Week 5/6

Week 5/6- The time is starting to run together here.

Church

This past Sunday I was able to go to church for really the first time since I have been here. I went once for a baby dedication but that is the only other time I have been to church. This Sunday I went to Riverside Community Church with another volunteer Katy. I really enjoyed the church. Riverside is very much like a church back in the States. The service started out with a call to worship and then we sang with the praise band for about half an hour. After that we listened to the sermon for about 45 minutes. Church lasted about 2ish hours. The sermon was on listening to the Holy Spirit. It was the final sermon in a series about the Holy Spirit. It was great to be worshiping with a big body of believers again.

Christmas Program

This past Sunday the 5 volunteers had plans for the evening! This does not happen often. We went to a kids Christmas program at a church plant near the baby house. We were invited to the program by Brady and Candy. They are missionaries that have been calling Johannesburg home for the last year. They have 4 kids who were in the program. Brady and Candy are a great help to the volunteers here and truly make us feel like part of the family when we are with them. It was fun to see the program and hear the Christmas story told by kids in their South African accent.

New Baby!

We have a new baby at baby house 1 as of Monday. She is a little girl and she arrived at Door of Hope through the baby bin. This is a big deal because not many babies arrive through the bin. The other big thing about this baby is that she is white. Hardly any babies are white. In the baby house there is the wall with all of the pictures of kids who have come through the home and have been adopted. There are over a hundred kids pictured and not one is white. The aunties like to point out that the baby is white like the volunteers. We have to be careful when people stop by the house to visit with her because many people will spread the word that there is a white baby at the house. Many families will then try to contact the adoption agency to adopt her just because she is white. Here we will love her just the same as the other babies. She is believed to be about 2 days old and we are all excited to see what the Lord has in store for her life.

Vocabulary

I am always learning new vocabulary around here. It is fun to talk about the different words that we have for the same things.

-       Onesies are called vests

-       Everyone here likes to use the word shame. When things are not going well

-       you say shame or if you are upset for someone you say shame and so on. The best equivalent that I think we would have in the states would be the expression oh man.

-       Every auntie greets you every morning and you are to greet every auntie every morning. The greeting is always the same. ‘Auntie how are you? Fine thank you auntie and you auntie? Fine thank you auntie.’ I have had to learn the fine instead of good.

-       Ketchup is tomato sauce

-       Going to the ATM to get money is just called drawing money

-       A napkin is called a serevet. A napkin would be a feminine product. This is not a mistake that you want to make.

-       Diet Coke is Coke Light

-       Sharp or sharp sharp is a positive greeting that is used around here. Thumbs up means sharp or sharp sharp.

-       We don’t text in South Africa we sms.

-       When the babies are teething the aunties say that the babies are coming in, meaning the baby teeth are starting to come in.

Modern Conveniences 

I miss the modern conveniences that we have in the States, things like the dishwasher, a clothes dryer, hot showers and unlimited Internet. I have lived without a dishwasher before but I have never liked it. Dishes here pile up so fast and it would be so nice to just put them in the dishwasher instead of wash and dry them by hand at the end of a long day. Oh how I miss the clothes dryer. I enjoy hanging my laundry out to dry in the sun but I don’t like that it dries crunchy and stiff. I also always have to shake ants off of my clothes and pray that it does not rain on the day that I decide to do laundry. I also took for granted that a dryer shrinks your clothes a little bit. This would be really great to have after you have babies climbing all over you and stretching out the necks of your shirts. I am looking forward to knowing that I am going to have hot shower again. There is not always a guarantee that the shower is going to be hot or even warm here. And Internet. I miss Internet so much. It is good to have the break from it but the expense of Internet and not knowing when I am going to have it here can be really difficult.

This and That

-       It is illegal to have electrical outlets in your bathroom in South Africa.

-       We only have 6 electrical outlets in the flat. Only one of which is in the living room. This is not very convenient.

-       My grandpa has the temperature for Holland and for Joburg on the desktop of his computer. He notified me that one day at the beginning of December it was warmer in Holland than it was in Joburg. Who ever would have thought that Holland in the winter months could be warmer than Africa in the summer months! Crazy! And this better not continue!

-       Speaking of weather, the other day someone said that Johannesburg can experience 4 seasons in one day. I had to laugh at this because we say the same thing about Michigan.

-       I love being able to put the babies to bed at night. It is incredible to give them kisses and put them to bed. I love being the last one to tell them I love you before they go to sleep. I love the way they look up at you when you start their music toys for them. I love getting the last snuggles of the day from them. I love the same thing in the morning. I love getting them out of bed and giving them the first kiss of the morning and the first I love you for the day.

That is all that I have for now. The babies and I send you our love. Missing you all very much.

Emily