Ke Nako! (It is here!)

It's only been another week but it feels like a month! I am continuing to adjust and learn; it is feeling much more "normal" here now. I am making wonderful friends at the office and it is great to see everyone's smiling faces everyday. At TWR we begin each day with morning devotions, which I love. It is so nice to begin the workday by dedicating it to the Lord. We sing songs, discuss a Bible passage, and close in prayer. My roomate Millie led devotions this week and asked me to play guitar for her, so I was able to lead everyone in some songs. One of the songs, "With All My Heart," has held special meaning for me since being here. It talks about surrendering everything into God's hands and simply knowing Him more.

This week I've worked on creating evaluation forms for an HIV/AIDS project Central Africa. I have also done a lot of research on HIV/AIDS and the statistics are staggering. There are over 33 million people in the world who are living with HIV/AIDS, and over 22 million of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa has the largest amount of PLWHA (people living with HIV/AIDS) - 5.7 million. It is so sad to hear about the statistics, yet it challenges me to do something about it. When I hear feedback from listeners who have written in or sent in an SMS (text) I am so encouraged; people's lives are changing and people are finding hope in Jesus Chris. To read some of these responses, you can go to: www.twrafrica.org and look under the Explore Tab - Share Your Story.

Friday was the Kick-Off for the World Cup and it was so exciting! At work we had a half-day and ended work with a braii. The staff room was decorated with all of the different soccer team flags and everyone sported colors of the team they are supporting. I didn't have anything to wear, so I pinned a South Africa flag to my shirt! We learned the "diski dance" (diski means soccer) which everyone knows here. It was hard and quite funny to try to follow.

The Opening Ceremony was at 2 p.m. and the other interns and I went to a church to watch it on a big screen. The spirit here is great! Everyone is so colorful and full of energy. Everywhere you go you hear vuvuzelas being blown (like a blow horn) - even while driving down the road! The church we went to was decorated, as were all of the 200+ people there (supporting South Africa of course). Since we were from overseas they had us sit on the front row to watch the Opening Ceremony and the match between SA and Mexico. What a game! SA and Mexico tied, which means they both are still in the running to proceed to the next round.

After the game, the church had dancers from the show "UMOJA" perform some traditional Zulu dances for us. They were in costume and very animated; it was really something. At one point one of the dancers grabbed the daughter of the people we came with and ran around the sanctuary with her - she was scared but very brave. =)

Yesterday was the first soccer match for the USA and they tied against England. I'm rooting for both USA and SA...hopefully they don't play each other or I'll be torn!

Tomorrow begins a new week and new opportunities. Winfred and I will be travelling to a nearby township to promote the Open Schools program from our department - this program seeks to integrate children who are not in school into school through a tutoring program. I'm looking forward to physically seeing how this works.

On a side note, I purchased a CD-ROM this week that will help me to learn more of the Zulu language. I am really looking forward to it; one of my personal goals for this summer is to learn more Zulu.

Unkulunkulu anibosise! God bless all of you!

"With all My Heart"

In this quiet place with You
I bow before Your throne
I bare the deepest part of me
To You and You alone
I keep no secrets for there is
No thought You have not known
I bring my best and all the rest
To You and lay them down

With all my heart
I want to love You Lord
And live my life
Each day to know You more
All that is in me
Is Yours completely
I'll serve You only
With all my heart

You faithfully supply all my needs
According to Your plan
So help me, Lord to seek Your face
Before I seek Your hand
And trust You know what's best for me
When I don't understand
Then follow in obedience
In every circumstance