Wow! I can’t believe it’s over a week since I arrived here. Sorry I haven’t been able to write sooner but I haven’t had access to the internet until now – a bit of a shock for me!

So yes, I’m actually here, in South Africa, enjoying 32 degree heat, fantastic accents and generally lovely people! I’m currently sat in our living room on Monday evening writing this to add to the blog hopefully Wednesday. Our house is so amazing – it’s like a holiday apartment with a big living/dining room and kitchen, 3 bedrooms and a lovely garden. At the moment all four girls are sharing one room [we have en suite!] and we have a spare room!

We’ve spent our first week meeting the Oasis SA team, visiting all the projects we will be involved with and getting to know the area. We live in Cosmo City, thee first development in South Africa where people from all races, as well as rich and poor people, live together in the same community. It’s a pioneering project, which the SA government hope will be the first of many similar developments. We’ve visited the Appartied Museum, Johannesburg Zoo, beautiful Botanical Gardens and tomorrow [Tuesday] we are going to the Lion Park, where you can pet baby lion cubs and feed giraffes! Yay!!

I’m so looking forward to starting the projects. The preschool kids are so amazingly cute! We visited them last Thursday and they all sang to us and kept saying “we love you.” Can’t wait to start doing activities in the HIV hospice. All the older children are so lovely too, very interested to talk to us and teach us their languages! [I love all the languages so much! It’s so interesting!]

Sorry I can’t write more – I hope to soon and maybe I’ll just add loads of posts when I’m online! I just want to say a huge thanks to you guys for texting me and supporting me so much. It’s such an inspiration and encouragement to me over here. Please keep checking the prayer corner and adding your own and praying for what’s there already! I want to see how God is working for all of us despite the distance!