Wow, it's 13 April 2010 ALREADY! I'm nearly 1/3 of the way through my Community Service year... it is definately time to blog again! Well, there is no way I'm going to be able to tell all of you about the past 6 weeks, so instead I will mention a few of the high-lights, low-lights, and lessons learnt:

THURSDAY 18 March my brother and Lindsay arrived at Zithulele. We stayed at what is called a "Home Stay" (basically a rural B&B) and headed off to hole-in-the-wall and then Margate with Nomfundo and Asanda (my friend here at the hospital studying the Bible)the next day. That weekend we had a singles retreat near Durban with the Durban, PE, Mthatha and Joburg Church of Christ singles, it was so great to see old friends, make some new friends, and enjoy a weekend of good lessons, good fellowship and good competition :) The theme was "3 G - Good to Great with God" and the speakers' really just encouraged us to get to know God and spend time with Him. We had some good time of sharing as well, and it was so nice to hear that we often all struggle with the same things and are therefore not alone in our desire to seek improvement in our relationships with God, so it's was great to brain-storm and offer advice to one another.

So the next week 15 - 19 March I was back at work. I had leave planned for the following week so Lindsay stayed with me. It was SO GREAT to have her here! It's really nice to be able to show those you care about back home what life here is like... Linds played Ultimate Frisbee (and got a super nice gaping wound below her knee to prove it), run the hills of my home-turf (and her Asthma nearly killed her - haha, sorry bud), see beautiful Lubanzi beach (and walk along it and play on the rocks with me) and meet all the people I keep speaking about!


Lindsays KILLER wound, hardcore!

The REAL HIGHLIGHT of that week was the weekend though. After work on Friday me and Linds packed our backpacks, including a few snacks, about R400 and a few changes of clothes and headed off towards the sea, veering left (those were all the directions we needed, apparently)! The plan was to hike to Hole-in-the-Wall and then Coffee Bay, stay over, and hike back the next day. Wow, it was truly a beautiful walk! It also turned out to be extremely eventful... we hiked to Hole-in-the-Wall without any problems (besides the endless array of young up-and-coming entrepreneur kids who fancied themselves tour guides - although they were EXTREMELY helpful, we just couldn't pay them), had a very fun swim in a beautiful gully - it seemed so far removed from civilization we could have skinny dipped for sure! (but we didn't, don't freak out). Anyway, then we got to the Hole-in-the-Wall Hotel around 5:30pm, with an hour of daylight to spare, and thinking Coffee Bay and our already-booked accomodation was just over the hill! I was wrong. Very wrong infact. It turns out that Coffee Bay is a further 3 hour walk. Wow, oops. So, long story, but basically we ended up staying at the Hole-in-the-Wall backpackers which cost R240, eating supper which cost R140 (we did a huge amount of Maths that night to make sure we had enough money to survive the next day), eating breakfast which cost R4 (toast :D), and then headed off to Coffee Bay along a beautiful, serene and untouched coastline. Once there, we dipped our feet into the Coffee Bay beach water, turned around, bought Bar Ones and water for lunch, and headed back to the hospital, with 4 hours of daylight, R12 and an adopted dog, who we lovingly named Finn. It was an incredibly fun adventure, I cannot describe the freedom we felt, hiking up and down those incredibly steep but amazing rolling hills, with nothing but untouched beauty surrounding us and the bags on our back. We could have walked those hills for days.


Me and our first set of really cute tour-guides, I don't think this bunch asked for any money, just photos :)


Me and Linds, just a downhill away from "Hole-in-the-Wall" beach


The view from a VERY windy hill!


We didn't really know where we were supposed to be going... so we just walked and took pretty photos :)


(see comment above)

That Sunday we headed off to PE to pop by my family for a week-long "suprise visit" - they were suprised all right! That was a great week, I enjoyed it so much! I got to meet some VERY extended family in Jeffreys Bay from my mom's side - the Worsleys are a really good spirited bunch, I like them a lot :) It also happend to be over the Easter weekend, which means... no, not Easter Eggs... it was the Splash Festival at the beachfront. What a great vibe! One evening me, Linds, Byron, and Ibs headed down to the Pier to watch the fireworks display, then wandered around through all the stalls and concerts, went and ate some pizza and gambled our R12 at the Casino left over from me and Linds' hike... We won R10! But then we gambled that away too. Sigh, I should have listened to the signs, "Winners know when to stop." and we could have bought soft serve ice-cream with our winnings, oh well! All-in-all, it was a really amazing week at home with my family and friend... and as a bonus I got to watch a movie, and crank it in Guitar Hero :)


A great time with my family in J-Bay!


Us down at the Pier just after the fireworks


Ibrahim had drunken too much coffee, I apologise.

So this past week I have been back at work. Our usually 7-strong therapy department was down to 2 therapists, me and Shannon, so we had A LOT on our plates! It was great though, I learnt so much and had lots of fun being stretched actually, upon reflection, hehe. I enjoy being busy as it makes a usually-long work day go super fast! Me and Linds went to the Lambert's over the weekend, and it was Linds' Birthday on Friday so we had a great time making and eating cake, watching TV, and chatting to Don and Jean - I am so greatful for their ongoing hospitality! I dropped Linds off at the Bus Stop on Sunday, and headed back to the hospital... sad times.


Linds' Birthday Cake, decorated by... ME! yes, I am now open for business.

So that's been the last 3 weeks in a nut-shell, it has been a time of great fun, companionship, deep conversations, good laughs, hard work, and growth, and I am so looking forward to the chance to have more adventures and meet more people (old and new)!

To my Christian Buddys

1 Peter 5:8-10
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

I have been thinking about this scripture a bit lately... It is interesting that our resistance to Satans' schemes should come from our knowledge that we are not alone, that other disciples are standing firm too - power in numbers! I am so greatful for all of you and the role you play in my life. It's because of you, that I am able to withstand Satans schemes! We are all spread out across the world, but let's remember this... We all serve ONE GOD, through our Faith in Him we are Unified.
Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to one hope when you were called — one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

JUST A FEW RANDOM PICS:


A really pretty "driving-in-the-car-so-let's-keep-busy" photo on the way to Mthatha :)

The showers on my floor at the hospital accomodation have been taken over twice this past month by bees who come in by the hundreds and then just die... wierd.

We cleaned and re-arranged our therapy department in March, clearly Jess was working hard in this picture;)