I want to tell you a funny story. So we went to a game park in Swaziland. I promise you that I never saw a sign that said to stay on the paths. Some say that there are signs but I realy didn’t see them. So I was with 2 other girls and we were having so much fun, running with the zebras, chasing the water buffalo and gazelles, and just hiking around (off the paths…it’s so more fun) but then the girls were taking nice pictures of each other sitting on the rocks but my camera was dead so I walked a little ahead to the edge of the creek bed (start suspense music) I was innocently looking at these amazing birds nest which I think are made my Finch’s but I’m not sure. But this was a small creek maybe only 6 feet wide. So I’m standing on the edge minding my own business and all of a sudden I hear the scariest noise in the entire earth. I look over and a crocodile on the other side of the creek right acrossed from me is growling at me and then he slides down into the water. It does not have to be said that I screamed very louder and was running as fast as I could away from the water. But the girls with me hear the noise and come running b/c they want to see the croc. I am really almost throwing up b/c I am so scared but we walk back to the edge and look in and then see a baby croc that was on our side and that is prob. why it growled at me. It was a very scary experience but how many people can say they were growled at by a crocodile in the middle of Africa? Me! (That is not a pic of my croco just an internet one, I’m not crazy enough to stick around to take a picture but that is what it looked like!)
This week has been the calmest week I have had so far. I am adapting well to everything here and falling into love with it even more. At the moment I am in the community Library and if I all ow myself to forget for just a s second I can almost feel like I’m back at home in the Bedford Library, except the minor interruption of people speaking Afrikaans. Many times when we are out people will turn to me and start speaking Afrikaans, I love it because it means that my awkward American side must not be showing as much!
I love my ministries so much. On Wednesday I was able to help Monquie at Mamelodies (I spelled it very wrong last week) in the baby room. We feed and bath all the kids. You would not believe how much food these little babies can pack away. Something they eat almost everyday is called Papi (I have no idea if that is spelled right but it is pronouced Pop), which is very similar to our grits. They will eat an entire plate full with this vegtable tomato based stew on top of it. They eat this with their hands so you can imagine what they look like the and what the rooms looks like after 15 6 months – 2 years old get done eating. It’s a mess! So we usher them out of the room and sweep in there and then usher them all back in. Bath time begins! First we must fill a large bucket with water at the water faucet outside and then get a few empty buckets. Then we strip them down and since baby wipes are too expensive each child has their own washcloth. So we pour some water in the empty bucket and wash their bodies and their messy faces. When they are clean we change their diaper and use to the washcloth to clean them. Then we rub vaseline all over their bodies…alll over! Get them dressed and send them on their way to get dirty again. Then dump out the dirty water and put the wash cloth in the dirty pile and start all over again. Monquie can do this all in about 3 minutes, it takes me a bit longer but she enjoys laughing at my awkwardness but it’s okay because I Love it!
Please join in prayer with us for a little boy who is about 1 and a half. One of my teammates got permission from his Mom this week to take him to the doctor. He has a mental handicap but on top of that this week when he openedhis mouth to cry no noise was coming out and he was having a hard time breathing. The doctor says he has a severe case of Broncitus and had a very high fever. It’s a strong possibilty had he not gotten treatment he might had died. Please pray for his healing, he may be positive for that horrible disease so we are not sure how much hope to hold onto but with God anything is possible. I’m not posting his name b/c it is illegal to talk about someone’s health but please pray, God will know who you are talking about.
I love you all, letters are fun! Thanks for all the ones I’ve gotten so far.
