Well it is absolutely UNBELIEVABLE that our two weeks are nearly up and we get our flight tomorrow evening. It will be so sad to leave but we have to be thankful that God has given us the most amazing experience. I am feeling quite emotional even as I reflect on all the opportunities that He has given us, all the amazing people we have met in two short weeks. We are so thankful.
 
It just worked out so well that Alastair and I could come and visit S Africa before we got married and it has been the most special experience. For Alastair to be in the place that i fell in love with 3 years ago and meet the people who I love and miss has been amazing. Also for us to have opportunites to share with the kids together - have fun, play games, share stories, give out MILLIONS of sweets! - it has all just been so special. I think both of our hearts are very full as we leave and it is only when we get home that we will completely have time to appreciate the experience we have had here!
 
The past couple of nights we were back doing the little childrens club in the township - this was a change of plan as we were meant to be doing a youth camp - but it worked out perfectly because we got to see again all the little children we had fallen in love with the week before! There is no feeling like driving into the township in our little car and the kids standing out in the middle of the mud track screaming and shouting with welcome because they see you coming- a very humbling and special experience! You will forgive me as I use the words special and adorable alot in this blog hehe!!
 
Last night was particularly poignant as it had been raining all day yesterday and the place was just like a mud bath - it hits home to you even more the conditions these children have to live in. 
 
With some of the money raised from the car wash we were able to give all the kids little gifts which was special. and for some of the older children, who have never before owned a Bible we were able to give them a Bible of their own. I am so thankful to our young people in JAM because they made this possible with all of their hard work at the car wash - and it is special to think that they have provided for children who need it so much.
 
Tonight and tomorrow our plan for "Mission: smuggle as many children home as possible" will begin! We already have people from church placing requests for some kiddies hehe!! if i could fill the plane with these dear people we have met I would just so that you could meet them and they could steal your heart the way they have ours!
 
It must be time to come home because we are nearly out of LIDL quality sweets hehe - the kids just love them! Tomorrow will be a day of goodbyes which will be really hard - but the people here never forget you - and they have certainly made a huge impact on our lives and we want to keep remembering them.
 
Thank you so so much for all of your prayers - we cant put into words how much it means to have had your support and interest. This has been a better experience than we could even have hoped for in such a short time and we are so thankful for all we have experienced. A massive thank you to Andy G for making this blog possible as it has been so special to know that people are reading it and are interested.
 
So this is Judith and Alastair - from South Africa - over and out!!! xoxoxoxooxox

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Hi everyone,
 
Thought i would just write another wee update as it has been a couple of days since i last wrote.
 
We have continued to be busy but continuing to have a brilliant time and continuing to enjoy the heat!! we went to a christmas party on sat but it was just the strangest thing - even with a christmas tree it cant feel like christmas in the heat! i think it is going to be a big shock to our systems when we get home!!
 
On saturday we had to share a story with some of the kids from one of the local churches and it went really well. Alastair is now getting very used to being pounced on and just having to pray in the middle of church services! 
 
Then on sat we also went to a creche graduation in one of the creches in the township - it was the cutest thing I have ever experienced! i will hopefully be able to attach some photos - but they go all out with their little graduation gowns and everything - and the sunglasses just complete the look for the wee guys hehe! was a very special cultural experience! 
 
Yesterday we went to church in the township again and it was just in a little tin hut - so you can imagine how hot it got in there with all the sun. Well we were in there for FIVE hours!! Ah!! These people really come to church on a sunday to worship God for a LONG time! i thought I was going to pass into the glory of Heaven halfway through the service, I could hardly breathe!! But again another amazing cultural experience and we are very thankful for it. On both the Saturday and the Sunday we were served a traditional African meal. The saying "Just get it down the hatch"!! comes into mind. But we managed not to offend anyone and smile sweetly as we ate! It is such a blessing though because these people have so little and yet every time we see them they want to give us as much as they can!
 
Today we got to go to an animal park and saw rhino and ostrich and buffalo and zebra and other animals! very cool experience - I used Alastair as bait and got him to stand outside the car to attract the animasl to us - but dont worry he is only missing one arm now!!
Oh and another park we went to we randomly saw a camel - very bizarre - but this is Africa and you never quite know what you are going to see!!
 
Cannot believe we only have a few days left - cant imagine coming home again so soon - but God has been absolutely amazing in blessing us with this special experience! We have both been loving it and been challenged by it!
 
We really continue to appreciate your thoughts and prayers and everyones kind wishes. xoxo

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Hey there!
 
Well i dont really know where to start, the past few days have been an unbelievable experience - God has been absolutely AMAZING in the opportunities He has given us!
 
We continue to work at the childrens club (I call it work but really it is a completel pleasure). we have told all our stories of Joseph using puppets and dramas. Alastair did his first ever childrens talk which he was so nervous about - but it was brilliant! God really helped him through it in a very special way - and we have both been left with that amazing feeling of being used by God!
 
The kids were just brilliant - when we left tonight we gave them all a very simple wee gift of pencils, rulers, rubbers, stickers - oh they were just over the moon!! It was like Christmas - so humbling to see this - when the kids back home are writing their Santa lists for toys worth hundreds of pounds! Also the other night the kids all got sent home with a lettuce each to help their famillies to have more healthy food to eat - so amazing that so little means so much out here! Hopefully you will be able to see some of the kids posing with their lettuces if I get to attach some photos!! 
 
Yesterday was also amazing (i am using that word a lot!) but we got to go into the township and spend time with some of the young people who I worked with a lot the last time I was here. It was so emotional - I have been missing them and praying for them for 3 years and to see them again was just so special and to be able to introduce them to Alastair! There was one very special boy in particular who I got very close to, Siphamandla, and when we met him he brought us to his house and he showed me a photo album that he has with pictures of me and him in it and a little bit that he had written about our friendship and what it meant to him. This just blew me away - i was only here 3 months and all I did was be a friend to him and yet that has had such a massive impact on his life - an extremely humbling experience. I will hopefully be able to attach a photo of him as well. I have a problem though because he will not fit in my suitcase so I am going to have to come up with a Plan B to get him home - because I definitely think he needs to come to Youth Fellowship some night hehe!!
 
We are continuing to have such a blessed time and God has been so good to us! We are having a Christmas party tomorrow with the mission team here - a Christmas party in 30 degree heat is just not right hehe!
 
We are so so touched by your interest and prayers about what we are up to and I hope that in some way these wee updates can make you feel a part of it! xoxo

  

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Hey there,

Well we had a really great day yesterday. In the morning we went to a service which was being held because it was World AIDS Day. It was a really good experience. Over FIVE MILLION people in South Africa have AIDS, it is the worst affected country. It is very sad! One of the photos I have tried to attach (I hope it works) shows a little girl speaking into a microphone. She was one of a little group of kids who got up to share their experience of AIDS as they had been orphaned as a result of their parents having AIDS. It is highly likely therefore that if both of their parents had AIDS that they will also have been born with this deadly disease. So heartbreaking when you realise that so many famillies are devastated and torn apart by this disease.Â

Hi there, well this is just a wee update as to what we have been getting up to so far in South Africa, although we really get stuck in from tomorrow!
 
On Sun morning we had the privilege of going to a church service in the township (shanty town) and WOW that was such an amazing experience! They can certainly sing and dance - I think Alastair and I might be coming home to dance in the aisles during the church service! Only joking! But it was truly an amazing experience and very special to be a part of- they have no inhibitions about worshipping God and it is a truly joyful experience! Amazing! Also during the service they were praying for a little girl who would only have been 8 or 9 years old who had lost both of her parents and is all alone in this world - heartbreaking when you realise that this little girl is just one of many in this broken down community. Oh and by the way the service lasted for THREE hours!! (no don't be getting any ideas William!)
 
The poverty never fails to hit you. It is like turning off the main road into a completely different world, where people are living in conditions we would not force any animal to live in. Yet the people are just a joy to be alongside - there is nothing like seeing their amazing welcoming smiles!
 
Today was the day off for the missionaries as they are involved in ministries every other day and so we hired out a little car - when i say little it is just like a little tin box - but we are zooming about in it (I mean travelling about very carefully and cautiously!) We decided to go for a big adventure in our little mean machine and were off to find some lions - unfortunately we did not quite make it to the lions (and we completely blame the sign posts and not the driver, and definitely not the map reader!!) But we still had a lovely day.
 
However the fun all starts tomorrow - we are starting a childrens club in the township from Tues until Thurs. Alastair and I are responsible for sharing from the story of Joseph. We are very excited about getting started, but also extremely nervous!! We would appreciate your prayers so much as we are obviously sharing with kids from a very different culture and so really need God to work through us to make His message relevant to them. Pray especially for Alastair as this is his first time ever doing anything like this and he is understandably very nervous but also very willing - just pray that God will really work through him and honour him for his willingness to step out of his comfort zone and give it a go!
 
Tomorrow will also be the start of our planning to smuggle a few of these adorable children home with us - so any ideas or suggestions would be fantastic!!
 
we are just so thankful to God for giving us this experience and we are so thankful to everyone who is supporting us in prayer - we really need it!
 
Much love, Alastair and Judith xox