A look at my day

Let’s see…  I’ll throw together a quick post.

Today, I turned 25.  Whoop!  The day was good.  I had my last Language Lab and ISOM classes.  Then, in the afternoon, we did a lot of cleaning to get ready for next year.  We cleaned out the boardroom, cleaned up the living room, and also did some straightening and cleaning in Abram’s storeroom.  Along with that, we counted and bagged up housekeeping items such as pillows and blankets.  It was a lot of work, but I’m glad it is done.  Now we just need to finish up with the living room and get our rooms cleared out with packing and such.  The packing for home part would be easier if I could do it all right now, but we have debriefing first.  Hopefully, I can get at least one suitcase packed up before we leave, so it’s not quite as bad after we return (only one day to pack).  I think I can do it.

Kelly showed us her Cameroon video today.  It was cool to see it and get a look at where she will be going.  I didn’t know all that stuff about cocoa, so it was fun to see the process, too.  Hopefully, she’ll be able to get everything figured out with her linguistic training and language learning to get there in her desired timeframe.  I am sure God will work it all out!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I am looking forward to that!  We interns are making mashed potatoes and deviled eggs.  I think it will all come together well.  I’m looking forward to making it and hanging out that afternoon.  Looks to be a nice day and around 80ºF.  I’m happy about that.

Well, I’m tired, so this is all I’m going to write.  If the internet is working better tomorrow night, I’ll post more…  So long for now!

Heart Happiness

This weekend has been so amazing!  I have enjoyed every minute of it.  It started out yesterday with going to Joyce’s birthday party.  Joyce is one of the Basotho workers here and such a nice lady.  It was so fun to go and celebrate her birthday at her home in Intabazwe.  Getting there with the muddy roads was quite interesting, but the party was fun.  Other farm workers were there too, like Miriam and Anna.  Anna also had her baby, Bokong… he’s a cute little thing.  We each went up and gave Joyce what we had brought (in my case a card) and had a photo with her.

Today, we loaded up and went to African church.  We went into Intabazwe to Pastor Mabena’s church.  On the way, we stopped and picked up Lindo and another little girl (his relative maybe?).  It was fun to see him again and having him stand there holding my hand on one side and Katy’s on the other as we started the service.

Then, something else happened that made me smile… a bunch of the Hope House kids came with the caretakers!  I was so happy to see them.  Nkosi was with them and he came and sat with me.  I gave him to Andrew to hold for a while and, to no surprise, Nkosi fell asleep.  He had been yawning while I held him, so I knew it was coming.  He woke up before the end of the service, so I got to hold him again and play with him some.

Nkosi fell asleep in Andrew's lap

We also got to see an older couple get married at church today.  We weren’t really expecting that part!  I was kind of confused at first.  They took a table up and they said something about the guy writing a book or signing a book.  I’m not sure, but I finally caught on to what was happening.  It was really fun to see.  How cool!

After church, Katy and I headed to Nando’s with Charlene for a department outing.  It’s been great working under Charlene this year and It was fun to sit down and just hang out.  I’ll be involved with her to some extent next year with my jobs, so it will be a privilege to work with her more.

We got back after lunch and we headed up the hill.  I went to the living room to give Tara the phone, because Thoko had called earlier.  To my surprise, the deck was decorated and people were there dressed as ninjas!  As I found out, it was a surprise party for me!  It was fun.  A lot of the staff came up and we got to hang out some.  Then we had a water balloon fight!  It was awesome!  I had so much fun!

I am with a couple other ninjas!

After people left from that, I ventured down the hill with Tara to see Thoko for a while.  Her friend, Puleng, drove her and the kids out to come see us.  It was really fun talking with them for a while and, of course, we had more water balloon fun.  I headed back up around 5:15PM, so I could finish my homework and papers before dinner (I was successful, just FYI).

For dinner, we had Abram and his family, Amanda, and Lucas over and we made falafel.  I think they liked it–it was their first time trying it.  Janet gave a piece to Joy that must have been spicy, because she didn’t like it and she definitely was going for her mom’s cup of water after that!  It was great though.

And, so this pretty much takes you up until now.  The others were watching a movie when I left and came to my room.  Now, I am getting ready to head to bed, so I can be ready for a new day. Until next time, have a great day!

Wrapping up

Since it’s the end of the year, we are wrapping things up.  A couple weeks ago, we had one of our first good-byes with LaunchPad graduations.  It was so great hearing the learners say how they enjoyed coming to the class.  One told us how it encouraged her to follow God during her week… not just talk God, but to live God, too.  How awesome!  I’m going to miss those kids, but I know that God is going to use them.  I know a few of them are considering becoming coaches next year, so maybe I haven’t seen the last of them.  Wouldn’t that be cool to see them again?!

I’ve also said good-bye to the kids at Hope House.  Talk about something difficult to do.  They are all such amazing kids and I am going to miss them so much.  A couple weeks ago, we had a water day with them.  We pulled in and they came running out in their swimsuits ready to get wet!  They had a blast.  And, yesterday, we gave out gift bags to them all.  This week has been rainy and cold, so the kids were a bit rambunctious (my guess is that they haven’t been able to play outside much), but they loved getting their gifts.  I got to blow up a few of their toys and watch them run around playing.  Such great kids…

On Monday, we will be heading to relationship evangelism for the last time.  It’s been fun getting to know Thoko and her family over the past several months.  She taught us how to make fat cake recently.  It’s good and I’ll definitely have to make it once I get back home.  I’ll have to make some for Christmas, so we can have something African there. 

So, in the midsts of all the wraping up, things are good.  Today, I went to Joyce’s birthday party in Intabazwe and this week we will all be getting together for Thanksgiving.  More to come later…

It’s finished!

After weeks and weeks of hard work, we have finally finished our Basotho house!  It’s almost hard to believe it just started as a bunch of mud bricks being stacked up.  Woah, who would have thought!  Anyhow, Charlene drove us, so she took a group photo of us after we finished.  Next week, will be our last there and we will be planting a garden for the family.

The decorated part on the outside of the house is called ditema.  I’ve talked about it before, so if you are interested, you can read more about it here.

Dam Day!

We had a fun day last Thursday (5-Nov.).  The staff and interns gathered in the morning to travel to the Sterkfontein Dam.  We loaded up food for a cookout while we were there, some balls to use for games, and of course towels and sunscreen (unfortunately, I still got sunburned).  The day was full of excitement as we pulled up to the water around 10:30AM.  It was a bit windy, so everyone was a little apprehensive to get in the water at first.  But the sun eventually came out, and many of us enjoyed getting our feet wet.

Among all the fun that was had, there was also a time to remember God.  We sang a couple songs and then Abram led a baptism.  My fellow intern and friend, Katy, was baptized in the dam.  It was such a blessing to see her following God in this way and everyone was very excited for her.

Later that night at church, we had a time of commissioning.  There are four staff members that will be moving on to new seasons in life after this year–Dave, Jenn, Kelly, and Cassie.  We took time to let them know how much we’ve appreciated their time here and prayed for them, one by one.  They will be missed, but we are thankful for their service.

Overall, the day was great.  It was nice to have a relaxing day hanging out with friends and to see God work in it, too.  In a few weeks, we interns will be traveling home and moving onto new things, just as some of the staff.  It is proving to be a time of change, but there is no doubt that it will also bring growth.  It will be exciting to hear what God does next in everybody’s lives.

Update Time

It sounds like it is going to storm as I write this.  Hmph.  Rain jacket today?  Who knows.

Since I’ve been busy, I figured I’d give a list of some thing that have been happening.  I might come back and talk about some in more detail later.  Here it goes…

• Last Monday, I learned how to make fat cakes from Thoko
• Had our LaunchPad graduation class and said good-bye to our students
• Thursday, we went to the Sterkfontein Dam and had a Dam Day
• I watched (and took pictures of) one of my fellow interns get baptized
• We held a water day at Hope House on Friday and the kids had a blast
• Started writing my paper for ISOM this weekend about going over arguments for and against women being elders
• Had dinner at the Rieps’ home and enjoyed hanging out and playing with Silas and Ellie (such cute kids!)
• Realized yesterday that there are four weeks until I fly to the States… where has all the time gone?!

So, that’s my week in a nutshell.  When I get a chance, I will expand on most, if not all, of those things in other posts.  But, that is what’s been up for me!  Has everyone else been busuy too?

Blessed!

This song has been in my head tonight:

God is a good God
He is a great God
He can do anything but fail
He can move any mountains
Out of my way
God is a wonderful God

We are blessed in the cities
Blessed in the fields
We are blessed when we come and when we go
We cast down any strongholds
Sickness and poverty will cease
The devil is defeated because we are blessed
(Blessed, blessed, blessed, we are blessed..)

Exciting News

Below is the email I just sent out, telling of my exciting news!  I know that people on my email list have already seen this, but I wanted to post it here, too.  I am so excited about what God has in store!

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Dear Family and Friends,

Before I get into my exciting news, I want to tell you some highlights from this year.  Many amazing things happened thanks to your faithfulness in prayers and giving.  You have joined my team and the ministry I am doing. You are just as much a part of my ministry and the fruit from the ministry as I have been.

So, here are the highlights of this year:

• A LaunchPad student shared how the class encourages her each week to follow God and do good things.

• Kids at Hope House have quoted to us their monthly memory verse.

• Lives changed as people told us they no longer wanted to worship their ancestors.

• Pastors and leaders felt appreciated because of the time invested into them at Hand-in-Hand.

• A community in Swaziland looks better after hard work and love.

• Praying for a woman’s sick son after she approached me.

• Watching a woman heal from tuberculosis while we visited her during relationship evangelism.

These are all some amazing things that have happened during the past few months as I have served.  However, the most exciting thing has been the one below:

At the end of February, we were in the Quantum (van) heading to Hope House.  Admittedly, I was tired and wasn’t all that excited about going.  I just sat back in the seat and listened to music from my iPod.  During the ride, I wasn’t really thinking about much and, what seemed out of nowhere, I heard a voice say, “You’ll be back here next year.”  I wanted to jump out of my seat to say the least, because I had never had an experience like this.

I didn’t tell anyone about it when it happened.  I wanted to pray about it and make sure I wasn’t just hearing things or that it was some crazy thought I was having.  God showed me that definitely wasn’t the case.  I prayed and asked Him if this was definitely from Him.  The first verses I opened to were Matthew 9:37-38 which says, “He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.’”  Wow… that seemed like a pretty solid answer to me.  About two-months after hearing the words about coming back, I finally talked with someone about what happened.

The next thing to pray and figure out was, “What does here mean?”  Did it mean Africa?  Did it mean South Africa?  Or, did it mean Thrive Africa?  Well, I got my answer for this through the song God of this City.  I had listened to that song a ton of times before then.  I was listening to it just after praying about what “here” meant and one of the parts stuck out to me, “Greater things are still to be done here.”  It was like God just said, “When I said here, I meant right here.”  So that sealed it and likewise began the process of meeting with leadership.

Over the past few months, I moved forward in obedience to God’s calling.  I filled out an application and spoke with various people in leadership.  I told them my desires and now have an answer.  I have been accepted to return on staff at Thrive Africa.  This will be a 3-year commitment and I am ready to dive in fully.  I plan on coming back in May, and will begin training for the Finance Supervisor position and will also be working as the Outreach Assistant.  I am very excited about this opportunity.

I hope that you will begin praying for me as I start this process and continue to follow God in this next step.  I will be working on fundraising and am hoping to have everything in place to return in May 2010.  Thank you for your support thus far and the work that has been accomplished through it.  You are much appreciated… There are greater things yet to be done here!

In Christ,
Jen

Happy Halloween

So, tonight was Halloween, which means a good excuse for us to dress up around here.  Everyone was keeping secret their ideas, so it was fun to finally see them.  We interns decided to be the seven days of creation, as you’ll see in the photo below.

If you are wondering about the days, they are as follows:

Day 1 – light and darkness (Amiel)

Day 2 – sky and water (I did this one!  Woot!)

Day 3 – plants and trees (Katy)

Day 4 – sun, moon, and stars (Tara)

Day 5 – birds and fish (Chelsea)

Day 6 -animals and man (Andrew)

Day 7 – day of rest (Allen)

Too bad I can upload the video Allen made of this.  Oh well… I’ll just say this:

“See, Kelly, nap times are Biblical.” 

October Update

Hello everyone!  Here is a download of my October Update.  I hope you enjoy!

Oct Update Jen