Prayer for a community

Hey there. Chris here. You may know me from my medical revision or web design sites, or maybe my website "All about Chris Lowry". Or you don't know me at all.

I live at 82 Pickmere Road, in Crookes, a suburb of Sheffield. In the UK. We are currently/hoping to become/perhaps not an intentional christian community.

More will be posted here after Christmas, but for now, please pray for us.

Bless,
x

Christian community, web design, medical revision and things of a personal nature...

Obviously it's been a ridiculously long time since I've posted on here. I set this up as a brief diary of my last trip to Africa, for my girlfriend to read whilst I was there. She is now my wife, and I've been back for about 10 months, and frankly, I could just tell her how it was face to face now.

I have many other project, including this medical revision website, and this web design and web hosting website. I am also a member, with my wife, of a Christian community in Sheffield, UK. Check our community page at Community of Communities, or read our new blog on blogspot.

I am keeping this page as a personal blog, but it may not be updated frequently!

Bless,
Chris

PS. Wedding photo below:

Photo Thirty Four - The dog I want to own...

AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! How cute is this dog/horse/beast?

Day Thirty Four - Prayer and Inefficiency

As you are hearing, I had a bad week, this week. Today we had a meeting with a woman from the Health Department. We wanted to say to her; if you could have money in any area what would it be. This was so that we could prepare a proposal that addresses the areas that need work in our district.

We did ask her that question. Unfortunately, she didn’t listen. After 20 minutes of her telling us that the Health Department will never give us money to employ staff, despite the fact that we just had a briefing meeting with them, where they explained what they want to do is give us money to employ staff. And she just wouldn’t listen.

It was annoying, but welcome to officialdom within Africa. We actually found out the next day that the compulsory meeting regarding the proposal had been moved, without anyone telling us, from the 23^rd to Friday! So the woman, instead of lecturing us on rubbish, could actually have shared the information that she definitely knew.

This afternoon, Grant came round to play Splash, which I won very narrowly. First game I failed at, but the next two were fine, taking me to a great victory. Unfortunately the weather here has not been very sunny, so the pool is freezing. It needs three or four warm days to become warm. On the plus side, if you have have 4 hot days, then the next is cold, all day the water is still warm.

In the evening I went to cell group. Rather than any program, tonight a woman shared her pain. Her husband has been an alcoholic for 12 years, and her life is misery. It was a hard evening, but everyone shared her pain, with prayer for the both of them, with advice and with love.

I spent at least an hour afterwards just lifting up the husband to God, going over and over the qualities of an elder from Titus, asking God to bring those qualities forward.

This is the verse the lady shared, feeling that God was using them to allow her to go away for a month, to have a break:

“As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
Titus 3:10-11

On the way home, wearing no shoes, I got trapped by a Bull Mastiff standing in the middle of the road growling. My only option was to walk an extra 2 blocks in order to avoid the dog. Still, I got home with all the skin on my legs and face still intact.

Much love,

Poopoo-le-pee

Photo Thirty Three - Panorama

Click on that, and see the whole mountain range by our town. Oooh!

Day Thirty Three - FINE! I WON'T SPEND ANY MONEY!

Apparently South Africa doesn’t want people to spend money in their country. I took out £35 the other day, and now I am not allowed to take out any more!

This had its problems. I was planning to buy your other present today, but that was not exactly possible, thanks to banks in general.

To go with it, Mohau left the office at 10:30, and when I phoned at 11:45, promised to be back by 12:15. At 2:30, when he returned, I was hungry and grumpy. The grumpiness was not relieved by learning that one of the reasons he was late was that he had stopped off for lunch on the way!

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
Mark 6:35-36

I went home, instead of the countryside, but its pretty similar. I had peanut butter and golden syrup sandwiches, just like I suspect Jesus did.

My friend Joyce also had problems today - her brother was arrested for driving her car without a licence. He was actually in jail, and had to pay a bail to get out. I’ve never really encountered anyone who that has happened to before.

Needless to say, Joyce was quite upset, so me and Mohau took her out for dinner at Spur. I love taking people out for meals, because, for example, I took out three people and stuffed them with food, and it cost me £12.

Spur was nice, although I ordered too much food. Who would have thought that a double rib burger would be huge? I did trade the fried onions for lettuce tho, so I’m still very healthy!

Love ya!

Chrissywoo

Photo Thirty Two - A nice sunset

I didn't get a photo today, so here's one I took earlier :)

Day Thirty Two - I hate Monday

Monday blues lasted well throughout the day. Not enough work was done by any of us, nothing seemed to be working well. Despite being at work for many hours,

The best part happened when I got one of your presents, but unfortunately, I can’t tell you about that until I get back. I can talk about the drive there though – it was out in Vilgepark, which is a suburb just off the edge of Harrismith – where me and Mohau go to play pool.

Unfortunately, there are a great deal of road works going on at the moment, because the roads are shot. And why? Lorries. Harrismith is in the middle of the 6 hour highway between Jo’burg and Durban. Which means all the lorries stop here for breaks. And because a little bit of the highway is knocked out, instead of going round Harrismith, now they go through it. Thus destroying the roads.

This also means that the route to vilgepark is much longer than one would expect, with a circuituous route, and lots of queues, and doubling back. Someone was telling me how one day, on the Friday of a long weekend, they shut everything through town except one lane. The tail back was an hour and a half, just to leave town.

Anyway, I got your present then, and you will know soon. Hoever, everything else just seemed to be a bit rubbishy. You know how Mondays are.

I ended the day at the prayer and intercession meeting the church has once a week. We were praying for a lot of things, but I felt very strongly from God to pray about the church. We were praying about 3 hours, and it was really good.

One of the verses that came up was this:

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23,24

Love you bumley,

x

Photo Thirty One - Girraffey!

Can you see me in the mirror?

The giraffe is looking at me!!!!

Day Thirty One - Stuck in a car, but it could be worse...

Good and horrible at the same time, is how I would describe today.

I’ll deal with the horrible first. We got up early, my body aching from the previous two days exercise. I was loaded into the back seat of the car with two young girls, fine in small doses, but rather high on the “Uncle Chris, why are you sitting in that seat? Uncle Chris, why are you looking tired? Uncle Chris, why are you breathing heavily? Uncle Chris, why are you your hands round my neck…” factor. I then spent most of the next 6 hours, cramped next to them, hot, tired and thus a little stressed.

The good, I’ll leave to the photos.

“And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”

Gen 1:21

I was happy to get home, but it was worth it.
Love you,
xC

Photo Thirty - Quadruple your money's worth

All these pictures are pretty hi res, so click on them to see a bigger one

Can you see the baboons on the rocks in this one. They look far away, but at points they were only about 50 metres away. Pretty scary, but luckily I had a stick!

If I'm honest, I was pretty happy to be taking this photo, and not standing on a 20 foot rock on the edge of a cliff in a strong wind.

Look at the treeseys!

This is where the cross used to be, but some vandals destroyed it. Sad eh? Used to look over the whole town. Was beautiful, and lit up at night.

Day Thirty - And up we go...

And then came my Sabbath again. Many hours of the morning were spent lazing around, and around midday I decided I had earnt a bath.

I was laying there, the water welling up around my tired, aching body (going for a run and playing football yesterday was a bad idea), I hear the doorbell ring. Somewhere, at the front of the house, someone has arrived.

Immediately a great feeling of trepidation rose up in me. The person was here for me! I was going to have to leave my bath. If only I had realised how much worse than just getting out of the bath the punishment would be, I think I would probably have just drowned myself.

“Chris! Someone at the door for you!”, came the cry. So I hurriedly removed myself from the bath, and came to see who it was.

It was Grant. “Hey Chris, we are going up the mountain, are you coming?”

Stupidly, stupidly, I said yes.

There were plus sides. We had a braai right at the top. There were some amazing views. It was a great experience.

On the downside, on Tuesday, my legs still hurt. A steep climb for an hour, followed by a steep scramble back down, not great for the already tired feetsticks.

I got back, and had a bath, then covered my entire body with deep heat. Sort of deep heat. Ian buys this stuff that is like deep heat, but much stronger. It’s pretty cheap too, like £2 for a 500ml pot. Pretty good stuff. He actually gets it from the vet. Its for horses with muscle ache lol.

“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”
Mark 11:23

I tried commanding a cable car to appear, but my faith wasn’t strong enough.

Grr,

xC

Photo Twenty Nine - Cloudly

This is out of a window in Grant's house. I love our camera!

Day Twenty Nine - Prayer and exercise

Today started late. I had no excuse, I just decided not to get up, and the beauty of voluntary work is that no one can tell me off if I don’t come in.

I went for a nice long run, that ended with me the wrong side of the motorway, and having to cross it – since there was no way I was going to backtrack all the way I had come.

Do you find that you itch loads after you really sweat? I don’t know why it happens, but its pretty annoying. I had a quick shower afterwards, which cleared it up, and then off I went to work.

Only Hlingiwe was there, sleeping. I was pretty annoyed, because I was still fairly warm after all my exercise, and she had a plug in fire heater next to her. I turned it off, and opened the window. It’s the middle of summer, there’s no need for that!

I then turned my attention to the computer. And the mess that it is. I cleaned and tidied my one last night, and I realised the time had come to do it here. Through the desktop PC, there was 6 different stores of documents, many of them containing duplicates, triplicates or worse. I combined them all, to form one folder of documents that was over 10Gb!

Then I reinstalled windows. I seem to spend my life doing this. In the book I wrote last time, I said this:

“My main job today was sorting out computers. It is a little depressing how machines designed to increase our efficiency and productivity cause us more time getting frustrated because we are achieving nothing than anything else. Urban Dictionary dot Com has a definition for computers:

“A tool designed to accelerate, and automate, errors.”

I think that’s a pretty good description of most computers. I have personally today spent more than 4 hours trying to persuade one huge, expensive bundle of wire to function in the way Satan intended.“

When I got home, I started to read a book I borrowed from church, called “God’s Smuggler To China”. I got really challenged about prayer whilst reading it. It was talking about prayer, and how people should be praying so hard that they are weeping, shouting out to God, praying continuously, and I just thought about how I don’t do that. I don’t give time to God anywhere near enough. And maybe that’s why the thing I attempt fail. Like my band – we pray every time we pray and we are flourishing.

But when was the last time I lifted up CP.co.uk in ardent prayer? DIYsheffield? Medrevise? I can’t just try to achieve things that I know God wants without asking Him to get involved too!

So I spent a long time on my bed, praying, and reading the bible, asking Him to bless every project I could think of, our relationship, my friends, my family – everything. It was good.

I also played some football later, and ate some burgers.

But the most important thing was the prayer.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Philippians 4:6

Pray!

x

Photo Twenty Eight - Aww cute!

I don't even remember what day I took this, but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!

Day Twenty Eight - I just remembered I'm losing to you 67-66!

Today we had the ladies from Lesotho come to visit. We took them to see all the various activities that we organise, such as the orphanage, and the feeding kitchens. They were pretty impressed, which is a good thing, since we are hoping to get some funding from them.

After they had gone, we had a meeting with Pastor Mark, to discuss how things were going. I had prepared a report with Mohau, going over everything that we had aimed to achieve, including our applications to pretty much every computer organisation and company within South Africa, for help setting up a computer centre. Sadly, we still haven’t heard any positive responses yet, but we can pray.

Then me and Mohau went for a wander into town, visiting the clinic, a township style bookshop, where I found some learn Sotho books, unfortunately written in Sotho, but still useful. We then went to this amazing food place for lunch. Called “Mr Delicious”, it consisted of a caravan that looks like it was abandoned ten years ago. All the insides had been ripped out and replaced with ‘worksurface’ – mouldy chipboard covered with newspaper. Inside the darkened hut sat a woman, next to two pots.

I’m not sure how she kept the pots warm, since there was no power supply to the caravan. However, since about 5% of our local villagers get their energy from burning dung, I’m sure they found some way. The food, the only thing they sold, was cooked maize meal, with a light sauce and a chicken leg. Forcing from my mind questions like – do they understand that bacteria grows rather exuberantly on chicken legs kept at 30°C.

I also resignedly accepted that they had no vegetarian option. I could have just had maize, but that would be like just having mashed potato, without the flavour. I’m afraid I’ve gone back to meat, since every meal I am offered seems to be based on it.

We sat on some steps and ate the food, getting some stares from passers by, a black man, share food with a white man, both using their fingers and eating from the same plate. A rare sight in South Africa, although some aspects of it would be odd even in England.

After work, me and Mohau went to Wilgepark (pronounced Vulkhurpark), to the shabeen (kind of township pub) again, to play pool and drink shandy. It was absolutely packed, and when I asked Mohau why, he said ”Well, of course! It’s Thursday!”

Confused, I said, “So? Do people not have work tomorrow morning?”

“Yes, they do, but you see, this is weekend eve.”

So there you go – weekend eve. It explains a lot about the kind of attitude to life that gives many black Africans a bad name. That aside, Castle Lager tastes pretty good, although I failed at pool, miserably. The way pool is played here, your money on the table gives you next turn on the table, against the previous winner. So you always end up playing against the best person who has been on the table that evening. So if you win, you get unlimited free games. I love it, because its so much more social, you get to know everyone who plays. On the downside, I always lose.

‘So Saul said to his servants, "Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me."’
1 Samuel 16:17

I would be let off that one, I feel

Miss you,

x

Photo Twenty Seven - What genius?!

Clearly, I am a truly masterful sewing maiden!

Day Twenty Seven - More Sewing

What I find weird, looking back at these two days, is that I remember nothing about them. Like I know work was done at Tshwaranang, I’m sure I had some lunch, 24 hours of breathing occurred. But all I remember is giving Mohau his birthday vest in the morning, then shopping for more fabric, and spending another 7 hours making a tshirt, this time for me.

Sadly, the pattern was for a woman, and I’m not a woman; however much you joke about my new found aptitude for needlework. This meant that I ended up producing something a little tight for me – hence it becomes a gift for you!

I’m sorry that I have nothing good to say, but literally I look back at these two days and all I can remember is “thhththththtth! Snap!”, as the rubbish thread I bought gets caught and snaps again. At least my backing spool didn’t run out today 1 inch before I finished.

I thought instead of a bible verse today you can just listen to this instead:
Click here, and download track three. It won't charge you, because we've already downloaded it once.

Love you,

x

Photo Twenty Six - Where I spend my life...

That's where me and Grant invented the world beating game "Splash"

Day Twenty Six - Because REAL MEN sew!

So today was the start of my clothing making reign of terror. I visited various fabric shops looking for patterns and material. After a long hunt, I eventually tracked down a woman’s shirt pattern. It would have to do, since there were no others.

I then hunted out some nice blue cloth. Guessing how much I would need, I purchased it, along with some thread of (nearly) the same colour.

I then got home, and opened the patterns. There were a lot, with many concepts I didn’t understand. I got out the sewing machine. There was a great deal I didn’t understand here; to be honest almost all of the thing was a mystery to me.

This is when I said “Jaackiiie! Pleeeaaase!!!!”. A few short lessons (nearly an hour) later, I was underway. Apart from continuously forgetting to put the clamp/foot thing down, leading to my fabric getting festooned with a tangled dreadlock of blue string, and forgetting to sew on the collar before the shoulders, meaning I had to unpick everything, and forgetting to compensate by 3 cm for a seam that I took out, and a few other slight niggles, it went pretty well.

The only really annoying bit was the hem at the bottom was very lumpy.

I don’t remember much else about today, because I spent about 7 hours making a vest. A vest that I could have bought for £3. And I spent £1 on fabric, £1 on thread, and £2 on a double needle I didn’t need.

Oh well.

“For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

You have been complaining about Formness, and I just wanted to give you this verse – don’t worry about the animals thing, or anything else, because the point is its between them and God. Your job is to explain, not to convict. They still suck tho.

You mah lovely!

C

Day Twenty Five - Not going to Pretoria

I had a rubbish day, and I talked to you for about 2 hours today, and I’m busy and I don’t want to go over it again. Pro 14:23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. I think I’m going to eat some chocolate

Photo Twenty Four - Inside our church

Taking photos for the Freedom website - unfortunately, my camera changed its settings, and I didn't realise. So I have a load of photos in the smallest size, on the worst quality settings. Looks okay though, I suppose....

Day Twenty Four - God's Patience

Sunday. My last time at church. And the old pastor, who I think is a fantastic preacher. It was all good, and the preach was fun but good. Based heavily on the current power shortages, the idea that people and churches without God are like light switches without power. You can go through the motions, but ultimately nothing happens.

One bit he talked about was the story of when he went to get his driving license renewed. He turned up and was told he needed his photo taken. He was sent in a direction, so he walked that way. Soon enough he came to a man, sitting under a tree. The man said “photo?”, then jumped up and took a picture with a digital camera. Then he just ran away.

Matt assumed that there would be an office across the road or something, but then the man runs to a car, and gets in. By now, Matt is confused, and wondering if his identity is about to be stolen or something, until he realises that the man isn’t driving away.

Five minutes later, the man gets out of the car, holding photos. It turns out he has a whole printing kit in his car! At this point, Matt remarked “Efficient, eh? That’s the wonderful thing about Africa!”

I piped up (interrupting the sermon, as I like to do), “Hang on - so your argument is that the wonderful thing about Africa is that its efficient?!”

Everyone laughed, including him, and he explained “Hah! No, wait for the rest of the story. I meant the wonderful thing about Africa is the creativity of people”.

He then went on to explain how he was told to stand in a queue. A queue that lasted four hours. He said how someone remarked, 3 hours or so in, that he was a very patient man, and he distinctly heard God at that moment say “Not you. Me.” Because he had been going crazy inside, but it was the Spirit of God, a spirit of patience that others were seeing.

Anyway, twas good. Went to Makgolokoeng afterwards, and there was a little girl, holding her little sister, and crying because she couldn’t go to school – she had to stay and look after her sister, while her parents went out drinking.

It made me sad – I’ve offered to pay a year’s crèche to let the girl go to school. It’ll be about £70, not bad for 200 or so days lol.

Bible verse from the preach: Isaiah 41:14 “...I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;” In a pretty amusing way of presenting it, Matt only revealed the beginning of the verse at the end of his talk; “You worm Jacob…”

Much lovings,

The Chris

Photo Twenty Three - Off we go!

Like I say, I didn't scream like a girl!

Day Twenty Three - A well earned day off

Today was Saturday, my day of Sabbath. I started off with a nice lie in, right up until 8:10! Reckless, eh? Then I read my book a bit, and lazed around the house.

About 10, Ian’s parents popped by, on their way somewhere else, and it was interesting talking to someone with a West Country accent out here. After that we took a ride to the rubbish dump, to unload an entire trailer full of waste. They don’t have binmen in this town! There were people living at the dump, sorting through rubbish, hoping to find things of use. I’ve seen worse in Mozambique, but it was still sad.

At 12 I discovered that people were going to the dam again, and it seemed like a good time to go. Luan (I finally learn his name the day he leaves) is going off on a 7 month gap year extreme sports thing – learning scuba diving, sky diving, etc. It is costing a bit over £10,000! But yeah, regardless of my opinion on wasting money on such ridiculous privilege, he’s a fun bloke to be around, and so he had a “Let’s go to the dam party, then a braai at my house”.

The dam was fun – even though I got neck ache. I managed to successfully dive off the one and a half storey cliff, without any damage, disembowelment of accidental castration. We all even managed to jump off the three storey cliff as well. That was amazing. I also ran into Faye’s parents, and found out her dad is off to Joburg on Tuesday, so a lift is organised. We drove home, me rubbing my neck ache, which I hadn’t noticed up until that point.

Back at mine, me and Grant invented the greatest game known to man – Splash. You stand either end of the pool, with a table on its side behind you. Your job is to stop the ball hitting the table. However, the ball can bounce on the water, and you can change its weight with absorbing water in it, changing is speed and stuff. First man to ten wins. We played for an hour and a half, leaving me with a sore arm, to go with my sore neck. [NB Two days later I STILL have arm ache from that rubbish game]. Needless to say, I won 4 games, two sets, and thus the match.

Next I went to the braai with Grant. It was okay – I swum in the pool there, and beat off three challengers on the pool table. I also managed to find veggie hot dogs in spar, despite being told by a senior member of staff there that they don’t sell them. Soon I was knackered though, and bed was very welcome. As I lay there, arm and neck aching, all the rest of my muscles complaining, I knew it had been a good day.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20

Just thought I would drop in some Jesus there. Do we observe all he has commanded us? Hmm.

Much lovings,
Chris

PS. Okay, okay! It wasn’t neck ache, it was neck burn! I forgot to put lotion on my neck. I did everywhere else though! And it wasn’t that bad anyway, its gone brown you BUMFACE!

Photo Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty One & Twenty Two - But at least its a good one!

There you go - its finally finished!

Day Twenty Two - Feel Sad, Get Fat

Today was a massive rush. I was meant to be leaving tomorrow, so I had to get the video finished. I started off, going to Makgolokoeng, moving a caravan out there for Danell to live it. I’m ridiculously jealous, you might be able to tell.

Not only does he have a caravan, but he is getting to live in the township. And get this – someone has given him a horse for transport. Very, very jealous!

The caravan is cool, no toilet or shower, but that aside, its compact, can sleep 4, or sleeps two with a nice sitting area, sink, stove, cupboards, wardrobe, tables, etc. Hmm. Not sure if we are going to be buying a caravan any time soon, but one can dream, eh?

So then I got back to the office, and finished the video. Also managed to get a few other things done, came home, and packed for going up the mountain today. Got to Mark’s house at 2, where I was able to show them the video, on time and as I had promised.

Then I was able to relax – with 30 minutes to spare, I was ready to Mohau to pick me up, then we could go up the mountain. I had warned him repeatedly to be ready, so there was no reason for him to be late.

3 came and went, but that was fine. I knew he would be late.

4 came and went, I was unimpressed, but we still had 3 hours to get up the mountain.

5 came and went, Mohau appeared, apologised for being late, but said that we couldn’t go up the mountain because he had to house sit a farm. I was cool with that though, because it would still be relaxing and fun. He said he needed to go and pick up the keys, then he could get me.

6 came and went. I got bored and wrote that song I played you.

7 came and went, along with daylight. I didn’t know where he was.

Eventually, at 7:30, only 4.5 hours late, Mohau pulls up; yet we aren’t even going anywhere. After driving around for another hour, he dropped me off back at mine at 8:30. Oh, and to cap it all, I learnt earlier that my lift down to Pretoria has been cancelled, so all of my rushing today has been completely in vain.

Unsurprisingly, this eventually triggers a mild feeling of disgruntlement, soon followed by an evening of self hatingness. Even some chocolate, which I had to smile me up, didn’t do much – its interesting though, that’s the second time I’ve had chocolate in 3 weeks! I think I feel more content here, and enjoy eating healthily more. Even exercise is more fun!

“Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty, running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield; because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his waist and has lived in desolate cities, in houses that none should inhabit, which were ready to become heaps of ruins; he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth”

Job 15:25-29

England makes me more Jobey.

x

Day Twenty One - An Irrestistable Revolution

Today I started reading that book I keep going on about, the Irresistible Revolution one. You need to read it too, before we have any more arguments lol. But a book about poverty really makes you think when you’re out here, for two reasons.

One: there is a lot of it, all around. People living in rubbish dumps, people who literally live on maize meal every day, and sometimes can’t even afford that. People whose biggest dream is to one day live in a shack with brick walls, rather than corrugated iron.

Secondly: the attitudes of all the white people round here is so wrong. They are so out of touch, saying things like “black people have no respect”. One thing I love about black culture is how full of respect it is. I want to challenge all these people.

There was an interesting story in that book. A little boy arrives at some houses, holding a water pistol. He realises all the houses are on fire. He is about to start the nearly impossible task of tackling this with his tiny water pistol, when he realises that parked all round the houses are loads of fire engines. But all the drivers are asleep, obviously to what’s happening right under their noses. The little boy has a choice. Does he try to put out the fire with his water pistols, or does he use it to wake up the firemen, so they can put it out together?

Interesting.

I’m writing this with a cat between my arms, walking all over my body lol. It’s quite cute hehe. I’d rather have a kat tho, although if she was walking all over my body I’d probably end up paralysed.

Today, I’ve been working on the video for Tshwaranang, and the website, which is why you haven’t had any pictures for a couple of days. Should be finished soon my lovely bum,

xC

PS.

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”

Acts 6:2

Day Twenty - Doing Nothing

Day 20

After working all night, and most of the morning, it was so nearly finished! The deadline was 4 o’clock, and yet at 3, one of the people who needed to sign it asked for some changes…

So in 45 minutes we rewrote the thing, packaged it up nicely, restapled, and delivered it, with 15 minutes to spare.

And then, to celebrate, we did nothing.

All day!

"Heaven and Earth [and long-winded health department registration documents] were finished, down to the last detail. By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work."
Genesis 2:1+2

Love you,

x

Day Nineteen - Becoming a fish

Today was spent almost entirely in the pool. I think it finally dawned on me that I’m leaving Harrismith, and most importantly, leaving the house with a pool in the back garden.

Anyway, so the day started at the office. We needed to finish that proposal, and despite much hard work, we still weren’t making much headway. The office was noisy, people kept answering their phones, and it was all distractions. Plus everything we tried wasn’t working, etc, etc. All in all, it was annoying, and I wanted to get things done.

So, after a few hours of this, I informed Mohau that we were going to mine for lunch. We had a sort of cold pasta risotto with rolls, and salad (although the lettuce tasted odd, and the tomatoes were about ten minutes away from being off).

Then, with the laptop set up on the table, we took it in turns to be typing, or amusing ourselves by the pool. It was pretty nice, and about fifty seven times more relaxing than the office. Mohau had to leave at 3, to call some people at the office; promising to be back by 3:30.

By 6:30, I decided to stop swimming, just in time for Mohau to arrive, looking flustered. We spent half an hour doing more work, then he gave me to a lift to Pastor Mark’s house, for bible study.

It’s a long one today:

“Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

And the LORD appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

So Isaac settled in Gerar.

When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he feared to say, "My wife," thinking, "lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah," because she was attractive in appearance.

When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought, 'Lest I die because of her.'"

Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us." So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, "Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death."

And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.

(Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we." So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.

And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, "For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." From there he went up to Beersheba.

And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake."

So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well.

When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?"

They said, "We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD." So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.

That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, "We have found water." He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah. “

Genesis 26

That was the subject of our Bible study. We talked about how Isaac was very like his father, both in actions (lies about wife, gets rich and asked to move on, digs wells out) – Mark put forward the opinion that he might be a bit of a sissy, too scared to stand up for his wife, and trust God; always runs away whenever there’s a quarrel about wells.

Talked a lot about trusting God – He told them to stay in the land and he would bless them and look after them – so there was no need to lie.

Rehoboth means spaciousness. I want to call our house here that, hehe.

And lots more stuff, but you can work that out!

Much lovings,
Chris

Day Eighteen - Welcoming Africa to the 21st Century

This morning heralded the dawn of Tshwaranang internet. It was very good to be able to use the web in the office. Hence, we now have www.tshwaranang.org, we have stuff@tshwaranang.org email addresses, and I can upload my blog with minimal effort.

It turned out that the instructions we had received in the box about the setting up the cable, were wrong. What I want to know is, why? I ended up on the phone to tech support, cracking up the whole office, as every time he did something that worked, I exclaimed that he was a very attractive, almost beautiful young man, that I could tell this over the phone, and if I wasn’t already engaged, then… well!

That aside, most of the day was spent doing fairly mundane things. I mean, I can tell you about filling out the registration form, which involved writing 70 names, ages, qualifications, job descriptions, etc – but you probably won’t be that interested.

Went to a place for pizza at lunch; it wasn’t amazing though, and the bloke annoyed me by commenting all the time and not leaving us alone.

I got some good footage for the video I need to make up at the townships too, which was helpful. Then I spent the evening at home, watching a preach called “Indescribable”, by Louie Giglie. I’ve seen another version before – its an extra on the Facedown DVD. But this one was pretty cool too.

Mohau was meant to come round this evening, but he didn’t lol – nor did he reply to my texts; and I cooked him dinner! Oh well, I’ll make him eat it tomorrow. Instead I read a book someone gave me called “Khayeelitsha, uMlungu in a Township”. It’s a true story about this white dude, who goes to live in the biggest township near Capetown. uMlungu is Xhosa (pronounced ‘Click’-os (as in hose)-a (as in bat) for white man.

So that was my day. And from God:

"Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts."
Zechariah 1:3

That sounds pretty similar to the New Testament to me!

Much lovings,
mChris

Photo Seventeen - Geronimo!

You gotta click that one, and look at the big version. I took 5 photos of my two mates jumping, with our Pentax. I was perched on an adjacent rock, hence the good angle. I then stitched the photos together manually. Pretty cool, eh?

Day Seventeen - If I told you to jump off a cliff, would you?

Church was first on the list today. This time, I wasn’t fresh off the mountain, smelling like a bonfire, so I could put on my shirt, shave, and smell nice. Twas good.

The main focus from today’s service was the vision of the church. There was a presentation, with a detailed explanation of each part. It was good, and also kind of showed me why the split isn’t such a bad thing; the two churches have two very different aims, and method operandi.

The worship was good today, with a song from the News Boys, the one that goes “And all God’s people sing, Glory, glory! Halleluyah, He Reigns!”. The spirit was there.

Afterwards, with the tea and coffee, I got talking to Pat, who helps out in Mogholokoeng each weekend. It turned out that her kids are always messy, and that it drives her up the walls, so I came to her house in order to do washing up and ironing. Sadly, when I got there it turned out that her son had done it all (maybe not sadly, that’s actually a good thing), so I just hung out with Grant for a short while.

I gave him a copy of my cd, and we put it on loud. It sounds good on a stereo, even if the bass was way too high.

He then mentioned how he loves going to the Strurkfontein dam (literally “strong fountain”), to go swimming and jumping in off cliffs. I was intrigued, and a few phonecalls (and the inevitable “I’ll be there now…” wait), we were on our way.

In the back of the car we had a CD player with Aqua’s album blaring out loud. We had coke, sprite, nik naks, peanuts, and splenty of sun tan lotion. We nearly all had dark glasses. It was very Californian.

When we got there, it was ridiculously beautiful. Think fifty times larger than Ladybower. Probably more like hundred – its fourteen kilometres wide at points, and nearly a km deep in the middle. And warm, on top, anyway. Full of huge fish. With cliffs of various heights, from half a storey, upto three. We all chickened out of the three-storey one, but did the one and a half one several times.

After several happy hours, the time came to go home again. Now 37 was blaring on the stereo, really odd to hear music from 2003, what the radio was playing in Year 12. The soundtrack to today, sung with passion by us all as we passes through amazing vistas, and wide, sweeping views, was “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got, til its gone”

That’s basically it, except for dinner I had 5 pancakes. Yum.

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48

After a day like today, of such perfection, seeing God’s world, even if it was through a manmade dam, I think God’s perfection is clear. Ours, lol, is a little lacking.

Love you,

x

Photo Sixteen - The start of my career as sports photographer

Look at that ball, in mid air. Very proud of myself!

Day Sixteen - Too much meat

Hey there lovelyface.

Today was kicked off with a lie in until 8, then work at 9 until 1. Never a fun thing to do on a Saturday, but at least it meant there is less to do on Monday. We spoke on the phone for a bit, which was nice, and I read you some of my proposal. Your talk sounds good too. Interesting how a talk on being veggie linked into my day… Anyway.

On the way back from the office, I popped to Franna’s house – you remember him, he’s the guy with the Afrikaans worship cd I like, the one who has always very supportive of my Christian punkness. Well, sadly, he was out. In fact, they are moving 400km on Monday, so I’m going to pop in then. I left his wife a copy of our new EP. What do you think of the name “End This World EP”.

Anyway, it was back to mine and preparing for the Braai! Celebrating my birthday in a true South African way, was nice, and it was great to see so many people turn up. I have some real friends here, and its nice to be with them.

It started at 2, and my main job was to cook a huge vat of maize meal to go with the meat. I also played some cricket (badly), and supervised swimming in the pool. This was fine until I ripped my swimming shorts (I don’t know how) and had to leave for the sake of a) my modest, and b) the innocence of the 5 year old girls in the pool.

I also cooked my meat, and ate it. By the end I was sick of it, and didn’t want any ever again; hence this linking in the talk earlier. Mohau eventually arrived 6 and a half hours late, just before the fire had completely gone out.

I ended the evening chatting with Hloni about the Anglican church until past midnight, sitting on a chair in the dark, after everyone had gone home. I think, all in all, the Church of England does more damage than it does good. There is no solution, aside from disbanding the church entirely, and that’s not feasible. However it was a good chat, and you know how I like to argue stuff objectively for hours.

“Can a man be profitable to God?”
Job 22:2

Short but sweet. And deep.

I love you,
C

Day Fifteen - The only stressed person in Africa

Today was an annoying day, because I didn’t really achieve very much. There was a lot of stuff going on in the office, but none of it very productive. At least the Tshwaranang website basically got finished, but aside from that it was pretty dull.
Hence not a lot to talk about today.

However, I did want to talk about my ideas of us moving here. I want to buy a big piece of land, and adopt loads of kids. How would you feel about that? I really wish you were here, I want you to be experiencing what I am.

Thought you might not be impressed…

Anyway, bible verse time:

"Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you."

Luke 1:1-3

I find this oddly powerful – its so lifelike – I could totally see someone saying, “Hey guys, let’s make a record of all this, I think that would be good!”

Love you,
x

Photo Fourteen - I'm basically in Die Hard

It's funny watching me kind of disappear out of the right hand side of the screen - that thing kicked like a horse!

Day Fourteen - Bang BANG!

Once again spent the whole night dreaming, which meant I woke up knackered. Last night I dreamt about having to fly back through Africa, try to get home, and I didn’t have a passport, and no tickets, but I just kept blagging it onto planes, then somehow landing in the wrong place again. I don’t remember much except seemingly spending the entire night pleading with airline officials. Odd.

Today we went to a meeting with the Ministry of health, where they outlined what funding they are going to provide, and the very specific, long-winded way we will need to provide it. Interestingly, its all part of a new EU partnership; they are getting ideas on how to run their health system from our pathetics attempts – if the NHS had to deal with 7 million HIV positive people, it would utterly and completely collapse.

Anyway, that took much of the day, plus we had another meeting with a separate charity, that want to give us funding in exactly the same area; Home Based Care. Needless to say, my days for the next week will be spent with registration documents and funding proposals. Fun!

This afternoon, we got to play with some guns. First I fired a 9mm handgun, followed by a .38 revolver. Then I had a go with a .22 rifle, which I was much more comfortable with, since I have a .22 air rifle at home; I was pretty good with it, got all my shots pretty much with 3 inches of each other, from 25 metres.

I then got a go with the big mahoona! A double barrelled shotgun! Shamole! From 100 metres, I hit a man sized target 7 times in one shot (Each shot contains 16 pellets). It kicked like a horse, but it was worth it lol.

This evening, I finished our EP, and mostly polished off the Tshwaranang website. Bed at 12 was late, but needed.

“God answered Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king,
wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.”
2 Chronicles 1:11-12

I want to be wise.
x

Photo Thirteen - Look at those hips!

I know it's probably not the best picture, but this is a dog that can flatten its body out, and lie totally comfortably in a really weird position. hmm.

Day Thirteen - Unlucky For Some Teeth

Had a dream where all my teeth fell out! I was talking to you, and about 10 fell out. You were talking to me, and one of yours fell out too. I woke up with such a start, and felt my teeth, such a relief when they were really solid, and stuck in my gums lol.

Today was mostly spent doing the website – you can check current progress at www.tshwaranang.org . I also finished off DIY, leaving just one song to do.

My day was spoiled slightly by you dumping me, but I recovered hehe.

In the evening I went to a cell group, on a farm. Mohau’s car ran out of gas right at the end of a long, long dirt road. It was pretty funny, but also not good.

The guy who owns the farm had a vision, that God wants them to get together every Friday, to be together, and to worship him. They were talking about the practicalities of converting a barn, and buying benches, and chairs, and I was just thinking – why are you planning so much, where is your faith? Just get together, and start now! Don’t talk about getting ready – God has told you to get together every Friday, so start this Friday. And if you need stuff, work it out as you go along! If you need chairs, bring them next week, maybe a kettle the next week, after that maybe start doing food between you, but be guided by your prayer during those weekly get togethers. Don’t try to guess where God is going to lead you!

Unlike some people I know, who are much more polite than me, and don’t say the things they want to, to people, I said all this. Their reaction was infuriating, they agreed, and were like “Yes, that does sound interesting…” then just went back to planning. I had just read “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1Ti 4:12), which seemed very relevant, since it seemed they weren’t respecting my wisdom. Sounds petty, but I’m not meaning it like that.

I actually felt very inspired tonight; when another member of the group was talking about a youth camp they felt they had to run, based on the armour of God verses.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
Ephesians 6:11-18

His feeling is to run it pseudo military camp style, with exercises, and the kids called them captain, and sir, and the kids being called privates, etc. I felt very Spirit led here, that the camp should be leading to a culmination where the kids are told “So now we have explained how to be a soldier. You know that you have to choose to put on this armour! If your Dad is a soldier, if you have grown up as a soldier’s son, does that make you a soldier too? No! You have to join the army to be a soldier. In the same way, it doesn’t matter if your parent’s are Christians or not. It doesn’t matter how you were raised, it matters if YOU decide to serve God! You have a choice! Do you want to sign up to join the army of God?!”

And then the kids have to physically sign the list. A military altar call, if you will, but I think it will be very powerful.

And everyone felt the power of what I’d said, and it was cool, people who hadn’t spoken previously chimed in to agree with me. Yet I still felt the gravity of what I was saying wasn’t being felt. When he asked how he should prepare, I was adamant that he should obey those verse, live it, put on the armour fully and intently; and the guys just sort of agreed, then were like, “…anyway”.

So that was annoying, but it was nice to hear from God.

Much love,
Chris

Photo Twelve - Me, aged 22? Would you just LOOK at the SEXY!

You LOVE it! x

Day Twelve - The truth behind my eating last night!

In the aftermath of the meeting last night, combined with my birthday, I decided I deserved some celebration. I had custard slices with everyone from work, washing it down with Tab (basically diet coke).

I also finished editing Brian. Only got two more tracks to do, hopefully both going to be finished tomorrow.

In the afternoon I, finally, went online – although I can’t find my USB stick, so I couldn’t upload these lol. I tried to sort out what I’m doing for the websites – I think I have a plan now, so that’s good. Also looked into how to register Tshwaranang as a charity in the Uk – I think we need to have an income of more than £5,000 a year, which I don’t see happening any time soon.

In the evening, Tony and Trina Marshall had invited me round for dinner. Trina’s full name is Katherine; Trina is a nickname, based on KaTeRINA. Would you like me to call you that instead of Kat? Thought not…

Anyway, I had told Tony in the morning that it was my birthday, and asked if I could bring Mohau. He was happy to let Mohau come too. When we turned up, I was suddenly aware that I was wearing basketball shorts, and a tshirt with a comic printed on it. Feeling underdressed, I knocked and entered; to find out that as a surprise, we were going out for a meal at a restaurant! I then felt even more embarrassed, and went on throughout the evening to embarrass myself further.

Since no one in Harrismith is vegetarian, the veggie option on the menu was basically “Some cooked vegetables”; the kind of thing that drives me mad in the Uk. Happily though, here I am not restricted to such a lacklustre selection, I was able to choose meat things. Trying to be polite, I asked if anyone was having a starter. I got the impression that a few people were, so I ordered a Free State salad as a starter, requesting that I have a very small portion, just a side, since it was a starter, and then ribs for main, noticing there were two sizes on the menu, and happily resisting the option of choosing the large, sticking with the standard.

So my starter came. On its own. I was the only one with a starter, and I looked like a big fatty. Then I looked at it. It clearly was not a smaller version; there was enough food for it to be a main. Plus, the term salad was misleading; it was a beef and potato wedge meal, with a few bits of lettuce, and some gherkin. I pleaded with Mohau to help me, though he refused, and eventually got more than half of it to take away as a doggy bag. I had hurried, and felt anxious, because everyone was waiting for me.

Finally it was taken away, and the mains came. And yes, they had assumed I would want the large, and so yes, the ribs were the largest plate on the table. And, of course, they were the messiest. I ate as fast as I could, trying not to keep everyone waiting again, whilst also trying not to get BBQ sauce anywhere near my hands or face, horribly conscious of how smart everyone was, and how neatly they were eating, whilst buffalo boy was feasting away, elbows on the table, hands in his food, slurping down his meal and throwing the bones behind him, slobber dribbling down his face, and mingling with the ladles of sauce splattered round his mouth, and all over his shirt.

Needless to say, by the end of the meal I was absolutely stuffed, emotionally drained, and frankly exhausted. I slept well!

A verse to put birthdays into context:

"We're all adrift in the same boat: too few days, too many troubles. We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt, transient as the shadow of a cloud. Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps? Why even bother hauling me into court? There's nothing much to us to start with; how do you expect us to amount to anything?"
Lovely bit of Job 14:1-4 there!

You my lovely bum!
xC

PS. The card was nice. Someone else got me this one, which I brought 7,000 miles with me to open also:

Photo Eleven - Where we camped

I haven't taken a huge amount of photos yet. Hopefully that'll change this week, as the website gets done - plus I have to make a promotional video. Remember, you can click the images to get a bigger one...

Day Eleven - The name's Lowry. Chief Facilitator Lowry.

Today was mainly spent preparing for the meeting at 5:30. Me and Mohau were planning what we would say, as well as trying to finish off proposals to send to various departments in the South African Government.

For lunch we went for a meal out at a snack place called Food4U, run by a guy from our church. We got talking to him, and it was frankly just scary; his son died 3 years ago from cancer, he himself now has cancer, and his marriage is also on the rocks, plus he is having to work a 14 hour day, 7 days a week at his restaurant. We prayed for him there, but it would be good if you could lift him up too. I think his name is Reynard (Unsurprisingly, my rubbish-at-names skill is even worse in a country where everyone either has Dutch or Sotho names).

The meeting was good. The details of my new role as Facilitator are as follows:

Job Duties:

• To contact, and hold accountable CEO Mohau once a week.
• To register Tshwaranang as a charity in the United Kingdom
• To run the global Tshwaranang website.
• Fund raising, both in planning events within South Africa, and running events in the UK.

Job Restrictions:

• Post is unpaid.
• Although advisory, post is not authoritative: CEO Mohau, answerable to the Board, has final say in all decisions.
• a) Post is temporary; unless renewed, position expires 3 months after date of commencement.
• b) Post is temporary; if a new/old worker at Tshwaranang wishes to take over the role, subject to the Board’s agreement, the facilitative aspect of the contract is terminated.
  

So, now for today’s verse…

“A man finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word”
Proverbs 15:23

I think everyone at the meeting felt that my contribution, and my volunteering was very timely. God’s in control, even if I’m scared as to how I will actually achieve these things back in the UK.
Love you,
Chris

Photo Ten - If a video works, can I get away with audio?

This is probably just going to come across as fernickety, but I guess you will just be happy getting to hear my voice, since our phone calls always 'accidentally' get cut off...

Day Ten - 3am is good at damping enthusiasm

Well, we woke up at 3am, in time to walk up the last 45 minutes of mountain and watch dawn. We looked at each other, gauged our tiredness, and, who would have guessed it, decided to go another time, and went back to sleep.

I had a really disturbing dream. I dreamt you appeared here in Africa, and told me that I had to come home for, I think, Mark’s birthday. For some reason I came, only to discover it wasn’t for another 10 days, and I’d cut my trip short for no reason. I then found out I didn’t have enough money to fly back, and stormed round the house, crying and shouting at you, because I was so angry.

The worst bit though, was when I woke up, and my thought process went like this:
1. Woah?! What?
2. Oh, right, it was only a dream!
3. What a relief! I’m still in Africa, I’m not in England!
4. Oh. I’m not in England. Kind of wish I was.
It was strange being suddenly really relieved, and then in an instant, slightly disappointed.

Church today was good, though the guy who leads worship is too rigid for me; loads of odd pauses that ruin the flow.

Beautiful One I love
Beautiful One, I adore
Beautiful One - - -, my soul must sing.

And

I’ll stand, with arms high
And heart abandoned
In awe, of the one who gave it all

I’ll stand,
My soul Lord
To you surrendered
- - -All I am is yours

Oh well, that aside, it was a friendly gathering, with the main message being that with revelation comes responsibility. One of the things it talked about was how one treats one’s wife/girlfriend. It didn’t mention abandoning them and running off to Africa for 5 weeks being a bad thing, but I think that was implied.

In the afternoon we went to a village called Makholokoeng, where Freedom have started an initiative called “The Good News Project”. I helped in the Sunday School, teaching kids about how God made them, how they are all special and different. It was good. In the main tent, they showed “The Passion”, for all the adults. You rang me, just as I was moving a petrol generator back to the storage hut.

On the way back, it rained like a beast – the road we went along was under a foot of water, and that was before the heavy rains started. Slightly ridiculous, we were moving along the motorway at 40, unable to see. Combined with the fact that the car I was in didn’t have any seatbelts, I was a little bit scared.

Then Mohau came round for curry, and was late again! This means in the last three days he has been nearly 9 hours late!

From my bible reading:

“Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech."
Genesis 11:7

Why did God do that? I thought He loved unity?
Hmm,
xC

Photo Nine - Healthy Living Begins With This

It looks rather picturesque, eh? Not so in the pitch black, when you keep dropping things on the floor, and you are forced to eat pup with interesting black bits in, which weren't there last time you stirred it...

Day Nine - Too lazy to be a slob

Last night was a tiring, long, unsatisfying night, after we got halfway up the mountain, carrying tents, blankets, food, saucepans, etc, etc; when Mahau got called by his angry girlfriend, and we came back down. On the long walk home, I was feeling a bit depressed, as you might understand.
So this morning, I decided to have a massive lie-in. Sleep as long as I want, write off the whole day if necessary. 8:30. That was it. The latest my body could stay asleep for. To my internal clock, still adjusting from the 2 hour difference, I would still say that is around 7:30 in equivalence. Rubbish – I’m clearly getting far too mature for all this lazing around and doing nothing. I blame all the cups of tea I’m drinking out here.

I decided it was time to lay in bed, and read a book. I was gripped, so gripped that, realising I needed a shower, I walked to the bathroom and undressed, but then stood in the bathroom for half an hour reading the end of the book, naked. It was a weird thing, called “We need to talk about Kevin”. Very spooky, very frightening. I enjoyed it a lot, or rather, it deeply intrigued me. I don’t even know if I liked it. Look it up on Amazon.

I also tried to train the dogs. First I tried with Baby, who is basically a large, irritating equivalent of Heze. “Sit”, went well, as long as by “Sit”, I actually meant “Fling yourself onto your back, kicking my legs with your back feet, and try to propel yourself along through the gap between my legs in a frantic shuffling motion that, if arisen in the fifties, would have been called something like ‘The Fanny Thrust’. And then try to chew my toes”. Giving up on this, I tried “Stay”. This was a lot more successful, or it would have been, if Baby hadn’t thought I’d just said “Sit” again; running after me as I backed away, almost launching herself at my knees in order to land on her back and dutifully fulfil her interpretation of my command. At this point, I felt the day’s training had been very effective, and it was time to try Erica.

She is a lot more shy, and I was hopeful that without the endless enthusiasm that Baby displays, she might be easier to train. “Sit”, was ignored, although when I bent down near her, she did jump up at me repeatedly, snapping at my face. When forcing her down onto her back legs, to explain what the sitting position entailed, she went completely limp, lying on the back with her feet in the air. Every single time. Leaving that for another day, I moved onto “Stay”. Unlike Baby, she did this perfectly, staying exactly where she was. Proud of this victory, I called her. She completely ignored me. I called again, which felicitated a large yawn on her part. She still didn’t move though. At this point, I tied large rocks to the two of them, and threw them both in the pool.

Anyway, my day to day has been very restful (Ian who I am staying with, has like 100 Clive Cussler books!!), and should be more exciting, since hopefully we will get to go up the mountain around 4. I don’t know when I will get a chance to upload this, but I do miss you.

“But shouldn't your devout life give you confidence now? Shouldn't your exemplary life give you hope? Think! Has a truly innocent person ever ended up on the scrap heap? Do genuinely upright people ever lose out in the end? It's my observation that those who plow evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble. One breath from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there's nothing left of them.”
Job 4:9

Reading through Job at the moment in that Cover to Cover thing. It’s a powerful book – I think it was written as a play; not sure how true it is, but that doesn’t really matter.
xC

PS. I HATE African Time!

He is still not here! It is going to be so dark when we get up there. grr!

Photo Eight - We might get eaten by baboons!

This is where we are going camping - in the tree bit just below the mountain, so there is wood for a fire to cook our food.

Don't look at the clouds - I'm sure that can't mean anything bad, and its not like there have been huge thunderstorms most nights since I arrived...

x

Day Eight - Continuing Frenzied Activity

So I'm trying to do everything at once, and it's stressing me out!

So today, I am going to go camp up a mountain. Unfortunately we haven't left yet (mahau is late, surprise surprise, the African isn't on time), and it gets dark soon.

Oh well. Sorry we couldn't talk earlier, and sorry that I was so distracted. I love you anyway, I just need to do loads of stuff here, and talking to people gets in the way. I'm not as bad as when I'm in my house, but it's also not far off.

Anyway, with that I'm going to love you and leave you. I am enjoying it here, it's just that I have responsibilities too. Responsibilities suck.

"The Master did not give explicit direction regarding virgins, but as one much experienced in the mercy of the Master and loyal to him all the way, you can trust my counsel. Because of the current pressures on us from all sides, I think it would probably be best to stay just as you are. Are you married? Stay married. Are you unmarried? Don't get married. But there's certainly no sin in getting married, whether you're a virgin or not. All I am saying is that when you marry, you take on additional stress in an already stressful time, and I want to spare you if possible."

1 Corinthians 7:25

I searched 'stress' in The Message, and this came up. Rather apt, eh?

Blessings and love,
Christopholus

Photo Five, Six and Seven - If a picture is a thousand words, is a video worth 3 photos?