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

Tales of South Africa: 1st day there - Chillaxin/Rehab center

I woke up refreshed! We opened the window and SHAZAM! the sky was a gorgeous blue and there was table mountain and the city. It was beautiful! We wandered outside to join Mr v and the boys and it was just soooo pretty! I absolutely loved it! i could not believe i was in south africa.
We had cereal for breakfast and we ate outside on the ground because it was warmer outside than inside. We did our devotion and it was great. We played around with the soccer ball and took some pictures until noon when Clive showed up.
We went to his house for lunch , they have a really nice house!
lunch was really yummy , it was a pita type bread stuffed with veggies and meat and stuff. david ate his pretty fast and had to have another , it was really funny.
after that we had to rush out and go to this drug rehab center place for men who are 18 and older can stay. We got to talk with them , me and mikaela had a group of them .. and their stories just blew me away .. and the love and joy they had for Jesus was just incredible. It was the perfect start to our ministry and a real eye-opener.
After that we drove up to the base of table mountain where we could see all of cape town and we prayed as a group for our ministries while we were there. It was amazing.
We went back to the Atkin's house and hung out until dinner , I was SO tired and if felt sick. i fell asleep on one of their pillows on their couch. I felt really bad because i didn't eat hardly any dinner! We had to wait for Clive to get back from something and it took quite awhile , but he showed up eventually. I fell asleep on the car ride back , and we decided not to do devos because of our tiredness. I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow
Krista

Tales of South Africa: Getting there, plane ride #2. Sep 8/9 , 2009

Amsterdam was incredible! The first thing that wierded me out was not being able to communicate with the people there. They were speaking german or something. talk about culture shock!
we went to a few stores and i bought a holland mug and a few little souvineers.
It was really awesome there! We waited in line for security to get on our flight after filling up our water bottles and realized maybe we couldn't get water through security? so we all had to chug our water.
About mid-flight i woke up , looked at david and he goes , 'DUDE , i JUST PUKED' he had the chicken curry he ate for lunch ALL over his shirt and pants and tray , it was SOOO GROSS.
poor guy , he got all cleaned up , but afte rthat i completely lost my appetite for the entire rest of the plane ride. it was an incredibly long flight! i slept alot of the rest of the way. FYI : Jonathan's shoulder , with the cushion of an airplane pillow makes an excellent pillow :)
we finally made it to Cape Town!! i realized i left my holland stuff on the plane a little too late and had to let it go.
we waited in this line that i thought was for baggage but it was actually customs! she didn't even ask me anything , just jabbered to this guard guy and sent me on through!
the boys got stuck , and micah even longer , but eventually they all got through. when we got our bags , i grabbed mine and the whole thing exploded , clothes went everywhere!
it was the most embarrassing thing EVER! we got it all together again , found clive and we got a ride through Cape Town in our little bus to the college where we'll be staying.
rooms here are LOVELY! me and mikaela have a dorm all to ourselves with four cushy beds and a hot shower and bathroom and it's just AMAZING!
Krista

Tales of South Africa: Getting there. Sep 8 ,2009

I slept amazingly last night.
We had breakfast casserole for .. wait for it.. BREAKFAST! ( who would've known?
It was actually yummy , even with eggs and everything in it! i surprised myself!
We practiced undefeated songs , then had a general run-down of how things were gonna roll by Mr V , then we got to chill until our ride got here to take us to the airport.
Geno Hunt brought us a shuttle to drive us , it was fantastic! made everything so much more official! the ride was so much fun because we did punch buggies and van slams , cruiser bruiseers etc..
we had to wait in a line forever to get our boarding passes , then finally got to check our bags , and get in line for security.
it was noon as we were waiting in line and our flight boarded at noon! so we booked it to our gate , and made it!
all the people there were like saying 'the big group is here!' and they all knew we were coming , it was kind of wierd.
the first scare we had was micah not having a valid passport at the security place , but it turned out he just hadn't signed it , so he did it right there.
anyways! i'm in row 20 with david and jonathan.
i've watched night at the museum 2 and monsters vs aliens.
Mr and Mrs V checked on us a bit ago and everything is all good.
i should be sleeping but i can't! :( so i decided to write in here! david and jonathan are watching movies so i'm all lonely!
:( oh well
Krista

Tales of South Africa: Launch Site Day 2. Sep 7 , 2009

I barely got ANY sleep last night.
I was freezing , excited , and this ridiculous clock woke me up every half hour it seemed!
We got up at 7 , had pancakes for breakfast , with peanutbutter! yummo!
After breakfast we worked on ministry prep such as puppets , illusions , ministry plans etc.. While we practiced illusions we took turns doing 'before-trip' interviews with brian and raeann.
My illusion is pretty intense but i'm working on getting more comfortable with doing it. We practiced songs after that , and it was pretty fun.
We practiced our bible stories , Then puppets and pantomimes , we're gonna do the creation pantomime like at training camp , and the sin chair one! they're both tons of fun!
sometime between all that we managed to find time for lunch. We worked outside on soccer drills for a bit , and i am TERRIBLE at soccer! i really need to work on that if we're gonna be teaching it!
we did this team building excercise where we could only have 3 points of contact , and we had to move as a team across the yard. we tried and failed about 3-4 times before we realized we forgot to pray first , and of course as soon as we prayed we made it across :)
we started marking clothes with our names and weighing bags , then we had Dinner.
we had our devotion after that , then brainstormed about ideas for our 10 station relay.
after that we got to have icecream and pretty much chillax! me and mickey got really hyper and it was exciting :)
i love hanging with my team! they are the bestest!
Krista

Tales of South Africa: Launch Site Day 1. Sep 6 , 2009

I barely got any sleep last night because of excitement!
I woke up and hopped out of bed immediatly!
At church during greeting time everybody came and gave me hugs goodbye.
Then finally , after singing we got to leave! I got to the airport and had to wait for 2 hours , but it was fine! i got to talk to jacob while i went back and forth on the moving sidewalks , it was entertaining! I also grabbed some quizno's for lunch and dinner , which was yummy
i finally made it on the plane , it was incredibly long!
about 20min before we landed a guy was having breathing issues , and as soon as we landed we had to wait for a team of paramedics to come get him.
I realized i was at the N gates! so i had to book it to baggage claim , where they would be waiting for me! Rose was there to pick me up , and brian drove us to the Hunt's house.
they were all waiting for me there and i got all my hugs , and we went right into ministry prep , we disassembled and reassembled our tote , oswald about 50 times for different scenarios.
We also picked out our illusions! I'm doing the uneven ropes illusion , micah is doing the changebag , mickey is doing the matchbox challenge , jonathan is doing the bubble one , david is doing the inner confidence one , and rob is doing the king of hearts card trick.
We got to pig out on redvines , then they fed us brownies and icecream and we got to try this tea from South africa and it was DELISH! :P
my surprise was a TWLOHA deon , oh! and i got my journal back! there's not much done to it , but it's all pretttyyy! i like it.
We had a really good devotion , now i'm in bed , i'll see what tommorrow brings :)
Krista