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