schedule!

hi all,

its been another busy day but the first one with some work in it! finally....some of you say.

so it seems that the following is what I will be doing:
Monday-Thursday PM working with the children's club in Redhill (local informal settlement of mixed races) teaching them about the Bible, HIV/AIDS, doing crafts and playing games etc
Friday AM training for the volunteers (only half day)
Monday AM working with the pre-school kids (3-7years old) who have an informal creche, two other leaders are there every monday so I will join them and get to know the locals and encourage and disciple the new christians.
Tuesday and Thursday AM working in the Support Groups, local meetings for those with chronic illnesses, and teaching them basic budgetting principles and trying to help them save and make money if possible.
Wednesday AM in Redhill working with the 18-30 agegroup to challenge them to achieve and succeed in their lives.

Wow....its going to be busy but I think I have mentioned everything in the week above! Weekends are free.

Having had a full brief and explanation of Living Hope, I am now in a much better position to explain all the parts of the group, which is widely funded from the US but less so the UK. THere are 5 parts to Living Hope (the organisation)
Living Services - the office, the HR, finance, support teams and general admin.
Living Way - mini-business school and entrepreneurial work with locals
Living Grace - homeless ministry to feed the impoverished physically and spiritually
Living Care - 22 bed care centre, one of the best in the South of South Africa, treating those with HIV/AIDS and TB.
Living Right - Support Groups, working with local hospitals and healtcare centres to promote good living principles.

Before I finish, as this is a long blog, my ministry falls under Living Right, the budget work and the children's ministry in Redhill too.

Really looking forward to working in these ways and developing good budget strategy and principles for the locals to live with. More updates soon!!

sunday!

hello all,

got a bit more time just now so can tell you a little more about what has been happening. yesterday we walked around the local area and the local mall which has a woolworths and other uk stores too, standard shopping place really. the ministry work doesn't happen on weekends so i have had loads of opportunities to relax and chat with the other volunteers yesterday and today.

last night we went to a shoreline restaurant for a volunteer's leaving do, i ate some calamari which was interesting and we relaxed with a local band playing whilst the waves battered the side of the building! twas quite dramatic at times as the swell was sizeable.

this morning i went to the king of kings church, formerly fish hoek baptist church, with whom i am likely to worship for my time out here. was a good service with teaching from mark 10 about jesus and the children. there are plenty of opportunities to work within the church with the music and children's work so, as you might imagine, i was quite excited about that!

this afternoon i walked to the beach, round trip 3 hours, in a place called nordhooek which was quite stunning. i will upload photos when i can get to the internet cafe so as not to use all the bandwidth here! really good time talking with another volunteer about living hope and all that it does.

it turns out that weekends are free for the volunteers as the ministry work doesn't happen on sat or sun. this has been really good as i have had a great chance to relax a little and settle into the daily routine and who is who and what is where etc. tomorrow i am going on a tour of all that living hope do which should be great.

i am likely to be working with a chap called al in a place called redhill, informal settlement in the hills overlooking cape town, and will be running and organising the children's work and activities there. more details to follow once i know more myself!

apologies for just saying anything and everything that comes to mind, once i get fully into the day to day schedule this little blog should be much shorter and rambly!

finally, learnt my first word in africaans which refers to large crow-like birds that make lots of noise in our garden, not sure what the translation is but it is pronounced 'n-can-can-eh'! i look forward to hearing your attempts on that one.

God bless thanks for the support

stu

day one!

hi all, only have the computer for a few moments so will be quick! settling in well with the other volunteers who are all american! pretty much a day off today and then church in the morning which should be great. I am having a charity-wide tour all day monday to see all the different bits happening and then tuesday is freedom day, a national holiday, so promises to be more time off an sight-seeing!

everyone is really pleasant and I am feeling really relaxed and ready to start work now. thanks for all your comments on the blog and texts too....feel free to text my uk mob 07732268732 but I might reply on my south african phone as that is much cheaper.

really enjoyed listening to a sermon this afternoon on romans chapter 1, thanks chappers (at surrey chapel norwich) and hope to continue listening through the series.

now must rush off to a restaurant meal out with all the team and a concert on the local beach, hard life at the mo! sure it will pick up and get less holiday-like next week when i start working.

God Bless, thanks for the support, speak soon

stu

arrived!

hello all I have arrived and all the travel went very well! got to dubai in good time and slept a little, now in sunny, and warm, cape town and about to head out to meet a few other volunteers and watch a local football game! all very exciting and slightly strange too as I am meeting loads of new people and trying to remember lots of names too! I have my own locked room which is helpful so I can unpack too.

feeling really excited about all the opportunities here, I probably have the weekend off too and then its a double national holiday (mon tues) so an easy-ish start!

Blessings to you all, speak soon!

p.s., i may have had a mcdonalds in dubai at 1am....unconfirmed at the moment though.....

love

stu!

Pictures!

Hi all,

looks like I am flying tomorrow after all!

I will endeavour to upload photos to the picasa album below, keep you eye on that to see what's happening!

Thanks

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuart.d.rimmer

Stu

skype

hi all, just so you know my skype name is 'stuartrimmer' so do add me and give me a call if I am online!!

thanks

stu

soon and very soon....

Hi all!

The flight is getting nearer and nearer rather quickly! Latest update is that I have a phone number contact if you want to send texts to let me know what you are doing! I may not reply to every message but it will be really encouraging to hear from you and see what you are up to!

number is 07519222907

I will also be getting a south african sim card so people can ring me if they want to...details to follow.

Starting to think about packing now......speak soon

stu