Today was another long but great day. It started out at 9am at Rand Leases for Sunday School. Vusi (a guy from Braamfisherville Baptist) came again this week and he had prepared to teach the lesson! It’s so great for him to be a part of the teaching group now. He and Nurse are so good at teaching, and between then two of them, they can teach in any African language that the kids speak! So, we finished at Rand Leases at about 10:45am and went straight to Braamfisherville at 11:00. We did the same thing there (minus Craig) and finished at about 1:00. After properly speaking with all the members of the church (I’ve learned that if I don’t, they think I’m rude), I finally left at about 1:30. By the time I got home I was finished! But, I convinced myself to go to the gym! I am trying to beat my record of going to the gym 14 days in a row without fail. Right now I’m only on my 6th day… yesterday (Saturday) I actually woke up at 6:30AM to go to the gym because I knew I probably wouldn’t get to go if I waited till after Durban Deep (and I was right). You know, as crazy as it sounds, there’s something about waking up early and going to the gym that just makes you feel really good! I’d do it more often, but during the week it is full of crazed business world people who wake up before the sun to go to the gym before going to work… and the gym’s just not as much fun for me when it’s crammed full of people. Anyway… so yeah, I’m on day 6 right now. Keep checking back to see how I’m doing. ;) I've realized something lately… I realized that God doesn’t simply want me to be “disciplined” by reading my Bible, praying and going to church. Those are great things, but I’ve realized that if I truly believe that I am a temple of God and that His Spirit dwells in me (1Co 3:16-Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ), then who the heck am I to NOT take care of GOD’S temple!? Shame that it took me 23 (almost 24) years to figure out that simple truth, but better late than never, right? It’s sad that many people in the church never even think about that. We’re (and I say ‘we’ b/c I’m including myself here) are quick to point out other areas where we (or others) need to “grow into maturity” but we don’t think about something so obvious as our own bodies – GOD’S OWN TEMPLE! Crazy if you ask me… someone should have ingrained that into my head along with all the other stuff I was being taught in Sunday School as a kid. Anyway… I could go on, but this is entirely too long already, so I’ll bring this section to a close. :)

Yesterday (Saturday) was yet another fun and random day. It started out with me going to the gym at 7am in the morning, which is a new thing for me. Then went to Durban Deep for the kids stuff and then all the teachers had a planning meeting (that’s not the fun and random part). While I was there, I got invited to go to a worship event on the other side of town. So, even though I’d been at Durban Deep that morning, and was dressed for the occasion, I decided to go anyway (who cares if there was a little dirt and who knows what else on me! hehe). We first went to East Gate mall to hang out with some people. I got to know a girl named Lindsay, who might be one of my new favourite people! She is the silliest, giggliest girl I’ve ever met in my life, and though she is quite silly, she is also very wise at times for someone her age. I really enjoy hanging out with people like her. Though I am usually a quiet, fairly reserved person, when I am with the right people, I can actually show a somewhat silly side myself! And with Craig thrown into the mixture as well, I was surrounded by crazy people! My quiet side didn’t stand a chance! It was quite fun, to say the least. :) After hanging out at the mall a bit, we went to the church. The worship event was really nice. I never know how to explain worship events to people… I mean, it was cool, but is worship ever not cool? I’ll just say, I had lots of fun. I hope that doesn’t sound blasphemous or anything… I mean, heaven forbid that my friends and I have fun at a worship service! I personally don’t see anything wrong with that, but I also know of some people who would read that and think less of me. Well, if you think less of me, feel free to email me, and we’ll chat. ;) Otherwise, just know that I had an awesome and FUN time last night. To make the night even better, I saw two friends, Roger and Heather, that I hadn’t seen since February! Heather was actually singing in the worship team, so that was cool. It was so nice to see them again! I haven’t really seen any of my old friends in about 3 months. (Is it possible to have “old friends” when you haven’t even been in a country for 2 years yet??) Anywho… this year I’ve been hanging out with pretty much a completely new circle of friends, and though that has cool parts, I do miss the people I used to hang out with. Don’t really know what happened… oh well... I hope I don’t have to wait another 3 months to see them again. ;) Heather and I actually have a coffee date set for this week so we can get together and catch up a bit. I’m very much looking forward to it. :) After the worship event, we went back to East Gate mall to hang out a bit more, and we met up with some folks from Northcliff. Later in the evening, just our car load stayed to chat a little more, and we realized something… sitting at the table was an American missionary, 2 missionaries-in-training (Lindsay and Craig), a Canadian missionary (Ruth) and an English missionary (Rob). How cool was that? For once, the “foreigners” outnumbers the locals! Hooray!

So… basically I had a rockin’ weekend! Now I am spent though, and am hoping I’ll have some really rejuvenating sleep tonight!! On that note, thanks for checking in on me!!
in Him,
Bonnie

PS – My newfound friend, Lindsay, is trying to convince me to dye my hair “dark brown” (aka… almost black!). HA! Imagine that… I’d do it if I knew it’d wash out in 24 hours or LESS!! So, any opinions?? :)


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