Johannesburg and beyond...

Hey all,
The past week we have been in this nations largest city. We were hosted by an organization called "Making a Difference". Kati and I stayed with a Zulu woman and her grandchild and the rest of our team was split up between other houses. This week has been a little frustrating because our hosts had not arranged very much for us to do. We did get a chance to participate in some great ministries and had some time to debrief as a team before our long trip to Asia. We helped out with a children's feeding program in a Zulu township. It can be really hard to see small children living in such devastating poverty. We served them an afternoon meal and distributed Christmas presents to the children while we spent time with them. We also had the opportunity to visit a place called Sparrow Ministries Aids Village. It is literally a medical village built for aids patients and their children. They take in aids patients who are on their death beds, only a CD4 count of 200 or less are admitted, and nurse them back to physical health and back in to society. Most of the ministry's efforts are spent on aids orphans. They house over 285 orphans, most of whom are HIV positive. These children are cared for on the campus and schooled until the age of 18, then Sparrow finds them work opportunity and a place to stay in the community. We will post some pictures of our time there sometime soon. Kati and I spent our day off that week at the Official Apartheid Museum in Jo'burg. If you haven't taken time to learn about the Apartheid I would recommend reading about it on the internet, I realized how little I knew about the country I was living in while walking through that museum.

Kati and I arrived safely in Manila, Philippines on Thursday evening after an entire 24 hour day of travel. We are now sitting at an internet cafe in Batangas, Philippines. We will write another update in the next week or two about our work here in the Philippines.

We love you all, como esta ka?