Hey all

Cant quite remember when I last blogged, so sorry If I repeat myself at all! Time continues to rocket past, so weeks are really feeling like days.
All is really good out here, im still loving every minute of it, and having an amazing time. Its getting a bit harder as Christmas is approaching, its definitely going to be weird not spending it with my friends and family. But were still really busy so that helps to keep the mind of it! Nah, everyone out here is great, we’ll have a lovely Christmas. Us four girlies are going to trek up a mountain early Christmas morning to catch the sun rise. It really is stunning. what better way to spend Christmas. Thought I better make the most of the sun this christmas seeing as I’ll never experience the two together again! It really is so hot, even though the rains have come. It’l be as bright and hot as ever in the morning, then suddenly, in the afternoon, itl absolutely bucket down for a while, then completely clear up again. Its quite fun, the only thing is a lot of bugs like to rear their ugly heads during the rains. Weve recently discovered the hugest flying ants in the whole world. They are massive, and come out in force in huge number without you even realising. They die really quickly, so when the rain stops, theres just this carpet of ants on the floor. Rank.
This last week has been quite bizarre, it was the last week of our normal programme.so there was a lot of goodbyes. Pretty sad really. Our last trip to the down Syndrome school was great, but a bit heart renching. We gave out the Christmas boxes that we had put together for the 20 kids who board there. When we arrived, ahlf the kids wernt there, and we were told by a carer that they had gone home for Christmas. Unfortunately we wernt told that this would be happening, so their boxes will be kept for them (hopefully) and given to them when they come back in the new year. Unfortunately, weve been informed that when things lke this have been done before, the gifts often go walkabouts and find homes with members of staff etc. but for the kids who were there, it was great. A really special time. They absolutely loved it. Most of them took ages to get excited because they couldn’t get their heads around the fact that the presents and clothes were actually for them. Once they realized this, they were jumping about and screaming and shouting. They were saying thank you for the next hour in any way that they could. It was so great to see them in some half decent clothes, by the looks of things they’ve been wearing the one set of clothes for years. So that was pretty emotional, as we had to say goodbye to them that morning as well. ive had such a great time working with those kids, and im really going to miss them.
We also paid our last weekly visit to the old peoples home. We’re going to pop into them the week before Christmas though, so we’ll say our proper goodbyes then. That’s been a really cool time too, hanging out with the oldies.
We experienced something new on Wednesday. We went to pick up elios, our translator, before going onto Dangavora (another high density rural area), but when we got to his house, his wife said that he was at a funeral at the church there in sakubva. This wasn’t unusual, elios would often be doing funerals. So we went up to his church, as he was due to be finished in half an hour. But when we got there we saw elios and he said that it had all been delayed due to transport problems, so he invited us to stay for the funeral. Eventually, the coffin arrived in the back of a pick up. It was a really weird experience, loads of people were dancing and singing, all the drums were going. You also had the relatives whaling and crying at the same time. Elios told us that it was a 32yr old woman, who had died of AIDS, leaving her two kids orphaned as the dad had died of the same thing a couple of years ago. It was so sad. The kids were just distraught. So once the coffin had arrived, some people carried it into the church, and everyone followed. Obviously everything was really basic, but the service was pretty similar to that of an English funeral. Elios preached for a short while, and there was a reading, all in shona. A couple of family members and friends then got up individually and said something about the lady. After a few songs, everyone paraded out, and the coffin went back into the pick up. We all had to drive to the graveyard for the burial. When we got there, you had to walk a pretty hefty distance to get to the grave that she was to be buried in. ive never seen so many graves in my life. The section for children was massive too. Really really disturbing. It gutted me, just so sad how many people are dying when they shouldn’t – for reasons that wouldn’t be a problem in England or America etc, but are just so huge out here. Its so unfair. When reading the grave stones I saw that no body reached past the age of 35/40. so that was quite a sobering experience. Really sad but glad I got to see it.
On a happier note, all week weve been running around trying to make sure everything was in order for the youth service that was to be led entirely by the church’s youth group this morning. A lot of the guys were really nervous about sharing testimonies etc, so we spent a lot of time just preparing them and going over everything with them. It actually went so well, everything was successful. I led worship, with four other youth members in the band. We had a good few practices, and they were all really nervous, but it went so well. praise god. So that’s a big relief now, pressures off. Weve just got the summer holiday kids club (Going Bananas) all of this week, then everything really winds down as Christmas approaches. We’re going over to the church this afternoon to set up the hall. Its set on a island, so weve got to decorate the hall with loads of beachy things. In true African style, weve got good few real palm trees that someones uprooted and let us use!! Hilarious. The palm trees out here are amazing. Absolutely huge. I’ll definitely try and get one in my garden when im older. Something tells me the weather conditions wont be quite right though. Oh well.
So, this week will be busy, kids club in the morning, and prep for the next day in the afternoon. The week after were going into the bush for a week with the scenior youth. Cant wait.
Still no news on who I’ll be paried with in Bangolore, but we should be finding out soon so I’ll keep you posted. Cant believe that India is so close on the horizon. That’s definitely going to be a culture shock.
Well I hope all of you are well, and enjoying all the festivities. I think were going to put some deorations up around the house tonight which should be fun. Please continue to pray for us all, especially during this lead up to Christmas. Take care, miss you all loads.
All my love, bec x