Rugby & Rest

- Rugby

This morning we got up early and hopped on the van at 6:15am to drive to Ermelo in support of Piet Retief Highschool's under 14 rugby team who were playing in the Mpumalanga regional finals. The game was broadcasted on live television, and at one point the commentator announced that there was group from North Carolina in the crowd, and he welcomed them to their first ever rugby game. The team really enjoyed the atmosphere at the game, and everyone tried some of the good South African snacks like boerewors rolls (hotdog with a beef sausage), vetkoek (fat cake), simba chips, jelly tots, etc.

- Items for Uzwelo

When we got back to Piet Retief the team spend some more time at Uzwelo, and since it is weekend all the children were present so we got to see the whole group together. We've given all the tshirts, shoes, soccer balls, legos, etc. to the Uzwelo staff to sort through it and to distribute the different items to the children who needs it most. On Monday we'll be taking some of these items to the children in the Ngwempisi village. This is the same safe-park that the 2014 team renovated when they came over last time. 

- Rest

We had some beef-liver for lunch (most of us liked it), and this afternoon the team is having some down time to get our batteries recharged. We got back late after Friday's youth night and got up early this morning, so everyone is a little tired. 

- Youth night

The youth night was very good, but the guest speaker, Rikus Botha, kept switching back and forth between Afrikaans & English, so the team only understood about half of his message. It was very encouraging to see all the teenagers & youth leaders from 4 different churches come together for a night of worship & fellowship. Unity in the Body!

Prayer requests:

- Steve will be preaching at Wellspring Ministries on Sunday morning, so please pray for him as he prepares his message, and for everyone's heart to be open to receive a word in season from the Holy Spirit. 

- After service we'll join the church for soup & fellowship. The last few days have been pretty intense physically & emotionally, so please pray that the team will be refreshed over the weekend so that we can finish well during our time of on Monday & Tuesday. 

- So far everyone has been doing well, so please pray for continued health & strength for everyone. (So far we've been enjoying the wonderfully warm weather during the days, but the weather forecast is predicting some chillier weather, so it's a good thing we packed some warm clothes!)

- Agapes

Each day two team members are selected to experience an "agape day." On their agape day the rest of the team does special things for them to flood them with unconditional love. They get to sit up front in the van, go first in line for lunch & dinner, and the team will buy them special things (like a coffee from Kebar or a Cream Soda from Pick-n-Pay). That night the team takes time to share what they appreciate most about those two individual, and then they flood them with some more prayers & affirmations. Please pray that each team member will get a greater revelation of God's agape love towards them during their time here in South Africa. 

OH, HOW HE LOVES US!!!