Home Sweet Home...

The short story is... originally Kirsten and I were supposed to live in a one-room flat, with a tiny bathroom and a tiny kitchen. We prepared ourselves for this venture of sharing a 20' x 15' room as our bedroom, living room and dining room by shopping at Ikea this past year and saying things like "We'll know each other really well after 5 months!" We were fully prepared to live together in our Itty Bitty Living Space :)

One month before our arrival we received an email saying one of the families here at Sunbury was going on furlough during 2011 and then relocating to Johannesburg for 2012 and that Kirsten and I would be living in that house since it will be empty! We were very excited as we learned that we now have 3 bedrooms, full kitchen, dining room, living room, a washer and dryer, and 1.5 bathrooms!

We have so much space we almost don't know what to do with it except have people over :) The Sunbury Family has already joined us for a braai (South African cookout) and our house is the favorite meeting place since we are the only house with Air Conditioning! :)

Here are some pictures of our home. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful home... there's plenty of room, so please come visit us!

Entry way (looking left)/ storage area

Entry way (looking right)

a

Kitchen

Lounge (Living Room)

Entertainment center... lots of movies are watched here

Another view

Our beautiful dining room

Kirsten's Room

My room

My giant closets :)

Main bathroom and Laundry room

Shower... obviously

Extra toilet

Office / Guest Room

Same office

Oh yea... I'm here!

On December 30th, I boarded a plane to South Africa along with Kirsten (my roommate, co-worker, and "other-half" while I'm here) and 5 short-term team members from my home church. After over 18 hours of flying and 26 hours of travel, we’ve arrived safely at Sunbury Christian Camp just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve with fireworks! New Year's Day is my Birthday, and I celebrated with the Sunbury family as they made me cards and gave me a freshly cut bouquet of flowers. I share a birthday with Ryne Seghers (his parents work at Sunbury) and he has allowed me to crash his birthday party for 3 years now.

The week to follow was busy with the Annual ZEMA Missionary Conference, when all the Missionaries gather for a week of sharing reports, enjoying rest and spending time together. Normally I would be with the Short-Term team cooking in the kitchen all week and taking care of the kids, however this year I was expected to be in the meetings. I enjoyed hearing all that God is doing through each ministry within ZEMA and look forward to being a part of it this year.

The CCC Team left today, and this afternoon Kirsten and I will be moving into our house!!! I will post house pictures very soon, once we get everything settled. Originally we were supposed to share a one-room flat, but were blessed with a 3 bedroom house that became available while another family is on furlough. We are very thankful for extra elbow room!

I hope to post more often that I have so far, the internet is sparse at times and we are just starting a "normal schedule" too. Will write more soon...