Blog Takeover!

Jaaaaaaaa! Ok.. so I haven't posted on this blog in like FOR-EV-ER, but I figured it was better than starting a brand new blog just to cover a few weeks of travel.

So if you didn't know.. I'm head back to South Africa. And Super excited about it!!!!!

Here's my FAQ's about the trip:

1) Are you doing the same thing you did last time? Nope. The work we will be doing is outside of Pretoria. Working with this ministry: https://bethesdaoutreach.org/
My previous trip was to the Cape Town area working with this ministry: http://www.campsonshineafrica.org/

2) Will you get to see the kids you worked with before? Maybe. We are going to vacation a few days in the Cape Town area, but still trying to figure out the logistics and feasibility of doing so.

3) Are you going with a specific group? Nope. But I'm not traveling alone either. Heading there with my good friends Mikel and Jessica Berger.

4) What are you going to do there? Well, Mikel, Jessica, and myself connected through our mutual love of education and computing. The school at Bethesda just recently got a computer lab set up. Jessica and I have done teacher professional development and camps for many years revolving around computing. Our original hope was to go do an inservice for the teachers, but decided we should probably ought to have a site visit, skill assessment, and lab assessment before we tried to put anything together. So we will be doing that in hopes of developing a training plan that can be implemented at a later date. The idea is to get these students some valuable computing skills that might help them succeed in secondary school or even in the workforce.

5) When are you going? Sept 30th- Oct 15th. It will take us 2 days to get there (long layover in London). We fly into Johannesburg, and then head straight to Cape Town for a few days of R & R before the work begins.  It will also take us two days to get back...sort of.. we leave on the 14th and get back on the 15th. My favorite is when Custom Officials ask you how long you have been gone and your legit answer is "I have no idea."

6) What else will you do there?  Um... love on kids, eat meat. Go to an Orphan Care Seminar. Visit with the host families who help care for the orphans.

7) Can you bring me a baby home? Um... probably not.

8) Is this a work trip? Nope. Not at all. That being said, the students at the school and orphanage are well acquainted with Purdue as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes group from here take a group of students there a couple times every year. They are well acquainted with David Blough- our quarterback- so please pray our football team keeps doing well. :)

9) Will you be able to stay on your Virta plan while there? Probably better than I have here lately. So here's hoping.

Ok.. I think that covers it for now..stay tuned as we get ready for our adventures!