Joel's Day Out

We took Joel to the Cape Town Aquarium on Saturday and he really enjoyed himself.  The highlights for him were being able to stand against the tanks and watch the fish, sharks and seals come right up to his face.  The seals were particularly impressive with their acrobatics and Joel just giggled the whole time.  Afterwards we had lunch at the Aquarium restaurant and there were 3 seals on the quay immediately below us, needless to say Joel was enthralled.

Arrest Update

We've heard today that Minton & Womisile have both been charged with the murder and as such remain in custody.  However, we are thankful to God that they remain in the local police cells as opposed to having been transferred to the infamous Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town.

The police now have a further 7 days in which to investigate the murder and then there will be a further court appearance at which time Minton & Womisile will either be released due to lack of evidence or a trial date will be set and they will be moved to Pollsmoor.

Please continue to pray for Minton & Womisile and for justice to be done.

Church Under Attack

We need to ask you to pray for Minton and his wife.  Minton is the church caretaker and a very quiet & gentle man.  However on Tuesday he was arrested for murder together with his wife, Womisile.  Needless to say the whole church was stunned!

Over the weekend a dispute took place in a Shebeen in Nomzano which left a young man called Malibongwe dead.  The community then sought the perpetrator and murdered him next to Malibongwe.  This is a growing problem in the townships as the communities do not trust the police.  It transpires that Malibongwe is Minton's 'son' (culturally) and somehow it has been alleged that Minton and Womisile have committed the murder.  However they say they were in bed at the time of it.

Prayer Items

To the Faithful Oaks who pray so brilliantly for us

We're having a really good week and want to share some prayer items with you, but firstly we'll give you a bit of news.  A major breakthrough tonight...Paula has gone to church on her own in the car.  She hates driving and is never too keen to drive at night so this is a bit of a first.  Dean went mountain biking again tonight and managed to stay on the bike this time.  Steve and Jonathon (fellow riders) are very fit so Dean feels a bit of a lemon trying to keep up.  However they're very patient and encouraging, Jonathon tried to persuade Dean to join a 25km race at the weekend but Dean declined! 

Fun & Laughter

We had a lovely family day today - one of those days that you wonder how it could have been so happy when nothing particularly significant was planned!  We went to church as usual in the morning and Joel had a great morning in creche.  He then slept for over 2 hours after a huge lunch - great for his parents!!  In the afternoon we went for a walk and came back past a proper skate boarding and bike ramp area. 

August Marches On

Well August is drawing to a close and at last it feels as if the weather might be warming up a touch, certainly the last few nights have been better and the last 3 days have been glorious!  Winter here is definitely a little odd!  It appears that the North-Westerly wind blows in over the mountains and brings the cold and rain for 3 or 4 days and then the wind turns to the Southeast and brings warmth and sunshine for 2 or 3 days and so it goes on.  At least we know that every few days it will be good.

Winter Has Arrived!

Well winter is truly here with a vengance.  The winds in the last few days have been quite frightening (as well as keeping Paula awake at night).  The rain is almost non-stop and many places are flooded.  Summer shouldn't be too far away now - we hope!

The big news is that our visas have been approved until 2007 so it's good to know we're legally here!  Dean will drive to Paarl to get the passports stamped in the next few days.

What A Week

Winter hit with a vengeance with the North West wind battering everything around.  A few times this week we thought our roof was going to take off.  The saddest part of this is that Cape Town has experienced severe flooding with the 'informal settlements' (squatter camps) suffering the brunt of it.  Many people have been washed out of their shacks.  On Sunday we were supposed to welcome some new members but a number of folk were unable to be there as their homes were destroyed by the floods.  Please pray for these families as they try and piece together the little they had to start with.

Life

We are settling in well and are very pleased with our house.  The rain has arrived -only a month late- and is persistent so it is a bit depressing.  I think we'll be swimming out of our front door this afternoon!  Dean started work this week, so is slowly starting to develop a strategy.  It is frustrating at first, particularly as the main woman he was hoping to work with has now got full-time work, so isn't around to help and Dean doesn't speak Afrikaans!  Lots of prayer needed.

The Holiday Is Over

Dean starts work properly tomorrow (Tuesday 3rd) at 8.30 so today was our last day of 'holiday' (although we've been racing around getting the house sorted and a few other things!).  We took Joel out for tea tonight and really enjoyed himself.  He ate some of Dad's potato wedges followed by Mum's ice cream as well as polishing off his own tea!  This afternoon Joel and Paula went for a walk with a friend who has a 3 year old and needless to say Joel wanted to be doing all that he saw his friend doing.  His not walking is definitely frustrating him now!  Please pray that he would soon start to walk, it would transform his life.

Settling In

We've been very busy over the last few days sorting out furniture for the house. In the midst of this our freight arrived Praise God!! so we're feeling very homely right now. Joel has been really excited to see so many of his toys as well as other familiar items from 'home'. He became very excited when he saw his swing in the front garden and now trying to get out without him seeing it is quite a trick! The house feels good and we're looking forward to hosting our first visitors on Friday evening (Dean's new boss). 

After A Long Silence We're Back On Email!

We've missed a huge chunk of what happened in our final few days in the UK but this should bring you up to date with what's happened since...

We're safe and well and finally settling into our home here in South Africa.  Our first week has been quite stressful, however, we have now completed our dealings with immigration and now have to wait 30 days for our visas.  It only took 4 visits (an hour each way), 1 desperate call to Crosslinks (Brilliant as always!!) and endless form filling! but we appear to have jumped through each hoop successfully.

Commissioning Service

Sunday 11th July '04

Commissioning Service

We had our commissioning service at St. George's Weald this morning. It was great to see some good friends again whilst getting ready for our departure on Thursday. Joel coped admirably with a sea of people wanting to entertain him (or be entertained by him!) and we struggled as we said goodbye to so many friend whom we'll not see again for at least 3 years. Saying goodbye never gets any easier!

Welcome To Our Blog!

We're going to try and keep a running Blog whilst we're in South Africa, keeping you up to date with our thoughts, feelings and latest happenings, we'll also keep you posted with news about Joel.

We will also include information about the work we are doing sharing the joys, troubles and answers to prayer.

Enough waffle, you'll get the idea as we go along.