Church with Family - 31st May

Was up at quarter past 8 today, and had some lucky charms for breakfast! Then head to church with Ben, Mum and Dad for a 9am start. The meeting was very good and Bruce, the Youth Pastor spoke today about spiritual gifts and using them to see God's kingdom grow, which was really inspiring. We then hung around and chatted to a few people before heading back to the flat for some lunch and time for them to pack. At 2pm we headed into Pretoria Central to look around the craft market to pick up a few traditional African souvenirs. We then headed back to flat and said their goodbyes before we left for the airport. On the way out I managed to crack my head open which wasn't to good, but there we go. Said goodbye to them at the airport before I drove back again to the flat to have dinner and then retire to bed for an early night as it was an eventful and tiring weekend, and have a meeting tomorrow at 8am at the office.

Speak soon

Jon x

Family Day Out - Saturday 30th

Had a nice long lay in until 10am today and got up slowly and washed for the day. I then finished re-arranging my room and tidying it up. Me, Ben, Mum, Dad and Mark all hit the road to the Lion and Rhino reserve which was about an hour away. We got there around 2pm and had some lunch. I had the Rhino Club which was amazing! It had chicken in mayo, bacon, and cheese lettuce and tomatoe and was then toasted, served with chips. We also had Hunters Gold cider which was really nice, having had the normal hunters the night before which was also really good. We then had a look around some of the enclosures and saw some animals in some cages which was ok. But then we went to the animal creche..... this was something different. You could pay to go into the cages with the animals. But they weren't just a few little animals, they were lions, tigers, cheetahs that weren't train animals either. So we started off by going to see the baby tigers which was nice and had a little play with them, Ben got clawed a few times and I started to play football with one of the tigers, but it soon lost interest in the ball and was more interest in my foot, and decided to go for that and grabbed my leg with his paws and wrapped his mouth around my ankle and wouldn't let go and was digging in fairly hard so the keeper had to come and unwrap his mouth from around me. By this time Ben had also got loads of claw marks around his wrists from playing with them. We then moved on to the lions, was just about to go in to see the little lions when the lady said we should go see the bigger lions that were about 5 foot when stood on their back legs. So us being men thought why not and Mum went to see the little 3 month old cubs. On the way in Dad got a nice electric shock from the fence, should of known it was a sign of things to come. When we got in there we soon realised how big they were and how huge their paws were! But none the less we decided to stroke them and play. We just had to be careful as every so often they'd go for your hand with their mouth. The female then decided to also go for my leg and grabbed it with both paws and sunk her teeth in, and then decided that she want to use me for a game of tug and start to pull me by my skin of my leg. The keeper again had to come and remove the mouth from around my leg. We then played football with them and the one of the snuck up behind Dad and jumped on his back ripping a whole in his shirt, and cutting him aswell. Mark then decided he would get as close, as he was wearing his knew Ipswich Town shirt and didn't want to get it damaged. We then heading out of the enclosure when the same female lion that got me and Dad decide to go for Ben and bit a little bit of Bens arms away. We then headed out of the cage to meet Mum who had also managed to get bitten. When we were outside the cage the Keepers kindly informed us that it was now feeding time for the animals and thats why they were biting alot! Nice of them to tell us after! Was a good laugh though a loved every minute of it. We then headed back to the minibus and drove round the rest of the park and saw some Rhino, Springbok, Buffalo, Wilderbeast and Osterich. We came very close to the Rhinos and they had their babies as well. We then headed out of the reserve and headed home. We wern't in for long before we were back on road to Spur for dinner. Everyone went and a really great meal together and stayed for about 3 hours eating and having some good long chats. We then came home and all hit the sack as it had been a longer and eventful day.

Speak Soon

Jon x

Family Arrived - Friday 29th

Got up at 6am this morning and out the door by 6.30 to go and pick my Mum, Dad and brother from the airport and brought them back to the flat to drop their luggage off and freshened up before we were off out to The factory outlet stores such as Nike and Adidas. We got a few items each and then headed to Menlyn shopping centre and Ben got a few more things and got himself a local football shirt the same as mine, because everywhere I went that day with the shirt on people were randomly coming up to me and chatting to me just because of the shirt. Good form of outreach out here! We then came back and assemble some funiture we pick up on the way home for my room. At half 7 we then all headed out for a meal at Ocean Basket which had huge prawns and lovely fish which was good choice by Mark. Then headed back to flat and we all went to ours beds.

Speak soon

Jon x

Prisonday Thursday 28th

Got up 7 today ready for pick up at 7.45, and headed into the prison. When we arrived the inmates were alreadyready on the field ready for the day. So we gathered round and i started off by asking them a few questions abouttheir prayer lifes and what they thought prayer was. we then moved on to reading some bible verses that were to dowith prayer working and how its not just about asking for things n talking to God but its about listening to God and what he wants, which we spoke about and some of the things that effect it happening and some things that can be done to make it easier. We then moved into some facts about how much people prayer on average and what would happen to a team if they only spoke to there Coach for that amount of time. We then moved into praying in community and prayer as a team. At the end we ended in a prayer huddle, and every one of the players prayed, which they have never done before its usually just one or two and they were all really deep and from the heart, so looks like that took it in. Please pray that they we keep going with it. We then move on to playing handball and then shooting practise today, along with some foot skills. Then headed back to the flat and had some lunch and tidied up the flat before heading out to a meeting in the evening about a clinic that is being run in a school during the tour, and some training to go with it. We then grabbed KFC for dinner on the way home and had a really nice sweet chilli twister meal. Was a long but very enjoyable day and yep, got another early start again tomorrow.

Speak soon

Jon x

Office Day - Wednesday 27th

8.15 got up today, so had a good sleep. Then headed down to the office to work for the day and sort out some things for the tour group arriving. At 10 we had our meeting with the Headmaster and some senior members of staff of Garsfontein School, to discuss the opportunity to carry out a clinic there during the tour which had me dedicated to me to organise for the kids. They all jumped at the chance to come into the schools especially when we said it was free! We then agreed some of the details so that it was easier to plan and build the clinic around the facillties available. We then head back to the offce which is literlly straight across the road to continue in the office for the day. I was mainly working on the match for a day website, but had some one off jobs that needed completing such as getting some kit ready to be sent out, and to do some background research of the confederations cup to send to the headmaster of the school. In the afternoon me and Mark headed out for lunch at Steers before hitting the shops in search for some hoodies for the tour team and some food for the BBQ later on that night. When we got back to the office Continued on the website until it was time to leave at 5pm. Got in and had quick wash and got changed before sitting down and preparing for the bible study the next dat. God decided that I would focus on prayer during the session (not something I'm great at but still that's what God told me he wanted me to talk to the guys at hope acadamey. At 7pm we headed down to the BBQ to have some dinner before watching the Champions League Final on the big screen at the church. There was quite a few people there and the people from the BP garage were there also although didn't get to speak to them much, but some other people did which was good. After watching Man U play like toilet duck, and some high quiality diving from Barcelona we headed back to the flat. Was a good game though and entertaining to watch as a neutral supporter. I then hit the hay to as was late and had an early start the next day.

Speak soon

Jon x

Prison Day - Tuesday 26th

I didn't have to get up until 7 today which was nice, and was Picked up by Greg at 7.45 to head to the Prison. We stopped at the petrol station and noticed the man was wearing a BP Soccer T-shirt so we started to chat to him about soocer and who he supported and if he was going to watch The Champions League Final tomorrow. He said that he wanted to but didn't kno if he could. So we decided to invite him to the Big Screen event that the church was putting on to watch the football as an outreach oppertunity and they are going to have a BBQ in the evening as well. Then another guy came over so we invited him as well, and then invited all of the petrol pump men after a few minutes of chatting to them. We then headed on to the prison where we met Melissa, Jo and Stewart. We then headed into the prison, where we went though the normal procedure of getting search. I'm getting to know some of the guards now and getting a few oppertunities to chat more with them which is nice. We then headed up to the field where we met the guys, although there was only 7 of them today as the rest were away at another prison playing football for the prsion team. It was nice to have a smaller group as I could get to know them easier. Chatted with Niko again and when he gets out it looks like he's definately going to be working with AIS and going to be staying with Tim and his family. He was realy excited about this and couldn't stop smiling. The bible study today was about hope and faith. Stewart shareed a few personal experiences and how he'd gone to prison and what he went through, which was really interesting to hear about. We then began training. Me and Greg also got involved today and did a few drills. We also played 3 on 3 football matches and had a lot of fun with that. We then rpped it up for the day and said our goodbyes and headed home. When got in had another nap before dinner and the after dinner started to prepare for the meeting that I have tomorrow with the Head Teacher in a school about running a football clinic during our tour at the school. Also I'm leading the bible study in the prison on thursday, and don't know what to do it on. And feeling really tired alot recently so got to find time to rest as well.

Speak soon

Jon x

Sunnyside - Monday 25th

Started the day a 6 am today, for a round of golf! Don't know whos idea that was. But was a good morning of golf and had a good laugh with Mark and Tim. Then me nd mark headed out for some brunch at a Spur in brooklyn, and then bought printer for the flat. In the shopping centre was a Bosst Juice Bar, so grabbed myself a drink as a little taster from home. I then got picked up from the flat around half 12 by Greg and headed to Sunnyside school to do some football coaching. I took my first training session today with the under 10 B team. I started them off with a game of possession, followed by a game of 5 passes before you can shoot. We then played the A and B team against each other towards the end of the training. The session went really well and all of the kids listened really well. Two boys tried pushing their luck a little bit. So I made them run laps of the pitch. Got home about 5pm and had a power nap for an hour or so before dinner then headed back to bed for an early night. Claire is feeling alot better now although still not 100%. Also I found out that Greg suffers from clinical depression, which can get quite bad at times, epecially when he isn't going to see his girlfriend for a whole year. Please pray for them both

Many thanks

Jon x

Church - Sunday 24th

Up at 8 this morning, and got ready for church which starts at 9. Had a good time of worship today. Followed by a preach on Salvation and the some of the barriers in place that prevent it. It was very interesting and I learnt alot from it and how to break through some of the barriers. We were then finished by 11, and played a bit of soccer with some of the youngsters on the football pitch outside. Mark and I then headed to Brooklyn Mall to have all you can eat chinese for lunch. They had a good selection but the food gt cold quite quickly. When we got back to the flat where watched a bit of prison break before heading to the house to watch the premier league last game of the season. It started off quite exciting in the first halves, but all games seem to die down and were boring towards the end. Then I watch the IPL final which was a lot more entertaining and went down to the wire. Then returned to the flat for early night again as am up at 6 again tomorrow.

Speak soon

Jon x

Resting Day - Saturday 23rd

So was on facebook last night chatting one of my old school mates as he randomly started to talk to me, and haven't spoken to in over a year. Anyway was chatting to him about where i was and what I ws doing, and why. He seemed really interested, and told me he'd been through some tough times recently and bin in and out of hospital. I said I'd pray for him if he wanted and he said yeh if i didn't mind. So it seems God is using south africa to reach out to someone in England.
I managed to get a nice lay in today and got up at 12 today! Could of easily stayed in bed until 3 oclock though. But got up and headed to Menlyn Shopping Centre to search for a printer for the flat. Mark and I then grabbed some lunch at a nice pizza restaurant and had chicken n spare rib pizza, which was amazing. The headed off to look round the shops to find some prices for the printers. We then headed to the Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma factory stores to see what we could pick up cheap for the tour. We then headed back home and and spent the night in and had dinner and played a game called finger flicker, which was good fun, and a laugh. Then headed to bed for early night before church the next day.

Speak soon

Jon x

Office Day - Friday 22nd

Got up at a decent hour today, 8 am. Then headed to the office to work do some I.T. work. Started off by designing the new website that they wanted to have for this years match for a day. Whish is 24 hours of football to raise money for Ambassadors in sport SA. It is only the second year it is going to be running, and last year raise R130,000, with special guest Lee Sharpe, ex Manchester United player also entering a team into the tournament. It was also broadcasted on the South African Sports TV stations as well. This year they are also adding a freestyle tournament which would involve holding qualifing rounds at all of the local shopping centres. Also there is a Royal Rumble of football (last team standing tournament). This year it looks set to raise over R200,000. I then had to set up a desktop that has been donated from the USA, which was going to be posted to a smaller office in Seweto. Then had to rush off back home to have a quick dinner, (McDonalds Mcfeast! 1 word..... WOOOAAAAHHHH!!) which was pleasant. Dave, Mark and I then head to the church to help set up for their youth group. Tonight was IPL night so we played cricket all nite. Everyone had a good laugh and enjoyed themselves. was pretty busy day today. But enjoyed it none the less. Claire still isn't feeling any better and its her last week before exams next week, so please continue to pray.

Many thanks

Jon x

Prison Day - Thursday 21st

5 am start!! I offered to drop mark in to the hopsital for his operation again. After dropping him off headed back home, and got an extra half hour sleep, before having to get up to go to the office to meet up with Jo and Melissa, in order to catch a lift into the prison. It was good to chat to them and get to know them a bit better on the way. When we arrived we went through the prison procedures and was chatting to the Guards and a few of them were christians and really appreciated the Hope academy. We went up to the football pitch and then the team came out to meet us and was greeted by them all. We then shared a time of bible study and the topic today was working as a team. We started them off by getting them to write their names at the top of a piece of A4 paper and then passed it round and everyone had to write something they would miss about that person if they were to leave. They were all writing a couple of lines for each person so it took quite a while but was worth it, and it supprised all of them in a good way because they didn't realise some of the things they did that would be missed by others. Afterwards we went through the daily study reading and ten read 1 Corinthians 12 vs 12 up to chapter 13, about how each part of the body is important to the rest and that they work as a team. Then Melissa did some footskills and some fitness work with them. One of the guys called Niko, (pronouced neeeko) had to sit out with an ankle injury so I managed to chat to him an told him bit bout my life story. And he shared a bit out what he's gone through. He's being released soon on prison leave and could be coming to work with ambassadors in sport full time which would be amazing. If he's good, then he won't have to go back to prison. So please pray into that situation that it can work out. At 1 o'clock we left the prison and grabbed some lunch on the way back to the office to get the car. Then headed to the hopsital to see Mark, and see how he was feeling, and as soon as I walked into the hopsital right infront of me was Mark with smile on his face and big cup of coffee. He'd just been released and was waiting for me to turn up. Headed back to the flat and got pulled over for speeding. I was doing 77kph in 60kph but thought it was 80kph. I got 125 Rand fine (under £10). Woopsie! :S When got in I did some washing and ironing. And then had dinner, Claire is still not great but at least her headache is gone now and is feeling a little bit better. Please continue to pray for Claire to get better.

Speak soon

Jon x

Office Day - Wednesday 20th

Didn't have to get up a early today. Headed down to the office to work today. I worked on developing one of AIS's websites that they have all day. It wan't too hard just really tedius work but worth doing. The highlight of today was making the tea and then realising the milk had been open for at least a month, but not much other than that. Then headed off home and had KFC for dinner as Claire is still unwell today and feeling even worse than yesterday. Then Headed off to bed as had to get up at 5 to take Mark into hopspital for his operation.

Speak soon

Jon x

Prison Day - Tuesday 19th

7 o clock start this morning, not cool! made my sandwiches, out the door and on way to the prison with Greg, forgot my lunch! Always a good start to the day! Arived at the prison about half 8, and met up with Jo and Melissa, and met two new guys that I haven't met before called Cameroon and Stewart who work for local churches. Stewart was another Ipswich town fan who works with AIS which we had good laugh about. We then headed into the prison and was told that we had to do our football coaching in the missle of the courtyard, surrounded by a thousand inmates. Nice introduction to the prison! We then headed into the Hope Academy's cell, which I was later told that the Guards had kindly moved all of the football team into one cell to make it easy for everyone. Which then meant that AIS could introduce some rules to the cell to help them such as no swearing, no drugs etc. When I walked into the prison cell I was greeted by about 20 players and all were realy friendly and smiling and fully of happiness, that i didn't expect to see. Especially when no-else seemed happy when we walked across the courtyard to the cell. We started off by having a bible study for an hour and it was just amazing to see all the inmates particpiating and reading there bibles. They did most of the talking about God and what they've learnt through the bible. Their bible knowledge was even better than mine. They were quoting hundreds of bible verses exactly off the top of their head. It was just such a blessing to see. They all had a little folder containing the bible reading notes and was interesting to see how they tied all of it into football. We then founded out the meeting which most of the guards had to go to had finished so one of them said that they would take us up to the football pitch to train. We did mainly fitness training and defensive work. But was good to see and their footwork was really good as well. We then left at 12 and was on the way to Sunnyside school for football coaching, when got a text saying that I'd locked Mark in the flat all day. woopsy! So after a quick detour to let Mark out we headed to the school where the under 10 A and B team had a match each. The B team played first and although Sunnyside dominated the couldn't get a goal so it end 0-0. Then the A team were up, this game was alot more different, Sunnyside scored the open then the opponents pulled 1 back then Sunnyside scored another 2 so it was 3-1, but they pulled another back to make it 3-2 at hald time. The second half kicked off and Sunnyside scored another goal, with the other team pulling one back, Sunnyside then scored again but so did the other team. The final score was 5-4 to Sunnyside which kept up their unbeaten run. We then headed back to the flat, and had a dinner. Claire is now ill with flu like symptoms/ hope its not swine flu! Then retired to the flat for an ealry nite. Please pray for Claire as she has got a lot of work to do at school, and she is also pregant so she can't take anything to help either.

Speak soon

Jon x

Relaxing Day - Monday 18th

Layed in til 11 today before heading down to the shops to get some phone credit. Then when got back to the flat and a good tidy up and rearrange of the funiture and some did some washing as well. Then headed to Menlyn shopping centre to pick up some food from the shops and lookd at getting a printer for Mark. Then jus headed back home for dinner, which was chicken and pasta in a kind of sweet and sour sauce but had some spice to it. Then hit the sack after a pretty relaxed day.

Speak soon

Jon x

Men's retreat - Sunday 17th

Got up at half 7 again. I definately not a morning person add breakfast at 8 although it was jus a light breakfast today with toast and cereal because we were having a brunch after the meeting. The meeting was about the qualites of a spiritual father and what a spiritual father must be. Afterwards came brunch before packing all of our gear away and loading up the minibus for the journey home. I sat next to this guy called Auberry on the bs and had some great conversations with him about life and stuff. We arrived home about 4 which was just enough time to wash and unpack before heading off to the evening service at Eastside church where Ashley Smith was concluding the weekend off with the families there as well. He commissioned all of the Men in the church that they may continue to be or become great spiritual fathers. Dinner was ready straight after the meeting so we had to rush off to Steers to get some chips, (the best chips you will ever eat by the way!)

Speak soon

Jon x

Men's retreat - Saturday 16th

Up at half 7 today, didn't like that too much. had breakfast at 8 and then off to the meeting at 9. Ashley spoke about the father and son relationshipand how important it is in the development of the son. Some of us then headed over to the sportshall for another few gmes of indoor cricket. (as you can tell they like their cricket) Lunch was at 12. The food so far over the weekend has bin really good and we've had a variety of different foods, from sausages to chicken dropsticks to egg and bacon. Team games ativites followed lunch to help meet new people. The first game we did involved being blind folded and having to untangle a rope in ur team and then make a square with the rope whilst still being blind folded. The next game involved remembering letter under differnt plates in a 5 by 5 grid and the unscrambling them to findout the word and then the bible verse. The final game we did was like football but involved a pair of tights with some balls in to swing from your waist inbetween your legs to hit the ball, it ended up being an amusing afternoon. There was then a golfing competition to see who could get the ball closest to the flag although Kanan the dog kept running off with the golf balls. We then had another game of cricket before watchin the two local rugby teams play eachother on tv. The bulls beat the sharks by 1 point in the end so it was an excting game to watch whilst eating our dinner. After the game we went to the hall for another meeting. his one was more based around security in a relationship and spiritual fatherhood. He also spoke about the covenent of marriage and that when you get divorced from your wife and there is a child involved you are not only breaking the covenent with your wife but with your child because they have come from the covenent relationship. Guess what we did after the meeting? you guessed it, we played cricket again in the hall. Was both a physically and mentally draining day but worth it.

Speak soon

Jon x

Men's retreat - Friday 15th

Today fairly relaxed day. Had a nice lay in and then head down to the office to pick up the minibus from the office with Dave. Then came back home and packed all of my things for the men's retreat away. Mark then rang and asked to be picked up from hopsital as he was being discharged and has to go back next week now so that they can have another cracked at getting the Kidney Stone out. We were then on the road by half past 5 after picking up a few people from the church. We were told a short cut which was to go straight until you hit a 'T' junction and then turn right. after we hit the dirt road we realised we'd gone to far and the 'T' junction was acutally a four way junction! But we were soon back on the right way after a quick phone call. we arrived at the camp site for half 7 in time for dinner and then wuickly dumped our gear in the thatched cottage type accomodation we were staying in. The meeting was just and introduction to the rest of the weekend and about Fathers and sons and spiritual fathers with a guest speaker from cape town called Ashley Smith who was really good. Afterwards most of us head to the indoor sports hall where we played a game of indoor cricket which was a good laugh and a chance to meet new guys and especialy more guys my age. Looking forward to tomorrow now!

Speaks soon

Jon x