Goodbyes Are Hard, No Matter Where You Are In The World...

Day 11 - 2 pages

"I think I've got bites from fleas..." - Taylor
"You've been playing with Benji too much, haven't you? 'Cuz you let him in here earlier!" - Deb
"Yeah, but not on my bed!!" - Taylor

Slept until 9:30! Did whatever/chilled & played with babies & Tahabng here at the shelter for a bit.

Most precious boy ever.

I've said it before, but he and his family inspires me

:)



After a while Deb, Janelle, Kristy, and I ventured to Freedom Park for the last time today. Janelle & Deb talked to Kate for a few minutes while Kristy & I went to the Creche (daycare) and retrieved our boys (after both being attacked by mobs of children upon entering and she was even brought down and hit the floor). We got to hang out with our boys respectively for about 15 minutes in front of the Creche. Those 15 minutes felt like some of the hardest ever... I've only known "Puma-short stack-monkey-child" for almost a week and a half since he was my FP baby-buddy, I put a lot of time and energy into him - especially - so saying goodbye was very hard to do. Anything I'd say in English or in African (of the random phrases we learned) he'd repeat back almost exactly, but slightly quieter. "I love you" became a quieter "I'ove yow" & "lerato wena" transformed into "-orato wena" from the mouth of a 5-7 yr old boy. "Bye-bye" sounded the same... He wiped tears off my face after seeing them drop out of my eyes and would laugh when they landed on his face.

This is the picture that Kristy's little buddy - Thempi - shot of me and "Puma" on her iphone while we were all saying our goodbyes.

I. LOVE. this. picture!!

The WHOLE Phokeng gang (including Peter Pan - top left) and our team on our last day with them. It was really tough to say goodbye out here too because this is the place we'd hit most afternoons during the second week and most of the time just had fun and laughed with everyone after a long morning of work for the team in FP.

It may just be emotions but I think out of the whole team, I'm the only one not wanting to go back home [not just 'cuz I'm(/we're all) dreading the huge flights back], either. I miss how my house smells sometimes, and I miss about 8 people a LOT. So if I don't go home it'd work out then I could visit for an extended period of time next year -- like fly home with next year's RRC team! Oh, wait... school. Right. Suckface. I would rather never have the luxuries I've grown up knowing and utilizing (besides maybe my car and make up/internet) than go back.

Some kids back in the States have the cute/sweet/heart-breaking/innocent/adorable voice that makes my heart smile, but I've found it more here & there are amazing accents here AND a population of absolutely beautiful people... just sayin'.

[Random tangent off the "kid" thing:]

I miss my daddy [who died in a car accident in 1998]. Why can't I think of any of his advice? How come I can't hear his voice say anything besides "Well, you know..." I don't understand!

*I have to mean it when I pray for God to bring me back here, hopefully for good & to supply a wonderful man to meet here/in missions somewhere or to do the move with.*

Clicks in the team on this trip have definitely started to turn me off to Red Rocks Church... which is the saddest thing ever. ---- It isn't like I'm on bad terms with anyone specifically either, we just didn't bond like I was hoping for...

Culture Shock? Shake it off, hug a lion & eat some zebra!

Day 10 - 2 pages, LOTS of adventure...

Bartering.
Pretty sure I got ripped off a few times today, but oh well... :/
The SA rand is around 7: 1 US dollar

This guy Sidney (pictured first) tried to be my boyfriend so we could symbolize "the everlasting love" 'his' statue represented... He asked if I had email and said that because he is an artist he comes to the States all the time, haha. Oh Sidney... (then in the journal i listed who sold me what...)

 This guy (below) was a smooth talker and told me that most of the profits he and his brother(/vending partner?) make there, go to feed the other guy's baby girl... He asked for a picture (cuz almost EVERYONE there loves having their picture taken) then we took one on his cell phone for him to "show her who helped him buy her bread that day". It is tough to figure out how factual their stories are that the use to get you to look at their stuff, but I like to believe the best in people - which is what got me scammed in the first place haha.

In South Africa, people will stand all up and down the median at stop lights trying to sell things to you while you're waiting for the light to change. We just passed a group that was selling bat kites! haha.

So I sat next to Tahabng and Johannes all day in the back of the shelter van. Tahabng (the 2 1/2 yr old son) liked to play with my hair and hair clip (which I ended up putting on his shoelaces but it broke in the mall).

His little hand is traced in my notbook, next to his + his brother's birthdays. Then I got to sit next to them at dinner too.

Lion Park.
First, we found the giraffes:

Then, we found the cubs!:

You know that rush you get when you do something for the first time? When you feel SO scared, but really excited all at once? Multiply that by 4 and thats sorta how this was :)

(this was shot through the back window)

Also, I dont have the picture of it but, one of the grown lions decided that the tire on the back of the Smith's truck looked delish so it basically maulled the tire after mounting their car. There is a nice chip on the bumper from its nail, too...

Dinner.

Yep, I ate leg of lamb, venison meat balls, venison sausage, giraffe, zebra, gemsbok, & croccodile!

Delicious =)

& I was given the "Official Photographer" award (everyone got one award or another) from Kristy & Deb :)

Lots of sleeping in the car on the way home.

House Dedications!!

Day 9 - wrote 3 pages

This morning at FP we prayed over the 3 shacks we built + handed over the keys to the families

1. Father + little boy (6 yrs?) [and wife & two more girls(who we never met)]

This is a video Deb shot at the first house dedication
2. The girl on the right and her two younger siblings (1 on her back and the little boy sitting on the ground)

This is the blessing of the second shack that Deb recorded
3. Robert\

This was the blessing of the third shack + the garden
All of the women you see jammin' out in these videos are the care takers i keep referring to throughout the journal.

1. The whole family is "in the program" meaning they all have HIV/AIDS. The father & son were the only ones home so i guess the mom was working somewhere or visiting family or sitting in line at the clinic. The older 2 may've been at the Creche (daycare) or something.
2. This 20ish year old and her little ones, (I think their mom just died, leaving her in charge of the other two) were the most outwardly thankful out of the first two shack-resident families. I cannot picture (very easily) being my age and being completely in charge of a baby and a little brother who cant be older than 4 - especially in Freedom Park.
3. Robert is someone who stepped up from the community to tend to & protect the garden from people hopping the fence to steal whats been grown. He is a volunteer, but now he has a good multi-purpose way to pass time.

All the ladies + Pastor Khumalo who came to pray + Johannes

All the fellers + Pastor Khumalo + Johannes

Freedom Park, I decided last Thursday, is the very last place I would like to - or wish anyone have to - be at overnight. The serious stories of rape and prostitution floor me. Chris pointed out a few nights ago how jail-like it really is: filled with pain, abuse, suffering, scarce food. I can only imagine the screams of a neighbor the little kids must hear any given night when a man breaks in and starts to have his way with a single mom, un-protected 14 & orphaned year old girl, or a 3 year old girl, just because he is a sick, desperate, perverted man. Jenny is so paranoid about just walking around; I don't blame her, but I'm not as scared. One, I haven't really had that situation put in front of me. Two, we always had to have at least one guy with us so we don't. Not all of us girls always had the security of the rule either though....

We also got to visit Phokeng today! :)

Tea party!

The girls were singing "Waka Waka" and they were killer! =)

The boys loved playing with Kristy's ipod!

They kept watching the music video for Michael Franti's "Say Hey" and dancing along :)

Random spurt: I'll miss the photography boys... :(
Dashboard Confessional Saves the Day.

Jon, Charles, & Sean just had the "what do you sleep in - boxers only, or do you wear a tshirt or socks or anything?" talk.... it was kinda funny.  (Jeremy wasn't kidding, I write everything... haha)

Sonner has some stellar song writing skills... not a joke.. he said his CD should be out in the next few months.
& For the last half hour (9p - 9:30) Dave and I did all the dishes from dinner and cleaned up the kitchen... not super awkward, just kind of since we don't talk much normally. Swapped stories a bit so that's good I guess - that makes...2 (Kristie and Dave), 4 days to hear everyone elses? Optimistic thought. However - doing dishes is a good way to pass time + get to know someone.

We met Johannes' family and I got to hold his new baby for a while after dinner!! They are ALL so beautiful!

I just read Micah 5, randomly, and realized the subject matter could totally apply to Africa! (Read it)

Day 8 - wrote 3 pages

"Do you have cough drops?" - Janelle
"Cough drops? No." - the checkout people at the gas station
"This, in my mouth, you don't have this?" *gestures to one of her last cough drops*
"No, we don't."
*looks around and finds a ton of Halls* "This! This is what I've been asking you for!"
"Oh! No no -- that is 'halls' not 'cough drops'!"


So today we filled up the rental van and headed out to THE park to do a few more things in the garden (dug beds) and shacks (painting the screws with tar)... We played with the kids in the Creche (daycare) + gave each one a slice of banana + took more pictures.

Cute little booger was conked out!

Few 'lil manly men

Learning vowels! :)

 Kristy, Kristie & I were talking with Jacki about what would happen with Violet's kid (who we met on the home visits) because of legal & cultural issues.
Legal issues = he (Thimbi) isn't actually an orphan, esp. if there is a real dad in the picture, but in this case nobody really knows for sure...
Cultural issues: the medics/sisters/care takers/OVC administrators, "father", and a foster family are all trying to take custody of the kid. Basically it is all a crazy mess so far, and it is only day 2 of us trying to help his and his mom  :/

This was Thimbi the first day we met him, in a snowsuit that is wayyy too small for him :(

This was after the care taker bathed him and found him some new clothes(!!) when Violet was telling him she was going to the hospital and didn't know when they'd see each other again...

Phokeng was good times -- the neighbor kid nicknamed "Peter Pan" is my new buddy =) Isaac & Gift can DANCE, man! kinda jealous...

So we played some street soccer again today: "Yanks" vs "Bafana Bafana" - they won by 1 point... which is pretty impressive for our guys haha. Then we shot and printed pictures for the kids here too.

We tried to hit up the mall on the way home but it was all closed after we were there only 10 minutes -- except for the Pick & Pay (which was the most important stop anyway) so we grabbed everything we'll be composing care packages with, so it was all good in the long run.

"Eeni Meeni Miny Moe...": At our Lincoln/dinner next-day-run-down we were deciding who was going to stay back at FP with Johannes and Dave. It came down to Taylor or myself so Lincoln just did "ennie meeni" and landed on me - so tomorrow, I learn something about linoleum! :)

Soap? Prison joke? ....What? (the girls had to explain it to me an hour and a half later when we were going to bed haha)

After showering I came into the boy's flat. I walked in and scoped out the place as to set down my stuff and popped-a-squat. The first thing I hear directed at me is from Chris. At first I was thinking about if I'd done anything he wouldn't've liked (as team leader) and was about to chew me out. But I was surprised:

"Hey Lyz?" - Chris

"Yes?" - me

"Have you ever thought about being a teacher?"

"I... umm... When I was younger yeah I did hope to once"

"well, you could cuz you're doing really awesome with the kids!"

That conversation made my night! & it made me second guess my future... again... great.

I feel like I should be writing a lot more, but nothing new is coming to mind...

Day 7 - Monday, wrote 4 pages

"Do we have any spuds?" - Jeremy
"Spuds or studs?" - Cathy
"Neither!" - Kristy
"We have 3 studs right there *motions to Jon, Jeremy & Sean*, what are you talking about?" - Deb

Manure day in the garden at FP

• Once finally delivered, the garden team + some of the construction team moved it and everyone helped with the garden shack as they could (pictured above) all by wheelbarrows from the whole in the fence to all over the tilled garden lot. I'm sure their van smells nasty seeing as their clothes can stink up a whole front room. 
• "Puma/short stack/monkey child" was piggy backing on me for at least 45 minutes total today. In the last segment he had this big red-cinnamon blow pop that I was SO scared was gonna get stuck in my hair + would have to get cut out, but instead it just brushed the back of my neck a few times.

Phokeng: Street soccer, practical jokes then pretending to be casual, bubble pictures. Awesome, awesome place with funny kids!

I met the little neighbor boy nicknamed "Peter Pan" -- he is SOOO precious!

We were able to do some service projects here at Martha's in Phokeng through the week, but mostly just hang out with/get to know the kids:)

"Hey Jon It's 10:18p!! Where are you?!" - Sean

*Jon spazzes out on his chair*

We all cracked up, well those who noticed haha.

Earlier this evening Sean, Jon & I wrote out the steps Sean will have to undergo to bunce bak from his addition to South African Coke-a-Cola:

Coke Rehhab

1. Admitting you are at ground zero
2. Locking it off & hitting rock bottom from deprevation
3. intervention
4. Set goals

Johannes' favorite verses are:

1. Psalm 99:1 - The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
   let the earth shake.
2. Matthew 14:1 - At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus

So I read Psalm 99...100.....101......and 102 =)

(and Matthew 14:1 which he later explained that he likes because he is interested in the family lines...which is not in this passage?)

There is a super cool verse -- Psalm 102:7 -- which is written about "an afflicted man" in reference to feeling like "a bird alone on a rooftop". I like it because, first, I hadn't heard that comparison before & second, because it is the one i feel (out of all I read tonight) that I can most relate to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If God already knows everything we will do with every moment and has our lives planned according to that, why do we "have" free will?

Campfire #4
Nothing to Complain About
Night group devotion -- Hebrews 13: 1-3  ¹ Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. ² Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. ³ Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

     *Freedom Park = prison

• pain, abuse, suffering, not much food ever

     * How perfect God's timing is
     * Humility + Thankfulness + Love

• baby steps

     * Responsibility to use our resources to show God's love and ideas of value everywhere we are. God has us in a mission field every day and as American Christians we need to utilize that.

     * Not complaining even (especially) when you are "miserable"

     * God has a plan for every single minute and we don't have to be super stressed about planning our lives minute by minute

     * Take on a specific mission instead of trying to change the world

     * We are all forced to have faith down here

     * "I don't want money from you, I just wanna help you."

     * Admitting we need God's character

     * We love sinks. And green soap. :)

Anytime that man (Johannes) says more than "Hello, how are you?" "Fine, good" half of us lose it and just start crying. He is so humble and such a great man of God and, in turn, one incredible example of how we are supposed to live out life. I would love to meet more people like him and also, try to, be more like him because that is how more and more people will be blessed and definitely see the love of our Savior stored for them.

"Someone Said 'Amen'!"

Day 6: Sunday, 1 August, 2010 -- 8 pages :)
African church service day! :)

Murdock, Deb, and I were just saying how crazy it is that it is somehow already August. "It feels like January 1st was a week and a half ago"...

Went to visit the babies this morning! :)

Church!
Where you have conga lines in front of the stage during worship =)
* Service was 2 hours 30 minutes

Worship!
Goes at least 1 hour 30 minutes & it is amazing!!
The lyrics I wrote down look short, but everyone is so into it, the song doesn't seem short at all!

(here are some lyrics to look up later:)

Malebongwe (3x)

Lagma Lonksi

~ The drummer got really sweaty i guess so halfway into worship, the pastor brought him something to blot with. He (clearly the drummer) is super good at drumming, too!

Ha a yo (3x)

ya tshwanang le ena

~ "Sunday best" applies here for all possible

Best announcement ever given by a pastor = "If you wear a size __ shoe you will come support this fundraiser ;)

We get an "African Taste" from more worship!! --- more conga - with "sugars" (it's a dancer thing) (I just watched both times a line was going, but it was awesome!)

Obnigado

xiquembo xamatimba

obriga-do

They get crazyinto worship!! I wish Americans were this passionate about praising God everyday...

Communion Song:

Come/come as you are/come/the Lord is waiting/the Lord is waiting for you/Peace/He'll give you peace/peace/the Lord is waiting for you.

Come/come as you are/come/the Lord is waiting/the Lord is waiting for you/Joy/He'll give you joy/joy/the Lord is waiting for you.

Offertory Song:

Ehhhh....

My God is good - oh---

Everything double, double - oh---

Sermon Notes:
"Possessing and Excelling in the Promise of God 2010"

2 Corinthians 9:6-11 (NIV) ⁶ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written:
   “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
   their righteousness endures forever.”
 ¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

• God has called all of us to lead the victorious life in order to bring glory to His name
• When we live generously we see big results through the promises of God
• When we sow generously we will live generously
• God WILL supply the seed to sow -- "God will give you the seed" -- we just have to  decide in what area to reap said God - given harvest, and enjoy it.
• If you don't see improvement/"increasing your 'seed'" you have to take a step back and find your problem + fix it so that everything will increase and you can grow in turn. Don't eat the seed itself - eat the bread it grows, because it is more filling.
• God loves a cheerful giver
• God wants to see you be blessed!
• Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
• When we don't know how to overcome hardship or come out of a sticky situation God's grace will come through and save us
• SA hosting the World Cup was an amazing thing because it not only brought up some economy, but it increased moral, optimism, and hope.
• We serve a faithful God let Him increase your harvest.

(more worship)

He'll take the pain away

I know

He'll take the pain away

**Don't ever forget how incredible the sound of a few voices growing into so many in just one verse, and all sounding beautiful...


What today looked like: Up at early (7:15?), baby visit, church, pick up a ton of pizza + soda + chips then go over to Derek & Rebecca (head of YWAM Rustenburg!)'s for lunch to chill and talk with them and just hang out before going home to talk as a group...

Headed into downtown Rustenburg after the service

Dear Ignorant America: Not all of Africa is baskets, dirt & wind like in National Geographic... SURPRISE!

- Sean, Charles, and Jon just compared biceps... I'm pretty sure they decided Charles won, hahah.

I'm not normally one to go off about food, but hear me out -- So we had this pizza... so good! We had a lot of types to pick from but the ones I tried were

1. a spicy-curryish one
2. a banana/ham one (so good!)
3. a vegetable something or other

Here - at Derek & Rebecca's - is the most I've heard Chris talk or have input since we left Chipotle the last Wednesday at home.

 

back at "home"

I love when the 14 of us (plus Lincoln & Jenny) get to hang out - team things are  about to be fixed.

....nothing got fixed, good try though everyone :p

Some of all this stupid drama is on me and I was going to have input and contribute, but couldn't word it exactly the way I'd like to... [the words in my journal haven't made it to everyone on the team to date - (11-2) so therefore aren't being put online either]

Campfire #3 Notes

Philippians 2: 1-8 (NIV) ¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—  even death on a cross!

* grace
* patience
* mercy
* Jesus' attitude
* respect

"What would Jesus do" mentality: die to yourself every morning and keep to the new lifestyle all day till it is a habit, not a "new style".

Chris pointed out that every Bible verse we read is applicable to every single person world wide so we should try not to read it in our American -trained- eyes/lifestyles....

"Lets try to make Heaven more crowded!" -- someone referenced our pastors' main goal so we'd have it in the back of our mind for the next few days.

*Hebrews 12:11 (NIV) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
*Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us
*Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV) ²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹ equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

We are all here for the same purpose...

I'm finding that as hard as it is going to be to leave on Saturday, I still have to invest all of myself - time + energy - into all the kids. Specifically at Freedom Park it will go further and have more impact if I lose myself in serving them and not caring how they look, smell, act, practice any faith, treat other kids, or how many bruises I'll come home with each day.

Day 5b: the notes I wrote to the photography teens
This is what I wrote out 3 times (4 with my copy) for the teen guys --

                                                            July 31, 2010
Hey,

     I would like to let you each know that you did a very good job on Friday when you came to help out with the photo shoot! Also, on Thursday when we first handed out cameras, you all caught on very quickly!

     I hope you had a good time working with us, & I hope that you continue to persue photography and improve =)

    (my signature heart inside a "Jesus fish") Love In Christ,
                            Lyz


This is the letter I gave to the teen girl --

                                                     July 31, 2010
Hey,

     I would like to thank you for coming out to help with the photo shoot! You did awesome at entertaining the children with your camera (& you got some great shots of them too)! I would like to encourage you to persue photography as long as you are interested in it; explore as much as you can with a camera every day and see what shows up on the screen - it may surprise you...

=)

      (my signature heart inside a "Jesus fish") Love In Christ,

                            Lyz

Day 5: Our team has been together for 7 days... Lord, please bless us all.
Saturday 31 July, 2010. Wrote 7 pages, didn't shoot anywhere NEAR as many pictures as people back home would expect... just not feelin' it.

out and about
"Well it looks like Deb just screwed up my entire life!" - Jon
"How - did she get you pregnant?" - Cathy

This is the high voltage entrance fence that Chris (jokingly) dared Sean to try to jump... ha.

RADIO --
*Kaya: rap that Jeremy dances to for real while driving and Deb, Kristy, and I all dance to for fake behind him in a playfully teasing manner.
*Jacranda: good music in English (Lifehouse, OneRepubic, etc.) -- [This is the station where I first heard Secrets by Onerepublic so now that song makes me think of Africa :) ]

Deb, Taylor, Kristy

Today we have the day off in hopes that we can just work on processing this past week. To get away from the Shelter for a bit, Lincoln took us to the Safari Park. Basically, we are off-roading in the vans and get to see some really pretty things (a few pictures are below).  But off roading can be dangerous; an example of this is the time we were all turning around and Jeremy and Charles got competitive about it then Charles was trying to back up to crank the steering wheel ended up backing into someone else's car. LUCKILY for everyone, the only car that really got damage was ours (the shelter van) other than a dent in the other man's front  licence plate. It was crazy because after everyone realized what had happened the guy's wife got out of the car as Lincoln was taking damage pictures on his phone and it turns out they knew each other! The man's attitude (originally incredibly snappy - kinda understandable i guess, but totally unrealistic for what was on his car vs ours) changed like, right away! And turns out that Chris and Lincoln had it in the budget to be in an accident - SUPER common down there I guess.... :/

cute lil elephant :) 

"You have a good snacky-lou baby Ellie the elephant?! :D " - Kristy and her teacher mouth heehee :)

*15 minutes after Charles backs into someone in the park and leaves a sweet dent in the shelter van*
"Hey can someone please let Chris know that if they keep following so close going up these big mounds we're going to slide back and hit them?" - Jeremy
*Yelling from our van to the rest of the team in the van behind us*
"HEY CHRIS! Please tell Charles to not follow so closely, ok? We don't want to hit you... Thanks!" - Kristy
"...Kristy you aren't allowed to poke your head out the window at all or tell/yell anything to the other car anymore." - Jeremy

Someone accidentally left the sliding door open the half hour(?) we were away from the car - luckily nothing was touched!

Writing prompt for a boring night = describe the feeling you get when you hear tree branches scrapping the glass + the metal on the rental van... *cringe* 84x worse than a chalkboard.

Deb shot this out her window for me :)

"I wanna see a panther or a leopard or something" - Jeremy
"Well, you have one or two cougars in the car already..." - Deb

"This would be a good date spot - pack a picnic...bottle of wine...camera" - Jeremy
"Well, you've already got 3 ladies in here as well as two young men..." - Cathy
We ALL LOST IT [here after she made this reference to the Twilight conversation I quoted in a different post]! hahah

"Carrie Underwood is really pretty" - Taylor
"Mm, I'm not really seeing it" - Jeremy
"What?! I would live on her legs!" - Taylor
....?

back "home"
*mental note: research the South African adoption treaty sometime*
Charles plays the guitar to destress apparently :/  (accident)

On the way home from the park, Kristy and I were looking out the window and saw the most beautiful scene (that I'd seen) out of the whole day. We were driving too fast for either of us to snap a picture, so we just tried to draw it, but learned neither of us are much for drawing so I wont take a picture of our attempts to draw it because neither of us did it justice. I'll try to paint a mental picture for future reference though: Highway hillside covered in dead, white, tall grass. In the middle of this hillside, is one of those tunnel drainage systems where it opens up and empties into a ditch and the sides + top are framed with a big cement wall. On the top left of the frame there was an African man in a bright blue wind breaker. His right knee was up at his chest while his left leg hung off of the structure. A bag blew by in the wind. Neither Kristy or I could figure him out - not that it was our job to, but he certainly intrigued both of us because immediately after seeing this shot we turned to each other and just said "...Wow."

View of today: Up at 7:40 to help with the breakfast/lunch making process, left around 9- half after (in theory), 45 minute drive to the animal safari park where we saw zebras, hippos, hyenas, deer & impala, turtles, lots of birds, rhinos, jackal, giraffes, wildebeests, elephants... It was neat for sure - the giraffes didn't seem as big as they do in the zoo but Jeremy pointed out these animals were only surrounded by brush and grass whereas at the zoo they're fenced in so you see their dimensions. So after being in the car for about 8 hours we came back home. I got to feed and put two babies to sleep in the shelter/orphanage and it was awesome! I'm still even more excited to have/adopt my own!! This was a couple hours ago and I still smell very much like "baby." After a little bit of chillage we had dinner (spaghetti pie with melted mozzarella on top, salad, and a really good oven-baked bread with butter) and the rest of the night is just hanging out....woo =/

Funny Story
This morning after waking up I went into the tiled bathroom and just biffed it on the overflown shower water. Kristy Murdoc walked in as i was getting up and thought I'd thrown up and was trying to clean it up - haha - but, no. Somehow I managed to stub my left toe + left hand and skinned both my right pinkie and arm. The skinned area is the kind that hurts and stings when you try to touch or wash it from being sensitive but it didn't bleed profusely. Good story, eh? :p

This was shot the next morning, but I still have a good scar from that spill haha

Jon reads out loud to focus on his book so now the joke is to write out loud.
Chris has an awesome camera and shoots good (great) pictures...

I'm going to write letters* (next post) to the guys who helped out at the photo shoot yesterday and the girl who was helping with the kids the whole time. I hope some one can translate for them! ( --> they didn't need a translator, go figure!)

Makes more sense if you were to know more background on everything...
Jeremy is on some massive kitchen cleaning freak mode... He said he just needs alone time from being submerged with everyone for about 6 - 7 full days -- I completely follow his thought process.
He is mopping (scrubbing) the tile with a wet rag, prolly on his hands and knees. I just hear him on the other side of the doorway behind me and I feel like he nabbed the only de-stresser around (other than writing of course)...(and apparently I like doing dishes here.)

I really miss my piano right now... and Johanna, Kevin, Jonah, & Mara - specifically :(

Glimlag Vir Jou Foto!

Day 4 - Friday July 30th, 2010; used 7 pages, but they involve venting/observing/never filled in so this will end up only being the first 2

"Matt Damon is waiting for me in my room, don't call me anti-social, Lyz!" - Cathy in regards to her Bourne book

PHOTO SHOOT DAY!
Up around 7 to leave at half after, head to Freedom Park to set up (the clinic side was our initial place, but then we had to move over to the OCV area) electrical cords, power switcher-outlet things [just remembered these are called "converters" haha], and 2 off white tarp/cloth back drops. We started taking people for groups (which increasingly grew as word got out even after Lincoln drove around with some care takers spreading word since 5:30a apparently!) at 11:30a, took one break, then kept going till about 3:30(we shut the gate by the police department to cap the line.) After packing up to come home, we did. Then showered, started laundry, read Ezekiel 27, sorta took a nap, moved the laundry, layered up then went to the campfire for dinner (salad w/ sun dried tomato basil dressing and carrots, cheese/hamburgers (grilled by Charles), and chips), then chilled by the fire with Kathy, Jenny, and tea after everyone else went inside, then after a bit moved into the common "chill area" in the main/guy's flat where everyone (being Kristy, Chris, Deb, Sean, Janelle, Charles, Jon, and Jeremy) decided to go out "on the town" & the rest of us (Jenny, Taylor, Kristy, Cathy, Dave, and myself) opted to stay home - thus I'm writing this and checking email/vegging on Facebook, then after a couple hours everyone got back from unwinding which was good timing because Jenny and I had already devoured a package of cookies and were moving onto chips :P

     Dave has a good heart for Johannes, specifically, and missions work (not so much kids at all - which A. is apparently totally different from his experience here last year? B. fine by me because that's exactly what Jenny, Murdock, and I came here to do!) I'm thinking good plans could come from Dave over this next year as far as fundraising....

How we ran things this morning at FP for the photo shoot:

1. People would come sit and wait to be escorted over to the line - via Janelle or Jon - with their number in hand (small slip of paper that Deb, Kristy, and I made with scratch paper + crayons) - we'd only take pictures of those with a "ticket," even though the whole shoot was free for them, because then we would be sure to keep them in order 
2. Be positioned facing towards the sun to avoid shadow-y faces from hats/etc
3. We'd shoot the picture: the awesome part about this is that almost every picture was taken by 3 of our photography students from yesterday that showed up this morning to help!
4. Mark each person's thumbnail with a smile face (via a sharpie)
5. Then they'd go back to the waiting area and wait patiently talking to one another while we (the photographers) kept shooting the rest of the group -- always ending on an even number of pictures on the memory cards (because each page printed 2 pictures/page and when you have a limited supply of ink and paper, half sheets is how it is done)
6. The cards were then taken to Kristie & uploaded to her computer
7. Printed & framed (plastic sleeve like in a photo album)
8. Match & cross off their numbers 
9. Hand over the picture
10. Then they each would walk home with joy that somebody was was willing to take time from their day to take their picture for them & giving it to them (when they were the ones who [some] gave up half their day just for this one picture).

Deb making numbers -- This is the one picture I actually shot on my own camera the entire day!

Anyone who knows me knows how crazy that is... haha -- but it was great having the boys there!! (below)

People waiting to have their photo taken; Johannes (our translator) who is basically awesome!

Delivering the memory card to Kristie and Maddie so it can be printed then cropped and framed by Kristy!

ps - awesome tan... ha.

Our photography team & supervisors :)

"Oh, How He Loves Us"

Day 3 - Thursday afternoon, wrote 7 pages

     So far on the trip I have decided the two three things I've enjoyed most are:

1. Playing with the kids!
2. Showering after playing with the kids & washing off the "dirt +/ pee" smell, as well as any remains of being sneezed on
3. Finding bruises all over my legs from said children - 11 so far

     Today looked like: Up at 8 to leave at 8:30. Got to Freedom Park + wait (then go on) home visits split into two groups (our group was 2 of the "Sisters"/clinic workers, Chris, Kristie, Kristy, Taylor, and myself). We went DEEP into the Park and were gone for like 4 hours meeting people, taking some care packages of food + jugs of tap water -- SUPER hard to come by for any of them -- to as many people as we could, then we kept going and prayed with everyone we could. We gave kids candy & took their pictures and showed it to them -- Kristy and I were scolded a few times by Chris to stay closer to the group because we kept getting distracted by good photo op's/sweet children. We got to hear summaries of almost every care-package-receiver, which was really cool!

 I gave her candy then took this with her -- oh my gosh, sooo shy! Well, that is until she came around multiple times later with some friends scoring more candy off of "the white people" haha

 Taylor & a precious baby girl... :)

 I do not know if we ever picked up on the joke, but I loved to see them laughing and having a good time amongst how we percieve their lives to be.

This is Timbi: his mom got really sick receintly so we are going to pay for her to go to the clinic on Monday (because it is close for the weekend)... Hopefully they can do something.

Home visit's group! :)

Then we went back to the vans where we had our pb&js, then Jenny and I waited for Jacki (OVC contact)then waited for our photography class teenagers [5 guys (pictured below), 1 girl (not pictured) - they were all somewhere around 18 years old]. While we were waiting for them to show up for our little OVC class, Jenny and I'd take turns popping over to the arts & crafts room/building/boxcar, then swung by the Cresche (daycare) and shot a few pictures in each of those places.

 I love how much personality was captured in this shot!

To see their reactions in a video Kristy took (then uploaded to Facebook) when they got to see this picture on my camera click here!

 Word of mouth makes this little room even smaller!

Imangine cramming 30+ children into this room for daycare all day every day, only leaving for the "bathroom"/a few minutes on the jungle gym all week... Insaine.

We eventually made it back to the teens and got things rolling.  Holy crap were they into it! Some of them were all over the place with the (donated digital Kodak) cameras! They all spoke English - which helped SO much. We started with the camera operating basics: on/off, review, delete, etc. then let them at it. Starting in the class room, then opening their options by heading out front near the police station, then to the clinic + playground, then behind our classroom to where arts and crafts just got out and they went wild - finger shutter trigger happy! SO COOL!! ( => especially since only 1 or 2 of the teen had used a camera beforehand. We taught most of them how to zoom and use it...)  [For the rest of our visit to FP, we collected the cameras so we could upload their pictures and print some for them. Every time we went back, if they were hanging out waiting for us (basically every day) we'd just sign it out to whichever ones were there then ask them to have it back around the time we had to go for the day.] On our last visit to FP we left a bag with the 6 cameras for them with Jackie that they can borrow from her while she is there.

Then we went over to the construction site to wait (only 5 minutes) for the guys to pack up/finish the 2nd shack (which only took 5 mins because they'd just run out of battery power when we'd pulled up so they'll finish it tomorrow) then we came home and showered & here we are just chilling (dinner is going to be beans and rice). We are having deep, reflective talks later on tonight it sounds like!

     Personal devotional time fits now and this is what stood out to me:

Job 25:5 - If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in His eyes, how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot ^- a son of man, who is only a worm!”

     I'd just like to say (in a not creepy/weird way) that Charles & Sonner win at harmonizing + playing together for their first weeks ever... even without everyone singing, the contemporary swing that is released through their fingers would make anybody cry, fall asleep, or make for an awesome soundtrack/score to a drama. I, for one, could listen to them for days - not kidding! Of course I'd fall asleep once or twice but the dreams had would be indescribable! oh, PS, Charles apparently knows some Creed... ^-^

     Johannes calls "coffee & cereal" "coffee & complex" -- we all think that is neat....

He (Johannes) is such.... a neat man. His work ethic blows us away! People back home feel like they "work so hard for such little pay" -- they need to meet this man....

     Dave would like to help people SO badly. He has ideas, but I haven't heard them/can't hear everything he is saying from the other side of the room where is over there talking to Lincoln. I can tell its really serious by the tone in his voice & the doubtful/realistic tone coming from Lincoln.

Campfire Notes - God Uses the Common Things

• The definition of a blessing [a favor or gift bestowed by God (dictionary.com)]
• If every Christian were like Johannes
• Everything outside of The Lighthouse Shelter (where we are staying) seems like a movie
• Majority of the time, you can't even look somebody in the eyes if you know they are "in the program" because all you see is pain, all you feel is guilt; when all you'd like to see is healing, all you'd like to feel is sympathy.
• I feel like I have personally misjudged a lot of the people on my team....
• Challenged to live out the love + compassion Johannes has shown us in 3 days.
• Seeing (by the light of the fire) men pray (picture) and get torn apart
• Confidence that we are making a difference, even though we can only physically do so much during this trip

My Blessings:

1. pen and paper literally at my fingertips
2. food on every corner
3. generally, essentially, $ to buy said food
4. music, all the time
5. only clean water access
6. I know approximately where everyone in my direct family is at all times
7. the ability to stand up, walk, dance, or run, etc., without help
8. my life, overall, is healthy
9. I have Jesus
10. I know who both of my parents are, even if I don't have one anymore.

 "Shell Shocked" - just going through the motions

     I'm so lucky and I hate it. Why am I staying here at this awesome shelter covered in blankets while on the other side of the gate there are MILLIONS of people sleeping on dirt or in mud just trying to make it one more night to try to find un-guaranteed work tomorrow to buy their one meal that they'll see, much less taste, for the next three or four days?! I don't understand why I, of all people everywhere, am SO blessed...! To say that "I hate it" was hasty because in reality i still have to be grateful for it and accept God's plan for my life. We've been moved by a gardener, a sick woman, and care takers.

     My bruises don't matter for they were left on my body out of love, majority of bruises on the other side of our gate were given out of hate and left for pain.

Goodnight...