Level ground

Wow I was just reading my last post and that was really bad - thats what happens when you write a post at 11 at night, wont do that again. So we have had a lovely week we went to Tauranga for Christmas which is a beautiful place - where we were staying was lovely it had a nice view of a lake and was just very relaxing. We spent most of are week chilling with books, video's, puzzels and food we also went to the beach. Christmas day was great - stockings, pancakes, beach, bbq, more present opening, film.....lovely, it was so weird though to be sitting on the beach on Christmas day. I did miss spending it with my family and doing traditional things like turky dinner and staying inside in the warm but I had such a great day and it was a great experience that I will remember.

It has been really nice to relax this week I am really surprised at how tireing travelling can be. Going from place to place everyday and constantly thinking about what next to do also not be in your own home where you feel relaxed it makes you very exhausted. Last week I just wanted to stop travelling I was so tired and actually really ready to go home but now I feel refreshed which is good because we are doing a bit more travelling round the north for 4 days. We are going to be camping and visiting 3 places - Lake Taupo, Waitomo caves and Hahei - The Coromandel. We wanted to see a few places up north and these places are meant to be must see's, I am looking forward to doing cave tubing in Waitomo. Then I'm in Auckland for a week then off to Boston.....time is going really fast I can't believe I am heading to my last place very soon...crazy.

I really feel like I want to share a very short verse that I read this week and I have really been encouraged by -

Psalm 26:13 -

'My feet stand on level ground'

You are probably wondering why I am writing about this verse but I was reminded this week by God, when I was feeling tired and for the first time in months worries started to crawl back into my mind (mainly about stupid things but also about getting a job when I get back, and what I am going to do after travelling - still don't know!!), that we as Christians are standing on level ground. We might feel like we haven't got the security in life - like money, job, future plans but that's not where are security is, is it? Are security is in God - we have level ground and safty because of God not what we possess on this earth. So just an encouragement for you that no matter how un-level your life/ground feels at the moment you are on level ground.

In Clarens I recieved a picture -

My life is like a puzzel - God knows the final result but I just need to trust in him and work with each piece at a time and it will all fit together in the end.

So I am trusting in God with my future because I know that he has it sorted and I know I am on Level ground.

Anyhoo I best be off......

Gosh its been a very long time since I last blogged.......so what has been happening!

Well I have been in New Zealand now for 3 weeks and really enjoying it. We have travelled round the South Island.....which was amazing! Here's quick overview of where we went.......

Christchurch - Fairlie - Lake Tekapo - Mount Cook - Queenstown - Te Anue - Milford Sound - Queenstown - Wanaka - Frans Josef - Greymouth - Pancake Rocks - Motueka - Able Tasman - Hamner Springs - Christchurch.

So I could talk about every place a every detail of what we did but I think that might bore you so I am just going to pull out some highlights......

1. Lake Tekapo - this is by far the most beautiful lake I have ever seen - it is the most incredible turqouise colour.

2. In Te Anue - Glow worm Caves were amazing.

3. Frans Josef Glacier hike - This was something that I would never have imagined myself doing let alone enjoying but Lucy wanted to do it and I had heard it was an amazing experience that couldn't be missed....so dispite my fears I decided to do it and loved it!

I want to talk about more but if I am honest I am writing this blog at 12 at night and am very tired!

I am still having an amazing time and looking forward to a hot and very different Christmas. I guess though the home sick feeling is now starting to kick in more! I am still sooooo excited to see more of New Zealand and even more excited to go to Boston but I am missing home comforts and family and friends there. I still can't believe though how fast time is going and I am trying to enjoy every day as much as possible even though sometimes home is where my heart is! (how cheesy....ha ha!)

Anyway I really need some sleep will blog soon and hopefully a lot better but for now......MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Auz adventures!

So we have had an amazing time in Auz! It is such a beautiful country and I am sad I only got to see a tiny bit of it but I have had a great week and feel fully refreshed from India! So what have we done here......lots!



On Wednesday we went sight seeing in Sydney we took a boat trip across the harbour and looked around the opera house. We then wandered through the city and did a bit of shopping. The city is beautiful and what striked me was how clean it is.

Thursday we went to a Koala park and got really close to a Koala which was cool. We also got to see some Kangaroo's. Then that afternoon we travelled to Port Stephens where Lucy's Aunty lives.

Friday we looked abit around Nelson's Bay in Port Stephens.....we got to see are first Auzzie beach......which was stunning. In the evening we watched the sun set across the bay....the beauty of this country is incredible!

On Saturday we went to Burundi beach and went swimming in another beautiful beach, and then later on we did a bit of kayaking across the bay to a little island. I actually really love kayaking!!

Sunday we headed back to Sydney and went to Palm beach (where Home and Away is filmed!) and me and Lu went and visited the NF church there in the evening. Once again another lovely church! So vibrant and exciting and again we were welcomed in.

Finally today we went to Manly Island on the Manly ferry which was great! it did however rain today!

Its been a great week and I have actually managed to handle the heat and surprising I am starting to get a slight tan and still haven't got sunburnt!!!!!!

I am soooooo excited about going to NZ tomorrow.

G'day!

So we are in Sydney and its so nice to be here! The last week in India was actually slightly hard, me and Lu both just wanted to be in Sydney. I am so glad that I went to see the culture there and I really enjoyed the tour around Kerela but after 2 weeks I was finding Indian life hard. I guess the culture is so different - for example you are constantly pestered by people wanted to sell you things, take you places. Even doing simple things like eating an apple or brushing your teeth are harder there (you can't wash your teeth with tap water). I do however feel like I have achieved a lot by going - I was completely worried about going to India before I left England but God really protected me and kept me calm throughout the whole trip - I wasn't ill!! how amazing is that, I didn't get stressed - which is incredible for me because I used to get tense walking around London! (I must admit on the last few days of the trip a bit of stress came out of me because I didn't really want to be there anymore). I did learn once again that with God you can do anything - and I have achieved a lot by staying in a country that is so far out of my comfort zone and for that I am glad I went.

So what did we do for are last week in India......well we went to Goa, which to be honest wasn't as amazing as I hoped it would be. We went to one beach town which wasn't very nice (in a space of half an hour walking from one place to another we were offered drugs by 4 different men), we did however stay in a nice hotel - cheap, had a swimming pool and nice service so that was good. We then decided to go back to the city and forked out a bit more money and stay in a luxury hotel for 2 nights, Panjim is quite a nice city and this is where we spent most of our week. On Sunday we went to the NF church in Panjim - it was great! They welcomed us in and I felt so refreshed afterwards.

Had such a long journey to get from Goa to Sydney (4 hour wait in Goa airport, 1 hour flight from Goa to Mumbai, 5 hour wait in Mumbai, 5 hour flight from Mumbai to Singapore, 2 hour wait in Singapore and a 7 hour flight to Sydney) but once we got here it was worth it - Lucy's aunty was waiting for us with ballons - how lovely. We are staying at Lucy's uncle's with his wife and Lucy's aunty and her husband. The small things here are making me happy like eating salad (you can't in India incase they wash it with tap water), having toast that doesn't taste sweet, having a hot shower (a lot of our hotels had cold showers), seeing roads like the ones in England and getting my clothes washed in a washing machine!!!

We are heading out today to the city to do some sight seeing which will be fun. I think thats all to say for now.

Lucy says Hi!

Beaches and Backwaters...........

So an update of my week-

Chennai was ok but nothing special - we had a driver take us round sight seeing on Friday but me and Lu must have been very annoying for him because most places he took us we weren't very interested in which meant we were in and out pretty quickly. We arrived in Kochi in Kerela at 3am on Saturday morning after taking a sleeper train from Chennai which was a very weird and interesting experience, I was exhausted and not really looking forward to getting a rickshaw (tuk tuk) to the hotel that early in the morning as the drivers often don't have a clue where they're going but we got there safely. Then on Sunday we went to the NF church in Kochi -they have a church of about 30 it was so nice - the service was great and then afterwards they have lunch together - they made us feel very welcome.

Monday we started the organized tour which was good however very busy -

Monday - We checked into are Hotel and met with the other tour members, there is 9 of us 4 British, 2 Canadian, 2 Swiss and 1 Irish, it was great to meet new people!

Tuesday - We travelled to Alleppey and took a boat through the backwaters - which was beautiful. We then arrived at are home stay (which is staying with a family), I was expecting it to be basic but this was not the case the house was massive they had lovely double rooms - enough to fit 9 of us! They live right by the river on a Island in the backwaters - to get to places they have to take a boat (the children go to school on a school boat!) - they were a lovely family. In the evening we had a guide round the village which we got to by canoe and half way through the walk it poured down - fun but we were drenched my shoes have only just dried. We then had a rather long (1 hour!) journey back to are home stay on a canoe in the rain - I was cold and tired so not a happy bunny but the traditional Indian songs the guide and the people in control of the canoe were singing was interesting.

Wednesday - Woke up not feeling great my IBS wasn't at its best and the curry for breakfast made it soooo much worse! I couldn't say no to breakfast as that would've been rude to our hosts (who had fed us lovely food the day before) but it wasn't a great experience and something I hope to never do again. We then had a 5 hour mini bus journey to Periyer - which is in the mountains and has very bendy roads to get there (curry breakfast, bad IBS and bendy roads = very ill maddy! wasn't sick praise God!). Periyer was beautiful and a lovely little town and are hotel was once again lovely.

Thursday - We went to a Tiger wildlife reserve saw no tigers and 1 elephant from quite far away it was quite dissapointing - but the trek was fun!

Friday - We travelled to Varkala which took us 8 hours, when we arrived at are hotel I was once again surprised at how lovely it was (this was meant to be a basic tour) it is on a cliff with AMAZING views of the sea.

I think thats it about the tour......

Weather hasn't been great here it has rained most days...on the plus side I still haven't got sunburnt and the heat isn't unbarable. I am looking forward to going to Goa on Monday as its sunny there and we are planning to chill out on the beach and do some shopping which will be nice.

I have enjoyed my time here but I guess I am looking forward to a bit of normality in Sydney - being able to get from one place to another easily, asking someone a question and them understand what I am asking, eating a salad and a few other things. However I am glad I came because I have definatly experienced something different!

Lucy has not been so great last Saturday she was really ill and this has meant her stomach hasn't been normal all week, she has also felt tired and achey which hasn't been good. However today she seems to be getting back to normal so hopefully she will have a nice relaxing week.

Anyway I'm off now to maybe buy some flip flops then read my book and play Suduko overlooking the amazing views.

Bye Bye South Africa.....Hello India!

So I have arrived in India.....on first impressions its just like I expected - sticky heat, crazy - busy roads, lots of people but I am enjoying it! It was a very long journey from Clarens to here and I had to wait quite some time for Lucy (5 hours!!!) at the airport which was pretty boring as there is nothing there to do but it was soooooo nice to see Lucy and its lovely to have a bit of home with me on my travels now. Our hotel is lovely, we are in Chennai for today and tomorrow and then we move on to Kochi - I am excited and slightly nervous to experience the trains! Tomorrow we have hired a driver to take us sight seeing around Chennai which should be fun. Then on Monday we start are week organised tour around Kerela (which incl - travelling through the Backwaters and going to a tiger preserve - which also has wild elephants there - I am sooo looking forward to that!).

It was actually really sad to say goodbye to Clarens....I really loved it there and will miss it. It was really nice because on Sunday night the church prayed for me and then again on Tuesday morning at the prayer meeting. God taught me so much in my time there and I think he has changed me so much.

1. I hardly stress anymore, my anxiety and worry seems to be fading away.
2. I trust so much more in God for provision and protection than I ever have before!
3. My fear has calmed down a lot.
4. I am excited (not scared) about seeing other nations and cultures, I think this is something God is preparing me for in the future!!!

I have also recieved LOTS of words from God in 4 weeks which I am praying on and trusting in God for. I have made good friends in Clarens who have taught me a lot and I will miss them. However I am very excited about this next part of my trip, what I can't believe is how fast it is going.

I also wanted to say thank you so much for those of you who gave me and Lucy chocolate (you know who you are) it was amazing to have some of it last night (we have A LOT - a picture will be coming for you to see the incredible amount of chocolate we have) I loved every melting moment - HA HA! (it doesn't melt in your mouth in SA).

I hope to get to internet within the next week but there is a possibility I wont be able to.

Bye for now!

Can't think of a title.......

So another week in South Africa has gone.....its going so quick! I only have 1 week left and I will be sad to leave, however I am very excited to see Crocker and I am not that nervous about going to India - God is clearly making me bolder!

I did my talk at Thirsty Youth this week - which went well, I chose to talk on Self Worth and where you get your worth from. I really enjoyed it and they responded well to it which is good because I was worried that the cultral differences would cause problems but it didn't. We had 60 youth turn up which is the biggest group of people I have every done a talk to so it was slightly scary but I didn't get that nervous. I had an interpretur which I liked because it meant I could stop and think before I spoke and for those of you who know me well know that I need to do this more often anyway! ha!


I decided not to go out with People of Hope this week - I found it quite hard the week before and I felt quite useless. I was glad I went because it meant I got to see what they do and I was so inspired by those ladies.


Mapheo was great this week - on Wednesday they made there own little vegetable patches outside the church building. They had so much fun and it was so lovely to see even the really little kids get involved.



I think that is all the major news this week! sorry its quite a short one!

Salahantle!

P.s. Missing Family, friends and chocolate that melts in your mouth (it just doesn't melt here!)

Dumela! O Kae?

So I thought I would share with you what I can say in Sesotho.....

Dumela - Hello

O Kae - How are you?

Ketang - I'm Good

Keleboha - Thank You

Salahantle - Goodbye

Ke Kopa - Please

Ke - I

Ee - Yes

A E - No

Ko Ko - Knock Knock (Love that one!)

Are you impressed? Ha!

So I've had another lovely week here, I love this place the people are great, the church is brilliant and I still can't get over the amazing views....... and the stars!!!! man they are beautiful!

I did 'People of Hope' this week which went well however its difficult and can make you quite emotionally drained but it has been good for me to go and the ladies are so lovely - they're the ones teaching me Sesotho! Every morning before they go out into the community they have a prayer meeting for about 1 hour and one person does a small Bible study to encourage the group - just being in that meeting is a HUGE encouragement - they are such inspirational women.

I met up with a girl called Nicci this week she is married to Gareth who is one of the Elders in the church (he became an elder yesterday.....amazing service will talk about that is a sec), I meet up with her once a week just to chat and if I need prayer for anything. She is really lovely and very easy to talk to. Its nice to have that support here.

On Friday I was invited to someones leaving party - which was funny because I had only met the person a week before. However it was so nice to be invited because it meant I didn't have an evening sitting on my own and I got to hang out with everyone and get to know people better.

Yesterday was a great day - in the morning they were praying in 3 new Elders which was so great to be able to see. The service was great - the worship was so fun and really really lively! There were loads of people because Dihlabeng had invited other Elders from the NF churches in the region to come, they also had a lot of visitors. So there were people from Cape Town, Durban, Lesotho and other areas of SA, England - Buxton, Swindon and Newcastle, I think Ireland to and I am probably missing some out as well. It was sooooo multi cultral which was just amazing. Mark and Outi had come to Clarens for the weekend so I had lunch with them which was lovely - I got to try my first ever SA steak......so nice!
Then in the evening we had 'Mobilise' meeting and once again for the second week running there was no talk just worship and it was amazing!

I didn't get to do my talk at youth because youth was cancelled but I will be doing it in 2 weeks time - just before I leave SA. So I will let you know how that goes its going to be interesting because of the whole cultral differences so I hope it goes well.

I think thats it really -

Life is good and God is Great!

Highlights since Wednesday......

Mapeo....is AMAZING! This is a project for vunerable children where they meet up every Wednesday and Thursday afternoon and a couple from England lead it. There are about 70 children on there books and they have about 50 children come at a time. On Wednesdays they learn about the Bible and have life skills and on Thursdays they have free play. The aim of this project is to build up they self esteem and show them love and the children are so sweet!

Becky and Gus came to Clarens for the weekend so I spent Friday afternoon and evening with them which was lovely! I will miss them both - they were such a blessing to me in Maseru.

On Saturday I got to tag along to future leaders training day which was great! Mark Thornett from the Swindon church was teaching on Leadership. Then that evening I went to Thirsty Youth which was really good to finally see after hearing so much about it from the guys who went in Feb! It lived up to all my expectations; I will be doing a talk there next week so I’m looking forward to that.

Sunday was also a lovely day had church in the morning, and then went round Rachel’s flat in the afternoon with some guys from the church. Then in we had the evening ‘Mobilise’ meeting which was brilliant!

My weeks here are going to be very full which I am liking because as many of you know I’m not great at being on my own and I get my energy from hanging out with people -which I am doing a lot of here. Everyone is really nice and I’m already making some good friends!

I think God is going to change me quite a lot whilst I’m here (for the better) and give me quite a lot of boldness (which he is already doing). I will be doing people of hope this week (detail of what it is in last post) which I’m quite nervous about because I get quite emotional in situations like that and I’m praying that I will be able to cope with it so if you’re reading this can you pray for me?

I think that’s it for now!

Dumela Clarens

Sorry about not posting anything on Monday! Its hard to get internet here but I will try and have something on my blog Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday every week!

So I'm in Clarens, South Africa now! Its so beautiful here everywhere you go there are these AMAZING moutain views! The town is a lot more western than Maseru and its one of the safest places in South Africa - so it means I can walk around on my own in the day which is really nice because I couldn't in Maseru. It consist mainly of coffee shops and art galleries.....so I'm happy!

I had a great weekend at the Student and Twenties camp the theme was 'Passion' - Passion for Church, Passion for the Nations, Passion for Jesus and Passion for the Spirit. I was overwhelmed a bit though as I was changing place again and meeting more new people and I was extremely tired so it was a lot to take in. The bit that hit me the most was the Sunay morning when we were leaving the camp to go to Dihlabeng church and all the Maseru guys had left (which i was said to say goodbye to them) and I was left with about 25 Basotho people (who I didn't know) all talking loudly in Sesotho and me sitting there waiting for a mini bus - very overwhelming when you are tired!

However when I got to church it was great! God renewed my strength and I really enjoyed it. A young couple from the church - Gareth and Nikki invited me round for lunch with a girl called Rachel and it was lovely I felt really welcomed.

On Tuesday we had a prayer meeting and I actually brought a word - in front of about 15 people who I barely knew! God is definatly breaking fears. I then had a meeting with Gavin (the lead elder) and Gareth to discuss what I will be doing in the weeks I'm here and it looks like I will be very busy which is good.

My week plan -

Monday - Free (Coffee shops and Galleries!)
Tuesday - Prayer Meeting, People of Hope (they go into the townships and visit sick people), Small group.
Wednesday - Helping at Dihlabeng school in the morning and Mapheo (a club working with children in the community) in the afternoon.
Thursday - Same as Wednesday
Friday - People of Hope and Salt and Light (Student and Twenties) in the eve.
Saturday - Thirsty Youth
Sunday - Church meeting in the Morning and Mobilise Church meeting in the evening.

I'm living in a little flat of my own which is attached to an English couple from the church's house they have 2 flats attached to there house the other one an English girl called Rachel lives there which is nice.

I think I will leave it at that for now!

Bye bye Lesotho....

Only 3 days left in Lesotho now – I go to a Student and Twenties weekend this coming weekend, which is in Bethlehem (about 30mins from Clarens), there will be people coming from all around the region so it should be exciting. Then I’m in Clarens for 4 weeks. I am looking forward to moving onto something new and seeing a different place but I will miss the people here and the church.

So highlights of this week…..

Went on a hike in Malealea – which is a mountain village about 2 hours from Maseru. It is such a beautiful place with INCREDABLE views, we went to a place called the Malealea lodge where they have things like 2,3,6 hour hikes, donkey rides etc. Me, Mark and Outi went on a 2 hour hike which was one of the most adventours things I’ve done because we walked up the edges of these very high, steep, rocky mountains – and I only tripped up once….are you impressed? (I was slightly scared at some points but I enjoyed it)

Sunday morning meeting – Steve Oliver came and spoke at City of Joy this Sunday and it was a brilliant talk. I felt God’s spirit on me so strongly all through the meeting and then he spoke on Mark 1:35-39 – I’ve never really thought much about these verses but they are actually very important and powerful when you really look into them. Steve’s talk was mainly based around the question ‘Will you go?’ (will you go where God calls you to go) I’ve heard many talks on this but the response has always been ‘If you feel called to other nations’ but I never have felt called to other nations so I’ve never responded, but when Steve asked us if ‘We will go?’ I felt God said I needed to respond to this – so I did. I’m excited to see where God is taking me and I’m now ready to listen. Something else Steve said was that we should be patient, wait for God to speak to us about this and get stuck into are local church whilst we wait, I felt like this really spoke to me – If I don’t hear from God about my future during this trip (which is what I was really hopeing for when I left) its fine I will just come home and get stuck in to Jubilee again and wait.

Do you know what was also incredible about this is that only 2 days before I had written a prayer to God that he would speak to me here in Lesotho and then 2 days later he did.

It was amazing because I think God is slowly breaking a lot of my fears, I never thought I would handle another nation but I’m here, I’m coping really well with the heat, the cultural differences and I’m really enjoying it. I’m out of my comfort zone and I like it! I’m either stronger than I thought or God’s strength is in me……I think it’s God!

 

 

 

 

Now, Just Now and Now Now…..

You’re probably wondering about the title – well its something funny I have learnt here. If someone says to you I will be over ‘Now’ that means they will be over in the next few days, ‘Just Now’ – sometime today and ‘Now Now’ – I will be coming in the next few minutes!!

 

So week 2 in Maseru…….

It’s been a lovely week, the start was quite chilled - I spent a lot of time reading.  I’ve started to read the Bible – cover to cover, which is going well and through Genesis God has spoken to me a lot about trusting in him and being patient. I’m also reading ‘The Time Travellers Wife’ – very interesting!

 

I helped at Bokeletsa Bana a bit, went to a training session that Outi is leading with the girls on tackling HIV, we had a prayer meeting on Tuesday morning (which they have every week) they prayed a lot for Ha Makhoate. We had family group (small group) which was great – the leader asked Outi if she could do a short talk/testimony on hearing God’s voice and having the courage to bring it in church, the funning thing was he asked her on the spot – that’s how things work here, very spontaneous. She did brilliantly though and we had a great time of response at the end.

 

The weekend was the busiest time of the week – On Friday we went to Ladybrand (which is in South Africa not Lesotho) to help with a school there. The couple that lead the church came from Clarens, they do the school/club every Friday and it’s for the poorer children in the area and its brilliant! The kid’s singsongs, learn about God, play games and they feed them to. Mark also helped with setting up a vegetable patch. It was so enjoyable, this couple work so hard (with not much help) and it was nice to go and support them for the afternoon.

I also brought some traditional SA food there – A meat snack called Biltong, its salt dried meat.

 

That evening I went to Gus and Becky’s for some more traditional SA food – Pap (maze – it’s like porridge and mash potatoes) and Boerwors (some kind of sausage)

Gus and Becky are such a great couple and a huge inspiration. They are a young couple from Buxton with a small toddler (Gideon – so cute!) who moved here a few months ago and they are here for 2 years. They have got so stuck into the church and with such enthusiasm – I know I’m going to learn a lot from them.

 

On Saturday I did a talk for the youth group – I did it on Mary and Martha. It was a really interesting to do a talk with a translator because its something new, in some ways quite difficult because you have to be precise (which for those of you who know me well know that I find that hard! HA) but in other ways it was good because it gives you time to think about what you are going to say next. It was good to see them all respond at the end of the talk.

Sunday we had church and once again the worship was amazing – I heard yesterday that the church had been prophesied over about being a church that would be characterised by there worship – which is so true. Then a few of us went on a spontaneous trip to Clarens because there was this lady who was doing a session on prophecy. It was a great evening, what I enjoyed most was when she asked us to find someone we didn’t know and pray and asked God for words for each other……this scared me imensly but I did it and the picture I got for this lady was right!! This is so encouraging because I’ve never done anything like that before, and I need to do this more often to break through my fear!

 

So before I say bye for another week I thought I would do what Jen asked and talk a bit about how I’m feeling here…….

 

I’m having a whole range of emotions here the main ones are… I feel excited about what God is doing here, and what he is doing in me – I don’t feel worried about things as much and I’m taking every day as it comes which is really out of my character because I’m someone who likes to have a plan and you can’t really here. I feel helpless and upset when we go and visit people in the poorer areas – I don’t speak there language which also makes it hard to talk to them and I feel completely and utterly blessed by God…..he has given me such a great life, family and friends!

 

Ok I will stop now.

ByeX

 

 

 

 

Dumela (Hello in Sesotho),

So I’ve been in Lesotho for just under a week now (and it took me 26 hours to get here!) and I have got so much that I could talk about. I was trying to think about what I will put on this blog as there is so much to write about. So I’m going to put my first impressions down.

 

Weather

Something us British people always like to know about……

The weather is so weird here the days are lovely  - they are mostly warm/hot (I haven’t got sunburnt yet so that’s a success!) but then as soon as the sun goes it gets quite cold. I am wishing I brought another hoodie now.

 

Maseru

I was quite overwhelmed when we were driving through the city on Wednesday, it is SO different from England/Worthing and I knew that this would be the case but I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. One of the things that I noticed first of all is that there is such a mixed standard of housing all next to each other – from a small tin shed to a very large brick house. There aren’t that many tar roads so a lot of the roads are dirt roads which is interesting to drive on……very very bumpy. The taxi drivers are funny – they beep non-stop for no reason, and safety on the roads and in the vehicles isn’t number one. The mountain views around Lesotho are beautiful. I think that I’ll leave it at that for now.

 

Basotho People

There are a few things I’ve learnt about the basotho people already:

 

• They’re gentle and happy people even though a lot of them are living in very hard conditions.

 

• They take each day as it comes, they don’t really plan ahead much or worry about tomorrow. 

 

• Most of them are very calm and relaxed. Everyone seems to move at a much slower pace here!

 

The Church

I’ve saved the best till last! I’m trying to work out how I’m going to explain this to you and I think the best way is if I mention some of the things they do:

 

1. Visiting in Maseru East – Some of the ladies from the church 2 or 3 times a week go to some of the poorer houses (tin sheds) in this part of the city and visit people in need. These people are living in such hard conditions (I will mention some in more detail next time) and they need to see the love of God.

 

2. Bokeletsa Bana in Maseru East – The same ladies (Nkoti, Pinky, Jemina, Tsepiso, Molier, Outi and Cheryl) and Becky, an English lady who has just moved over here with her husband Gus and their baby, run a school every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon for the poorer children in the area. They teach them life skills, play games and they learn about Jesus. These ladies have such servant hearts and are great inspirations!

 

3. Ha Makhoate – This is another part of the city where they have recently started a church service on Sunday afternoon. Mark and Gus and a couple of guys from the church are building the church evangelist a house with money raised from Becky and Gus’s church back in England. Letsema (church evangelist) was living in quite poor conditions.

 

4. Sunday morning service – They are gathering about 100 people now, they are so joyful when they worship – dancing, conga’s, etc. It’s so great to see what God is doing in this church and I can’t wait to learn from these people.

 

 

I think I will leave it at that for now and I will try and go into more detail next Monday (Monday will be my blog day over the next 7 weeks).

 

Bye (don’t know bye in Sesotho)

 

P.S. one last thing yesterday me and some of the girls went for a picnic and then Becky some of us on a 10minute driving lesson! I drove a truck for 10minutes….not on the main roads on a training area! Apparently Becky said I have good steering!!

Travelling!

So I leave today on a exciting and scary adventure! Its been an odd week this week my emotions have been going crazy particulary this weekend. I'm am feeling excited, nervous, happy, scared and a bit sad, but I know that God has got something planned for me in this trip and I can't wait to find out.

So where am I going and how long for.........

1. South Africa.

• Lesotho for 4 weeks helping the church in Maseru.
• Clarens for 4 weeks helping the church there.

2. South of India

• I'm meeting Lucy in Chennai and we are travelling around the south for 3 weeks. We are definitely going to Kerala and Goa.

3. Sydney

• We will be in Sydney for 1 week. No plans yet - see what happens when we get there!

4. New Zealand

• Staying in Aukland for 1 week with friends and then flying to Christchurch, hiring a car and travelling round the south island for 2 weeks. Then flying back to Aukland to spend 2 weeks there with friends (Christmas and New Years).

5. Boston and New Hampshire

• Then I leave Lucy and fly to Boston to spend 10 days with Liz.

So thats my trip and I will be blogging as often as I can.

I was thinking this weekend what do I want to get out of this trip - there was lots but 4 things stood out.

1. To grow more in my relationship with God. I always want to grow in God and I want that to be the most important thing of this trip.

2. To be more adventurous. I hate that I hold back on some things because I get worried about what could happen and I hope this trip changes that which I think it will.

3. Tackle my fear! This is a huge one for me and something that I have been working through with God over the last few years but I think God is going to work through this whilst I'm away.

4. To see what God is doing in other nations! this is so exciting.

Right well I think thats it for this post! I will hopefully post something in the next week or 2!

Bye for now x

Trains

I figured out on Friday whilst I was on a train up to London that I really like train journeys. I love the fact that you get time to just sit and do nothing. I had to take this trip to London and I had to take the train but the great thing about that is I had this free 3hrs to listen to music and do sudoku (which by the way is something that I have only recently got into and I love it! sad I know).

So anyway moving on to something else.....its Newday on Saturday and I can't wait! I love this week every year and I always get something out of it even though its aimed at 12-19 year olds. Its just such a great time to spend with God and friends. I will posting an update on how it went when I get back!

Also I have this Hen day on Saturday which is a watersports event and for someone who is acciedent prone and never done any water sports in her life its going to be very interesting....fun but interesting. I will however be looking forward to the train journey from Southampton to Norwich (Newday) on Saturday afternoon.....all that free time what will I do with it?

No longer a Learning Supivisor!

I finished work today and I was happy and sad at the same time. I was happy because it meant that I was that much closer to a great summer and that much closer to travelling! But I was sad because I really liked my job. I've had such a great year and I love working in a school. God blessed me so much with this job, last May I felt God tell me to apply for a job in a high school and to be honest this prospect scared me a lot. At the time I thought I had heard wrong because I didn't feel qualfied enough but I applied anyway and God came through once again (like he always does). This year has taught me a lot about patience, being calm in frustrating situations and working with a broad range of people and I loved MOST of it. I've even felt that maybe teaching is something I want to go into in the future!

So now I've finished work what will I be doing with my time until I go travelling (this is the question that people keep asking me) well I have a lot planned.

Newday

Hen Do's (one is my ex uni housemates and its water sports.......this could be interesting for me!!)

A wedding.....very excited about this one.

Travel planning (I need to do a lot of this)

Seeing my first ever West End show.......'Wicked'

Relaxing!

I will be reporting on all of these.......

I always struggle with the ending of these post so I'm going to leave this one with a simple...

Bye

Writing again!

So its been a year and 6 months since I last posted anything on this blog and I was intending to start writing when I go travelling in September but I thought I would start now as I have time to write and I have a very interesting summer ahead which could produce interesting posts.

For now though I want to leave you with a song that God continually speaks to me through and I love. The lyrics have so much truth and at least once a week I listen to this song as I walk to work because it just reminds me how amazing our God is and how amazing his grace and mercy is!

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea.

A great High Priest whose Name is Love

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,

My name is written on His heart.

I know that while in heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of my guilt within,

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,

My perfect spotless righteousness,

The great unchangeable I am,

The King of Glory and of Grace,

One with Himself I cannot die.

My soul is purchased by His blood,

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ my Savior and my God!

© 2001 Gotee Records