The Speas Adventures
We are currently living in Pretoria, South Africa working with the homeless and a boy's shelter.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO
Thursday, August 7, 2008 Happy Birthday to me! Thank you to all the people that sent an email today! They were so nice to wake up to! I had a lovely day. Adam gave me really fun gifts, one fun one being a head flashlight! He made a special breakfast for me this morning, French toast and eggs, which was wonderful especially since today was “pop day” (something like cream of wheat). People at the base really made today special. They attempted to...
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 I (Jo) think a mouse has permanently found a place to hang out in our room! I will not call it a home and I refuse to name it because I hope that Adam kills it! We chase it out each night when we come back to our room and it just hangs out under our dresser. But its better than finding it in our suitcase like another student today! In other news, the lecturer avoided the subject of generational curses today, even though Adam studied last night...
Monday August 4, 2008
Monday August 4, 2008 We began our final week of Personal Spiritual Development visiting topics such as forgiveness, anxiety and sexual abuse. We did have a rather interesting discussion during our class though on generational curses. Our lecturer is a big proponent in the fact that they exist and can cause Christians severe pain and disturbance. Just yet another widely accepted African belief that is far different from my theological paradigm. So, without the...
Friday, August 1, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008 We had a “community meeting” this evening. This is a time for constructive criticism and concerns about the program, schedule, or basically anything. Adam was the only person who brought up anything worth discussing. We could tell that a few people are very uncomfortable with change! All three of Adam’s ideas were shot down. Don’t worry they comforted him by saying that they still like him even though they don’t like his ideas! ...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008 It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is August! This morning Adam was blessed with bed rest again. He got the privilege of sleeping in. I (Jo) attended the prayer meeting. The theme for today was women because August is Women’s Month in South Africa. We prayed for women in ministry, South Africa, around the world, and in our own lives. I joined a worship team (we have 3 that rotate) and we had our first practice this...
Wednesday July 30, 2008
Wednesday July 30, 2008 This morning began rather interesting. At about 6:32 a.m., I (Adam) doubted whether or not the staff person who was in charge of our morning devotional was going to show. So, I opened my bible to something I had read a few days ago. After another moment or two, one of the guys motioned to me that I should go up and share, so I did. It went well and I enjoyed sharing God’s loved for the helpless. I had just read in Jeremiah how God...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Today our prayer was answered: we enjoyed PSD. We are working our way through Exodus 34: 6-7 which outlines the character of God. Today we covered how God is steadfast, how He is truth and that He slow to anger. In reference to anger, it challenges me to correct my perception of anger as a negative emotion. Anger is a God-given emotion in which He tells us in our anger not to sin. We can be angered about injustices and other righteous...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008 It is a new week…or so we thought. This morning in PSD (Personal Spiritual Development) we reviewed last week’s material for almost the entire morning. Our class seems a little slow moving at the moment, but we always have hope for tomorrow. This afternoon we worked like dogs! Just kidding…well Adam did. I just walked around a lot and cleaned a little. Adam did get to drive a stick-shift bakkie around the base…soon he will be on the...
Saturday, July 26 and Sunday July 27, 2008
Saturday, July 26 and Sunday July 27, 2008 We have had a restful weekend. We spent Saturday at the mall and then came back to serve our kitchen duty. I (Jo) enjoyed kitchen duty a little bit more this week because we were having a traditional African meal called Fet Cook. We prepared dough in the morning and let it rise while we were gone. Once we returned, we made the dough into small pieces and deep-fried them. Once each piece of dough was placed in the hot oil it...
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008 This morning I (Jo) woke up to find…that today is the 24th of July…the day after my mother-in-laws birthday! Not what you want to realize when you forgot to call on the actual day! We have definitely lost track of the dates! We called today, don’t worry…but here is a happy birthday shout-out to Karen! This morning was spent in a three hour prayer meeting. It went a lot faster than it sounds. I especially enjoyed the hour we spent...
