Monday 2nd July - Thursday 5th

Monday 2^nd

On Monday I once again helped at the Pregnancy Crisis Center sorting out a lot of the admin because it is the end of the month and new stats need to be worked out. I also surprised myself with my own efficiency finding that I had worked out and tryped out all the information I needed as I had gone during the month so I didn’t have to do loads at the end – get in!

In the afternoon Heather, Anna and I went to the shops because we had an important mission to buy for! Christmas day! We decided that because heather was leaving we would send her off by giving her the best evening ever and what better than Christmas itself. So we went to the shops and found as much English Christmas style things as we could including parsnips, however there was no stuffing…rubbish. We also decided to do secret Santa amongst the teams so we bought all the things we needed for that. On the way home we had yet more car trouble with the car randomly cutting out in the street, luckily a man helped push us and with advice from rob and lots of prayer we finally got it going again.

We got back and it was all stations go; with decorations being put up, Christmas games being made and paper hats being cut out! We ate an amazing dinner, played the hat game and exchanged gifts!

Tuesday 3^rd

PCC again in the morning!

Then we were taken to the visa office again with Jabu to hopefully sort out the visa mess. We were pretty worried and fed up about it all and had no idea what to expect because so much of what happens depends on the staffs mood however its all sorted! Jabu was awesome and they not only cancelled the fine but apologised for the mix up! So thank goodness that’s all sorted out.

In the evening we went to prayer meeting which was just normal and then afterward we went to have pizza to say goodbye to heather as she was leaving on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday 4^th

On Wednesday we left Gateway at 6:30 to take Heather to Durban airport because before she could take her flight we had to go to the Mozambique embassy to get her a visa sorted. We arrived at the visa office an heather needed R750 to buy it and a passport photo – none of which she had on her. After having traveled to floor 27 and being on a strict time schedule we didn’t fancy having to go an get this sorted out so we decided to improvise. Heather searched her wallet and managed to find a passport photo of herself 5years ago so that was that sorted…now R750 to go. We combined all out money and had R740 so R10 still to find, this is the equivalent of 70p – not worth going down the lift for and queuing for the cash point! So we started to empty our bags/pockets for any scraps of money and we managed to gather together R9.80 in change so 20c to go, our only option – BEG. So Anna waited outside the lift and begged 10c of an African stranger [the equivalent of 1.4p!!] WE DID IT! However getting a visa is never that simple, they told us to return in 2 hours as that was when the man would arrive who could sign it. We popped into Wimpy and go ourselves an ice cream then returned 2 hours later on the dot. The lady then said she was afraid we would have to wait a further 2 hours, until 1pm. Heathers flight was at 1:30 so this would have been impossible. On telling the lady this her response was ‘chill out, take a seat’ – not impressed. Luckily a feisty Zambian man came in an was demanding to see the man [who wasn’t meant to be in until 1pm] and just like that he appeared. So this guy was making us wait over 4 hours when he had just been waiting in the office for the entire time. We got the visa signed and mished it to the airport!

We said our goodbyes to heather and then went to Pavilion mall – making the most of being in Durban. We then shopped for fancy dress outfits as we had a cell social later that was cowboy themed.

In the evening we went to the party, ate burgers and played Balderdash – good times!

Thursday 5^th

This morning we got up at around 5ish because hospital feeding was now back on due to the strikes being over [they settled for a 7.5% increase]. This trip was more ‘special’ than normal, because the corridors smelt more of urine, I saw a girl throw up and give soup to a man with no eye.

The rest of the day I have just been sorting out the team accounts with Kate in preparation for our holiday.

We go on holiday tomorrow for 2 weeks [so no email contact etc]. We are going with our cell pastor dean around South Africa to the Drakensberg [mountains], st. Lucia [beaches] and Cape Town!