On the ground!

We are back at DFW!!!


Every kid,

Jeremy

IAD->DFW

Boarded on the last leg of our journey home! Everything is on time and we will see you on the ground at DFW. For gate info, we are on flight 3744. See you soon!


Every kid,

Jeremy

USA!

We are on the ground in D.C. See you soon Texas!


Every kid,

Jeremy

Dakar

We have safely arrived in Dakar. 1 hour and then we are on our way to D.C.!


Every kid,

Jeremy

ORT->IAD

We are about to go through the boarding process for our flight from Johannesburg to Washington! See you in 18 hours or so USA!


Every kid,

Jeremy

A fitting ending...

As I type this, we are all sitting at Westville Baptist Church.



I could not think of a better way to end an amazing trip. Praising God for an incredible week and getting to see him work. Wow.

Every kid,

Jeremy

Ladies and gents...

Today I had the chance to spend some time with the ladies of our trip. I must say, they are working hard!

Their day began by visiting homes in the Cato Manor township. Incredible to see the size of homes that are housing full families!

After a fantastic lunch, we were able to continue packing food parcels. I know that I have spoken quite a bit about these, but some of the homes we visited in Cato Manor were the recipients of these. By my math, you must earn less than $300 per person in your family PER YEAR to even qualify for assistance from the church. And they are less strict than the government. Here are some pics from the day:









Every kid,

Jeremy

Fridays and Boys 2 Men...

Today was the first full day at the Boys 2 Men camp. It was a completely full day. The day began with a 6:30 wake up call for "exercise." This means running, and lots of it. Throughout the course of the day we: went to the beach, worshipped twice, ate three meals, taught South Africans American football, ran and played ping pong. Our message tonight was on "Who we Are" out of Ephesians 2. I love that Paul reminds us that we once were dead, "But God" made us alive. I am reminded that only because of his grace are we able to accomplish anything. Who am I? A child of his, seated at the right hand of the father (according to Ephesians 2)!!!





More from the girls tomorrow!

Every kid,

Jeremy

Crazy to think...

But today really began the home stretch. We said our goodbyes to the kids at the Addington Primary School sports camp. I don't know that it really hit us that this was one phase of our trip coming to an end. It was a very hectic end with seemingly none of the more than 90 kids there today leaving on time!

Today was also a beginning. The ladies used their Thursday afternoon to pack food parcels. The food parcels contain the staple ingredients of the South African diet and essentially provide food for two weeks for a family of 4. They will see later this week who gets those food parcels as they will go on home visits in the Cato Manor community tomorrow. To qualify for a food parcel, a family can earn no more than about $2 per day per family member. Westville is doing amazing things to care for their community!

The boys are about 45 minutes away at Boys 2 Men camp (band name pun intended!). It is a more rural Christian camp just for the boys who are involved in the sports ministry arm of CAST (Westville Baptist's compassion based outreach ministry). Over 50 boys and 11 leaders are here to connect with God for three days! We look forward to updating you on the progress as our team is now in two parts and we will continue to have great things to report!

Every kid,

Jeremy

Back online :)

So, as promised, here are some pics from yesterday:









Every kid,

Jeremy

So sorry...

But my report from today will be a short one as my internet connection is a touch spottier today. It was a great day! Sports camp went so well, as did the work projects. We finished with the work we are doing on Addington, but have one more day of sports camp. I promise a better update (with pics) as soon as I can get one out tomorrow! Good night :)


Every kid,

Jeremy

Our taxi...

So, just a quick, funny story to start the day. Below is a picture of the rental car we have driven all week. It is the same exact car as the taxis here. So, not only am I a foreigner learning to drive on their side of the rode, but I have Africans thinking we are a taxi all the time!!! Then, when they see a white guy driving it, they are just confused!



Every kid,

Jeremy

Basketball, soccer and netball

So, in the mornings at Addington we have been playing a variety of sports... Even our least athletic team members are leading in these sports!










And we are now finishing our day with pizza at the church.



Today has been such a good day. We love Addington!

Every kid,

Jeremy

Basketball, Paint and Tips

I must confess to you all that I did not see today coming. Not at all...

We began the day with sports camp at Addington Primary School. We were there to assist with the sports camp that Westville Baptist is putting on. Over 80 kids showed up day 1 on what is the school's winter break! It was as organized as anything with 80 kids and 18-20 leaders could be, and it really went off without a hitch!

We spent the afternoon working on 4 different projects to continue Westville's relationship in loving on Addington. We painted,






made mosaic tile tabletops,



wrapped books to keep them in usable shape longer,



amd took inventory of what books they did have,



The part I really didn't see coming was at dinner. E stopped into a pretty nice restaurant and had the best food we have had since we have been here. The service was really strong as well and I found myself developing a relationship with him while we ate. When the bill came, we left him a decent but not overwhelming (in an American context, it was about 20%) tip. He cried! He thanks us at least 3 times and was incredibly overwhelmed by our tip. We are being reminded all day everyday that EVERYTHING we do is a part of being a witness. I simply pray that this attitude comes home with each of us!

Every kid,

Jeremy

Sharks, heights and church

Today, we did a lot of different things. Let me begin at the end. We had a great time of worship at Westville! Fantastic things are happening at this church!



Before that, we began our day at the top of Moses Mbidha Stadium. This was one of the sites for the 2010 World Cup. You can see from below, there was quite the view:


Also today we have had fresh seafood, at the aquarium that we visited. This aquarium is one of the sites that those from Durban are most proud of:



Everyone is doing well and ready to return to ministry tomorrow! Will have lots of stories to tell I'm sure!!!

Every kid,

Jeremy

The last two days...

The last two days have been incredible! Yesterday was full of ministry. Even though it was raining, there were over 80 kids at the Addington Primary School holiday club (backyard bible club)! We also got a great idea of exactly what we will be doing at Addington all next week! God has been so good! We then met many of the boys who will be participating in the camp that our guys will be leading later in the week. Pray specifically for several of the guys on the kwaDabeka basketball team :)

Today was a beautiful safari. I am attaching pics so that you can see what we saw! Tomorrow is the last of our sightseeing and church at Westville! It's been a great 2 days!!!








Every kid,

Jeremy

Small delay

Our wifi connection has been less reliable than I thought. My posts will get longer and have pics with them no later than Sunday. We had an amazing first day of ministry. Off to the safari tomorrow! Everyone is safe and well! We send our love and covet prayers!


Every kid,

Jeremy

We are here!

We just checked in for the night (it's midnight) at Our Little Family! I promise more in depth posts and pics as the opportunity arises, but know everyone is safe and sound and tucked in! Goodnight from South Africa!


Every kid,

Jeremy

Location:Westville Road,Westville,South Africa

Joburg!

After a short delay in Dakar, we are on the ground in Joburg. We have just 90 minutes to make our next flight. We will post when we hit the ground in Durban!


Every kid,

Jeremy

We are halfway there...

We have arrived safely in Dakar. We will be back in the air in an hour on our way to Joburg! Can't wait to get to the RSA!


Every kid,

Jeremy

Location:Dakar,Senegal

RSA, here we come.

We have boarded and are about to take off! Next stop, Johannesburg (after a brief one in Dakar, but who's counting)!


Every kid,

Jeremy

DC

First leg of a long journey safely behind us!


Every kid,

Jeremy

Headed to DC!

We are all on board and headed to DC! Talk to you all very soon!




Every kid,
Jeremy

Location:Terminal E Access Rd,Grapevine,United States

Here we go!!!

We leave tomorrow! Can you believe it?! See everyone tomorrow at 8:15 at DFW!!!

Jeremy