A Very Merry Unbirthday to ME!

(if anyone can tell me what movie that's from, you get major points...)

Today I was planning on going to a "ladies's lunch" with Angie and Janna Kay. So I arrived at Angie's house at 1:00 and was surprised with a day-early birthday party with the team!! :) I LOVE my team!!! Tomorrow some more volunteers come in in the morning, so we couldn't do anything then, so they wanted to celebrate a day early. I am such a lucky girl to have this wonderful "family." God is good!

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

Tonight I turned the heaters on in my bedroom, cuddled up in my strawberry shortcake blanket (yes, I have a strawberry shortcake blanket - don't laugh!), and watched some Shirley Temple movies that my family sent me for my birthday. Man, that took me back! It felt so good to feel 6 years old again. I remember once when I was little, a bee stung me on the foot, and the only thing that would make me feel better was putting on the movie, "The Little Princess" (a Shirley Temple movie). :) Sometimes I miss being a little kid. Being a kid means trusting and believing everything you're told by anyone older than you. Being a kid means not really having to think for yourself. But, as I approach another birthday on Friday, I come to the realization that I am not a little kid anymore. And that means I do have to think for myself. I know I've not been a little kid for a while now, but I'm kind of "re-realizing" (if that's a word. :) Not being a kid means that I have the responsibility to think. (ugh) God created me with a very capable mind and the ability to use it. And as great as that is, lately it's been more of a burden. At times I just want to go back to believing everything I've been taught and told. That's so much easier! It's almost as if I'm afraid to think- to question what I've been taught. I'm a missionary ... I'm supposed to have everything figured out, right!? Obviously, I don't have everything figured out... and if that makes me an inadequate missionary... well, I'm done in 5 months, so just let me finish, ok? ;) Now, if you're reading this and thinking I've gone off the deep end, or I'm doubting my faith, that's NOT the case!! I promise you! In fact, lately I have so much of a desire to really know Christ... to know what He'd really do today... to know what He really wants me to do today. I've started reading through the Gospels recently with a new agenda... Get this... I'm just reading them! No notebook. No highlighter. No commentaries. I'm just reading them. I'm trying to get a good picture of who my Saviour is and what He's like. And I'm trying to do that without the opinions of theologians. (I'm not saying theologians are wrong! I just want to read for myself!) Anyway... well, this has been a different blog post... as opposed to my typical "this is what I did today" post. Hope you don't mind. So... if you want to do something for me for my bday on Friday, please pray for wisdom and guidance that only God can give! This is gonna be a great year - I can feel it. Now... strawberry shortcake is calling my name!
Thanks for checking in on me!
in Him,
Bonnie

I love this picture of the work at Rand Leases. The two kids here are Moo-moo (the girl) and Mpho. These two need a little encouragement to dance and sing along with the rest of the kids, but once they get going, they're the cutest!! I just LOVE these kids!!!

Heather and I at Carnivour

Kelly and I at Wilro Park

Nathan preaching at Wilro Park Sunday night

Todd and I at Carnivour!

This was so cute... at the end of the ope-air, some people were being prayed for. These two kids were standing amongst the adults and following right along! We start 'em young in South Africa. ;)

Here's a picture of us singing at Braamfischerville. Do we look choreographed or what!? 'Twas much fun... :)

Oh yeah, Friday night we went to a Lion's rugby match. It was quiet cold! This is me, Nathan and Todd. The Lions won... I don't remember the score exactly, but we won by like 40 points or some rediculously large number like that. go Lions!!

Here's the Summit team with the folks from Good News Baptist Church, the church in Braamfischerville. Tumi is the guy in the middle and his wife, Hilda is in front of him with the white shirt on. The open-air service was in front of their house.

Yesterday was a fun day. In the morning we went to Braamfischerville to take part in an "Open Air" which is like an outdoor evangelical service. We had told people a couple days before that it was from 9:30-12:00. Well... we got there and then were told that we had to wait until the funeral that was going on next door was over. They said it would be over at about 10:30. I left at about 10:15 to take the ladies from the house we had the service at to the gorcery store. They decided they wanted to have a braai for us. We left the shops at about 11:00 and I was thinking that I would have already missed some of the service. Oh no... it hadn't started yet. We had to wait for the funeral to be over and for the people to leave. The big bus (to take them to the grave-side) rolled up at about 12:00, and once they left we finally started. Talk about working on African time!! I've been here 17 months now and I really think that this was my most "african" experience so far! I think the service officially started at about 12:30 and we finished around 3:00. We also had to sing in the service! It was so funny... on the fliers that we passed out on Thursday morning, the flier said, "music by Gospel USA singers and local singers." It didn't take us long to realized that "Gospel USA singers" was referring to us!! Yikes! So, Friday night we stayed up late and worked out some music to sing for them. On top of that, at the begining of the service Pastor Aaron asked us to come and do an "item," which means some kind of music. So Todd, Kelly and I sang a song.. but apparently we didn't sing
long enough, because we had to sing more! I think we ended up singing 3 songs before the actual service started! Crazy, I tell ya...Some of the girls and I had prepared a program for the kids too, so we took the little kids behind the house and had some good ole-fashion Sunday School fun. :) Apparently lots happened while we were gone! Nathan preached, some more of the team people gave their testimonies, the local guys sang again, and at some point during all that 4 ladies prayed to give their lives to Christ! Talk about exciting! All of them live near Tumi and Hilda (they live in the house where we had the open air), so it looks like we'll get some good discipleship going on there too, which in my opinion, is neccessary after something like that. Anyway... so, at 3:00 the finished and we had the braai. Thankfully, the ladies had been cooking the whole time, and everything was ready by the time we finished. So we had some mealie pap, chakalaka, rice, chicken, vors, and some other kind of meat that looked kind of scary to me! It was all good, but we were trying not to eat too much because we knew that we were going to Carnivor later that night. We weren't planning on going to Carnivor, but one of the guys on the team decided to pay the extra for everyone. (The team leader had enough money to go out to a regular restaurant, and this guy forked out the rest for everyone!!) So, that was nice. I enjoy going now more than I used to because I know what I like and what I can pass up, so I don't leave feeling like I just ate everything in sight! Well, after that, the girls staying with me and I went to Heather's birthday party! We were pretty late, but Heather was nice enough to let us come anyway. :) And oh my word! The house it was at is literally the biggest house I've ever been inside! It's her Aunt and Uncle's house and she's housesitting while they're away. They even had their own tennis courts! I don't think I need to say anymore! The girls were shocked to see a house that huge after working in townships and squatter camps all week. Anyway, it was really cool to hang out with some friends and chill out for a while. I think the girls enjoyed seeing a bit of my "real life" here and meeting white South Africans (we've only really worked with the black culture). All in all, yesterday was an amazing day. So many great things happened!
Today 2 of the girls (Joy and Melissa) went with me to Rand Leases and Braamfischerville for Sunday School. Joy wanted to steal the kids and take them home to clean them up. :) I assured her that it was a natural response, but that if I'd taken home every kid I wanted to, I'd have a house full!! The girls really enjoyed spending more time with the kids. The other group went to Jabavu Baptist Church in Jabulani, Soweto. I don't think they did all that much, except Nathan preached. I think Joy and Melissa got to experience and do more! Of course, I'm partial to my kids. ;)
Well, now we're all just hanging out that the Holiday's house before going to church later tonight at a white church... Wilro Park I think. I personally don't think that's a great note to end their trip on, but I don't make the plans! I'd better get going... I'm sure more people want to use the internet. Thanks for checking in on me!!
in Him,

Bonnie B


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

Shopping day! Today we took the team to Bruma Market, a pretty nice souvenir-type market on the other side of town. It was such a great day to shop. It was cold, and in the middle of the week, so people were eager to make a deal and we were able to bargain quite a lot!!! Usually when I take teams there I'm not doing much shopping, but this time I was. :) I am sending a suticase of stuff home so that I won't have to bring it back with me in November, so I was finally buying a lot of the things that I've wanted to buy for a while. Shopping is fun when you're actually buying things!! :)

Tonight the team met with some of the people from Ridgecrest Family church and we had a discussion about all of our favourite Christian books. Very insightful! Now, if only books weren't so dang expensive here!!!

Yesterday went very well as well. We went to Emadlelweni Combined School and did an assembly for the kids. We divided the kids up this time so that we could use a translator for the little kids and it went very well!! After that, we went to Vlekfontein and prayer walked. We found 2 places that want to host a weekly Bible study in their homes - hooray! Such an answer to prayer. :)

Well, I'm at the Holiday's house and someone else needs to use the computer. Thanks for checking in on me!!
in Him,
Bonnie

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

Today was really cool... this morning the team went to Lake View to do an assembly. We actually beat the principal AND the deputy principal there! (go figure...) Anyway, the kids seemed to enjoy it. We taught them a song geared more for the little kids and then Todd gave a talk about purpose and God having a plan for their lives. The little kids didn't really understand, but they still seemed to enjoy the novelty of 11 white people (and Americans to boot) being at their school. After the assembly 4 of the team members (Todd, Cheryl, Heather and Kelly) came to class with me. Todd brought Angie's guitar and we taught them a song (Lord, I Lift Your Name on High) and basically had a question/answer time. They tried to work in little "lessons" into their answers, and fun was had by all. ;) The team members learned a lot too by asking the kids questions!! While we were teaching, the rest of the team went prayer walking Dhlamini and they met a lady who wants to have a Bible study in her home!!!! WOOHOO!! We have been praying for this for so long, and I am so excited to finally have the chance. After that we went to the mall so they could exchange money. It became a little crazy when my friend Craig learned that we had US dollars to exchange and he wanted to exchange over 6000 Rand... since it's easier to exchange dollars for Uzbek currency. It was madness... to say the least!! But in the end we were able to help him, and we got a better exchange rate with him than we would have with the exchange people! (But we didn't jip him, I promise!!) After that I took Nathan to the college I study at so that he could meet Dr. Gregory, an American missionary who teaches there. Nathan wants to teach somewhere like that someday, so it was cool for him to get to see what goes on there and what he'll need to do to be able to teach at a place like that someday. After that I came back to the Holiday's house and everyone was taking a nap!! So... I took a nap too ... kind of... I watched the movie, Spirit, with Joshuwa and we tried to sleep.... but sleeping with a 3 year old is no easy task. It's all fun though. :) And NOW... it's dinner time! Hooray for Janna Kay's cooking! Later!
Bonnie

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

PS- Pray for Craig today... he and the team he is on leave for Uzbekistan sometime this evening!!

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

I'm feeling like a Mom this morning. I got up before everyone, turned the heaters on, took a shower, got ready, made coffee and put clothes in the washing machine... all by 6AM! Craziness... Today the team is going to Lake View Primary, my regular school, to do an assembly and then some of them are teaching with me. Todd (one of the guys) is using Angie Lechner's guitar and is gonna teach the kids some songs. I think they'll love it. :) After that is some prayer walking in Dhlamini. Then it's off to the mall to exchange their US dollars for SA Rand! Well, this "mom" has to have some QT before really starting the day, so I'll be off. But check back fpr regular updates of the Summit team! :)
in Him,
Bonnie

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

The team is here! Hooray! The team from The Summit is here and everyone arrived safely with all their luggae. That is quite an achievement in itself. :) They're all pretty sleepy right now, so we're probably going to be going to bed pretty early tonight!! Oh, AND I got a whole suitcase full of wonderful birthday presents! (Thanks, Mom and Dad! ;)) They also brought me lots of great American goodies like splenda, Lipton green tea and real chocolate chips! Yay! I'll have to make some cookies sometime... ;) Fun times! Alrighty, I'm turning in.
Love ya!
Bonnie

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

Anyone know how to write a CV? I really don't know how... I'm in the process of trying to find out online... we'll see how far I get. Thank the Lord for the Holiday family having DSL - I can take as long as I want to to find out. :)

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

Hello my faithful readers! I'm sorry that I haven't been very good at keeping up to date recently. Not too much has been going on though... nothing all that new anyway. I've been feeling kind of tired the past few days. I don't know why, and I don't have any other symptoms of being sick, so who knows! Last weekend I watched a lot of movies and kinda vegged out. It felt really nice. :) Yesterday the Lechner family was finally all well enough for me to hang out with them, and I pretty much stayed there all day. Angie and I played scrabble and then she said, "what are we doing? We should be singing!!" So, after dinner she got out her guitar and we spent a good while singing together. I have really missed that! I love singing with Angie. :) This week Nurse and I played games with out students. They've been writing (taking) exams, Nurse is writing exams, I'm studying for one this week.... everyone's stressed, so we had fun with them. I know Nurse and I enjoyed the break, and I'm pretty sure the kids liked it too. Well... this Sunday the team from my home church get here! Hooray! I am so exicted about them coming, even though I only know 2 out of 9 of the team members. That's what happens when you leave and the church continues to grow. :) So I have that to look forward to - yay! Thanks for checking in on me!
in Him,
Bonnie B.

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

So... who can tell me what's different about me in this picture?? If anyone besides my Mom figures it out you'll get major cool points in my book. It's pretty obivous to me, but others are slower than me. ;) I don't have very much to update on this week... nothing very new has happened. I am about to start writing my last Biblical Counselling paper for this term. I canNOT believe that this term is almost over already! Time is flying WAY to quickly for me lately and I don't like it one bit. :( I guess I can't do anything about it though... I'll enjoy every minute of the time I have left!! :)

Alright… here’s the long awaited update. ;) Today there were 56 kids at the Sunday School at Braamfischerville Baptist Church!! Wow… it continues to grow each week. I don’t know what we’re going to do when we have even more kids – we’re running out of space in the classroom they gave us to use! (The church meets in a primary school.) Today two women from the church sat in and helped with the Sunday school, which was SO nice! One lady looked like she’s gonna need a little practice with kids, but she has a willing attitude and that is all we need! The other lady was great – she got right in there amongst the children and was singing and dancing right along with them! Now THAT is what we like to see!! :) I hoping that eventually we can split the kids into two groups by age. There are a lot of 10-12 year old kids coming, and they’re totally different than a 5 year old. Once the new ladies have a grasp for what’s going on we hope to split and then I’ll kind of go between classes and make sure we’re all on the same page. I really like this role as a missionary… being more of a trainer or facilitator. This way I know that when I leave I am not leaving an empty space. Instead I hope to be leaving a strong, flourishing ministry!!! We did have a bit of a mess this morning though… there’s another church that also meets at the school and today one of the ladies very rudely confronted Nurse and said that our kids are not disciplined and that she needed to do something about that. Now mind you, most of the kids coming have never been in church and have no idea what they’re “supposed” to act like. Does anyone besides me hear a familiar bell ringing of our Saviour saying that we should come to Him like these little children? No rules, no presuppositions, no ‘proper’ dress… just a love of Jesus! Oh to be like these little ones!! Anyway… most of the kids get to the school before Nurse and I can get there, so they just play outside. Imagine that… kids playing… what a concept. ;) We did tell the kids today to play on the other side of the classrooms until we get there from now on so they don’t disturb the other church. I wouldn’t have been so upset by this lady’s actions if she’d been kind about it. But she was so rude. It makes me sad to see they way Christians are letting Satan get a foothold. How are we (Christians) ever going to make it if we bicker with each other about petty matters. One would think that the other church would be happy that someone is reaching out to the kids in the neighbourhood, but I guess that’s too much to ask of them. Sad, isn’t it? I absolutely hate this type of division among so-called Christians. I have such a vision to see people working together for a common goal. Call me optimistic… We could just do so much more is we’d just put aside the dumb things that divide us. *sigh*

That brings me to a different topic, and one with a little more hope and happiness. :) Like I said, I have a vision to see Christians working together. Lately I’ve randomly met other missionaries (mostly American but a couple others), and it seems most of us are going in totally different directions. I asked my team tonight if there had ever been anything planned for the different missionaries in our area to get together and meet each other. They said no, but that someone should organize something! Well… I may be just one person, but I am going to try my hardest to get something going! I just think that if we all met each other and shared about our different ministries, we may see some areas where we can help each other. Or in the very least, we will meet other people with common goals and desires and we’ll be able to pray for and support one another in our efforts. My first step is just to ask around to the people I know and see if the others are even interested in this… Please be praying for this endeavour! It seems pretty daunting to me at this point, but I must remember… “one step at a time.” I’m pretty excited about it!!

Alright folks… I’m exhausted! (That seems to be a common thing in these blog updates…) I must go get my beauty sleep. ;)

in Him,
Bonnie
Link to pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/bonnieb81

All I have the energy to write is this... It's about 2:30am right now and I just got home from playing an almost 6 hour game of Risk! Yikes! No, I didn't win, but I was the last girl to hang on to my territories. :) I am way too tired to write much more than that though... so I'll just say goodnight, and I'll do a real update tomorrow sometime.
Cheers,
Bonnie

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