Work Projects and Fellowship
(Monday, March 20th)

After a fun night of fellowship at the Braii, it was time to start off the week with some good ole fashioned hard work. While Ryan went into Estcourt with Pastor Welcome and a few others to do some grocery shopping, the rest of the crew finished some of the work projects. Becky, Wendy and Brian continued to paint the motor oil on the newly installed stripping, while Mike & Nick measured, cut and nailed the final stripping on the back side of the Rec Hall. Inside of the Rec Hall, many Zulu women were working on beads and crafts to sell. JD’s wife, Barbara, has set up a ministry called the Langalibalele Project to assist the women in buying the materials and selling them in town. Barbara also sends the best of the jewerly to the US to sell.

The kids were out of school due to a National Holiday, so they were hanging out around the cottages. The older children took this opportunity to do their laundry, clean their room, and help us with the work projects. They do all of this without being told! They also washed all of their soccer cleats (they are still wearing them every chace they get!)

While we were working, a lady and her husband from World Vision came by. They are old friends of JD’s and he was giving them the grand tour of the cottages. She “interviewed” some of us about our perceived needs of Agathos, and it was very exciting to hear that World Vision may be investing thousands of dollars!

Around lunch time, Nick’s new teammates came by the cottages to get him for their game. Nick took Kaenani (a 14 year old orphan) with him and they met then team down the road to hop in a taxi to travel to the game. When it was all said and done, 26 people crammed into a 15 seat cumbie! While warming up for the game, Nick asked his teammates if they knew while he was in South Africa. After a long pause, one of them said, “Worship?” Nick explained all about the trip and why the group came to serve in Loskop. Before the game, the team let Nick pray while the Team Captain translated.

After a long day of work, we decided to head to Thokozizo w/ Pastor Welcome and Phyllis (Wendy was feeling a bit under the weather and stayed at the cottages) to undwind, relax, and process the previous week. It was great to share some of the experiences and conversations we have had with the children as well as some of the local residents of Loskop. After a good time of laughing and story telling, we headed back to the cottages to rest for the long day of soccer and trips that were planned for Tuesday.


* submitted by the team