South Africa Recap from Joshua's viewpoint

Praise the Lord we made it back to the US and the flight was much smoother than the flight there. We had no major hang-ups along the way and we and all our luggage made it home safe and sound! 

As promised before, here is a running list of Joshua's weekly re-cap writing assignments from our trip. You'll notice sometimes he gave the sections titles and sometimes he did not. I left his notes as is for the most part, just a few minor tweaks here or there. I thought you'd enjoy his explanation for things. I also added a few pictures. Enjoy!

A Trip in South Africa

By JOSHUA TANDON

Ready set, splash. 

Last week was one of the best weeks ever. First I swam, just about every single day, and I even got a swimming lesson from our friend Anessa. Second we went to Rocco mamas. My favorite hamburger place, and the burger was just like I remembered. Last of all we went to Rosie’s last night, to celebrate Mama’s birthday. The food was great, and we even got dessert. I’ll have to say last week was GREAT!  

Joshua, catch

   After Sunday school, two other friends and I played with the rugby ball that I got the week before. After we got home, we ate lunch with two other close friends. After Caleb did his quiet time, we played catch and rugby with my rugby ball. On Wednesday, we went to another missionary’s house. Before we arrived, I got an ostrich egg. I didn’t know the continent of Africa was on the back of the ostrich egg. The missionary’s children are Hudson, Zack, Nate, Molly.  We played in the pool and then we went upstairs and I played chess with Hudson (I lost). This week has been great!!!

This week wasn’t as busy as last week, but it was still really fun. We started out the week with Christmas! Caleb was really excited. After breakfast, we opened our first present from uncle Troy and auntie Danielle. It was a gun that shot foam balls, and it was a blast. After our walk, we opened a second present and it was a Lego clone trooper pack (my gift I had already opened it they just repackaged the gift, it was from one of my many friends. Caleb’s, we already had it, was just bagged and was in the garage.).After lunch, we went over to Thabani’s ( Thaboni is pronounced: Tuh-bah-nee) family’s house to spread the Christmas cheer. When we got back, we opened our last gift, it was a gift from me to Caleb and Caleb to me. It was Ashoka’s clone trooper battle pack. After quiet time (a time when Caleb, and sometimes I go in a room and play and listen to some thing) we opened our stockings, we all got different and similar things. Let me tell you what I got. I got a fingernail clipping set, some chocolate Rand, candy, and an in your pocket game. We finished the night off with a movie. On Thursday, we went to monkey land, and it was Caleb’s first time going there. First, we stopped by an amazing and delicious pizza shop. Then we saw all different kinds of monkeys, our guide told us many different facts about monkeys. We got to walk on a wooden bridge the guide said it was built by monkeys. After our tour we went to the gift shop and Caleb got a stuffed monkey, Baba got a magnet for NaiNai, and I got a monkey book. We drove home, and that’s the end of our week.

Last week wasn’t too exciting, but it was still okay. Monday, we had a prayer meeting, and after that, we played games! I played Othello with Christian, Uno with Caleb, and I even learned a new game, Tri-ominos. On Wednesday, the friends, that taught us the new game came over. We had snacks, and two games out, they were Uno, and Tri-ominos. We had a real blast playing it. Today we are going to the beach! Because, that is what Caleb has been begging for. We’re also meeting some friends there.(I almost always think that we’ll have more fun with friends.). And well, that’s all the fun things we did this week. See you next time for another recap. See you. 

Yum, yum, yum, this past week was fun and yummy. On Sunday after church we went with the Fraustos to Roco Mama’s for lunch. Caleb, me, and the Frausto boys watched rugby, ate, and arm wrestled. Later we watched all of Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. The next day was usual other than almost watching all of Sing 1 (the reason we couldn’t we couldn’t finish it was because Caleb threw a temper tantrum, because we have a routine that Baba or Mama usually will brush his teeth before bed and that night he wanted to do it himself ). On Tuesday night we went to McDonald with the Osers for milkshakes, but we got something else. (I got a chocolate sundae) Wednesday Auntie Joke came over, we talked, ate, and talked some more. Later that night, we started Sing 2. Thursday Herschelle came over for lunch, after lunch we played with him with the rugby ball, and the bouncy ball after that we had cake with ice cream. That night we finished Sing 2. Today we are going to grill out with Connor and the girls (Calista, and Anesa). Also the Coons ( uncle George and auntie Amy ) may come over for part of the day.

Before we left we wanted to do a few things. On the last Friday we had a party or the Afrikaans word for braai. (we grilled out)  It wasn’t too big. The guests were: Thaboni, Alshide, Christian, Conner, Anesa, and Calista. We played games such as monkey in the middle, one touch, (kind of like a soccer game) and Christian and Alshide played chess. 

The food was great, amazing or gremazing. ( gre-mazing )The day before we left we met the Hassmans for ice cream at a farm. Caleb, me, and Micah played at a playground that the farm had made. The next day we cleaned and packed a lot, because we were leaving! After lunch we piled into uncle Herb’s car and sped away to the airport making only two stops in the three to five hour drive. After we were dropped off we ate dinner, and then we checked our bags and waited for a little while to board our airplane and that is our trip in SOUTH AFRICA!!!

If you'd like to see more pictures from our trip, here is a link to an album we've started on Facebook: “Souf Affica” (Caleb’s pronunciation)

We appreciate your prayers as this week our household has been struggling with the Flu, a gift from our first week back at church in America. Praise the Lord Joshua only had a slight cough and a very low grade fever for one day. Caleb and Alex's mom have had the worse case, but everyone is on the mend at this point. 

Joshua has his 6th month scans on February 14th, after that we will be able to make more definite life plans and will keep everyone posted. Thank you again for all your love and support!

Many Miles Ahead

Below is a list of praises and prayer requests as we begin our travel back to the US later today. 

Pray with us for safety as we leave South Africa today, Wednesday January 17, and arrive back in the US on Thursday January 18. We leave here around lunch time and drive to Cape Town for our late evening flight, late afternoon EST time. We land in Atlanta and then have a few hours before flying to Charlotte, being picked up, and brought back to Columbia. We should make it back mid afternoon on Thursday. According to my map app, it says its about 8,158 miles from here to Columbia, SC!

Our time here has been amazing, but too short. We knew it would feel this way, and know it needed to be short, but it feels like we just finally got our feet back under us and now it's time to head back.

We are so thankful for confirmation that the oncologist here can assist with the follow ups Joshua is going to need every three months and continue to pray for no recurrence of disease in his body.

We are thankful to have gotten to re-connect with so many folks from Life Fellowship Church, and meet new members of the local body here. We praise God that within the past few months the church has formally voted on three local grounded Elders to assist the Pastor in different areas of Church body life. For a young church plant, this is such a great step and sign of the of Spiritual growth and maturity in the church.

We are thankful for time spent with our local ministry partners and their family on multiple occasions. They reach an area of the city that we would not be able to on our own, so the commitment to co-laboring is so vital. 

We praise God for the group of young men who are up and coming leaders in our church. We pray that God will continue to keep them and grow them in their walk with Him. Over the next year or so, Lord willing, a one year Biblical training program will begin in our city to help these young folks in their foundational knowledge of the Word and also teach and train in some practical life skills to help them secure better paying jobs to provide for themselves and their families.

Pray with us for Joshua's next scans in the US on February 14.

Pray with us for the remaining support we need to round out our monthly needs as we begin to move forward in transitioning to South Africa full time.

Pray with us as we come back stateside that we will balance well the needed fellowship times with the to do lists to make a move happen.

I’ve been reading through a Proverb a day to start off the year. Yesterday as I was reading Proverb 16 I was comforted by how many times (so far in the book, and in there in that chapter) that it mentions us making plans and the Lord fulfilling them in His way. I know we say that a lot, but it has been made so real to us over these past years and especially months. We do truly give all of these plans to the Lord with open hands, as much as we can in our fleshly selves, and ask Him to fulfill them in His timing and in His way. His ways are truly best. If you are struggling with trusting Him with the plan in your life, I really encourage you to read through the Proverbs and list all the times we are encouraged in our planning. Whether it is in seeking counsel from wise ones around you, or being humble to receive instructions along the way, or simply just trust Him enough to lean on Him for understanding. Go check it out!

If you'd like to see some pictures so far, here is a link to an album we've started on Facebook: “Souf Affica” (Caleb’s pronunciation)

Also, in the coming weeks I'll be sharing some of Joshua's Weekly Recaps from our time here. Each week as part of his school work I had him recount weekly activities. I need to read them and edit them a bit, but I think you all will enjoy his thoughts. They are humous and random, but also show what he loves about being here.

Mundane

Getting snacks

Listening to music

Listening to LEGO being dug through

Bird watching

Doing paperwork

The above mundane activities describe my (Bethany) morning at home with the boys today, while Alex is up at the Ministry Centre.

Just like you, our Christmas week has been filled with much joy and laughter (and bickering…from all ages!) We had a great time at church on Sunday, followed by Christmas joy as a family on Monday. Tuesday we hosted a birthday party for a friend, and I’m not sure what we did on Wednesday. Yesterday, Thursday, we took the boys to Monkey Land for their Christmas experience (in place of a notable gift). Today however was pretty much back to normal. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief. There is comfort in the normal, mundane daily activities.

A week before Christmas we had a morning prayer time at church. One of the prayer points was that we stay faithful to our time in the Word over the holidays. This really stuck with me. I think because I know how hard it is for me to be intentional about personal quiet time when the schedule is abnormal. I think that is why this morning was so refreshing to me, I was able to feast on that quiet time of prayer and Bible reading. It restored my parched soul.

As we wrap up 2023 and head into a new year, so many people are setting book reading goals, and picking a word for the year. Honestly, I shy away from such things because in a way that adds pressure to my heart and mind. I love goals, but sometimes they weigh me down and sidetrack me from the spontaneous things that come up. We need structure, but we also need to hold that structure carefully so we don’t miss other opportunities the Lord brings up. We need the everyday normal, but we also need to not be so focused on the normal and calm that we miss the blessings of abnormalities.

As you well know, this year was extremely abnormal for us, but I think if you asked any of the four of us you’d find that the Lord taught us each so much during those stretching days. He taught us to trust Him first and most when we had no normal rhythm of life. He taught us to open our mouths and praise Him when we mostly just wanted to run away and hide. He taught us that because we had been faithful in the mundane days and stored up His word in our hearts, He would carry us through until we once again got back to those normal days (whatever normal is?????).

So as I look ahead, I want to walk a careful balance of mundane and spontaneous. I am asking God to show me the plan, in His time and not force mine on Him. He is so good, and I know I can trust Him to continue to be only, always just that….GOOD!

If you'd like to see some pictures so far, here is a link to an album we've started on Facebook: “Souf Affica” (Caleb’s pronunciation)

Prayer Requests

• Alex is preaching this Sunday and next Sunday.

• Continued safety and good health

• Continued relationship building here in George

• Safe travels as we begin our journey back to South Carolina on Wednesday, January 17