community outreaches

So I have NEVER been a home body...I can only stay at home for so long before I start going crazy and need to go somewhere. You can ask anyone that knows me and i'm quite certain they'd say that's the truth. I think that is slowly starting to change! Who would of ever thought it...now when I get home from work the ONLY thing I want to do is sit and pretty much do absolutely nothing. I used to give my mom and morgan so much fuss over how in their right mind could they 'want' to just sit at home and do nothing...well you two, I may finally be turning into yall. These past few days have been a blur. Last week we had a team here from Alabama, there was about 25 of them. It was juniors and seniors in High School and then a few older parents and church sponsors. Monday and Tuesday they put on a block party in the two townships I work in. We wanted to do it to get Living Hope's name out there farther into the communities and invite anyone and everyone to come check us out. Hundreds of kids came each day and so did many parents. We had face painting, crafts, water balloons, soccer, Frisbee, loud music...just anything to get people interested in what was going on. 
  Meagan put Jennifer and myself in charge of the dancing. Her exact words were...your from Texas teach us a line dance or something. Don't you do that alot. haha ohh typical Texas stereotype. Well we did the Cha Cha slide because that might be the easiest thing to dance along with...for those of yall who arent familiar, the song tells you exactly what to do. Lets just say it was a HIT. everyone was doing it && I got out in the middle of the huge circle and just had fun with it. Soon enough kids got closer and closer to me and I was surrounded by many dancing bodies. It was a great two days and I think that everyone involved really had a good time. 
 Now the second day we did this was in the neighboring township called Overcome Heights. Now, your not necessarily ever supposed to have favorites when you work with a bunch of kids...but it happens. Well I have a favorite there and his name is Caleb...

this is Caleb, posing with my glasses 

Anyways so while I was trying to get all the kids to make a big circle so we could start the dance I was walking along and just moving my hands in a back up position and just telling them to move back and make the circle bigger. Well at some point Caleb starts walking behind me and doing the exact same thing yet he would just straight up push the kids back that didnt listen. I turned around to him doing this and he just looked up at me with a huge smile and gave me a thumbs up. It was priceless. Also at once the block party was over and we were starting to put things up he kept pulling on my arm and trying to get me to come with him. I kept saying in a minute hold on but he was very persistent. He was also saying something but I couldn't understand him; he speaks little English. Well I gave in and let him pull me through the crowd and we ended up at this lady and he smiled big and pointed to me then to her. It turned out to be his mom! I shook her hand and told her who I was and Caleb was so happy I got to meet her. It really made my busy hectic day very rewarding. The simple things in life are the ones that really will mean the most. And that was one of those moments. 

 Here's some block party fun :]

 monkey faces

 some spider man action

 this boy is absolutely precious!! he is deaf but a ball full of joy. Always smillin.

 Meagan talking to the kids and adults 

All of that was the first part of last week..the second part was just as busy. I am in charge of the Mens outreach ministry...still not sure how I ended up with this title..but TB(tuberculosis) Day was Friday and we decided to do an outreach that day. We went to taxi drivers in the surrounding townships and asked if they would let one of our Living Hope staff members to just sit on their taxi for 2 long runs and just inform the passengers about TB and get the knowledge out there. It was quite the success!! I went into Masiphumulele, a township down the road, and hung up some TB signs in their clinic and saw a few of their taxi drivers wearing out blue tb shirts. To get ready for this day, I had to get together 300 hygiene packs...not a small task. There was a public holiday on Wednesday so we had no work. Then on Thursday the team from Alabama put on a youth leadership conference all day. So for every single break I got I would run over from big chapel room to the main office and put packs together. It was such a long day! Nathan, one of the south african LSE's here kept asking why I was working all the time. I just said Avril is my boss and he just laughed and smiled and said enough said...But the good Lord was looking out for me and there just happened to be a family visiting Living Hope and they had 3 children. They offered to finish the rest of the hygiene packs so I could go back to the conference. SO THANKFUL FOR THEM! But all the feedback I've received so far about the day has been great. So all the work most certainly paid off. Love when that happens :] 

so with all that said, I spent this whole weekend doing absolutely nothing. Saturday i slept in...layed around then went down to the beach. It was wayyy too windy once we got down there so we stuck it out for a good 15min then moved back home to lay out on the deck. Listened to one of Rick Atchleys podcasts and fell asleep. gladly woke up with no sunburn just some more tan! I keep telling Eric im going to attempt to get as dark as him, which will absolutely be quite impossible considering hes half mexican :] ohh well a girl can wish huh? haha

my Saturday relaxation spot before the wind blew us away.

Sorry this post was an essay..just had so much to inform yall on! OH haha and one more thing. I'm also a part of OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) and through working with one of the kids in our program we found out that her grandparents decided that they needed to get married because that was the best thing to do. Long story short they got married on Wednesday night!! I somehow got asked to be the wedding photographer. So now I can offically add wedding photographer to my resume when I leave here! haha Here are some pictures I took while there. The service was so fun! Before she walked down the aisle they had some girls go before her dancing. It was an experience..not to mention it was pretty much during a church service! not your typical wedding...

 getting all ready! She is a GRANDMOTHER! cant believe it.

 going to the chapel...

 

 oh she was soo nervous!

Precious Zulu!! the happy now married man!!

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe things happen for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

:]