Flu for a week!

Oct. 8, 2013
There's only one thing worse than having the flu for a week, and that's being alone and away from home and having the flu!  But, God took care of me through my neighbors checking on me often, along with SIM friends stopping by to go grocery shopping for me and do up my dishes.  After 4 days of the flu, I was able to get out to go to the doctor.  He gave me some antibiotics for a bacterial infection and told me to stop my blood pressure medicine for a few days because I was dehydrated, making my bp low.  But, all is well now and I am feeling back to normal again.  Thank You, Lord!

Today was my second day at Living Hope and I'm so excited at the direction the Lord seems to be taking me.  I will be doing 20 hours a week as a volunteer there, leaving some time for working with SIM.  This week, I am attending some Counseling training for lay people taught by a team from Seattle.  I am so delighted to be around folks that I can understand!  Yes, they speak English here in South Africa...but, some have strong Dutch accents.  I generally have to listen so carefully to make sure I don't miss anything that is being said that my ears get tired!  It's wonderful to be here where there is such a mixture of accents.  That's why South Africa is called the Rainbow Nation!

I took a tour of the 4 Living Hope ministries yesterday with the Seattle team.  It was so informational to hear and see what the Lord has done with Living Hope and how they are helping people.  Within Living Hope, there is a health care ministry called Living Care with a 22-bed facility, as well as home based care and community support groups of HIV and AIDS patients.  Living Right reaches out to more than 6000 children a year by teaching them to make healthy choices as well as mobile health screening with HIV and TB testing and counseling.  This will also be the area that I will participate in with the formation of a ministry called MotherCare, in which I will be teaching moms with HIV about Nutrition for themselves and their children and about breastfeeding benefits.  Living Way teaches people skills needed to earn their way out of poverty. Living Grace serves street people with a meal and shower facilities.  They also run an out-patient substance abuse rehab at 2 locations.  This organization is a partner with SIM and is doing wonderful stuff. 

Today was the warmest day so far (about 80 degrees) and warmer weather is on it's way here since we are going into their summer.  (Suffering for Jesus here!)

Thanks and blessings,
Grace