To say the last two weeks have been hectic would, from my
point of view, be a little bit of an understatement. It started off rather
slowly, mainly because a lot of the week was spent at the house. After
finishing school the previous week, we had a few days to get ready for the
Christmas Party which was to feature on the Friday that week. This meant the
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of that week included sorting packs upon packs
for the children, containing pencils, colouring pages, an item of clothing etc.
All of these had to be sorted, identified and packaged up by us which took a
while. During this period we also managed to make a load of props, which you
will see later, for the Nativity.
Thursday we walked the 30 minute or so route to Blessed
Word so we could run through the play with the children. Somehow this managed
to turn into the kids jumping all over us, which was great fun, mainly because
they were going after Jon more than anyone else. I may have lost the piggy back
race though... not sure how that happened.
Friday was the start of the busyness – that doesn’t sound
like a word but I’m going to roll with it because it isn’t red underlined. We
got to BW pretty early to set up, decorating the place and all that. The place
looked pretty good if I do say so myself. The day, then, went through the
hectic motions of Dance offs, performances, the Nativity, Jon and Brian dressed
up as Santa, food, cake and finally presents. Few it was good, but very tiring
as we managed to be there for a good nine hours not tiring enough it seems, as
we decided to go to LT and TGIF. That evening was... well let’s just say I feel
closer to Benedict Cumberbatch then I did before. (Yes none of you are supposed
to get that – but if you did :D ) We got back pretty late and went to sleep
even later.
I told you that so when I say on Saturday we had to get
up for 6:30 you can sympathise with us. The men had a prayer walk in the
morning so we provided them with breakfast. After that (and the washing that
came after it) we headed off to Chosen’s Speech Day where we cheered along our
respective classes.
Sunday was a lull and a good thing too as Monday
consisted of... the loft – dundundun. Basically the loft is a tiny space, in
height, that was boiling. Literally we can use it as a sauna. We played ‘The
floor is Lava’ (Jawwwn, the floor is lava! Jawwwn.) because we couldn’t step on
the actual floor, rather the beams across it, although it was the roof that was
burning. So we where there crouching and trying to move boxes without touching
the floor or ceiling. Basically what I call a Great Game.
We emptied the loft, took an inventory of everything up
there and put it all back up again. Sooo many boxes. On Tuesday, this continued
but with a side (still big though) job of moving a load of text books out of
Jacobs hut, organise them and then on Wednesday, put them back. Jon and I
skipped out on the adventures of the latter, however and instead went to a
faraway place to take another inventory. Basically we went to check on Smiles
container and, whilst there, took nearly everything out and put it back in
again. So yer, even more boxes!
Had another long one on Thursday as Suzie and I left
early with our sights set on the Post Office and, after picking up 14 packages
(not including letters) stumbled to Nic’s to have a good meal before heading
out again. We went to the slums to promote the Christmas party taking place the
following day.
Fount out after we had made it to LT that the skit we (mainly
Anna) had been choreographing was going to be performed that Sunday.
I could just describe Friday as literal Mayhem and leave
it as that, but I guess I owe whoever’s reading this to actually tell them
about it rather than describing it. So after we manage to get rid of Grace
(cough I mean, said good bye to Grace) very early in the morning, as she headed
off to South Africa, we got everything out for the party. Then we waited for
the truck to come back, and waited, and then waited a bit more. I will skip the
getting there, after a few U-turns because of forgotten items, and go onto the
highlights.
·
Not having to get on Jon’s shoulders to hang the
star this time.
·
Seeing the children dancing in the competition (especially
a little girl who was adorable)
·
Having the skit go swimmingly, no hiccups (really)
at all.
·
Managing to coax a kid who looked like that hadn’t
eaten in a while to eat.
·
Seeing children with bulging stomachs due to
lack of food eating.
·
Seeing the cutting of the cake.
·
Being swarmed trying to spray foam everywhere.
·
Going home.
The last one may seem a tad odd but we left FBC at 7:30,
it had been a long day.
Saturday came as a blessed relief. We shopped locally
rather than going the hour to get to the normal shopping centre, but other than
I did absolutely nothing. And it was good.
LT Warriors performed the skit on the Sunday, and Anna
had to step in for someone who wasn’t there. If you want to see it then the
link should be up somewhere, sometime. After that though I caught up on the
stuff that I should have done the day before, which apparently didn’t include
this.
The following two days put a stop to the busyness (still
doesn’t sound right) and I can tell you how much we did in the sole fact that I
read two John Green Novels in two days. It was good.
Today will hopefully consist of more boxes as we are
expecting the container to arrive... soon?
God has blessed me so much the last few weeks. He’s been
there every time I felt like I was about to crack from emotional stress or over
tiredness (or in most cases both). He is defiantly trying to get through to me
that I can trust him in the area that I’ve always found the hardest to – money.
During my time here I have been a lot less conscious of money, probably because
everything’s quite cheap out here, but
with Christmas coming up, visas and internet to pay for, I’m looking at things
I want to do in a ‘ahhhhhhhh I can’t afford it at all’ light. That and ‘ahhhhhh
I’m going to be so broke when I get home and I still owe people money’ etc etc,
you get the picture. Just as this problems been leering its ugly head again God’s
been like ‘’I’ve got you.’ Yesterday I found out that my visa has been extended
free of charge because Alex literally knew a guy who knew a guy that wanted to
bless the work we are doing. Today I found out that I’ve been given a donation
from the home front. Basically, God is Awesome.
Thank you to everyone who has contacted me the last few weeks
to offer support that I told myself I didn’t need but probably did. Seriously –
Thank you.
Should probably post this now when there is still power.
