March/April visitors - Lindsey, Catherine, Laura & Natalie
This last month has been fun. I had some friends come to stay for 2 weeks and as it was Easter holidays here I was free to do lots of touristy things with them which was great. We had a couple of days in Durban and it was lovely to get to see the sea again and go swimming. I'm praying that God will call me to live next to a beach next! (as long as it's not one by the North Sea!!)
Since they left life has been pretty slow. Things are only just getting back to normal after our Masterbuilders Conference. Mapheo half started last week but is back into full swing this week. And all the FYPers were off on a 2 week training block in Cape Town. I hadn't realised how much of my time is taken up with Mapheo and the FYP team until they both weren't happening! So I'm looking forward to a much more hectic week this week.
We had a Mapheo planning meeting this week and it was great to hear some of the ideas Jeremy & Laura have for extending the programme. I won't write about them here as nothing has been finalised yet, but it was a really encouraging time and got my creative juices flowing! This term we are looking at 'gifting and skills'. So we're covering different spiritual gifts and teaching the children some other skills such as sewing, dance, art, cooking, woodwork and sport. The idea is to show that everyone has something which they are good at and to build self-esteem. Most of the children have a very low self-esteem as no one ever encourages them. We also want them to understand that God gives every one of us both spiritual gifts and natural talents.
The beading and craft project I help at is continuing well. I have managed to get 6 agents to sell the stuff in the UK so far (thanks ladies!). The idea is that each month we will post a box of stuff to a different person who will host a Silver Hope Party to sell the items to friends.
I spent the Easter weekend in rural Lesotho. It was the first time I had never stayed overnight there before. It was really fun and very interesting. The life in the rural areas is very different to here eventhough it's just across the border. There is no electricity or plumbing. At the moment there is a water shortage, so families are having to collect water from the pump in the middle of the night as the tap is dry in the morning. Some people have generators, some have solar power, some have gas stoves, but many have nothing but fire. Toilets are 'long drops' although some aren't quite long enough if you know what I mean! The people are very friendly though and I've got to know quite a few people in the church. We were helping with an outreach which meant going out and inviting people to a showing of the Jesus movie in Sesotho. It was great to be able to go out visiting and see more of how people live in the villages. They tend to live in mini compounds of 2 or 3 houses on a plot. It's very 'african'! I also had to go and pick people up from a mountain village I'd never been to before. Really you should have a 4x4 to get there but I just about managed it in the church bakkie. There's not really a road up the hill - you just drive across the bare rock face which is full of pot holes! It was a great weekend.
The church in Tabaholo Lesotho
The top of the rock face which serves as a road
On return from Lesotho I found that my car had broken down again! I had thought the clutch felt funny on the Friday but assumed I was being paranoid. I left my car with an elder from church in return for taking the church bakkie to Lesotho. He then tried to drive it to church in Clarens, but couldn't even get off his drive. When I got in it the clutch cable snapped again. I called a local recommended mechanic to come and look at it. He says that the garage in Bethlehem who've done all the work on it so far had replaced my old broken clutch cable with a used one rather than a new one. He has also found a problem with a little bracket which feeds the cable to the pedal. Plus having paid for 4 litres of oil to be put in the car there's practically nothing left but no sign of a leak. So we can only assume I was ripped off there too! Owning a car here is certainly a challenge! I'm hoping to get it back sometime this week, and then I will decide whether to try and sell it or keep going.
As I'm sure you know, Wednesday (22nd) is voting day in SA. Please pray for a peaceful day and a good outcome. The result is almost certain to bring Zuma into power. As christians we must pray for him that he manages to lead well and move away from the temptations of corruption. The elections are a huge deal here - there are posters everywhere, and people wearing their freebie ANC t-shirts. It's a public holiday to encourage people to vote. The historic vote of 1994 is still incredibly fresh in people's minds.
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