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.