November Weeks 15 and 16

Week 15

(Visited a 2nd hand book store before going out for dinner.)



(View for Gordon's Bay)

Day 100 Wednesday Nov. 14^th

Zeta was leaving to go back to Korea to study on Monday, therefore, we decided to spend the whole day with him. We went out for lunch at a winery in Stellenbosch. After lunch we went to check out the beautiful grounds and decided to just pick a spot on the grass and just take a nap! After our nap Sarah and I decided to take silly pictures in the bulrushes and I ended up falling into the ditch. The rest of the day we just drove to see the views of Cape Town, ate dinner at an Italian restaurant and then went to the beach.

Day 101 Thursday Nov. 15^th

Today I just did the usual things and caught up doing stuff at the internet.

Day 102 Friday Nov. 16^th

Today I worked on writing tons of postcards and then went to visit Paul and Casta at the campground because they were planning for next years youth schedule. In the evening we went to Pastor Ohm’s house for dinner.

(Casta's 25th Birthday)




(I was in charge of the amazing singing group!)

Day 103 Saturday Nov. 17^th

Today I had to go to Phillipi for their graduation ceremonies. They had 17 kids graduating today. In the afternoon I joined the youth and they were celebrating Casta’s birthday and Zeta leaving. We also started practicing for the end of the year celebration. I ended up dropping of some of the youth home and one of them insisted that I visit them afterwards. I stayed for a bit and they even baked for me a nice snack.

Day 104 Sunday Nov. 18th

Today after church we decided to go to Sunday market and then do some work outside and enjoy the view at the same time.

Day 105 Monday Nov. 19th

Today we said good bye to Zeta at the airport. We got lost a bit getting back to Khayelitsha because we are still getting used to our surroundings. I then went back home to work on my prayer letters, making more Grad Cert., and finalizing the youth and preschool power point presentations.

Day 106 Tuesday Nov. 20th

Today I was planning to paint the Harare school and discovered that they did a terrible tile design on the floor. It ruined my plans to paint the inside. I then decided to paint just the outside instead. It took awhile to decide what kind of paint to use, but decided to use oil based paints because they had a better selection of colors. We first had to clean the zinc walls with vinegar before painting it. By the end of the day I just drew the outline and painted only the areas that are brown.

Week 16

Day 107 Wednesday Nov. 21^st

Even though it was raining today I decided to continue painting the school. I had a few people pass by and talk to me. Two of them stayed so long talking to me that I was getting cold and soaking wet that I finally had to pack up and go. I then met up with Beauty and Nosipho to help them with learn some kids songs and did a bible study with them afterwards.

Day 108 Thursday Nov. 22^nd

Today my car would move and it the engine was just reviving up so high. Jeff and Paul finally looked inside the engine and noticed I had no more transmission fluid left in the car. Thanks goodness they were there because I wouldn’t know what to do. They were definitely my hero’s of the day. Even though we put three bottles of transmission fluid in the car I was still having some power issues, but just ignored it. Afterwards I had to drive a visitor from Nashville around to see some of the preschools. She is from an organization called the Mocha club where they try to get people to donate their coffee money to organizations like African Leadership. While driving with her my car was getting worse. I then decided to drop her off back with Pastor Ohm and went straight directly to the mechanics. I was only a few blocks away from the mechanics when my car finally died. Within a few minutes a car stopped in front of me and ironically it was the mechanic that sold me my car. He ended up towing my car to his shop which was just around the corner.

Day 109 Friday Nov 24^th

It was hard to do things without a car today. I then had to rely on people again. I also got a quote on the replacing my gear box and it was going to cost me $9500 rand (appox. $1200 CDN). Fortunately, Tobi just e-mailed to me last day that somebody donated $1000 in my bank account. Praise the Lord. He has provided even before I knew that I had to replace to transmission.

(Year end Party with my Youth Girls)

Day 110 Saturday Nov. 25^th

I woke up early today to make popcorn for the last youth celebration and to help Pastor Ohm host Missy and her guest at ATC. Missy was the lady from Nashville. She is hosting a band group called the Hansen. They are 3 brother’s that had a one hit wonder a long time ago and are wanting to find an organization where they can help support. In the evening Sarah couldn’t believe that I spent some time with a singing group that she used to love when she was a teenager.

(The Xhosa kids teaching the church members a song)

Day 111 Sunday Nov. 26^th

Since I had no car, Sarah and Angela helped me by picking up some kids and a Mama from a school because we were going to do a presentation at a church to see if they can give a bigger support to the preschool ministry. We were somewhat late and my power point presentation and talk didn’t go that well, but in the end I ended up networking with an amazing women named Tessa. She is going to connect with me next year with some richer schools and get some donations. Some of the members of the church even gave me some money towards my broken car. Praise the Lord.

Day 112 Monday Nov. 27^th

Today Paul left to go to Malawi and other African countries. He won’t be back till Jan. 8^th. I ended up getting another quote for my car and it was $4000 rand cheaper and decided to go with them. I am now trying to concentrate in planning my English
lessons, but it’s so hard to get started.

Day 113 Tuesday Nov. 28^th

With no car again I ended up just tagging around with other people. Today was my first attempt in putting tile on the latest school that was just built a few weeks ago. Lucky and I were in charge of finishing the outer edges. I measured and cut the tile while Lucky pasted it. This job was quite easy and fast because we had a lot of help. I then wrote tons of postcards and started researching on how to teach English class next month.