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