Monday 14th - Monday 21st May

Monday 14th

In the morning I am always at the pregnancy crisis center either doing admin or working on crafts [so rather than me writing that every time just assume that is what I have been doing]. In the afternoon Kate was still having trouble with her ears so the plan was that Kate and Anna would go to the doctors with Sarah in one car and then me an the guys would go shopping at the same time in the venture. However as we were driving in the venture the car kept on swerving out of control and after pulling over we found the tire was completely flat! So there had to be a change of plan. Instead the boys stayed with the venture an had to try and change the tire [which we later found that they completely failed at] while the girls an I went to the doctors. Kate and Anna both had ear related appointments so Sarah an I just hung out and then went and bought everyone dinner. We went to this little Africa food shop and bought 6 people meals for a total of ₤1.80! Mine was like a half loaf of bread hollowed out filled with spicy rice and potatoes it was very yummy. When we got home there was a power cut, so it was lucky we had no food in our freezers and we had a good game of kub!

Tuesday 15^th

PCC in the morning however I had to early as a guy from church came over to talk to us about our holiday. I hadn’t really thought about the holiday as being here even though we are working feels like a holiday. However it got really exciting talking about all the things we could do and it looks like he is going to prepare a whole programme for us so we don’t need to worry about anything! I think we are going to stay in Cape town for 4 days as Kate knows people there who have a flat we can stay in for free and then we are going to travel around KZN an visit beaches and mountains etc along with a day seeing animals. It was pretty shameful however when the man was over as we didn’t have any food for lunch so we were eating just bowls of baked beans.

In the afternoon us girls went for coffee and then went shopping I was excited as every time we go we are SO under our food budget as everything is such good value here!

In the evening we went to prayer meeting which was jam packed with people who had become Christian in the previous week. However we have to look after the Dudza children while we are there and they are quite a handful so it was hard to focus!

One of the boys is probably the most annoying/mental child ever, and so far has stolen my handbag and hit me with a massive stick when I tried to get it back along with doing things like repeating over and over ‘I want a hot dog, get me a hot dog.’ We also found out from his house mother that the other day she was cleaning his room and found a table knife on his bed and on a further occasion she found a massive lump of margarine under his pillow that he had stolen…[so he is armed as well as crazy].

In the evening we went over Sarah’s house and watched minority report, however I just fell asleep for most of it as I was so shattered!

Wednesday 16^th

I did admin at PCC in the morning but I was the only person in the office and finished the job I was given in around 20minutes. Micheal however had said that I could use the printer if I need to print anything out so that is just what I did! I started designing the ‘prayer room of dreams’ and probably did around 30 pages of printing [re cycled paper and black and white so don’t freak out!] and I was getting very excited about planning my prayer room.

In the evening we got out the note book which is always a winner, Mike was being very annoying and boyish throughout though so at one point he got a shoe thrown at his head!

Thursday 17^th
PCC in the morning and then cell in the evening. I cannot remember what we did in between! At cell we at dinner together which was really nice and then watched a film called, ‘facing the giants’. It was a pretty cheesy Christian film however was a true story which was quite impressive so I recommend it as a good rental!

Friday 18^th

We had chapel in the morning from 8-9 where Di talked about our role as women. She is awesome and it is probably the first talk of that length where I haven’t fazed out. She is probably one of the best woman I have ever met, so any tips she can give me I’ll defo be talking on board. I then did crafts at PCC and once that was over started to put together my prayer room that we would be using for the weekend. I set it up Harvest Dan Jones style with lots of different stations and areas and also used drapes to set up different sections [year team would be proud].

We began our fast an then spent the rest of the afternoon in the prayer room doing the various activities and reading the bible etc [apart from mike who ‘just layed down’ on top of the conference room table and ended up sleeping for an hour…]

In the evening we went to Youth at PCF church and it was ‘special’. We basically listened to this girl talk about her life for 2hours an I was impressed that the youth listened for so long. The girl was pretty interesting but it wasn’t very exciting or active, so it’s not what I’m used to a normal youth club being like!

Saturday 19^th
In the morning we finished our prayer time and then in the afternoon Lisa our Oasis co ordinator from England came over! She has been doing a tour of all the teams and had already been to Zim and Joburg. It was really strange to see someone that we already knew from England out here but it was nice to see a familiar face! She bought us galaxy as you can’t get that out here, an the chocolate here is rubbish as they put wax in it so that it doesn’t melt [so if you are ever feeling generous and wish to send me something galaxy would be ideal!]. We then went to Spur in the evening which was yum and yet again amazingly cheap an went to see yet another rubbish film at the cinema with Dean and Trevor who are in our cell. They walked out after 10 minutes and me an Anna left after an half an hour an went for coffee instead. This isn’t like me as I like to get my moneys worth however when the tickets cost a pound its not as bad.

Sunday 20^th
We went to church in the morning and the service was awesome as always, I love the church I go to here so much. The guy preached on freedom from a poverty mindset and it was very interesting.

We the took Lisa for a picnic at Howick where we had gone with Dean before. However when we arrive it was SO windy we were trying to hold on to our food an everything was blowing away. Then some small boys came up to us, and I was expecting them to be asking for money but then they told us that there was a forest fire and that we had to get out! I thought they were joking but a ranger confirmed it!

So we mished it out of the forest real fast and got to safety, it was pretty exciting and the sky was covered in smoke.

In the evening we went to church and it was an awesome service, so good. A guy did a talk about the goodness of God and had all these incredible facts about our universe and how awesome God is to have created it all. The music was real good and there was about 2000 people there.

After that we obv went to mug and bean for milkshakes with lots of people from church, we had a bit of an incident with a mental man who sat an ate with us and then didn’t pay afterwards and tried to walk out! But Kate was brave and stood up for us and we got away without being stabbed…[I joke]

Monday 21^st
Yesterday I was feeling really ill and run down so I wasn’t in the best of moods. I went to PCC in the morning but there wasn’t anything for me to do so I came back and got some medicine. I also went to our co ordinator and sorted out with her about not having much to do so hopefully I just be more busy at PCC.

Then I went and helped with music at the school, we did 4 classes with grade R, 1,2 and 3! It was exhausting because every song is very active and you have to keep them entertained the entire time. It was fun though and its nice getting to know them all.

In the afternoon I was still feeling rough but Anna and I dropped Kate off at the doctors, and then went to do the food shopping. We did it in record time although I nearly fainted… It was exciting later because I got to speak to mum on the phone and talk to Josh so that was awesome. We watched SWOT in the evening and sat on beanbags in blankets, so it helped me feel better and after phoning Shanta [which was SO good] I got an early night!