Tales of South Africa: 2nd day in veldriff, 7th day there

We had an early start this morning, we went to the main school in the village we're at. It started out that we were gonna split up into threes and doing different classrooms, but it ended up that we all would go into the class and do the ministry.
We played some games with the kids and led songs and pretty much had a program that we would do. We did 8th grade, had a break, then 9th grade, another break, then we had the opportunity to go out during their recess.
Recess was intense, I decided to be one of the two people who were doing balloons, so i got mobbed by kids, i was so completely surrounded i barely had room to form the balloons, so i would just blow them up, tie them, then hand it to the first kid in sight, basically there were snakes everywhere. We did 9th grade again after that, then made balloons for a class of adorable kindergartners. We had another break, then headed out into recess again, it wasn't as terrible, I had no balloons this time so i just started out highfiving kids and standing in one place, this little girl from yesterday's ministry comes up to me and is doing the motions to amazing love, so i start singing amazing love super loud and a huge crowd of kids comes around me and sings it with me, then i sang inside my heart and did the same thing it was so bomb.
After another 9th grade class we had to leave, because we had ministry at the church that afternooon and because school was over.
We had lunch then started off the ministry with games, there were so many kids packed in the church it was ridiculous we counted over 240 kids. I did my david and goliath story for them with motions and i did a much better job than last time, I ended up signing SO many kids' arms with a sharpie, i felt like a celebrity.
On the ride home we got to see zebras and a kudu it was so awesome! Dinner was amazing as usual, haha clive knows me a little too well now, he was handing out candy to the team and as he did he said " everybody may have one .. except krista" everybody burst out laughing. We had devotions then debrief, I'm really tired and we have another super early morning tommorrow, this never ends!

Tales of South Africa: 1st day in Veldriff 6th day there!

Breakfast was delicious this morning, but it was still the usual we had every morning.( superior bread toast with peanut butter, yummy cereal, hot cocoa, juice)
Clive picked us up at the college and we were on our way to a small fishing village called Veldriff. Our leaders made me and mikaela sit up front so we would be quieter annnd it worked.
Mr V saw a giraffe but pretty much everybody else missed it, it was so disapointing. We were going by a nature reserve park and were able to see alot of ostriches, springbok, and flamingos as we neared the village.
This place we're staying at is alot nicer than the house we stayed in a Ceres, this place is like a hotel, but with like houses and there was a beach behind a fence right in our "back yards".
We did our ministry at this pretty big church and we introduced awana to the kids and they loved it! So many kids came it surprised us, it was more than we even imagined would come.. it was all God. I was MC so i had to be on top of everything and it was really hectic for me, but altogether the ministry went really well. We went back to the houses and did some bracelet making, planning, food eating ( sloppy joes :P), and sunset watching.. which was incredibly gorgeous!
That evening we went back to the church and did a youth group ministry time which was really awesome, I did my illusion( hopefully well) and my small group had a great chat and i even got to share my testimony with them. John Yao showed up in the middle of our ministry and started snapping pictures right away, we played musical chairs camp style and that was alot of fun.
One of the girls in my small group sang the team a beautiful song, then the group of them sang us a few songs, then we decided to sing them a few songs, then rob started breakdancing while david and micah beatboxed, it was like a full out praise/dance war. I can totally see God working in the church here and it's so cool to be witnessing.
We at some yummy chocolate cake while we did our devotions then me, mickey, mr v and mrs v finished up the bracelet making then went to bed. The end.

Tales of South Africa: School assemblies, and shopping! 5th day there

Today we had to wake up at 6 to go to the school assemblies. I was incredibly tired!
When we got to the school there were kids everywhere and we waved to them, it was really cool! there were ALOT of kids there and it was a pretty big room! at the beginning of our ministry the kids were kind of shy and reserved but by the end we had brought them out of those shells and they were having tons of fun! it was fun making kids smile while singing the songs and such. the ministry went well and God totally spoke through us.
When it was time to leave we started highfiving the kids and we started getting pulled in and not wanting to leave. it was evn harder when a little girl comes up to me and says "Jesus! you are my best friend!" while doing the motions and gives me a big hug! it was SO sweet and little did she know it was my favorite song on the CD.
it was just an incredible time there!!
Clive tookus all the way to the Cape of good hope, we did alot of walking but it was totally worth it! especially when we got to stand and pray on the southern most tip of Africa! we all got to get postcards at some shops there.
after that we had lunch, then he took us to see the penguins!!! it was SUPER awesome!
we headed back to clive's house for a little while, then he took us to the Cape town fish market so he could look for soccer jerseys for us. we ended up eating at this seafood place, i was expecting some super gross fish, but it was super delicious! best fish i've ever tasted.
we found these SWEET sinks that were like marble slabs tilted so the water just ran down them into a drain. it was soooo awesome.
we drove home and most of us fell asleep again.
We had shirt washing to do after that, the boys washed their shirts then went straight to bed because they were sleepy heads. us girls stayed there later and snapped the water and wrinkles out of the shirts!
Me and mickey stayed up awhile and had a really good talk while the guys jabbered having their 'man talk' ( they must have caught a second wind)
Krista

Tales of South Africa: Church, 4th day there

Today we went to Clive's church, but instead of meeting where they usually meet they got together at another church with like 9 other churches from all over Cape Town. The whole service was based around children's ministry, it was such a blessing to be there on that day!
We sang 'Inside my Heart' with NO music. it actually sounded pretty fantastic if i might say so myself! and after one round of singing it we had everybody join us and they all loved it! even the adults.
David and Rob got to share their testimonies, those went well.
The worship is what got to me, we learned some new songs, then we sang 'How great is our God' and it almost brought me to tears the fact that all these churches combined, and us were all worshipping the same God! it was a mindblowing experience!!
the message was super good and it was on my level haha and entertained my attention span which is that of a kid so it was perfect for the kids there.
We had a delicous lunch at the Atkin's house, then we had a meeting about the camp we were going to do at the end of the week at Clive's actual church.
afterwards we went back to clive's house and prepped for the camp ministry. Me, Rob, and David are on one ministry team and Micah,Mikaela, and Jonathan are on the other. we'll each be doing different teaching segments at the camp.
We decided to use the rest of our time to have a team talk and prayer, we were reaching the end of our ropes already and were feeling snippy at eachother so we talked and prayed it out.
Dinner was delicious! devotions were great as usual! i'm at an incredibly tired point right now.. and our trips not very close to being over. I'm happy i have the team i have. :) they're pretty great! Krista

Nicknames while in South africa =]

South Africa Team 2009
Micah- D.Ruler
Krista- Kiddo
Mikaela- Macaw!/Mikachu =)
Jonathan- J-frost/undecided
David- Fu-Fu
Robert- Robelina
hehe =P now back to the tales.

Tales of South Africa: 3rd day there, good bye Ceres :(

So at the unfinished house we stayed at in Ceres, it was unbelievably freezing for being Africa! We woke up very very cold , and finally figured out how to turn our heater on. We all ate some breakfast and decided to go outside where it was warmer, it was absolutely GORGEOUS out there! rob and Mr V had fun being lizards in the sunshine.
Today's ministry went super good i thought. we had 2 hours to fill and there were alot of kids from the neighborhood who weren't at the Awana we visited which was good!
After the ministry the people from the church took us around town in Ceres where we got to see their market, it was really awesome! We went back to the church where they had prepared us lunch and it was really delicious!
We had a super long drive back so we decided to head out, i slept some in the car ride, then got teased for thinking monkeys and baboons are different.
Clive decided to surprise us and took us to Table mountain where we got to ride the *cough*TRAM up the mountain and it was just breath taking! my #1 camera battery is dead. YIKES. haha then i got teased for thinking a cable car was a tram.. ( which i still think they're practically the SAME thing.) oh right and for not knowing what run aground meant. fun stuffs!
after that clive takes us to the mall in cape town, he took us to a pizza place there and fed us. i didn't have the bestest time during that meal for different reasons.. but yeah. the ride home almost all of us were sleepingggg , we were exausted from such a long day.
we got to have a good team talk and a shortish devotion. tommorrow is church! i am incredibly tired right now.. so off i go to sleep in my nice and warm room. Krista

Tales of South Africa: 2nd day there first ministry in ceres

Apparently i talked in my sleep last night. Devotions in the morning were so much better because i actually could pay attention. We ate breakfast , then started getting ready for our ministry today. We had a 2 and a half hour drive ahead of us to Ceres.
While were were sitting around waiting for our ride , this guy comes up and asks about david's shirt ( which had been hanging on the clothesline drying because he had to wash it because of the barf) We found out he was gonna be going on a mission trip to portugal , He asked if he could pray for our team , so he did. Then we got to pray for him as well , it was super cool how God used david puking on the plane to be a blessing to somebody! Then not 10 minutes later a lady comes up to us and says hello and how she's noticed us around here and mentioned how we've blessed her! it was just incredible :)
Clive showed up and we were off! we saw a baboon on the side of the road and an ostrich! which was pretty sweet. i had a pretty fun time with my team in the car messing around , but the moment we pulled in i was thinking sweet! this must be where we're staying! we walked in the building and all these african kids were sitting in there saying a verse in Afrikaans together.
yeah we had to go straight into ministry and we had NOT planned very well at all . we found out we had to use a translater and that was definatly a new experience! i stumbled through david and goliath . it was just really hectic it seemed to me.
that evening we visited their youth group and it went waay smoother! we all made one tear crosses and the kids wanted us to sign them , and we had them sign ours! it was super special. they all whipped out their cell phones and started taking pictures of and with us. but we had to leave. it was crazy freezing where we slept!! but we managed to stay alive :)
Krista