Sickness, Sun, Sowing Seeds

Hello Everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I posted last. I have been very busy here in my little corner of the world. I have been all over and done lots of different things, met a lot of new people and learned a lot! I won't go in to a lot of details because there is so much to say, I'll just summarize my last few weeks here.

The first week of December I went to Pietermaritzburg, where I stayed at the Old Prison and had my second and last week of isiZulu school, 30 hours in all! I am definitely not fluent, not really even conversational but I know grammar rules, and enough words to talk to the toddlers around the farm...so that's something. This time at class there was another couple that was in the class with us. Ben and Beth Bartholomy. They were a lovely couple that is here to work at UBI (a bible college in PMB). Adam and Karen were away and Don and Jon were very busy so we had to walk to and from school each day...until Ben and Beth very graciously decided to pick us up and drop us off every day! It was such a relief not to walk in the heat.

All of us that were in Language School with our Teachers

I went back to the farm for a week, we had a prefect camp come in, it was such a blast to do all kinds of leadership activities with them and get to know the students. The school system here is quite different and each school has a prefect body that helps with discipline at the school (think of the prefects at Hogwarts if you're confused).

Kloof High School Prefects (I'm in the back third in from the left)

That weekend I got picked up and taken to the PMB YMCA to spend the night. We would have stayed at the Old Prison that night, except that the cell block that we used for storage caught on fire and completely burned out. The structure was deemed unstable and in danger of collapse so we were not allowed to stay at the house part of the prison.

The Storage Cell Block on Fire :(

We stayed at the YMCA for one night and then everyone involved in MCC from South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland, packed up and headed for Pennington Resort. We spent the first day chilling at the camp site, it was cold and rainy. The next day we went to Oribi Gorge which was very cool. We did some hiking, walked across a suspension bridge, and drove through a game park. Only one maybe two people didn't feel very good at this point. 

Overlooking Oribi Gorge from
the suspension bridge

The next day we had a free day and we all went to the beach in the morning and  in the afternoon to hang out and swim in the tidal pool/lagoon. The sea was too rough and rocky to actually swim in the waves. It was overcast and very windy but the water felt amazing! Only three or four people didn't feel well this day, but by the evening there were several others that were not feeling super great.

Tidal Pool/Lagoon at Pennington Beach

 The next morning we got up and headed to Wild Waves Water Park in the Eastern Cape (Province) in Port Edward (City). There were about five people that felt healthy on this day and were not in danger of losing some sort of cookies while going down the water slides. The water slides were very cool though, I, being among the healthy had a blast! There was a plunge slide, a bowl slide, a boomerang slide, and two traditional water slides. It was cold and overcast but again, the water felt great! The next day everyone was still feeling terrible but it was departure day. I was in the last group to be leave our little campsite. I got dropped off on an off ramp just a little ways from Pennington where I was received by Garth and taken to Camp Anerely.

Wild Waves Water Park

Anerley is the campsite that hosts the twice yearly AYM camp. (AYM= Assemblies Youth Ministry...I think) I was going to help out with the senior camp. I arrived on the second day with senior campers, the first full day. Wow was it overwhelming, I was in a new place, with new people, with 100 kids, and had no idea what was going on! It was a blast! I was immediately given a sports team to cheer on, an activity to lead that afternoon (The kids had to use sling shots to hit milk bottle targets), and a bungalow to help counsel with Rae and Sika. The theme for the camp was the parable of the sower. Each day we took an in depth look at the different types of soil spoken about in the parable. It was so great. I even learned a lot each day from our bible study, and ministry session in the evening. It was very cool to here how other's interpret the scripture. Each day the kids did a workshop to demonstrate a biblical principle from the parable and I loved watching the campers grow and have "light bulb" moments throughout the week. Each day I had free time because I was not refereeing sports sessions, which happen twice a day and were over an hour long. I kept busy by holding and watching the 3 month old Joshua....I was very much at home with that little baby in my arms all week. And it freed the parents to do their duties without having to worry, so I was helping! On the second full day of camp we spent the morning at the beach, it was HOT and Sunny! I'm sure you can imagine what happened...everyone was red red red. I tried my best to remain un-burnt but I did get quite a burn in the middle of my back (which is peeling terribly now!...woops, sorry mom) We had a lot of burnt feet and faces for the rest of camp. All week it was hot and sunny, which was so nice for the kids, and for a camp in general, it's much easier to be happy and enthusiastic when it's sunny out, even if you are always trying to find the shade.

Louise, Akhona, Sika, Amanda and of course little Joshua
at AYM Camp at Camp Anerely

Now I am back at the farm for the holidays. I'll be spending Christmas with the Hawyes family and I must say, there are already a lot of good looking presents under our little tree. Keep an eye out for a special Christmas Blog, coming soon!

 Thank you for sticking through this long post. I love hearing from you and appreciate your thoughts and prayers. You can keep up-to-date through facebook and instagram.