Rain, rain go away...

No matter where you go in the world you can always talk about the weather. It's a nice safe subject, I wonder how many awkward silences have been avoided by a quick discussion on the chances of rain or sun? :)

Well, I've come to South Africa for the Spring/Summer season, but despite pleasant weather on the whole, we have had a couple of days where it has absolutely tipped it down, yesterday being one. Back home this would be, well, pretty much expected really, British summer and all that, but at worst it would be an inconvenience and you'd have to remember your brolly and raincoat to go out. Here when it rains like this for the people in townships it means stay inside. No kids clubs or soccer clubs run by us, because if the kids get wet, they stay wet and run the risk of getting ill. Think about it - no radiators to dry your clothes or warm you up, no hot shower (or running water generally!) to get warm or clean off mud. So unless it's essential to go out, you don't.

Remember the outrage in England earlier this year when the country pretty much shut down for a few days because it was snowing and there wasn't enough grit for the roads? I know it's not the same thing but imagine not being able to leave the house every time it downpours, and without any heating to keep you comfortable, or TV etc to keep you or the kids occupied. I don't want to sound like a cliche but seriously we do take so much for granted, and then love to moan when the slightest thing goes wrong! Here I find myself surrounded by people who have so little and appreciate every blessing they have, and I feel blessed to know them.

One of my favourite Christian songs is by man and wife band Alex and Jenny Legg called Shadow of the Cross. It speaks of the different perspectives taken by those living with and without faith, and tends to pop into my head on rainy days because of one line in particular...

"When it rains, you see another stormy day. When it rains, I see the power that rolled the stone away"

All I can say is I want to see more of that power here on Earth raining down and washing over peoples lives, fixing all the breaks and problems which seem so big and so set in stone at times. Talk about the big prayers hey? But if you don't ask you don't get! :)

Part of the Family

At the moment I’m reading “Letters to Malcolm Chiefly on Prayer” by C.S.Lewis. Having read the entire series of Narnia books recently (I had never read them all before and I recommend it to anyone – they speak to people of all ages!) I decided to stick with the same author to see how he wrote outside of fiction.

Admittedly I find some of his ideas a bit hard to grasp – for one thing he was a professor of English at Cambridge, and also these letters were published after his death in 1963, and presumably written quite some time before that, so not exactly using modern-day or easy to understand language! Having said that, a lot of the discussion (all be it only one side of a conversation, we don’t get to read Malcolm’s replies) is very relevant to today’s churches, of course prayer, and just life in general.

Something Lewis said in the last letter I read really spoke to me, and I’m still not entirely sure why, whether it’s message is for me or others. In debating whether prayer is better from your own mind, from written prayer/books or both he said:

“It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. This may be even truer of a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them, and heaven will display far more variety than hell. ‘One fold’ doesn’t mean ‘one pool’. ”

This I do understand. A few years ago I was one of many of my congregation who were asked to speak about CGS at it’s 50^th anniversary celebrations. I spoke about growing up in the church etc, certain events that impacted on me personally, but there was one thing in particular that always sticks with me and I think defines our church absolutely. I spoke of how I love my church not because of the service structure, worship etc, but because we are a family. We care for each other, we love each other. We don’t always agree or get on, and it’s not always easy to live in harmony, but that’s what family life is like. We are Christian, but we’re human! :)

The more time passes here at VoH, the more I feel this same family atmosphere, although obviously in a completely different environment! We all have our different strengths, gifts and ideas to bring to the table, which isn’t always easy, but as Lewis so wisely observed, it is just as God intended! We are a strong team because of our diversity, and though I may not yet have a specific role, this thought is a comfort to me. Ok, so I’m not as confident as others or as capable in the same roles, but maybe that just means there’s another space somewhere in this team that’s Jess-shaped!

Whatever the case, I am finding my way here, doing the school run for our three eldest boys every morning, and I took one of the younger boys to the doctor (my first time!) this week. Poor K’s rash turned out to be chicken pox so I may have many more visits to the day hospital – as much as I want to get my head round the routines etc, I pray the rest of our kids don’t get it! I’m also involved in the kids clubs that run every week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons for the township children, and I’m slowly expanding my Afrikaans vocab :)

So in short all is well and although I miss my family back home (in all it’s forms!) I am feeling more and more a part of another family branch out here.

Kids, Pigs, Ups and Downs

Unfortunately my second week at VoH did not start well, with me feeling a bit rubbish mentally, which made me really miss home for the first time, and feeling a bit of a loner (not that I was ever really alone, with the constant company of the VoH team, the kids here and at the clubs, and of course all the furry companions!) Anyway, having had texts from both best friend and sister arrive on my mob I felt better and more resolved to soldier through :)


Monday was the first holiday kids club for the township kids, and we spoke about the importance of health (The body is a temple etc), played some games and began to make the papier mache pigs - MESSY!!! :) Still, the kids really enjoyed themselves which is what it's all about, and I was reminded of all the funky dance moves to the praise songs I learnt last time and made a fool of myself joining in!
Tuesday was Maz's birthday so after a normal (what's that?!) working day (I was with the kids and starting off doing admin-y stuff for the unit) we all piled in the cars and headed down to Gordon's Bay for a walk along the beach and some fish and chips at Trawlers. The wind meant we got a bit whipped by sand but I thoroughly enjoyed having a paddle in the sea, and despite various cold/throat bugs in the team I think we all had a good time for Maz's birthday and Andy and Josh's last night.
Wednesday was another messy one as we put trotters and noses on the pigs (egg cartons) and did some major reconstructive surgery on some pigs where the kids hadn't quite got the idea on Monday. Andy and Josh left about halfway through kids club which was good as there was no big goodbyes or anything and it was straight onto the next task! Lisa, Daz and Seth were house-sitting in Somerset West all this week so I had the volunteer's accommodation to myself which was nice for a chilled out evening, but Tim and Maz made sure I wasn't alone and invited me to tea again which was lovely.
Thursday I was in the kids unit all day as they were short-staffed due to all the bugs going round at the moment, so that was fun but knackering! I love our kids so much but find it hard when there's so many people wanting love and hugs and a space on my lap, and I only have so many arms and legs! :)
Friday was the final holiday kids club where we painted the pigs and those whose had collapsed or who hadn't made a pig got to make newspaper pirate hats with me and paint them instead. The talk was on the environment and looking after God's world so I'd also been roped in to do a puzzle (there's always a competition between a boys team and girls team) which I think went quite well. Our eldest boy here, R (who took and is in my Facebook pic, for those of you that can have a look) came along to the kids clubs and loved making his pig and hanging out with all his school friends there, I will put up some photos soon so you can see him and his pig, and me wearing a very fetching newspaper hat :) Friday afternoon I took another of our boys, K, to his foster mum's house for the weekend. He is the sweetest little thing, with chubby little cheeks which I'm glad to say have stayed despite the fact that his tummy has slimmed down since I was here before. That all went smoothly thank goodness, as I had to explain about his meds for the weekend etc (again if I could just have a babelfish to speak Afrikaans/Xhosa it would be wonderful!) and then I went to run some errands including getting a film to watch that night. Now admittedly getting 30 Days of Night - a creepy film about murdering strangers coming to a small town and picking off the inhabitants - maybe wasn't the wisest choice given that I was home alone, but never mind, the strangers turned out to be vampires so it wasn't too steeped in reality and I just double checked I'd locked the doors when I went to bed! :)

The weekend was gorgeously sunny and hot so while Arry played cricket Tim, Maz and I took our three eldest boys to the beach on Saturday morning. It hadn't occurred to me that they'd probably never seen the sea or felt sand before, and it was a privilege to be there for this first for A & M. Poor A found it all very overwhelming, but gradually he let go of Maz and me, got used to the new environment, and by the end of the morning he was splashing in the waves with the others and making friends with the man selling ice lollies! As for me, it was such a joy to experience the beach through these little boys - why does it always seem that as time goes by we forget how much fun it was to do things like jump over a big wave, or build a sand castle?!

Sunday morning we had or first guest speaker as the Elgin United pastor is away in Ballymoney, N.Ireland (not Co.Wexford sadly) for three weeks. He spoke (with an amazingly deep, powerful voice - like Mufasa) on the adventure of following God, and how it takes trust and courage to do so, how we can't be 'In a rut without a gut' - if we don't take a leap of faith sometimes we can miss out on amazing rewards, like Moses and the Israelites who could've got to the promised land in 11days, but instead they doubted God's protection over them and it took them 40years! (Deuternomy) It definitely spoke to us, as the Walkers, and to a lesser extent me, have chosen to follow a calling, and in doing so have given up the securities of steady jobs, family, friends etc. But as my return to Grabouw must show, the rewards far outweigh the challenges, and never fear, one leap of faith does not mean we're done, you can't get complacent on an adventure! :)

Due to the glorious weather we had the first braii of the season for lunch (yum!) and then Maz and I went for a lovely long walk with the dogs through the surrounding hills which felt very cleansing for body and soul! Gazing across Grabouw on an amazing blue-sky day is both uplifting and sobering - such natural beauty in one direction, and in another such hardship and problems looking to be solved. Too much for a human of little brain like me to take in really!