New Pietersburg

Well today I'm finally going to catch up on the blog!  That is a happy thing for me.  Will likely keep this a little shorter to help me get done before our day is over.  Some of you are probably saying "amen" to that.

First I should mention that on day one two of our team became ill and had to take the afternoon off.  John Rickenbach and Dotie Gerhart were not feeling well.  John came down with a stomach flu so please pray for him.  Dotie was having headaches and we think the sun was a little too much for her.  Please pray for her as well.

When we got up this morning at 4:30, to be ready in time, we found out that several more members of our team were feeling very sick with stomach issues.  Once again you seem to have to adapt and change plans for so many reasons.  We were going to be without Tony, Dotie, John, Josh, Anna, Jasz, Justic, Brennen, Kristi, Anne, Sarah, Peyton, and Grace.  Not all were sick, but didn't come because they were sick or were a family member of someone who was.  Please pray for our team members who are ill and pray that this bug would not effect anyone else.

So with our missing part of the team that would leave the rest of us having to pick up the slack and be prepared for a long day.  Today we were off to a school about and hour and a half away in New Peitersburg.  It was already going to be long because of the distance away and the size of the school.  They have about 740 students and we were not sure how many we would be able to work with but we knew they would send us students all day long!  This is a school with a mix of black and white kids.  It is also a more affluent school and one that Centershot will be starting a ministry in very soon in the future.  Jacques is excited about all the schools but this is the kind of schools that they are targeting often with Centershot in South Africa because the archery is something that can compete with all the other activities that these kids participate in.  If you get them to archery then you can influence them with the Word of God and schools like this will more likely have kids that will be the future leaders of this country.

This day certain did not go how we planned but we did feel it was a great success by the end.  We again had three stations with the kids.  Obviously some of the kids must have really loved archery or they just didn't want to go to class.  Some boys must have skipped class and kept sneaking back to join the archery over and over again.  It was an odd school in many ways.  Seemed to me there was nothing you could do to make these kids move fast.  It was a constant logistical battle trying to move them from station to station.  But at the end of the day we had a lot of meaningful conversations with kids and connected with so many unique kids.  We are grateful for how God gave us the strength on a hot day to have the energy to keep up the enthusiasm right until the end of the day!

It was a quiet long drive back after our 2:30pm lunch at a local fast food burger spot.  It was a welcome nap and the evening included some welcome down time.

We are thankful that many of our sick team members are feeling much better and will be able to help out tomorrow.  Please continue to pray for health and safety for everyone.  We are pleased that no more illness has hitter family and Crystelle's back is managing alright!  Thanks!

My last thought of the day is how wonderful it was to watch many of the girls playing games and visiting together in the lodge after supper.  I had just asked for prayer for this a day ago and already it is amazing to see how everyone is including everyone and age doesn't seem to matter from 8-25.  Amazing!  We appreciate your prayer so much!