I Missed You.

miss ¹  (ms)

v. missed, miss·ing, miss·e

1. To discover the absence or loss of.

2. To feel the lack or loss of.

I will miss you. I miss you. I missed you. I remember thinking before I left how odd a phrase 'I miss you' is. (Even weirder now I've typed it loads in a row!) What is it, to miss someone, to miss something? It can be very intense, like something of yourself is missing. Sometimes what you miss is more an activity, 'I miss our chats'. Sometimes it can be quite arbitrary like the way I miss good tea - I can cope without it, its just something I'd like! The last couple of weeks I've been missing home. Not in an intense, melancholy way. I haven't been homesick, I've just missed home. Being just around home and chilling. I wish I could pop home for like a day, or an evening even, and just be at home. Sometimes its the little things that make you miss someone more, maybe just something you used to share and now can't, or some silly joke that really doesn't work when you only chat by typing! Sometimes, you only miss something once you get it back - you suddenly realise that it was missing and that you are really glad to get it back!
Thats why I'm writing this actually. I fasted (albeit not very well) this week, and my relationship with God got back on track after a couple of weeks of being quite far from him.  Yesterday morning I was just praying and I just said 'I missed you' I realised that I'd really missed just being with God. Not asking for anything, not demanding answers or solutions. Just being in His presence and knowing that He was enjoying it too! It was sort of a revelation to me that, actually, I missed being in a good place with Jesus. I missed Him.
x

If I Ever See Another Apple...!

Maddy, please feel loved and influential. This post is for you. 

Its actually been a pretty hectic week. We climbed Mt Horeb, swam in the dam two days in a row and had a Braii by the river! Don't worry, I've also done some proper work... today we cored, peeled, cut and stewed I don't know how many apples, I'd estimate at about 200! Our hands were brown with the juice and Modiehi got a blister from the peeler, pretty intense if you ask me. Hardcore, haha core (apologies, that was terrible but I'm pretty tired)! The apples were for Mapheo, we've set about properly feeding the children every week on R50 a week which is approx £5. Cheryl has given us a great menu and we're all quite stoked about the plans, last week we made pap with sardines and the outer leaves of broccoli. The apples will be frozen and turned into a sort of fruit crush, sounds yummy! Tomorrow we are serving them homemade bread with jam and peanut butter. It feels really rewarding to know that this food is going into stomaches that really need and appreciate it.

My other news from today is that I got HIV tested. Topsy needed a volunteer patient to show someone how to do the test so I said 'sure thing'. The thing was that although I was dead certain it would be negative, there is no way I could have had HIV, it was still pretty nerve racking. I was sitting watching my blood go through the test and just praying, 'Lord don't let the impossible be true!' Thank God it didn't and I am HIV negative, but it was a hairy moment even though I was 99.99999999999% sure that there was no way at all I could have HIV. All in all it was a really interesting experience and I would get tested again any time! It was really interesting being counselled through the test and why you should have one done, it was another glimpse into the culture that I live in here. We're doing a drop-in testing session on Friday at the church so am praying that many people turn up. Its so important that people find out their status and so can make precaution to either stay negative or get treatment. 

Jumping into the Dam

The sky on Sunday evening - storm followed.

On top of Mt Horeb!

Busy as a Bee at Harvest Time!

I'm enjoying a welcome hours break to eat some lunch at home during what has been my busiest week since I got here! Practically legged it back from School at 12 and will be back up there for 2ish to start preparing for Mapheo. Began the week still feeling out of sync with the fact that this is my life now... think there is still some of that sentiment lingering. I'm loving living here and everything I just don't really feel like I do live here, I guess it takes time though. I've only be actually working for 3 weeks and am only just getting into a proper routine and our whole team has only just assembled, the final member -Jason- arrived last Saturday.
Yesterday after being in school in the morning the FPs went to finish off painting an old man's house that had been started when the team from Dubai was with us. His bedroom is now a rather sporadic (Tara) shade of blue because it didn't quite mix properly, but I think it looks pretty nice! Then it was home for a quick dinner of fish finger sandwiches (for the second night running) before we were off out for Youth Leaders Meeting. I'm speaking this week with Modiehi on friendships and am trying to pull a little 'No Perfect People Allowed' spin on it. We'll see how it goes, praying that the Holy Spirit will just take over!!
Been doing admin-type stuff at school the last 2 days which, while it does make me feel useful, is ever so slightly boring, I like being with the kids more! Having said that, the stuff needs doing and if I didn't do it someone with much less time available would have to, so there we go!
This Sunday I will be performing a puppet show about Samuel hearing from God for the Under 4s. Praying that both age and language do not stop them understanding that they can hear from God and that he is listening to them, Should be good, looking forward to it!
Well, best be off. We're feeding the Mapheo kids eggs this week so its going to be an afternoon of boiling them (the eggs of course, not the kids!)

Painting the old man's house!