08-11-08

Hello Everyone! We miss you all so much and thank you for praying for us each day and for reading our blog (sorry we are a bit long winded...but you know us, we like to talk alot). Today we worked on a couple projects that the full time staff needed to be done. They were nothing up front or noticable to anyone really but we came to serve and by doing this we freed others up to invest in the lives of the children here. We also got to sit in on a meeting of all the administrative staff. We spent the remainder of our morning and afternoon with Klaas and Ruth. Klaas, a South African, is the child care director, he is the one responsible for working with the government (state- they actually call them providences- and federal level) and social workers to bring in and keep orphans at Bethesda. It was obvious the moment he opened his mouth that he had a wealth of knowledge, not only about South Africa but also the children he serves here and a passion for them coming to know Christ. Ruth, an American who has been in S'Africa for ten years, is the school principal and also is in charge of some aspects of the onsite finances of Bethesda. Everyone seems to wear multiple hats that they never anticipated wearing when they arrived here. It has been good to spend time and appreciate what each staff member brings to the team.
Late this afternoon, we had the chance to play with some of the children out on the playground. It was definately the highlight of our day. They are such happy children smiles are constant and contagious. We love to spend time with them. Just before dinner, we experienced another S'african first, the providence shut down the electrical grid to save energy. So we were without power for about three hours, this would not have been a problem except it was dinner time. So the South African family we were intended to have dinner with was not able to cook the meal they hoped to share with us. We hope we can reschedule and spend an evening with them. Instead we went with plan B and got pizza in town with the teachers and interns. We learned that what you order is not always what you get. The interns ordered one thing and got something completely different...they didn't like it but andrew loved it and ended up eating some of their pizza (pepperoni, feta cheese, and some kind of spicy pepper). It was good day. We are doing really well, and sleep like rocks every night. We seem to go to bed very early (between 8 and 10), we think it is a combination of working hard during the day and the sun going down early around 6. Either way, we are up with sun at 7.

English...................South Africa
Stay Well......................Tsala Pila
Flash light.....................Torch
Pop/Soda......................Cool Drink
God.............................Modimo
Band-aid.......................Plaster