i’m back
Hi folks. What a week I had. (This is quite long so if you don’t have a few minutes to read everything you might want to stop now and come back later : )
We (Phumlani, Brooke, and I) made it to
Cape Town Tuesday evening just in time to go to bed and get up the next morning to head to the consulate. We got to the consulate early in the morning and after waiting for 45 minutes in a line outside, we were told that we didn’t have all the applications filled out that we needed too. We also didn’t have 4 photo’s and we hadn’t paid for the visa prior to coming. I was not told that we needed to have or have done any of that before I got there that day. That was kind of frustrating. The worst part was that we were told all of this on Wednesday, Thursday was Thanksgiving, an American holiday so they were closed, and Friday they were closed as well which left us with the only option of staying 3 days longer than we had planned so we could go to the consulate on Monday. And that’s what we did. I got everything that the lady told me we needed prepared so that we would be coming with our A game.
Until Monday, we tried to have a good time. This was the first time that Phumlani had ever been to
Cape Town and also his first time out of
Port Elizabeth. We drove around seeing things, going to beaches, saw a movie, hung out with the guys we were staying with, and overall had a good time. On Saturday, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We didn’t have anything planned so we just decided to jump in the car and run to the beach for a bit. We went to this new beach that none of us had been to yet. It was really pretty. The beach was really long and it was somewhat windy so there were hundreds of waves hitting the shore. It was on the
Indian Ocean side of
Cape Town so the water was noticeably warmer than the Atlantic side. We swam for a bit and just laid down and relaxed on the beach. After an hour and a half or so we grabbed some lunch at a restaurant on the beach and realizing we still didn’t have anything to do we went back to the beach. That was my mistake though. Returning to the beach. The second time to the beach we stayed for another hour or so making our total time in the sun 2 ½ + hours. Way too much for my American, white, “not used to the beach sun” skin. Needless to say…I was FRIED!!! I have been burnt before but I have never had my ENTIRE body burnt all at the same time. From my calves up to my forehead, it was bright red. It was pretty bad. My face got it the worst I think. My face is currently falling off. At least the skin is. Every time I enter a room here at the house, the girls laugh at me cause it looks so bad. I can’t even describe it. I’ll see if I can get a picture of how bad it is.
Anyways, back to the visa situation. We went back to the consulate like they asked us to on Monday. With all the requested paperwork in hand, I was feeling quite confident about it. I guess I was wrong. The problem he was having with giving us a visa was that he didn’t see any documentation from the doctors or the clinic that Phumlani will be seeing when he’s in the states. He wanted to see how we were paying for everything and how we were going to continue treatment for him once he returns to Phumlani. SO, he said we needed to leave and come back again with the “support” documents he said he needed. We were supposed to leave on Tuesday so the only option I had was to go early Tuesday morning to the clinic and hope we get out early enough for us to make the 8 hour drive back to Port Elizabeth. We went back the next day with a letter from a doctor in the states but the new guy we saw still was not convinced by the paperwork we had provided. He explained why again saying that they are keen on giving us a visa but until they can do that, they have to have all the documentation that supports the trip in front of him and as of then he didn’t. We decided to come back to Port Elizabeth without a visa because he said that they haven’t declined the request for a visa, they’ve merely filed it as “pending” so that if we are able to come up with the proper papers, we can send them via fax or email and hopefully they will be able to issue us a visa. Please keep praying. We really don’t have much time left. We’re supposed to be heading out in less than 3 weeks now so we’re really pushing it close.
Tonight, all the younger girls had there end of the school year awards ceremony. I love going to those. It’s a small school and our girls are very smart, hard-working girls. I took them early and went in to save seats. I think I was the first one there which is good because I was able to save the front row seats which is perfect for yelling and cheering for the girls when they get awards. It was hilarious because they didn’t even want me to come because they said the last time they had one of those things at their school, I embarrassed them because I cheered so loud. All the other people in the room are old and boring parents. Every time one of my girls got anything, it didn’t even matter what it was, I yelled at the top of my lungs, clapped, stood up and cheered, everything. That’s what kids need most. They need someone to cheer for them, support them, and be proud of them. That’s something I learned from my parents!
Plus…it’s Unakho’s birthday today. She turned 11! Wooh! She’s getting big.
Ok, I’m done. And that wasn’t even everything. I could have written more easily.
Night guys!
daniel
update, last for a few days.
The weekend is over. Ronnie and Sybil left Saturday morning for
Cape Town. A few months ago they bought a home there that they are going to be moving to in March. It will be a retirement home for them where they say they are going to “grow old in.” Ha.
Well, folks the deal with Phumlani’s coming to the State’s situation is this: we got his passport this past week on Tuesday and arranged for an appointment at the
U.S. embassy to have Phumlani interviewed for a visa this week on Wednesday morning. Brooke and I are hiring (renting) a small car tomorrow morning (Tuesday) and driving down there for the appointment the following day. If you happen to be up around 2pm your time Wednesday morning, please pray for us. The interview only lasts 15-20 minutes and at the end of it we will know whether or not they are going to give him a visa. I was thinking about the interview and everything and was asking myself if I was worried or nervous about the whole thing and realized that I was barely even thinking about it. We can’t really do anything more to assure us a visa. It’s all up to God now and whether he gives us someone at the consulate that will trust us and give Phumlani a visa. We’ve gone out and got letters from doctors, teachers, his job, from Oceans of mercy all backing us up and answering some of the questions that the consulate will have.
I’m sorry this is so short but it’s a very busy day and got lots to do before we leave tomorrow morning. Gotta go book the airline tickets, pick up the kids from school, grocery shopping for a whole weeks worth of food for 15 people, and find sometime to pack a few clothes for this short trip. Plus I gotta look nice Wednesday morning so that means I gotta shave too. Blah! Ha.
I don’t think I will be able to write again while I’m in
Cape Town. The plans are to come back on Saturday morning. If I get a chance I’ll write before that be if you don’t see anything, make sure you check Saturday sometime to see how the trip went.
Thanks guys so much. Please be praying and asking for a good turnout. It’s all up to God but we have to ask for it. Sure, He knows everything, but how can we be given something if we don’t ask for it.
Love you guys!
daniel
Urgent Prayer!
Hey all. Not too much going on hence the lack of posts over the past few days. Mama is going to Mtata, her past and future home, tomorrow. She’s currently building a retirement home there. It’s a really small place, I think with one room only. She has to go there for a few days to take care of some building stuff.
I’ve got some news for everyone. I haven’t talked about it until now because I didn’t want to say anything until we got some uncertainties taken care of. Although, we haven’t taken care of all of them, I want to tell you about it so you all can pray for me.
About a month ago, we decided that when I come back in December, we want to bring Phumlani with me. You might remember me talking about the disease that he was diagnosed with, Neurofibromatosis? Well, we have looked into some ways to follow up on it here in
South Africa but we don’t see much we can do here. We all feel like the best thing for him would be to get him to
America so he can see some specialists that deal primarily with this disease. Everything has been taken care of thus far except for one thing. His visa. To come to the States for however long, you have to have a visa. To get a passport, we have to travel 8 hours to Cape Town, Phumlani has to be interviewed by someone in the consulate, they will ask lots of questions about how long he’s going to be there, why he’s going, where he’ll be staying, and maybe even how we’re paying for it. Then they will decide whether or not to approve his application for a visa or not. The reason behind all the questions is so that they can make sure that people aren’t illegally staying in the States rather than going back to their home country. I’ve been hearing lots of stories from people saying that they went to get a visa and when they go apply and have an interview, they’re denied one. We are going to pick up his passport tomorrow and as soon as we get to the house I will be calling to request an interview sometime next week. If we can get one that soon, we will be heading to
Cape Town hopefully by Tuesday. I don’t want to be there long so we will try and do the interview on Wednesday or Thursday and then head back to
Port Elizabeth during the weekend. Please be praying that we have faith that God will take care of everything, if it’s his will for Phumlani to come. If he is approved for a visa he will be coming to the States with me in December and stay until a couple weeks into January. Around 3 weeks or so. Please be praying that everything works out. Thanks guys!
daniel
2nd for the day! Wooh!
Hello all. Sorry it took me a while to get on here and let you know how the sponsorship program stuff went. Wednesday morning I got up, took the kids to school, came back and ate breakfast as I was getting a few more things all ready to head out there. I went to tell Mama that I wanted to be leaving in 30 minutes time and she said “for what?” …. That was a blank stare from. Ha. She had forgotten that we were doing it that day. She had forgotten so badly that she had made other plans, plans she couldn’t change. So I was left without her. Not a good start to the morning.
It actually turned out pretty well. I got to the store, got the money stuff and payment all taken care of, the ladies were all there waiting for me outside, they actually listened to me when I told them to all stay where they were and one by one come and get a trolley with a parcel in it from me. That actually surprised me that they listened to me. ha.
There were two that didn’t show up so this morning we went and took them to them. Turns out there a little miss understanding but everything was taken care of. They promised to be at the store next month.
There are always a few people that are extremely appreciative for the food. Specifically, two women. Every time they see us and are getting food from us, they come up and give each of us the biggest hugs. Every month I look forward to those hugs. I had one lady tell me “Thank you. Now each day we are all eating.” I thought that was remarkable. “Now each day we are eating.” Can you believe that? Not being able to eat every day. Sure there are some days where I probably don’t eat a good meal but I still eat something.
Tonight, I took Phumlani to a movie. Brooke came as well. Last weekend, I took the girls to a movie while Phumlani was working so I thought I would make it up to him. We walked around the area for a little while, got some ice cream, played a few games at the arcade. He still has trouble with the driving games. Ha. Anyways, it’s been a fabulous day.
Last night I lied down in bed around 6:30 listening to a cd. I ended up sleeping the whole night through. I didn’t get out of bed till 7 this morning. 12 ½ hours of sleep! WOW! Haven’t done that in a while!
Check out the pictures below! They’re pretty cool. They’re all from the past 3 weeks or so. I think.
Daniel
more pictures from daniel
Click on an image to enlarge.
here’s a really cool selection of pictures for you all!
from the top you see schaun getting his feet washed. the night before the group left, Mama and Schaun went around and washed the feet of the missions team that came from the states. it was like when christ washed the feet of his disciples.then you see a beautiful picture of mama Mama and Lisa. aren’t those the most beautiful smiles.somehow, not really sure how, but Schaun told Lilitha that she could shave his cave-man beard. that’s my razor they’re using. just the other day i went to use it and when i got done with it and went to clean it, all of Schaun’s long beard hairs were still in it. GROSS!the next is the whole group and everyone from the house eating dinner together. that was a lot of fun trying to get everyone at the dinner table. next you can see a midway point picture of the church the group built. they were amazing. it did get finished by the way and i will have a picture of it up here soon. the next two pictures are the care packages that my mom and a couple other ladies sent along for me. Mom, unbelievable. definitely more than i came here with. ha. i have already eaten the majority of the two boxes of cereal and will soon start working on the boxes of Maccaroni. Roxanne, thank you so much for the candy. i was able to have a make-shift Halloween of my own. i of course ate all the reese’s candy myself but was nice enough to share the rest. ha.the last 3 are just speratic shots around the house. i’m sure some of you have looked at the first one and thought that the babies head looks bigger than my own. to put you at ease, it’s not…VERY close….but not.
love you guys!
daniel
please pray
hey guys…i just wanted to inform you that tomorrow, Wednesday, we are doing the Child Sponsorship stuff. Please be praying that everything goes smoothly. Thanks ya’all.
I hope you’re having a beautiful day!
daniel
wonderful night!
hello guys! just wanted to write a quick one.
we had a wonderful night tonight. It was absolutely full of emotion! Joy, laughter, sadness, love, excitement. And it was awesome!
Whenever we have a group of people from overseas come and visit, the last night they are here we generally set aside a time for us all to reminisce about all the things that we got to be a part of and got to see over the period of time they were here.
We started off by having a great American meal…KFC! We got a couple BIG buckets of chicken, Sybil made some salad, Sister made mashed potatoes and we had a fiest. It was great!
We started off by playing twister, Lilitha shaved Schaun’s beard, Aphelele and Phila pulled out their wickedly cool dance moves, Unakho was giving some of her famous back-rubs, and finished the evening with some beautiful fellowship. We all sat around the living room and each visitor had the opportunity to say their goodbye’s as well as what they loved about being here and all the things that impacted them. I absolutely love hearing the visitors speak. It’s always a very touching and amazing time. It’s so cool because in only a week, God can do so much. Some of their lives will never be the same, because of one week that they spent in South Africa. God is so good and he loves each of us and gives us a chance to see his love and be a part of something bigger than ourselves. If you ever have an opportunity like that, don’t miss it.
After all the visitors spoke, Schaun and Mama got out a basin of water and proceeded to wash their feet. In the background was a Michael W. Smith cd playing and everyone was silent, believer’s washing other believers’ feet, tears running down faces, children curled across laps, clenching on to every drop of love that they can get. God is absolutely beautiful. I teared up then and i’m tearing up now just thinking about it. After all the visitors had their feet washed, they turned around and washed Schaun and Mama’s feet, then Schaun and Mama washed Ronnie and Sybil’s feet. These people washed each filthy foot, dried them after they were washed, and put lotion on them. They did the most, became the lowest, and showed love to God’s children.
It was a great night. I can’t imagine how much of a mess i’m going to be when I leave for good. It’s going to be so hard.
Well folks…I’d better get to bed.
daniel
Weeks Update!
Wow! A whole week since my last one. SORRY! ha.
Let me show you, as best I can, all the things that have happened since.
Thursday – The group from the States arrived. They’re a wonderful group of people. They got here around 5 or so and we dropped their bags off at their place and took them out to eat. It provided a chance for us all to meet and get to know a little bit more about each other.
Friday – The group went to the farm school just around the corner from us. They played with them for a little while and was able to give them a gift that a church from the States got for them. Friday evening, around 5 or so, I took the group to the squatter camp that we were going to build the church at. We got there and I showed them around a little bit, met Wiseman the pastor and a few other women in the church. The group was going to dinner so we only stayed for 30 minutes or so. As we were leaving Phumlani noticed that someone had thrown a big ‘ol rock through the front passenger window of the new car we just got. The rock shattered the window. They threw it twice, missing the first time and hitting it the second time. To be honest with you i got kind of frustrated. We found out who the guy was, he was totally drunk, being a completely arrogant punk. He even tried to get Schaun mad. Schaun said that he could sense that he was wanting to fight him or something. Anyways, it was ridiculous. $100 later and the window is fixed now.
Saturday – We went into Motherwell and did another feeding there. Last time we did this there was around 100 people or so. I figured it would be around the same again. We got there, pulled around the corner and there was probably only 20 people or so. Ha. Not quite what I was hoping for. I figured not everyone was there yet but we dropped the group off at the school we were feeding at and Schaun and I went to get some drinks. When we returned there was a whole crowd of people there that had come while we were gone. The folks from the States played some games with them, sang some songs, played a little soccer and then we lined them up to start the feeding. What we do is line them up by ages as best we can. Serving the youngest up to the oldest. When we counted all the kids in the line there was 175!!! And before we were even done giving out all the food there was easily 200 there. How awesome is that? It was a wonderful day! After the feeding, we took the group to the Motherwell cemetary. It’s always a very impacting place to see. I showed them all Phumlani and Xolelwa’s mother’s grave. Xolelwa was actually with us when we went there and that was the first time she had gone to see her mother’s grave since she died and that was June of last year. She cried a lot and it was a very sad moment. I teared up, almost started crying, cause I hate seeing her cry and I was thinking about Phumlani also and how hard that has to be for the two of them. It was very sad.
Sunday – We all went to the Vineyard church in the morning. After the service was over Ronnie and Sybil took the kids out to eat and then back to the house while the group, Brooke, and I went down to the market at the boardwalk. They all got some pretty cool stuff. Late afternoon time everyone went to the beach for a little bit. Probably an hour or so. It was sooooo cold!!! Zach, one of the guys in the group, and I were among the bravest to attempt the cold water first. We actually swam out and started riding the waves. All of a sudden though I realized that we were really far away from the beach. The water there can really pull you out in no time. On the way back to the beach, that was a very hard swim, we got out and my body was hurting. Ha. Way out of shape I guess.
Monday – We started the work on the church in the Seaview squatter camp. It was really cool to see what all we could do in one day. I was only there for a couple hours cause I had to pick up kids, get lunch and those types of things, but the group was amazing. They worked really hard, getting a lot done. The church is about 9 meters long and 8 meters wide. It’s actually a pretty good size building. I will probably be the biggest one in the area and one of the nicest buildings there.
Tuesday – We all went back to work on the church. Monday, we did all the frame work for it and Tuesday we were supposed to have the roofing and the walls delivered to us so we could finish it off. Unfortunately the truck that was supposed to deliver the supplies to us never showed up. They were supposed to arrive sometime before noon and they called me at 3:30 saying that the truck broke down and they weren’t going to be able to get them to us that day. Ahhhh! that’s frustrating. It was a bummer because we could have gotten so much done, if not finished, that day. After that, we all went back to the houses and got showered and cleaned up, went out to dinner at the boardwalk, and then went to play a couple games of bowling. It was awesome! So much fun. The group has 10 and then Brooke and I played making 12 people. We split into teams of 6 and played against each other. It was halarious. My team got beat the first game only by 12 points but the second game we came out and beat them by 50 points or so. I went from 93 in the first to 169 in the second. You gotta love bowling.
Wednesday – The group and Brooke left this morning headed to a game reserve that’s an hour away or so. They will be staying the night there and returning tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow – The ladies in the group will be going to Motherwell to do some ministry there. They will be doing some house visits and also going to a couple local schools. The guys in the meantime will be going back to the squatter camp and as long as the supplies show up on-time, we will be doing as much as we can while we’re there.
I hope I was able to update you all and get you up-to-speed with what’s been going on here. I’ve been having a wonderful week so far. I absolutely love having this group here. They are absolutely amazing. They’ve been coming back to the house most nights, exhausted from the work and the jet-lag is still haing around that they’re ready to go to bed but I’ve been so excited to have them here that I’ve been keeping them up to play some cards or just hang out and talk. Haha. They really are great though.
I hope you all are great! I’m praying for you and your families looking forward to seeing you all again. Can you believe that November is here? NOVEMBER 1, 2006! WOW!
daniel
