time in prayer and in the word myself as it's easy to get caught up in everything here during the day and just pass out exhausted at night. I'll let you know more soon.
I'm feeling great these days and as healthy as ever. I could use a little more energy though, these kids are wearing me out. The kids have this week off school so us volunteers had to set up different activities to keep the kids entertained all week. There are multiple things going on at once and the kids sign up for the ones they want to do. People have been doing everything from dancing, card making, computer time, reading, card games, juggling, drumming and more, but you better believe I've pretty much done nothing but sports. Hard to imagine right? I've taught the kids frisbee, played soccer and basketball with them, and we even played some cricket which i learned along the way from my British roommate. It's been a great chance to hang out with the kids in smaller groups and bond with them more.
Lily is set up with 6 kids in a house with a house mom who looks after them. Every house boy or girl has a house mom as well as relief mothers who swap in when the house mom's need to time off. Well their is one house with the older boys that has a house father instead of a house mom and the other day when he was gone I was called upon to be the house dad for the day. This really just meant sitting around the house watching them when they had lunch and dinner and then hanging out for the night and sleeping in their house. Thankfully it was a pretty low key night and they were pretty well behaved, but I hope it opened up the door for a better relationship with those kids.
As for my own house, that could be interesting. I'm living with an 18 year old from the UK and a 19 year old from Germany. It's been pretty fun living with them and sometimes i feel younger for it, but sometimes i feel like an old man... When I first showed up I didn't have a chance to go shopping and had to live off of their food for a few days. This meant eating coco pops for breakfast (chocolate cereal) and frozen pizzas, chicken fingers and hot dogs for every other meal. Thankfully once I was finally able to go shopping I cooked them a few good meals which they were really excited about as well. That being said, my cooking knowledge is very limited, so please send along any decently easy recipes you have! The stores have most things you could find in the states although not all, but just send along what you got and I'll figure something out. Thanks!
As for the living situation, the house is decent. I have my own room with regular bed and small closet, pretty bare bones otherwise. There is no insulation though and i think just carpet on concrete, so if it's hot outside it's hotter inside and if it's cold outside, well it feels colder inside as well. Also the windows and doors don't seal all the way so we've been getting destroyed by mosquitoes at night... good thing there is no malaria here. We have a pretty normal kitchen which is nice although the oven and fridge are miniature. We even have a small washing maching in our bathroom which is great, but we have to hang dry our clothes outside and well... the first load of laundry i did I forgot about my clothes line drying adn it started to rain and they got soaked... Also, there are no showers, so someone before us hooked up some tubes with a showerhead to the tub faucet that we now use as a kind of makeshift shower. Problem is you can only pull it up to about shoulder level and there is no shower curtain so we get water everywhere. My and I roomate are hoping to fix that. The other problem is that the hot water doesnt' always work right, so i just buzzed my head to make it easier(didn't shave it, got that out of my system in march) and shower less (yeah, i probably smell). Oh, and there are different faucet heads for the hot and cold water here, so can't mix them to get warm water in the sink! highly annoying when washing your face, shaving or doing dishes! But I can't complain, for a mission trip in Africa I have it pretty good.
Alright, enough of that for now. Please pray for my relationship with my roomates and the kids, that I be used fully here, and just that I can continue to figure out how things are done here. Also please pray that I spend time in prayer and in the word myself as it's easy to get caught up in everything here during the day and just pass out exhausted at night. I'll let you know more soon.
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