The horns go beep beep beep

Some pictures from the State Theatre on Sunday, Priscilla at her grand opening, kids at the Potters House and a poster we painted, the German youth Orchestra, Siri and my faces, and a picture of me after smelling the flowers a little too closely.

It was my goal to try and write every week and this past week has whizzed past! As promised, I'll post a video of a piece of my walk from home to work. It's LOUD! Horns, music, shouting, laughing. Living in the city is so nice since there are tons of things to do and opportunities all the time to go to some show or concert or go dance but it is being solidified in my soul that I am not a "city girl." My lungs are ready for some fresh air and my heart is ready to see the Sea!

Here are the high points of last week.....Sunday, there was a concert at the State Theatre where Siri and I got to see the German Youth Orchestra along with some South African opera singers. There were two Argentine women singing opera also. The theatre was beautiful and I have never heard opera performed live...what powerful voices! Monday night, I went with Alexa (the German volunteer from last year) and Berend to play volleyball at the University of Pretoria. The university women's team has an open gym practice twice a week and the public is welcome to come and play. We had a great time just hitting around, the coach was quick to remind me of some basics that I have forgotten in the past 8 years. I didn't realize how long it had been since I have really played! The next day, we were all extremely sore but looking forward to going back next week. Tuesday, thanks to the School of Creative Arts, Sandile, Siri and I got tickets to an art exhibition opening at the Cultural Museum that's just around the corner from where we stay. It was for the poet and visual artist; Lefifi Lladi. He was very active in the 70s in the struggle against Apartheid and was living in exhile for 22 years. His art was beautiful and his poetry....well, we didn't really get to hear his poetry, so you may have too do the research on your own but he did tell a joke! So an American man goes up to a Tanzanian man and says, "I've got a deal for you, if you tell me a riddle and I don't know the answer, I have to give you $500. Then I can ask you a question and if you don't know the answer, you have to pay me $50." "Okay," the Tanzanian man agrees. So the Tanzanian man asks the American, "What has 3 horn, 7 legs, is purple, and can sleep forever?" The American man thinks for awhile and tells the Tanzanian, "I don't know," and pays the other man $500. The American man asks the Tanzanian, "What is it?" The Tanzanian responds "I don't know either, here's your $50." Womp womp womp.....So this great poet told a horrible joke and of course we all laughed! Like I said, you may have to do some research to find his "profound poetry." Wednesday, maybe it was the busyness catching up or bodies adjusting to the new environment but I got sick, just a cold but enough of a cold to leave work early and not be able to do night outreach with Lerato. Siri though got the flu pretty bad and we had to spend the evening in the hospital getting some tests done. There is a private hospital near downtown that TLF takes it's volunteers to so the care is good and the facilities are nice (don't worry parents). She ended up being just fine but needs to be resting for the next few days.

This morning at our weekly devotions, our house mother Priscilla had the grand opening of her new coffee shop! We all had breakfast there to celebrate her new business. She has taken The Kiosk from a run down little stand in the middle of this beautiful park (Burgers Park) and turned it into quite a succesfull restaurant. TLF now has given her the opportunity to expand to use the upstairs as a breakfast caf‚ and coffee shop. We had so much fun celebrating her success and got some treats too! Tonight, all the new German volunteers (there are 10 or so of them) and I and Alexa will be heading out for dinner in Hatfield to a little restaurant that I guess is quite good and inexpensive then to do some dancing. So, there. That's a week in the life of Robin in Tshwane, South Africa. Yes, I work also and maybe next week there'll be a little more about that. There were some funny things that happened during the outreach...stories to come later. The whole experience of sitting on the cement with women who lead such painful lives will need time to soak in and be stirred together with the Truth of the Gospel that I hold onto dearly during such times. God is really teaching me how to rely on Him, trust the Holy Spirit, and be bold in prayer. These women hold so much pain so tightly that it can only be God who is doing the work of restoring their lives, bodies, and Spirits.