African Paradis

Here lies my newest new newsletter, this one is especially special because it is the VERY FIRST one that I have created in Africa. It has a lot of info in it and if you would like more details or pics check out my Facebook page or contact me. Also there are more detailed descriptions in previous blog posts. Click on the image to make it bigger!

This week for one reason or another there was no internet at our home in South Africa. I was able to get all of my school work done by Tuesday so praise God I did not fall behind on my studies. However when there is no internet you start doing useful things instead of wasting your time on the internet. I was able to focus on learning Portuguese and I learned quite a bit done this week. I was also able to help my friend and roommate Thobile with his Bible classes and with his English. We also spent more time getting to know each other instead of mindlessly staring at screens. However these days communication is centered around the internet. It is difficult to talk to people internationally with out it. Needless to say the internet is back on, I am back to work at my school and I can once again interact with people half the planet away.

This past week myself and 14 other individuals were privileged to travel to the provence of Free State and the City of Welkom (pronounced Velcome). While we were there our main goals were to tell people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have them make a connection with the church we were mostly working with Thabong Baptist. In the area there was many churches unfortunately most of them do not preach from the Bible. Instead they make up doctrine and basically create a cult. Thabong Baptist was the only church to our knowledge in the area that preached from the Word of God.  We arrived on Saturday and spent most of the day unloading and getting to know the people and the kids at the orphanage where we were staying. We had spent most of the morning and afternoon traveling so we just relaxed on Saturday Here is our group and most of the kids from the orphanage. Also click on any of the photos to enlarge Sunday we went to Thabong Baptist for the morning service and got to know ...

2 weeks ago we ran a camp for high schoolers teaching them about conflict. We had about 120 people attending and it lasted from Monday to Wednesday. Many decisions were made during the time. I primarily ran games for the teens to play in-between meetings and did a few silly skits. There are some pictures up on my Facebook page but I did not have a chance to take many good photos because my battery died. Here are two. This is where we washed dishes Here is about 1/3 of the people 

And it has been nearly a week since I arrived in South Africa. And it has been quite the week, Saturday not much happened as John Cottier and myself arrived at about 6pm at our new African home. So we just ate some pizza and unpacked. Our Flat The Rest of the Compound The View from our Porch (photo John Cottier) Sunday we woke up and went directly to church then spent most of the rest of the day relaxing and getting some school work done. Monday we decided to play some soccer with some South Africans and I was soundly whipped! I did however manage to get a terrific sunburn. My skin was used to sitting at home with the frequent blizzards and 500 ft elevation, not the tail end of summer with an elevation of 5750ft! We spent the rest of the day getting ahead on school work because on Tuesday we left for camp. My Feet After Playing on the Muddy Grass Me Lifeguarding at the Pool (photo John Cottier) Camp was quite interesting. The 50 kids were all from the same C...

These past few days..no weeks have been pure insanity as final and not so final preparations have been completed. March 18, Friday, ....2 days, 48 hours, I will be on a plane on my way to South Africa. These past few weeks I have been finishing up paper work, slowly packing, and mostly saying good bye to close friends and family that I will not see for 2 years. I will fly from Albany Airport to, D.C. and by 6 pm on friday I will be on a non stop flight well on my way towards South Africa! As you may have read before camp is starting on the 22nd although I am not 100% sure about everything that I will be doing for camp I do know it will involve program, counseling, doing skits and possibly lifeguarding. I am very excited to be getting started in Africa. Although I am heading over I am still not quite at full support. I am currently at about 40% of my support with close to $500 coming in each month. This leaves about $600 more that I will need each month in order to stay the full 2 y...

Why HELLO everyone! Here is the long anticipated MARCH NEWSLETTER! If you are having difficulty reading the teeny tiny print then click on it to enlarge. As you will read I will be leaving America for 2 years on March 18th not to return for 2 years Lord willing. Please give me some feedback in the comments or message me in any way possible! (contact info in the bottom of the letter)