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Wednesday - Clinic Day 3

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What hasn’t been mentioned already is that we start each day with a short devotion time and again at the end of our busy day. Also, in the evening we review how the day went and go over what to expect for the following day.   For today our destination took us to a Catholic Church auditorium not too far away. It was so nice to be able to use it, being newer and spacious. The amount of room and furniture available makes our work so much easier.   The number of people we served today was 150, just awesome! We try to serve the needs of everyone that comes. Unfortunately there were 2 people the best we could do is give them a white cane. One person came, got tested but then only wanted a pair of sunglasses because the sun can be so bright here. We had a special treat for dinner, David and his wife Janey had us over, they run the orphanage. For us and the pastors from St. Peter it was a delightful evening.   Outside of the clinic, the most hilarious part of the day was our ...
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Monday - Clinic day 1

 We started our day at the College that is tied to St. Peter Lutheran Church and School that we visited on Sunday. We had a nice devotion that included singing and praise dancing. Afterwards we had like a 2.5 hour ride to our destination. The first day is always the most chaotic for a new team in emptying all the suitcases and setting them up in a logical order. Seeing what tables and chairs are there for to use is very important to help make things run smoothly. We were able to help 101 people that day which was an awesome amount for being out in a rural area.Seeing the smiling faces after getting their glasses was a blessing to both us and them alike. The most amazing part of the day for me was when an elderly man came to us being led by the hand. And then later watching him leave slowly walking home on his own. What joy it brought to all of us. It became a very long day with the same return drive back.
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Sunday Church & Orphanage

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 Today we had a wonderful breakfast and headed to a church for the Sunday service. Worship was incredible with lots of beautiful singing. We were welcomed with open arms by the whole congregation. They actually came to each of us with smiles and hugs! We also met the team leader of Caring Friends at church. This is the team that we will be working with to distribute eyeglasses this week. Later in the afternoon we visited an orphanage  where we toured the facility and spent time socializing with the children. A good example of this was Gabe giving horsey back rides and Pastor Mark making balloon animals and flowers for the kids!  We had a lowkey evening, eating pizza and preparing for our first day of the eyeglass clinic. Please continue to pray for the safety of our team and the success of our mission as the week unfolds.
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Flight day

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Some of our travel photos Gabe had a chicken tender shaped like Africa at the Newark Airport! Welcome to Johannesburg!   I traveled from Raleigh, meeting up with everyone in Newark. I had a couple hour layover whereas everyone else had a much longer time of close to 5 hours. Once on the plane we sat on the runway close to an hour before takeoff. Knowing the flight was for 15 hours, I was happy to get some sleep which helped make the time fly - haha. Picking up our luggage was a little troublesome with one suitcase not being able to be found for maybe an hour. The ride to our accommodations took about another 2 hours making it roughly a 29 hour experience. Paul
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Commission Day!

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 Welcome all! This is the first post for our eyeglass mission trip to Middleburg South Africa. We were officially commissioned by Pastor Wenzelburger at all the church services this past Sunday.  It is very exciting to serve God and those who are in need. And it is a blessing to travel with an awesome group as we join our previous teammates as well as a couple of new faces! We ask for prayers of safety and the ability to fully accomplish what we are commissioned to for on this journey. Thank you for all your support. Blessings!
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