Phone calls from home and other weekend highlights

First, I must apologize for missing a day of blogging yesterday. I didn’t think anyone would notice – but evidently some of you did – so I apologize for my slackness. The good news is – not writing means I’m getting busy and involved in life here, which is exciting! ☺

We’ve been having some difficulty figuring out how to call my cell from the US, but after much investigation, I finally got the correct number to some friends and family and received my first phone calls from the US today!! I was so excited when I saw familiar numbers pop up on my “mobile” (say it with a SA accent, it sounds cooler). Caroline was the first one to call, so I must give a shout out to her on this blog (don’t be a hater, Ditter, you can have one, too even though you didn’t call☺). It was so wonderful to hear her supportive and encouraging voice on the phone- I can’t tell you enough what a strength you’ve been to me in the adventure Caro. I love you! Caroline was getting ready for a busy day with the CL girls. We’re in desperate need of some buddy dolls in Africa. These are the blank cloth dolls we use in the hospital to help kids process and cope with hospital procedures. The fabulous people I work with decided they would have their own little manufacturing party and sew a bunch of these dolls for us. You don’t know how much I wish I could be there to watch that circus. I’m not sure anyone in our department has ever sewn anything other than high school home ec. projects, so you can imagine the chaos that I’m sure will ensue. They have also collected supplies we’re in need of – like stickers, distraction items, and bubbles to ship with the dolls. I cried when I found out what they were doing. I have told everyone I know in SA about it. I’m sure people get tired of hearing how wonderful my co-workers and friends are, but I don’t think I can say it enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I wish I could take pictures of the kids when they get their dolls. They are going to be so excited!!!

My second phone call of the day came from Mom and Erin. Mom is Illinois visiting my sister, so they were together when they called. I cried…of course. It wasn’t as much as Erin was crying, but still tears nonetheless. ☺ It was really good to hear their voices. The one thing I have realized here is just how thankful I am for the family and friends that I have at home. I know I am prayed for and loved and that my family reads my blog more quickly than I can write it. ☺ You don’t know how supported that makes me feel! Thank you. I love you!

So the excitement of the phone calls makes the rest of my weekend dim in comparison, but I know you’ve been waiting for a braai update, so I won’t make you wait any longer…

Saturday was the seafood braai at Strandloper. You should google the sight to see the fabulous pictures, since I’ve yet to be able to download mine. It’s an open-air restaurant on the beach. There are tents to shade the tables and fire pits for the cooking. It’s located right at the edge of a rocky beach over looking a lagoon. It is so beautiful! I felt like I was walking through the line at a Disney World fantasy ride when I walked into the place. There are old boats and wrecked ships lining the walk. The tents are strewn with fish nets and I only hit my head on the dead fish mobile a couple times. ☺ There is a guy with a guitar that walks around to each table and sings songs with his thick Afrikaans accent. He knew almost every request. ☺ The ambiance was fabulous, but the food… amazing!! We started with mussels… a first for me. They were good, but I was able to hold back from eating too many, knowing there were 9 more courses to come. I don’t know if it counted as a course or not, but was also had the most amazing homemade bread ever! They were topped with homemade jams – strawberry, marmalade and watermelon (I didn’t really like the watermelon). The rest of the courses went was followed…

Bokkoms
Mussels in wine and onions
Mussels with garlic butter
Weskus Haarders
Seafood Paella
Braaied Snoek with potatoes and patats
Waterbloemmetjie Bredie
Smoked Angelfish
Stompneus
Kreef
Moerkoffie
Roosterkoek, fresh bread, farm butter and home made jams

Well...that's the list from the website, anyway. I'm not sure what half those are and whether or not I ate them. The barracuda and stopmneus tied for my favorites! I only had one bite of the lamb stew because I was getting really full, and the poo looking stuff coming out the crayfish kind of scared me a bit. The guy said it was totally edible, but all I could picture was an ostomy bag, so I didn’t quite finish that. The food is cooked right in front of you in courses and the utensils are empty mussel shells. It was so great. Between courses and after our meal we would walk up and down the beach, trying to make more room for the rest of the food! Really, though, I did pretty well for myself. I wasn’t disgustingly full by any means. I really enjoyed myself and was able to make a couple friends on top of that! Last night I even went to a movie with a few of the girls…it only cost me 40 Rand…that’s about 4 US dollars. It’s nice to feel friendships forming (with the people and the movie- not the Rand and the dollar – that sentence was kind of out of place). The weird thing about the movies is you get assigned a seat. Well…that was different for me anyway.

I was so exhausted by the time I got home last night – hence the blogless night.

This morning I went to church with Elizabeth and Mwaka. Again – I have to mention what a blessing it was that I ended up with Elizabeth as my roommate. We went to Hillsong. Many of you have probably heard of that church from it’s Sydney location, but they also have them in London and Cape Town. It was very typical to an larger American church, so nothing culturally to report there. But it was a really great service. I had been feeling a little bit homesick the night before for the first time and I was disappointed in myself for those feelings, but going to church today took all those feelings away. It’s amazing how even a million miles from away, you can feel at home with people you don’t even know. It’s just a reminder that God is everywhere and moving among His people in all areas of the world. I truly felt surrounded by His love.

The sermon today was exactly what I needed as well. The topic was “Enlarging Your Capacity.” It was all about allowing ourselves to stretch and grow so that we have a capacity to do all the things God would call us to do. There were 4 points discussed as necessary to understand in order to enlarge your capacity: 1) it is a choice to grow; 2) you must embrace the change; 3) you must understand the power in the mundane; 4) you must build the right priorities. A few things really stuck with me from the talk. In understanding the power in the mundane – the speaker discussed the need to continue serving in whatever way you can find and as you are faithful in that small way, God will work with you and give you more to be responsible (i.e. the parable of the talents). That got me thinking about my work here. Sometimes I feel like there is so much more I need to be doing and I get overwhelmed. But as I do what I know how to do to the best of my ability – God will work within me and open the door to do more. It seems so simple, but it allowed a mind shift in me that has already changed my attitude for the week.

I journaled when I got home from church today and once again, Caroline’s note to me had special meaning. She’d written from Matthew 15:16 – “you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit…” I thought that really went along well with what I had heard in church today. God chose me to go on this journey and opened the doors to make it possible. I don’t feel adequate for this challenge, but as I do what I am able to do with the talents God has given me, He will enlarge my capacity and allow me to be part of a marvelous work.

Tonight I went to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens with some friends. You should google that, too – beautiful! Its’ a botanical garden located at the foot of the mountains. We didn’t get to walk around much because we were there for a picnic and outdoor concert, but just sitting outside for the concert was breathtaking. I can’t wait to go back and explore the beauty of God’s creation captured in those gardens. Wow!

I think that might have to be all for tonight. I’m getting sleepy and have a new exciting week awaiting me. I’m really excited for this week. I feel like last week was my opportunity to settle in and get to know the ward and the routines. This week I’m so excited to go and just enjoy myself with the kids, families and staff…and share love with all I meet! Goodnight! I love you.