Trip To Malelane & Tired Missionaries :)

Hello!!

It feels like ages since I uploaded a post.....well, we had such a blessed week!
Oom Peet asked Caleb and I if we'd like to go to the Schulzendal Mission in Malelane! You can imagine our reaction, we were so happy and accepted the offer immediately! Malelane is 10 hour's away by car which is looooong but so well worth it! Those that went were Boet Sizwe and his wife Sis' Fikile, Bongnkosi, Lihle, Ayanda, Caleb and myself! The Zulu people use "Boet" and "Sis" before the names for respect. We left on Sunday morning at 6 and stayed until Thursday, quite short. We all went to preach at the schools in that area and to invite them to come to the upcoming Youth Conference at Schulzendal Mission. It was such a lovely experience! Most of us had spoken in schools previously but the schools here do not allow you to mention God or Jesus and in Malelane, we could! They were more open to hearing God's Word.

I stayed with 2 other girls and 1 Auntie from the main mission in Kranskop. I really enjoyed my time there! Wow, the people are so dedicated! A team from the main mission also came to speak in the schools, it was many young men from Concerned Community, they have all been delivered from drug abuse and are now Christians, saved and preaching His Word! I woke up at 4 every morning whilst I was there! We left at 6 for the schools but I wanted to shower before the bathrooms got busy!! On Monday, Lihle and I helped around the mission where we could and we also visited the mission school, it is so beautiful! Sis' Makhosi (who is actually from Claridge but moved there in January to teach) took me on a lovely walk around the farm, her little daughter Grace came with. She is 3 years old and so cute! All of us at Claridge really miss Gracie's loud and sweet personality!! That evening, Uncle John Powys (the head of that mission) took a short devotion, it was just what we needed to hear!

We went to the schools everyday whilst we were there but we had to leave early to speak during assembly time. Some of the high schools were writing exams and just gave us a few minutes to speak. On Tuesday, the whole mission went to an outreach open air service, I enjoyed it so much!! You know, in Claridge, it is different. When we go to outreaches in the areas close by, some people are poor but not as poor as in that area so, it was a good experience for us to reach out to them.

On Wednesday, I got to preach!!! The people in that area are not Zulu's, they're Seswati but I heard that the language is quite close to Zulu. So, I preached in English and Lihle translated it into Zulu which they understood. The whole mission was supposed to visit the hospital but a big storm came and we had to cancel it! It got really windy and wet!!! Instead, everybody got together and Uncle John spoke a bit and then handed it over to 3 young men from Concerned Community who gave their testimonies about how Jesus Christ changed their lives. Everyone also said goodbye to us that evening.

A group from the mission school were also leaving at 6 the next morning for a trip, I heard that they were travelling 8 hours away. So, we got to still bid farewell then!!
Ahhhh....we were all quite sad to leave! It was such blessing to be there and also to meet some new friends and see some old ones too!
We were tired when we finally arrived in Claridge! We usually have devotion every evening at the Main house (Bible House) but last night, the 7 of us who went to Malelane spoke about our trip and our time there.

Anyway, there are many photo's that I took of our time at Schulzendal Mission but I can only upload a few! Enjoy!
I think this was a nice long post. ;)

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Our mission's logo.

Sign for Schulzendal Mission

The building where Sis' Makhosi and Grace stay, it's still in renovation.

The pots for cooking during the conference.

The dining hall

The school's jungle gym

Inside one classroom 

In the big learning center

Part of the massive dam there!

Gus the big but friendly dog.

Inside the staff room at the school 

The fields

Blitzy's 4th Birthday :)

Hey everybody, it was Blitzy's "birthday" on the 10th and we baked a cake.....okay, we were also just feeling for cake ;)

I baked it and my Mum did the icing, it was beautiful! It's a checkerboard cake, I saw how it was done a while ago, usually a chocolate and vanilla cake is used but I just made it pink and blue.....a whimsical look for Blitzy. ;)

Here are the photo's, enjoy!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Birthday Celebrations and a Beautiful Restaurant :)

Hi! 

So, today is my Mom's birthday and it is also Tannie Andra's birthday, coincidentally! Yesterday, we had such a lovely day, after church, they served cake and everything was so nice! A few people spoke about both of them and their were two choirs too. :) 

Anyway, later on, we took my Mom out to the Wartburg Hof for dinner! It is such a beautiful place, we used to live in Wartburg when my brother and I were just tiny tots. ;)

This restaurant is also a hotel, I absolutely love the theme of the place. Wartburg is a little German town, it's so quaint, everybody knows everybody and it's now mostly farmers living in that area. Just take a look at the photo's, it has memorabilia from the olden days, like the 1800's. I should've taken more photo's! Oh, there was this really chubby kitty there too! We thought that perhaps she was pregnant but the lady says that she is just fat! Apparently, she eats all the time! Maybe Joshy isn't so greedy afterall! ;)

God bless,

Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Here is a beautiful gift from Oom Peet and Tannie Andra, they sent the card on the right too. I made the card on the left.

This is Malva Pudding with custard and ice-cream. I thought it was a worldwide dessert but I heard recently that it is traditionally South African! Just like Milk Tart is proudly South African. Well, if you haven't tasted this, you're sure missing out!!

My brother's choice of dessert....waffle with syrup and ice-cream. Yum!

My meal, although I couldn't finish it all!!

The chubby kitty! She's really more fat in person!

 Curly at home.

                   This photo is so dark but it is Blitzy sitting at her heater in our hallway and peeping through the fins!

Happy Times, Hot Weather and a Hyperactive Kitten!

Hey, 

I don't have much news at the moment, my studies keep me busy but I got a chance to sneak away now to update you guys. ;) 
Let's see......

Blitzy is using her shelves more than ever now, whenever she is hyperactive, she runs crazily up and down those shelves!! She hasn't been outside for a couple of months now.....shame. You see, my Dad was building the deck and he oiled the timber and we didn't want Blitzy getting her paws messed and also, my Dad wanted to finish it completely then she can go out on her OWN! Yes you heard right, on her own! I mean, Caleb and I won't be here all the time to take her out so, slowly we will introduce her to going out by herself. She would probably be more dependant than Joshy but she would enjoy it thoroughly! 

Oh! Yesterday was Caleb's birthday! The evening before, we had a "braai", that is the South African term for "barbecue". It's actually an Afrikaans word but every South African no matter what color or culture they're from, say braai!!! It is a known thing that South Africans love to bràai! So, we had a huge braai and we invited everybody on the farm! It was such a blessed time together! It was also to celebrate the opening of the deck! We even had the evening devotion on the deck, everybody was looking forward to trying out the deck. I am so thankful for this family of God that we have here at Claridge mission, it is really something special! 

The weather is changing now, Winter is changing into Spring and the flowers are blooming! It is becoming nice and warm. Today is Sunday and so it was church, it was a wonderful sermon that Oom Peet preached. Afterward, my Mom and I just had to give Curly a much needed haircut and bathe! Shame, the poor child was feeling so hot with that thick coat of fur, we hadn't trimmed her in quite a while, which was not good at all. Her fur becomes matted if not brushed regularly and she has to be trimmed often now, it's hard for her to cope with really long fur. 

Okay, Joshy is fine, sleeping most of the time, he loves the deck now! He catches rats and mice from the fields and leaves it outside the window underneath the deck, then, he comes running up the staircase of the deck and meows at the window. When we open the window, he races in, meowing and making those chirpy little sounds, probably telling us how he caught his defenseless victim and how brave he was! ;) Then, when my Dad tells him that he'd better rush back out because someone may steal his prey, perhaps Charcoal, Joshy does just that! He runs back out, down the stairs and seizes his prey! 

Hmmmm.......I guess I did have a lot of news after all! 
Thanks for reading my blog, be blessed!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡ 

Random Photos :)

Here are some photo's :)

I baked some choc-mint muffins, lemon pie cookies and a lemon meringue this weekend!!
My Mom recently sewed new curtains for our dining-room, don't they look lovely?

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

Kenzo

My Mom made us a delicious lunch!

Charcoal on the roof.

Look at Blitzy here :)

Super Cold and Sleepy Kids!

Hey,

It has been so cold here lately!! I don't have much to update you on.... the kids have been very boring these days....just snoozing and sleeping around....
Blitzy will go for her vaccinations on Tuesday.

My Dad is busy building the deck!! It's really looking nice, it is so exciting to see it being built!
Sorry to end off abruptly but here are some photo's for you to enjoy!

God bless you,
Sele'ha Mikhaila


Curly lazing around on the kitchen floor....

 Joshy curled up on my bedding that is about to go into the washing machine!

Blitzy asleep on her own little blankey in my room! She has a Blue Bulls blanket. The Blue Bulls is a famous South African rugby team, we bought this when we still thought Blitz was a male cat! Oops!

Conference Time and a Clever Poodle!

Hi again :)

These few weeks have been really busy!!!
I had a lot of  studying and assignments but it is going very well by God's grace!

It is holiday time here but I still have assignments to complete and send in. :(
The Youth Conference at the main mission in Kranskop began on Sunday, it is for a week. Last year, I got to stay over at this time, it was such a blessed time!
This year, I got to go for one day on Tuesday, it was so nice. Lord willing, we will go again tomorrow. Although, last year I was sharing a room with Katya and now it's so strange to go there and not see her!
We got to spend the day with Renate and we had a lovely time together. To get more info about the Youth Conference,
please click on this link : www.ksb.org.za

It is Winter here and it's quite COLD!!! Little Blitzy is plastered to the heater virtually all the time. She just stops to eat and drink water during the day, at night, I have to put the heater off otherwise she'd be all dry and dehydrated! She doesn't even bother about going out! If she's not at the heater then she's soaking up the sunlight in my room!

Joshy sleeps all day as usual and I can see that he is getting older now, he is roughly 6 years old. I read somewhere that a cat is cosidered a senior after the age of 8 human years so, he's getting there!

Curly has a new friend, I'm not sure if I wrote about Lassie the dog before...? Well, anyway, she comes every day to see Curly...every day. When Lassie arrives, I usually call Curly and she sometimes hides behind the door and just peeps her head out as if to tell me, "Tell her I'm not at home!"
When I look at those puppy dog eyes, I feel so bad to send her away! Curly then comes outside and greets her little friend and leads her to the side of the house. As soon as Lassie follows her, Curly races to the gate to come inside! How clever?!
Though, today, Curly was the one wanting to play with Lassie!! It was as if their roles were reversed!

I really wonder what Sam the turtle is up to! She must be enjoying her HUGE new home!

Anyway,
Thanks for reading!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Here are some photo's (at last!) from my new tablet! Enjoy!

 I baked a Russian Braid a few weeks ago, it has a lot of cinnamon!

 On Sunday, I baked a Cottage Cheesecake with a strawberry topping!

The main mission baked these biscuits and we had them with Renate! She made us some delicious German tea!!