The Pines June 2009

Extreme Home Makeover: South Africa Edition

2009-06-19T12:22:00.001-07:00

"Brian, move that tractor!!" :)

Today we were able to finish Alice's shack. Brian and the rest of the guys worked hard for most of the day and finished by 3 pm. Alice now has the coolest shack at #7! She was thrilled to be able to have her own house for her and her 2 kids.

This evening we had a great dinner with everyone. Then, we had a bonfire with all the children. We played a funny game called "Ooga Booga" that included dancing around the fire and getting a wet bottom. We also made s'mores.

Tomorrow we will be leaving for Johannesburg around 9am to go to the lion park and shop at the Bruma market.

We are looking forward to telling all our stories and showing pictures to friends and family. See you all soon! Thank you for your support and prayers. They are greatly appreciated!

Team 10

The Shack

2009-06-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, Tom and Eddie started building the wall to split one room into 2. When they finished, we primed and painted the wall. In the afternoon, Tom and Eddie did some electrical work in Louie's flat. In the evening, we went to the end of term program, called Parent Fellowship Night, for grade R (Kindergarten) - 3rd grade. It was quite entertaining, and The Pines' children stole the show with their dances! :) There were awards given for honor roll and character traits.

Today, we put a final coat of paint on the separation wall, while Eddie observed from his bed. Then, we spent the rest of the morning getting materials for the shack we are building for Alice. Alice is one of the mamas who lives at #7. Her house burnt down, and she has been sharing a place with her mother. We took the materials and headed over to #7. The girls talked to children and handed out beach balls. The boys framed out the shack and set posts filled with concrete. Hopefully the shack will still be standing in the morning and finished by early afternoon.

The girls had the opportunity of going to the children's ward of the hospital to hand out balloons, crayons, and The Pines coloring books to the sick kids. Tom's daughter, Addison, gave us a couple Disney princesses to hand out to the girls. They loved it! :)

Tonight we went out for dinner as a team to Spur. It was good to get out with Brian and Lois and enjoy a fun evening. Nana and Pops, Liam's South African "grandparents," watched Liam so Brian and Lois could relax.

Workin' and walkin' with Christ,

Team 10

Youth Day Hurrah

2009-06-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

The day started off rainy and cold. The activities were moved from outside to under the shed. After a short amount of time the rain cleared off and it became a great day for the kids and adults. Many games were played and many smiles were shared. Lindsay, Martha, Ali, Wendy, and Stephanie helped the kids make visors, magnetic crosses, painted pictures, and tie dyed shirts. This took most of the late morning and early afternoon. Eddie and Tom started building a wall in one of the flats. They were able to get the wall framed and decided to call it a day after they switched the lighting around in the rooms.

Team 10

Two Babies In Two Days

2009-06-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Tom and Eddie started off the day building the roof for the car port. They finished that today. It was a beautiful day outside and the kids did not have school, so most of the day was spent just playing outdoors with them--riding 4 wheelers, kicking around the soccer ball, and painting fingernails.

Martha got the chance to have coffee with Patty, the woman who runs the sewing shop at Morning Star. Patty wanted us to pray that she can get the school contract to sew uniforms as that would bring much more profit to the ladies at Morning Star.

This afternoon, Brian and Lois went to pick up a 2nd baby from Reahola church. It is a 3 month old girl, Anna. She has been staying with an aunt temporarily. Her mom was a 14 year old girl that had been raped by her own father and was here illegally. Neither her or her family would accept this baby girl. Please pray that she will adjust well to The Pines and stay healthy.

Today Brian and Lois also got a call relaying a message from Zekona's father. He wanted to make sure the baby was safe. Brian and a few others went back to where the baby was from to follow up. He said he did not want the baby and the mother wanted what was best for the baby, but we were unable to get in touch with the mom. Supposedly, she was released from the hospital today. Hopefully we will get more answers soon.

From your favorite group,

Team 10

"The destitution of a servant: One who is doing the will of another with the resources of another for the benefit of another." ---Cosette Conaway (excerpt from NIV study Bible)

A Day Of Blessings

2009-06-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

On our way to church today, a social worker called Lois. She told her that she had a five month old little girl for them. The mother had been physically harmed by the husband. They needed a place of safety for the little girl, Zekona. When Lois inquired about how long they would have the baby, the social worker said that the mother might not make it and Zekona may be a permanent resident at The Pines.

In the beginning of the church service, the children picked songs and taught them to the adults that didn't know the words. Nazo ran the drums and Makhosi ran the sound system. During church, Martha, Stephaney, Alli, and Amber led the youth group consisting of children under grade two. After church was very exciting, because everyone at The Pines got to meet Zekona.

Around noon, we went to the Bundu Game Lodge. They fed us Potchcus. It is an African dish consisting of Lamb, Ox, or Tripe over Rice, Pop, or Porridge. Vegetables were also added on the side which were the best part of the whole meal.

After the group ate, we came back and enjoyed the sunshine with The Pines children. Around six o'clock, we had Worship Service with the children. They sang us their songs and described what they meant. Then Joe Otool led the sermon part of the service.

sending our love,

Team 10

"Our God specializes in working through normal people who believe in a supernormal God who will do His work through them." --from The Prayer of Jabez

Walkie Talkie not for me

2009-06-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today the team headed to Thabong. While there, we visited the children cemetery. Each Friday, 10-12 children from Thabong are buried. The graves were decorated with bottles, stuffed animals, or other personal items belonging to the family. We also visited Motshidisi's (a girl from The Pines) old home and got to meet a few of her relatives and friends. They let us tour their home.

After driving around Thabong for awhile, we ended up at the home of a boy in Louie's Bible study, J.T. They had prepared lunch for us, and we sampled many African "delicacies" including chicken feet and chicken heads. At the market, they call those "walkie talkies." They were very happy to host our team and serve us a meal.

On the way home, we drove by "the dump," where all trash from Welkom is dumped. Up until a couple years ago, people were allowed to live in the dump. Now, they make their home right outside the fence. They sort through the trash for anything worth eating or getting money for recycling.

When we returned home, we enjoyed the nice afternoon by scraping and painting a car port outside and playing with the children.

Praying for peace,

Team 10

John 3:16--"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting Life." Louie's brother, Joe, who had spent the year in China, shared this well-known verse to Louie's Bible study boys in both English and Chinese.

Wishing on a star

2009-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah 29:11--"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (written on the wall at Morningstar)

We visited Morningstar this morning. As we walked into the building, there were stars covering one wall of all the children that were once at Morningstar that have died--over 200 children since 2000. We toured the building and visited several classes, handing out gum and balloons. Children and teachers alike were so happy just to get a piece of gum and balloon. One of the classes sang for us and even at the age of 5 have more rhythm than most white people will ever have! :) We volunteered to paint their kitchen tomorrow, and Tom will do some light electrical work. Before we left, we went to the craft area and were able to purchase purses, necklaces, and various other homemade items made by some of the children's relatives.

We came back to the Pines and built a fence to set up boundaries for the kids' area. The weather was nice enough for the kids to be outside and play basketball or soccer. Tonight's supper was hamburgers on the grill. It took about 45 minutes just to get the coals hot. Eddie's unibrow is now gone! :) The boys had some fun with the kerosene and starter chalk. We even grilled the french fries.

Tonight we look forward to Alli and Wendy joining the team, along with Brian & Liam Niehoff returning.

Over and out,

Team 10

kickin' it at The Pines

2009-06-10T10:23:00.001-07:00

"When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me." --Psalm 27:10

This was the verse outside the House of Hope when the girls went to visit this morning. We were welcomed by the staff and 8 babies under 15 months. We got to feed and change the babies. There were 3 tiny girls only 3 weeks old. The mothers of these babies were HIV/AIDS positive but luckily the babies weren't. Hopefully they'll be adopted soon! Before we left, we enjoyed a cup of Red Bush tea, a traditional African drink, with the ladies at the house.

While the girls were at the House of Hope, Tom and Eddie finished their generator project in the attic. The smell of tripe (pig intestines) cooking in the flats made them hurry! The supposed 4 day project took a day and a half.

This afternoon we once again helped the children with their homework. Eddie painted a lot of fingernails for the girls. We broke a sweat playing "keep away" in the hallway with some of the older kids.

Tomorrow we will be going to Morningstar to visit the children. Morningstar is a daycare/preschool/kindergarten/1st grade for children who are HIV +. We are hoping to volunteer there for a day doing painting or other projects.

Thanks for your prayers!

Team 10

Worth the wait! :)

2009-06-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone back home,

Our trip started out with our flight being delayed in Atlanta for about 2 1/2 hours. This put us behind schedule in Johannesburg, so we spent the night in a hotel since it was too dangerous to drive to Welkom at night. We made it to The Pines around noon on Monday. It was a chilly, rainy day, so a majority of the day we did orientation, met some of the kids and staff, and got acclimated to our surroundings. Last night we did our first team Bible study and Stephaney fell asleep on the couch. :)

Work started today after morning devotions. The girls sorted out a bunch of clothes that were donated to The Pines and need to be taken into the community. As we were arriving at The Pines yesterday, we saw that many of the light poles had been cut down with a hacksaw and the wire was taken out. People have been stealing the copper to sell for money. Because of this, Tom and Eddie spent much of the day adding lights and receptacles for the refrigerators and freezers to be run off of generators because of the common power outages. This afternoon we helped the children with homework and played some games when they got home from school.

Tomorrow we will be going to House of Hope, where babies and children under 2 years old can be dropped off if their parents can't care for them. Time for our Bible study! :)

Later,

Team 10

three days and counting

2009-06-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

Team 10 is a small but mighty team gearing up to spread God's love to the people of Africa. Three of the team members have been to the Pines before and can't stay away. They are currently hard at work trying to figure out how to get everything they want and need along with what they would like to take for others into one 50 pound suitcase. Tonight they will gather at the Jasper winery to celebrate all of the teams that have made this journey. Keep them in your prayers for safe travels.