God’s Will = Perfection. Last time from South Africa. Love You All!

Well my friends…here I am, less than 7 hours till I leave, and I’m writing one more time. (told you I would  

I had a good last night with the kids.  We all had a big meal together that Sybil so graciously prepared.  It was chicken, mashed potatoes, garlic spaghetti, rolls, and some ice cream with strawberries for desert.  Don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize me when I get back cause I know I definitely added a couple extra pounds!
After we ate supper, we waited for the sun to go down and it was dark.  8 of us played a sweet game of Hide-&-Seek.  It was a lot of fun.  At one point, I was trying to climb a tree to hide in it, then all of a sudden one of the branches I was putting my weight on snapped and I fell to the ground.  It was pretty funny though because I was probably only 6 or 7 ft in the air falling to my back.  Those who saw the incident laughed and so did I but not for long cause I didn’t want to give away where I was.  : )
A couple weeks or so ago I was out with Mama and Phumlani doing some food shopping for one of the Christmas parties we were throwing and saw the BIGGEST bag of cheeto’s I’d ever seen.  It was probably a 4ft tall bag.  And the best part is that it only cost $3.50!!! I couldn’t resist.  ha.  After the Hide-&-Seek game last night, we ate the WHOLE bag of cheetos.  I’ll be honest with you, the amount that I ate was pathetic.  Khanyisa was like a garbage disposal though.  She didn’t stop.  The whole floor was a mess cause we pretty much just poured the whole thing on to the table infront of all of us and ate until we couldn’t anymore.  Even Lisa ate a tone! Lots of fun. 

I received a lot of emails from you all replying to the “last email from South Africa.”  Thank you for that.  I just wanted you to know because I’m not going to be able to respond back with such little time here left.  I appreciate beyond belief everything that you guys have done for me.  I have never felt such love and support from someone, besides my family, ever before.  Thank you for trusting me and allowing God to use you in the lives of so many.  They will never forget it, and neither will I. 

Umhlobo Wako (Your Friend)

Daniel

p.s. Please pray for safety flying home.  This always happens to me the day before I am scheduled to fly somewhere but yesterday I got sick from the lack of sleep I’ve been allowing my body to have.  My throat and chest feel completely closed up and as if they’re about to explode every time I cough.  Pray that I’m able to rest and get some sleep and that it doesn’t get any worse.  Thank you guys! 

One of the last!

Hello all.  Please forgive me for slacking on the updates over the past week.  As you all probably know by now, today is my last full day here in South Africa.  Tomorrow at 2:15pm (6:15am your time) I’ll be on a plane heading towards the State’s again. 

This past week has been absolutely crazy and non-stop action for everyone here at the house.  Last week on Wednesday, Mama and I had my final Child Sponsorship day here.  She is going to be the one that continues on with the program until some couples arrive in March and April.  It was a wonderful day though.  I got a chance to say goodbye to all the folks that I have been able to meet and help which was great.  I was walking around getting some of the things done there and was just thinking how blessed I trully have been to be a part of something like this.  God was and is so good to me.   We had 33 kids on Wednesday that were sponsored which is pretty big compared to the zero when I got here.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say I had anything to do with it.  It was definitely all God.  Everything I tried to do bombed big time.  God has allowed all of us to touch lives in such a beautiful way.  One man who’s daughter, Pamela, is sponsored came to me when he was picking up the parcel on Wednesday and said “Have a merry Christmas.” “You too sir.”  “You must like me to do all this for me?” “Of course I do, I love you sir.”  “Oh you like me too much!”  ha.  It made me laugh when hearing him say that.  He’s an older man who’s partially crippled.  His daughter is wonderful though.  Whoever sponsors her is a very lucky person. 

On Sunday this week I took all the kids to the church that the group in October built.  I hadn’t been there since it was finished so it was nice to come and visit them again.  The church look fantastic.  We took some snacks and drinks and so forth to have with them after the service was over.  When I get back I’ll probably put some last pictures up of my time here. 

Because it’s been my last few days here I’ve been trying to spend every last minute I can with the kids here.  The other night I stayed up till 1am or so in the girls room with them just talking and laughing with them.  It was so much fun.  Have you ever noticed that when you’re leaving somewhere, for some reason the last few days are some of the best which only seems to make leaving more difficult?  I thought that leaving here would be very difficult and I would ball like a baby.  I haven’t done that yet and don’t know if I actually will or not.  I can never tell if I’m going to end up crying or not so we’ll just have to wait till tomorrow.  I’ve been praying and asking God to comfort me with the last day or so that I have here.  I’m trying to keep all the memories of my time here, the good times where we had fun and laughter was everywhere, and all the other memories of the kids, on my mind because I trully was blessed to have been chosen by God to come here.  To know that he trusted me enough with his will for my life and to put me in such a wonderful place has overwhelmed me everyday.  These past 9 months of my life will never stray far from my mind.  I will always remember each smile, each laugh, each beautiful child I got to see.  Thank you Father for how good you are to us every day. 

I am leaving tomorrow afternoon like I was telling you above so please be praying for safety and that I am able to make it back with all my bags too.  That would be nice!  
I will probably try and write one more time, right before I head off to the airport tomorrow.  I will TRY! ha.  If I don’t, it means that I lost track of time and just couldn’t get to doing it.  I hope to see or speak to all of you soon.  I’m very excited about being back for Christmas with my family and friends. 

Love you all!

daniel

Yay! the weekend’s over!

Well folks….time for a quick post. 

It’s been quite the weekend.  Friday and Saturday were nice and peaceful, nothing to do and lots of time to relax.  Today however, was quite different!  Mama arranged for a lady to come and do the girls’ hair today.  5 of the girls wanted to get their hair braided.  She was supposed to get to the bus terminals at 7 so I got up at 6 to get their on time.  I waited for over an hour, till 8, and she never showed up.  I called her when I got back to the house which was around 8:30 and she said she was just getting up and ready.  Wow!  There’s a saying here in
South Africa that I have FINALLY accepted to be true.  I was holding out on it for the benefit of the people here.  It goes like this… “Americans have watches and Africans have time.”  Being on time is a very low priority for a South African.  It’s kind of frustrating for people like me who has pride in being somewhere when I say I will and who says that “If you’re early, you’re on-time.  If you’re on-time, you’re late.”  I thank my mom for that one.  She used to leave us at home Sunday mornings if we weren’t ready to go to church.  I hate being late now. 

I ended up having to drive back out to the bus terminals to pick her up and she got to the house around noon.  It’s midnight right now and she’s only finished 2 of the 5 girls and working on the 3^rd.  She’s got a long way to go.  She would have been much closer to finishing if she had gotten here ON-TIME!!!

Mama got back from out of town tonight.  Tomorrow, Monday, is her birthday.  I’m not sure how old she’s going to be.  I think its 53 or something like that.  We’re taking all the kids and our care-givers, Sister and Norenti, out for a Christmas lunch tomorrow.  We’re going to a restaurant called Admirals.  It’s a pretty big buffet.  Sybil and I went to check it out and see if it would be a good place to take everyone and I saw all the food that they serve…..Yum!  I’m really looking forward to it.  It’s going to be good!

We’re doing the sponsorship program on Wednesday.  We have 33 kids.  This will be my last time before I head back to the States.  We’ve got 33 kids on the program now since I came.  That’s not too bad.  I’m very proud of that.  And they’re 33 great kids!  Be praying that it goes well.  Mama will be doing the program after I leave and she will need some prayer as well.  Don’t stop thinking about it just because I am coming home!  It’s going to keep getting bigger and bigger! 

9 ½ days and I’ll be in a plane on my way home!  Hope to see you all soon!

Love you guys!

daniel

 

Christmas Party in Markman

hey guys.  here’s a few pictures of the christmas party in markman on  thursday.  we ended up having around 125 or so.  maybe more.  it was difficult trying to count.  the funny part though was that i had to give EACH ONE  a ride after it was over to a spot closer to their homes.  you can kind of see the bus thing but i had around 25 people in it with me each trip i made.  and i made 4 or 5 trips.  it was ridiculous.  people were on top of each other all the way up to the ceiling.  Sooooo unsafe! ha. 

 click thumbnail image to enlarge pictures….

Fun Days!

Hello all!  The last couple days have been sooooo much fun. 
Yesterday I went to church but only Phumlani and Xolelwa went with me.  I think the rest of group slept in and relaxed a little this weekend.  Church was nice though.  We did communion and I got to pray with the two that were with me. 
Brooke and I went to the market for a little while after church and I was able to find a couple cool things to get.  I’m a little worried though because I don’t know how the packing is going to work.  I’ve accumulated quite a few things over the time I’ve been here.  I came back from the market and tried to pack everything just to see if I was even close.  I was able to get all my clothes in my smaller bag which will leave the big one for gifts, books, shoes, and miscellaneous items.  I just hope that the bags are under the weight limit. 
After I tested the packing limits someone came by the house and dropped off some things for the kids.  The nice couple dropped off a bunch of stuff but if you asked the kids what the coolest thing was it would definitely be the bike.  It was a pink, little, girly bike.  Xolelwa was the only girl that actually new how to ride a bike so the rest of the day, all the one’s that didn’t know how, were outside trying to learn.  They let me teach them how too which was really cool.  After I taught Khanyisa how, she was sooooo excited.  She road all the way down the drive way by herself with me running behind her making sure she didn’t fall off.  As she was approaching the end she was screaming and full of excitement cause she had finally learned how to ride.  She got off, layed the bike down, and said “thank you Daniel” as she gave me a big hug.  It was so sweet.  It felt so good being able to teach her and the others how to ride.  I can’t wait to teach my own kids.  By the end of the day Khanyisa, Unakho, and Sino were riding wonderfully.  Atho was hesitant to try though cause she was afraid that I would let her fall.  This morning she let me help her though.  It was much more difficult with her cause she was a little more uncomfortable and was having a hard time trusting me to hold her up.  Plus she’s much bigger than the others and the bike isn’t really meant for someone her size. 
Today, Mama and I went to Motherwell to get some things arranged for the Christmas party we’re having for some kids there.  We have a list of orphans from multiple schools and that’s who we’re wanting to have the party for.  We’re going to be cooking a bunch of chicken legs and providing drinks and so forth.  Quite often people will come by the house with old clothes and sometimes toys, wanting to see if we can use them and over the past couple months we’ve accumulated quite a lot of things.  We’ve sorted the clothes into sizes as best we can that way we’re able to give each child something for Christmas.  You probably remember me talking about the feading that we’ve done at the end of the month for the past few months?  Well, that’s what  this is this month.  Mama thinks that there will probably be around 100 kids.  We’re doing the Christmas party in Motherwell on Thursday this week and on the 16th we are going to the squatter camp in Seaview, the place that we built the church for when the group from the State’s came back in October.  I don’t think we’re going to be going there with food but Mama knows a lady that has been going around the area getting the sizes of different kids so we can take them clothes as well.  And on the 11th, next Monday, we’re going to be taking all our kids here at the house out to eat at a restaurant.  It’s a buffet and they should be leaving there completely stuffed.  We went there to check it out the other day and I left with my mouth watering.  The food looked AMAZING!  I’m really looking forward to that. 
So as you can see, we have lots of stuff going on over the next week and half or so.  And somewhere in all that excitement, I have to find time to get all my stuff ready to go.  LOTS to do! 
In my last update, I wrote that Bongeka had left to go to Cape Town, well I guess over the weekend before she got on the bus to leave, she had some troubles with some neighbors of hers that were actually family.  I’m not exactly sure what happened but Norenti, her mother, decided that she didn’t want Bongeka going to Cape Town without her so she is coming back to the house tomorrow.  I’m actually glad because now I’ll be able to say goodbye to all of them and not feel like someone is missing.  But that also means that I have to say goodbye to her again and the first time was already hard enough!  The second won’t be any easier. 
Well, this is really long so I’ll stop here.  I hope you all are having a great start to a new week.  I will talk to you all soon I hope.  Keep the comments coming.  Only 15 days left for you guys to write comments.  Then you won’t have to look at this thing EVER again! Ha. 

I love you all.  I’m thinking about you all so much anticipating the day I get to see you again! 

daniel

The Month Of November

This month was INSANE!  So much stuff that I think made the time fly by! 

Oh, sorry guys…Hello.  How are all of you?  November is over and it’s time for an update from the other side of the world

 

1. All the kids in the house have finished their school year.  They now have their summer break which is a month and a half.  They’re all obviously excited about that.  Phumlani and Xolelwa were able to do well enough in their classes that they passed this year.  We were a little worried for a bit thinking that they might not have done well enough.  Thank the Lord they did though! 
2. The child sponsorship program went really well.  I was even able to do it without Mama there.  I’m still not quite sure how it happened but I think Mama forgot what day and week we were scheduled to do it so she made other plans.  Brooke and I manned the fort though.  Surprisingly we were able to establish some order which doesn’t always happen and got things done almost in record time. 
3. Some of you may have read on my blog that we have been trying to arrange for Phumlani to come to the States with me just before Christmas.  We went to
   Cape Town on the 21^st-28^th of November to try and get him a visa.  Every person entering the State’s has to have a visa now.  We actually went to the consulate 3 different times trying to get him one but they turned us down each time.  They haven’t denied his application yet but they have told us that they need to have more information before they can approve it.  We’re trying to get the information that they need and I will be sending it to them soon and hopefully they’ll be able to give us one afterwards.  We’ll have to wait and see now.
4. While we were in
   Cape Town we got to drive around and see some stuff.  One of the days we went to the beach for a few hours and I got fried.  I’ve never been so burnt in my entire life.  Ha.  My whole body was hurting.  All the pain is gone now but the peeling hasn’t quite finished yet. 
5. Today I had to say goodbye to one of the kids here.  Her name is Bongeka.  She just finished the school year and is now heading off to see some of her cousins for a month or so.  I will be leaving before she comes back though so I had to say goodbye to her.  It was really hard.  I picked her up and gave her a big hug and told her I love her and that I’m going to miss her.  I almost started crying when I was driving off knowing that I might never see her again and I thought she would be the easiest one to say goodbye to.  I think I might be in a bit of trouble in a couple weeks. 

 

Reading over that now it doesn’t sound like too much but it really was.  For a while I was pretty stressed out about getting everything arranged for Phumlani to try and come to the State’s but now I know it’s not in my hands anymore.  It’s totally up to God now, which is the way it’s supposed to be.

Many of you read in my email last month that I decided to come home in December for good.  I will be leaving
South Africa on the 20^th and arriving in
Kansas on the 21^st.  I’m really looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone but like I said above, I’m going to have such a hard time to say goodbye.  I hate goodbyes so much especially with this one because there’s no way to know if I’ll ever see them again.  That breaks my heart.

But like I was saying, I am coming home and I need to ask you all a favor.  I have arranged an opportunity with a guy who might be able to give me a part-time job down on the plaza but I need a full-time job during the day throughout the week.  That’s where, hopefully, you guys come in.  If any of you could help me out with finding a FT job, I would really appreciate that.  I don’t really have something specific in mind so I’m open to almost anything.  I know there are some people on this list that have a strong hand in their business or where you work so I am asking for your help.  If any of you are able to come up with something please let me know.   Thanks guys!

Well, I am going to be on my way back to the State’s in 19 days so I hope I’m able to see you all sometime soon after I return.  Please be praying for the last 2 ½ weeks that I have here and that God doesn’t waist one minute. 

I love you all and am praying for you and your families.  You are all so dear to my heart and I always will be because of what you’ve done for me. 

 

Daniel