A Birthday Present That I Wish I Could Exchange For A Pair Of Socks...

That title might be prompting you to ask 2 questions. Has this kid gone off the deep end? Or man how depressing is his birthday gift if he would exchange it for socks. I am quite sick and I started feeling ill just as my birthday approached. I started praying to the porcelain gods at about 11:30 pm last night and didnt really relent till about 9:00 am this morning. I have a fever probably around 102. Its been a rough birthday to say the least. However I am not going to let a bedridden day ruin my time here so I have some updates for you. About 7 of us youth leaders took a retreat to a place called hanngesburg which is about 80 kilometers from Polokwane. It was an absolutely beautiful sight and we all enjoyed it immensly. We discussed how we were going to approach the youth group over this upcoming year. It was a very productive time. We also saw all kinds of monkey as we were driving up the property. Africa really is like no other place in the world.

In addition to leading the Youth worship band and being a leader in the youth, I have taken on Seminary classes. I am currently enjoying Hebrew very much as well as my English class. For anyone that doesn't know what an English seminary class is, lets just say we dont work on our prepositions. The class teaches the students how to correctly assemble a sermon by picking apart the context and parts of speech used in the verse. It is a class where the students get preached at a lot, but when Mr. Beakley is the one doing the preaching, everyone just loves to listen. The Beakley family are an amazing family and have helped me learn so much about different aspects of being here and of things that I learned that I can take home and apply as well. Mrs. Beakley has been so kind in babying me today as she brought me anything from sprite to noodles. It its great feeling like part of the family down here. But at the same time I miss my family dearly as well.

We have a student here from the Democratic Republic of Congo and he is such a blessing to the seminary. If you have ever heard of "Invisible children" he is one of them. He was recruited to be in the military at 13. He got ambushed many times and all his friends died right in front of his eyes, but by the grace of God, He brought the student here to the seminary to learn and to bring back the truth and good news to the DRC. His name is Lucky and he smiles alot so everyone just calls him smiley.

As far as my personal ministry goes here, I will just use the phrase babysteps. There really is no concept of time down here so the next 4 months could go by like 1 week. Decipleship here is very difficult to get into as the kids rarely desire a relationship with the Lord. There is one kid named Wesly who is a total blessing and has a heart for the Lord. He and I have talked many times and I am encouraged to get to know him.

Ok well that is all for now, except of course I have many pictures to upload for you to see. Hope you all are doing very well. Please continue to pray for the ministry to Christ Baptist Church and seminary here in Polokwane. Also if anyone would ever like me to send them an email just leave a comment on this blog with your name and e-mail address and I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can. God Bless you all!

Benjamin Pierce

This is a picture yours truly near the dam, at the bottom of the retreat property where us 7 leaders went. It was beautiful, and there were bridges and nice little quaint things all around.

This is a photo taking from the retreat property itself looking at the dam. You cant see them in this picture but there are monkeys in the trees.

"whatchu looking at fool"- Bens Assesment of what is going on in this Heyenas head.

As you can see there are plenty of souls to reach. This is the jr youth group grades 1-8. There are on average 50-60 youth that show up on friday afternoons.

This is the kids after bein introduced to "Red Rover Red Rover" If it would have been the guys it would have been called "AHHH" I have never seen more competative boys than here in Polokwane.

Ok well thats it for this time. Hope you enjoy the photos and the words. God Bless!