A Little Adventure is Good for the Soul

At the fishing competition a couple weeks ago, I met someone else that drove a Defender and built his own little house (with earthen floors) from sandstone collected from a nearby river. Through someone else, I was given the idea of searching for sandstone at the same place, so Tuesday, Sticks and I went looking. Took the wrong road at first, but stopped for directions, and found we were close, but had to go all the way back to the tar road and take another, pretty rough road.

About 2 km in the right direction, down a couple steep drops, we came upon on old (sandstone) farmhouse. We explained what we were looking for (sandstone, that was up for grabs, that this other guy used), and the old man got in the Landy with us, and we drove off to the neighbor's house (through rough roads/pastures). When I explained what we were looking for, again, through his explanation, I realized we should have been talking to the old man! However, a bakkie had followed us the last bit road, turned out to the the police because the old man had reported some stolen stock, and he went off with the policeman! Back at the house, we spoke with the grandmother. She pointed out some sandstone across a small field. We checked it out, and it wasn't much better than what is left on our place. When we got back to the house, she told Sticks about someplace else. We walked part of the way around the koppie (hill) that they live on to a barbed wire fence, and she was talking on and on and pointing off into the distance. Sticks didn't translate much, just that some stone was out that way. Made a plan to come back on Thursday. It didn't look too promising, but thought to go ahead and check it out. It had been nice driving around parts of the surrounding area that I hadn't seen before, and was fun in that way, so even if it didn't work out, it had been a bit of exploring.

Thursday, Sticks and I headed out. At the farmhouse, a young guy joined us to show us where to go. We drove literally through the yard, between a gap 4 meters between the house and a barn. They pulled open a wire gate (these are “temporary” gates, were the wire is cut and some kind of attachment made to allow it to be open and closed) and we started driving off through a pasture. It was fairly rough, and we kept going and going. I was wondering if this was really worth it. We went up a bank, and then I finally saw it. It was a very old, broken down, sandstone house! One gable end of the house was still somewhat standing, probably about 1.75m high, mortared only with earth. On the ground all around were many pieces of squared stone, great for building with. Our guide took us about 50m away to another sandstone rubble pile. Short ways off, there was the rubble of another building! All around me, I was looking at enough sandstone that could have made our stemwall!!

We loaded up quickly and easily, only 15 minutes or so, and made our first delivery to the house. The plan is to cut the stone for windowsills. Laurence, from Rosa, offered his industrial grinder to lend, and Sticks is familiar with cutting stone. So, we made a couple of trips, and got a nice pile here at the house. After lunch, while loading, I looked over aways, and saw cut stone lying out on the ground! We went over to look at it. Some of the standing stonework is just amazing! Our last load was all cut stone, delivered to de la Harpe to help hold down the plastic against my most recent enemy, the wind!

Just impeccable work!
Love the lintel.

Looking at the stone, I felt a bit peculiar taking it away. Taking down stones someone else put up over a hundred years ago just felt odd. However, there is good reason to believe the stone may become “lost,” and might not be recoverable in the near future. So, if we take stone someone worked at so hard, and give it new life in our home, I feel I'm treating the stone with respect. Leading up to where the door was at the first house, there are 4 large stone set in the ground as paving stones. I was thinking of pulling a few out to put as stepping stones at our house. There are a couple pieces that have notches, one where a hole has been carved into the stone 8cm deep or so. Would like to save these pieces too.

The last two weeks we have been really blessed in many ways. Financially, we've had some gifts come through that send us out of surviving into thinking of things we can purchase for our new life here (like an energizer for our electric chicken fence-we'll have chickens soon!) To come across this much great stone is another blessing. We would some day like to build a guest house, and now we just might be able to get enough sandstone for the stemwall. The next several weeks will have me driving back and forth, collecting sandstone, with a smile on my face.

This is 3 loads worth of stone.

Village Advantage

Last week's main event was taking the Landy in for servicing. I had phoned Ryan at MountainTop Rovers and worked out a swap-he really wanted the ARB diff-air locks on our Landy, and chances are that we would never use them. Counted it as a gem tucked away for preserving the Landy. In exchange, he gives me the 2^nd hand price for them as service, which should last me for a couple years!

Left early Monday morning planning to spend the night as it was going to be a two day deal. At first I was thinking of asking Willem to drive with me down to bring me back, and then pick me up again the second day. However, the cost (and time) of driving down there twice would be as much as a night at a B&B.

Willem and Linda told me about a friend of theirs in Ladybrand that had a café, so after dropping off the Landy, and Ryan lending me the garage's Freeland, and thought to first check out the place two blocks away that supposedly had great cheesecake. Turns out, it belonged to the friends of Willem and Linda! It was a little pricier than what I was anticipating, but felt like I should stay there. On the second day, late in the afternoon, Nicol and I finally got to chat. On my way to get the Landy, which I was sure would be ready, they said I could stay a second night, no charge, if I needed to. Got to the garage at 6pm, and the diff swap was done, but not the rest of the servicing! So, I went back to LivingLife for night #2, and had another great breakfast in the morning.

My room at Living Life.  I didn't use the tub!

Garden/playground-next time we service the Landy, I'm bring the family,
we'll have lunch and Shiloh can play on the cool swing.

I getting to the title of this post now . . . this morning I was thinking about the differences between life here and in the US (someone at tennis yesterday asked me why we came back to South Africa, most whites don't understand). I thought if I had been in the US, I would have stayed at a cheaper hotel while on a similar type of errand, and they wouldn't have been understanding of my situation and I would have had to pay for a second night. Down at Rosa, most locals have an account. Micah can go down for free wifi, and have her mochacinno, and we don't have worry about having cash on hand. When business is done on a person-to-person basis, it seems like a better world.     

Reading List

Shiloh gave me the idea for a reading list blog with his blog the other week (africathroughachildseyes.blogspot.com). I started thinking about it, and the more I thought about it, the more thoughts I had. It is the books I'm reading now; the most important to me the last year.

The first book I read since arriving here that really changed the way I think is When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson. Mark and Andrea lent it to me, and I am very grateful! It put into words some thoughts I've had, then there were things new to me. I was never comfortable with the thought of “it's all going to burn up anyways” that I've heard from some Christians. To me it just seems like God is more in the redemption business, and the book follows the thinking that God's plan is for man to be His co-worker in bringing God's Kingdom to earth. He could have wiped out Satan with a word, but He choose to defeat him through mankind. I think in the end times the Church will be glorious, people will be drawn to the goodness of God.

For my birthday, Corné got me two more Bill Johnson books.

Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven's Agenda is about our purpose to live in God's presence. The more we seek him, the more he is with us, and the more he accomplishes His purposes through us. We are transformed in His presence, and that impacts the world around us. Adam and Eve were to rule the earth as God's ambassadors from the overflow of being with Him. Something else that has become clear is spiritual warfare. A candle doesn't struggle against the darkness. Johnson admits it, and so do I , that sometimes I got over focused on the fight, rather than drawing closer to God. All actions come from one of two emotions, fear or love, and we need to examine why/how we feel we must fight. Anyways, there are all kinds of nuggets in this book!

The second book Corné gave me was Face to Face with God. Along the same lines as Hosting the Presence, with more insights. Four cornerstones of thought: God is good, nothing is impossible, we fight from the victory of Christ, and I am significant. This last thought is something I have really grown in since coming to SA. There is also a chapter about other people's encounters with God, the only one still living is Heidi Baker. What is amazing is that many are widely know, but their experience in the physical presence of God seems to have been minimized and tucked away. I believe with Johnson that we are entering a time when the more we are in God's presence, the more we will show the face of God and draw people to Him.

In a totally different line, I felt God leading me back to forex trading. I was doing that for a year and half before we moved, and was just too busy (and didn't have enough internet access) to start again. Also felt that it just wasn't time. Two weeks ago I felt like it was time to get back in, and I reread one of the best trading books I've found, Bird Watching in Lion Country. What I think he admits, which helps him gain an edge, is that the markets are random in the short term. Trying to get in at the perfect price, and then expecting the trade to go your way immediately is really unreasonable. He trades with the general trend, but lets trades go negative for quite a while. He can, because he doesn't put much into each position, so there isn't pain at each point against you. It is true, I've gotten out of many trades for a loss, only to see it come back my way sometimes several hours later, or maybe even a day or two. I was trading with too much leverage, and it was too painful. Now, I am trading much smaller positions, and think my trading career is taking a big step forward.

Lastly, I've been reading Antifragile, by Nassim Taleb (author) of The Black Swan. I think he understands the modern world better than any other thinker out there. He understands randomness, probability, Black Swans, better than anyone else. One of his thoughts is that we are now living in Extremistan-failures of systems have exponentially worse effects now; 1% of the books published make up 99% of sales (one example). Humans are terrible at predicting, and at linking causal relationships. All kinds of insights that are amazing: Switzerland, one of the most successful countries, has a very low level of university educated people, and it's government is a locally run based one-most Swiss can't tell you who their president is, but can tell you local officials, opposite of the US. This links to his main premise-the more centrally planned, federal type of system, the more fragile it is. Organic, small organizations/business/government make more mistakes, but the mistakes are small, and the learning experience from it actually makes it stronger. Trail and error should be encouraged in all areas, not perfection. Having options make one more antifragile, in all areas of life. Another tidbit: “We notice what varies and changes more than what plays a large role but doesn't change. We rely more on water than on cell phones but because water does not change and cell phones do, we are prone to thinking that cell phones play a larger role than they do.” He goes on to point out that life hasn't really changed from his evening plans-we use shoes invented thousands of years ago to walk to a restaurant, use silverware, a Mesopotamian technology, drink wine, like others for the last 6 thousands years, from glasses innovated by the Phoenicians, eat cheese-a young technology, prepared in a kitchen with pots and pans not too different from what has been used for a couple thousand years. There is much more to this book, but I'll end with this quote: “If you don't take risks, there is nothing you can do that makes you grand, nothing.”

Last book, which I don't know how I got, so it must be a God thing!  I noticed over a year ago, must have bookmarked it on my Kindle, but never bought or downloaded it until two weeks ago, when downloading Antifragility, this book downloaded too!  It is Five Wealth Secrets 96% of Us Don't Know.  Best and easiest to read book on personal finances I've ever read, and it's changed the way I think about some things, and gives me a plan for things I hadn't quite clearly  expressed.  It came at the right time!

Timing, Nice Gift for Thsepo

We seem to be in the season of learning God's timing. We really experienced it when we first arrived-things/events would just fall into place. Then came a schedule or regular working and the timing issue would fall into the background except for the occasional event, like how quickly we got this house to live in. It's been a bit hard lately, as we haven't put any cob on the house for almost two months now. It was making progress so nicely over the winter, and now has stopped, except for the window frame making (which is necessary, but doesn't have the same feeling of accomplishment). We've wondered if we've done something wrong, or what?

Last week Tuesday our support money came into our account. It's not enough to start us building again, but covered most of the necessities. We felt a little flush (for our terms), so we told the children we'd got to pizza night at Rosa on Wednesday. When we arrived, Laurence (owner) stopped us and we had this long conversation before even sitting down. We'd heard about a couple getting married in Rosendal in February, and Rosa hosting the reception. He's from Europe, she's originally South African but living in Australia now, and instead of receiving gifts, the couple wanted the guest to contribute to a community project. Thsepo was mentioned, but we didn't know much else. This was a couple months ago. Well, Laurence told us the bride-to-be was in town with her parents, he had taken them by the church that morning (no one was there) to give them more of an idea about Tshepo, and might even come in that night. If they did, he would introduce us!

We had our delicious pizza, like always (we like the Meerkat or the Popeye), and nearly done when Laurence came over and introduced us to Laura, the bride-to-be! She was very excited to meet us. We were able to explain the vision, and she was able to put a face to the people she'd heard about. When we came home, I burned a DVD of a slideshow we have made of Thsepo and took it back to the them. We chatted some more, and it was all very encouraging. We didn't put much expectations when we first heard of the possibility, we've been learning there are lots of people that love what you are doing and say they will help one way or another, but then they never do. This time however, it looks like things will come together!

Two days later, we had less than $50 in our accounts again, and the thought of going to Rosa for dinner would have to take a back seat again. What we realized in hindsight, was that had we got our support money earlier, there would have been a good chance we would have missed meeting Laura. God knows what He's doing, and that has to be our comfort when things like the house just seem to be on hold for the moment.

Cinnabuns in Rosendal!

A lady here in town has some connection to Cinnabuns. In the past, we've received a couple zip-lock bags of frozen cinnamonrolls, just enough for each child to get a two-bite piece. Today, however, she brought a large amount, everyone got close to half a cinnabun! I was just thinking about the whole thing, and it's complex. . . the nearest Cinnabun shop is at least 3 hours away. I think these come from Jo'burg, so that's 4 hours. Most of these children don't travel much. Two of the ladies that help have never been further than Senekal or Ficksburg, both just a half hour away. The largest body of water they've seen is only 100 meters across. Never seen the ocean. Or a town with more than 5 stop lights. Anyways, these buns are something special. It's a pleasure just to watch them savor every bite. The thing is, I was also savoring every bite! It is nice to get a surprise like this. What I also realized is how temporal our problems are. Two days ago, we couldn't afford a Coke. Today, I was eating half a Cinnabun!

I had been working at de la Harpe and pulled a few carrots from our garden. They were in the back when we dropped off a couple people. A young girl, 1^st grade or so, asked to have one. I gave her and her friend each one, and was just thinking to myself that my own children won't eat the carrots we've grown, and here these children ask for them! Makes me a little crazy.

Corné planted acorns last Fall. Now we have a mini oak forrest. Quite chuffed with all the seedlings! I know they will take a long time to become a big, beautiful tree, but it will mark the time we moved here, and continue on down the generations!

Finished with Frames; a little Tshepo news

Today, Corné and I finished the last rough window frame! It took a little longer than I thought, but we did work at a slow pace. Last week I had some kind of virus, turns out other people in town had it too. Was feverish and chilly in the evening, and then the fever would break around 1 or 2 in the morning. Then I would be wide awake for an hour or two! Anyways, with my sleep interrupted, I was a bit tired and not feeling great till early afternoon. We usually got at least one frame done a day, so we still made progress. It was just the two of us, as we didn't have money to give to the guys. It's a little frustrating, because even though it's not that much, it puts food on their table. Without it, I don't know what they do.

All the windows for our house will
slide inside these frames when the house is done.

I did get to spend a bit more time at Tshepo last week, which was nice. We had a guest from Jo'burg. Penny was a speech therapist and developed a system of teaching sounds through drawings of face that showed the position of the lips and whether it was a vibrated sound or not. Apparently, it really helps young children learn a second language. So she came and did some training/demonstrations, and she was quite impressed with the children of Tshepo. I was a bit skeptical when I heard about it, but when I learned more about it, I changed my mind. Sotho has just 5 vowel sound, and English has around 11. What happens is that when someone not familiar with all the sounds of English comes to a sound they don't know, often they substitute a sound they do know. This program is suppose to eliminate that.

I've been reading The Essential Guide to Healing by Johnson and Clark, and am ready to see some things happen! Penny has Cerebral Palsy, as well as being in 2 car accidents in the last year that put her in a scooter. I really felt to pray for her, and was hoping we would see a miracle. When the opportunity came, Pastor John and I prayed for her there at Tshepo. She felt warmth (the Holy Spirit), and when John shared that he saw a river flowing from her, she said she also felt like she was in a rainbow river. So no major healing, but God was doing something. Just have to keep trying!!

Frames, More Healing, Fire, and More

Window Frames

Corné and I spent another week working on the frames for the windows. I gave the guys the week off as Corné and I wanted to work on the frames together (our idea was to build the house together, and it's been more of me and the guys), as well as we didn't really have cash to give them, for this past week or the week ahead. Feel the worst for Lerato, his wife hasn't been paid for two months and she's expecting. We were able to help last month with groceries, but not this time.

Another nice aspect of just the two of us working on the frames is that the pace is slower and we get to evaluate each step. We've changed the size of a couple windows, and then changed another back from a “medium” to a “large.” What has been on both of our minds is how light the house will be. We want it bright, but can't have windows everywhere, it is the cob holding up the walls and the roof! Cob homes supposedly have more “dramatic” light since the walls are thick and direct the light more than a thin wall. In the end, it should be light enough, and in the back of the house, if it's dark, we'll add a solar tube. We did drop one south window in the lounge (the darker side in the southern hemisphere), and added a smaller window to the west wall.

Not many princesses can handle a
circular saw.

More on Healing

Two weeks ago when we went to Bethlehem, I previously mentioned Corné's thumbs being healed. I didn't mention that I also got prayer. Since moving to town, I started struggling with anxiety when going to sleep. Before Daniel started praying for people, we spoke of things he believed God wanted to heal. He mentioned that there are people who are struggling with anxiousness, who have irrational thoughts that are keeping them from sleeping. That was definitely me! Since that night, I've slept normally! A couple nights ago, I couldn't sleep, but wasn't anxious, and I even could listen to music that previously would have made me melancholy (as mentioned in a previous post). Think God healed me more than I realized.

Fire on the Mountain

Living in town where we can see the Witteberg Mountains, we have seen the fire on the mountains drama this season. A couple weeks ago, one the mountains was on fire but didn't get a decent photo of it. This week, on the second night of the fire on the mountains, I went out to see it, and saw the glow in the sky! It was a bit frightening. In the photo, the glow is a bit brighter than it was in reality, but it was still an awesome sight. What wasn't helping was the crazy wind of the last few days.

Solar Panel Shed

While in Bethlehem the other week, I visited the Solar Guy. I asked him about security, theft is a problem here. He said some people put the panel in a shed and rolled them out. The more I've thought about it, the more I like the idea. We'll built a low cob shed and put the panels on a wheeled holder. Several advantages: 1. We can lock up the panels at night and when we are not home. 2. We'll be able to rotate the panels throughout the day. We saw the difference at Mosamane while living on one panel. It does boost the power quite a bit. Also, the way our house it facing-Northeast, in the summer the panels would get very little or no sun the last 3-4 hours of the day. 3. When there is a possibility of hail, we can wheel the panels in to safety. My mother-in-law is pretty good at predicting hail, you get a feel for it over time. When there is a storm, just to be on the safe side, we can put them away.

Reaping where we haven't sown

Several weeks ago I noticed grass growing beside the storeroom and thought I should maybe pull it out sometime.  Of course, it was low on the priority list, so it didn't get done.  Then about two weeks ago, notice grain heads forming!  I was wondering how in the world that happened.  Then I realized we used wheat straw bales to stand on while building, and there were plenty of grain heads in the straw.  Some got loose and into the soil and grew!  So now the storeroom is surrounded by a thin row of wheat.  Pretty cool.  Pray it is prophetic for us, and that we will reap where we haven't sown!