September Weeks 7 and 8

^{Week 7}

^{Day 44: Wednesday September 19th}

^{The reason why it is taking so long to get my car is because the other dealership has my registration forms from the 1st car. Thank goodness Phillip picked them up for me and dropped them off at the other car dealership. Today Paul’s bottom frame fell right off from his car and he just had his car service the day before. Thank goodness he wasn’t on the freeway when this happened. In the afternoon we went to the new Harare Preschool to redo the cement floors because the first cement floor we put in is uneven and we can’t put the tile on top of them.}

^{Day 45: Thursday September 20th}

^{There has been some tension with the locals working for African Leadership today. I pray that everybody will be able to find a solution to this problem and that God will be done. In the afternoon I continued to help with the cement floor at Harare. Spring is also fast approaching here because we are now seeing a lot of interesting bugs around the house now. Paul ended up killing a big cockroach in the kitchen and I know there is more to come!}

^{Day 46: Friday September 21st}

^{I stayed home today because my car was finally ready to pick up. When I arrived at the dealership I just gave them the cash and drove off with it. BAD, BAD, BAD MISTAKE!!! I was still thinking like a Canadian and I trust people too much! When I went to get gas I had a hard time figuring out how to start the car, the A/C wasn’t working and the controls to the outside mirrors and so much more weren’t working! My friend Zeta told me that I should never give the money right up front without checking if everything is in order. Man oh man I am sure learning a lot! I am not sure if I told you guys this, but I HATE THE PROCESS OF BUYING CARS!!! THIS IS WHEN I REALLY NEED A GUY IN MY LIFE!!! I ended up going back to the dealership and asking him how to start the car. He told me that when you turn on the ignition you then have to press the green alarm button and wait for the engine light to turn on and then start the car again! What a pain! I was then told that I have to service the car still! I was so shocked because I thought that was done when I bought the car! I feel that I have been taken advantaged! Oh I wish didn’t buy this car!!! I should have bought the Mazda from the very start! I guess I have to move on and choose to be happy with the decisions I have made. I pray that God will bring me joy to this car and not a heartache!}

^{Day 47: Saturday September 22nd}

^{I stayed home in the morning to do some errands while everybody went to help with Children’s church in the morning. When I went outside to drive to Khaylitsha in my car for the first time it was missing and I thought somebody stole it! My car ended up being in the garage (phew!) In the afternoon I went to the youth service and I volunteered to be a small group leader. We played some fun games like spoons to get to know them better and then prayed for them.}

^{Day 48: Sunday September 23rd}

^{This weekend we had a guest stay at the mission house and Tami hung around with Pastor Ohm and I. Pastor Ohm took us around to see the rest of the preschools before he left for Madagascar for 3 weeks.}

^{Day 49: Monday September 24th}

^{Today was a national holiday called Heritage day. We decided to take it off too and we climbed Lions Head at 6:30 in the morning. It was a great hike because it was easy with a few small challenges. I loved it very much that I want to make it a habit of doing it every other week! The view is so amazing! It only takes about 40 minutes to hike up if you don’t stop and about 25 minutes to climb down. It’s totally worth it for the view and exercise! When we were going home something was funny about my car and when we pulled to the side of the freeway I had a flat tire (My 2nd day of driving this car)! Thank goodness Paul was with me. When he tried to change the tire my car had the wrong tire iron to change the bolts! We had to phone Pastor Ohm to come and rescue us. In the evening Paul, Casta, Tami and I went to watch a movie called Rush Hour 3.}

^{Day 50: Tuesday September 25th}

^{Paul and I went to meet with Casta early in the morning to discuss the next term for the youth worship. We based our theme on the movie called, Facing the Giants. We then went to a braii in Tokai with all the foreign missionaries because we were celebrating the Korean Thanksgiving. In the evening Fernando the mechanic had to pick up ½ the money to do the service on my car and he gave me an quote of $4000 rand to replace all 4 tires. At first I said yes to Fernando with replacing the tires for me and then my friend Paul said that was too much to replace the tires. Oh how I trust people too much! Oh boy I feel like my money is just going down the drain! This car is costing more than I thought it would.}

^{Week 8}

Open Session

Tombi teaching on how God created us.

My small group

Sarah from Calgary

^{Day 51: Wednesday September 26th}

^{Today was the first day of kid’s camp and everybody was so excited. When we arrived at camp we had an opening service and ate lunch. Afterwards we split into groups and we called ourselves the, Blue Angels. We made a cheer that goes like this:}

^{We are the best! We are the Superhero’s!}

^{We come from Heaven! And we are loved by GOD!}

^{We are so special and we are called BLUE ANGELS!}

^{Blue Angels, Blue Angels, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Blue Angels (3xs)}

^{(Of course they are amazing actions to this chant!) We then watch a movie, called Finding Nemo. In the evening we had our first session and our theme was, “You are so special in Christ.” Tombi taught the first session and her topic was, God created us.” Sarah, my soon to be roommate just arrived today from Canada to join the camp. It took her 2 days to get here and she is somewhat jet legged.}

Porsha singing and leading the 3rd session.

^{Day 52: Thursday September 27th}

^{At the second day of camp I did the 2nd session on, “God loves you so much.” We then walked down to the beach and had fun. A lot of these kids have never been to the beach before and it was great to see them having fun. Porsha did the 3rd session in the evening called, “God has a plan for your life.”}

Pastor Ohm and Beauty Closing the last session.



Zeta was the camp Coordinator and Lucky was the Worship Leader



Going Home

^{Day 53: Friday September 28th}

^{Beauty did the last session called, “You are so special in Christ.” and then Pastor Ohm did the closing service. Then it was time to go home. I think overall the kids and the teachers had a great time and I pray that they learned that they are so special in Christ! In the afternoon I picked up my car and he said I have to change the cambelt soon! What is that? Man oh man more money into the car!}

^{Day 54: Saturday September 29th}

^{I stayed home again this morning to make thank you cards to my kids camp group and youth group. I also prepared a Filipino dish for dinner next week and tired took for tires. At 12:00 noon I had a meeting with Pastor Ohm, Angela and Paul to discuss about Sarah and what her schedule should be for the next few weeks. At youth worship I ended up taking some of my youth home (I had 10 people in my car). In the evening all of us from the mission house went out for dinner and had just a fun time before the guys left for other mission trips.}

^{Day 55: Sunday September 30th}

^{Sarah, Zeta and I decided to climb Lions Head again at 7:30 in the morning. We had another great day enjoying God’s creation. At dinner time all the single people from the mission house had to cook a meal for all the missionaries from African Leadership. There were about 30 people here altogether. I also had to do a short devotion and I decided to talk about how I came to South Africa. My main focus was on not to worry, because worry robs us of joy and paralyzes us so that we focus on ourselves instead of trusting in God. As Pastor David said, “Do not let fear be the determining factor of your future. When God calls us forward, we are to go with confidence. Change stretches us, but we can be sure that God delights in giving us good gifts.}

^{Day 56: Monday Oct 1st}

^{Paul, Pastor Ohm and Phillip left first thing this morning to Madagascar to go to a conference and teach to master students. In the afternoon Lucky helped me drive around Khaylitsha so that I can get familiar with where all the preschools were.}

^{Day 57: Monday Oct 2nd}

^{I stayed home today because I found a place that would give me tires for 800 rand cheaper than my mechanic’s quote. I ended up just hanging around the mall and waiting for my tires to get replaced. I sat in the corner of the eating area and started doing some computer work and it felt weird because everybody was watching me and I even saw a security guard catching a thief. Hmmm, I am wondering if this is a safe place for me? Thank goodness I was only there for the morning. In the afternoon I went to the grocery store to make dinner because it was Zeta last day here because he was leaving to go to east Africa to see other mission fields for a month. By tomorrow there will only be the girls in the house! It’s going to quite around here.}