FROM ACROSS THE WORLD...

Hello my dear family!

I do apologize, but I will not be sending you monthly newsletters. I had made a really nice one with lots of pictures, but the file was for some reason to large for my email to send, so I then deleted a bunch of pictures and still couldn't get it to send. So as a result, I will be posting on this blog from time to time to keep ya'll updated. So here goes:

FROM AMERICA TO SA
As you all know, I left DE on January 9th to fly out to Detroit to stay with Ronnie and his family for two days. While there I got to see Lake Erie frozen over, go to Tony Pacos original restaurant (the restaurant in MASH tv show), go to a mega church, workout at a huge YMCA, and hangout with Ronnie and his family. On the 11th we flew 8 hours from Detroit to Frankfurt. Once we were in Frankfurt we tried to find our way around the airport and then hop on a subway to go into the center of town. Ha! That was quite the experience, as neither of us could read German. Fortunately some friendly Germans helped us out. We walked around part of Frankfurt to see some of the awesome architecture and then went to Starbucks to get warm. We then found our way back to the airport and still had 7 hours to kill before our flight, so we played some card games and walked around. We then flew 11 hours to Johannesburg. Unfortunately our flight didn’t have personal tvs, and I am unable to read or draw on a plane. So I listened to music and dozed off and on, and eventually a couple movies were put on for the whole plane to watch. Our flight in Frankfurt took off late and so we arrived late in Jo-burg which gave us very little time. By the time we claimed our baggage and went to check in we found out check-in for our flight had closed. We were scrambling around and went to talk to someone else and he rebooked us for a flight that was 20 minutes later than our scheduled flight and we didn’t have to pay anything. I thanked God for working that out! So we got our tickets, rushed to get through security, re-checked-in our bags, and then literally sprinted through the airport because we only had 5 minutes to get to our gate. We safely flew the 2 hours to Cape Town and arrived around 2:30 pm or so. Clynton, a friend of ours picked us up from the airport and delivered us to the Living Hope Volunteer house. Talk about climate change, I believe I was told it was around 100 degrees when we arrived.

MY MINISTRIES
I know many of you have wanted to know what I would be doing while here, and there was only so much I could tell you while in the states, because some of it was to be decided once I got here.
Anyhow, in the mornings from Mon-Thurs I am going into schools with the Life Skills Educators to teach life skills and help. This is definitely outside my comfort zone, but I think it will be challenging and exciting. On Mon/Wed afternoons I will be going to Overcome Heights and on Tues/Thurs afternoons I will go to Capricorn for kids clubs. On Friday mornings I will go to training sessions with the LSEs and in the evenings I will go to the youth group programs.
Eventually I will be helping with Upwards Sports-the program that runs soccer camps in all the communities. I am really excited to do this ministry and hope it starts sooner rather than later.
I know I had mentioned to you all that I wanted to work with a purse ministry here. Well, I received some heart breaking news the day after I got here. Khumi, the lady that ran this ministry, passed away. She had HIV and TB and was on ARVs, but went to some church and the pastor told her God would heal her only if she stopped taking the ARVs. People here don’t know any better so she listened and her health took a turn for the worse. So I hope to continue her ministry here or be a part of it somehow, but I am waiting to see if the ministry will keep going or not. I will let you know more on this subject later.

FUN
On the first weekend we were in SA, Ronnie, Chris, Nicole and I all joined the UD group in doing some sight seeing. Nicole is from Canada and Chris is from England-both will be here for a month. Even though Ronnie and I saw both of these sights last year, it was hard to pass on going because this country is absolutely gorgeous. At Cape Point we climbed to the lighthouse to take pictures of the scenery. It’s breathtaking and doesn’t matter how many times I see something here, it’s still just as beautiful. God was so creative when He created the world and everything in it. I wish I could have been there when He did because He is the greatest artist there ever was. While at the top we met a guy named James who believe it or not was from Hockessin, DE!! We got to see two mama baboons with their two adorable babies up close and personal which was really neat, and we saw others on the road. At the boulders we got to see all the really cute penguins and you could get so close to them that you could almost touch them. Ronnie and I also joined the UD team in going to the Botanical gardens. The team I went with last year wanted to go, but we didn’t have time to do everything. Wow was that a neat place to go! The plants were just absolutely gorgeous! The plants here are so different from anything that I’ve seen in the US. The beauty of this country just takes my breath away.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
Last year when we did our budget we based it off of the 10: 1 rand to USD which was a big mistake. Since then the rand has dropped in value to 7:1 USD. Therefore we have some budget increases. We just found out that the car we were planning to get (which was only $150/month at the time) won’t be the most reliable car in the long run and the price on it increased, so Charl-an ACTS worker helped us to find the next cheapest thing which costs $375 to $400 per month. The prayer request is that we are able to raise extra funds to cover the cost of the car as well as our other expenses.
Pray for the hearts of the kids, parents, and locals that I meet. Pray that they are open to hearing the Gospel and allow it to transform their lives and turn their world upside down.
Pray that I will be bold for the Lord and that He will do great works in and through me for His glory.
Pray for God’s direction in His calling for my life.

THANK YOU
If you made it this far in the newsletter, that’s great and I hope you enjoyed it! Future newsletters will be shorter. Sorry it was so long, just thought you’d like to see pictures and hear what’s going on. Anyway, thank you so much for your faithful prayer and financial support. I wouldn’t be here to do the Lord’s work if it weren’t for you. I hope all is well with you! Love you all so very much!

For His Glory,

Amy