Train Ride to General Assembly and more pics

THANK YOU !!!!

Thank you for your prayers and encouraging emails. This past weekend was a huge growing experience with money being stolen from my account and the ATM scandal.

Your prayers and encouraging words helped me through this difficult time. They meant more to me than words can see. I believe it assisted me in staying calm and at peace these past days as I got all the necessary paperwork together to send to my bank back in the US. Plus I know your prayers assisted getting a copy of the police report and having my friend, Joke's company, assist me by allowing me to make phones calls and send faxes to the states in helping the process go smoothier and quicker.

The paperwork is all in the mail and should arrive in the US on Monday, Oct. 6th. Please join me in continuing to pray that everything will get processed in a timely manner so I take care of my bills here.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support.
Your Missionary in Cape Town, South Africa

General Assembly in South Africa

Celebration Night......


Sabelo, Beauty, me & Lizo Natalie & Natalie :)

Beauty & me Lauren & me Rita from Fiji & me

The tent and worship time...

Celebration night me & Soso Paul, me & Virginia (prayer partners)

Celebration Night Mavela from Swaziland & me Dickson from Mariuis & me

Emmanuel O'Chingi and his wife(African director)

General Assembly was awesome.. It was awesome to see so many nations and people coming togheter for the same reason. This year's general assembly was one of the biggest that YFC has ever had. We had between 800-1000 people present and close to 70 countries represented. I hope the pics give you a taste of this past week. Thank you for all your prayers.

Kangaroo Moms and Ubuntu House

Pictures from us with the moms at the Kanagroo Care Ward, we were making greeting cards, it was exciting because we had all the moms involved with the activity.

Then there is also a pic of me and one of Ruth, a new volunteer from Germany, assisting with taking care of the babies at the Ubuntu House. I think you can figure out which ones we are. :)

I had the time to truly bless the babies and their moms. I had the opportunity to pray with one of the moms on Wednesday, as she was leaving within the next day or two because her baby had reached the required weight amount. And I've been praying and singing worship songs over the babies at Ubuntu. They are soo sweet.

Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

Pray for South Africa- Disaster from Massive Storm this past week

Below is the latest information from the news reports on the storms that have been occurring this past week. It's been a crazy past week. They say it was the worse they have seen in seven years. .........

"There are still reports of minor localised flooding," said disaster management spokesperson Wilfred Solomons-Johannes, adding that light rain continued to fall.
Most roads had been cleared after gale force winds and heavy rains battered the province.
"It played havoc with the electricity supply," he said, adding that an increased demand for electricity and trees toppling power lines had caused outages.

Johannesburg - It was a weekend of storms, snow and runaway fires, which in KwaZulu-Natal claimed the lives of at least seven people.
The Western Cape had to endure strong wind, rain and even snow, while the wind fanned veld fires in the eastern Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
In the northern parts of the country, cold conditions arrived on Sunday afternoon, right before the official start of spring.

The gale-force winds and heavy rains that hit the Western Cape brought destruction to several areas, reported Nurene Jassiem.
In one of the most serious incidences, seven people were injured when a roof collapsed due to wind at the Pick 'n Pay Hypermark centre in Ottery.

Several residential areas were flooded, power cuts were experienced and snow-covered regions like Sutherland, were cut off from the rest of the country.

Three Anchor Bay in Cape Town was turned into a white wonderland when a thick layer of foam was blown over Sea Point's streets.

Wind speeds of up to 100km/h were reported to the weather office at the George airport, reported Jackie Kruger.

Snow was visible on the Langeberg mountains and in the Heidelberg region emergency repair work was needed to restore power to farms.

Fires
Northern parts of the country experienced strong winds, which fanned a veld fire on the West Rand, which destroyed a 5 000 hectare area, including a third of the well-known Lion and Rhino Park, reported Cobus Coetzee. Four marabou stork escaped the flames.
The fire started on Saturday morning in Hekpoort.
Grazing was destroyed and damage ran into millions of rands. Jorrie Jordaan, head of public safety at the West Rand district municipality, said on Sunday the flames reached up to 7m and even jumped over fire strips of 20m.
Malherbe (Blikkies) Auret of the farm Rietfontein lost 100 hectares of grazing. "It is difficult to get feed at the end of the dry season," said Auret.

In KwaZulu-Natal, the fires claimed several lives and destroyed houses, cars and cattle.

A State forest at Dargle in the Midlands was covered in smoke on Sunday.
The weather service warned there was still a high possibility of fires in the province on Monday and that seas would be rough, with swells of up to 7m high in many parts.

Update on this week

My week has been going pretty good.. I feel a bit of a cold coming on, so pray that I don't get sick. There's been a nasty case of the flu going around and it's been hard to stay warm and dry in the rain and cold these past days. Yesterday was our first sunny warm day in a long time. I took advantage of it and did my first load of wash by hand. I guess that's something I should have been taught how to do. I'm sure there's a method to it, but I think I figured it out for the most part. lol :P

I've had the luxury of not driving to either dance or sing/worship practice the past two nights, which is nice, considering as there is practice for either of them every night during the week except Friday.

Today, we spent time at the Ubuntu house. I went there last time I was here. It's a transitional house for babies that are waiting for legal part of the adoption to go through. Edith, Emily and me went there and spent time taking care of the babies. They are sooo cute. I wanted to take the all home. :) Yesterday, we were at the Karl Bremer Hospital in the Kangaroo Care Ward. We spent the morning with the moms treating them to a hand massage, manicure or both. It was a great way to connect with the moms. I'm truly enjoying my time there and working with moms on a different level than when I was home.

Take care and thank you for your prayers and support.

Kangaroo Moms

The Kangaroo Mom Care program is for the the moms who stay with their babies in the hospital for anywhere from a few weeks to several months. Kangaroo care came about as a response to the high death rate in preterm babies seen in Bogota, Columbia, in the late 1970's. There, the death rate for premature infants was 70%. The babies were dying of infections, respiratiory problems, and simply due to lack of attention. Researchers found that babies who were held close to their mothers' bodies for large portions of the day, not only survived, but thrived. In the U.S., hopsitals encourage kangaroo care typically have their mothers or fathers provide skin to skin contact with their preterm babies for several hours each day.

In Karl Bremer, where we volunteer in the Kangaroo Mom Ward the baby is dressed in only a hat and diaper and placed on the mother's chest between her breasts. A jacket or blanket is wrapped around when it's cold. Baby remains in this position all the time except while you go to the bathroom. The baby is fed on demand. While baby is in the kangaroo position he/she stimulates the breasts to produce milk and is able to breastfeed whenever he/she wants.

YFC volunteers assist with being the support, encouragement, listening ear and spoiling the moms while they are at the hospital. We are there Mondays and Wednesdays from 10am-12.

Today, we made paper bracelets with the moms. it's a pratical thing they can do, easy and inexpensive. They turned out beautifully. The paper can be varnished prior to rolling it and then it will last longer.

I am truly enjoying my time with the moms and babies. it's a slightly different spin from what I did back home. Please continue to keep these moms and their babies in your prayers. Thank you!

The past week and half back in Kylemore

It's us at the kindergarten/creche' in Kylemore. I spent my time playing with the five year olds. It was constantly wiping noses and playing with them while all the screaming auntie. :P

These pics were taken in Franschoek, at the museum there.

These were taken in Kylemore this past week, as some site-seeing.

This adorable girl is Kate-Lynn, she has become very attached to me. She my adopted daughter in Kylemore. It was great being back in Kylemore, the community is wonderful and I've enjoyed connected with a lot of the teens within the community.

More than likely I will be away for the next few weeks as I assist Rolf with getting ready for general assembly and help out on this side until then. I do plan on going back to Kylemore, but I believe that for now I am needed here. So, here is where I'll stay.

It was hard to say good-bye to Maass yesterday, but I know that God used him in amazing ways and he truly enjoyed himself. Make sure you ask about pics and the stories. :)

I send you all my love and know that I miss you all dearly. Thank you for your constant prayers. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without them.

Love ya, me