Hey Folks,
I hope you guys have a brilliant, loved filled, Valentines Day. We had a Valentines Ball on Saturday night down the street from the training facility. It was a great night, all the ladies were all dolled up and the guys were looking sharp, much better than they normally do. We all had a great dinner and dance and just enjoyed the night. Cheers.
Chris
Hey,
We are all up and running with C-Kruis. There are people dancing, playing music and acting all over the place. People are shuffling back and forth to teachings and it is a bit hectic. I am happy with my band. I have a great lot of guys who are very talented and have a passion for music, which makes my job easier. We have our own classes and today Rach started teaching us theory. She had a great class and I am glad to say my band finished assignments before the other band, GO RED TEAM! Yesterday she told me if I were to act up in class she would give me push-ups, 60 I think. So lets just say I was a sweet little school boy. I shaved off my beard last night so that would help with the school boy look. I look like I am 15 years old. Everyone at the training facility made fun of me. Besides me being made fun of, life in the Republic of South Africa is going well, busy, but well. Hope all is well with you. Cheers.
Chris
Today was a big day for South Afica Cricket. We just started a series of one day matches with Sri Lanka and Australia and we beat Australia today in Australia. That is a very tough thing to do. Australia is the best team in the world and to beat them on their home pitch is great. For more information on all South African sports, including Super 14 rugby that will be here before you know it, visit www.supersport.co.za. Cheers.
Chris
Hey All,
Since we returned from Adventure Camp things have been crazy. The past 2 days have been spent in Storytelling. Storytelling is where everyone on team gets 8 minutes to share their life story. Good times, bad time, whatever. That is your time to open up to the team and it was great. It was great to see how God has been in the life of our teammates. Also, how many have a horrible things happen in life and have not let that get them down with God and how it fuels their fire in terms of ministry. It is great to work with a ministry where it is safe to be open and exposed. After Storytelling we have been working on castings where a panel, me included, see everyone in C-Kruis and checks their drama, singing and musical abilities. It is a long process, however we are almost through and will begin casting roles in the, budifferent shows soon. Things have been great and we are loving where we are. Cheers.
Chris
Hey,
We had a great time at Adventure Camp. We are on management so we mostly observe and get to know the team members. However, the team members are put through a very tough series of tasks that helps them to build a feeling of team. It is very hard though and they have to go for 4 days on little sleep and little food, but they all survived. Rach and I had a great time. We took Guinness and she enjoyed being out on the farm running around and getting into trouble. I hope you are all well. Cheers.
Chris
Hey Homies,
We are in the swing of things at C-Kruis and I could use a holiday. We started on Monday with leadership training and have been going about 15 hours a day. I am whipped after a few days. It has been the Leadersip of both teams here at the facility and the rest of the people arrive today, it is going to be crazy for real. There are going to be a ton of people with almost 80 new teammates and parents, it's going to be nuts. The teams, minus leadeship, leave tonight to get started with there Adventure Camp. Team leadership leaves tomorrow morning, which is a lot better than leaving at 11:00 tonight. We are so excited about the students showing up and the traing time that is beginnning now. Please pray for us, for strength and for endurance throught the next few months. Have a lekaar day man.
Chris
Hey Folks,
Happy New Year!! Sorry I have not blogged in a while. We brought in the new year with some people that we work with and had a great night. I must say that it is strange to be sweating when you do the count down at midnight. I guess it wouldn't be strange if you were at a dance party or a skating rink or something like that, perhaps playing indoor beach volleyball. Never the less summer is happening in full force and we are all just trying to stay cool with open windows and cups of coffee or hot tea. These people and their hot beverages, woo! I hope that you all have a great new year and I pray that this year we will all be able to listen to God and answer his call in our lives. Cheers.
Chris
Hey Everyone,
I would like to wish you a great Christmas. We had a great Christmas day. We woke up and opened some gifts and hung out with our dog. Then we drove to the office and called some family and friends. After the calls we rushed home to prepare Christmas dinner for some of our friends and when we got home we realized the duck that we were going to cook was rotten in the packaging. So instead of the a Christmas Duck we had Christmas Breaded Pork Chops. To tell you the truth I think the chops were better than the duck would have been. We also enjoyed homemade eggnog which turned out really good. Then it was off to see The Chronicles of Narnia and home to bed. It turned out to be a great day. I hope your day was a great and enjoy the college football bowl games that should be on now until whenever. Cheers.
Chris
Tuesday Rach and I got a call, from Annette (a lady we work with,) that she has a friend who paid to go on a two night holiday in a cabin in the bush. However, her friend couldn't go and asked if she knew anyone that would want to use it. So Annette called us and we said “yes”. So Rach, Guinness and I headed off for a short little holiday. The cabin was nice and it had this great view of the mountains, it was on stilts so our view was up over the trees, which made the view perfect. We were not allowed to let Guinness run free because the cabin was in the game park and there are no fences keeping the animals from coming near the houses. On the main road to the cabin we saw zebras, warthogs, bucks and wildebeests. It was cool. The last morning I took Guinness out to take care of her business and there was a strange noise getting louder and louder. Guinness finished what she was doing and ran back to the house. When we got up on the deck we saw that there was a gray monkey with a black face up in the tree yelling at us. I don't think the monkey was a fan of our dog. Pretty cool. So we stayed there for two nights, watched movies, went looking for animals and played Scrabble. It was a nice get away. Cheers.
Chris
One of the things Rach and I are in need of is a second vehicle. We don't have the money to get anything, but the other day I got a loaner vehicle from a friend of mine, Hennie. He had this old Vespa scooter sitting in his back yard and I asked him if I could borrow it to drive around town if Rach had the car. He said yes, and now we have this supper cool Vespa to drive around. There is a problem though, it tops out at around 83 kph which is about 51 mph so there is no driving to the training facility, because it is down the highway. The other problem is the registration is very out of date, so if I were to get pulled over there is no chance of not getting a big ticket. So besides these set backs and the fact that it doesn't always start and I have to push start it, it's a cool thing to have. I am still hoping to get another car or something, but for now it really is the most fun way to go to the grocery store to buy milk. Until later, cheers.
Chris
Hey Guys,
Last Saturday my buddy Jacques Jacobs, Mari Walters brother-in-law if you know her, arranged for a small group to go quad biking. We had a blast! There were trails through the woods and an obsticle course and mud and riding up this super technical trail over rocks and up a rock wall. It was beyond nuts sometimes, but we all made it out alive. We were on this one trail and I was in the back of the line and there were these jumps and we were all trying to get some "big air" (as much as a few chumps get) and as I jumped the last jump I noticed that everyone stopped ahead of me. I landed and tried to turn, but I ended up doing this really pathetic slow fall off my quad as it turned very slowly. So then I rolled on the ground next to Jacques quad and hit his exaust pipe with my forearm. The crash wasn't that bad, but it left me with this killer burn that impresses all the ladies. Well maybe not, not even my wife really. What does a guy have to do to impress some ladies? I guess loose an arm or learn some old poems or something. I think it looks like a coffee stain, like when there is a little coffee on the bottom of you cup and you put down and it leaves this little half circle that tapers off. Rachel thinks thats stupid too, don't feel bad for thinking that. Oh well, at least I had a great time riding the quad bike and met some cool guys so I guess the burn was worth it. Hope all is well with you and I will write more later. Cheers.
Chris
Hey Guys,
You know in the The Karate Kid when Daniel LaRusso (played by a young and smashing Ralph Maccio) is playing soccer and he gets into an altercation with some of the guys from the Cobra Kai dojo and the coach kicks him off the field. Then Daniel walks off the field and in his frustration about his new school, the students, the Cobra kai's and the move from Jersey to California he yells “This school sucks, it sucks!” I had a similar experience the other day here, minus the soccer, the altercation, anyone one from any opposing dojos, or Elizabeth Shoe watching from cheerleading practice. Rach and I were at the bank and something that would have taken 15 minutes in the states took roughly an hour and it was just a little too much for me. I didn't yell or storm out of Africa, but it was just the thing in a series of events that upset me to the point of wanting to say “This continent sucks, it sucks!”. Like Daniel, I eventually felt better about my new life and my new home, but at the time I was quit frustrated.
I just wanted to tell you this because we always go on and on about the great things here, but there are also things that can wear on us. Please be praying for us, especially in this Christmas season, that we can just continue on when we are reminded in the little things that this not America. Thanks for all your support of us being here and I hope you are enjoying a cold/wintry Christmas. Cheers.
Chris
Hey all,
The Thanksgiving dinner went great with 13th Floor. I was helping dish out food and its kind of strange having to explain what stuffing is or what mac & cheese is. Strange. The Day after Thanksgiving was fun. We got a Christmas tree and decorated it, that was nice except it was so hot and we were sweating, but without many decorations it didnt take long. We bought some lights and then we used Rachel's scraves and hats and mittens to finish the decorating. Its our Charley Brown Christmas tree. The other after Thanksgiving thing we did was we ate leftover turkey sandwiches. Thats a must and I have to say they are just as good here as they are at home, mmmmm. Well thats all. Cheers.
Chris
Happy Thanksgiving from the Dark Continent! We are having a huge dinner tonight for 13th Floor, C-Kruis staff and other friends of the ministry. Rachel is preparing the turkey and potatos. We are also having stuffing and pies and vegies and mac and cheese, the whole deal. There are going to be about 70 people tonight and I hope things go well. Last year Rach and I went to my dads for Thanksgiving and I almost choaked to death. I wonder how many choking deaths occur on Thanksgiving. I bet its high. With all the dry turkey and stuff, whatever. Also, there is no football here on Thanksgiving because it will have not been played yet due to time differences. Bummer.
I hope that in this time of Thanksgiving we all take time to really see how blessed we are. On my way to work in the mornings I drive by a township called Nellmapius and to see how poor these people are really opens my eyes to the blessings that we have. Just something to remember because it is so rare in America to see poverty on a daily basis. I hope you all have a great day and enjoy some football for me and remember to chew your turkey ALOT. Cheers.
Chris
Hey everyone,
This has just been a nice morning, nothing eventful really. I got with the dog early and went and exercised. When I got home Rachel was already awake, showered and getting ready for the day. I had a cup of coffee, some toast and then Rachel, Guinness and I headed out to the traing facility to watch the end of training recitals. The 3 ballet classes had dimistrations of what they have learned over the past few months. It was nice to see how much they had learned, but sad in the fact that 13th Floor is leaving soon. They will be leaving in the next couple of weeks to come to the States and start their tour after Christmas. They are still trying to book up a couple of weeks, so if you would be interested in having them come to your church contact me and I can get you the right people to talk to.
Its just a really nice morning and I just wanted to share that with you. Cheers.
Chris
Hey Folks,
Rachel and I got to go to church last night. We have been attending the worship service that C-Kruis does on Sunday nights, however I have been really wanting to go to church. So Rach and I packed up and went to Moreleta Church, where some of our friends worship, and we loved it. If you notice the super cool headphone things, we needed those because it is an Afrikaans speaking church. They offer English translation, which was funny once when the guy didn't know how to say something and the other guy in the booth was telling him what it was and they were confused and then that guy got so flustered he just said "uh uh uh uh" and then he quit and the other guy took over. Hectic. We only missed a few sentences, but it was really funny. The service was great and just being at church with people from a different continent and being able to worship together and hear a sermon. It was what we needed. Cheers.
Chris
Rachel and I are in our house. It is great. It is so nice to wake up in the morning and be somewhere where there is nobody else. It sounds so silly, but we have not had that is a long time. We were talking about it and the house is nice and all, but the feeling of "home" is unmeasurable. Guinness is loving it. She loves to run and play in our small yard. Its great. There is still work to with the house, but its what we needed, just in time. Thanks for the prayers for the bond process. It was such a mission to get the loan, however the interest rate we got was the best we had found yet. Just another example of God providing in His time and not mine. Cheers.
Chris
Rachel and I will be moving into our house Friday, October 28th and are so excited about having our own place for the first time in a long time. We also purchased a security system the other day. She is a great dane puppy named Guinness. She got her name because she is all black and "extra stout". She is about 8 1/2 weeks old and is bigger than the dog that lives at the training facility. Guinness is great and she just loves to pee on the tile floors in the house. We are working on that one before we move into our house. Hope all of you are doing well and I will be in touch. Cheers.
Chris
A few weeks ago we lost a very special person from the 13th Floor team, the C-Kruis team that will be touring the states. Eddie Rector was in the computer lab at the C-Kruis training facility, when theives broke in to steal the computers. When they found Eddie in there, they attacked him and he ended up dying from the attack. It is such a horrible and sad loss for us here and for Eddies family and friends back in the States. Eddie was a very inspiring man. His passion for the arts and for using the arts to share the truth of God's love was so great you could see it in everything that he did. Eddie along with his best from Eric have had a dream of using drama for ministry for a while and when they heard about 13th Floor they jumped right on board. Eddie was a great man who has inspired many people to follow their dreams, he is greatly missed. Eddie was 24 from Suwannee, GA. Check out the 13th Floor website at www.13floor.org.
Chris
Rachel and I are the proud owners of a new Toyota Corolla 140i. It is a nice entry level corolla and Rach and I decided to splurge and get an air conditioner installed. We chose to not get the stereo at this time. That was just a little to luxerious for us. I am very excited knowing that this is the car we are going to tour this beautiful county in with a ministry that we are so happy to work with. It's like when Traveling Mercies got the RV. We were so happy knowing that this vehicle would allow us to do our ministry and I feel the same way about the Corolla. I will post a picture later. however, if you want to know what it looks like, go outside and look around until you find one, it should not take very long. Just imagine it silver, the steering wheel on the other side and me driving with a smile of my face, a song in my heart, and the wind blowing through my handle bar mustache.
I went on a tour of Soweto yesterday with some of the Americans and a couple of Africans from the team. Soweto is a huge township outside of Jo'burg where a lot of historic stuff went down in the fight of freedom in South Africa. It was very interesting learning more about this country and being where some very important events took place.
Thats about from the Dark Continent. Until next time, keep it sassy America. Cheers.
