Last update

This is my last opportunity to post a blog before I come home, so I wanted to fill you in on what has happened in the past few weeks.

The Women's Conference. This year's women's conference was a huge success! The women learned what it means to be a daughter of the King and how to live in that. The sessions and worship times were powerful and the small group times proved to be very beneficial. I loved the women in my small group, all 12 of them! Here are some pics of me and some of the women in my small group.

The second day of the women's conference was my birthday. So after the conference ended and we got everything torn down and cleaned up, all the staff and interns went out for dinnner at Spur, one of my favorite restaurants in SA. As we were sitting there "Cotton Eyed Joe" started playing loudly over the speakers and everyone started clapping. Then the Spur employees came out with ice cream that had sparklers stuck in it and sang me Happy Birthday. It was really cool. Here is a pic of me with my ice cream...

Then the day after my birthday, my fellow interns threw me a party. It was perfect! The tables were covered with coloring pages that we could color. There were bubbles, noisemakers, and fun sunglasses and party hats. And we got to decorate our own cup cakes with fun colored frostings. Then we all played a fun game of Cranium! Here are some pics from the party.

On the 11th we drove to Lesotho. It is such a gorgeous country! I think it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen....
This is me standing in the river that separates Lesotho from Souht Africa...I'm in two places at once...
We basically just drove through the country but we did stop at a river for lunch. There were a bunch of little boys playing in the river so we took lots of pictures of them...

Then on the 12th we went to Clarens. It's a really touristy little town. It was fun to look at stuff but it was definitely more of a relaxing day away from the office. Here is me and Kel with our nasty shakes that we got for lunch in Clarens...

We found this fun bathtub with a really pretty background so we decided to hop in and take some pics...

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember. South Africa doesn’t celebrate this holiday but as Americans living in South Africa, we had to celebrate. With that said, it was a much different Thanksgiving than I am used to. In Alece’s family they have an Italian Thanksgiving followed by a traditional American one. So, today we carried on the tradtion. The first course was salad, pasta and amazing meatballs. After allowing that to settle a little we had the traditional thanksgiving meal; turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and yams. Then after letting that settle for a while and playing a card game or two, we had dessert. I am so glad we had pumpkin pie. That’s my fav and I was a little worried we wouldn’t have it but we did. Yay! I love Thanksgiving! I don’t think I ever realized how much I appreciate the company of family and friends but I really do.

I love all of you. And I will be home really soon to see you all. Tomorrow we leave for Cape Town and then I leave South Africa on the 2nd and I'll be home on the 3rd.

Weekly Report

Monday (29 October)

• BTS (Behind the Scenes): Today I gathered all the gifts for Launch Pad graduations, and put bins together for each class. I also wrote the names on all the certificates and had each class teacher sign their certificates.

Tuesday (30 October)

• Hope House planning: For our last term of the internship I have been on the planning team for Hope House. We plan out the lessons, games, crafts and music for each week. I’m in charge of the craft. This week we’re making friendship bracelets.
• BTS (Behind the Scenes)- Today for BTS I finished putting Launch Pad graduation gifts together and filled out the remainder of the certificates. Then the power went out so I couldn’t do any of the computer work I needed to get done, so Char and I went to the resource room to see what we could use for Women’s Camp centerpieces.

Wednesday (31 October)

• 
  Today we took ministry photos before our weekly prayer meeting. We took some with all the staff and interns and them some with just staff and just interns. It was fun to get all dressed up.
• Launch Pad: Today was graduation day! I can’t believe this term is already over! In order to graduate, learners must attend 8 out of the 10 lessons. There were 23 graduates with 10 who had perfect attendance in our class! I’m so proud of them! Here are some pictures of the learners receiving their certificates… Here is a picture of most of our graduating learners…
  Most of our learners brought their families and friends with them today for the celebration, and I think we had about 120-130 people in attendance. Here is a picture of Ashley and I with everyone who came to the celebration…Some of our learners shared testimonies about what God has done in their lives and what they have learned through the course. One lady said that she never knew that she could have a relationship with God, another said that she learned the importance of having a quiet time with God and how to find strength in Him, and another told us of how she is learning to have Jesus in every part of her life. It is always a blessing to hear what God is doing in the life of my learners, and it was encouraging to see just how much God had touched each of their lives through this class. Here is a picture of Lina sharing her testimony… As I was beginning to clean up, I noticed some of the older ladies setting up 4 chairs in the front of the church. Soon after I was being led to one of those chairs, where Kelly, Ashley and Esther (our interpreter) soon joined me. Then the older ladies formed a line in the back of the church and stated singing and dancing towards us with gifts in their hands. It was so touching. As they handed us the gifts, each lady gave each of us a hug. When they had finished their song and handed each of us our gift, they told us to open them. Each of us received a candle. It was so touching that they were so appreciative of us teaching them about the Bible and Jesus every week that they got us gifts. Here is a picture of us with the ladies who gave us the gifts. We are all holding the gifts they gave us…
  I feel blessed no only to have been able to teach this wonderful group of people but to have been able to develop relationships with many of them. Here are a couple of the students I had an opportunity to build stronger relationships with at youth camps…I will miss every one of my students greatly and Wednesdays just won’t be the same without Launch Pad.
• Halloween (AKA Candy Day) Party: Tonight for dinner we made pizza, which was delicious. Then we all dressed up (I was a football coach) and went trick-or-treating down at the staff housing. We went to Niel and Alece's first. They gave us AMERICAN candy like Jolly Ranchers, Twizzlers, and Tootsie Pops. And, they gave us a box of Cheerios to share! Mmmm! Then we went over to the staff party where we were greeted with silly string. Then, in order to get candy, we had to sing a song about who we were. I made up a football song to the tune of "O Christmas Tree". It was lots of fun. I enjoyed dressing up and just being goofy. Here is a picture of all the staff and interns who dressed up for "Candy Day"...

Thursday (1 November)

• Town Time: Krista and I met a man at the Daily Grind (our quaint little coffee shop we go to every week) named Wynand. As we were sitting outside at a table, Dan walked by. If you remember from previous posts, he is the man that Krista and I have been ministering to. Anyways, we found out that Wynand is the guy who led Dan to the Lord and gave him the Bible. It’s amazing how God works. We met Dan three weeks ago and then today, we met the man who has also been ministering to him. It is good to know that when we leave, Dan will not be left in the dark, but that he has someone who is committed to helping him grow and change. Praise God! Here is a picture of me, Krista, Dan, and Waynand…. (I will put this pic on later today)

Friday (2 November)

• Hope House: Today we told the kids that we only have one time left with them. It broke my heart to see them trying to hold back the tears. Teboho looked at me in tears and simply said, “Don’t go.” I love these kids and it will be extremely hard to say goodbye to them. Today’s lesson was about how we are a part of God’s family and how every time we get lonely, we can pray to Him. We also made friendships bracelets with them today and told them that every time we see the bracelet, we can think of each other and keep them in our prayers. I love these kids and part of my heart will always be with them! The first of the following pictures is me and Tumelo and the second is me and Teboho...

Saturday (3 November)

• Today Josh and Josh asked us if we wanted to go exploring with them, so Cassie, Hannah, Becca, and I decided to join them. The four of us girls jumped in the back of the Bantam and Josh drove us over to the back side of Mooihok (the biggest of the three mountains on base). Since we hadn’t explored the back side before we decided to climb the mountain and find a new way to the top. It was really fun. I enjoyed it. The only way to get up the last 30-40 feet was to rock climb (w/o ropes). Only the boys and Cassie decided to go up but Hannah, Becca and I decided not to as coming down would be extremely tricky. I was quite satisfied with where we made it to. The view was amazing. While Cassie and the boys were up top, they encountered a puffader, a poisonous snake. It struck at Josh but the boys stoned it to death and cut of its head to ensure that it was dead. (We kill all the poisonous snakes around here, so that they don’t hurt (or kill) anyone.) Anyways, here is a picture of my and the dead snake… Here are some other pictures from our Mooihok adventure…
  On the right side of this picture, you can see Eagle Mountain and Mount Everest, the other two mountain on base…

Sunday (4 November)

• Today I will be doing some homework, working on a collage for Hope House, and just relaxing.