A Week in the Life …
(Written by Mike)

It’s been two weeks since we arrived here. We’re settling in and learning our way around. Our house feels like a home now. The kids share a room with Lacey and Darcy in one double bed and Reed in a small twin.

Each day the kids do some school, while Darcy plays games on the computer or in her room. The libraries here are helpful for school too.

We also spend time with the Nieucommunities staff during the week (we don’t have a car so we usually walk the three blocks to Pangani). Tuesday morning is Communion/Worship time followed by Men’s/Women’s support/accountability groups. Thursday morning we have Community building time. And of course we have the braii (BBQ) every Sunday. Combine this with home schooling, mission opportunities, and everyday living, and our schedule is already busy!

Our times with the staff here is very meaningful for us. They have developed a great closeness with each other, and are very open to having us join in. They have provided us with meals, watched our kids, given us tours, shared what they’re learning, and have invited us to join them in the ministries that they are doing. They are a big part of what’s making this such a powerful experience. (By the way, last Thursday we watched this clip of Bono speaking to the UN. It was very inspiring. Check it out when you get a chance. It’s about 30 minutes long: http://freepressblog.org/2006/02/05/bonos-sermon/)

Last weekend it was sunny so we were able to play in the pool at Pangani.

This week we visited an orphanage in the township of Soshanguve called “House of Joy”. This is for kids whose parents have died of AIDs. It’s heart breaking to think of the kind of lives these kids are living, and yet they seem so happy. It makes us very grateful for all that God has given us – including our health. (The other day, we overheard the girls playing with their Polly Pocket dolls. According to their play “conversation”, I learned that Darcy’s doll had AIDs and Lacey’s doll was going to give her medicine to help her get better. It’s neat to see how being in this environment has helped develop compassion in our kids.) Lorie and the kids played with the other kids, while I started working with Bryan (from Nieucommunities staff) and the local staff to set-up a computer network with donated PCs. The computers are quite old, but they are very eager to start teaching the kids basic computer skills. I hope to be able to set them up over the next few weeks. I’m excited to be able to use my technical skills to help out down here! (I’ve also been setting up a bunch of equipment for Nieucommunities thanks to Kevin Kilburg and Marc Haslinger!)

Also this week, we had a tour of the many ministries sponsored by “Pretoria Community Ministries.” This group was created by seven different churches – all from different denominations – in an effort to better address the increasing inner city issues due to the end of apartheid. They have low income housing, job skills training and placement, homeless shelters, AIDs hospices, low income day care, etc. Here we are at one of the day care facilities. The amount of compassion that these people have to help the poor and downtrodden is amazing. Many of them could be making good money somewhere else, but they choose to be here making a difference in other people’s lives. We were very inspired. We are praying about which of their ministries we can help out with.

There’s much about South Africa that’s different from the states, and yet much that’s similar. Pretoria sits on a huge plain at about 4000 feet. The climate is similar to the mountains (warm during the day, cool at night, thin air), and similar to Southern California (mild temperatures all year). The biggest difference is that summer (now) is the rainy season. There are some mosquitoes, a few flies, and some really big bugs!

Our part of the city reminds me of Santa Ana. Most of the buildings are older (many over 100 years old) but most are still nice. We live in a middle class neighborhood, but there are some huge mansions just a few blocks away on the hill. Just a few blocks the other way are tall apartment buildings for the poor. Most houses have single pane windows with no screens, but all windows have bars on them. (I guess more people are concerned about theft than bugs!)

There are 11 official languages here. The primary language is “Afrikans” (a type of Dutch). This is because South Africa was originally a Dutch colony (though Britain kept trying to take it from them). Most everyone can also speak English. (The rest of the languages are tribal.) It is believed that English will eventually become the primary language

We have much here that we also have in the states, though it’s slightly different. Meat here tastes a little different because there are no hormones given to the animals. There are no preservatives in the food so things spoil faster. (Costco foods would not do well here!) Because of this we have to buy groceries a few times a week. (Mostly because of all the milk we like to drink!)

The malls here are larger than any I’ve ever seen in the states! We went to a 7 story mall for dinner and a movie! (We saw “Tsotsi”, a South African film which won the 2006 Oscar for best foreign film. It’s a great film and I highly recommend seeing it.) We met a waiter whose name is “Gift”. He was so excited to wait on his first American patrons! He made sure that we got the full treatment!

On Friday we had a surprise birthday party for our good friend Debbie Fraser! We all went out to Daleen Ward’s parent’s house out in the bush. They have 250 acres with all kinds of wild animals roaming about. In addition to the party, we also got to go on a mini safari on their game reserve!

We are doing well, and we pray that your lives are being filled with an ever increasing awareness of God’s presence! Thanks to all of you for your friendship and love!!!