Hey everyone!!!! Hello to all my friends and family and supporters! I have missed you all so very much! I apologize for the tardiness of this blog. I have had every intention of posting a blog, but never got around to it. So I am sorry. But I am so very excited to tell all of you about my wonderful experiences here in J.Bay!

Well, we arrived late on October 13th after a full day of driving through South African wilderness. We left around 6:45 in the morning and arrived at our new home around 10:00 p.m. Then we ate our dinner and got busy unpacking so we could get our suitcases out of the way and be fully moved in to our new house. Our first week was full of wonderful adventures. We went to church on Sunday. It was really awesome. Then on Monday, we awoke around 7 a.m. to people yelling and telling us to get out of bed. (We soon recognized the people from the church we had attended the night before) Then they took us down to the beach and our leaders were waiting there with our breakfast. Then we spent the rest of the morning doing a scavenger hunt around J.Bay learning the town and meeting awesome people.

Throughout the next week we went to all the various ministry opportunities and decided on our internships that we are going to do over the next seven months.

I decided on doing ministry at an afterschool program at a place called Ithemba. There are around 75-100 kids each day. When all the kids arrive, they eat lunch. Then they run around and have fun for about 30 minutes. Then we all gather together and have a time of songs or games. Then the kids split into three groups (preschool, k-4th grade, and 5th grade and up) and we have a lesson for each group. This week's theme was dreams and goals. I teach the preschool-age kids (we call them cresh kids. a preschool is called a cresh). All the kids are wonderful and so fun to be around. I must constantly be reminded that they are just kids and they will have a lot more energy than me. And that's ok. I love these kids so much already and i've only been with them for two hole weeks. It has been fun this week because I am finally getting to know all the kids names! Their names are kind of hard to remember because they are in a different language. For example: Notombi, Nolili, Zolani, Koko, Sisonke, Natlheo, Sisona, Evewe, Tandiwe, Lompi....... And these are just the FEW that i can remember right now.

Also, the teachers at Ithemba are so wonderful. There is an older woman, Queen, and her daughter, Nomsa (she's 25 years old), and Lusanda (she is 22 i think). They are the ones that have been in charge of the afterschool program and we come alongside them and help them out. I love these wonderful women. They are such wonderful friends and so much fun to be around. The are such a blessing in my life.

Also, I will be teaching a class at J.Bay Primary School. It is called Jesus Our Teacher (or JOT). It is a class where we go in and teach the kids about God and about life skills. I will be teaching grade 7. We have not been able to teach yet because the school year is winding down right now. So all the classes are really busy with their last school year things. So hopefully we will get to teach soon. School year ends at the end of this month, I think, so we'll see.

I also do youth group at a church on Friday nights. The church is called Deo Doxa, and it's an Afrikaans-speaking church. It is mostly white, but a lot of people from a lot of different nations attend the church. We go there on Sunday evenings to their young adults service called "Nations Celebration." We have made many friends already from this church and we love going to youth group there.

I have not caught on to the language quite yet, but i am trying to learn. At Ithemba the kids speak Cosa (that work is actually pronounced with a click where the "C" is) and it's really taking a while to catch on, but I'm trying. Hopefull Afrikaans will start catching on with me soon. Almost all of our friends from church and from town speak it. But they also speak english.

I love living by the ocean! We can see it from our bedroom window. It's about a 10 minute walk from our house and we can see it from almost anywhere we go. I love it. Today is a very hot summer-like day and after I finish this blog we are all going to the beach to swim and maybe attempt to hop on the surfboard. (Don't worry, Mom, i have a ton of sunscreen and sunglasses).

Well, that is all i have for today. Please feel free to ask me as many questions as you would like.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I love and miss you all! May God bless you in a special way this week.

In Christ,

Rachel