The Indian Ocean!!

On Wednesday, after Jenn makes and receives a few phone calls we head out to Durban and the Indian Ocean.  When I was growing up, I never thought I’d make it to Africa, and I’ve now been there twice (I was in Egypt in 1979 on a trip to the Holy Land).  But the Indian Ocean, that was even further away than Africa.  Being at the Indian Ocean, WOW!!  We got there about 5:30 in the afternoon.  We had eaten a late lunch on the way, so we weren’t hungry when we got there.  We looked the place over, and were impressed.  The Indian Ocean was right out our deck, patio, or lani, whatever you want to call it.  It was huge (both the ocean and the deck).  As we looked down on the ocean, I was amazed at the volume of noise that was coming up.  It was really loud.  And it didn’t stop.  When we went to bed that first night, I shut the sliding doors in our room and the noise was just as loud with them shut as when they were open.  Later I found out that they hadn’t installed the sliding doors correctly, and even though the doors were shut in the middle, they were open at each end.  When I discovered that the next day and shut them completely, it was still loud.  It was a good sound, but I was amazed that it was so very loud, all the time, didn’t stop. 

The accomodations were great.  We had three bedrooms, one with 2 bunk beds, and two with queen beds.  Two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining area, and a living room with television, and we found out on Thursday morning, a maid came in and did the dishes, cleaned the floors, made the beds, etc.  This made it a vacation for everyone. 

After we settled in the first evening, Jenn and I went into the business section to get a few groceries and to get an internet connection.  We actually stayed in a town called Ballito, just north of Durban, and it was just a short drive from our place to the shopping center.  We got to the shopping area, a small mall at 6:30, and all the stores were closed.  We really needed to get connected to the internet because it had been out at Thrive for over a week.  Jenn had gotten it at one of the coffee shops before and knew what to do, so I sat outside in the dark, using my flashlight if I needed to see the keyboard, got connected and sent the e-mail.  Jenn went to buy the groceries.  She came back and said that everything was closed.  The town shut down sometime before 6 pm.  All the stores except the video rental place and a bar were closed.  So, we went back to the apartment and ate some snacks that we had brought with us.

The next day we went swimming in the ocean.  You can see some pictures of Jenn, Becca, Andy and I and what the waves did to us.  The undertow there was tremendous.  We didn’t go very far out and had to fight to keep from being swept out with the tide.  But we had fun.  We got sand in everything.  I had sand stuck in my hair, and if you look closely, you’ll see that that is pretty hard to do. 

Becca and Jenn went swimming in the pool and Marty and I walked down the street to a local store and bought groceries.  There were many people selling things alongside the road, and later I went back and bought three beach towels.  They also had a pizza place near the store, and we had that for dinner one night. 

We had fun going to the beach, swimming in the pool, listening to the waves beat against the shore, resting and relaxing.  It was a great place to do those things.  The Thrive staff was told not to call Jenn, and they didn’t.  What a great blessing that was to not have the phone ringing all the time.  It was a great vacation time for all of us. 

They also have something in South Africa that we don’t have here, and that is a butter flavored olive oil.  Jenn puts that on the popcorn after it is popped and it tastes like you were at the movies.  Really good.  Can’t get that same flavoring here, and we’ve looked in a number of places.  Maybe we’ll have to import it from South Africa.  

The noise was louder than this, all the time.  Awesome!!

Marty and the Ants -- The ongoing saga!

We arrived back at Thrive about 10 pm on Tuesday night.  We’re tired.  We’re now staying with Jenn at her new place.  She hasn’t spent one night in her new house alone.  First there was Becca for a night, then Andy moved over with her.  Now we’re all here, busy trying to get everything in from the vehicle, and get people to bed.  I’m getting Marty’s CPAP machine out of the case and I notice some small ants on it.  I remembered picking it up that morning at Mabula, and there were a couple of small ants crawling on top of it.  I didn’t think much of it, and just brushed them off.  As I now unpack it and get it ready for Marty to use, there are more ants on it, and I see what looks like ant eggs in some of the crevices on top.  I turn it over and shake it.  Out comes 62 (more or less) ant eggs and 21 ants.  I busily try to kill them all.  After all, we’re up in the loft bedroom at Jenn’s place.  I see more eggs and ants running around.  I take it down to the sink, hit it again, more ants fall out, more eggs fall out.  I shake harder.  More keep falling.  I open a chamber that is sealed, FULL OF ANTS!!  I try drowning them with water.  Just in case you ever need to know, ants can survive a long time under water.  I try some hydrogen peroxide.  That kills a lot of them.  But then, I see more ants and the machine has water where it shouldn’t.  I set it outside, knowing I don’t have a screwdriver to take it apart. 

Because of Marty’s sinus surgery the first part of January, she can breathe a little better now, so she tries to sleep without it for this night.  The thought of ants in her machine gives her the heebie jeebies.  She didn’t think she’d get much sleep using it.  She lays down and goes right to sleep.  I keep waking up, making sure she is alive and breathing.  We make it through the night.  The next morning, James, the property guy at Thrive comes over with the right screwdriver.  It can’t be a regular one, it is a star headed screw.  Luckily, he has the correct one with him.  I take the machine apart.  There are ants where there shouldn’t be any.  There are ant eggs in other places.  I get them all out of the machine, I blow everything out. I use a hair dryer to dry the machine, to kill the ants with heat, to dry up the ant eggs.  It is clean.  Marty is a little uneasy about using a machine that was just last night the home of ants.  I assure her, they are gone.  No problem.  Ants couldn’t live through what I just put the machine through.  We’re good to go.  She uses the machine.  We are golden. 

Fast forward 23 days.  It is now March 26^th.  I look at the machine, I take out the water tank to refill it.  I see small ants inside the water tank, outside the water tank, they are crawling inside the machine.  AUGH!!!!!!  How could ants survive 11,000 miles in an airplane cargo hold?  Why did they stay dormant for 23 days?  I fill the water tank every 3 days and didn’t see them until now.  Unlike South Africa, it is cool to cold here.  We wrap the machine in plastic bags, put it outside.  We use Marty’s old machine.  We’ll deal with the ants on Saturday.  Our trip to South Africa, it keeps giving.  J

Our Safari in Mabula

Sunday evening, we packed, getting ready to leave Mt. Everest for the last time on Monday, March 2^nd.  The mission work is over, we’re on our way to Mabula, a game preserve and our Safari.  On the way, we stop and eat at a South African Chicken diner.  The food was fine, but all the food places run on South African time.  You order your meal, and sometime later it comes.  It may come in 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes.  There just weren’t any “fast food” places in South Africa.  If they were called that, they didn’t live up to their name.  We were able to eat outside, however, when the food came, along came the yellow jackets.  They really seemed to enjoy Andy’s meal, so he finally sat at another table to eat.

We arrived at Mabula at 4 pm.  They were waiting for us with cool drinks, cookies and a warm welcome.  What a surprise, to be greeted like that.  We got to our rooms, and regrouped and met at 4:30 for our evening safari.  We loaded into the vehicle and off we went.  We were able to see a young elephant, about 6 years old.  He was off by himself, but we were never able to get in front of him to see him walking towards us.  We saw many other animals, and enjoyed drinks at sunset on the African land.  As you watch the pictures, you can see the names of the animals at the bottom of the pictures. 

Then we came back and had dinner at 8.  There were 7 different kinds of meat which we could pick and they would barbeque it there for us.  It was open, so we could go back as many times as we wanted, so we were able to sample many things.  Then a group came out and did a show for us, and they picked Andy and Becca to help them perform.  Can you tell which ones they are?  Don’t they both fit in well? 

Tuesday we’re awake at 4:45 am, and meet the rest of the group and load up for our morning safari.  This morning, we see more of the animals, get closer to some, but we don’t see any elephants.  We do, however, see where one has been.  You can see how we know that in the pictures.  The one animal that really impressed me was the giraffe.  It was huge.  It had to have been at least 24 feet tall.  We don’t have anything to compare it with, but we were sitting up 8 feet off the ground, and that is where I took the picture. 

 Then we packed and stopped at a street market.  While there, we noticed a seller who was wearing a cross necklace.  Marty asked him what the cross meant, and he said, “I am a believer in Jesus Christ.”  We had a uplifting chat with Patrick.  How nice it was to find a believer who shared his faith with us. 

Then off to another street market where Becca got stung by a hornet.  Then we got Margaret to the airport and checked in.  Then we dropped Greg and Muriel off at their hotel.  They spent another 10 days in South Africa, flying to the Cape and then back to Kruger State Park for 4 days of safari.  

Riding Horses in South Africa

Sunday after dinner, Andy and Becca rode horses.  There are about 30 horses on the Thrive property, maybe 10 of which can be ridden.  The family in charge of the farm, care for the horses and give riding lessons to children from town.  Jennifer asked if Becca and Andy could ride, and they agreed to help us Sunday afternoon.  You can see how much fun they had.  They told us that Becca did a great job on the horses.  She was riding alone after 15 minutes.  She made the horse trot.  She made the horse turn around and go in the other direction.  She was in horse heaven!!  

Greg and I then took two of the horses and we rode with Heather, the horse lady, around the ranch.  It had probably been more than 25 years since I have ridden.  (I really can’t remember the last time I rode.)  It was fun.  I was raised with horses and didn’t have any trouble getting back into the saddle again.  I was a little stiff getting off the horse, and the next day was only a little sore.  What an adventure, riding horses in South Africa!

Preaching Sunday in Qwa Qwa

We got up early on Sunday morning, had breakfast and headed out for church in Qwa Qwa.  This was a special day for me.  I was the guest preacher for the service.  The service started with a man leading the singing with a guy on the keyboard.  Then he moved to the drums, and a woman came to the front and started to sing.  She was joined by two other young women, and they would start singing, and the musicians would join in along with the congregation.  Some of the songs were in English, others were in Sesotho.  It was an interesting worship service.  Then the pastor got up and he would say something and then he would start singing a song, or he would turn to the women and they would begin singing a song.  From time to time someone would get up from the congregation, walk up front and they would begin to lead the song.  Then 19 women came up and sang, then some of them sat down, and they sang some more.  

After the introductions of the guests, the pastor called me up, and I was privileged to speak using Genesis 1, telling the congregation that God loves us so much He gave us a diverse, beautiful, and colorful world to us.  He could have made it grey and black, but we have variety of all kinds for us to enjoy.  God loves us before we begin to love Him, as Psalm 139 tells us.  God showed us even more love when His Son, Jesus, came to die for us as it tells us in Romans 5, and nothing we can do is able to separate us from His love, as Romans 8 tells us.  Then I invited people up for prayers for healing, and people started to come.  Marty came as well, and when she saw all the other people, she joined with me as we prayed for all those who came.  What a great privilege to pray for the people as they came seeking God’s special touch.  What a blessing for us to pray for mothers and their children, the youth, and for parents and grandparents. 

Speaking a second time with an interpreter was easier.  It was great to see the faces of the people understanding what was being said.  I could see it sometimes when I spoke and at others when the interpreter spoke.  Our God is the same, in America and in South Africa.  He loves us all.  He died for us all.  What a special privilege to share that with people in two different countries and cultures.  

Lion Den

Saturday was our day to visit the Lion’s Den. This was about 3 hours from Thrive where they raise Lions. Hence, the name, Lion’s Den. They had a place where we were able to play with 8 week old lion cubs. Then we went for a short safari drive through the resort. We saw some other animals, and another fenced area where there were 3 other lions. They are kept and fed in a place that looked to be about 10 acres or so. They were resting and not doing anything, which is what lions do 20 hours a day. Then all of a sudden, they jumped up, and the male lion rushed over to the corner of the fence. That is where the picture of him was taken. As he got to the fence, a herd of wildebeest went by. He stood at attention watching them. Then they passed by and he went back over and lay down again.
They also had a pen of Nile river alligators on the property as well. We ate lunch there, and the food was really quite good. We were able to eat outside watching the lions in the pen move around. Then we saw the people come and feed them. That was interesting watching them fight over who got what part of the animal. You'll see in the pictures, a picture of Marty's arm. She was bitten by something while at the Lion's Den. She didn't feel it until later in the day. This picture was taken 36 hours after she was bitten. The swelling started to go down and didn't go away for a week.

It rained when we left Thrive but it was nice at the Lion Park, and rained when we got back home. But we expected that because we had prayed for good weather and baby lions to pet.  The last picture is of the rocks at the Lion Park.  What unusual formations they were!

Smore Party

Friday night was to be our mission group bondfire with smores. But rain took over and that event had to be cancelled. But can you really cancel a smore party? Roasting marshmallows over the stove burner, all the fun with none of the smoke.

Friday Afternoon, February 27

We made it back down from our Mt. Everest climb in time for lunch, and then we planned to go to Qwa Qwa for Children’s Ministry, but it was raining again there, so we were unable to go. Instead, Jennifer took us the other way from Thrive, away from the rain to a place called Little Switzerland. You’ll see pictures of the zebra that they had there. They were called brown zebra, and when you look at the picture, the reason is obvious.

You’ll also see a little area beside the road, a picnic table and 4 benches. Notice the great care taken to keep the grass cut and the site looking good. Then you’ll see a building surrounded by razor wire which looked abandoned. Strange.

Friday morning change of plans

Friday, we were ready to return to Qwa Qwa for more relationship evangelism. However, there were some logistics problems. Jennifer had reserved a vehicle for us to get to Qwa Qwa, however, when she went to get it, there wasn’t one available. After a number of calls, it was determined that we would not be going to Qwa Qwa that morning. The women decided to rest and enjoy a quiet morning at Thrive. We haven’t had much time to just relax since we arrived. While they did that, Greg and I decided to climb Mt. Everest. If you look at our cabin in the picture the Friday, Feb 20, you’ll see the mountain behind the cabin. That is called Mt. Everest, and that is what we climbed.

We left the cabin at 10:10 on Friday morning. Remember, the cabin is about 6200 feet in elevation. The mountain is another 1000 feet above that. When a person is that high, the air is a little thinner and it makes breathing more difficult. We both exercise some, so we didn’t experience much difficulty in the climb. We may have stopped more often than I remember, but we kept up a pretty good pace as we moved up the mountain. There are many ways to climb Mt. Everest, and we did not take the one where we would use ropes and pull each other up. We walked up the trail. We made it in less than 35 minutes. We had a great view as you can see from the pictures. We saw not only on the Thrive side, but also on the side looking towards Harrismith. You can also see a picture of “The Eagle.” And this mountain is why the Thrive property is also call Thrive “Eagle Mountain.” That is the mountain just north of Mt. Everest, which is also on Thrive property.

A Home in Qwa Qwa

Thursday morning, we went back to Qwa Qwa and did more relationship evangelism. We went back to the house where the woman invited us to come today. We got there, and she said that she was afraid that we wouldn’t come back. She left work at 4 am to come home and sleep before we arrived. She was very glad we came. She had her laundry out on the line and was caring for her grandson. We went into her living room and talked. The pictures you see here are of her house. She had a slightly larger house than many in Qwa Qwa. She said that her husband had been dead for about 10 years. Later we discovered that 10 years could be anything from 2 to 20 years. Time didn’t seem to be measured in South Africa like we do in America. She also had a fairly large lot which she used for a large garden. The goat you see tied belonged to her neighbor. The road that Andy is walking on is the road to this house. It is not the alley, this is the only road to the home.

We found out that she owned the land her house was on, and that the government built her house. She seemed to think the question was silly, who else would build my house, she implied. She worked cleaning office buildings in town at night, making 1200 Rand (right now equilevent to $120) a month. She would walk or take a bus into work. Then during the day she would care for her grandson. While we were there, we went out and picked some peaches which we pealed and ate. They tasted a great deal like our peaches. Then a rain sqwal came through, and we ran out and removed her laundry from the lines.

In the pictures, you can see her kitchen, the two bedrooms, and we are sitting in the living room. The bathroom, well, there wasn’t one. The toilet was outside. You can see from the picture of the outside of her house that her house is larger than many houses in Qwa Qwa. She had a living room added onto the house after it was first built. The younger black woman in the picture was our translator. She told us her youngest daughter who lived with her, attended the Launch Pad class at her school. She asked more questions about American than any other person we visited with. How would you answer this question she asked? “Here, a girl gets pregnant and then gets married. Is that the way it happens in America? Or do they get married first?” She was glad we came and shared with her.

We never ate lunch at the homes, we always came back to our staging area, in this case, a church. After lunch, we were going to do Children Evangelism. We would start a program with music and maybe walk down the street, and the kids would come out and follow us, kind of like a piped piper. However, about 1 pm it began to rain and it poured for an hour, soaking the ground and continued to rain throughout the afternoon. In South Africa, no one is outside during the rain, so we had to cancel the Children’s Evangelism program.

Launch Pad

In the afternoon, we went to another school to meet with kids and see how the program called Launch Pad works.  This is another after school program where learners, and people who are out of school, come to learn more about the Bible and Christianity.  These are taught by the interns (young people who come to Thrive and live there for 11 months, immersing themselves in missions) and are open to anyone who wishes to participate.  It is usually attended by those who are still in school, but they have had older adults come as well.  Some of the courses they teach are “Ordinary Day with Jesus,” “Love, Sex, and Relationships”, Becoming a Contagious Christian,” and more.  It was exciting to see the learners gathered there to learn more about the Bible.  This class was called, “Digging Deep,” which is a study of the Old Testament. 

Here are some pictures of Launch Pad.  This class is held in a school room that Jennifer obtained last year from the school.  This was a vacant room, so Jenn and others from Thrive cleaned it and removed junk from it, and it is now there room to use whenever they want to.  Again, something that doesn’t happen in America.  The last three pictures included here are of the fence around the school.  It seemed that all the schools had razor barbed wire around the school property.  You can see the neighbor's garden through the fence in one of the pictures.  

Wednesday Morning in Qwa Qwa

Wednesday morning, we went back to Qwa Qwa and did relationship evangelism again. However, today, the first place we went, the woman said that she had worked all night, and asked if we could come back tomorrow (Friday). We said that we would try. We then went to the sister-in-law of the woman we met yesterday, and she came to the door with her hand covered with what looked like green slime. She said she was replastering the wall in her kitchen. Later we found out that the green slime was really cow dung and water and dirt. What is your plaster made out of? We visited two other places with not much of a response, and then we stopped at a house where there was a man and woman in their early 20’s, and a 7 month old baby. It was really warm that day, and they invited us into their living room. They had the television on (they were watching Dr. Phil), and they turned it down while we visited with them. Most of the people in South Africa, don’t ask many questions. They will answer your questions, but they won’t volunteer a lot of additional information. This was the only male that we talked to in the houses we visited. And they were not married like we thought, they were brother and sister. We didn’t ask about the baby’s father. Neither of them worked, they existed on payments from the state. It was extremely hot in the house. They didn’t open any windows or doors. Finally we had to leave because of the heat. The picture is of one of the women we talked with. She is caring for her granddaughter.

Delivering Break the Silence Books

After the hospital, we went to one of the schools that has Leadership Summit.  We were there to deliver books to the students.  We were a little later getting there than we had planned (that happened a lot while we were in Africa.), and the students were waiting for us.  Usually, the younger learners would still be in class, but today, they were just getting out when we arrived.  When the younger children, ages 6-10, saw Becca, they ran to her and touched her arm and her hair.  I was standing right beside her and kept telling her to just smile.  For most, if not all of them, this was the first time they ever saw a white girl their own age, one that had light brown hair and blue eyes.    She was a little frightened at first ---- but handled it ok.  But as more children saw her, more kept coming.  They wanted to touch her and then wanted to have their picture taken with her.  Finally, we had to put her in the truck just to keep them from pulling at her.

The learners really were excited to receive the books we gave out.  This is part of the curriculum that Jenn devised and developed.  The book we gave out is called, Breaking the Silence.  It deals with friendships, sex, alcohol, and a chapter on “What do you see when you look in the mirror?”  The book is very well done and throughout the book, the learners are taught that Jesus loves them and wants them to live the best possible life.  There are calls to commit to follow Jesus and ways to keep from falling to temptation.  And as you can see by the picture, they were excited to get the books.  If more coaches could be recuited and trained, more youth could be reached.  If you want more information about how to help support a coach, contact me or Jennifer@thriveafrica.org.  The lives of youth in South Africa are being changed.    

 

The Hospital in Qwa Qwa

After lunch, we went to the hospital in Qwa Qwa.  Jenn says this is a better hospital than the one in Harrismith.  She says that 80 % of the people who enter the Harrismith hospital, die.  Thrive won’t take anyone to Harrismith.  She told us that after we visited the hospital in Qwa Qwa.  It was very sparse.  The one elevator wasn’t working very well.  We finally walked up the 3 flights of stairs.  Then the men went to the men’s ward and the women to the women’s.  There were 3 wards for the men, each one had 12 beds.  6 were on either wall with the feet facing towards the center.  There were no privacy curtains, there was oxygen at each bed, and that was it.  The beds did move up and down with hand cranks. There were 21 men in the hospital.  Seemed like a small number for a town of 1.8 million. 

We went from bed to bed and talked with the men.  What surprised me was that most of the men had no idea what was wrong with them.  One was there because he was depressed and wanted to die.  Another had stomach problems, another wasn’t eating.  They knew what was bothering them, but they weren’t given a diagnosis or treatment regimen.  Everyone wanted us to pray for them, and we were happy to do that. 

 When we finished visiting the men, we went to the children’s ward.  Again, no real care given by the staff.  There were babies who were not eating, and other children who had broken bones.  No toys and very little interaction between the staff and patients.  One boy had been dropped off by his mom 6 days earlier, and they hadn’t been back to check on him.  Marty had to get a nurse to come change a little girl who was soaked in urine so she could get her out of bed to hold her and play with her. 

What an eye opening experience this was.  People complain about the health care system in the USA.  We have the best the world has to offer.  Where do people come from around the world for medical care?  They come to the USA.  Seeing the medical system in South Africa makes me thankful for the health care system that we have in America.  

Meeting people in their homes

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we divided our team into two groups and participated in relationship evangelism.  This is where we go to an area in a town and we knock on doors.  Most of the people invite us in, and we spend time getting to know them.  Idealy we spend the morning with them, and then go back in the afternoon to continue our visit.  If they have things they are doing, we offer to help, if not we just visit.  We ask questions and they ask questions of us.  South African culture is far different than American culture.  In South Africa, there are no questions that are out of line.  It is not considered rude to ask any kind of question.  If they don’t want to answer, they won’t.  If there was a young person at home, they could speak English, otherwise we had an interpreter with us.

Today, my group went to what looked like a more well to do house.  It was larger than most of the houses in the area.  The standard house in the poorer areas of any town was 21 feet by 18 feet, and consisted of 4 rooms, a kitchen/eating room, a living room (most houses had a television, some would run them off a 12 volt car battery because they had no electricity in the home), and 2 bedrooms.  If the house was larger, they might have a third bedroom, or a larger eating area.    The bathroom was almost always outside.  In all the houses we visited, I never saw an indoor toilet.  

The house today was one of the few larger houses in Qwa Qwa.  They had 3 dogs – a sign of wealth – a calf and a goat were tethered outside and they had a huge garden.  This was the only home we visited in our three days that had a dog, and they had 3.  When we arrived, the woman was busy staining the cement walk around her house.  Muriel stepped right up and offered to sweep the walk ahead of her staining it.  The lady used a rag in some kind of red homemade stain.  Muriel was sweeping with a round straw broom with a handle about 12 inches long and the broom part was about 12 inches long.    We talked a little while she finished the job.  Then we went inside and she started to prepare a drink for us.  When Andy and I came in, she told us we had to go into the other room turn on the television and wait.  Men could not work in the kitchen.  So, Andy and I sat on a leather like couch covered with clear plastic.  There really wasn’t much on the tv.  Most South Africans get their television programs through satalite.  They pay the government so much a year for a smart card, and that card goes in the receiver in the house and the cost of the card, determined what channels you received.  There is no free television in South Africa. 

About 15 minutes later, the women came in with hot water, tea bags and cookies (crackers).  We made the tea and the woman was shocked when some of us didn’t put sugar in our tea.  She was so surprised she said, “With no sugar, what does it taste like?”  I thought that was a silly question.  If you wondered what it tasted like, then why didn’t you try it without sugar.  But that thought never seemed to have entered her mind, because she couldn’t comprehend why anyone would ever drink tea without sugar. 

We were able to ask her some questions about her family and husband.  She had one daughter, and her husband was a police officer in Qwa Qwa.  That helped explain the better home and dogs.  She said they attended a local church, that had a bishop, but she didn’t really know much about what they believed.  By now it was time to go and we prayed for her, invited her to come to church with us on Sunday.  A very interesting beginning to our day.  

Some more thoughts about Monday, February 23

After the teachings of Impact Day, we fed the 300 plus people who were there. Jennifer had found a place where they sold what we might call pot pies, but they were wrapped in flat bread instead of in a tin. They were more than what we would call a wrap. We had one, and they weren’t too bad until someone asked what was in them. I won’t tell you what was in them, but they were called Kidney Pie.

After this, we went to take back the dinner baskets for the Kidney pies, and saw one of the main shopping markets for Qwa Qwa. This was a 4 city block area which serves as a main shopping area for 1.8 million people. There were a lot of open air places, and many of the things for sale were old and used. One vendor sold electronics, however, they were mostly radios from the 1960's. There were some in his pile that I remember seeing when I was growing up. The poverty was great there. It would have to be with over 75% unemployed. It looked like many of the people would bring things in to sell on the ground and then they would pack it all up with them when they left.

What are the prices like in South Africa? We were surprised that food costs were very good. Soda pop was 50 cents a can. We got ice cream cones at Kentucky Fried Chicken for 25 cents. And the chicken was good, not quite the same as KFC in America, but it was good. I had a 600 gram T-Bone steak (16 oz) meal for $5.50. However, you order your meal and when it is ready they bring it out to you. How is that different from the USA? Well, sometimes the meal comes out in 5 minutes (rarely), sometimes in 10 or 20 or 30 minutes. There is nothing in South Africa that we could compare to fast food. They seemed to be on their own time.

And there are people walking everywhere. They were alongside every road we traveled. Most of the time, there were a lot of people as this picture shows.

I already mentioned the weather, and this Monday was typical for the time we were there. Becca spent more time outside than the rest of us did on Monday and she got sunburned. It went from 53 degrees, to somewhere near 80. Then on our way back to Thrive, it started to rain and turned cold again. We would wear clothes in layers, starting off wearing them, then carrying them, then putting them back on as the sun started to set.

Impact Day in Qwa Qwa -- February 23

Monday morning, my shoes are still a little wet. But with the help of the oven, the warming drawer in the oven, and the hair dryer, they are dry enough to wear. But as a constant reminder of my ZIP ride, there is a scorch mark on one shoe.

It was really warm on Sunday, but during the night it kept getting colder and colder. The chalet we are in is not sealed very well, and not insulated at all, When the wind blows, you can feel it blowing inside the house. The curtains and drapes move as the wind blows into the house. We woke up and it was 53 degrees in the house. It was 53 degrees outside the house as well. What a change from yesterday.

After breakfast, we head to Qwa Qwa for Leadership Summit day, IMPACT. Qwa Qwa is a town about an hour from Thrive. It is a very poor city, with over 1.8 million people, over 75% of them unemployed. Jennifer arranged to have the school year kick off for Leadership Summit at a church in Qwa Qwa. She had invited 20 middle schools to each send 20 of their best learners to IMPACT. We could feel the excitement as the learners and principals gathered together. The schools provided transportation and allowed the learners to come to IMPACT instead of attending their regular classes. A better way of writing that would be to say the schools encouraged the learners to come to IMPACT. One school reported that after a year of Leadership Summit arrived, their learner pregnancy rate dropped 67%. What an impact Leadership Summit is making! And the schools realize what is happening and are very supportive of Leadership Summit.

At IMPACT, there were 17 coaches (these are the Basotho young adults who teach the Leadership Summit classes) along with 267 7-9th graders. Jennifer provided a great honor to me by asking me to speak at this Leadership Summit Kickoff. The theme for this year’s IMPACT days is Integrity. She wanted the learners to think about how their actions affect, not only their lives, but the lives of those around them. This was a first for me, speaking with an interpreter. It wasn’t as difficult as I imagined it would be. The audience was great. After speaking about doing what you say and saying what you do, a key part of Integrity, the learners divided into groups and discussed how they would show Integrity in their lives. They formulated responses to the questions given to them in the message. They gave responses that dealt with their daily lives. One said that he would not take the drugs that his parents offer him. Another said she would no longer sleep with her boyfriend. Can you picture any American youth saying that to a room of 300? I, we, were really impressed.

Riding the Zip line -- sort of -- February 22

Saturday and Sunday are generally free days in South Africa. It is very difficult to do ministry on Saturday here. Many people are attending funerals. It is very hard to plan meetings or events on Saturdays. People just don’t come. For our first Saturday in South Africa, after we had the last of our training we went on a tour of the baboon park, the cultural center, and the town of Clarens. At the cultural center, we had a visual tour of the differences between 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th century tribal customs and home styles.

We didn’t see any baboons, but we did enjoy the scenery. It was a good day to see the countryside.

Sunday after an early breakfast, we went to African church which started at 11. This service had a lot of singing. They had a drummer and a piano/organ player, along with 3 or 4 people leading the singing. When the music would slow down or stop, then someone would start singing another song. Then the pastor came up front and he would start singing a song and all would join in. No overhead, no books, no song sheets, just people singing. We could follow along fairly well after a while. Some of the songs were in English, others were in Sesotho, the native language of the Basotho people. There were 5 or 6 other pastors there, one from the other mission group at Thrive, and me, along with 4 from other churches. We were all introduced and participated in various parts of the service. Because Jenn was known at the church, they did a special introduction for us from Cornerstone. It was interesting to hear a good sermon and the translation. At the end of the service, they called the pastors up to pray for the sick. We probably prayed for 35 people. Music was playing, people were singing. Only God could hear and understand what the pastors were praying. But after all, isn’t He the only one who needs to hear or understand?

The weather where Jenn lives changes rapidly. Saturday night, it was very warm when we went to sleep, and it was warm on Sunday. It was warm traveling to church, and warm coming home. We got back and ate around 3 pm. It was still hot. Storm clouds were gathering, but we thought we'd go swimming and maybe use the zip line across the pond that is on the property. We got ready and when we got to the pond it was starting to get colder. As we looked at the zip line, Greg didn't think his shoulders could stand the overhead holding on, but I thought I could handle it. Jenn said there was no problem, I could make it all the way across the pond without getting wet. So, l left my shoes and shirt on -- I had changed into my bathing suit before we left. I launch the zip line and as I am crossing the pond, the water looks like it is getting closer and closer. Of course, I can't stop, and then my gluteus maximus hits the water the same time my feet do. I am hanging on the line, wet up to my chest and Jenn says to let go, the water isn't that deep. I'm not sure I could believe her, she was the one that told me I could make it to the other side without getting wet. Then I hear Muriel, Margaret and Marty laughing. Muriel was laughing so hard she was rolling on the ground, literally. Marty was filming this and as we learned later as we watched it, she was laughing so hard the camera was shaking. There was a new long rope on the zip line, so Greg starts pulling me back up the zip line. I'm getting closer to the shore and Greg says, "I'm fading fast." So as soon as I can see land underneath me, I drop off the line. Then I hear hollering from up above as Greg goes flying backwards falling over a log because he didn’t know I was going to drop off the zip line. Then the rain begins to pour down, and we run back to the truck, Greg is still coiling up the rope, and when he gets to the truck, the rain really comes pouring, then hail, then more rain. We finally make it back to the cabin and I get off the wet clothes, shower and get dry. Then I realize that I only have dress shoes left. So we put my shoes outside to get washed, it is still really raining. We get them back in and try to dry them off. How do you do that without a dryer? We use the oven. And it has a warming drawer. We dry them with a chamois and get them as dry as we can, then use the oven and warming drawer. We did turn them off before we went to bed. Would I have shoes to wear on Monday morning?

This video takes a while to load, but you might enjoy the laughter!!

Friday, Feburary 20, getting down to work

Friday morning we are up with the sun, still amazed that we are in South Africa. The chalet we are staying in is so far from the rest of the buildings, that Jenn has to transport us everywhere we go. All our meals were furnished for us while we were on the mission. At breakfast, we had a white porridge like food that looked a lot like cream of rice cereal. I thought it was really good tasting. We found out that it was maize, or corn meal. But how could that be, I don't like corn meal, and besides, it is white. But that is what it is, and it is called Pap when cooked like that. I had to buy a kg of it and brought it home. I hope to be able to fix some soon. Then we'll know if it was just being in South Africa that made it taste so good, or if it really is that tasty. None of the rest of the group thought it was as good as I did.

After breakfast, Jenn had to take some of the other mission team to Qwa Qwa, so we came back to our place and visited. Then we went to training which Jenn led, followed by lunch, and then we finished our training. After training Jenn took all the women to visit the Orphanage called Hope House. There are about 30 children at Hope House, ranging in age from a month to 16 years old. Some are adopted, but many spend their youth at the Orphanage. We were able to go and hold the children and Becca had a great time playing with them. Our hearts were moved to see the conditions they were living in, and we were able to hold the children and show them some love and physical touch. There were only 3 toys for all the children there.
While the women were at the Orphanage, Greg and I came back to the house and we both took a nap. This was the only nap during the two weeks we were there that we had. During the afternoon, it rained and thundered. The rain came in from the west, but the clouds were blowing over the mountains from the east. Jenn lives in a very unusual place. Big rocks standing 1300 feet or so above where Thrive is. There are rocks sticking out of the ground that look like they have fallen off the bigger rocks sticking out of the ground. Pretty amazing.

The chalets here are not what you would call well built. We went to bed last night and there was an east wind blowing, and we could feel and hear it blowing into the room where we were sleeping. The chalet we are staying in looks like it was a log cabin kit. They evidently didn't include a lot of caulking with it. But the weather is warm, so we're fine. Then today it was humid and warm.
Jenn is moving to another house because of her new job here. She is now the missions administrator. She has many more areas of ministry to oversee and she has to coordinate many more mission programs and people. Because of that, the board thought she should have her own house, so she moved this first weekend while we were there. Her new place is quite a distance from her office. She told us the person that use to live in her house said, in the winter time it gets so cold that there is frost on the floors and the toilet bowl freezes. I cannot imagine living in a place like that. Makes me cold just thinking about it.

Thurday, Feburary 19th -- We are in Africa

We don't have any problem getting back to the airport from our trip into downtown Paris. However, we were not that impressed with the security at the airport. There seemed to be only one person working the metal detector and he said that we needed to take off our belts, but we could leave on our shoes. Then we walked through the machine and I even had metal in my pockets that I had forgotten about, but we didn't have any belts on. However, scattered throughout the airport we would see different groups of three soldiers carrying automatic machine guns. They didn't have them on their backs, or strapped over their shoulders, they had them in their hands. It looked like they could start shooting very easily. Just a little disconcerting. Even though there wasn't much security at the security checkpoints, there were many shows of force like these throughout the airport. We got through it just fine, and had a good flight from Paris to Johannesburg. Becca and Andy both fell asleep before the plane took off. Becca slept almost the entire trip, 10 plus hours. She woke up in time for breakfast. They served us dinner right after we took off, which Becca and Andy didn't participate in.

I watched the movie The Incredible Hulk. It was an OK movie, but I guess I shouldn't have watched such a movie before trying to go to sleep. Then I couldn't get comfortable, and I would sleep for a few minutes then wake up and then had a hard time getting back to sleep again. But we made it and we got off the plane. It wasn't hard going through customs. Then we rounded a corner and we saw where people were waiting to meet people from our flight. There was Jennifer! Once she saw us, she started jumping up and down and yelling. Quite a sight. As we were going out, I looked at the surprised person who was guarding the exit to make sure no one was coming in and said, Do you know that person? She was smiling and said that she didn't. Then we went out and hugged her. Great way to be greeted in Africa.

Then we made it out to the van, a big 10 passenger Toyota, pulling a covered trailer. Good thing, because we filled the trailer with all our suitcases. Then we went out for lunch, and got a taste of Johannesburg. Good food and a great time of sharing and catching up. Kelly, a young woman who works at Thrive with Jenn came with Jenn to pick us up. Then we dropped Kelly off to pick up her vehicle from the shop and we started out. We were able to enjoy the sights of South Africa. The country looked at times like Northern Michigan, Southern Michigan, Eastern Washington. The one thing that helped us realize we weren't in America was Jenn driving on the wrong side of the road. If that wasn't enough, we saw people sitting or walking along side the 4 lane highway we were on. We saw that the entire time we were in South Africa. It didn't matter what time of day or night, it didn't mater if we were on a 4 lane, 2 lane, or even dirt road, there were people walking, sitting, even taking care of bodily functions alongside the roads.

We arrived at the Thrive Base in time to eat dinner, then we moved the suitcases into the chalet we are staying in. Then we went to Thrive Church. This is the church service for the teams and for the mission staff working at Thrive. It was a really a neat service. A great way to start our stay at Thrive Africa. We heard about some of the things the other mission team had been doing and the way God is moving in the homes they are visiting.

Then we came up to our home and got ready for bed. The electricity here is 220, but it isn't a problem, we brought converters for the electrical things. And the new CPAC machine Marty needs to be able to breathe during the night has a built in converter. So, we got it hooked up using a long extension cord that was in the chalet, but it didn't work. Jenn and Becca had already left, and it is a long walk to her place, so we were wondering what we were going to do. Then we heard Jenn and Becca coming to check on us. We sent them on a mission to get a long extension cord that worked. They return 15 minutes later and we were good to go to bed. By now it was 11 pm. Even though we were tired, this was just like any new place, we woke up a few times with noise from the other people in the house as well as the creaks and groans of the house. Remember, there were 6 of us in a place that had two bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, bathroom and a loft. Andy slept around the corner in the loft from Marty and I. But he has a very hard time with heights, so we devised a way for him to get up the ladder. This was not a stairway to the loft, it was a ladder like you might have to go to the top bunk. It wasn't that big and had round rungs. We found out the first night that it didn't work to go up and down it without shoes on. Once we got all that figured out, we had a pretty good night's sleep. When Jenn brought the extension cord, she also brought us a spare cell phone so now we can stay in touch. We're finally in bed and trying to sleep, realizing that we're in South Africa. Amazing!!! We are finally here.

February 18th in Paris

We got off the plane at 9 am, and went through customs which really was nothing more than them looking at our passports. We didn’t know what we were doing, and we went through customs twice. Instead of telling us to go on, the stamped our passports twice. They didn't ask us anything except where we were going.

Why you might be asking, were we going through customs in Paris when we were going to South Africa? Well, when I bought the “good deal” airline tickets, we arrived in Paris at 9 am, and left at 10:05 am. About a month before we left, they cancelled the flight from Paris to Johannesburg. The new flight left at 11:15 pm that night. What were we to do in Pairs for 14 hours? Tour the city, of course!!

Marty had done a lot of research finding out how to best get around Paris and be able to see the things we wanted to see. We purchases a rail/metro pass and they were delivered to us before we left Tacoma. As soon as we got out of the airport, we got on the train and headed out. Marty had looked up on-line where we could store our carry on bags while we were in Paris, but when we stopped there, we couldn’t find them. We spent 45 minutes looking for them, and asking people where they were. We realized later that everyone we asked for directions in Pairs were directionally challenged! It seemed that no one knew where anything was. Because of 9-11, all the lockers were removed from the airport. We had what we thought were pretty good directions from the computer, but they weren't. Margaret, Andy and I were able to carry our packs, Marty and Becca were able to roll theirs most of the time. Andy and Margaret had backpacks, but mine was a shoulder bag, so I kept moving that back and forth throughout the day.

Our first stop on the streets of Paris was Notre Dame. What a place! We walked through the building and then they started a mass while we were there. We weren't sure if he was speaking in Latin or French. J What a magnificent building. There were people going in and out, and some were sitting celebrating the mass. The windows, the carvings, the aura of the place was/is amazing!!

We left and got back on the train to go to a department store named La Samaritaine where from the top floor, you can see almost all of Paris. It is from there that you can see across the Seine River to the Eiffel Tower. That is the picture on all the postcards. We found the right train, and I was on with Becca and Margaret, but Marty had a hard time getting on and Andy didn't get on. This was one of the few trains where we had to step up two steps to get on the train. That was hard when you’re carrying packs. We also discovered that when the train doors shut, they do not open. If you stick your hand in between the closing doors, they don’t reopen so you can pull your hand or leg out, they keep on closing. As we're pulling out of the station, I shout to Andy, "DON'T MOVE!!"

Becca begins crying, the train is moving, Andy soon disappears from our sight. A man hears the commotion, and he asks Becca why she is crying. She tells him that her brother is left at the station and we’re in the train. He spoke English very well. I am concerned about Andy, praying for him that he will stay there and not move. So I tell the man that it is really no problem, we'll get off at the next stop and cross the tracks and get back on the train going the other way arriving back at the station we just left, where Andy would be waiting for us. The man informs us that that train doesn't go back to where we were. He tells us that he will help us and will take us to the correct train. We stop about 3 minutes later and he takes us down steps, and down some more steps, we round a corner and go back up one set of steps. We get on the train and I’m thinking where would we be if we had gotten on the train that I thought would take us back to Andy? How long would it have been before we did reach him? We pray we really are on the right train. Three minutes after we get on the train, we pull into the station. We’re looking for Andy. Then we see him, right were he was when we pulled out of the station. We shout out to him, and he looks across the tracks and sees us. He’s relieved, we’re happy. We rush up the stairs, over the tracks, down the stairs and we hug and have a good reunion thanking the Lord for our Parisian Angel. We then modified our ways of getting on the trains

From there, we went looking for the La Samaritaine department store. We asked and people kept giving us conflicting directions. We finally gave up on finding the store. We were hungry, so we ended up eating burgers in Paris. Andy wanted to stop at the McDonalds there, but we outvoted him and instead stopped at a French fast food burger place.

After great French cuisine, we ask how to get to the place where our tour was to start. After asking 5 different people, we finally get two who agreed on where the street was, so we thought we were safe in finding it. They were right! First time in Paris!! We get on the right street, and start walking the right direction. The address we were looking for was 216. We're at 28. No problem, what is that, 3 blocks at the most? However, in France, they keep numbering up as the blocks go. So we walked 10 blocks before we got to 102. We ended up walking about 2 miles. Wait, I guess that would be 3.4 kilometers -- after all, we're in France and they don't do miles. J. We get there, get our tickets, and wait for the bus. Nice double decker bus and we get a 90 minute tour of Paris, ending at the Eiffel Tower. Then we walked around the Eiffel Tower and made our way to the boat and took an hour tour on the Seine River. Then we walked another mile or so to the train and took the right one back to get the one to the airport. Then we got on the wrong train to go to the airport. It was going the right way, but they had a divide before you got to the airport, and I realized that when I asked someone if we were going to the airport. They panicked and said no. They were going to help us get off and get on the right train, but we got off and waited for the right train to come, got on it and made it to the airport in lots of time. By the way, while we were on the bus tour, Becca was the only one who stayed awake during the whole tour. She did well, but now she is getting tired. She should be, she's been up for almost 30 hours with only that 3 hour nap. The rest of us are getting ready to sleep as soon as we get on the plane.

Leaving on February 17, 2008

We left our home in Tacoma at 11:10 am on Tuesday, February 17th. Pam, a friend of ours came by with her van to take us to the airport. Troubles began when we tried to put all our luggage in her van. Margaret was at our house, so we had 9 suitcases and 6 people to get in the van. We all didn’t fit. Plan B went into effect. We would use our van, which was a little bigger, and Pam could put it back in our garage after she dropped us off.
We made our plane and left Seattle at 2 pm. We took Air France because I got a great deal back in September. Little did I know that the prices changed very little in the 4 months leading up to our departure. I could have waited and gotten the same deal. I wouldn’t have believed that in September. We had a good flight. Big plane, an Airbus 330-200, I think. Had TV screens in the back of the seat ahead of us, and we got to chose movies, news, games, or watching the flight of the plane. That was fine for a few minutes. The movies were hard to hear because of the noise in the plane. I read, Becca played and watched a movie.
We started out with Margaret right behind Becca and I, Marty and Andy were in the seats ahead of us. There was a guy sitting beside Margaret, but when he found out that Becca and Margaret were playing, he left before we even took off. Funny. Then about 5 hours into the flight, Becca went back to sleep with Margaret, but she didn't go to sleep, she kept watching TV. She finally went to sleep, slept about 3 hours. We had good food. I said I wanted a diabetic meal, so they brought that first before anyone else got food. It was ok, but nothing special. Didn't seem to me to be any less sugar that the regular meals. They woke us up by turning on the lights in the cabin, and then we had a quick breakfast. That was pretty good too. We have been used to traveling in the US and not having any meals, these were pretty good. We arrived in Paris at 9 am on Wednesday, the 18th.

Mission to South Africa

Earlier this week, we returned from a mission trip to South Africa. It was an exciting trip, one that allowed us to visit with our daughter, Jennifer, who is currently the mission administrator of Thrive Africa. She is in her third year in Africa, and up until January of this year, was the director of Leadership Summit. She still oversees Leadership Summit, but now has many more responsibilities. The following posts relate the experiences we had with her and with our group of 7 people as we helped share the Good News of Jesus in South Africa. Besides the four of us (Marty, Bob, Andy, and Becca), Greg and Muriel Jordan from St. John, and Margaret Mueller from our church were on the mission with us. Margaret flew over with us, and Greg and Muriel met us in Johannesburg.