You can give without loving. But you cannot Love without giving!!

Well I think I wont write a weather update anymore, because every time I get excited about the sun and beautiful days the next thing you know the clouds roll in and it rains the next couple of days! Yes, I did have to wear my long john’s again and sleep with a hot water bottle. The only advantage of the cold weather is that I don’t have to do my hair on those days and I just wear a “beanie” to work. I wonder if I can get away with that in the states??

Things are definitely in fast forward here with my time coming to an end and it’s actually been super crazy this week. I have had 3 random adults in the village come to the house, knock on the door and ask for me. I have no idea or clue who they are, but they seem to know me. They have all asked me to clean their teeth and have said they will even pay me. I really wish I could but I’m already seeing extra people at the end of my scheduled day to those that I have already promised. I kind of had a feeling that once I saw one adult it would probably lead to many others asking. I can’t describe the feeling of sorrow and shame that I feel when I have to turn people away. I have been working some nights until 6:00pm I did see an 80 yr. old man the other day that lives in a village an hour away one way and I could not turn him away. He was in tooth pain and I extracted 2 huge teeth from his mouth that day. (picture attached) He was so sweet and precious and told the hospital staff that he showered and got ready just to come visit the “lady doctor”.

I have attached some pictures of me holding and feeding “Sibusiso”. He is just so little and they said that the reason they named him “Blessing” is because the hospital where he was born doesn’t have equipment and technology to handle pre-mature babies especially 2 months early only weighing 3lbs. I spent about 4 hours on Saturday just holding him and taking care of him and he is so precious. The ABC House is very special and dear to my heart that I am going to help contribute toward their cause from now on. I think I told you last week they currently have 23 babies and that’s maximum capacity for them. The ABC House is run and operated solely by a husband and wife (Gerry and Robyn) and is not a government funded orphanage at all. I was there last weekend during feeding time and you can not believe the amount of milk they go through for all those babies. They use cloth diapers for all the babies because it would be far too expensive to buy and use plastic like we do back in the states. This is the couples personal home that they live out of and have converted all the bedrooms into 4 different nurseries. They have some pretty amazing stories that I will tell you all when I get home! If any of you are interested in learning more about the ABC House you can go to www.abcministry.org.za

I wanted to show you a picture of the little boy playing with his toy truck. The kids all have these toy trucks that they have made out of wire and are pretty cool. They don’t have yellow plastic Tonka trucks, they have these wire ones that they have made themselves! I’m telling you, life is simple here and I think I may have a hard time adjusting to the busyness and fast pace life that I once had before I came here.

I thought I would also include a picture of the orphan homes and what Bulembu looks like. The picture of the different colored homes are some of the BMS (Bulembu Ministry) orphan homes and some of the village workers homes that BMS has provided for the people. Something exciting that has happened this week is they finally got the bakery built. They had an individual donation come in for all the bakery equipment and just needed to get the building built. It’s been a neat project to watch over 2 months because I walk past it everyday back and forth to the clinic and home. I have some before photos of the building and now the final bakery up and going. That was a huge need that the town was very much looking forward to because one of the main staples that Bulembu feeds all the children are Peanut Butter sandwiches. They order bread 3 times a week from town that gets delivered here and now they can make it here locally and provide bread for all the children. They are also going to sell the bread for anyone in the town to buy. We got to try one of the first loaves that came out and it was still steaming. The butter quickly melted into the soft bread and the loaf quickly disappeared between all the roommates.

I also included pictures of the bike race from last week and a picture of the children with the horses doing their therapy.

I had my going away surprise party and they really got me on that one. I was with Nicole and we were doing some last minute things around the village and delivering spinach some lady hand picked for the children's homes and I came home to a house full of people. It was so nice to see everyone for dinner and desert and it was also sad saying goodbye. Everyone just keeps asking me when is my return trip????

This will probably be my last Saturday blog for you all but if you are interested in more pictures and stories I believe I have had 2 people offer up their home for me to come and do a type of slide show “show and tell” of the trip and I will get that organized when I return home and will email you all the details of where and when.

Thank You again for all your love, support, advice, encouraging words, prayer, and wisdom that I have received from many of you! You have all made this experience even more special for being in my life and encouraging me to be here. I hate to admit this, but now that I’m here and I absolutely LOVE it here, it’s going to be hard going back now for many different reasons.

Last week I spoke of life lessons that I have encountered and learned while being here, well one that I forgot to mention is that I have learned to Love. To Love in a way that I have never felt I have loved before. Agape Love is what I have experienced!! You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving!

So goodbye for now until I return to the states and you all can email me on my normal cottongirl7@yahoo.com account when I return because I wont use the africa gmail when I return.

I also want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cousin Cenna, and Stacey and Happy late Birthday to my bro-in-law Bryan!! Sorry I missed your Birthdays but hopefully you all got your cards I sent!!

God Bless,

Melissa

Exodus 9:16 NIV