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