One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war...

So, havent't written for over three weeks now - apologies to all of those who check this thing reguarly (thanks Mum) - to be honest there wasn't much to write about for a while and now I'm on outreach finding internet has proved somewhat problematic. I'm here now though, tapping away in an internet cafe in Ladismith

(http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ladismith,+south+africa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.716225,56.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=South,+Ladismith,+Western+Cape,+South+Africa&ll=-34.461277,20.742188&spn=3.85846,7.020264&z=7)

Where to start then? We finished off lectures with the 'Relationships' topic followed by 'Spiritual Warfare' for the last week. 'Relationships' was a top week - far less intense than some of the others have been and really rather amusing. A couple led it so we got the male and female perspective on things and overall the week provided some good laughs. As we drew closer and closer to outreach however, it became evident that some guys in the team were not going to be able to pay for outreach. They just didn't have sufficient funds, for a variety or reasons, so after much huffing and puffing about what to do we decided to split the team - half of us are continuing on the original planned outreach and the other half are doing a cheaper, locally-based outreach. It was kinda weird to say goodbye to half of the team at such short notice but I think it was a good move, there are seven of us here, including two leaders - anymore and things would just get way too stressful!

On Monday we went to a small village called Patensie, just for one night, for some team-building and dance-learning activities. Joyous. Was good though - we were accomodated by a lady there who treated us very well - she moved out of her room so that Andy, Janeal and I could sleep in her double bed! She lived in a wooden house with a corrugated tin roof, couldn't have been bigger than about 6m by 8m total, split into four rooms. There was no running water and the toilet was an extremely smelly, nappy-filled long-drop outside. I needed the loo at one point so i opened the front door in search of it only to rip the woodent thing off its hinge! Not gone well at all! It was really good though - the more poverty I experience and not just see the better I think, in terms of eye-opening and heart-softening.

On Tuesday we travelled over to Ladismith, a small town a few hours north east of Cape Town. We're staying in a boarding school here for three weeks and doing various things around the town. So far we've visited the prison, the hopsital, the OAP home, led an open-air service on the high-street, and held a youth-service. We go to these places, do a drama, have some worship, someone shares a testimony, someone preaches and then we pray for people. Cool beans! The OAP-home was a particularly interesting experience. We started off one of our dance routines, in front of about forty of these old-biddys, and I don't think I've ever felt like such a spoon in all my days! The expression on most of their faces was really rather off-putting - each of them looked as if the person on their left had just passed the most awful wind. Maybe that was the case, you never know with these old people's bowel control, but short of that it seemed they were just really rather bemused as to what on earth we were doing up the front. They genuinely were all scowling at us (with the exception of one lady at the front who seemed to be enjoying herself) - I do wonder why we do these dances. Do they add anything? Does anyone enjoy them (apart from that one lady)? Nope and nope... didn't think so. Hmmm. I stopped myself during the dance (not literally) and just thought to myself, 'Wow - three months ago if you'd told me I'd soon been dancing in front of some old folk I woulda told ya to get on ya bike'. Somehow though, this is what I'm doing. We finished up our programme and were readying ourselves to go and mingle with them all before one of them put up her hand and requested a time of testimony sharing. Really? Wasn't really feeling it myself but that didn't seem to come into consideration! We all shared our testimonys with them, I came up with something but mine was slightly shorter than everyone else's - everyone tells me to stop being ridiculous but I still feel like I don't really have a testimony to share. Everyone else goes forward and tells of how they were addicted to drugs, with an abusive father, having attempted suicide on numerous occasions before Jesus appeared to them in a vision with bright lights and a booming voice and immediately they were set free from all their problems! Okay well not quite, but it sometimes feels that way in comparison to my, "I grew up in a Christian family..." story.

Okay, my internet time's running low so I better wrap up here. Apologies. I did preach my first sermon two days ago though - that was exciting! Wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be - God really did give me strength. After Sports Dinner last year I decided to carry a note-book in my hand as opposed to just sheets of paper - I find it's not nearly as obvious when you're shaking like a dog out of nervousness!

Alright. Will try to write again soon. Peace.

X

Let's Get Ready to Rumble

In less than three weeks I will be stuffed in the back of an African minivan weaving my way up through South Africa on a three-month mission trip. It's crazy, it's come around quickly but then again it does seem like several years ago I was saying goodbye to friends and family at Gatwick airport. We are still fairly clueless as to what the three months will involve but I know we will be visiting various schools and churches along the way. I've got the feeling there'll be loads more dances and dramas to learn in the coming days so there's always that to look forward to.

Things have gotten way better since I wrote about scales and dinosaurs. Being a Christian's awesome - nothing in the world is better in fact. Ha, I knew this already but sometimes it doesn't quite seem as true as it is.

So I was sitting on the beach a couple of mornings ago doing my quiet time (as you do. I could get used to this...) when I looked up and saw something black poking out of the water. 'SHARKK...' was my immediate thought but then I looked again and saw lots of little fins coming out of the water, really close to the shore as well. Dolphins! Was so lovely - there must have been about ten of them chill-caking in the water, just a matter of metres away from the beach. They were so close, I really wanted to swim with them but I didn't have any of my stuff. It wasn't going to stop me though - I stripped down to my boxers and waded into the water. However, I had a traumatic experience a couple of weeks back where i got completely white-washed by this wave - I tried to swim underneath a break and the wave just took hold of me and pressed me against the sea floor. Was only for a couple of seconds but seemed like forever as I just couldn't move at all! And so yesterday I desperately wanted to go and swim with the dolphins but unfortunately for me they were just the other side of the flebbing swell breaking and I couldn't pluck up the courage to swim through it again. Bad times. Overall though it was a success story - the dolphins were so cool and my wallet, phone and camera were still in a pile on the sand when I got out. Bonzer.

So we've had our long-weekend just now - had Saturday through Wednesday off and its been really nice to just relax a little before the intensity that outreach will no doubt bring. I was going to go on a road-trip with Sandrine and Jess but I just felt I shouldn't be going and when I told our leader Sam his face lit up with excitement! Apparently he'd been praying and got the feeling I shouldn't be going but then he felt God say that He would speak to me Himself and that he should leave it. And God did speak - I got a really strong sense that I shouldn't be going, so I guess that was pretty cool, even if I did miss out on a fun-filled weekend. My batteries are now some-what recharged and ready to go though.

It's really rather interesting sharing a dorm, never actually had the pleasure of it before on a regular basis and it's proved an altogether enlightening experience. Every so often I wake in the morning to the sound of laughter as five lads eagerly wait to tell me what I was saying in the early hours of the morning! Turns out I sleep-talk more than I realised. The guys' favourite is something I said a couple of weeks ago - "Before you go, tell Chelsey she's worthy". Chelsey's a girl here so naturally they found that one quite amusing. What I can't work out is how they all hear it though - do they just not sleep? Thankfully I seem to have shaken off the other noise I used to make in my sleep (you may or may not know, it usually sounds like I'm constantly trying to eat something throughout the night) so at least that's one thing that's gone well.

Okay, supper calls. I may well think of something I've missed out in which I'll be back. Next week's talks are on relationships - could be interesting! Love...

P.S - Can't believe I'm missing BGT (Britain's Got Talent for the older generation)! Seriously bad times.