SUMMER BIBLE SCHOOL - Greyton, South Africa
Greyton, South Africa
Where I stayed
Hermannsberg
THURSDAY - Today is the first day of the Pinetown Summer Bible school. Yet another "first" for things done this year. I have been looking forward to this bible school even though as the time has come close and I'm beyond exhausted I'm just hoping to at least get good nights sleep.
We headed off at about 10:30 to drop past the hall and pick up supplies as I found out a couple of days ago that I would not only be running one of the kids sessions but it was up to me to plan and prepare that session that would need to keep the children occupied for 1.5 hours! Sure...... The honest truth is, after I found this informants out I burst into tears convincing myself I couldn't do it and then climbed into bed and slept and for 2 hours before finally waking up and realising my hormonal irrational brain may have slightly over exaggerated and perhaps I COULD do it and I did.
So we headed off this morning following 2 of the families (which is pretty much the only people I know coming) and started our drive. We spent about an hour an 45 mins driving through ridiculously humid heat towards what appeared to be very dark clouds which I'm sure upon arrival is was clear that the big black cloud was sitting directly over the bible school. As we pulled up poor Hudson (due to his horrific experience in the Marrianhill storm) burst in tears and climbed quickly into my lap where he stayed with earphones on and iPad playing "penguins of Madagascar" while we all waited out the heavy rain before making a run to attempt to unpack our rooms. Thanks to our apparently large family (heck what are they I gonna think when the next one arrives) we have been out in a small unit rather then the dorms with everyone else (which is awesome cause we have our own bathroom, however we are a bit out of the loop when it comes to the communalness of the whole bible school atmosphere) but as grateful as I was for our room I was bought down from my cloud when I stood on what seemed to be some little African ant/bug which stung the heck out of my foot and I know sit in my room updating my blog listening to the constant screaming of a baby next door.... *sigh* it can only get better from here!!! :)
FRIDAY - as Friday comes to end I can certainly say things have got better :) especially the food! After a very interesting dinner last night consisting of cold chicken curry with colder roast carrots with a cold piece of lettuce on the side, we woke this morning to porridge, eggs and bacon! The study this morning on Habakkuk was very informative and I was then able to get the pleasure of being placed in my variety session with the the first of the speaker for the week being Glenn. I was so proud of him as his did his talk in "perspective" and like all good speakers managed to generate a good amount of discussion out of our quiet group. I can't wait for everyone else to get their chance to hear him during the week.
Apart from the studies I'm enjoying the usual interaction with new people, still after all this time managing to out different people it know together after realising their related. I've also had the pleasure of meeting a bunch of the brethren and sisters from the Soweto Eccleisa who are just amazing and warm and friendly. Glenn and I really hope to get to visit them at their meeting in the first half of the year, God willing.
The other wonderful thing has been the pool. Straight after lunch the kids and dads were in and didn't hop out except for a game of soccer, even with the occasional rain shower. While I had some lady time at the sisters afternoon, discussing all things relating to women and how we interact with God and each other, where as usual I talked far too much and walked away wishing I was one of the other ladies who sat quietly with her lips sealed. But I never can seem to control myself in a good conversation!
SATURDAY - today was the perfectly hot day we had hoped for. Apart from being woken yet again but the properties 3 roosters (which had Glenn jump out of bed at 4:30am and chase them around the property trying to get them to be quiet) I also had my turn at teaching the 8-10yr old seasons which was fun, though teaching about the kingdom turned out to have a few tricky questions asked that I had not expected, not that they were hard for me personally, but hard when you know how many varying opinions there is on some subjects and I didn't want to be the one to go against what a parent may have taught! Like "who will be resurrected?" "Will kids get in the kingdom?" When I'm in the kingdom will I die if I jump off a cliff?" You know, just the usual questions :) in the afternoon the kids shared their time between the pool and the slip'n'slide.
SUNDAY - today it's raining and cold which doesn't help the attitude, I'm tired (from the darn 4:30am wake up call of the roosters) I'm bored (there's no communal places to sit and talk so everyone just disappears) I want to go home (cause as usual I clearly had far to higher expectations, taking more communal but considering our room is about 300metres form everyone else I spend more time waking back and forth to my room to get things and by the time you get back from your room you can't find anyone! So back I go to my room stare at the wall a little bit longer. I even missed sisters class this afternoon so it's been a pretty lonely existence since lunchtime and I'm just patiently waiting for dinner time when well all get back together again. I think we're just way to spoilt with a place like Rathmines in Australia, hence thinking of that makes me homesick. Haven't spoken to my family since Xmas day which feels like a lifetime ago. Don't get me wrong, the people here are lovely and to a certain extent I'm glad I came but as usual it's a lot of money to just sit in my room with Hudson, I know it's my own fault, I build up things too much in head. I thought this week would inspire me for next year but it's just made me me more tired and wonder how I'll make it through another year.
MONDAY - today was amazing. As my mum always says "it takes a week to settle into a routine and you quite often need a second week just to enjoy it!" And today was just like that. That sun was out and so was everyone else. I even skipped Huddy's day sleep just so I spend time with people rather then be stuck in the room for an hour while Huddy sleeps. Our final variety (discussion) session was with Brother Obed who called his study "man of faith - walking & working" and using a stick figure broke down the meaning of the the arms and the legs (walking and working) into how we should achieve this with a more visual and descriptive way of looking at Faith. It was very interesting. This afternoon the sun continued to shine while the kids all played in and out of the pool and I was able to have some great conversations with people, finally ending in a great meal (best of the camp yet!) and enjoyed another great chat with a couple we hadn't really spoken to before.. So tonight I'm fulfilled. Slightly disappointed tomorrow is our last day as it had just started being amazing and yet happy that it has ended on such a good note and very glad we came. The kids have had a blast and met more friends which is always my proudest achievement of myself and of my kids and we are blessed with the opportunity to meet more and more people and build more friendships with all those we meet. I'm happy, it turns out I did get motivated for the year ahead, just maybe in slightly different way then I thought. :)