Somehow...

....our time in SA is almost up. How that happened, I'm not sure!

Our first week at SPCC was so amazing. I think I speak for us all when I say that we are going to have a very hard time saying goodbye to all of the wonderful people we have met here. It's amazing how quickly a place grabs a hold of your heart, and to see how God is working through it all is just so beautiful.

Monday was the first full day at school. We joined the staff for morning devotions, where I presented one of the three banners that the OSL ladies made for SPCC. The others will be going to Bethel Preschool to hang in their board room, and the clinic on SPCC campus once it is complete. The learners and staff have an all-school assembly in the morning on Mondays and Fridays, where the whole school stands outside for a devotion, a few songs and announcements. It was so much fun to watch!

I specifically am working with the Grade R (kindergarten) and Grade 1 teachers, 5 classrooms in all. I spend about an hour in each classroom throughout the day (here their school day is 8:00-1:30 for the lower grades). Our biggest focus here has been to share Jesus and develop relationships with the students and staff at SPCC, but in the classroom, I am introducing small group learning centers to the teachers as well as helping the teachers develop free exploration activities for the students to do when they complete their assigned work (play dough, sidewalk chalk, blocks, etc.).  (Look at those sweet faces!!)

Tuesday was very cold (around 50 degrees) and rainy for most of the day. Some of us attended choir practice before school. We could have stood in that room all day and listened to those learners sing. It was absolutely beautiful. Some of our team had a meeting after school with the Intermediate Phase, so the rest of us worked on lesson plans and preparing for the following day. The bakery on site that rents a space from SPCC, Bread of Life Bakery, catered some finger lickings for us (appetizers) for after the meeting. Beulah, the bakery owner and her staff were so fantastic. Some of the foods were South African delicacies and some were Indian delicacies, as she is Indian. All of it was so delicious and fun to try to new things. We joined the Hannay family for dinner at their home in Middelburg. David is a contractor that works with SPCC and his wife, Janey, owns her own dance store out of their home. Their three children, Kaylee, Brett & Dean were also there, along with the Berson’s. We enjoyed a braai of pork and chicken, roasted broccoli, squash and potatoes, and an amazing vanilla apple crumble with custard. We spent some time reflecting on the vision of SPCC, how it all got started and God’s hand through David in all of that. It was really neat to talk with more of the visionaries and people that God has placed to do His work at SPCC. 47 years ago, David’s father and Pastor Khumalo met and discussed Pastor’s vision for what is now SPCC. Fun fact: St. Peter Christian College is the first private Christian school in a black South African township (Middelburg). David’s father, Cedric, passed away ten years ago, so David became passionate about the project and wanted to continue his father’s hand in Pastor Khumalo’s dream. SPCC opened in 2011.

Wednesday, after the grade R learners were finished with their lessons, we took them outdoors to introduce sidewalk chalk to them as an activity option for the teachers to provide when they are finished with their assigned word. For a few of them, it was the first time that they had ever used it. It was an absolute joy to watch them draw, learn and play with their peers. (And those of you that know me well, KNOW I was tearing up behind my sunglasses!) Some students drew houses, some wrote numbers and letters and their names, another learner even drew a hopscotch board. One of the biggest things that God has taught me since being here is to remember to find the joy in the simplest things, because those are often the most beautiful. One of many things our team has learned about the people here in South Africa and that we talk about often, is that they do each task the absolute best they can, and have joy while doing it, no matter what the task or job may be, without complaint.  Kristin & I had a conversation with one of the Grade 3 teachers, Poppy (pronounce paw-pee) about why she came back to teaching after retiring for a few years. She said something along the lines of, “saying no to the calling God has for me is saying no to God, and I cannot do that.” She is very open about her faith and trust in God and that is something that all of the people we have met have in common. 

After school, a few of us joined the Foundation Phase meeting (grade R-grade 3). It was interesting and fun to sit in on a faculty meeting at a different school, in a different country! The topics on the agenda were very similar to an American school: curriculum, field trips, discipline and ways to implement different strategies, etc. After the meeting, we then enjoyed some fellowship, prayer and some of the same finger lickings as the previous day, with the addition of authentic curry!

Grade 1 teachers: Teacher Tiny, Teacher Nosipo and Teacher Heather

 Corrine & I with the Grade R teachers: Teacher Ronia and Teacher Sarah

Thursday, we got to be in on choir practice again and they taught us some of the lyrics and dance moves (let the record show: they're WAY better than us!) I introduced small group learning centers to grade 1. It was so much fun to teach alongside the teachers and watch the kids interact and learn with each other.  The idea was to offer up some suggestions and ideas for very simple extension activities that the teachers here could align right with their curriculum. Alphabet bingo, building words with clay and individual chalkboards and whiteboards for their word work for the day were the activities. We left school around 1:00 p.m. for our road trip to Kruger National Park (minus Bruce, poor guy had to stay back and fight off a cold). It was about a 3 hour drive, but there was so much beautiful scenery that it made the drive fly right by. We arrived to the hotel and were greeted by a few monkeys wandering around the front lawn. It was so fun to watch them running around!

Friday morning we arrived at the park around 5:45 and got into our safari jeep with our guide, Nomatta. It was very cold and we were loaded up with sweatshirts, coats, gloves and hats as we began our drive through the park. (Fun fact: Kruger National Park is the size of Israel.) We had so much fun! Our fun project of the day was taking selfies with as many animals as we could (I won't bore you with all of the ones we got right now!) and re-naming them to something punny, like "selephie" for a selfie with an elephant and "selfena" for a selfie with a hyena.   We were on the lookout for the “Big Five”, which means the five rarest animals to see while on safari there: elephant, lion, water buffalo, rhino and leopard. If you see them, you had a successful day!  We did end up spotting all five of them, some closer than others. We saw two male lions way off in the distance before the sun came up. Our guide stopped the jeep and we all sat and marveled at the beautiful sunrise. I can officially say I’ve seen a sunrise across the African plains (yes, the Newsboys song was playing in my head the entire time!). God is so good. His creation is just amazing.

The first animal we saw was an elephant. It was so incredible to see them so close.

Later, we saw a few female lions and about six cubs on the other side of the river. We saw many water buffalo, three rhinos and one leopard. I am so amazed at how easily our safari guide was able to spot animals way off in the distance! The leopard was in the shadow of a rock lying down, then when we drove back that way, it was on top of the rock. It was very difficult to see and impossible to take a photo and make out what animal it actually was. We also saw a hyena carrying its cub in its mouth, which our guide said was very rare to see. The hyena got so close to our jeep and even posed for a photo  We saw a civet, which is a nocturnal animal and very very rare to see during the day obviously. About halfway through the day, we stopped at a restaurant in the park for lunch that overlooked a watering hole, where we saw hippos and giraffes walking along the edge of the river. Antelope and impalas were everywhere, along with kudu. We also saw many zebra, giraffes, baboons, monkeys, banana birds (think Zazu from The Lion King!), a few eagles and owls. Easily the best excursion I have ever been on in my life. It was so incredible to see the animals in their natural habitat and the pictures do not do it justice. The entire trip lasted about 10.5 hours, but I think we all could have stayed longer!

Our driver/tour guide, Knut, at
Blyde River Canyon.
He's been the best! 

"Oh, Zazu, do lighten up! Sing something
with a little more bounce in it!"

Saturday, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Blyde River Canyon, which is the third largest canyon in the world, and the largest green canyon in the world (meaning it has vegetation on it). It was so beautiful. There are three mountain tops that go along with a story that there was African chief that had three wives, and the highest point of those three mountaintops represents the chief. There was also a market selling many kinds of African scarves, bowls, carvings, etc. so we did some shopping. We then headed to God's Window, a beautiful scenic view with three different viewpoints. Afterwards, we went back to city of Graskop to have lunch at Harrie's Pancakes and do some more shopping at the markets and shops. We then began our drive back to Middleburg to have dinner and check back in to the guest house.

Sunday was just as an amazing church experience as last Sunday, but even more so this week because we each got to participate in the service in a different way. We each did a reading, and then I played "Amazing Grace" on my clarinet, accompanied by the keyboard and piano. It was so much fun and such a cool experience. The sermon was given by Pastor Khumalo's brother. He preached in Zulu and in English, so we were able to understand the basis of what his sermon was about, thanking God in all circumstances and for all you have received from Him. We went to SPCC after that to put the finishing touches on the staff workroom/boardroom, deliver the supplies we brought to each classroom and fix the soccer goal that had broken. Allison & I supervised Matt while he concocted a solution to the problem to get the goal back in action for tomorrow's recesses!

Today, we were in devotions with the teachers and staff before school and passed out the gifts we brought them. The guys were able to pick out sunglasses and the ladies picked out jewelry. It was so fun watching them go "shopping"!  I spent half the day with Grade R at SPCC and then left with Drew Berson and David Hannay to go to Siyabuswa. St. Peter Confessional Lutheran Church has a satellite church there in its 23rd year of operation. It is their vision and dream to open a creche (early childhood center) there in the near future. The church is in the middle of a community/neighborhood. The nearest creche is very small, and the next closest one is 5 km outside of town. Pastor Given is a young engineering student and lead pastor there. He has a huge dream and vision for the future of this creche built on the grounds at SPCLC Siyabuswa. It was great getting to talk with him and tour the grounds.

We are bittersweetly looking forward to our last day at school  tomorrow before we begin our journey back to the U.S. on Wednesday.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for some of our team members who are ill/recovering from illness (colds and the flu) and that God would continue to bless our last few days here in Middleburg. Thank you!

Song of the day: "Good Good Father" by Anthem Lights. You're welcome. :)