Yesterday, I had the opportunity to present the new children on the SOS Children's Village with hats that my sister, Stephanie, made and sent with me to share with the children here in South Africa. The hats are beautiful and it's was awesome to see the smiles on the kids faces when they received them. Within most of the hats there is a cross that was placed inside, to remind the kids how much God loves them. :P
Thanks for blessing them, Stephanie!

Lastest Update.... are you sitting down for this one... ?!?!

I'm not sure where to start.... so much has happened...I had a great time at the conference in Jo'berg... it was great reconnecting with old friends and meeting new friends. I love being there and worshipping in some other tongue than my own. Here's the big news... are you sitting down for this one??? I met someone... it would take me forever to write you his story... but I'll try to make it as short as Natalie can.. which we know is almost impossible...
His name is Lucky and he's Zulu. Black and ery good looking, hence the pic...He has been working for YFC for the past 4 years in there prison ministry, where him and his group head into two different prison and teach lifeskills to the juvenile boys. He's extremely passionate about the ministry that he is involved with. He's 26 and will be 27 in Jan. But here's the part that has put your daughter/sister thinking...

Lucky's story.... Lucky grew up in a squater's camp the first 20 years of his life.. that means no running water, no electricity and many times he didn't have food to eat, while living in a shack made of metal and newspaper on the walls for insulation. He would wake up very early in the morning to walk 45 minutes to an hour in all conditions to school. For him, education was key and he was determined to finish. At times, food was so little, that he would get something to eat, but his parents would go hungry... He's real dad was never a part of his life, but his step-dad was everything a father is meant to be. He encouraged Lucky in everything he did and always reminded him how important God and family are. His step-dad passed away about 6 years ago, but has forever left footprints in his life... Though, God had other plans for Lucky's life.. He was prophesied over at a young age and was told he would do great things for God's kingdom, but would have to overcome many battles in his life. At the age of 20, his family moved out of the squater's camp and to Soweto, which is a big city south of Jo'berg. The city ranges from nice houses to shacks. It was a huge move for his family, but one they needed to make.. Lucky took me to the squater camp that he grew up in this past Tuesday.. while we were there he talked about how suicide is a weekly thing there and while we were at the conference a lady had hung herself. After school, he had a few side jobs assisting with physical therapy for the elderly people. Then one of his best friends encouraged him to join him in taking a computer class that YFC was offering in their job creation program. It was the door opener for Lucky.. He liked what he saw and decided to apply for a position within YFC. His friend assisted him in writing his CV/resume'. After turning it in, he called to set up an interview but found out that he had already been accepted for the position. He has been with YFC ever since. Our lives are so different, but yet.. I fell a sense of connection to him.

We spent a lot of time together at the conference getting to know each other.. During the conference, twice Lucky and I woke up to go hiking by 5:30am. We would hike the mountain for about 30 minutes and then we would spend time in God's presence and talking about scripture... I loved those mornings, it was so beautiful up there.

Back to my updates....

After the conference... I spent Friday- Sunday with Joke'.. we spent time at her parents place and did some sight-seeing on Saturday... then Mon-Tues.. I spent with Lucky/yfc-Jo'berg... I met Lucky Monday morning and we grabbed a taxi (a big van that the local blacks/colored people use, those taxi drivers can be scary drivers.. and it's something that white people don't use). Then we went to downtown Jo'berg and then caught another taxi to head to the training center where I would be spending the evening, so I could go with him to the prisons on Tuesday. After the second taxi, we arrived at another mall and then walked from there to training center, going through the squater's camp that he lived in. It was hard for me to be in there and see how he lived for most of his life.. I met his nephew, who's about 2 while I was there and several other people. Of course, I felt very white there, but I felt safe with Lucky. Then in the afternoon on Monday, we went to Amakaya, which is an orphanage for street children. In all honesty, I think it's not the best place. Then we just hung out the rest of Monday.. Tuesday we left the training center at 5:45am to walk 30 minutes back to the taxis. From there the taxi took us back to downtown Jo'berg and then we met up with the rest of the group and grabbed another taxi that would take us near the prison. Once we were dropped off, we walked about 30 minutes before we arrived at the prison.. The taxis didn't come any closer to the prison. The prison is huge and it's an all male prison. We went through 10 check points before we got to the area where the boys were. Then we had about a group of 20-30 of them join us in a room where we taught lifeskills.. On Tuesday, we read motivation/thinking stmts and then expanded on the meaning of them.. Lucky pretty much leads the group and had me be a part of teaching too, even though I didn't know that was going to happen until we had already started.. :) I really enjoyed my time there.. and according to Lucky on Thursday when they went back, the boys were asking where I was. The funny part was that some of the boys wanted me just to do the talking, because they liked listening to my accent. :) Then in the afternoon, we went to the international office, so he could take care of some paper work.. Joke' picked me up afterwards.. Joke' and I spent Wednesday doing some sight-seeing in the morning (african museum and market theater) and then I spent the afternoon with Lucky. And then that evening Joke' and I went to the movies and saw The Devil wears Prada, which was a good movie.. Then Thursday I flew back to Cape Town..

I hope to be making a trip back to Jo'berg and have shorten my time in East London to two weeks very three.. plus Lucky is talking about coming to Cape Town for five days the end of Nov.

So, that's my life in the past few weeks... lol I know a lot...

Love Natalie :P