Barn Dance!

This is a very quick 'thank you' post to all who made is possible to hold, and all those who came along to, a fundraising Barndance and BBQ this evening.

The 'Scamping Rogues' were a fantastic band to dance to and the food was excellent. Aside from all the fun that was had, an incredible amount was raised towards our Church Community Project: a huge £331, which was in addition to the £100 given to the band's chosen charity, Novi Most International. Once again we have been blown away by the generosity of those who came along and supported us.

It was also noted just as we finished eating at 9pm that it was exactly one month until our flight will be leaving London Heathrow for Johannesburg... Exciting stuff indeed!

Once again, thanks for all your thoughts, prayer and support as we enter in to the final stages of our preparation and beyond.


Andrew

PS A few photos of the evening have now been uploaded to our Flickr account (see to the right of this blog entry)...

Cake Selling - Palmer Park 10/06/12

Dear all

I thought you might like to know the exact amount we raised yesterday at the cake sale at the East Reading Festival. It was £155.06! This will go to buying resources, either before we go to take out or when we are there.

Very many thanks to those who baked, helped lug stuff around and helped sell on the day. It was lovely selling the cakes as so many people were interested in what we were doing and said what a great thing it was. We even had our picture taken by the paper but not sure which one it was – I suspect reading Post rather than Daily Telegraph!!!!

Thanks again

Carrie

I see that we have had lots of people looking at our blog. It's a shame we can't see who they are or where they all come from.  However, I'm pretty certain that some will be from Spain, so a big 'Hola' to Eva's family in Marin, whenever you have a chance to have a look here!


I am am really looking forward to meeting the animal costumes! Does anyone have another parrot costume we could have so there is a pair to go on the Ark?


We have a few more fund raising events still to come and all the money from these will be going to buy resources either here for us to take to Siyabuswa or to buy when we are there.
They are as follows:


Sunday 10th June:Cake stall at East Reading Festival in Palmer Park


Saturday 23rd June: Barn Dance at Park URC - tickets are available from any of the team members. If you are able to, please come and support us and have a great family evening out.


Saturday 7th July: Craft Stall at Chorlton Park Primary School, Manchester - this is where Eva works and where 3 of our Team A attended school before moving to Reading. The staff there have all been very supportive of our project and we are very grateful to them.


Sunday 15th July: Family Fun Afternoon at Park URC - more info to follow. Contact one of the team if you are interested.


Preparations for the Church Community Project are now in full swing. 
There is an enormous list of things we could do whilst we are in Siyabuswa.
Please pray for us whilst we decide which of these we can do to the best of our abilities and which will have the most positive and lasting impact.


God bless, Suzy x

Animal Costumes for Siyabuswa

I was wondering if any of the team or our supporters have any animal costumes, or suitable clothes for Bible stories they wish to donate? So far we have 4 sheep, a star and a parrot. Please let me know if you can donate?

The idea is that we might be able to take over costumes to help tell Bible stories such as the birth of Jesus, Noah's Ark, The Lost Sheep...

Thank you. 
Jocey

Hello again, 
time for some colour seeing as it's been very dull and grey outside these last few weeks!


During our Orientation Weekend, we sang 'Jesus, all for Jesus' (by Robin Mark) and I couldn't help thinking 'this is our song'.
Perhaps it was just my imagination, but our singing seemed to come together and we were really meaning it.   Then we sang it again this last Sunday at Park URC and I was reminded of that sense of deep prayerfulness, so I decided I would share it with you here.
The words in the second verse, are our prayer for this Church Community Project.


Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.


All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands.
All of my ambitions, hopes and plans
I surrender these into Your hands. 


For it's only in Your will that I am free,
Jesus, all for Jesus,
All I am and have and ever hope to be.


All our ambitions, hopes and plans we surrender into God's hands, so that as we go representing our communities here in Reading, Rugby and Manchester, we will be able to share God's love in the community of Siyabuswa.
May our God of Sun, Rain and Rainbows continue to bless us in our plans and preparations.


Suzy

Photos of Siyabuswa

We've been looking round online and Carrie found that there is a good selection photos on the website of a Basingstoke Primary School:

http://picasaweb.google.com/113155423295902179713?authkey=Gv1sRgCKyDirvn5ciwrQE

The link is that the teacher who took the photos is Neil and Hilary's son.

Rob

Saturday's Sermuncle

Great evening organised by Helen, a mix of Call My Bluff and Would I lie to you? and Balderdash  -  which introduced us to the world of words such as:
Sermuncle - A short sermon by a priest
Horgorble - To wander about aimlessly
Dunky - An alternatively sad and happy musical score
Baronduki - The Siberian squirrel (as featured on Ice Age, the movie).
I think Baronduki was my favourite, not just for the real definition but for Rod's description of the various cross breeds, which led eventually to the cross between a cow and a donkey (something to look out for in South Africa, maybe).

Anyway, the secret of a good sermuncle is to keep it short - so well done teams, well done audience - you were as baffled as us! And well done Helen and Tony and all the great cake bakers - I don't think we'll be hungry when we are away, not with such excellent cooks/chefs!