Tigers, Braais, and all nighters, Oh my!

Oh my! How time is flying by! Sorry for the lack of update last week. We were introduced to the world of cricket last tuesday. It was a day of fun spent with friends who were trying to teach us the sport which we picked up on kinda quickly. The past two weeks have been great. So much has happened. God is continuing to do amazing things and continues to teach me new things everyday. As a group we are still doing great, I couldn't have asked for two better girls to be partnered with! Our house is full of fun and craziness. Courtney and Ashley have been so fun to work with and are so encouraging.

This past week has been a hectic one, I would say one of the busier weeks we have had in awhile. On our day off monday we went to go play with tigers. We got to spend the day with stacie, which is always fun, and we were able to see a different part of south africa as we had to drive out of the city some. We were all for getting away from the city for the day. But we had a blast walking and petting tigers. Definitly a once in a lifetime exerience. It is so easy to forget that we are in africa at times living in edenvale. We live next to a mall and have gone to about three in one week and are surrounded by aparments and businesses and the urban life that it doesn't feel like africa. Driving on monday took us out of the city and to a rural part of the area. That was when I was reminded that I am still in africa. Working at the school, usually reminds me that I am still in africa, but
just driving through different towns and seeing a different way of life then that of the city was good to see. We definitly drove through areas of lower income, but there were some beautiful scenary. Once it becomes the rainy season and everything becomes green it is going to be so beautiful. It is still dry, although it should start raining soon.

Wednesday was our day at the orphanage and I spent more time at the other house visting with kids. We mainly work at the hospice house, but wednesday I hung out more with the kids at the other house. An oppurtunity has opened up for me to work with a child at the orphanage and I am looking forward to see how God is going to use that and work in that situation but I am also a little nervous as well. This has been something that I had been praying about before I even left the states, so we will see what the Lord does. But the three main kids we work with are doing well. There was a new boy this week. One of the other boys there was having a bad week, he had been doing well the past two weeks but this was a rough day for him. Depending on how he is feeling we soemtimes see him on wednesdays.

That night I went to a stay awake at aurora school. They were raising money for the school by getting people to sponser the kids as they stayed awake all night. I'm not going to lie I wasn't really looking forward to going and staying up all night. It turned out to be so much fun and a good time. I was able to get to know some of the students better and just talk with them. We had fun playing games, dancing and jumping on a trampoline. The middle of the night hours were spent watching movies and standing by a fire (it was feezing that night). While there I got to talk with the owners daughter and the owner and able to get to know them a little bit, which was nice, because when we are there during the week we don't get to talk with the owner because we are all working. I must say some of those kids have so much energy and had no problem staying up all night, I on the other hand had to drink some coffee (and slept most of the day thursday). A few fell asleep around 3 or 4 in the
morning. It was a fun time and the kids will now go home for about 10 days for a break as they are switching terms. For some of these kids they are going home to bad situations and home lives and are faced with difficult decisions so just pray that they would make the right choices and that God would protect them.

Friday was a national holiday and was braai day (which is the south african word for grill, so everyone cooked out). We went to the office and had a big braai with the missionaries there and got to meet new people and learn about the different things they did and where they came from. We also spent part of saturday with some of the women from the office as well and then that night with some other missionaries watching football so we have gotten to know more of them this weekend, which has been great and we are able to recognize them at church. It really is a good group of people that work there and are all very friendly.

This past week has been amazing. Thank you for your continued prayers and I ask that you continue to pray for the children that we work with that they would come to know Christ and that they would all have a safe vacation at home. Also that we would be able to reach the people in our apartment complex as well.