8th Newsletter

Hello again !

After a long time I want to say “Hi” again. Since 6 January, I'm back from my vacation in Cape Town. Yeah, it was wonderful!
I celebrated Christmas with the team. Of course it was completely different from Christmas at home. No snow, but beach. Although I felt a bit homesick, it was beautiful.
Right now I have mixed feelings about how some things have changed. Since 28 Jan. 2010, the A-team has ceased to exist. There are about 60 new people and we are now called the MDC (Mission discipleship training). Four people from our old A-team have gone to a new mission field.
There was another event that hit our team very much. A German from our group got a tumour on the ear and had to be flown to Germany for surgery. It is a benign tumour, it was detected early enough and can be removed, but still it was quite a shock! Over the past half year we have grown together as a family . Therefore, it is now difficult for all of us that there are so many new people and the A-team is past.
Now for the positive:
The girls have moved into a new house. After six months of living in a hut with bats, spiders, snakes and a broken roof I admit that I enjoy the luxury very much.
I share the room with 4 other girls (from America, Australia, Holland and Namibia), which I don’t know yet. I like my room very much.
Above all, I no longer have to walk through the mud to get to the bathroom. We have a bathroom next to our room.
Despite all the changes I'm also looking forward to the next weeks. There will be more theory: units on the Bible, discipleship, leadership, or for kid’s ministry. But all we learn in the classroom will be applied practically. We will still have some practical assignments.
The first unit will start in late March. We will stay in the bush with African tribes for 2 weeks. Life there will be quite primitive: No electricity, no running water! I will tell you more when it starts.
The period after the holidays until now was filled with practical work. We have worked for example in the “AIDS link”, an AIDS relief station run by OM in a township.
We have also helped at a family holiday, where I have done child care. That reminded me of what I have learned when I helped in the “Jungschar” (a children’s group) in Dillenburg and in kindergarten.
Well, that’s all from me again. The next newsletter will probably come in mid-April, after the first outreach with the new team. I am looking forward to getting mail or email from you.

Prayer Requests:
- getting used to the new team and to the new circumstances.
- good fellowship with my new roommates.
Thanks:
- For all the special friends that I have found during this half year.
- For the preservation during all the long bus rides we had.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement!
Yours, Pina