Rach in the States

Rachel got to fly to America and suprise her 2 sisters this past week. Both of her sister just got engaged and her one sister, Kelly was flying to Atlanta to visit her other sister, Lynnae, to go wedding dress shopping. Rachel was very sad that she was going to miss this once in a lifetime event. So she talked to members of her family and mine and raised enough to fly in a suprise them. So last Sunday her sister gets up to answer the door and there is African Rachel standing there. It was a great suprise and they got to spend a great week together. I was sad to be on my own, but I was glad that she got that chance. Thats all.

Chris

Jeffery's Bay

Hey,

C-Kruis is part of a fellowship of ministries in SA called Service Year for Christ. Once a year all these ministries come together for a retreat/conference called Family Festival. Well this year Family Festival was held at one of the minisries base of operations in Jeffery's Bay. It is at the beach and we had the best time. There were teachings and sessions with worship and some great speakers. Plus we got to meet and mingle with the other Service Year ministries. We arrieved back in Pretoria on Friday night after the long 12 trip and now are back at work rehearsing for the new show called Kate and Terri. I must say that Pretoria doesn't have the appeal that Jeffery's Bay has, but I must say Guinness was very glad to not be with the dog-sitter any more.

Crazy Times

Hey Guys,

I hope all is well with you in the States. The past 3 weeks have just been so hectic. We are learning a new show called Homecoming and this show has all live music. So the band has been working like mad to get the songs perfect for the dress rehearsal. On top of that were in the process of getting new music written for a new new show that we are starting this week. So as music producer I was stressed to the gills. I am glad to say that the Homecoming stuff was learned and went off great and that all the new songs that we wrote are going to work for the new show. Woohoo!!!

6 Months

Hey Guys,

As of March 8th Rach and I have been living in SA for 6 months. I can't believe it has been that long! Time has been flying by and so much has happened. Thanks for your prayers and support. Cheers.

Chris

Just Thinking.

I was thinking about the poverty situation here in South Africa and it has to be so overwhelming for the government trying to get a hold on it. Then I was thinking about how so many people drive luxury cars and live in huge houses and still there are so many people in the world that barely survive. Why is that? People who have more than what is needed chalk it up to God's Blessing. Where does that put the poor people? In God's wrath? To add to this question I was thinking what is the churches role in this whole thing? What are we really doing to combat this horrible plague that hits so much of the world, even in America there are people who don't know where their next meal will come from. I am just asking and I am not saying that everyone who has money is greedy and doesn't care about the state of the world. Rachel and I are paid by people who give money each month and without them we would be wondering where are next meal would come from. I was just thinking what about Acts 2:42-47, where people were selling stuff to make sure people were ok, that their needs were met. Imagine you bring a person to church and someone asks how they are doing, and really means it. Plus, think if this person was tight on cash and couldn't pay their mortgage, what if they told someone and that person helped them out? What would go through this persons head? I think they would have better understanding about the love of God. I think I found something that demistrates this perfectly. It's called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I know it all comes down to ratings and to Sears having mad advertising, however go with me here. What if the church was like EM:HE? What if the local church knew this family was in need and they were having a really tough time and decided to makeover their home just to showed they they cared? Can you imagine? There may not be some sexy carpenter named Ty with his shirt off remodeling, rather, a fat hairy pastor named Dennis. I am not saying that the church needs to go and do some crap version of the show and use it as publicity to show how giving they are, but just sincerely wanting to help someone that needs help. I'm just thinking, thats all. I have no perfect answer, just trying to do some brainstorming on how we can look more like Jesus. Cheers.
Chris

Humility

Hey folks,

I have been going to the gym lately and the other day something happened that made me feel like a total wuss. A little background, men want to be macho. We enjoy being a little more "manly" than the guy next to us. We want to lift more, run faster, and have more facial hair than the next guy to prove that we are more of a man. Well, the other day I was at my local Virgin Active and after a great workout I was pumped and feeling a little more manly. So, I showered and after showering I walked over to the sink area, with my towel around me, to shave. I wet my face, lathered with my shaving cream and began shaving. The razor I was using was pink because I was using one of Rachels so that set me back a little in my pursuit to be the most macho man. As I am shaving this guy comes to the sink next to me. This guy is freaking huge, like a pro body builder. So Its me (pale, no muscles) and this guy (tan with HUGE muscles). He begins shaving with a black razor and no shaving cream. So here is where we are; at the sink, me with a pink razon and shaving cream and this guy with a non-pink razor and no shaving cream. So I lost. This monster of a man won the compitition hands down. I was humbled. Have a great day.

Chris

C-Kruis Music Ministry

Hey,

C-Kruis released a CD last year called Dag en Nag (Day and Night). It is a great CD, even though its Afrikaans and I can't understand it, it sounds great. Well anyway, we were selected as a finalist is some afrikaans christian music thing in the category of new artist and will take part in the award show on Saturday. Its going to be fun because we get to perform at this big church in Jo'burg and if we win it will be a good bit of money that we can use for the music department at C-Kruis. I am sorry that I don't have a ton of details, but I don't know too much more than what I have already said. All I know is it's a big deal and will be boring for me because I won't understand anything during the whole show.

Chris

Happy Valentines Day!!!

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 Guys

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

Go South Africa!

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

Back From Camp

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

Off to Adventure Camp

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

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

Trip To The Bush

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

Coolest folks in the Republic of South Africa

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

Righteous Burn Man, Righteous!!!

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

I know how you feel Mr LaRusso.

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

Day After Thanksgiving

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