Father's Day

Joel & Dad on Father's Day.

Excited By Penguins

Joel was enthralled by the penguins and made sure that he pointed out each penguin that he saw, as you could imagine we were viewing penguins for quite a while!

Exploring The Beach

Not really sunbathing weather, but this didn't stop Joel from looking for a close encounter with the penguins. Sadly, there were none on the beach today.

Mary, Paula & Joel.

We've posted a similar picture before with our dear friends from Zimbabwe. This really is an amazing experience to get so close to the penguins.

Enjoying The View

What a stunning view! Even Joel made time to stand and enjoy it.

Pesky Penguins!

We thought this was quite amusing.

A Day Of Contrasts

Dean went to Patrick's funeral in Chris Nissen Park this morning. It was a moving service conducted by Donald, one of the community leaders. He did an excellent job and Francois our lead elder at church gave a short preach. This was great and has really helped our witness in the community. Patrick's family were deeply upset, but again Aunty Kuku barely registered any kind of emotion, we are really concerned for her.

Patrick

Patrick died at lunchtime this afternoon, having been ill over the weekend the ambulance was called this morning and took him to hospital around 11am. Dean has just been with the family to see Patrick in the morgue and to start the claim with the funeral policy. Afterwards we returned to CNP to spend some time with Aunty Kuku. She doesn't appear to have registered Patrick's death yet and to be honest her relief will probably outweigh her grief for a while, but who can blame her, she's had so much to deal with over the last year.

Life Of Contrasts

Paula had another interesting and emotionally exhausting morning in Chris Nissen on Friday. She spent quite a while with Lorraine talking about her illness, general health and the various options that she now finds herself faced with , particularly with regard to her little daughter. She is very anxious and tearful about the future for Evidine, her daughter. Lorraine is not afraid to die, she said, but she is so afraid of what will happen to Evidine. This is such a common story and yet, thank God, she does at least have wider family who will care for her.

Pirate Party

These photo's are of Joel at his friend Sean's Pirate Party. As you can see from the photos Joel had great fun even though he was significantly younger than the other children.

The rain has been pretty relentless this weekend, don't be fooled by the sun in the photos below, the rain abated for Sean's party but kicked in again afterwards with a vengeance! The rain is desperately needed and the locals are quite excited about it but somehow, being English, we just can't get excited by rain!

Photos

Below are some photos taken by Tim, one of our FYP volunteers, we hope you like them. The explanation with each photo is probably enough but we'll just fill in a little detail here.

Ouma Sophie's Shack

Ouma Sophie's shack in CNP. We wouldn't let a dog live like this, but the sad reality for many in South Africa is that this is all they can afford.

Helderberg Mountain Reflection

Helderberg Mountain reflected in the pond in Helderberg Nature Reserve. Paula & Joel are barely visible standing on the decking near the middle of the picture.

Joel Chasing Bok

Joel chasing some Bok in the Helderberg Nature Reserve this afternoon. We had a lovely afternoon enjoying a break in the rain for a day.

Running Around

Joel running around in Helderberg Nature Reserve on Sunday afternoon.

Tyrone

Tyrone has been offered an appointment by an eye Dr (one of the best in the country) in our church in 2 months time. This is a real answer to prayer and will be a real blessing for Tyrone and his family.

Living With AIDS

Paula had an excellent morning in Chris Nissen on Friday. It was pouring with rain but she really wanted to go and visit some of the women. At last, after over 2 weeks of not seeing Dina, she found her curled up in bed recovering from a very nasty bout of gastric flu! Dina was so pleased to see her and they had a good chat. Many bridges were built and it was so good to hear from her why she has been so upset lately. It is amazing how easily an action or words can be misconstrued and misinterpreted so as to cause offense. Paula was also able to advise her about her diet, the drugs she was trying to take and her busy lifestyle. They prayed together and then Paula set about trying to catch up on Dina's busy 'visiting and caring' schedule that she had had to drop during her illness (typical Dina! always thinking of others).

Very Wet!

Dean had a good afternoon in CNP although it was cut short by the weather. The rain is here with a vengeance today and the cloud is so low that we can't see the mountains. As we've said previously, as English folk we really can't get excited about the rain even though we desperately need it.

Men's Bible Study

We had an excellent bible study this morning, looking at baptism (see the material below). Unfortunately we were not able to use the container as there was some building work on the go but we managed to cram into Michael's house. as it turned out we had all been baptised as consenting believers which is excellent.

Quick Update

The last few weeks have been a bit of a strange time. CNP has been a bit of a frustration for Dean, particularly as Dina is not making herself available, we've not seen her for 3 weeks now. Dean has rung the ANC office but received no reply. Please pray for Dina as we know she was upset about the funeral arrangements for Michael's daughter and we think that her absence is related to this.

Frontier Year Project In CNP

Tim & John playing with some of the kids in CNP. They had been playing rugby until the ball (on the floor slightly right of centre) gave up the ghost!