Bro. Malimabe

Let me introduce you to a good friend of ours. Bro. Malimabe will soon be starting his third year of university at the teachers college at the Kwazisabantu Mission in KwazuluNatal, South Africa. He originally comes from Lesotho, but he graduated from High School in Manyatseng here in Ladybrand. During the Christmas holidays he has been living here in the Ladybrand area. He is a real blessing in the church and the community. A couple of Sunday's ago he preached at our Manyatseng church and this Sunday he preached at our Mauersnek church. Bro. Malimabe speaks English, Sesotho, and also some Afrikaans. God has great plans for Bro. Malimabe. Remember him in prayer as he goes back to college the first first week of February.

Swings

Isaac and Micah really enjoy their new swings from Grandpa and Grandma Geise.

Volunteers for Hope Christian Academy

Friday the 16th of January our family drove to Johannesburg, about 5 hours from Ladybrand, to pick up Lester, Kristin, and Alaina Bump at the airport. They have come to volunteer at Hope Christian Academy for a few months. We are really happy to have them here with us. They are staying in an apartment next to our house. On the way back from the airport we stopped along side of the road for a picnic lunch.

New School Desks

We recently had some new desks build for the younger students at Hope Christian Academy. I spent parts of several days painting, painting, and painting. I think the students will enjoy the new desks.

First Christmas For Titus

I thought I should post a picture of Titus on his first Christmas!

Christmas Time

On Christmas morning we had a special Christmas service at our Manyatseng church. We had some people from each of our four South African churches in attendance. There were about 110 people in the service.

The picture below might look like mass confusion, but it really isn't. In a lot of churches there is a custom that somewhere in the service everyone sings a chorus together and goes around shaking hands with everyone else.

On Christmas afternoon, after the morning service our family along with Phil and Amrie, and Glenn, Stephanie, and Kaitlyn Gault and Steph's brother, John Stratton gathered together at Johan and Hessie van der Merwe's farm for Christmas dinner. The photo below shows us all relaxing on the front porch of the van der Merwe home. So while those in the northern hemisphere gathered around fireplaces to keep warm, we found a shady spot to stay cool.

One of the dishes on the Christmas menu was picked eggs. For those of you from Pennsylvania you know what that is. Gwen colored them especially for the occasion. (Just let me go on record to say that I do not partake of this Pennsylvania delicacy.) There are several South Africans who have developed a taste for these eggs so Gwen keeps them supplied (on special occasions).

Gwen made soft pretzels for Christmas gifts for our fellow missionaries.

Christmas Treats

Phil and I passing out some Christmas treats to our church people at Manyatseng.

Gwen's Birthday

Gwen cooking her birthday supper.

We really didn't do much special for Gwen's birthday, except I made breakfast for the family. Gwen did take the morning off from regular responsibilities to get some things done that she has been waiting to do. In the evening we enjoyed a very nice supper that Gwen made. The roses you see on the table came from our own yard. Gwen, of course, really enjoyed talking with different family member that called to wish her a happy birthday.

Improvements at Hope Christian Academy

A couple of weeks ago a friend of ours, who has a sod business, gave us about three truck loads of off-cuts. The boys and I planted some of the sod at our house and then we also spent some time fixing up some bare areas at our school here in Ladybrand.

As you can see below we also added some trees to the school property. In all I planted eight trees. In a few years the students will be very thankful for the shade.

Night Sky

Last week the night sky was really beautiful. The crescent moon along with Jupiter and Venus made for some interesting photography. If you look closely at the photo above you can see Venus just under the moon. I was surprised at how well my little point-and-shoot camera did with taking pictures at night. Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork." Abraham Lincoln once said: "I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God."