2009!

Sorry for the delay I was away from the computer lab for quite a while because Ursula was off work. I attended a few other Christmas parties for farm children and orphanages. The kids had such a good time, but it was sad to hear that a lot of the projects get a lot at Christmas, but very little the rest of the year. Some of them have even had to close down at times of the year. A nice project in Ottery actually closed down and two women that used to work there still work with the kids for free. I'm hoping to help them get some funding in 2009.

Ursula's family came to visit for Christmas and we had a fun time. We had many volunteers and some of the youth over to hang out for Ursula's bday and for Christmas. We played lots of games and were up to all hours. They all had lots of laughs and enjoyed their time here. I had Christmas lunch at Ursula's brother's house and dinner with some of the volunteers. Chritmas dinner was quite a new experience with Chicken, peanuts and raisons, chocolate and pie. I'm not sure it'll make a tradition, but we had fun with our Charlie Brown Christmas.

New Years we had a wonderful service at church and afterward went to one of the youth's house. We had a braii at 3am and played dominoes until well after sunrise. I was too tired on an hour's sleep to go visit Ursula's friend in the country for the day. They were disappointed as they had been watching TV to practice their English for my visit. I will be out there another time for sure!

A pastor from Durban came to visit Ursula and has stayed with us for a week. She has shown a lot of nice pictures of what she is doing in Durban. I may go there and stay with her for a while and help at the church there. She had a DVD of a pastor that came to speak at her church about the Joy of being a Christian. It was a moving message and one I'd like to share with a lot of people. Something I have definitely taken to heart.

I started a small group of youth from the church. We meet weekly in the evenings and have grown together as group visiting the beach and playing soccer and other time together. I'm hoping we move to being a more active group in the community.

The work with the kids in the neighborhood has really grown this week. They all know me quite well and we talk about a lot of things. They all ask about America and which rappers or actors have I seen. Lately the topic has gotten deeper and I've learned about their families and their plans for the future. This week we've talked about Heaven and Jesus which has been awesome. I hope some of them will come visit the church with me soon. One little boy sat down next to me that I hadn't seen before and took my arm and put it around him. It is so sad to see so many kids so desperately needing love and not enough people to fill that need.

It has really been an eye opener to talk with some of them. Many believe there is nothing else to do besides drugs because there is nothing organized in their community. They literally have nothing close to a positive influences in their lives. Many of them watch American television and movies and some think it is real life and try to imitate it.

I'm having a few of the youth from church over tomorrow night to talk about what can we do to get something regular setup. I wish you guys all the best for 2009! I am excited for what it has in store.