Blessed

Sorry for taking so long to update. It’s been a busy month!

First of all I want to share with you all that my friend, Phumlani, who I met a week after I came to South Africa back in April, went home from the Genesis Care Centre two weeks ago. He came to the care centre (hospice) very sick and went through getting better, to getting pretty sick again, to getting well enough to go home to his family. It was a bittersweet day for me, as I was so happy he was going home but also I was sad because I wouldn’t be able to go see him every day anymore. As he put it, he was glad "to go home on my feet instead of in a coffin". Amen. We sat and talked for a long time that morning. When his brother came to get him, we had a long hug and I gave him a Bible in English as well as a personal note.
I can honestly say that I have not been back in the male ward since he left. The thought of walking in there and not seeing him is strange. I have tried to go in, in fact I attempted twice. I just couldn’t take the next step. God has really put it on my heart to go in there this week and make new friends and see the caregivers. There are others that I can bring hope to. I just miss my friend. He called me after the first night he was home to let me know he made it through his first night and was doing well. I heard from him this past week as well and he continues to build his strength and is loving being back at home. Please continue to pray he does well.

Me with Phumlani the day he left to go home.

I had the pleasure of having three lovely ladies from the Lake Pointe youth team stay with me after the team left on July 10. They were here until August 7. They did various projects and touched many lives. We went on Home Based Care visits together and that was just an amazing time with them. It was great having some company here for awhile. Katy, Taylor, and Jodie – thanks for blessing me as well as so many here! I miss you…and your cooking…and all our tea times! Katie W. also came from Lake Pointe and blessed many as well! I even got to take Katy, Taylor and Katie on the ultimate adventure of jumping off the same cliff I jumped off of last year. They did a MUCH better job than I did....that's all I'll say!

In late July a team from High Pointe Community Church in Washington state came to bless this area as well. They were a team of seven. I was able to go to dinner with them one night as well as be with them as they visited the care centre. What awesome people! They were a bit weary of the care centre before coming and once they spent a couple hours there, they came back every day and made friends with the patients rather quickly. I feel so blessed to be able to have seen the care centre through their eyes- very similar to my first experience there. I’m pretty sure some of their hearts are left behind in the care centre. They better come back to reclaim them. J Thank you thank you thank you, for your prayers and support Ruth Ann, Adrian, Sarah, Heather, John, Linda, and Tod.

This past week I was able to take part in a training for Life Skills with the local SU (Scripture Union) people. SU goes into local schools and teaches children and young teens life skills to help better themselves and their lives. Since I have gone through this training I can now help out with these programs they do in schools. I am really looking forward to this! The first one I will help will be October 5-9.

There are three college guys here for four months from the US. They are here with the Hands On program through the IMB. It’s been fun getting to know them and they live just down the street from me. I can already tell that they are going to have a strong influence on boys here in the area. Please keep them in your prayers- Wesley, Tyler, and Jonathan- that they are able to touch lives here and also have their own lives touched. How selfless of them to give up a semester of college at age 21 and come serve others. God is good.

That’s it for now. I hope you are all well and again, I will really try to blog more.