8/17/2010

Hello everyone! Today I was able to talk to Mom and Rick, which was a great treat :) As Bri said, yesterday was a very busy day. Today was a nice change of pace for both of us. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Gloria stays home to do laundry, run errands, and have a women's Bible study. We decided to stay with Gloria today since Bri needed to go shopping for "tekkies" (tennis shoes), and we needed toiletries. It was really eye-opening walking around town and seeing all the different ways they do things. They sell live animals all over on the "pavement" (sidewalk), and the pavement is full of random things that the blacks are trying to sell. Over here they have 3 different groups of people, and then MANY sub-groups within each group. There are the whites, coloreds and blacks. The whites are seen as the "highest" group, then coloreds, then blacks. Allen was saying that one of the best things that happened because of the world cup is that the different groups all started playing soccer together, which NEVER happened before. Soccer was previously seen as the "poor" sport and Rugby was the "rich" sport. Bri and I have really enjoyed learning the things about their culture here.

After shopping, us girls went to a ladies Bible study. It was such a blessing getting to talk with the ladies! Two of them are in their 80's, and they told us to call them granny :) So we now have a Granny Pat, and a Granny Drinie. They are so sweet! Granny Drinie told Bri and myself that she has been praying for us since January, and always will be. She also wanted us to know that we have people all around the world who are lifting us up in prayer. After Bible study, we had a relaxing afternoon talking with Gloria, spending some alone time with God, and baking goods with Gloria. We picked lemons off of a lemon tree and helped Gloria make homemade lemon bars! They are so good! We also helped hang-up our laundry to dry outside today, a first for Bri ;)

Our lemon tree for our fresh lemon bars ;)

Where we live. Nerina's house in on the left in this picture. Nerina is the lady that Allen and Gloria rent their place from. The building on the right is split into 3 flats. Allen and Gloria are in the middle and we are on the left. Nerina's son, Chris, usually lives in the flat we are staying, but he is going to the US on Friday.

The four of us today

This is Chris, Nerina and the 2 of us

This is the Bible study group that we went to today. Erica is in the back on the right, Granny Drinie is in the back middle, and Granny Pat is in the back right.