Another Find...

Every now and then I find something at the grocery store that excites me. Tonight was one of those nights. I found....... (drum roll please)......... Haagan Daas ice cream! Ice cream here doesn't excite me at all so it was exciting to find some worth eating. It was outrageously expensive but well worth it!!!

Get this....

Ok, I found out today why the school I have been mentioning does not have permanent buildings. Apparently, it was placed on land that could become sink holes. Can you imagine that? Putting 1300 students on land that has the potential to swallow them up!

Here's the craziest request I have gotten in awhile.... Yesterday someone buzzed my gate. My instinctual response is to open the gate when someone buzzes. I have learned to resist and look to see who it is. I looked and didn't know him. The guy (who was obviously high or something) told me his car had broken down and was wondering if I could give him and his friends (who were nowhere to be seen) a ride home. Hmm...... let me think about this one......... My reaction was to want to say, "Do I look that dumb? I wouldn't even do that in America." In case you're wondering, I said no.

Its a pretty common thing to have someone stop by asking for money, food or trying to sell me something. There was one guy who stopped asking for money to pay the mechanic to get his car back from the garage. He had left his wallet about 45 minutes away but once he got his car he would pay me back. The funny thing was that he was back a couple of weeks later. Only thing this time it was his TV that was broken and he needed the money to get it because he had left his in his brothers car who lived about 45 minutes away. He would bring me the money later. I told him he had really bad luck to keep forgetting his money like that. :)

Lunch at Subway

Normally, lunch at Subway doesn't excite me. But (and that's a big but) when the only other American restaurant is MacDonalds, its pretty exciting to have something taste normal. We found this last weekend by accident. We were looking for an other restaurant. It was a pretty good accidential find. The only thing better would be finding a Starbucks or a real Mexican restaurant- even Taco Bell would do :).

The School Continued.....

This is their playground.

The principal in one of the classrooms. He said today, "I don't go to church but I do pray twice a day." Pray that as we partner with this school that we have opportunities to present the true gospel to him. That's our hope and prayer. We don't just want to be do gooders. It would be easy to be overwhelmed by the needs. Meeting the needs not only helps us obey the commands of Scripture to act mercifcully but it also helps build trust in a community lacking it. As that trust is built, we then have tremendous opportunities to not only tell them about Christ but to show them Christ. My generation in the townships are either dead or dying. That in part makes it even more important to reach this young generation. The gospel is what will bring hope and change South Africa. That's the goal.

More Pictures of the School

We went back to the school today to talk to the principal and I was able to take some pictures with the kids there.

The kids were very excited to see us and eager to get their picture taken. It was hard to get them to go to class.

How are these for crowded classrooms? Notice the lack of books on the desk. When someone needs to come to the front of the classroom in the picture below, they have to climb on top of the desks to do it.

Packages From Home

I had a friend who spent some time in the states recently and brought back some packages from some wonderful friends!!! Thanks so much Eilene, Carol and Sandy! You are amazing friends and are like sisters to me. Included in the packages was the beautiful pillow above which matches my living room perfectly. My friends who were here when I opened it commented on how "Beth-like" it was :) . The also included some things I needed like Tylenol Sinus and a few other things.

Included were also somethings I enjoy like chocolate chips and spice jelly beans.

More then the items, it was wonderful to have reminders that people from home care and love me! It makes home feel not so far away. It was such an encouragement to me. I always struggle when people ask me what they can send me. Its not that I don't have a list of items that I miss because I do. I'm not sure what it is but it seems weird to ask people to give you things. I know they don't view it that way and I'm glad for those who ignore me when I tell them not to do it.

More on the township schools

This is where the 2nd grade class meets. They only have 60 kids in this class but clearly don't have enough desks or chairs for all the students. Notice the hole in the floor in the 2nd picture. Its been that way for several years. They keep requesting it be fixed but no one comes to fix it.

This is the whole in the wall of one of the buldings. You can see right through to the other side of the building. The pictures actually make the building look much nicer then it is.

Imagine though sending your child to a school in this condition or to a classroom with 60 children and one teacher. Imagine not having textbooks or school supplies. It made me very sad for these children. What kind of hope do they have for a future better then their current life?

Township Schools

I spent most of today in Katlehong. We had some visitors from Luxembourg in town who are helping to raise money for some of our projects. One of the projects is a hot meal program that we hope to start in two schools. This program will help feed approximately 2300 children. For many, it will be their only hot meal each day.

Part of what we did was visit the schools we will be helping. Both schools have prinicpals that really care and who often give of their own money to help the students. Neither of the schools have facilities that are anything to brag about. Both schools have few textbooks and few school supplies. Both schools have overcrowded classrooms but the one school really made me want to cry.

This is a picture of the school building. They are containers that have been placed together and are being used because the government won't provide the money to build proper classrooms. These containers were donated to the school.



The next two pictures are of the room used for the kindergarden class. They have (sit down when you read this) 92 students that meet in this room. That's not a misprint: 92! Can you imagine???? In addition. the roof leaks and there is no heat.