What a great weekend! On Saturday I joined a group from Northcliff Union for a ministry event in Rand Lisa's, an informal settlement close by. Everything went very well until it started to rain... and then pour... and then HAIL! Crazy... they kept on playing soccer (football) though. They're serious about some soccer! Afterwards some people shared testimonies and the like. It went very well! (By the way, I played volleyball, not soccer, and we stopped playing when the rains came!!) I went back today to see what was happening at the church, and I just loved it. I helped with the kids part. We take the kids out for Sunday School while the adults have the sermon. I LOVED it!! I ended up with the little bitty kids... the ones who don't really listen to the lesson, and afterwards I was asked if I would come back and kind of take on the little kids every week! I said yes, and I am so VERY excited! This is the kind of thing I have wanted to be a part of for quite some time. God is truly answering my requests of something new in the area of ministry, and I couldn't have asked for something better. I finally get to work with little kids again!!! Tonight I went back to Northcliff Union and had a totally different experience than last week. This time I knew enough people that I didn't feel left out and like a stranger. I met some awesome people yesterday (at the sports event and then later at a bday party) and it was cool to be able to see them again tonight. I'm also meeting one of the girls and going through with her to the Bible study on Tuesday night! Hooray for new and exciting things to look forward to!! 5 or 6 weeks ago I couldn't have imagined my plate being this full and life being so exciting. It's funny the way God works... and the people He works through to get you to points like this!! (Rog, that's a shout out for you man... all this is happening b/c of one conversation... and then one thing leads to the next!) Who knows what the future holds. :-D Life is grand. For once it is Sunday night and I am thrilled beyond description to be going into a new week. No more, "oh yay... another week." Dang, God's awesome, isn't He?!? I can't wait to see my kids tomorrow and Tuesday and my girls at girls club Tuesday afternoon. We're finally starting the actual Bible study this week, so that ought to be fun and exciting. Alright friends... those faithful few of you who still check this thing. You guys rock. God bless!!
Cheers,
Bon

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

Alright... It's been a few days since I have last updated, so here is a short update. (I’m tired, so it’s going to HAVE to be short!) Mom and Dad left on Thursday. That was definitely hard, and it hasn’t been an easy transition for me, but God is bringing peace to my heart one day at a time. Angie took us to the airport, and I was so thankful for her presence!! She helped everything go as smooth as possible, and I was grateful for not having to drive after saying the VERY hard goodbyes to Mom and Dad. My missionary family has been doing their best to keep me busy so I don’t think too much about missing Mom and Dad. Friday night I went to Frank and Sheri’s house for dinner and cards. Then I went and spent the night at the Holidays’ house since I had to get up early to go with them to Ruth Anne’s big horse show Saturday morning. I went to watch after Joshuwa, but I also got to see Ruth Anne ride, which was a really neat experience! She did great… both she and Ivy (her horse) were beautiful. :) That lasted almost all day Saturday, but once I came home around 4pm I got sad again! Just about everything reminded me of Mom and Dad’s being here and I just wanted them to be back again! But I got through the night, as usual! Hehe Today I went to church at Ridgecrest and then out to lunch with the Holidays afterwards. Ruth Anne and I chilled for a while at the mall and then I went back to their house. Then a little later we went over to the Lechner house to practice music for AMTM (Annual Missionary Training Meeting) since we’re leading for that week. I visited a new church tonight called Northcliff Union. It was a great service, but I hate being a stranger! (Guess I should like it though since Christ tells us to be strangers to this world!!… but that’s another topic… hehe) Anyway, here’s a challenge to any young adults out there who are involved in a church. If you ever see someone who looks remotely close to your age and sitting alone, TALK to them! I know it’s not always easy, but I assure you that the visitor feels 10xs more uncomfortable than you!! By simply saying hello and introducing yourself, you can ease their nerves tremendously. All that to say, that didn’t happen to me tonight. People weren’t rude or anything, but no one went out of their way to say hello. I guess they all have their quota of friends or something… who knows. I did see one girl that I had kind of met before, so we chatted briefly and then I saw Craig, who goes to my college, and he introduced me to a few people before I had to go to team prayer. I’ll probably go back again sometime (maybe even next week!) and maybe more people will talk this time. Or maybe for once I’ll get the nerve to talk to people – we’ll just have to see! I really did enjoy the service though, and I certainly met with God, which is what worship is about anyway! Talking to strangers isn’t easy for anyone, so I’m not gonna hold it against them (yet! hehe) It takes a while to make friends, and since this is a good, close church that is into missions, I want to give them another chance. :) Well, that’s about it for tonight. Tomorrow I go to Lake View Primary to teach, and I pray it goes smoother than it did last week!! Thanks for checking in on me!
Cheers,
Bonnie B.

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

Ok, I am quite irritated with this website right now!! I just updated a lot about my parents’ visit to Soweto earlier this week, and all of a sudden it’s gone – just like that. Grr… I love computers, but they can be a real pain sometimes. So let me try to quickly recap. On Monday I took my parents with me to Lake View Primary to see me teach. But since Monday was Valentine’s Day, every kid in the school was going crazy. I kind of got to teach one class, and even that was filled with interruptions. It’s a good thing that being a teacher, as well as a missionary, the words, “be flexible” are drilled into my head! After that, we drove around Soweto for a little while and visited a museum about the Soweto uprisings that lead to the ending of Apartheid. On Tuesday we went to Emadlelweni Primary, but soon after arriving, I was informed that a child from the neighbouring school had passed away earlier in the week. (The child was from Lilydale, but since she was a grade 5, I never taught her.) Well, the kids at Emadlelweni were busy preparing for a memorial service that was to be held later in the week. We got to teach one class though, so I’m grateful for that! After that, we went over to Lilydale for the girls’ club. When I arrived, I saw that they had decorated the chalk-board and it said, “We love Bonnie, from Girls of Grace.” Wow… talk about a blessing. I guess the girls now have an official name, “Girls of Grace.” Sounds good to me! The girls numbered about 50 this week – WOW! They’re growing every week. The more the merrier… more kids means more girls hearing about Christ! They sang many songs this week both in English as well as Zulu. My parents and I were truly blessed.

Tomorrow (Thursday) my parents are leaving South Africa and flying home. :( Such bitter-sweetness! I’m sure they’re ready to get home, and I am kind of ready to get back to my usual life, but we know it will be at least 9 months before we see each other again! The past two weeks have been so nice… being able to let them share in my South African life. I’ll truly miss them. Please pray for the three of us as we say difficult goodbyes!! Thanks!

Love and Peace,
Bonnie B.

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

Wow... it's almost 2am here, and I'm not asleep. Why you ask? Well, let's just say that having 2 cups of coffee after sunset is not such a great idea!! Oh well, at least I got all my homeork done for college tomorrow and I managed to bake a 1/2 recipe of choc chip cookies to take with me to share with my collegues tomorrow. Hope they appreciate them! hehe Tonight was an awesome night. My friends all came over and they each brought something "South African" for dinner. I wish I knew how to spell what we had, but even if I could, you wouldn't know what they were anyway, so I'll spare us all the confusion and just say it was all wonderful!! It was also cool to have most of my friends all over here again. I think my life is finally coming back and it's such a great feeling. :o) I know my parents enjoyed seeing how crazy my friends here are! They feel pretty confident that I "am in good hands" with the friends I have made here. Each one of them is such a blessing to me... I need to think about that more often and really learn how to appreciate them! Well, the cookies are almost done, and I should at least TRY to go to sleep... since I do have class for almost 6 hours tomorrow - yikes!!
Goodnight all...
Bonnie B.

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

Sunday mornin' rain is fallin'... Ok, so there's no rain fallin' but it is Sunday morning! Last night Mom, Dad and I went to Carnivoure, which is a nice restaurant that serves game meats (as well as other things). I finally got to try giraffe! I've been to Carnivoure 4 times and they'd never had that one. The only thing I have left now is Zebra... We also had Sable, Belsbok, Kudu, Ostrich, Crocodile and some other things that I can't remember right now. They also had mealie pap for the first time. Well, I'd write more, but I've got to go get ready for church! Later!
Bonnie

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

Today was a fairly quiet day... I went to college this morning while my parents slept in and then chilled out in my flat for a while. While at college, I got invited to go to a club called the Blues Room to hear a friend of a friend perform. It was quite outside my usual comfort zone, but I finally decided to join them. My parents were cool, and stayed home watching my DVDs. I guess I've not been a very good hostess today! I'll have to try to make it up to them somehow... any ideas? Let me know... It was definitely cool tonight though. I met tons of new people, and even though chances are I will never see them again, I'm glad I went and I'm glad I met them!! I'm pretty tired though... I've been running on 4 hours of sleep today and it's time to go to bed!!
Goodnight friends!
Bonnie B.

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

We're back! Kruger Park was great. We saw three of the "big five": lion, buffalo and elephant. There were lots of elephant, but we only saw 2 lions once and a herd of buffalo once. The other 2 of the 5 are pretty elusive! (Leopard and Rhino) Now the only one of the big 5 I haven't seen is the leopard, and chances are I won't get to... those cats can hide!! Eventually I'll be able to get some pictures online, but it's going to take a while since my Mom and Dad had the cameras. I'll have to wait till they go back to the States and they get them developed there. Oh well... good things are worth waiting for I guess! We stayed in a really cute, one bedroom bungalow inside Kruger Park, and we ate at 2 really neat restaurants inside our camp (Skukuza). We also did one night drive, but it was pretty much a waste of time and money. We saw more when we drove ourselves around!! Yesterday I wanted to go see some of Blyde River Canyon before coming home... Well, it took us way out of the way, and we didn't get home until about 9:30pm, and we'd been in the car almost all day since 6am!! I think my parents were pretty happy to get back! I still had homework however, since I am going to class today, so I was up until about 2:45 this morning... college life is setting back in!! Well, I have to get ready for class. Thanks for checking in on us!
Cheers,
Bonnie

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

My parents are here! Wow, I can't even begin to explain how this feels. Sometimes I have to just remind myself that they really are HERE, in South Africa! It's quite cool though. Today we had a braai with some of my friends and that was very nice. I'm glad my folks can see that I have some friends around here. Tomorrow morning we are leaving to go to Kruger National Park for a couple of days. I still haven't packed, and yes, it's almost 1am here. Not smart on Bonnie's part, but such if life. A friend came over tonight to fetch a video, and stayed longer than I thought he would! So that put me behind schedule a little bit, but hey, it was well worth it. Friends are more valuable than sleep!! hehe Anyways, I must go pack now... before it's time to LEAVE! Geez... and I have to drive the whole time too. I'm gonna be spent. But it'll be worth it... I HAS to be worth it.

Goodnight friends!!
BonnieB.

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

All I have to say tonight is: MY PARENTS ARE COMING TOMORROW!!! They are scheduled to arrive at 10:45am. I can't wait! Hope I can sleep tonight... :o)

Cheers,
Bonnie

Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

Well, it's Wednesday. The kids club in Dhlamini was a TOTAL flop. I guess part of being a missionary is accepting that not everything works out as planned!! Ruth Anne and I went to the field where we were going to have the club, and it is different from last time I was there. It's over grown with atleas 2 feet of grass... plus my helpers from my girls club didn't show up either. So, we weren't able to have the club - yet. We'll see what happens in the future!

In other exciting news, I am taking a couple courses at a Bible College here in Jo'burg. A friend suggested it to me, and I think it's the best idea I've heard in a long time! I am taking two classes, Bible Study Methods, and Biblical Portrait of Marriage. I'm only going one day a week so that it won't interfere with ministry. I can't remember the last time I've been so exicted about classes! Technically, I am still awaiting the approval of someone higher up in the IMB before I'll know for sure if I can keep going, so PLEASE pray that I'll get the go-ahead from him!! I met some people today who also minister in Soweto (and surrounding areas) so that was quite cool. I'm 2 weeks behind in the classes, AND I'll miss next week, so I have a lot of work to catch up on... all while my parents are here - yikes! But I can do it!!

Well, I only have tomorrow to get through before I go get my parents. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning up around here so my parents think I'm orderly and neat. HA! I can't fool them, but I can at least make the place look nice. :) 2 more sleeps!!

Goodnight!
Bonnie B.
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81