Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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Before I talk about Christmas and our ministry, I want to mention that Christmas Eve marked the halfway point of the World Race for our squad.  I know it’s crazy!  On my end, time has not gone by quickly but it is still amazing that it is halfway over.


Anyways,


Christmas here in South Africa was both enjoyable and uneventful.  Most of our Christmas activities occurred on Christmas Eve.  First, not only was it the day before Christmas, but it was also Amanda’s birthday.  That made the day even more festive.  We watched some Christmas movies and then in the evening we had our big dinner with our contacts Louis, Erika and their son Francois in addition to Mike and Janinne who are missionaries from Colorado.  Since it rained all day, we were not able to have our bond fire outside so we decorated the house as best we could.  We put out our tree, had some Christmas music playing along with some candles.  It was a nice homey atmosphere and we all enjoyed each other’s company.  Below is a photo of us all.



 

On Christmas day we spent the afternoon separating food (that was donated by a local grocery store the night before) for different families.  We then went over to Louis and Erika’s and shaved Amanda’s hair off.  She did this to support a little girl in Mexico named Alondra, who has cancer and has had to shave her hair.  You can read more about her in Amanda’s blog (She should be posting on it soon).  Please join us in praying for Alondra as she goes through this hard process.

 


Food delivery for families

 

After we were finished with Amanda, we had tea, coffee, and exchanged the gifts we made for each other.  We each exchanged names about a week ago so we all gave our person a note, airline socks or any other little thing we had laying around.  It was just a reminder that we don’t need expensive things to make Christmas enjoyable.  So that was our Christmas.  I hope all of you had an enjoyable one as well.



Emily, Liv, and Jamos during our gift exchange

 

As for our ministry since the last time I blogged, we continued to work on cleaning up the visitor house grounds.  Jamos and I spent most of our time with Louis and Francois finishing the cacti garden.  When we first started this thing we had no idea what Louis vision was for it.  However, as the project continued and as we added more dirt and insanely huge rocks, we were able to see his vision.  We finished on the day before Christmas Eve and we are quite proud of it.  I can’t remember the last time I have been so dirty and sweaty.  Each day it has been about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and yes, it has led to sunburns for us all.

 


Garden before

 


Garden after

 

Please be praying for the ministry of Beam Africa as they are doing some incredible things for the people of South Africa.  I know that Loius and Erika would appreciate the support!