Hola Amigos!

Pic 1- Nice view!!

Pic 2- Showing off our hiking wounds!!

It’s been a great week!! I’ll try to hit the highlights…

I’ve started a weekly support-type group at the Health Care Centre (HCC) and each group has gone really well so far. Yesterday I had a men’s group …I lured them with cookies (these came out a little better than the ones that I made for the ladies ☺). One thing that impressed me about these men (Malcolm, Mxolisi, and Nsikelelo)…they don’t have a complaint about being sick and in the hospital. They each commented on the great care that they receive at Living Hope. Malcolm even said that after going from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital, he was relieved when they told him that he was going to Living Hope because he knew what wonderful and peaceful place it is. I think that says so much for the careers, nurses, and staff of the HCC- but most importantly it testifies to the Spirit of God that is present there. Please pray for the patients at the HCC- that not only would God bring physical healing to their body, but that He’d be the Healer and Restorer of their souls. I have found the patients to be joyful and smiling despite their sickness. Also, pray that I would move at the impulse of Christ’s love and take every opportunity to be a vessel of his love to those that I come into contact with.

I have enjoyed getting better acquainted with the staff of the HCC- they are a lively bunch (to say the least ☺). I am often hearing them laugh and sing hymns as they work. They have quickly “adopted” me into their family- inviting us (Nat, Z, and me) to Sunday lunch at their house, to the carnival at their kids’ school, sending home food for us, and doting over my poor dry and cracked hands (I promise that 2 of the ladies about died when they say how dry my hands were and then coated my hands in a bunch of different kinds of lotion- and even sent some home with me ☺). It’s nice to have South African moms, since my mom is so far away ☺.

For the next 2 weeks, Nat and I will be filling in for the front desk receptionist at the HCC while she is out on vacation. What a task this will be!! She pretty much holds the place together- so hopefully we won’t make it fall apart. I’m excited to be helpful in this way. So, if you happen to call you’ll hear, “Living Hope, this is Laural.” A couple of times I’ve almost said “Christian Women’s Job Corps, this is Laural.” I guess old habits die slowly ☺

This week in SA they celebrated the national holiday of Women’s Day. I’m not exactly sure what this holiday means- but we celebrated!! We had the day off from work, so decided to go hiking. It was a beautiful and warm day, so out came the Chacos (ummm…kind of like heavy duty sandals, outdoorsy type shoes). We went up the road to a park called Silvermine and off we went! Nat was our trailblazer and led us through a beautiful trail with gorgeous views of Cape Town! We decided to go off the beaten path to a rock trail that would lead us up to the top of a mountain overlooking the city. After we lost the trail, we began to climb…seriously climb…I mean up rocks and stuff!! Can’t say that I’d really done that before. For you who know me, you know that my balance is not too great, so I concentrated really hard on Nat’s wise words to lean forward and grab the closest rock. I figured that I might live or die by those words!! It was so much fun, and a tiny bit scary all at the same time!! Praise God that I didn’t blow off the side of the top of the mountain because the wind was blowing insanely hard! And the view from the top was absolutely amazing!! (do you think I used enough exclamation points? It’s hard to convey the emotion of the experience ☺)

As we climbed down, I had visions of myself rolling down the mountain and taking Nat and Z with me, but fortunately that didn’t happen. We all survived and had a few scratches and a little blood as souvenirs of our Women’s Day adventure!

If you are still reading, I imagine that you are probably related to me and laughing at all the typos!! I promise that I’ve proofread this a few times and so please be kind if I missed a few errors ☺