March Prayer Update 2009

Hello Friends!
We have now been in South Africa for about 3 months! Some days it feels like we've been here a lot longer, other days it feels like we just stepped off the plane! Nonetheless, we are learning what life is like here. Just to give you a little taste here is a glimpse at our week:
Monday -Friday from 8-5 Trevor spends his mornings at Emthonjeni, the community center, cultivating relationships and helping with the management of the center, then in the afternoon he goes into the squatter community to meet with different families and young men that he has been introduced to. Every conversation is a brick laid on the road to building a network to create change in the community. As you might have guessed this takes a long time and so each day it is necessary to hold onto a bigger vision of what we are doing here. That also comes in handy when he is in meetings with the sponsoring church that is excited to dive into the community. Trev is learning to walk a balance between two worlds and trying to navigate when to put on the brakes and when to move forward. All of this in at least 4 languages at a time. (English, Tswana, Afrikaans,and Zulu)
That is something we are both learning to work through, we can be in a conversation with a group of people, comfortable in our communication and then in a blink the language changes and we have no idea where the conversation is going! Thankfully we often have someone with us who will graciously give a rough translation of what just happened. But the problem with that is people often process their thoughts in their own language so we get the result or the answer to a question but not the process, and what we really want to hear is the process.
But we are hopeful because everyone says that we will learn everything we need to know in 6 months : ) We laugh but I think they are serious !

For me: Mondays and Thursdays I go to the antenatal clinic to meet pregnant moms and help them with their medical information. I have enjoyed this time as I get to make someone smile in the midst of filling out paperwork, and meet moms that might be interested in a doula. Lately there have been a lot of very young moms that I have tried to connect with. Currently I am waiting for a baby to come! Hopefully this week, and if all goes well, it could be my last certifying birth! Yeah!
The other days in my week are filled with young boys fixing their bikes in our yard, meeting with moms from the clinic, connecting with some friends we have met here and meeting and getting to know our neighbors. ( Quick Story) One of the little boys who fixes his bike here rang our bell. He had come because all the other boys were gone and he wanted to talk to me. I thought something was wrong at first, but soon I realized he just wanted to hang out! I felt priviledged that I was cool enough to hang out with a 10yr old boy! Anyway, I got to hear about his family and what school is like and he shared with me that his Mother passed away when he was 5. It was that moment that I felt a nudge from the Lord that when he is a my house I can be like a mother to him, what a gift! Please pray for Mandla and his relationship with Trevor and I.
Another gift is that this week, I have started meeting with a Zulu conversation partner who lives just around the corner from us! She is a young college student and she comes over whenever she can and teaches me Zulu culture and language, I can see a nice friendship developing.

We are still trying to find a church, which is proving to be a challenge! We would love to attend a church that is diverse and pursuing reconciliation, with great teaching and worship, in english. We have attended one church where the teaching has been solid and reminds us of InterVarsity manuscript study and teaching, but it is predominetly Afrikaans, which leaves Keira and ultimately me, out of the service and out luck for understanding. So our search continues.
Keira has been doing much better adjusting to her new diverse cultural surroundings. She has been happy to play with other children and even take the lead with kids older than her : ) ( Its so cute watching her tell 5yr olds to join hands and make a train with her!) In the picture on the left is Keira and Mervyn our next door neighbor, whom she cares for very much, in fact that day she and Mervyn were in the splash pool and Keira looked and Mervyn and touched his hair and said " Beautiful . . . beautiful hair Mervyn!" It was a precious moment.
In a nutshell we are trying to connect! Please continue to pray for us;
~The relationships that we are building, and that they will form the network that is necessary to create change here
~Pray for our need for friendships and comraderie
~ Pray for the broken systems in this country
~Pray for the lack of jobs in this country

We continue to be grateful for all of you! Thank you for praying and caring for us! We now have internet at our house so if you would like to skype please email us and we can set up a time!
Blessings!
Chrissy for the Davies