Fuzzy

It is hard to believe we have been in South Africa a week now. We are now sleeping through the night and only turning over when the security gate below our flat opens for our neighbors coming home in the middle of the night.

The office ladies here are real prayer warriors. We stop and pray at 9:30am and 4:30pm. In the morning, we read a scripture and discuss, then pray for a team/area within the Southern Region and an unreached people group. In the afternoon, we pray for specific missionaries which have sent in their newsletters and again for the unreached people group. It has been a growing opportunity for us because we are not used to praying out loud so often. It was so nice to receive an email from the office while we were preparing to come saying they had prayed for us. They truly do pray.

We are working through the list of items they wanted us to get done while here in the office. I have started a survey to be used to evaluate the leadership members within the Southern Region. Jeremy has created a prayer blog and is testing several app’s so team members will receive notification when there is a new prayer request within the region.  We also have befriended a local hardware store owner as we collected material for a new shelf in the office. In the office they have been huddling around a computer screen to do skype conference calls. The plan is to mount the shelf for a projector and the project it on the wall for these calls. Jeremy is also working on basic instructions for members to upload videos for updates from their teams. So we have stayed busy this week.

I have been able to do two loads of clothes this week. You can buy two types of soap for hand washing or for auto washing. I am very thankful we have a clothes washing machine in our flat. My favorite program setting is “Fuzzy”. They have many fuzzy blankets here so there is a special setting for them.  There is no dryer so we hang them in one of the bedrooms with an oscillating fan and a space heater. They are mostly dry by the next morning.

We survived our first “load shedding” last night. All the lights went out at 8pm last night and were off for 2 hours. We were not completely prepared but quickly found candles and our flashlights. Each neighborhood has a scheduled time they turn off the power to reduce usage which is called load shedding. We will need to get the schedule to be prepared for next time.

We have gotten out on our own to do a little shopping. Our favorite new stores are Pick n Pay, Checkers, and Clicks. We have found two different places with half off pizza specials on Tuesday and Thursday. Yesterday, we enjoyed an Obama pizza and a Mandela pizza.

Thank you for your continued prayers as we adjust to new surroundings. We can feel them. They are sustaining us through the laughter at ourselves and a few tears this week.  We are looking forward to visiting another church this weekend and having lunch with new friends.