Friday 19th April - Thursday 25th April 2013

Friday was our day off from work and so Clo and I spent the day speaking to people who were interested in Poppy. We also headed down to HCC early to have a team devotion before Junior Youth started. Spent the evening at HCC as we had Senior Youth afterwards, and then Clo and I brought Poppy back home with us for her final night!
A lovely couple came over to meet Poppy on Saturday morning, which ended with a happy - but slightly tearful (!!) - goodbye to our little puppy. We spent the early afternoon playing South African Monopoly with the family (sooo much more confusing then English Monopoly!) and then headed out onto the Midland's Meander with some friends in the late afternoon.
Had such a kiff service on Sunday morning, really enjoyed both the worship and then sermon. Caught up with friends after the service, and then Clo and I went for some quiet time out on the field. About 12:30 everyone returned to the Church as we were meeting there for Sarah's surprise birthday party. We drove down to one of the near by farms where we spent all afternoon chatting, braaiing and zipwiring into the dam! It was a lovely afternoon and we managed to get back to Church with time to change before the evening service.
Monday morning Clo and I both woke up really sick. We had awful coughs and were just feeling completely drained. Steph spent all morning making us cups of tea and giving us vitamins...and at the same time managed to make 30 litres of butternut squash soup for the joBerg2c cycle race!
Started Tuesday morning with a long team meeting to discuss the weeks plans and aims. Clo and I then started to plan our Video of Hope (for our Ethembeni Days of Hope Campaign). The afternoon was spent playing with the children, our crazy little charges!
We arrived at work early on Wednesday so that we could finalise our English lesson for the morning. We were ready at 10 for the Aunties, but none of them actually turned up until 10:30, as the Care Centre had reopened that morning! Our English lesson then both started late and over ran bu about half an hour! But it was so nice to see the Aunties enjoying the lesson so much. The early afternoon was spent with the younger children (lower primary school finish before HP and high schools) and then we headed home early as we still weren't completely better. Clo and I went to visit some friends in the late afternoon and we found out loads about where we were spending the weekend in the Berg.
Home visits were really amazing on Thursday morning. It's incredible how much a patient can change in just one week! So much life, laughter and love from the ladies this week and it was just awesome to see. I feel so inspired by these women, they really are a true tower of strength and faith! After home visits we had to pop into Howick to pick up juice and fruit for our Women's Night.. Once we returned we started to cut up all the apples, oranges and bananas. Esther and Ruth led a devotion for the Aunties as Clo and I went to collect the Zumba instructor (Mpophomeni is very confusing if you don't know it!) The Aunties loved the Zumba and were all so excited for next weeks! We then dropped the Aunties home across Mpophomeni and then up into the townships in the hills in KwaHaza and Ngwagwa.