Back to our wastebasket woes - turns out our garbage can (despite being a "swing bin") requires "municipal" dustbin liners.... who knew?! I've never before been this excited to buy trashbags! It's the little things in life...."Load Shedding." This is what happens when the power company doesn't upgrade the system for 15 years. They institute rolling blackouts (called "load shedding"), randomly selecting complete suburbs (including traffic lights, etc.) to be without power for several hours at a time (4 - 6 hours). This week, our suburb has been "randomly" selected three days in a row. It's weird doing your grocery shopping in the dark! Yesterday the power went out just as our garage door was opening, so it stuck halfway. Let's hope the power stays on long enough for me to bake Lucy's birthday cupcakes today!
Yesterday the kids had no running water at school. It was a warm 94 degrees, but you have to remember that there's no air conditioning here, so they had to sit in hot classrooms with no water, and use toilets that couldn't flush. Can you imagine the contents of those toilets after a whole day? There are more than 1,000 students at their primary school! Still, however "bad" a day may seem, it is nothing compared to our what our neighbor to the north, Zimbabwe, is experiencing. Kind of puts things into perspective.
For all of you who have left comments, encouragement, and prayers - a big, hearty, summery warm South African THANK YOU!!! It means more to me than you could ever know. I could break into a Bette Midler song, but I'll spare you the torture and leave you with a C.S. Lewis quote instead:
"When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected), he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along - illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation - he is disappointed. Those things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why now? Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we haven't yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us." - C.S. Lewis in his address "Counting the Cost", from Beyond Personality
4 comments:
Hey, Dan-
I stumbled upon your blog when I did a Googles search on 'African Roadsigns'. I liked it, it reminded me of some of the things I experience. I do relief work in Africa, myself, with a group called Mercy Ships. I've spent the past 2 years collecting the crazy roadsigns they have all over West Africa, and put them together in a website called 'AfricanRoadsigns.com'. I loved the two you posted, and would like to put them on my website. I'd give you credit and post a link to your blog. Would this be ok? Email me at eric @ ericthibodeau.com.
Thanks!
Annie,
The C.S. Lewis quote reminded me of something a South Korean pen pal once wrote to me. It's been many years, but I can almost quote it verbatim still:
"Sometimes, God presses us to move His plan, or to move us in His plan".
Love,
Rosie
Annie - love the Lewis quote and the the garbage liner update. Can't wait for the the sequel.
Dearest Angela,
William Duncan suggested our team read your blogs to better prepare ourselves for our venture to Pretoria in June. I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am to be able to hear all your experiences.
Philemon 7
You and your family will be in my prayers as well as Lucy's precious friend and her family. I look forward to reading more and hearing all about what the Lord is doing in and through your lives. May He continue to pour out His peace upon you and protect you all as you obediently serve Him.
THANK YOU so much for sharing your experiences.
Psalm45:11
Yours in faith and love,
Nichole Catalano
P.S. love me some C.S.Lewis :)
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