Sunday 12th August - Monday 20th

This last week has been full of exciting things, tramps fighting, dead cats and Kate running over mikes foot.

The scary thing is that this now takes us up to only having two weeks left, so our time has been getting pretty hectic. I am still working at PCC everyday, but I guess you are bored of hearing about that now, so I’m just going to write about all the extras.

Sunday 12^th

We visited Pastor Richards [he works at CCP] church in a township called Dambuza. His congregation is about 25 people max, small but very welcoming, they meet in the side room of this huge warehouse. It was pretty daunting however when we were asked to go up to the front and sing and share, however we were happy to ‘submit’ to rob and mike and leave it to them! Score!

After that we went to Thabile’s house for lunch and spent some time with her family. They have just moved into their new home in one of the townships, very basic but also very homely. She cooked us some awesome food that we got to eat with out hands [always good].

In the evening we went to NCF and it was a special night called Astounding where a guy [legend] called Mark Wimble did a tour of the galaxy’s to show the awesomeness of God [a rip off of a Louie Giglio [sp?] preach] and then it was followed by a nice bit of Mug and Bean [our last ever!].

Tuesday 14^th

We had a bit of change to our schedule in the morning I went to the devotions at CCP [lots of good zulu singing] and then we went to visit Tandi’s crèche in the community. The councel gave her a plot of land and said ‘build a crèche’ so she came to project gateway for help. The crèche was really nice and well decorated [mostly by previous gateway teams] we brought along with us some toys and played and sung with the children.

We then went and had lunch with Jeff and Merlin who we do hospital feeding with and Karen and Nigel, the leaders of the feeding also joined us. They invited us over to say goodbye and a thank you before we left. They are an Indian couple so we arrived ready to be overfed delicious foods and we weren’t wrong. There were all sorts of different dishes and our plates were refilled at every opportunity. It was a really nice chance to socialise with people we had only previously worked with and to hear more about how the project had been started [Karen and Nigel never having taken no for an answer!]

The day was ended by the usual prayer meeting at NCF which I always enjoy.

Wednesday 15^th

Wednesday we did the school assembly at Gateway Christian School. It was really good and the kids behaved and joined in well. We did a bit of singing with them, some drama and taught them about Gideon and the Israelites when they went into battle. It was nice for the kids to show the school what we have been teaching them in music and P.E. I then made my way over to PCC only to find that Michael’s [PCC] car had just been crashed into by a Comby! There was a massive dent in the side and he was a bit shaken, the police came out and everything is fine now, insurance will cover it.

The rest of the day I spent putting the DVD together with mike and editing it – it’s surprising how long something like that can take.

In the evening us and the summer team were invited over to Baba Urnest and his wife’s house/church. He was one of the men who helped start up Project Gateway [when at the end of apartheid a Zulu, English and an Africans man came together to unite and work in the area for God].. They had prepared traditional Zulu food which was steamed bread and a bean sauce. It was pretty tasty until rob found two massive hairs in his, then it seemed a little less appealing! We then sung lots of zulu worship songs and heard about some of Baba Urnest’s experiences so it was a pretty cool night.

Thursday 16th

On Thursday I spent most of the day trying to sort out my University place. I have a place at Warwick for Philosophy and Psychology but have never really felt settled about it, so Rebecca called me and told me all the places in clearing to see if there was anything I preferred. The morning was spent making lots of phone calls back and forth, and as of yet nothing has been decided, so watch this space!

In the evening we had cell, which we cooked for. It was a special cell round a bon fire so we cooked hamburgers and had marshmallows. It was a really nice evening and pretty sad to think that it was one of our last.

Friday 17^th

On Friday Kate and I went with Pregnancy crisis center to Maritzburg College[the top all boys school in the area] to sit in on a sex talk. It was strange to see the contrast between this school and the township school we had previously been in. Michael did well with the talk and I managed to not laugh so it was a success!

In the evening we went to The Boston BBQ which was probably the best thing ever. We were given free vouchers [acquired for us by the amazing Di Milford] and it was an all you can eat buffet. There was SO much food, with separate counters where you could get Chinese, curry, carvery, pasta, stir fry’s, exotic [I ate crocodile], vegetarian etc! It was like visiting 10 different restaurants! I ate and ate [no surprise that African people keep coming up to Anna, Kate and I and making weight related comments – nice!]

Sarturday 18^th

In the morning I tried to have a lie in, however after keep going to bed at 9:30 and waking up at 6 this was pretty much impossible. For lunch we went to Tobile’s house she also works at CCP. WE couldn’t stay for very long because the boys had arranged a football match at 2, but the food she had prepared was lovely and her hospitality was great. It is really nice to see where people live and what they are like outside of work, gives you an opportunity to find out more about them.

When the boys went to play football, I spoke to Naomi on the phone [which was awesome] and then went shopping. We had to pick up Mikes present and get some other bits and pieces.

Then in the evening we went to night Kyle from NCF church had arranged a Braai (BBQ) so we went along to that which was nice too. South Africans seem to think a Braai is somehow better than a BBQ, but they are basically the same. Johno and Greg were also there and they are some of our favourite South Africans so it was a really fun night.

Sunday 19^th

This was our last Sunday! In the morning we went to PCF, it was good to sing songs in all different languages and to have fellowship with people we work with. Then Dean came to meet us and we went up to Howick. We popped into some of the local craft shops to get some typical African bits and pieces and then made our way to Karkloof falls. This was where Dean took us when we first met him so we thought it was a nice way to finish off our time here. We picked up some really nice food from Woolworths [SA’s answer to Marks and Spencers] and sat on our rock in the middle of the river. It’s always nice to hang out with Dean, its strange to think how long ago we were there, but then again it only seems like the other day.

In the evening we went to NCF and it was a good service with just worship, and with NCF’s amazing venue, band and crowd of 2000 people this was brilliant.

Afterwards we were invited to Grant Crawford’s [the big Granty C’s] house. This was a bit of a big deal as he is the lead elder at NCF and I was a bit scared of saying something inappropriate. However it went without a hitch and 2 other cell groups joined us, so it was cool to talk to some new people [even though we are leaving soon].

We then watched a DVD with dean, who is trying to spend as much time with us as possible before we go. I fell asleep about 20 minutes in, which I feel was a wise choice considering it had Ben Stiller in, one of my least favourite actors.

Monday 20^th

Monday was Mikes Birthday, we gave him a beastie new bible and case, look how holy we have become! I went to the devotionals at CCP in the morning and the went to macro and Woolworths with Anna to get DVD’s and things for Mikes birthday lunch. I then did some admin at PCC and taught Mum Doreen’s last computer lesson [which I do every Mon and Fri]. I’m pretty gutted to be finishing this as I have loved it, however she last learnt loads and it was nice to see today how far she has come. It’s also good to know that I can now email her when I get back!

In the afternoon we had cake at CCP for Mikes birthday and sorted out some more bits of the DVD. After that we went to eat at a restaurant called the butchery. It was real good, I had vegetable lasagna and the boys had 500g burgers, they were like the size of their heads! The evening was ended but watching napoleon dynamite, I love birthdays!