Swaziland is Pretty Fun!:)

Hi. This is Bethany Shimoda writing a blog for the first time.:D So, today is July, 8, 2008, obviously, and it is around 9:30. Today, I helped teach the 5th and 6th graders how to sew backpacks. I also played with, drew a few pictures with, and took many, many, many pictures with the kids at the school. These kids at the school are so wonderful and kind; they all want to be your friend. All you have to do is smile, wave, and say hi to someone, and they will become your new best friend. O, guess what, I helped cheer up a little preschool girl because she was crying and so I helped her find her grandma. She was so cute! Anyways, ya, the kids are so great. Many of them, especially the little ones, come up to you and follow you and just stare at you till you notice them and become their friend. I've never seen people so outgoing and kind. So the oldest kid at the school is around my age, 16 years old, and their grades go from preschool to 6th grade. The grade doen't go by age like in America, but it goes by how smart you are and how much you can handle. O ya, right now we are tearing off the lables from the quilts and replacing them with new ones, which is taking us a long time. We are also gathering all of the donation items like TY Beanie Babies, tooth brushes, all the quilts(when we finish), socks, and much more that I can't really remember right now. O ya, I just want to say, I'm soooooooooooooo glad that I am able to have this oportunity to serve the Lord, spend time with the kids, make new friends, and get to know my team members better. I really encourage everyone who is reading this to think about maybe considering going on a missions trip in the future. You have no idea how it is like till you actually experience it. It is fantastic! And I LOVE it! I hope to do another mission's trip in the future. So tomorrow, we are going to do a VBS for the kids at New Life. Amanda and I will be helping lead worship 3 times and acting a skit 3 times. I amd totally going to loose my voice. haha, o well. So, please continue to pray for us for what ever you think of like keeping our health and strengh after every busy day staying up till, really late. Also pray for safe car trips on the other side of the car and the other side of the road compared to America. Also pray that we can remember the really difficult names of the kids. Ya, so please pray for those things and what ever you can think of. O ya, for my close friends and brothers and sisters, I'm not really alowed to do shout outs on these blogs, so, you know who you are! Thank you again for supporting us and I really can't wait to write again. O, I also can't wait till I get back home and tell you all about my trip and show you all of the pictures! Well, I'll see you later. I LOVE YOU GUYS! AND I LOVE THE LORD!:D BYE!:D

HERE AT LAST!!!

Well we finally made it to Swaziland yesterday. The drive didn't seem that long cause my brother and sister (Bethany and Kyle) and I were having a lot of fun on the long car ride there. Today we came to New Life and boy I was in for a suprise!!! There were so many kids then I expected, and all of them are staring at you. The weird thing is that many of these kids are about the same age as me because I am 14. So if you think it is awkward to teach someone who can't understand half the things you are saying, try to have most of the kids be the same age as you and that problem at the same time!!! Something that was also very interesting is that the names of all the kids there. I can only pronounce a hand full of then and those are Faith, Sarah, and Austin. All the other names are so hard to pronounce that I'll show you some...Sijabulile, Banele, Ceiumusa, Sibahi, Wakhile, Sibonelo, and Derrik. Try so say some of those names, and some even have a clicky sound to them too!!! Today our group tried to teach the 5th and 6th graders to knit, crochet, and sew. There was problems with the manual sewing machine, and at the end of the day we had 5 of the 10 sewing machines still working.
After school we let the kids who live at the school draw, and play with different games from the container that was sent here by you guys. They had fun playing with Candyland, Sorry (every minute you would here kids saying "SORRY"), Pirate Island, and another game that I forgot. The kids also gave me and Bethany all of their drawings to keep. One person even drew me!!! (I don't know if that's a good thing or bad if you look at the picture). Well we are having lots of fun here sharing about Jesus' love.

Keep praying for our health and that we trust in the lord in eveything that we do. :D


-Amanda Shimoda

Prayer Request

Today, Sunday, the plan was to drive to Soweto to visit Pastor Themba and Buhle's church. We received word that our lost baggage was on it's way. We waited for the bags to arrive thinking they would be at our hotel soon. We waited and waited. We finally decided to drive to Soweto and come back for our bags. They ended their service early so that we could leave as we were planning on driving to Swaziland at noon. I called the hotel to see if our bags had been delivered and praise God, they were there!! We were so glad!! We headed back to the hotel, loaded up the cars and were on our way!!! So we thought. . . Russ' van would not start!! His battery was dead. We had to call the car rental company and they were going to send a replacement car. This was about 1:30. The car was supposed to come within the hour. It ended up to be 3:30 when we finally got the new car. Our goal was to leave early enough to arrive into Swaziland during daylight and were worried about our safety as we approached the border, and since it was already 3:30 we didnt' want to take any risks as things were not going smoothly. So we are staying in Joburg for one more night and will drive out in the morning. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day for us!! Please pray for a safe drive and that nothing else will prevent us from getting to Swaziland. We are trusting in the Lord and looking at the positive side of things. The extra time we've had here has been restful for the team.

Please pray for us! I hope our troubles are over and it's smooth sailing from now on!! The team will be able to communicate with you via our blog as soon as we are in Swaziland, so please visit again this week for more updates!!!

With a humble heart,

Penny

Sanibonani from South Africa

After an uneventful 22 hours of flying time, we arrived safely into Johannesburg an hour early . . . then the drama began!! We were without six of our bags!! Luckily five of them were bags with quilts and supplies. The sixth missing piece was Steph's personal baggage!! After filing our lost baggage claims, we proceeded to pick up our rental cars and found out they only had 2 of the 3 Kombis (large vans) that we had reserved. We ended up with 2 Kombis and 1 minivan. It has worked out to our benefit as the minivan is automatic so Russ feels better about driving!!! Next we went to purchase a Sim card for our phones and ended up purchasing two new phones as they would not work. All of this took 4-5 hours!! It ended up to be a good thing as it was easier for our drivers to adjust to driving on the opposite side of the street with less traffic. The team was very patient through all of this and I'm very grateful for that!! It was a long journey from LAX to our hotel in Johannesburg.

Saturday was a great day!! I had planned a surprise field trip for the team! We went to The Lion Park!! It was awesome as we saw zebras, giraffes, lions, antelope, wildebeest, cheetahs, hyenas and an ostrich!! It was similar to Lion Country Safari except we actually saw animals. Along the lion route, the ranger threw pieces of meat towards our car and the lions came right up and ate it. They were only 5 feet away from us!! The highlight was going to Cub World where we were able to pet lion cubs!!

We were blessed to have as our driving guides, Pastor Themba and his wife, Buhle. They took us to the community where they live in Slovoville. This was an eye-opening experience for all of us!! The children all ran to the tiny room they call their church when they heard singing! They were so happy to sing to Jesus for us!! Our hearts were amazed that they were so happy when the whole community is in such poor condition. They don't see the broken chairs, the glassless windows, the lack of electricity or feel the freezing cold of winter that we felt or saw. We were all very humbled and I was brought to tears to see Jesus through them!! After teaching them Deep, Deep, Down, Pastor Gary ended with a prayer for all of them. It was experience our team will never forget.

Tomorrow is the big day....6 hours 30 minutes before we leave

Been running around all day, trying to do things I should have done weeks ago. The gift of procrastination is one that Satan created. I am trying to pack, calm the excited children, and remember last minute details. My brain seems sluggish. Too excited I guess.

Jay will come to pick me up at 2:30 AM, just 3 hours from now, then on to CBC to pick up Gary, Val, Rosie and Gladys.

6 hours 30 minutes...wow.


Pray for us.


Sam

1 day and counting....

Tomorrow is the big day. In reality, each day is a big day. Each day holds promise and purpose from God our Father. Each day is uniquely special and only what we choose to make of it changes who we are. God presents us with new challenges each day. Each day He promises not to give us more than we can handle. Each day we must rise to the occasion.

OK, enough already. We packed last night at CBC. All the quilts, library supplies, and craft items had to fit into the bags we had. Since there are 14 of us, there could only be 14 bags. Each bag can weigh no more than 50 pounds or there is a fee. Our own personal luggage with clothes, books, etc. will come later. Someone brought a scale to weigh it. Each quilt had to be matched with the picture of the person who made it, and the card they wrote for the recipient. They were pinned together then squeezed into these large zip lock bags. I know someone fit 12 into one bag. Wow. Jay and Naomi were there helping load the bags into the van they will use to take us to the airport.

I think we got it.

It is time for me to do the last minute running around too. Now, where is that neck pillow?

The next time I write will be in Swaziland.


God bless and pray for a safe journey.



Sa,

Two days and counting....

Today is Tuesday, July 1, 2008 and we have just two days left. We leave on July 3 from LAX to JFK at 6:00 AM. This means getting there about two hours ahead of time for security check in, baggage check, and the last minute running around. Four AM is just a weeee bit early for me to be awake not to mention getting there beforehand. Jay has graciously offered to drive, even pick me up at my home to not awaken the sleeping children.

We will be meeting tonight to try to fit all the quilts into our luggage. Some of us have no second piece of luggage, and the quilts will be in those second pieces. We will be meeting tonight at 7:00 tonight.


Pray for safety, organization, and grace.


Thanks,



Sam