Missions Momma

Monday.....I spent the morning on the computer working on the parenting curriculum and trying to get resources together to have it make sense.  I feel a little out of my element with it because of the fact that I am not a parent but at the same time having a teacher's background is a good thing.  I dropped in a kids club this afternoon. I then went home and did some walking to gear upfor the 5K!

Tuesday....I had to go to a Substance Abuse Awareness Class with Living Hope.  It was very interesting.  I learned so much about the drug problems here and just that there are differences than what we have in the USA.  The class definitely raised awareness for me and also got me thinking on how we can take the information and share it with the children so they will get the education needed to make the right decisions.  I then dropped in on another club this afternoon.  I made it to Masi and watched as the kids were listening to the story of Jesus in the Boat Calming the Storm and then the kids made paper plate boats.  They were very good and were have a really fun time.  I then made it home to relax.

Wednesday....  I had to go and meet two new volunteers so I spent the morning with them talking to them and explaining how ACTS works and helping them to get settled in.  The afternoon I did a little bit of work of photocopying some things and then went early to get the volunteers so I could drop in on another club.  Afterwards, went home and did a little bit of walking!

Thursday...BUSY DAY this is one of those days where you want to have more than one of you so you can be in more than one place at a time!  I took the vols to work and then took Nicole one of the new vols to her first day of work so I stayed with her and introduced her to people.  Then I had to be at a meeting at 9am and I was running about 15 minutes late.  I got a phone call from one of the LSEs asking where I was..she called at like 9:10 which I thought was so sweet because they know that I am so not late to things and I apologized and got to the meeting as quick as I could.  The meeting was with five of the LSEs representing each area and we were going to spend some time looking at the December Holiday Club Curriculum and going thought it and coming up with more ideas and talking through the ideas that I had and modifying the curriculum.  It was a really good meeting and we came up with some added things to the curriculum that I had made so it was very very productive!!  I then had to do my ACTS job of driving people around and did that for the afternoon.  Got done with the vols and just went back to their place since it was Bible Study night I just hung out with them and rested until time for dinner and then Bible study.  I am really enjoying our study of Joseph and I think everyone else is as well.  It is just a good time to all be together and focus on the Scriptures!    

Friday...We had LSE training today and we had three people from the Next Chapter team do a Courageous Leadership training.  It was quite good and I think all of us learned a lot and started thinking about what kind of leader each of us are.  After that I had my time with the LSEs going over the curriculum.  The rest of the afternoon was a little blurry because I had to do the driving around again but it was all working out.  After all of the vols were dropped off I had a meeting with Avril to talk through thoughts and all kinds of things like that.  Well we talked and before I knew it we had been meeting for almost three hours but I feel like we got a lot taken care of.  I then went home and the team house was empty because the team was out so I had a nice dinner of leftovers and then actually had a skype phone call with Amy and it was a very fun way to spend a Friday night!!

Saturday... I went with Pat and Al and we went to Franshoek for the morning.  This is a little town which is just a sweet little area where they have all kinds of shops and things like that.  The thing that I love about this area is it is situated in the mountains!  We walked around and had a little lunch and then went to the Dutch Reform church to see it because it is a beautiful church.  We walked in and it was lovely a huge pipe organ and beautiful wood ceilings!  We then made our way back home and I went and hung out with the vols because they were celebrating a birthday and a couple of the LSEs were there as well.  Everyone had decided to go to the movies and I was going to meet them but went to the ATM machine and had some problems with the machine eating my card and so I went home to try to call the bank to get it taken care of.  I spent a lot of time on the phone and hopefully on Monday everything will be squared away!

Sunday......RACE DAY   

Got up and looked outside and it was a rainy morning and thought this is going to be an interesting day to walk.  All of the ACTS vols, Mike and Pam, and Kenny and Carla and I all met and made the drive to where we need to go.  We then spent the next 45 minutes trying to find parking and let me tell you it was quite interesting trying to locate parking spots.  We eventually just gave up and drove to where the race was going to start and found some parking places there.  We made our way to the start where we met up with some of the LSE's as well as Urusla who was my mighty encourager for the walk!  We began the race and I felt good for the first K but then as we approached the 2K I began to hit my wall.  The rain began to come down and I just tried to push through it and before I knew it I kept walking and kept walking and Urusla was right there beside me!  When I saw the 1 K to go all of the sudden a new burst of energy came across for me.  We walked and walked and it felt like the finish line was really far and then I saw it and walked over it and felt so proud.  We then received a medal and then all began talking and learned that we needed to walk back to our car.  I was not ready to hear that....I was ok to walk for a little while but to walk 5 more K's was not something I was ready for.  We walked and had arranged for someone to go get my car and meet me and Christina who walked with me at a slower pace than everyone else.  Well we just kept walking and talking and before I knew it we were about 1 K from where the cars were and by that time the others had gotten to the car and drove and picked us up. 

I made it home and put on dry clothes and then ate some lunch and relaxed for the afternoon!  I even spent some time watching Nadine who cooks at the team house learn how to make some of her special dishes!  I then went to bed super early!!  Praise the Lord my body was not sore!!