Meat South Africa - by Kevin

We have enjoyed our first South African braais, courtesy of fellow Mercy Ships alumni the Myers and De La Rue families, and yesterday by our base leaders Bruno and Judy.  The braai is a big deal to the South Africans.  It focuses on hospitality, fellowship and meat.  I've never seen so much meat!  When I inquired about the lack of veggies I was informed that chicken was a vegetable ;-) Like I said, they are serious about their meat.  They are also serious about their rugby and supporting the national team the Springboks.  They beat Wales 23-18 to earn a place in the Rugby World cup semi-finals.  Go Boks!

I still don't understand all the rules, but I think trying to pull your opponent's head off must be wrong. 

We think we may finally have a handle on the transportation department.  The transportation billing system was rather complicated, very difficult for us to learn, and ate up 60 hours each month.  This week I created and proposed a revamped system to the Base Administration Team.  The changes were approved and we will be implemented starting Nov 1st.  Billing should now hopefully take about 10 hours a month.   I do enjoy fixing things, restoring or making things work better.  My grandfather was a time engineer and spend his life making factories work more efficient.  It's funny the things we inherit.

 "Excuse me sir, you have a Pterygium in your eye."
 My eye doctor told me I really need to wear sunglasses.  
Causes of Pterygium:

Most experts believe that significant risk factors include:

• Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light
• Dry eye
• Irritants such as dust and wind

But I can't see well unless the sunglasses have prescription lenses which cost about $400 for curved lenses.  So this week I bought sunglasses, then took the lenses from my reserve glasses and glued them to my new shades, BAM! saved $375.  They look normal on the outside.  That's all that counts right?

I also discovered a way to harness solar and wind energy to dry our clothes... what?  Rachel's trying to tell me this was discovered already.  Whatever.

Last post we showed you our toilet brush tree, now here's our hair brush tree!

Thank you for your prayers and support as we try to digest  this new culture.  (get it- meat South Africa :-)

The Yangi

Spring to life - by Kevin

It is spring time in Worcester.  It is season of change and new beginnings, and so it goes for the Yangi.  We've been through a lot of changes, and it seems that outward change forces you to change on the inside as well.  Change is one of the most constant things in life, resistance is futile.  Our choice is to embrace change, trusting God to guide and care for us, or we can shrink back.  

This has been a difficult season for us, our transition to South Africa has been tough in many ways.  But if we can survive the difficult days of winter, the flowers will eventually come.  

In the midst of some of my difficult days I have only been able to say one thing, "I trust you Jesus, please help me today".   I don't know much, but I do know that God is faithful.  For me flowers are such a gift from God, the colors and smells, they infuse joy and life into me.  Outside our house we discovered a Bottle Brush tree.  The flowers are in the shape of a bottle brush, or a toilet brush if you prefer.  When you look close, they are amazing.

So with God's help we have survived our first month as Transportation Managers.  The base has 5 Toyota Avanzas (carry 7 people) and 2 Toyota Quantums (carry 12-14).  These vehicles are utilized to help the base to perform its practical ministries in the community.  If available they can also be used for personal use by staff and students.   

One of our best customers is Dandeline.  She checks out a vehicle for use for ministry several times a day every day, including Saturdays.  She is from South Africa, met her Zambian Husband doing her Discipleship Training School (YWAM's entry-level course) and has worked on the base since 2002.  Dandeline runs the soup kitchen ministry that feeds families in the Roodewal township two times a week during the winter.  She also works with the youth after school helping them understand God's love and teaching practical life skills.  This area has had a great deal of trauma related to gangsters and gang violence.  She is trying to address some of the root causes and encouraging fathers stay with their families.  She also uses the vehicles to pick her son up from school.  I'm praying God will provide her with her own car some day (she would like a white one).

Our main job is to keep the vehicles running, and to get the car keys to the right person at the right time.  Rachel has taken on the mind-numbing job of tracking the financial side of things, keeping track of who owes what.  To perform our task we have been given a lovely office that used to be a toilet...

...and we also spend some time hands-on with the vehicles - filling them up with fuel, making sure they're clean and maintained, and picking up the base's mail from the post office.

Spot the dipstick.

We would still really like to take the "Couples and Families Counseling School" that will run here from January to April next year. ( ywamworcester.com/training/cfc)

It has been a while since either of has had any training, and we feel that it would be a good tool for us to have, no matter what we end up doing after that.

Zaden is asking to be home-schooled, which would make it difficult (but maybe just about do-able?) for us both to take this course.  Rachel is very open to home-schooling if that is the best thing for the kids, but it would then make it much harder for her to be involved on the base - which of course is the reason we came.  

We would really appreciate prayers for wisdom in finding the best solution for our family.

Reality Check - by Kevin

It felt like we hit a wall this week.  Both Rachel and I had a difficult week coming to terms with our new world.  It felt as if the excitement and adrenaline have faded and it has left us tired and vulnerable.
I would like to share some of the areas that we have been trying to adjust to and would welcome your prayers.  The first is safety and security.
This was not really a concern in Ellensburg, we rarely locked our doors.  Here in Worcester, if you are not proactive you will most likely be robbed.  Every house has metal bars on the windows and a metal gate that surrounds the house (razor wire is optional).  

Padlocks are used to secure the points of entry, so now we have quite a collection of them.  We have one for the driveway, one for the garage, one for the front gate, back gate, and the front metal door.  Then 4 bolt/latch locks for the wooden front door.  It feels like it takes 10 minutes to get in or out of the house.  Our neighbor told me this house was robbed last year.  A man took advantage of an open gate, dashed in the house, grabbed a wallet and phone and ran.  I think they call this a "smash and grab".  

        (this is a re-enactment of a "smash and grab" with Timmy playing the part of a guard dog)

Every house has alarm systems and you are given a fob with a panic button, which activates an armed response by the security company.  

Everyone told us we "must" get a dog.  Dogs provide another layer of protection.  Timmy does bark, but I think if he tried to bite someone his dentures would fall out (he is 84, in dog years).

                     (I'm not sure which is older, our dog or the sign.)

Our house is in a good neighborhood, but our street has a steady flow of people going past as it leads to a bridge that crosses the railway lines.  Some of these folks are poor and hungry and are some looking for a soft target.

Most people keep their blinds closed to prevent people from "casing" their valuables.  We like keeping them open to let in the light, but then need to be mindful to conceal computers and anything of value.  

Secondly we are having to face the issue of living intimately with the reality of poverty.  The unemployment rate in South Africa last year was around 25%.  But the burden of poverty is not shared equally.  The unemployment rate for blacks was 40% and only 8% for whites.
On Thursdays we put out our trash bins, and then swarms of people move through the neighborhood looking through your trash for something of value or just something to eat.  It is extremely hard to watch.  One man came up to me and asked for food because he was hungry.  He been looking for work, but found nothing here and was headed back to Cape Town.  I went inside to make him a lunch, came out and there were 3 more people wanting food (good news travels fast).  One of them had a sore tooth, so being a nurse I wanted a look.  He had so many bad teeth it was hard to tell which one was causing the pain.  His gums were red and swollen so I instructed him to go to the hospital today to have the infected tooth removed.  I went back inside for more lunches and a handful of Tylenol (paracetamol).  
The gap between rich and poor is so severe here.  It feels stressful and heart breaking.  We are rich and I have to learn how to live with that.  We have to trust God to know when and how to respond to the question of poverty, and the faces right outside our fence.

Please keep us in your prayers as we start our new jobs tomorrow (Sept 14).  We have learned so much in the past 6 weeks, it feels like our brains are struggling to take on this new task.  We also have mold issues in 3 rooms and we are waiting for the landlord to fix it as promised. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.
The Yangi 

More photos of our house

...and here are the rest of the photos of our house.  
This one is of Ashani's room, which is actually a walk-in closet, with its own tiny sink:

And of course the bathrooms.  They are both very small but functional.  This one houses the washing machine and laundry baskets, and there is a bath tub hiding behind them too:

And this one has a shower: 

Here are some pictures of the outside of the house.  This one is taken from the back yard.  The upper-level windows you can see are in the corridor which has a very high ceiling:

Clothes line (very exciting):

You can see the back door in this one - it leads into the kitchen:

The side of the house:

And the front:

There is some mould in several of the rooms, and also a lot of maintenance and upkeep projects, painting, re-tiling, etc etc that should have been done before we moved in and weren't...  We are thankful that the house is functional as it is, but we are also planning to liaise with the estate agent and landlord to see if there's a way we can be provided with the materials to fix those things ourselves.  But that can wait.  At the moment we're just happy to have our own space.

We are home!

We moved into our house on Tuesday!  It feels really, really good to be here.  
My favourite thing about this house is that it has these amazing features called "rooms".  The way they work is this:  If one family member would like some time away from another family member, they can actually walk into another "room" and get this thing called "personal space".  It also means that when the boys need to do their homework, Ashani does not have to leave the premises.  It's absolutely brilliant.
Some of the other things I really appreciate having again are counter-tops, sinks, a draining-board, and toilet-roll dispensers (which enable Ashani to pee unaided, as there is very little risk that the entire roll will end up in the toilet).

I took a bunch of pictures of the inside of the house this morning. 
This first one is of the view from outside our front door, looking across the street at the neighbour's house, which is just in front of the railway line:

Here are some of our kitchen.  It has lots of natural light and plenty of space, and a WORKING FIREPLACE!!  Really nice for these chilly mornings.

As in many houses in South Africa, our kitchen has no sink.  The sink is in a scullery off the kitchen, where the maid would traditionally wash the dishes out of sight:

Timmy had been an outside dog, but he has adjusted extremely fast to being let inside for much of the day.  He was starting to make himself quite at home on our beds, until we got him one of his own in the kitchen: 

The living room has lovely big windows so lots of natural light, and another working fireplace!  As you can see we are sitting on the floor so far.  

The bedrooms are down the hall.  This one is Zaden's:

And Daniel's - we plan on putting a double bed in here eventually.  Both boys' rooms have built-in closets which is really handy:

Here is our bedroom:

I have apparently reached my limit of posting photos - I will try to post again tomorrow with photos of Ashani's room, bathrooms, and outside space.

We have been fortunate to be able to find nearly everything we needed second-hand - including the dishwasher, fridge, oven, curtains, and all the furniture!  

It's definitely starting to feel like home.  The kids are really enjoying having their own space, and home-cooked meals (well - frozen pizza, anyway!).  

Next week we will start work in the Transport department.  We're looking forward to getting stuck in to work at the YWAM base and becoming more familiar with the people and different ministries.

Finding our Feet

When we arrived in Worcester, lots of people told us how difficult it is to find houses for rent here.  Others said that we might find something, but only if we were willing to drive further out of town.  It appears that God has heard our cries.  :D

It has not been easy for us living on the base - our quarters are cramped and it's cold at the moment, so it's not always possible for the kids to play outside.  It has been GOOD for us to experience this - we are living in luxury compared to most of the world!  But we are very, very thankful to have received the news that we can move into a rental house on September 1st!  

When we went to the Estate Agent's during our first week here, there was only ONE 3-bedroom house within our budget that was available to rent (in a town of 120,000).  So we went to see it, decided we liked it, and that's the one we're moving to.  It's 10-15 minutes walk from the base (although not really safe to walk alone), and 2 minutes walk from the local shop.  

It's on a dead-end street, except for pedestrian traffic coming from the bridge that crosses the railway lines.  This is facing the other direction, towards town: 

 We will be turning the house into a 4-bedroom - just don't tell Ashani that her room is actually our walk-in closet...  All the kids are very excited to have their own space without sibling interference!

We all went to see the house again the other day, and mentioned to the lovely older couple who are moving out, that we are thinking about getting a dog.  (We have been strongly advised to get a dog, for security reasons.)  The lady said that they will be bringing 4 of their 5 dogs with them to the retirement home, but there's just no room there for the 5th dog, a 12-year-old Jack Russell named Timmy.  They were going to have him put down, as they didn't know what else to do with him and he's quite old already.  So of course we met him, and he's very sweet and surprisingly sprightly for an old guy.  He loved the kids and they loved him, and the rest is history:

  Thanks to all who have been praying for a house (and dog!) for us - we are very excited to move!  Having our own space as a family and being able to cook our own food will be huge factors in enabling us to stay here long-term.  Over the next few weeks we will be looking for furniture, appliances, curtains etc.  This might take some time as these things are harder to find than in the US, and more expensive (even second-hand!).

As many of you know, it was the prospect of staffing the Foundations in Counseling Ministries school that first drew us to YWAM Worcester.  But we were also aware that that particular school does not run every year.   So we have been thinking and praying about how we can serve in the meantime.  We know that we are in the right place, we're just not sure of the details yet.  

I have been reminded recently that our main focus is not to make a difference, disciple the nations or be world-changers.  Our main purpose is to love and serve God wherever we are, and whatever that looks like.  

At the moment there is a need for someone to manage the Transportation Department on the base:  YWAM Worcester has a fleet of vehicles that are used for many different local ministry projects.  These vehicles have to be scheduled and managed so that they are in the right places at the right times, and also overseen so that they are maintained and used properly.  It's one of those behind-the-scenes jobs that is crucial to the smooth-running of the base.  

We have offered to take on this responsibility until Christmas.  As well as being a great way to serve YWAM Worcester, it will be a good way for us to get to know the different people and ministries, and figure out how things work here.  We will begin our training next week. We plan on both of us working in the mornings, and just one of us in the afternoons when the children are out of school.  It seems like a good fit for us what with my (Rachel's) admin ability and Kevin's knowledge of cars.

I'll finish off with some photos of last weekend's trip:  We visited a crocodile farm, with our Brazilian neighbours.

Functioning

Veggie Tales aficionados like myself will be familiar with the Veggie Tales version of "Give Me Oil in my Lamp".  One of the verses goes "Give me umption in my gumption, help me function function function", and Larry interjects "I'm functioning!"

After today I finally feel that we might actually be functioning.  The first couple of days here at YWAM Worcester were a little rough. Turns out there had been a small miscommunication regarding our arrival, so our room was not ready, and of course we had no electricity on our first evening.  Add to that the logistics of trying to unpack our 5 very full suitcases plus all the hand-luggages into our 2 small rooms, and the realization that eating the cafeteria food was just not going to work for our family, and we had a rather chaotic environment.  

But after 1 trip to a hardware shop for planks (shelving), 3 trips to the mall for, well, everything, and a well-deserved 4th trip to the mall for Kevin and the kids to see the Minions movie so that I could scrub our rooms from top to toe, rearrange furniture, and unpack some more, we are finally in functioning mode.

Here are some pictures of our newly cleaned and organized living quarters:

The above 3 pictures are of the kids bedroom / kitchen / dining room / living area, all combined into a 12ft x 12ft room.  We ate dinner here this evening - cup-a-soups and grilled cheese sandwiches that Kevin whipped up in the communal kitchen. 

And this one is our bedroom.  That beautiful fireplace was hiding behind a chest of drawers so I did some rearranging and gave it a good scrub (sadly it is not a functioning fireplace).  

The kids have already started to make friends.  The base is very family-friendly and there are tons of kids around.  Our next-door neighbors are from Brazil, here on the English Learning School.  So communication is tricky but Daniel is already firm friends with their son Juda.  Here is a picture of them playing together on the soccer field this evening (you can just make out Daniel's red T-shirt):

....and one more of the beautiful view we enjoyed this evening:

It honestly does still feel like camping in many ways.  To get something from the refrigerator, it's like walking out of your house and to the end of your driveway, and back again.  It's the same for the bathroom and nearest sink. Hot showers are not always an option. Everything takes a lot more effort and time.  But we are reminded that we are currently living in more luxurious quarters than most of the world.  And it's good for us to get a taste of what it's like to live here on the base before - hopefully - moving into a small house within the next month or so.  We know we are in the right place, and we are very thankful.