Update 1

Hello from South Africa!


It’s so amazing to be here! Sorry it’s taken so long to respond back to everyone but the internet is limited and expensive here. Lately we have been losing power a lot because they ration the electricity at times by randomly shutting off sections of power for a time. It was a long flight here, but we were so excited that it didn’t seem too bad (minus the bad food ;). It was amazing to see Jed again and meet Jenna (his girlfriend). We spent our first night at Jeds parents house in Durban (where we flew into) and then headed for our home in Kokstad the next day. Dave and I laughed as we drove up to our new home. Our Home: It’s a mud hut! (just like Angus Buchan’s house in Faith Like Potatoes. If some of you haven’t seen that you need to! The story is from our province (like our states) and we are supposed to meet Angus (the main character) while we are here). Our home has two rooms; a kitchen and our bedroom with a toilet in one corner and shower in the other. It’s much rougher than anything in the states but our room is cute and resembles a log cabin. We have a fire place in our room and LOVE IT. We feel very fortunate to have our home, especially in comparison to what is all around us. We are just getting over a mouse problem, and I am not too fond of them. For a week we had to shove blankets under our door so that they wouldn’t come in our room at night and would just stay in the kitchen. Fortunately we caught them-hopefully all of them. Sometimes we just have to look at each other, laugh, and say “ Welcome to Africa.” Its fun to experience all of this together (whether good or not so good ;)

The Town: You have never seen so much poverty in your life. There is a huge village in our town called Shayamoya that has homes no one would think of living in. Kokstad probablu has a larger population than Coralville but without the accommodations. We can get really anything we would need here, just not a ton of selection. It is the kind of place you’d see in a movie with sidewalk stands and people just laying around. You have to be really careful driving due to everyone walking and standing when and where they want. Dave and I really love the town, but are very grateful to be living on the farm (It is Jenna’s parents land, Shane and Annette Wicks). Stoneybrook Farm: Were about 10 min from town on a large farm. There are many houses on the land and Jed lives in one of them. It’s so great to have him here! Dave’s work is about 200 meters from our house, which is so nice for him to be that close! They have a nice restaurant complete with the dogs and cats running as they please. The property has their own source of water from a spring high in the mountains. It is the purest water we have ever had! We all live at the base of a huge mountain. They say it would take approx. 2-3 hrs to climb.

The School: I am helping teach first graders at Rivermead Christian Academy. The kids are great and challenging. I am slowly learning how to say their names as the pronunciation is so difficult! English is each child’s second language, but they are learning very quickly. I getting an art program going for the kids and they are loving it. The Orphange: After school is over I volunteer at an orphanage in town. It is so my heart. Nothing completes my day more than being there. I help the older kids with their home work and then play and take care of the younger ones (only a few of my older kids speak English the rest speak their tribal language Xhosa, pronounced Klosa. Its makes it difficult to not understand anything they are saying! Dave and I are trying to learn as quickly as possible). I’m looking to getting some art program going with them as well, hopefully doing some art therapy. A lot of the children are aids or abuse victims with either having it themselves or their parents did, etc. My heart has never been so broken as when I saw my first aids child. They are so precious and need love because they are THE most neglected. So many people (even here) have an intense fear of aids, but as long as you are careful you see how they are just children, and precious children of God! My first few days there really wrecked me and after a lot of tears I just know God wants me to reach these children. I can’t wait to show you all pictures of them. The younger ones call me Mama and get so excited to see me every day. I just can’t explain how great it is. I struggle with the workers at the orphanage (and many places here) because they tend to be lazy and do not care about the children, there’s not a lot of compassion. I have already found out many lies that they claim and then take money from the children. It breaks my heart. Its very common here for orphanages to claim they have 60 kids and really only have 40 and then pocket the rest of the money. The children will be in the same outfit everyday, and most of the time not washed. I am really trying to build relationship with the ladies (there are house moms who stay with the kids and then office ladies) so that I can better help the children. One day I was in the office and two HUGE boxes were in there filled with toys and the kids had NOT seen one (so I asked if I could take them and gave them out to the kids)! Dave comes to pick me up everyday and the kids look so forward to it. One child, about 4, who can not speak English, must have overheard me saying Daves name, because on Thursday he was standing at the window saying “David? David?” It was so cute. It’s great for them to get male interaction as well. On Thursday the orphanage had a little new born come in and it broke my heart. A girl had him out by the river and left him and his after birth on a rock the entire night. Remember that it is winter here and it gets cold at night. This poor guy was without food and in the freezing cold the entire night! Someone was driving by the river and brought him in. The house moms at the orphanage were not much interested in him so David and I were probably the only ones who held him. He was 4.4 pounds and so fragile. We wanted to bring him home for the night, but the next day I called and he was adopted (after testing negative for aids). This whole thing really shook us because we can not imagine who would do this, but the worst part is that it is very common. The house mom said to me “at least she didn’t kill him.” I could not believe my ears! David and I are thinking about bringing a child home from the orphanage for a weekend. I will be speaking with them soon to see if we can arrange this. If we are able to do so, we would probably have a different child each time. These children are so dear to us, they are simply amazing.



The Culture: There is a large divide between the whites and blacks. There are three groups of people here Whites, blacks (the majority), and coloreds (white and black mix). The whites own the business and the blacks work for them, but they do not socialize together after work. Two weeks ago Dave invited the workers down for lunch and only one came and he was very anxious. The coloreds are more respected than the blacks and would have jobs similar to the whites. It feels very strange to see such a division between races that it really makes you appreciate how far America has come. Everyone seems to be kind to one another, so that is not a problem, its just a very strong cultural thing. A large divide between the blacks and whites is religion. The blacks are so involved in witchcraft its scary. There are witch doctors on street corners in town and they are all involved in a lot of ancestral worship. Much of my day is seeing spiritual warfare in physical forms. There is so much oppression from this witchcraft, you can just see it. Dave and I are learning even more how we need to align ourselves in prayer before we venture out in our days.

Dave’s Job: Dave is enjoying his job working with Jed as his foreman. There are six other guys on the crew, with only one speaking English. Dave is learning more Xhosa (they click with their tongues, its so difficult to speak) than I am so that he can communicate with the guys. Praise God that hand language is universal or else I think he would have been in trouble ;) He does everything from maintenance on machines to running them to carting around the workers. He loves it and is really trying to sink his teeth quickly to learn the territory and create friends within. The guys call him a name that in Xhosa that basically means a man that they greatly honor. They have each been very receptive to him and he is anxious to continue building relationships. Dave loves his job greatly, but at the end of the day, his heart always seems to be with the kids. He is thriving so much here and could not be happier.



Experiences: We have been able to experience to much here already! The Wicks are so kind and accommodating to us. They have a bed and breakfast here with a nice restaurant that many people in town attend. Two weekends ago we went to the coast and its was amazing. They have a small cabin there (its very rough, but worth the experience) with a spectacular view. The Indian Ocean is so beautiful! Its like a little Hawaii. We all went fishing in the ocean and I caught something both times! It was delicious. You can see whales jumping in the a.m. and Dave saw some dolphins as well. We caught some eels by accident-yuck, but everything was just great. We got to taste some really authentic SA food, which was fun. Last weekend The farm we live on (Stoneybrook) held a huge dirt bike and 4-wheeler race. Shane arranged for Dave to ride in the race and it was amazing. Dave road 45 miles through the mountains and just about everywhere. It was the roughest terrain he had ever seen. It was a brutal time but he loved every minute of it. You would not even believe the places he road in (very dangerous). I was able to ride in a 4x4 off-road vehicle to see some of the sights he was seeing and that was scary for me, beautiful, but scary. You are literally riding on the edge and rocks are falling straight down, ahh, its was fun. God is restoring so much to him. He was given all the gear and everything. It was perfect. He is quite a sore boy today! Ouch!



We share a maid (she doesn’t speak any English) with Jed, which is so nice! It seems very luxurious to have a maid, but its not, its just their way of life. Pretty much every white person has one, which is nice here because it creates jobs. They have something like 40% unemployment. Its such a blessing from God to have Sylvia’s (our maid) help! She cleans, makes our beds, dishes, and washes our clothes (hand washes them because Jed doesn’t have a washer!) Don’t even think that they have dryers! I guess a few people do but don’t use them. Central air and heat does not exist here! They said the malls or stores might have some, but no one has them! It’s gonna be hot! We have a little space heater and a fire place to keep us warm, but it has been quite cold. Some afternoons its gets really nice, but by 4 it’s getting cold again. When we first got here it was dark by 5:00 and in the summer its dark by 6 or 6:30 at the latest. That will take some getting used to!

We are absolutely LOVING our time here. We know that God brought us here for a reason and we are so excited to be doing His will. He has truly blessed us and we look forward to repaying the blessing in South Africa. Please stay with us as we continue our journey. We want to hear all about what’s going on with you even if we don’t respond, please keep us updated. We will get our blog going quickly where we’ll put some pics on for you to see (they just don’t do justice). Thank you all and God bless.