African Endeavor: January 2012

We would like to apologize for not posting during Christmas and New Years. We have limited internet usage and saved what we had left to use for Skyping with family for Christmas.

It is strange to think we have been in South Africa for over 2 months now. Looking back it has seemed more like 6 months. Maybe it is because the previous month has been unusual. The holidays here are celebrated differently. By mid-December, most businesses shut down for about 30 days so folks can spend time with family and friends for Christmas and the New Year celebration. This prevented us from spending much time working in our ministry, mostly because the groups we have been working with have been closed for the holidays. So we have spent the last few weeks doing yard work and hanging out with a World Race team that was here for the month. Some local friends blessed us with a day safari trip with them. We finally got wheels and were able to get out and about a little. And, oh yea, we have had three different residences this month.

We are now in our semi-permanent residence at BEAM house, a lodge type building, used to house different groups that come through (such as Campus for Crusade and World Race). One of the rooms in the back is large enough that we made it into a studio apartment. A family from the States that used to live in South Africa donated to us their household items they had kept in storage here. So we have couches, chairs, tables and kitchenware. We both feel very blessed!

We would like to share our individual thoughts…

Mike:

Since moving from our previous residence, we have been able to sleep in a bit longer. Earl has fortunately not followed us and we therefore have not been robbed of early morning sleep from his obsessive window tapping. We do, however, continue to have mishaps with wildlife. We stayed at our friends house while they visited their family on the coast. It turns out their home is the local hang out spot for toads. Apparently shoving their nose against the front door was what the “cool frogs” do. Like clockwork, the sun would set and the toads would line up against the door shoving their nose into it. Often they would end up coming under the door and jumping around in the house. Convinced that I would contract some kind of disease, I would never touch them. Jeanine had the designated job of toad removal.

Just outside of the front door of our current home is a berry tree full of the favorite food of a pair of local bats. Each night these blind beasts miraculously find their way to this tree, but do not rest on it. Instead they fly back and forth just in front of the door sometimes taking a nibble of the fruit. I am convinced that if we were to open the glass door they would take our heads off. I know: bats are tiny and harmless, right? Well, not these bats. They are the size of black crows with wings razor sharp, fur like a grizzly, claws like an eagle and fangs like the lost Saber Tooth Tiger. They could carry away small animals if they had a taste for it. Jeanine with her fascination of bats actually wants to sit on the porch and watch them. Yes folks, she is crazy.

In my last posting, I shared about Earl and his, um, plentiful and colored excrement. It seems that in this place that we are living, stories of dung are plentiful, so I will share another. On this property lives a family of goats. A few weeks ago it was decided that the two baby goats should be moved to another fenced area of the property (because momma was sick and her milk was bad). Old enough to eat plants and grass, they were quite happy in their new home full of greens. One day, these goats decided there had to be more to their little world and managed to jump over the fence. They quickly found a whole planet full of tasty treats and places of exploration. It was not long before they found their way into garages and sheds and, of course, our home. Although I shoo them whenever they are near the house, they are still persistent to find an open door. Now with abundant food comes something else. Yes, abundant poo. Although they could find a more suitable area on this giant propery, these goats have a favorite relief spot: any and all covered patios. Their droppings are not big giant mounds of stuff you can easily avoid, but rather tiny little pellets that scatter everywhere. If we are not careful, they can easily go undetected, at least until you step on it. So unfortunately our days of walking barefoot have come to an end.

The month of December here is a month of rest. Businesses close and people travel to the coasts to lie on the beach. It turns out this month definitely was not a month of rest for us. Working with a World Race team that was here for the month, we pulled enough weeds to fill a school bus, hauled 6 truckloads of dirt, 30 wheel barrels of bricks and made a rock garden. Amazingly I loved every minute of it. Not only was it physically rewarding and made this property we live on that much more beautiful, it was good to be a part of something. Working alongside with the World Race group made me feel like I was part of their team. Since coming here, it has been just Jeanine and myself. At least that is how I have felt. It was a blessing to have other Americans around for the holidays, people who also missed their families that we could relate with. We have made some good friends among the group.

Although the “rest” has been nice, I am exited to get back to working in the townships again next week. We will be helping BEAM get going after their holiday break and then we will be working with other ministries in a couple weeks. There are many people to visit still and a lot of work to do…, and I cannot wait!

Jeanine:

2 months…man who would have thunk it! I sit here with a little dog on either side of me & one at my feet. The other 2 are nestled under Mike’s desk..lol . Some things never change even in Africa AND they aren’t even our dogs!

As I type, I think of everything that happened in 2011…a new grandson /my son becomes a daddy, a decision made to move to South Africa, time spent with family all across the country as we said our ‘goodbyes’, watching my daughter grow as a mommy of 2, and finally selling everything we own, finding homes for our puppies & moving out of the country. We’ve survived the time change, jet lag, birds that scratch your windows at 5am, spider bites, killer frogs (see Mike’s spot) & we are working on the humidity. Man who WOULD have thunk it!!

Now, for 2012… we are finally ready to go. After 2 previous/temporary homes (a room in Louis & Erika’s home for 6 weeks & then house sitting in a cute little bungalow for 3 on the property), we are now in our long term temporary home (lol) while our final place is being built/worked on. It is a nice approx. 800sq ft little studio that is located within BEAM house. It is cozy and cute and we feel very comfortable & settled here (note the comment above re: the local dogs). We also have a vehicle finally so we can be more mobile. NOW we wait for “holidays” to be over. As I type this note we only have 1 more day! (after being ‘off duty’ since December 15^th!) On Tuesday, BEAM centre will be open once more; we have made friends with a couple who work with a home for AIDS orphans (children who lost parents to AIDs and/or are HIV positive themselves) and several other ministry leaders. And so it begins…. and we are SO excited!!

There is still much to adjust to, to learn (like the languages *sigh*), to acclimate ourselves to (like driving on the left side, my next lesson to learn) . But God is good, for every ‘hard thing’ He gives a Blessing. Christmas & New Years were very tough. We had no family & little to no celebration to speak of. Yet, we were blessed with a HUGE donation of food that we were able to pull together in large gift bags (and I mean LARGE BAGS) for 12 different families in need. He brought the World Race Group (a group that travels the world serving for a whole year… one place each month) from the US to bring a little holiday attitude to SA. And as we sat around the bonfire on New Year’s Eve I was able to call my kids at OUR midnight to say “Happy New Year” and it was only 3pm Colorado time!! (Hey that is a big deal when your kids are parents of little ones & hit the sack by 9 *grins*). And finally I am learning that although humidity is purty danged hard to handle at 100 degrees… my hair is softer, I have less “old lady wrinkles” on my face AND it creates the most AMAZING thunder storms that can last for hours & have thunder that rolls across the sky in waves… God is truly AWESOME!!!