Uk update

Alright, so I am still in the England and I haven't forgotten about you.

I am working at nando's at the moment as a host. It's alright, Im enjoying it for now. Wouldn't want to do it forever, too much loong hours on my poor sore feet.

Other than that, I am really enjoying England, people complain about the weather, but I rather enjoy it. Not sure for how long though. I managed to spend a day in London, walking around which was FUN, definitely want to do it again.

Anyway just a quick update on my part.

Cheers Mate

My Very Goodly Flight to England

The long awaited day to leave for England came with a sudden rush. One minute I was waiting and the next I was on my way to England.

I managed to find a direct flight with AIR INDIA and much to my surprise there were mostly Indians on the plane :-0 It was a very interesting flight, I somehow got a seat right in front of the main door of the plane. I tried to rest my feet up on it, but they would not allow it, maybe because if I went any closer I might kick the door open. They said if I did that they would kick me off the plane immediately. I couldn't figure that out.

If you ever fly with Air India, I highly recommend you bring your ipod, it was pretty loud back there, felt like I was in a African taxi. I know its really cliche to say that "I had a kid kicking the back of my chair" but OMG this kid wouldn't stop kicking and singing his Bollywood songs.
Normally on the plane they offer you chicken or beef, but this time it was curry or chicken. Both I tried to avoid as much as possible. It would be horrible if I arrived with a friend Mr. D.

So other than that the flight was good, no turbulence and nothing too scary (other than the food).

Upon arrival, I had to go for an x-ray, which I did try to avoid, but without success obviously. Heathrow is huge and I only saw one Terminal, there are four more terminals there plus another bunch of airports in London. I must be honest so far I really enjoy the country. I haven't spoken to many Brits yet, but from what I can tell it seems pretty awesome. Its a big difference to where we were in the USA with open fields and everything big. Everything is small here, I now understand what they mean! If it helps at all, its like being in Observatory (Cape Town) with an New York City twist.

On the way home we stopped by a South African shop!!! Oh man how cool that was. Got some Wors, pronutro and Biltong. All of which I tried the first day. Tonights curry...
I think I have lost my accent a bit, because the guy who ran the shop, had such a thick thick accent that it made me feel out. I'm going to have to work on that. We will see what's going to happen now with the british influence.

Apparently hell is very bloody and alot of people have been there, because that's what everyone seems to be saying.

"Oh! Bloody Hell!"

I'm really excited about letting everyone know everything happening here, so stay tuned, sign up for updates tell your friends and leave you comments.
Talk to you all very soon.

Jonathan

Jono's World @large

Hi Folks

Just a brief update in Jono's World.

We are currently not living in the same house, but a house still in the middle of nowhere. As I'm sure many of you already know, we are applying for visa to the UK. Slow process. If all goes according to plan, I should be applying next week in New York City.

Things have been a bit slower now that our lively hood is in two suit cases again. We are also having withdrawals from lack of internet. At our house (or where we staying) we receive internet in one tiny corner, if we put the laptop on a couch (sofa). Aaahh. That's right you can say that again.

So at the moment of me writing this, I am sitting in a nearby restaurant called Chili's, drinking coke and bottomless chips with salsa. It really is a nice restaurant, not very busy at the moment,but they have a nice atmosphere and wireless. What more could you need? Cute waitresses?

Last weekend, I was at a fair or feit or whatever you want to call it in your country. So be sure to check out a later post on that. I'll even try stick some pics on.

Cheers

The Story Behind It All

It's been quite awhile since I have given an update on whats happening in the Smit world, that's partially because I don't even know what's happening in the Smit world.

As I'm sure you are well aware by now, we are leaving the USA. Our plan was to leave and go to England. Unfortunately things have taken time to get done and we were not able to get there as soon as we would have liked. However, that is still our destination at the moment.
I am applying for a working-holiday, which allows me to work for 12 months in Uk and vacation for 12 months (like I need that right now). After that I am not sure so don't even ask! The rest of my family are going on a Ancestry Visa with intention to reside. Me, being the big boy I am, can't go as a dependent anymore which is the reason for the different visas.

If you have read my recent article on Chiropractic you may have picked up that I have a keen interest in it. Over the past few weeks I have been researching different ways of getting into college in USA. I did manage to find a Chiropractic college in Atlanta that I would be accepted into. However, finances is the biggest problem. Of all around the world, USA is by far the most expensive country to study.

I need to show 36,000 smackers just for the first year. And that's $$$ for those in South Africa. Most people take a loan for their college, but I can't as I am not an American. At least not on paper ;-)

There are partial scholarships, but I need to be accepted before I apply, whew! what a "situation".

This was all a sudden thing as I never thought about it. But it grew on me rather quickly. If I attended Life University in Atlanta, I could graduate in 4.5 years as a Doctor of Chiropractic. Thats DR. John to you!!! I could do my undergraduate (B.S) in exactly the field I want. This all worked on me wanted to go for it. That and the $45 a session. Sounds good. The average Chiropractor makes $70,000 a year.

Along with this I have been trying to find a scholarship (full) for a Christian Uni, but no great luck so far. I'm not sure how everyone else in the world does it, but this is really a tough process. If all else fails I might just make this my job. Help others find a college.

So currently my plan (not very good one) is to go to England for at least 1 year and work part-time, just to be busy if anything. Oh, and make some pounds. Yippidooodah.

But who knows what could open up before or after then.

So here is the breakdown.

• Go to Life University.(usa)
• Go to Christian College. (usa)
• Work England for 2 years (Eng)
• Go back to Sa (Nooo..)

Mmm and thats pretty much it so far. Or maybe a combination. But that's for another day.
I hope that you find this updating. If not, then it was just good for me to write it down. Now I can get it out my head.

Have a lekker awesomess day folks.
Cheers Jono

The Real Chiropractor

Before we start with anything, if you have any personal thoughts about Chiropractic care that has been formed by rumors or past experiences you should remove that train of thought, before you start reading the rest of this article.

For the past couple of months we have been experiencing chiropractic care. However, this is not your regular chiropractor that you would go visit if you have pain. Our chiropractor, Dr. John Madeira, has brought a new train of thought to what I thought being a chiropractor was about.

To explain in short, Dr. John is a wellness chiropractor. These chiropractors believe in a general well being of health and that the spinal column needs to be functioning at it's best that your body is able to heal itself. When I went for my x-rays to see how BAD my spine actually is, I was totally shell shocked. I think I have 3 vertebrae in the correct position. There's no wonder I'm not as good looking as I should be.

By going for regular adjustments, your spine is manipulated back into a position that it should be in. Sounds bad? Well its absolutely not. I recently learned that the nervous system that runs through your spine, can lose its full usage, due to subluxations. It works like a dimmer on a light, the spine out of whack, can cause your brain to not be able to fully send what it needs.

I have been seeing a chiropractor for a few weeks now and I can strongly tell a difference. I hardly have allergy problems and my general health is doing great.

So, I just wanted to let you know that the treatment, although expensive at times, is definitly worth the money. Preventative is better than a cure.

You Know your Country is Bad When...

...your very own president gets robbed. That's right robbed, the president of South Africa was robbed recently. I couldn't actually believe it when I read it, but its true. It seems that the media have sort of kept it on the DL, well at least that I've seen. There hasn't been to much hype about it, maybe it's different in SA?

I did find one article which you can read here.
Apparently they broke into his property in Pretoria, the capitol city, and stole R20-30,ooo of aluminion off the roof. They only find out two days later, Yikes!

This just shows you how craze South Africa is, our own president is robbed. It wouldn't surprise me if it was an inside job. But maybe now they will wake-up and realize the situation at hand.
If the president isn't even protected, how must everyone else feel. Double Yikes.

Now let's turn our attention to the race in America, wow, its really getting interesting. I didn't realize how different the politics were in the different countries. The race for the next president is on and almost over actually. November 5th is the big day.

Keep checking back for my next post on Politics (because everyone is entitled to my biased opinion;-)

My High School Football Experience

Friday night is high school football night, but most of you probably already knew that. Saturday is college and Sunday, well apparently that's the holy day. The NFL.
So here I am Friday night, watching some boys in tights and big heads (should have gone to ballet rather) try to ruff each other up.

I went, well because I got sucked into it and I figured I could put it down as "now I can say I've been there."
We arrive 30 minutes before kick-off and the place is totally packed out. Now I'm not talking about some big or great team, they neither, this is a little towns high-school and the place is packed. I recently heard that at a college game, there were no fewer than 90,000 fans. That is alot of people.

After finding a parking far away, we buy our tickets, four smackers for me, and found our seats in between all the youngsters and oldies. Much to my surprise there weren't many people my age. Go figure.

The Spartans (our team), were able to come back for a brief moment only to be owned in the end by a beastly running quarterback. He made the game somewhat bearable for me. I thought it was tuff watching a game on tv with highlights of the good stuff. Try high school; you don't even get to appreciate the rare good stuff.

The cheerleaders weren't so hot (good ;-)) either. Definitely not what they show in the movies!!!
I did, however, grow in appreciation for the band, they weren't great but sure did a better job than me. Probably the most entertaining part of the eve. Oh wait, there was that one time when...mmm

Those fries (chips) were so goood. At least on an empty stomach they were.
Overall it was a pretty good evening, I wouldn't choose to do it again for fun, but at least I can say I went to a footsie game, ah I mean football game.

Obviously you can tell that I'm not a big football fan, sorry still got to get used to it. Super bowl is fun though. GO SPRINGBOKS!

Meet The Amish

It's funny how so many different people believe so many different things. Some good and others well, let's just leave it at that.

Before I met some friends in South Africa, that were from Lancaster, I had never heard of the Amish.

Who are they?
What are they?
Why do they think the way they do?

For those of you who don't know, Amish is a religion, a culture and a way of life that is very far from everyone else.

What they do not believe?
The Amish do not believe in the progression of technology, they are still living according to way back when.

They drive around in buggies with steel wheels (rubber is part of technology) pulled by a cart horse. It's very funny for someone not from Lancaster county to see them. I can only imagine how they must feel with all the stares they get.

I just thought I'd let you know what we see every time we leave our house. Um, nevermind I don't even need to leave to see them fly past at deathly slow speeds up the hill.

Jono

Who are the Greatest Athletes Ever

Since all the magic of the Olympics is happening with Phelps breaking World Records and what else, I thought I should at least say something about it. After all it will probably be talked about for generations after us. We are living in the time of the greatest athletes that have walked on the face of the earth.

A Jamaican guy, Bolt, just broke the world record for 100m sprint. He did this with such ease, that he was celebrating 15m before the finish line. Who can say they have seen that before? Not me.

Here are some of the athletes that I think have changed the face of sport as we have known it and stepped in up a level, with an unanswered reply.

Michael Phelps-Swimming-Usa
This is just an obvious one. It's all over the news, The Greatest Olympian Ever. You could debate and say that it's easier to win 8 Golds in swimming than any other event. But then answer this. How come no other swimmer is doing it?
Winning 8 Golds-8 Olympic records- 7 world records-and most Golds won at a single Olympics ever. This is no small achievement and I have a feeling it might take awhile to beat that, unless he does it next Olympics. You can read my Ezine Article on Phelps, here.

Tiger Woods-Golf-Usa
There is just no better golfer in my opinion. He plays where he wants, he wins where he wants and he earns what he wants. Can you have more control in the sporting world than that. I read the other day that he is now the highest paid sports man ever. Imagine that!

Lance Armstrong-Cycling-Usa
Winning one of the toughest race so many times in a row. Folks that's not normal, thats machine like. His heart rate proves it. It's way way way below anyone that I know. The other thing about Lance is the way he came back after cancer. It was amazing to see his passion and purpose to live.

Michael Jordan-Basketball-Usa
He was good, so true , but what I like about him is the way he projected himself to the world. I am sure there are basketball players better than him, but none are remembered quite like him. Ever thought about that? He was brilliant on and off the field. The way he made people remember him shows me how much character he had/has.

Michael Schumacher-Formula Racing-Germany
In my opinion the greatest F1 racer ever. He turned the Ferrari F1 team around, leading them to wins over and over again. I watched one race where he was last, a lap behind, and he just came back amazingly to win. His ability to read the sport and know what to do was astonishing.

Francois Pienaar/John Smit-Rugby-South Africa
These two you might not know, but they were/are captains of the South African Rugby team. The thing I like about these two is that they have tremendous leadership ability. They both lead South Africa to the rugby world cup.

Ronaldinho-Soccer-Brazil
This man no matter when you see him is always smiling. His sincere love for the game is what takes him the distance. Oh and a ton of skill.

We can make the perfect athlete with a combination of:
Phelps hard work, raw talent and smashing records.
Tiger Woods money.
Lance Armstrong's determination
Michael Jordan's personal relations
Michael Schumacher's ability to read situations and know what to do.
Francois and John's leadership
Ronaldinho's attitude and love for sport.

And there you have it the perfect athlete.
Or I could have just said: "ME"
;-)

Your Advice Counts

As I mentioned in my earlier post, 24 hours, you will see how quickly things can change. As of right now, I think our plan has changed a numerous times. I actually don't even know how many times. We need to make some decisions on which country we going to, when and how, since we leaving the USA.

By just speaking to one person we learn something new and find something else that we need to do. I just want to emphasize on this point quickly. Seeking the wisdom of many or few. This is such a vast topic, but I just want to briefly point out some things.

Is it better to seek advice from many or few?
I think this is solely dependent on what it is for. In some situations it would be self-suicide to ask everyone you know. Your head will be in a dismal, much like mine is now. The thing to understand is that everyone has an opinion about everything. Yes, that includes me and you. There is nothing wrong with our opinion, but in recent discovery your little opinion affects someone else. It doesn't just end by you in influences those around you.

I would "think" that in my case we need to get as much knowledge about the situation as possible. Hence asking everyone. But this causes confusion and changing of plans in 24 hours. Also by talking to many people, they become aware of the situation and help can be given.

Just something to think about. It sure was for me. I appreciate people's opinions and I know it helps me. Sometimes by seeking help of others, you are rewarded with something. Whether it be advice, personal help, open doors or them seeing something you didn't, it just stresses the point that we need people, friends and family.

A Make-Over

Welcome to the new jonathansmit.blogspot.com blog. If you are a regular reader and reading this in your email, then make your way over to the actual site. You will have noticed that it has had a drastic make-over. I think it looks much better than it did, but it's not what I think but what you think?

I'm going to be advertising my blog on a much bigger scale now and increase my readership.Over the past few months it has grown so much already and a special thanks to everyone for their support. I really hope you keep coming back to see what's happening ;)

You are welcome to tell your friends and family about it and advertise it for me if you feel so inclined. None of this would be possible if I didn't have your support.

Please don't forget to sign up to receive the latest posts right in your email, that way you don't have to keep checking back. I know you very busy and wouldn't want to waste your time. Just enter your email in the box on the right.

Have a super cool day
Cheers Jonathan

Hippy Happy Birfday

Before you ask if it felt any different waking up to be 2o, let me answer it.
It was totally totally different, I could feel like 20, not 19 anymore. (Sarcasm)
Nah! I pretty much feel the same OLD same Old. Nothing to much new, It was however one of the best birthdays I've had, for obvious reasons.

I of coarse had to use my free Shady Maple birthday ticket, so I went for breakfast with my bro and his friend. Ate myself into 20. For those who don't know, Shady Maple is the biggest smorgasbord or buffet you will ever see. There is so much food is scary, literally. There must have been at least 500-600 people there that day.

I then spoke to one of my best friends on skype (thanks bro) for a bit and my grandparents who waited up late to talk to me. Thanks to them, but I doubt they read my blog (not sure if they even have email, but I love them anyway)

RED LOBSTER- name ring a bell? Jup that was dinner, very good I must say. Although I don't like the fact that most seafood places in the USA don't do calamari, which is very upsetting as I love it. Here it's prawns this and prawns that, maybe some crab or fish, but prawns apparently is the thing. So we did prawns.

I'll have to post some pics for you guys to check out, just need to put it on the computer still.

Update on applying for UK holiday working visa for me:
Went to the DR today for physical check-up and I'm good health. And the lawyer said I can apply from the usa, which is conformation. Now just a few more things to get to gether and I can go apply.

Thanks for your prayers they seem to be working.

p.s thanks for those who wished me on facebook. Grrr to those who didn't
Cheers
Jonathan, Jon, Jono or whatever else they call me.

A Time to Leave America

It feels like its been at least 2 weeks since you last heard from me, very bad on my part. I'm going to have to pick this up. The past 2-3 weeks has been the most intense, life-altering, mind boggling and overwhelming time of my life.

To give you an update if you don't already know:

Monday two weeks ago, we spoke to a lawyer about our visa situation in the USA. We were and are under a ministry that have/is closing down, therefore we need to change our visa to another organization. In order to do so we need to leave the USA to apply. The only problem is that we don't have any sponsors here to come back. Not to many organizations are willing to commit to it.

So in a long story cut relatively short, we have received, made and exchanged phone calls with lawyers and people. It's surprising we haven't spoken to the president yet! Our current plan (it changes daily) is to go straight to the UK, since we sort of want to avoid living the rest of our lives in South Africa. Please don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the country, but if we had to go back, we would probably end up in no mans land. There is nothing to offer us there at the moment. As much as you think it would be fun, I am not working at mugg&bean. My last try at that lasted 2 days, before I quit

My great- grandfather was born in England, so my dad and the rest of the family can get in on Ancestry visa. I, however am too old. Turned 20 yesterday. Whoopi! I am going to apply for a 2 year working holiday visa for the UK. The only problem with this is that both visas must be applied for in the next 2 months. The UK is changing its laws and this is our last opportunity to get in.

Alot of things are still in the air though, nothing is for sure, which is not how I like to work, but hey what can you do. I'm hopefully going to apply in the next week or two then I'll be on my way, should I be accepted. It's really amazing how God works, either He is opening one door and closing another. Or we are way off track, lets hope its the first one.

I'm sure this is news to some of you and some not. It most definitely was to us. I think my last post would make a bit more sense now. Good news is I would be closer to my friends in Holland.
If you guys have any questions I'll try to answer. Keep us in your prayers as this is pretty stressful times. Normally people plan for years what we trying to accomplish in 1 month.

24 Hours

If we could have 10 bucks for every time our life has changed in 24 hours, we would be very rich people. I'm sure it's the same for you too. One moment you know what's happening, know where you are and know where you are headed. Suddenly, one phone call or one meeting can change your life forever.

So why do we plan or think ahead? I asked myself this quite a bit. Especially since I'm someone who likes to know what's happening in my life (something I haven't known for awhile). I like to be sure of where I am and what I'm going to be doing. We plan for life A; one phone call and you faced with option B. BAM! Life changes.

Sometimes we don't know what B is, while we in A so how can we plan for it. The sad fact is that we can't. It's just not possible to know what we will be faced with everyday of our lives. Every decision we make today could effect the tomorrow, which is pretty scary to think of it.

I think we plan because if we didn't we would be stagnant and dead. By planning and thinking of the future it drives us on to something more. Fact is we may not achieve what we want, the way we want it. Maybe a different way, maybe God's way.

I tend to sometimes, okay, most of the time, start blaming in these situation. Of coarse it always is someone's fault, but maybe that's the way God worked it for us. He knows the future and knows that maybe we need a life change, probably we do. However, the blame is still there, I guess that's what comes from those who are being used by God. Something to think about, hey.

Hope you have a great day folks. Keep us in prayers.
Jono

Family Forever

Hey Friends and Family
How are you all doing? I sometimes feel like this is a one way conversation, since I'm always (okay...should be always) writing, but I never know how my readers are doing? So let me know in the comments.

Since I'm mentioning family, I just want to let my family members back in South Africa know that I really really miss them. I think this is one of the toughest things about moving to a new country. There is no family. Now I know you saying you have your immediate family there, which I'm grateful for, but sometimes you need to see other family.

The thing about your family is that they will love you all the time, people that you can just be with. They say you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. I would choose the family I have any day. I miss you guys stacks.

For the rest of my readers. Check out my site at www.betterrelationshipbuilder.com and I'll be sure to write soon on what's happening in the Craze world of uhm... wherever I am.

Batman! A Smashing Hit.

Hey hey everyone.
Hope you had a great weekend? I did, it's been really warm the past few days, which has been very nice. We have a portable pool that has a leak so it's about a foot deep(30cm) in the deep end. I spent a good part of the day just laying in it enjoying the "scenery." In case you don't understand what I mean by scenery, I mean cows on one side and corn fields on the other, which by the way are above my head now. Just so you know!

Anyway on Friday I went to the movies with some friends. Batman. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it as a brilliant movie. Dark Night set a record overtaking Spider-Man for highest box office in opening weekend, making 155.34 Million. You can read more here.

Dark Night was a intense, on the edge nail-biting movie with plenty twists, that I'm sure the guys will enjoy. Yet there is no blood (at least not shown anyway). As Heath Ledgers last movie I would say he went off with a bang. He made Batman's role look amateur.



On another note, our ministry website is doing very well, averaging 15-20 hits a day. You can check it out here.

Also you can check out my our newest blog on relationship compatibility.

Tick Tick... Time Flies By, But It's Not The Only Thing.

July 17! Wow, if you don't keep track of the days, you get a shock when you do. Ever since I've been in America, the days seem to run into each other. The week feels like weekend, the weekend feels like holiday. It's been interesting. This is mainly because I haven't had any set schedule to keep.

At times I like this and other times it's a real test. However the past few months have been very good, especially the past 2 weeks. I've been pretty busy (which is why you haven't heard from me). As you know I have been studying the web, focusing on Internet marketing and blogging.
As of know I have 4 small personal blogs, some of which has brought in a little bit of money, and I'm designing 3 or 4 big ones for different people. This takes alot of time. So my days are pretty much full at the moment. The latest weblog is about Relationships, I am working on this one with my dad and will be available for you to see soon.

Now! That's for time, BUT we have something else that has been flying by. Sent by Satan himself to torment us-FLIES. That's right hundreds of them buzzing around the house. We were warned of this, but honestly I didn't expect it to be quite this bad.

• Early risers:They wake me up at 5am
• No respect: Mate right in front of everyone!
• Share: They think we share meals and drinks

I say you can't even curse them, because by the time thats done they dead and you then have to deal with their children. Every now and again, someone will get very irritated, bring out the can and fumigate the house, much to Moms disagreement.

Nonetheless live goes on in Lancaster County, with the cows, corn and now flies.

Cheers Jonathan

South African Slang

It feels like it's been awhile since I last posted, so I thought I'd give you a really interesting funny post. Not that my other ones aren't... but this one is a special comparison between America and South Africa.

Since I've been in the States I've been asked a number of times "What are some of the slang words you use in South Africa?" For those of you living in South Africa you would quickly be able to answer that, because you use the words everyday. BUT for me when I'm alone and someone asks, I can't think of any! The ones that I do managed to stumble out my mouth are literally impossible to explain.
For those Americans who have asked and not got a answer here are a bunch.
For the South Africans, be proud of your slang, it totally rocks.

Ag man!- This is used when you frustrated or dissappointed in something. The translation would be Oh man.

Aweh!- No English translation, but the closest thing would be Oh Yeah.

Bokkie- Refering to someone you love, like sweetheart.

Bru- Like bro, a male friend.

Dinges- Something, whatchamacallit, thingymabob.

Dof- Stupid

Dorpie- Small Town, we live in a very very very small dorpie now!

Eina!- Ouch

Ja. - Yes

Laaitie- A younger person

Mielie- Corn

Moegoe- This is referred to alot by my family as no one knows what it means here. Someone who is being stupid, irritating, coward or weakling.

Naartjie- Tangerine, also another name for moegoe.

Skrik- to get a fright

Vrot- rotten, like a fruit.

Lekker- This is one of my favourite/favorite. It can be used in many places.

• This food is lekker.
• The weather is lekker.
• That's a lekker blog.
• That was a lekker game.
• I'm lekker full.
• Rugby is lekker.

I think you get the drift.

Braai- a real barbeque

For more South African slang click here. Most of these words are Afrikaans which is one of South Africas official languages. We have 11! Some others are from Xhosa, and yes this is the language with the click.

If you still in SA and can think of some that I haven't mentioned, please feel free to let me know in the comments. I need to be reminded. Also you can sign-up to receive notices of when I make a post.

Cheers, have a awesome day!
Jonathan

July 4th

Well Well, Can you believe it? We are in July already. I've now been in PA over 5 months, which seems actually like 5 days. This past year has really gone very fast. As I'm sure you know tomorrow is July 4th, so congratulations to all the Americans (you do congratulate don't you?) including those that aren't in the states!

Hopefully I'll go somewhere to see some fireworks, anyone know a good spot? Last year I was in Vermont and it rained so no fireworks, Im hoping it doesn't rain again.

I thought I'd just leave you with some pics off the last few weeks. BTW, thanks for all your comments and congratulations on me being here one year. You guys make it worth hanging around.

(Above)Wesley playing during praise and worship at feet on the street.

(Below) Worship during our conference.

Sitting around a dying fire at camp

Have a great day!

Cheers

Youth On Fire!

Hi All

I'm back after an amazing week at a youth camp. I was a group leader of a few youth from feet on the street in Reading. The boot-camp took place in Reading, Pa and was focused on evangelism. We did outreaches into Reading everyday, as well as work projects cleaning up the area. If you drive through Reading in the next few days, chances are you will see something we painted.

God did amazing things both for the kids and for myself. Many of them had never prayed for someone or witnessed to someone, but by the end of the camp I had to tell them to hurry up otherwise we would be late. Can you picture that? Youth that are so on fire for God that they would stop and pray for everyone they see? It was awesome to witness and be a part of.

Thursday night , the night of nights, was an experience I have not had before, or at least for awhile. I was part of a prayer anointing line, just praying for people like I normally do. However, something changed and I began to pray like I have not prayed before. Between us, I think God took me to another level in the spiritual realm. Which was a surprise to me, because I'm the last person who deserves it. Nonetheless, somethings are changing and I feel I have so much more direction and clarity for my life right now.

I'm really really REALLY excited about the future, for no reason in particular, just because.

1. Worship
2. Prayer

Remember these two things, it's what will change the world. Notice change not Challenge.

Just when you think it's over, God says now let's begin.

Just For Laughs

Before I go, I thought I'd leave you with something to laugh about. I think these are really funny.

1. Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
2. Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?
3. Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?
4. Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?
5. Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
6. Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
7. Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
8. Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
9. Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
10. Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
11. You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?
12. Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
13. Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
14. Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
15. If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
16. If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

I particularly like number 9. You can check out more jokes at http://www.gpsa.com/

cheers for now

Catch-up

Well well, it most definitely been awhile since I last posted anything. My apologies.

As I mentioned earlier, we had our camp and it went really well. We experienced different kinds of weather including monstrous thunder. Needless to say, most of the tents flooded and we ended up sleeping inside. But it was an all around good camp. We then had a conference at feet on the street, which also went well. We had a good number of people show and the praise and worship was awesome. Our worship team includes do a really great job. Thanks guys.

Other than that not to much has been happening. I'm going to work at a summer camp this week so I'll be away for awhile again. Sorry guys, I know you miss me!!!

Work hard, chat you you guys soon.

Church Camping

It's time... the weather is good, the land is ready (sort of) and the tents are backed.

We are having our first camp this summer. It will be part of The Enoch House so it's not a fun camp, but rather a camp with purpose. Although camps are always fun. As you may know we used to do alot of camping with our church in South Africa and we saw great benefits from that. We would like to get back into that. Perhaps not quite as much, but in that direction.

The camp will take place this weekend, as in tomorrow, at some friends property very far from my house. We hardly even have the basics for camping, but we have a fireplace, tent and chairs which is all we need.

On Sun, Mon and Tues night we will be having a conference right after the camp at feet on the street. You can read all about it at the other site.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how it goes.

As I told you I've been studying internet stuff, I started a site about swimming flippers as one of my niche sites. It's searched over 200 times a day. Today I checked and I'm ranked number two in Yahoo for the word. Nothing for google YET, but I'm really excited about it.

Hope you have a super rad weekend

cheers

JONO

One Year In The States

Yesterday, was the day. I have been in the USA for one full year now. And I didn't even get any gifts. It's been a very eventful year, so I thought I might share a brief outline of what has happened.

One year ago I left for Florida, expected one thing and was met with another. Those few months there was a very trying time for as I couldn't do anything. Nothing at all! And that's pretty much it. Although it wasn't all bad. I made some good friends down in Jax. I can say I lived in Florida, not many can say that. I was able to go jet-skiing, visit disney world and be in extreme heat that I have never felt before.

During this time, I was able to fly to Vermont for a conference, drive down to PA, drive back to Vermont, then back to PA to fly home. Long hey.

After some deliberation we decided to move to PA, who knows why? Me! Anyway, here expectations didn't go as planned again, but somehow things have worked itself out, finally.
Since I've been in PA, I have been to NYC 3 times, seen a broadway show and two sight and sound shows. I was able to drive (jup me) from Jax to PA twice. I even got the chance to see snow and go sledding. I have a few good friends up here, I even met someone special;)

I have been to a total of 12 states and two countries, which I am very grateful for.
Some days have been boring and some jam packed, it's been a rollercoaster ride, I don't want to do again, but somehow think it might.
I am still not allowed to work, but I am studying online. We even have purpose now with the church. We are doing our first camp and conference two weeks.

So all this to say, I am grateful for everything that I've done this year, all the people I met (good and bad) and the things I've accomplished (not to much).
I look forward to many more years with you AMERICA. We shall have fun...

Our New Website

Website building. It's definitely not very easy and takes a lot of time, but I have enjoyed doing it over the past few weeks. Learning various things about it, I still only know very little.
As you may know, I have been working on one for the Church Organization we starting. It's called The Enoch House. Just click it and it will take you right there!

The website is still a work in progress, but it better to launch it than leave it to work on forever. Me, being a perfectionist to a degree, would never get a website launched.

www.theenochhouse.org

Church Gone Way Wrong

300,000 the first service!
Over 2,000,000 members now. Is it really possible?

Well, it is been done. CHURCH OF OPRAH is going strong. But is it really church.

Let's watch this you tube and then decide. Click Here.


1) Jesus is the ONLY way, I strongly believe this point.

2)God is not jealous of us. Why on earth would He be!!! Most of our lives aren't what we want it to be anyway, so why would He want it. He gets jealous when we serve other god's instead of Him.

That's just some points, all in all, I think it sucks. Totally not Christian. Not enough to get me to go to that church. What's your thoughts???

The Undiscovered Tribe...Seriously!

I came across this article in the news this morning and I found it very interesting.

Have a good look at that picture. Those guys must have had the shock of their lives.

"Is it a bird, is it a plane? No it's superman."

I highly doubt this was going through their minds,when the plane flew over. It looks like they have their two best warriors ready for battle, with the old witch doctor in the back ready to say some garbage.

Looking at the picure, I now know why they call them the red Indians, because they red. DUH.

Exept that one guy in the back who was in the sun a little bit more than the red (sunburnt) guys.

He is now charcoal.

The funny thing is that we are not much different from them, sure we don't wear loin clothes or shoot arrows (although some people do), but we are similar in other ways. We live in our own little world just like them. Some people more than others, but everyone has their own world. We get so caught up in it, that when someone else comes along, we treat them different. Simply, because they are not from our familiar world.

I have noticed this especially in the smaller towns of America, where I am from to be exact. People tend to have a village mentality, which is not bad, it just is that way. It's the way we have been brought up, it's our culture, its our LIFE. We tend to get comfortable and happy with our circle in the middle of nowhere. We THINK that it is somewhere or something, just like the these fellows. But just as we realise that they are nowhere and have nothing (they might fight that point), we are exactly the same. We in reality are in our little world, with our few friends, but we would fight the fact that it's something. It's just our little world that we want to believe is alot, but there is so much more than our world.

Our world is not bad, we need our own little world otherwise we seriously would have zippo.

I'm happy in my world, you should be too. However, never get to the place were you are comfortable or you don't want people to come and go from your world.

Have a great weekend!!!

Oh, That's Sneaky

Six, Five, Four, Three, Two! Oops, I think I'm going just a little bit to fast, but still only 4 days left until summer is officially here. Then I guess the humidity starts coming, which will be interesting. The weather today is absolutely perfect, warm but not stuffy.

Today, I was at the Wal-mart looking at buying some strawberries. I think they were priced at about $3 a container, a reasonable price, but we stilled turned it down. Now, if you not familiar with Lancaster county, you wouldn't know that in summer there are stores on the side of the road were you can buy fruit and veg. So this is me telling you that there are.

On the way home, we come across one of these Amish/Mennonite stores (not sure which one, they all look the same) selling strawberries. Us, not being from the area, have never bought from these stores, first time for everything right!
$5 for the same size container! Fair enough, it's probably home grown, organic and they are much Larger.

Needless to say, we absolutely punish the first few (BIG ONES) in the first few seconds, well I did at least. I have a look later and after the BIG ONES are gone, hidden away, are these tiny little strawberries. I have to admit that they were the best strawberries I have ever had, but do not be deceived by the Amish/Mennonite.

Although their culture and religion keeps them separate from the "world", they are by no means ignorant to marketing strategies.In fact, they even had a drive through part of their little wooden store. Only America!!! We live in the marketing country of the world, without marketing your product ends up.... well actually it ends down, way down.

Moral of the story, we all need to market what we have, otherwise no one will ever know what we have.

Later this week I will be doing a post on a internet church like no other and why it's so wrong.
Sign up on the right to receive a notification of when it will be published.

I've been diagnosed with...

I've been suffering with a rare disease over the past few years and I could never figure out what it really was. Well, yesterday after speaking to some very qualified doctors (a TV commercial), I now know what I have. I'm suffering from flavour amnesia. I know you may not have heard of this, but it really does exist.

"Too much chicken and not enough meat." Said Dr. TV

That's when it hit, I have flavour amnesia!!! I need to be eating more manly meat and not so much healthy chicken. At the moment, my mom is on a healthy, organic eat special ugly foods phase. Where's the meat? I think I need to start breeding organic cows. Wouldn't know how though.

This brings on another point that I just remembered about America. Everyone that has traveled to Europe would heartily agree with me. AMERICAN CHEESE STINKS. There is nothing better than some European cheese with some good baked bread. Not the kind you find in wal-mart, which I'm pretty sure was made about a week before you bought it. If you have never tried a American cheese, save yourself, don't! Rather buy a plastic toy and chew that. It has the same results on your inside.

Have a great week and stay away from the bad cheese

Music

I'm sure you notice the new feature to my blog, the MUSIC. I thought I'd just show you two songs a really enjoy listening to. I think that music plays a big in your emotions, both in creating a sad emotion and in bringing you out of one.

The first song is called "Cinderella" and was written by Steven Curtis Chapman. He wrote it because he saw his daughter lying in bed one day and realized that she was growing older. A few days ago I found out that his daughter had just died in a car accident. I can't imagine how he must feel now.

The second song "Frontline" by Pillar is extremely encouraging to me. When I totally feel like giving up, I play this song and reminds me to just hang in there. There is a prize in the end. This happens on a regular basis, sometimes daily. In actual fact, a few months ago I listened to that song about 20 times non-stop. Talk about feeling like giving up, hey!

Hope you like them.

Weekend

Friday is here! I'm sure you have waited all week to hear that, so I though I might just throw it in. It has been a good week for me, I have learned a good few things this week about websites. I even had a brainwave on what I'm going to start my first website about, I just need some money to get it started.

We are in the process of launching three different sites, two for ministry purpose and one for visiting Greece. You are definitely going to have to check that one out when it's up and running. Looks like you need a vacation!

As for my running career, I think it's over, since I'm sitting here typing with a ice-pack on it. I'm very upset about this. This is the one sport (activity) that you can do in the farmlands.

The Xenophobia attacks in South Africa have gotten worse over the past few days. It has now spread to other cities in South Africa including Cape Town. The blame is being placed on the government at the moment, who only recently have brought it military troups to aid in stopping the attacks.

Have a smashing weekend!

Whats Xenophobia?

I spoke to a friend on skype today and learned some interesting news of what's happening in South Africa. He mentioned the word "Xenophobia", what on earth is that? Some disease or outbreak? I had seen the word before in the news recently, but thought nothing of it, probably because it sounded to big. It is actually a phobia (fear) or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people. The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.

In South Africa's case it is the black South Africans not liking or fearing the blacks from other countries coming into South Africa illegally. In recent years, 2-4 million Zimbabweans have come into SA, this is a quarter of Zimbabwe's population. This is probably the result of Mugabe's(president of Zim) work in the country. I would probably want to run away from my country as well (look at me talking, sitting in America)! BUT I didn't run away from my country and I am legal, just to justify my case.

There has been several of these attacks in the poorer parts of Johannesburg, resulting in death. I'm pretty sure its in the squatter camps. I'm not taking sides on either one of theses, but if I had view the mindset of each group of people, I can understand where they coming from. The South Africans don't want people there illegally, because this is the main source of drugs and violence.If they absolutely have to come in, can't they just leave the drugs back in their country? I wonder how the country would look with no illegals. A better country or just the same? I really don't know.
Now, on the other hand, we have people trying to get into South Africa, because it's the land of gold for them. As I mentioned earlier, they are trying to get out of their countries, which are in often worse shape. Although, I don't think worse in crime sense. South Africa is ranked in the top 3 most violent countries in Africa, this includes the ones at war!

Just a quick look at what's going on back in SA, hope you enjoy!
Feel free to leave me a post to let me know what you think and keep on eye out for a reply post.
Also, don't forget you can sign up to receive a notification of my latest posts.

Internet learning

Whew, there goes another weekend, it totally flew by. It came and went along with the rain. It's amazing how it only rains on the weekend. It comes, makes my grass grow 5 inches longer, laughs at me and then leaves. I guess tomorrow I'm going to have to be out in the garden again, doing my "favourite thing." MOWING!

Yesterday was fun though, had a good run in the rain. Totally ruined my knee (old soccer injury), hopefully will be able to recover in a week for another run.

Last night I was out in Reading with the church that we planting, it's going pretty well. My brother, Wesley is playing guitar, very well might I add and Dad's preaching up a storm as usual. We are just under 20 people at the moment and this is only the first few weeks. Who knows what could happen? GOD?

I've been asked a few times what I do all day, so I thought I'd share a little bit with you. Since Im not allowed to have a JOB in the country at the moment and studying is so expensive in America. Mmm... that could make a good post someday. Anyway, I've gone to what I know I can do. Study online. Everyday I work and research things online, at the moment I'm focusing on SEO which stand for search engine optimization. This is making your website or blog rank in the top of a search engine, when googled by someone. Sound easy? NOT SO! I'm learning to take a keyword and build a business around it. I might not have any webites yet, besides the one you reading, but when I do get going, I'll know what to do. Would You?
This along with building a website and adding important things to it could have the potential to make you alot of money. It's a work in progress.

You should check out the new feature I've added to my blog, "Where you from?"

Hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you soon.

Strange Ads

It was just the other day that I realized something that I had forgotten. The last few months in South Africa, I didn't have a TV, so obviously no watching. Then when I arrived in the USA, I had some catch up to do. It's a teenagers duty to know what's on tv!

Anyway, while watching, we noticed something about the commercials. Now, I know both countries play the same ones over and over again. But these ones are different, I've never seen so many commercials advertising sicknesses and diseases.
"If you have these symptoms, you could have this disease. Therefore you need to take this medicine, of which the side effects could give you this other disease. "
And so the story goes on and on and on. This was very funny for us to watch (only in the beginning, now it's boring). Why would you advertise these things on tv? How many people are there out there that actually have that weird disease, which no one has ever heard of? It's not even like these commercials are short either, they the longest of them all.

This kind of makes me think, this is all fear that they are putting in people's minds. I'm sure it must leave some thinking, I had a pain in my left side last week, maybe I have a disease.

Sign up

If you haven't noticed, on the right side, you can sign up and receive notifications of when I make a new post. That way you know when there is something interesting for you to read about me. This took me about a day to figure out, so please take advantage of it!

Mother's Weekend

I trust all the Mothers had a good day yesterday! Did you get spoiled? We went to Hershey Farm for breakfast, which is a breakfast buffet, very good. And, of coarse we ate too much. It was such a sacrifice to go, but I was willing ;)

Saturday, I listened online to the radio in South Africa and guess what was on? That's right Stormers Versus Waratahs. For those of you who don't know, these are rugby teams, the former being the one I support. The game resulted in a draw, but Stormers still stand a chance of making it to the semis. It would be the first time in a very long time.

When I was back in SA, during BibleSchool, I would go often on Saturday's with friends to watch games at "restaraunts". Even though I don't think the ladies always wanted to watch, Im still glad they came. Miss you girls!!! I think they just wanted to get out the house. I did!

Mugg&Bean VS. Starbucks

In South Africa we have this coffee shop called Mugg&Bean, while in America we have Starbucks. It's very difficult to compare the two, since they cater to different people groups.
M&B is a place where you go to in a mall and sit down, order your coffee and watch people go by.
While Starbucks is a on-the-go, wake-me-up coffee take away. Starbucks offer far more variety in drinks and coffees, but you don't have the luxury of being served at a table. Although the seats aren't always the most comfortable at M&B, they do offer alot more than coffee. They have a fairly wide variety of foods and desserts.

In SA (especially Cape Town) it is alot more relaxed and slower than America. It's normal to have to wait forever in a restaraunt for your meal. There is just no point in rushing. We would go to the mall to hang out for awhile, watch a movie and have dinner all in the same place. The drive to this place was 10 minutes away.
Now in Lancaster county, it feels like it takes 30 minutes to leave our road, the restaraunt is a diner (nah, not always) and the movie house is in between 10 farms.

It's been a big adjustment driving in America compared to South Africa. If we wanted to go to the other side of town (30 min away), it was a big deal you hardly ever did that. You just stayed in your suburb for the most part, which was the northern suburbs in my case. Now, it's really nothing to travel to 30- 45 minutes to find something to do.

A little humour

I came across this website a few months ago, they really have some brilliant stuff. You might not understand it if you have never been there. Have fun anyway though.

It's great to be a Souf Efrikan...
This is a great country because .......
1. You can eat half dried meat and not be considered disgusting.
2. Nothing is your fault, you can blame it all on apartheid.
3. You get to buy a new car every 3 months and the insurance company even pays for it.
4. You can experience kak service in eleven official languages.
5. Where else can you get oranges with 45% alcohol content at rugby matches?
6. It's the only country in the world where striking workers show how angry they are by dancing.
7. You're considered clumsy if you cannot: use a cellphone (without car kit), change CDs, drink a beer, put on make-up, read the newspaper and smoke, all at the same time while driving a car at 160 kph on the highway.
8. Great accent. (!!!)
9. If you live in Johannesburg, you get to brag about living in the most dangerous city in the world.
10. Burglar bars become a feature, and a great selling point for your house.
11. You can decorate your garden walls with barbed wire.
12. The police are the first on the scene for most major crimes, without being called.
13. Votes have to be recounted until the right party wins.
14. Illegal immigrants leave the country because the crime rate is too high.
15. The police ask you if they must follow up on the burglary you've just reported.
16. When a murderer gets a 6 month sentence and a pirate TV viewer 2 years.
17. The prisoners strike and get to vote in elections!
18. The police stations have panic buttons to call armed response when they are burgled
19. Police cars are fitted with immobilisers and gearlocks!
Ja nee!! Dis baie lekker hier!!

Grass on steroids

Seriously, what does this grass grow on? I just mowed the lawn and I can already hear my mother telling me to go mow it. It's amazing how in America the grass does not grow a inch in winter, not even Florida. But in Summer, whew, it catches up very quickly for the rest of the year.

I'm thinking that maybe all this fresh air and cow poop might be playing a role on my back breaking work with my wonderful push lawnmower. A ride on mower looks like a good investment at this time.
At least I'm getting tan.

President or Prisoner?

Elections in the USA is not the only political conflict going on now, back in South Africa we have this wonderfully crazy man (if you can call him that). Jacob Zuma. This man was the deputy president of South Africa not to long ago before being fired. This was do to not so false allegations of corruption and rape. He was found not guilty on the charges of rape alone, I'm still not so convinced though.

He is now currently president of the ANC, South Africa's leading party. Zuma has more influence at this point in the party than the actual South African President, who is ANC. Zuma at one pointed said that the current president should no longer be in that position, as he was no longer the president of the ANC party.

Trials are coming up in a few months on Zuma's corruption allegations. So to keep it simple, if he loses and proved guilty of corruption he ends up in jail. However, if he wins, he becomes South Africa's next president.

Just the fact that this is going on should be enough for him to get fired or resign.

America stands firm

With all the strange and wonderful differences between USA and South Africa, there is a very strong one that America has that I didn't see in South Africa. With all my traveling experience (only these two countries), even I can notice it. In fact, I don't think you even need to have ever been in America to have noticed. GOD BLESS AMERICA. Americans are probably the most patriotic country in the world, they love there country like nothing else. Sure, they have the biggest rivalry between states during the sporting seasons, but when it comes down to it. It's all about being patriotic.

In South Africa, I think you would be lucky to find a few people who would be willing to stand up and fight for their country. Hence, our small armed force. I honestly can say that I wouldn't want to fight for South Africa, besides all the useless politics involved in it.

Since being in America, I've really seen how important it is to love your country. Look at how America pulled itself through struggle over and over again, just because they were willing to stand and fight for there country. It really should be a testimony to other countries.
The amazing thing about it all is that it all is based on christian standards. Things like "In God we trust" and "God bless America". If a country keeps making and saying quotes like that, it's no wonder America is one of the leading nations in the world. Sure it's not perfect, but it's more than most countries out there. Wouldn't you agree?

It's going to be very interesting to see how the United States of America are going to pull themselves out of this economic dry spell. I have no doubt that they will. They are the UNITED States of America.

God Bless America

My Weekend

Sorry I've taken so long to make a new post, things have been pretty busy around here. I just love it when I get to see friends that I haven't seen for awhile. As I mentioned earlier, I spent Friday in the big apple. It really was amazing, doesn't matter how many times I go, it is so much better than staying in the farmlands. Which is not always bad, but it's nice to see the busy side of life again.
Did you ever watch the movie "Serendipity"? Well, we went to the restaraunt for lunch, I think this was the highlight of this NY trip for me. Oh, and we did see someone famous on the subway. Some guy from law and order. Always something new to see and do there, I love it.

The funny thing is that I ended up going back to NYC a few days later, this time I went with my family. Not quite as fun as with friends, but still totally worth it.

Now on another note, it's finally starting to warm up a bit again, I'm really not enjoying the cold any more. When I moved to the states, I was totally convinced I was a winter baby, now that I've experienced a real winter, I think I'm leaning more towards summer now! Sorry winter fans.

Whats new

I thought spring was setting in a few weeks ago, but now I'm not really liking the weather. It's pretty much like a Cape Town winter now. I'm really looking forward to summer.



Last night I went with Wesley to a youth group him and his friend are running. I shared a little bit with them. Honestly, I think it's easier speaking to older people than with youth.



Tomorrow I'm going to be in NYC for a day again, I really love that place. Although it smells like city and has so much polution, it still beats the absolute stink of the lancaster county cows...

Some work

The internet is really a college on it's own. There is so much to learn off it. I have taken advantage of this, since college isn't really an option right now. It's so expensive in America.
I've been looking at online marketing and affiliate marketing. It really is another world out there, you just need to know your way around that world, if only you could take a gps. As you probably know, many people have started buying online, instead of going to the store. The general idea is to have a niche blog or website, where you have articles and begin to promote product. The best part is that you don't even need to have your own product to begin with, you can just sell other people's products. My only problem at the moment is that finding a niche is not as easy as it sounds. It needs to be something that I can write alot about and preferably I have an interest in.
Anyone have any ideas?

Another online thing is FOREX, this may sound new to some of you or not. It is the foreign exchange. You buy one currency against the other. Sounds easy? Well, its not. I've had a forex practice account and I seem to be getting better, when I focus on it.

If I had to look at options of different kinds of work.

Option 1: Use what I'm learning now to make various avenues of revenue. Sure it's not safe and reliable. Sometimes, I wonder how it will turn out it years from now?

Option 2: The other option is to be stuck in a, which is not allowed to happen right now anyway for me. If I think about it, I would rather risk taking a chance on making $100 in an hour than working 10 hours in the day and making the same amount.

In my mind, it's better to work smarter with less hard work. Maybe this is just what I think.
How is it working out for you in your life?

Our new season

After a very trying and testing few months, we finally have some direction for what we need to do. We came up to PA expecting for one thing to happen and to our surprise of course, God closed that door. But forunately God doesn't forget that He closed the door, so now we sit with a new oppurtunity.

It has been so amazing to see how God has provided for our family over the past few months. As many of you know, we don't earn a salary at the moment so it's all God. I really am amazed at how much faith my parents have. They just keep going, I not only wanted to give up once, but maybe once daily.
Anyway back to our open door, back in South Africa we had someone stay at our house that was from here. When we moved up here he introduced us to his Mother, who introduced us to her daughter. Thats just the beginning. She introduced us to her husband and then we finally met his parents. Whew!
Now, this family have run a youth group in Reading (a little, yet bigger town than ours) which is going really well. We are now getting involved with them and have started Wednesday night meetings. In a few weeks, we will be looking at starting on Sunday mornings. We would appreciate your prayers for this as we still need to find a place to meet.

Open please

So after having some friends from Europe for a busy two weeks, things started slowing down again. Not fun at all. I very easily get frustrated when I'm not doing anything. I remembered one day in Bible School we talked about how "the footsteps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord." I had enough of this waiting around. I began to quote this while running the one day (I run when i get upset) and literally told God, maybe wrong, that He had better open up something for me now. After all it is what He said in the Bible.
The very funny thing is that within 24 hours three doors opened, sure they weren't big doors (yet) but they were oppurtunities none the less.

The moral of the story, quoting scriptures actually does work. Sometimes I wonder why I only use it when I'm desperate?

Differences

Let's take a look at some of the most significant differences between South Africa and America.

Probably the most noticable is the accent. South Africans are very proud of there accents and we have every right to be, it's one of the only things I'm proud I got from my country, that winning the rugby of course.

Having a accent in Pennslyvania is even different than having one in florida. In Florida you can get away with some things, but not here. They don't know what water is! To them its Waader. I'm trying my best to keep my accent, not like my brother who has lost half of his already!

Another very difficult thing to get used to is the humor.

South Africa = Dry

America =Random

Did you ever see the movie "Napoleon Dynamite"? Thats such typical American humor. When I saw that movie I didn't get it, it was stupid to me. But when South Africans watch old Leon Schuster the Americans don't get it. This was a big thing that I still haven't got used to and I'm not sure if I ever will.

One of the most frustrating things between the two countries is visiting. In South Africa, we would just go over to friends and hang out with maybe a days notice. Or just show up with some meat for a braai (barbeque) and watch some rugby. Not so here, you need to book in advance.

When we moved to Florida, we knew all our neighbours within a few days. They said that they had live on the street for years and never met any of the neighbours. Very Different.

This takes some getting used to, since back in SA we had people in and out of our house all the time. Now it's rather empty.

However I'm not going to end on this note, Americans are very open to share and are very hospitably once you get to know them. I think they are the most giving people in the world. When my parents arrived, we were give a whole household. Everything in our house was given to us.

If you have been to USA and have noticed anything different let me know! Of coarse there are hundreds of things that we just forget or don't realise to quickly.

My New Blog

I've decided to start blogging to let all my friends, family and others know how and what Im doing here in the states.
It truly has been a interesting year in many ways. Some of which are very challenging and others very enjoyable.

I moved to Florida from South Africa in June 5th 2007, after completing two years of Bible College. I stayed in Jacksonville for almost 8 months with my family, before we decided to move up north to Pennsylvania. When God closes one door, you can be sure He will open another one. Which He did.

So we are currently living in a nice big house (our biggest one yet) on a farm in the middle of nowhere! This is totally different for me, because I'm used to the city. We are plannning on starting a church in a city called Reading, which is not to far from us. We are really excited about it and know that God is going to do something there.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to tell you some of the stories and things I've seen and experienced in America. So stay tuned for updates.