A Day In A Million!

Thursday morning marked a one-off highlight for Paula and her mum's and grannies cell group! They all went off to the Spur (equivalent of UK Aberdeen Angus steak houses) for coffee and dessert courtesy of a wonderful gift from 2 very special people in the UK (thank you, thank you!). It was a tearjerker as 4 of us drove in to Chris Nissen to collect the ladies and children. All 15 of them were there eagerly waiting, dressed up to the nines, some even with new hair do's and everyone else wondering where they were going!!

Praying The Future

As you might have seen from the posts below we've just had Mary (our Pastoral Director) from Crosslinks stay with us for a few days. Mary's visit was a great time, as we were able to take some time out to visit some of the sites such as Cape Town, the penguins at Simon's Town and drive over Chapman's Peak. We really enjoyed her visit and it was great to have a Crosslinks visit at a time when there is no crisis (present or looming) which need sorting as was the case in Zim when Andy Lines visited!

Panorama

Panoramic view of Hout Bay seen from the road on Chapman's Peak

Chapman's Peak

Paula & Mary standing in front of Hout Bay as seen from Chapman's Peak.

Cape Town

Paula & Mary in Cape Town. Unfortunately Table Mountain was covered in cloud so we were unable to go up, however we had a great time walking around the Waterfront and then going on for a drive over Chapman's Peak.

Emyezweni

Here are some photos of Emyezweni taken on Monday morning when we popped in briefly with Mary. Crosslinks are considering the possibility of SMILE teams coming and serving at Helderberg Christian Church and Emyezweni would be an excellent place for SMILE'rs to serve.

To see more photos and learn more about Emyezweni visit Deb's SA News

Nature Reserve

Dean, Paula, Joel & Mary in Helderberg Nature Reserve. We had a lovely afternoon walking around with Joel as he chased some Bok and discovered a tortoise.

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.