Global Grandma

 Hermana Consuelo greets her newest grandson, Nathanael, at the airport.  She had just flown from Guatemala to Houston to London to Cape Town, and she arrived in fine style.  She wasn't frazzled at all, just calm, dignified, and glad to be on her own two feet again. 

 Hermana Consuelo (Sister Consuelo) had never met Connie, 3, or Daniel, 5, either.  She hadn't seen Gloria in 14 years!  She also had never been on an airplane before.

 I am calling her "Wonder Woman" (though much better dressed than the famous one ; - )  for daring to come this far without being able to speak the language, or to read or write. 

 James and Gloria are enjoying showing her some of the pretty sights of Cape Town.  I hear she really liked the trip to Simon's Town to see the penguins...

but she drew the line at riding camels.  Connie wouldn't do it either, so Daniel had to be the brave guy who went up on the tall camel. 

 

I can't believe I'm missing this epic visit!  But I'm so thrilled for Gloria to have her mom for 3 months after 14 years!  She once told me she had 3 big prayer requests 1) a baby 2) a house 3) to see her mom again.  She had to wait 11 years for her first baby, and the house came about three years after that.  Now the last one has been granted!  I thank the Lord! 

 

The Color of a Trip

Every trip we take is flavoured by the books we read as a family along the way.  Usually we have at least one family read-aloud going on together, besides our own books and our family Bible reading. 
Our last trip was flavoured by Joel C. Rosenberg books, while this trip is deep into The Jungle Doctor. 

We have been reading Jungle Doctor books for about a year now, whenever we could find them.  We loved The Doctor of Tanganyika which we found in a crowded old book shop in Port Elizabeth. 

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                  I'll add a little commercial here for that bookshop.  It's called Classics and is across from the Spar in Walden.  Timothy was able to add to his Biggles collection there, Josh found the Hardy Boys, and Evangel found LM Montgomery and others she likes.

And now back to our show. :-)   
 
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Dr. Paul White tells his story with wit enough to keep us laughing, and wisdom enough to know he's one of us.  He's a good guy for sure.  It's not often you run into a Christian book with an entire chapter on funny things that have happened to a guy in bathrooms, but he has one.  It's entitled "Bathrooms". 

This from a man who's story could have been told with grimness.  His wife suffered from mental illness, and died in her 50's from mental problems.  His every mention of her shows tenderness and caring. 

He is an Australian who went to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) shortly before World War 2.  Because of his wife's illness, and his own struggles with asthma, he only could stay one term, and then had to come home in a boat during the war.  But those 4 years in Africa colored the rest of his life.  He did go back to doctoring in Australia, but always he was speaking about the Lord and Africa in churches, clubs, and soon, on the radio. 

The Jungle Doctor radio program ran for over 25 years, and from that came more than 25 Jungle Doctor books, animal fable books, and some TV programs. 

We're inspired by his work ethic, his zeal for the Lord, and his humor.  He's got me plodding along again on a book project I hadn't touched in months. 

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."

Fun Day at KSB

On the road again--first family trip of 2014 finds

 us in Virginia.  This is not Virginia, USA, but Virginia in the Free State in South Africa.  Paul has been able to preach and draw 11 times this past week.

 We have been staying in a most unusual place.  Kwasizabantu Mission has been given the use of a defunct mining network of buildings.  It's huge.  It was used to house over a thousand people before.  The hostel they gave us to sleep in could house 100 people easily, so the five of us have lots of room to rattle around in there. This is a little more elbow room than we're used to. 

 Wheat, from seed to feed in 9 days!  Wow!

 We really enjoyed seeing their hydroponics project.  They said they learned how to do it on You tube. 

 My boys think it is hilarious that this mission dog's name is Vicky.  She's probably a very noble beastie. 

 Three times Paul preached in the evenings to the KSB people and guests.  We're enjoying getting to know them.  I was fascinated by the egg cartons used to help with acoustics.

 I got a close up to show our friends the Kers. 

 Josh was thrilled when  a school gave Paul a pack of biltong with chocolates on top.  This is a top-of-the-line gift as far as he is concerned.  Yum! 

 As part of Fun Day today, there were game stations where the children could go to play games.  The boys gravitated to shooting.  Tim won a prize for best adult shooter which was quite a big moment for him. 

 There was a competition to see who could string the most beads in a few seconds. 

 Evangel didn't play much, but she helped out with the flour digging game.  Little toys were hidden in that huge tub of flour and the kids had 15 seconds to see how many they could find.  There also was a bit of a flour fight at times. 

"How good and how pleasant for men to dwell together in unity.  " 

We're thankful for the many ministries of KSB.  They are quite an example of industry in their outreaches and businesses. 
There is a bakery, school, farm, and constant evangelism.  There is constant vigilance needed as thieves try to steal their copper wiring. 

We first heard of Kwa Sizabantu by reading God Among the Zulus.  We're thankful to be friends with so many of them.