Some insight into every day...

Every day is a different day for me here in South Africa. So it’s hard to describe every day life, but I will do my best. I go to Genesis every day, Monday through Friday. My title there is “Partnership Coordinator” which means I am responsible for the partnerships that Genesis currently has with churches and potential foundations/individuals in the US when it comes to funding any Genesis projects. That doesn’t take all of my time so thus far I’ve been helping with PR for Genesis- putting together new brochures, DVD, website, etc. to promote all the new things going on at Genesis. I am by no means in charge of doing these actual things, just helping with decision making when it comes to these things because Lord knows I can’t do brochures, DVD’s and websites! I’ve also been helping with planning for when teams come over to South Africa to work with Genesis and other organizations in the area. My responsibilities are small in comparison to the International Volunteer Coordinator, Cala Flippo, because she has been here much longer and is much more help than I am.
Fundraising is a big part of why I am here as well, and I will soon be much busier with that.

I make it a point to go and see Phumlani every day. Some days he is more talkative than others so it just depends on that when it comes to how much time I spend with him. He never fails to make me laugh at least once during my time with him, and hopefully vice versa. Here lately when I go to see him I find him sitting or laying in the grass outside, enjoying the sun and the breeze. I’ve also spent time watching him do bead work for greeting cards that Genesis makes as part of the skills development program. He’s very good at it, and fast! I can hardly keep up to figure out how I’d ever do it myself! He is feeling well but has good days and bad days. Lately is seems he's felt better than worse though. Trust me, if he's not feeling well, he tells me. In detail. Sometimes detail that isn't meant to be talked about. :)

I come home in the afternoon and go to bed. HAHA…just kidding. I come home and have dinner, read, journal, watch the news for the weather…which is shown very last and I can’t seem to remember that I still can’t translate Celsius into Fahrenheit (weather.com shows it in Fahrenheit!), pray for whatever is troubling me at the time but always remembering to praise God for His blessings.

What else? Um, I do my shopping at the mall that is just across the street from me. Yes, there is a mall here. I suppose I need to post a picture for you all to see it. Some think it’s crazy that there would be a mall here!

This past weekend the church had a family camp about 30 minutes away from Port Shepstone. It was at nice camp grounds where we stayed in chalets from Friday to Sunday. The food, fellowship, and worship was great and I was able to meet a lot of new people. However, I should have taken my own advice and closed up the windows when we spent Saturday afternoon down at the beach. I was robbed. Of bananas. By monkeys. That’s right, even with security gates around the windows that we left open for air circulation, the monkeys squeezed their way in and stole 5 bananas. We came back to one banana peel left on the floor, and our box of cereal on the ground and spilled everywhere. CHEEKY MONKEYS!!!

Many of us were blessed over the past week to have the Religious Hour Choir from Baylor University here on the South Coast. Small world, huh?! I heard them sing three different times and spent an evening of dinner and fun with them. What a great group! Their energy and love for God was so refreshing and inspiring. And their voices....oh it was amazing to hear them sing! I could listen to them for hours. Their director is also part of the alumni development team at Baylor so it was nice to talk with him. He's in charge of the global network of alumni- what a fun job! They will travel back to Texas tomorrow so pray for safe travels for them!

This is all I can think of for now which may or may not give you a good idea of every day life. Stay tuned for my next topic on my every day life here in South Africa…..DOUBT. Say it with me. D-O-U-B-T!