Some photos!

Hi

I've had a great time sorting out all my photos and remembering the fun times we had in Tanzania! Here's just a few I thought you would like to see:

this is me at one of the places we stayed in.

With some of my new friends.

Having a chat with Pastor Iain

We saw lots of wildlife! I think Angela said this was a baboon.

I'm home again!

Hello everyone!

Well, we arrived back home yesterday. I'm very tired after lots of travelling in Angela's bag. It was a long drive from Mbeya back to Morogoro, so I was glad we had time to take an afternoon off before we went to the airport. We went to the beach and Angela got me out so I could have a look at the Indian Ocean and get my photo taken with two boys.

Now we're back in Scotland - brrr, it's cold! But I'm glad I don't need a mosquito net anymore. Have any of you ever slept under a mosquito net? The worst bit for me was having to remember to take everything I needed under the net at night! If I forgot something, like my water bottle or my torch or my book or my mobile phone, I had to untuck myself, crawl out, then crawl back into bed and tuck the net in again. Sometimes that happened 3 or 4 times before I could settle down! You need to have everything you need under the net and not on the table beside you. If I get out of bed for something tonight at least I'll only get cold feet!

Pastor Iain and Norma and Angela asked me to thank everyone for praying for us. And they were really happy with the lollipops and chocolate the boys and girls of KFC sent with them!

This was my last trip to another country for this year - I need a good rest now! I'll try to put some photos we took in Tanzania on here as soon as I can.

Been dancing!

Hello!

Our time in Mbeya is passing so quickly! We've had such a good time. Today I went to the ladies meeting with Angela and Norma - I was allowed to go because I am a girl sheep. The ladies started to dance while we were singing, they were very very good at it! I joined in a bit because the music was so great and I just couldn't keep my feet still. I wasn't as good as those African ladies though... They wear such lovely bright clothes too, a bit like my bright yellow fur but all sorts of colours. They made us feel so special, and they asked us to send their love to everyone in the Link Church.

It's raining here...

Hello again!

We're having a good time at the conference. Pastor Iain, Norma and Angela are very busy meeting all the people who have come and preaching to the pastors and groups of women. They are very good to listen to as well, the people love to hear what they say about God and the Bible. I'm not preaching because sheep don't do that sort of thing, although Jesus thought we make very good examples for some of the things He preached about. I'm having a lovely time meeting people and making new friends, that's what I like best!

It's started to rain now with lots of loud thunder. I think it might be the rainy season starting. I got a bit of a fright the first time I heard the thunder and my yellow fur almost turned white! But I'm used to it now so it's all OK.

I saw Nico's message about his sore tooth, I hope you are feeling better now Nico!

We saw lots of animals!

Hello!

Yesterday we had our long drive down to Mbeya. It took hours and hours, but I had fun being with Pastor Iain, Norma and Angela. They are looking after me very well. The most exciting bit of our journey was all the animals we saw. There was an elephant, a zebra, impalas, baboons, a giraffe and some warthogs! It reminded me of when I was in Africa before with Sarah and her family because we saw lots of animals then too. My favourites are still the warthogs though because they remind me of Pumba!

Pastor Iain, Norma and Angela are here to speak at a big conference. They would really like the boys and girls in KFC to pray for them while they are there. There will be about 350 pastors at the conference and they have to speak to them all at a lot of sessions. It's going to be exciting, though, because we're looking forward to what God will do for all our friends here!

Tidy children here!

Hello everyone!

Since I last wrote on my blog I've visited another orphanage, which was up in the hills above Morogoro. 35 children live there, but they don't have many rooms so the children have to all share a bed so everyone can be fitted in. They just have one shower (it was a bit muddy too) and one toilet for everyone too. I was pleased to hear that they will move into a better house at the end of next year. There were some guard dogs in a cage in the garden - the cage was quite big compared to the children's rooms!

I was very impressed by how neat and tidy the children kept their rooms. It can't be easy with so many people sharing, I expect they all help each other. The smaller children had lots of nice toys at the bottom of their bunks and in their living room. That was nice to see as I know the boys and girls in KFC like to have toys in their rooms too. They had a beautiful garden and I just loved the views of the mountains. They had pawpaws, bananas and mangoes growing in the garden too - you wouldn't believe the size of the mangoes, they were bigger than me! But it was a steep climb up the hill to the house - I can't imagine what it must be like carrying their food and everything up there, it must be very hard for them. The road was muddy too, and full of potholes, I was so glad I didn't have to walk! We saw a cute little monkey on our way back too!

The children were all at school while we were there which was a shame as I couldn't get my photo taken with them. They have to walk down that steep, muddy hill every time they go to school, and all the way back up again at hometime.

Tomorrow (Monday) we leave for Mbeya where we will stay for a week. It's a 9 hour journey, so I'm glad we're going in a car rather than a bus this time! We pass a game park on the way. Norma and Angela told me we might see some animals as we pass - we all really hope we do!

Been to visit an orphanage!

Hello! We went to visit an orphanage today. I had a great time meeting the children there and got to play with some of them. We got our photos taken together so I can show you my new friends when we get back. They asked me to send their love to all the boys and girls in KFC.

It's been very hot today, but I'm getting used to that now with all the hot places I've been this year! I've still got my scarf on, but I might need to take it off soon if it doesn't cool down a bit.

Another Adventure!

Hello everyone!

I'm already on a new adventure! I barely had time to wash my lovely yellow fur and my scarf before we left for Tanzania yesterday. We had to get up really really early to go to the airport, I didn't like that bit much as I'm not much of a morning sheep. We had a good flight, then when we arrived we travelled on to Morogorro which is where we're staying for the next few days. We're having a bit of a rest this morning, but Iain, Norma and Angela have to start teaching the people here about God this afternoon. That will be tiring for them after our long journey, so please keep praying!

I don't think I'll be able to put photos on my blog during this trip, but I'll keep in touch as much as possible to tell you all what we're doing!

We're home!

Hello everyone! I'm home at last - this was my longest trip so far and I had a fantastic time! Before we came home Ruth and I spent a couple of days in Athens, Georgia with some of our friends from St James Church in Athens. It was so exciting for both of us to meet up with people we have met from St James, and to make some new friends too! We met some people who haven't been to Scotland before but said they would love to come over; I really hope they do!

We stayed with Dave and Carol Staton. They were very kind to us and looked after us so well. Bill and Vivien Arnold also took us out for the day - we went for lunch and they drove us around showing us lots of interesting places. Everyone wanted to know about our time in Brazil too. It was a nice restful break for us before coming home and we both really enjoyed it. Me with Dave and Carol outside their house.

Me with Ruth outside St James Church

I was very surprised when I got home to find out that I'm going on another mission trip very soon! I'm going to Tanzania with Pastor Iain, Norma and Angela on November 20th! That'll just about give me time to unpack my suitcase and wash my lovely yellow fur before we leave on the next adventure...

Hello! I´ve had some amazing experiences this week. On Wednesday I went with Ruth and Selma to meet Selma´s mother, her sister, Barbera, and brother in law, Diogo, and their baby Davi, who is 9 months old. We also met Selma´s niece, Leticia, who is 8 and lives with her Granny most of the time. We had to get 3 buses each way and it took over 2 hours to get there and then to get back home. Before we left Scotland some people gave us baby clothes to take, and we gave some of them to Davi. He was very pleased with everything we gave him and wanted me to say thank you to all the people who gave us clothes for babies here in Brazil. We had a really nice time together and I was sorry when it was time to leave. It rained really heavily all day and it was difficult to walk up the streets because they are just dirt roads and most of them were flooded in parts. In the end we walked up 3 streets before we found one we could get through! Ruth and Selma got wet feet, I was glad to be in my bag because I didn´t want my lovely yellow fur to get all wet and muddy. We even saw a rat swimming in one of the big puddles and Selma said we had to be careful when we were walking through the water. Me with Davi

On Thursday we went to visit some more of Selma´s relatives who live in a favela in Rio de Janiero. We met Selma´s Gran who is 91! We also met some of her Aunties, Uncles and cousins, and her cousin´s two little boys, Nicolas, who is 3 and Miguel, who is 7 months. Nicolas liked playing with my yellow fur, but I wasn´t too keen on the style he chose for me because he covered my eyes up so I couldn´t see. All of these relatives of Selma live next door to each other, and they are a very close family. Life is very difficult for them but I thought they were wonderful because they were so happy together and we had a lot of fun. Selma said it is always like that there and that they all help each other out. We met Selma´s aunt Marisa - Ruth met her when she came here two years ago and Aunt Marisa was very ill and they didn´t know if she would get better. But everyone prayed and now she is much better and still recovering. It was great to meet people who love God so much and trust Him for everything they need.

Today is our last day - we leave tomorrow evening. It´s going to be sad to say goodbye again, but I´m excited about coming back to tell you all I´ve been up to. We´re just going to spent two days with our friends from St James Church in Athens, Georgia on the way back, so I´ll let you know how that goes too!

Still having fun!

I´m really pleased Ruth let me stay on in Brazil with her because we´re having such a good time! On Saturday we went to a Mission´s Lunch in Selma and Henrique´s church. It was to raise money to help two missionaries from the church. We had pasta which was very nice. Sheep don´t normally like pasta, but being a missions sheep, I have to try all sorts of different foods and I´ve been surprised by how many I like! Some are not so nice, but trying new things is all part of missions life. On Sunday night I went to church with Ruth and Selma. It was very different to our church - for a start it was so hot we needed fans all the time! The bit I liked best was watching some children dancing at the back while the people were praising God. I felt like joining in but I was a bit shy since it was my first time at that church.

Today I went with Selma and Ruth to the YWAM base in Rio de Janeiro. I really liked it there, there were lots of very kind people who do amazing things for God. The people at this base just want to tell people about Jesus. Some of them work with people who live near the base, helping them in all sorts of ways since they are very poor people. All the time they are helping they are looking for opportunities to tell the people how much Jesus loves them. There are also lots of courses on the base to get people ready to go to other countries to tell people about Jesus. We met a really nice young man called Ricardo, who showed us how good he is at art. He is doing an English course because he wants to have a team to go to Indonesia to tell people about Jesus love for them. Doing the English course is just the first step - he will have to learn other languages and spend time in Indonesia to find out what needs to be done. Then he will come back to Brazil and find people to be on the team with him so they can go and do what God asks them to do there. It was very interesting listening to him, and he practised his English with Ruth. He was speaking very well for someone who has just started to learn! Selma´s husband Henrique sometimes comes to teach on the courses they have here.


Me at the YWAM base

I don´t like saying goodbye!

Such a lot has happened in the past few days I hardly know where to start! We had a happy time on our last evening with everyone from the two Rainbow Houses because we all went out for icecream. It was really delicious icecream, and everyone had two big scoops. There was no grass flavoured icecream, but there were some other strange colours and flavours! I spent the last night with Hannah and Yvonne in Rainbow House 2, but we went to say goodbye to everyone in the other house before we left. It was so sad to say goodbye, but everyone said I must come back, and I´d love to. Us having icecream on our last evening together in Nova Lima.

On Wednesday we travelled back to Rio de Janeiro by bus and came to stay at Ruth´s friend Selma´s house. On Thursday we went to see the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro. It was amazing and we saw some wonderful views, but it was too high up for Hannah, she isn´t keen on heights!

Selma and her husband Henrique are the Directors of a creche in Niteroi, which is very near Rio de Janeiro. Selma took us to visit the creche on Friday morning and we had a lovely time. There were 10 children there on Friday (only 1 girl though!), but there are 15 children altogether who go to the creche. They are aged from about 1 1/2 - 4 years. It´s good they can go there during the day because it means their Mums can go out to work. One little boy called Eduardo, who is almost 3, used to spend the day at home alone while his Mum went to work, so it´s much better for him to come and be looked after at the creche. We played with them outside in the lovely playground which was built using money given by friends of the creche in Scotland. The money they send helps the creche staff look after the children well too. We had a nice lunch with the children and Ruth filmed them singing their grace - it was so good I hope you get to hear it sometime!
Me and Selma playing with some of the children in the playground.

It was sad last night as Hannah and Yvonne went away. They are now visiting some of our friends from St James church in Athens, Georgia for a couple of days. They´ll be back home on Tuesday so you´ll see them next Sunday! I decided to stay on with Ruth at Selma´s house for 10 more days. We´ll be doing some interesting things so I´ll try to let you know about them when I can.

Such nice friends!

We had such a lovely time with all the friends of the Rainbow House families last night. About 15 people came. These friends are very important to everyone in Rainbow House, so it was a special time getting to know them. We had snacks and two more cakes! I think I´ll have to go on a diet when I get home again. Hannah did a funny game, ´Meet Napoleon´, only we had to make it ´Meet Tiradentes´ because not all the Brazilians knew who Napoleon was. It was very funny, although Ronaldo and Carlos, who got to meet Tiradentes, were blindfolded and thought it was a bit yucky when they had to shake hands with some sausages! We all laughed and laughed though. One of the most exciting parts of the evening was meeting a lady who is called Mercy, like me! It was a very noisy time with all these people, but everyone was very happy to be together and I made lots of new friends.

Me with all the friends that came for the evening. You have to look

closely to see me - I´m in the middle of the front row. Me with Mercy. We have the same name but we don´t look much like each other!

Tomorrow will be sad day as we are leaving Rainbow Houses to go back to Rio de Janeiro. We can´t believe how quickly the time has gone, but we´ve done so many exciting and new things. Everyone has been so kind to us and we´ve made some special new friends. When we get to Rio de Janeiro, we will all stay for a couple of days with Ruth´s friend Selma, and her family. Selma will take us to do some sightseeing in Rio on Thursday. I´ll be back as soon as possible to tell you about everything we´re doing!

A great party!

Hi! We had a great party on Saturday night! It was lots of fun and we all had a good laugh together. I think I´ll have more birthdays if parties are this much fun! Everyone had pizza and cake, except me - I´m not keen on pizza and things so I just had some cake. But the others ate plenty! Some even had 6 pieces of pizza! And the cakes disappeared in no time. At the end the children and young people of both Rainbow Houses got together and sang one of Ruth´s favourite songs in Portuguese. They sang with all their hearts and it was lovely. Ruth videod the song so we can show it to you when we get back. The children playing with balloons at the party.

Me with the two cakes. The writing on the white one says ´Feliz Aniversario´which means ´Happy Birthday´.

Yesterday I had a day here in Rainbow House and Ruth Hannah and Yvonne went to a big market in the Belo Horizonte. Ruth said I´d be better to stay here as it´s not really a safe place for a little sheep. In fact it wasn´t even safe to take their cameras. They had a good time though. today we went to an indoor market which was OK for me to go to. I helped Ruth and Hannah choose some great pércussion instruments for KFC so we can make lots more noise when I get back!

Tonight some of our friends are coming to visit us all, so it´ll be another fun evening!

Hello everyone!

We´ve had such a good time the past couple of days, it´s been so busy too. Yesterday we went up a very big hill - I was glad Ruth took my bag because it was too steep for my little legs to carry me up there! We went up the hill to give invitations to children for the Fun Day we had today. We really wanted them to be able to come because their families are very poor and we knew it would be a very special treat for them. We handed out lots of invitations up there and talked to people. The boys and girls from Rainbow Houses 1 and 2 went with us and helped us.

Me with Rafaela when we went up the hill. The houses in the background are like the ones we visited.

Our Fun Day started at 9.30 this morning. 36 children came and everyone had loads of fun. I wish everyone in KFC could have come, you would all have had a great time! We played games, sang the new songs I´ve been learning with Hannah, had some puppets which told us a story about a Good Shepherd, did worksheets and had crafts and a snack. Before the children went home we gave them all a party bag with sweets, a pencil, a notebook and a toy - they really loved those too.

Me helping the children with their worksheets. Rodrigo let me sit on his back to see better.

Tonight we´re having a big birthday party for everyone; since we can´t be here for everyone´s birthday on the right day, we´re just having one big party today. I don´t know when my birthday is but Ruth, Hannah and Yvonne said I could still come. I´m so excited, I´ve never had a birthday party before. The children are quite excited too because they´ve never had a birthday party with anyone from Scotland before. You should see the cakes! There are two and they are huge! Today I REALLY like being a missions sheep!

Lots of fun!

Hello!

Before I tell you about what we did to get ready for the fun day on Saturday, I must tell you all about another exciting thing that happened yesterday. Before we came to Brazil, Raith Rovers football club in Kirkcaldy gave us a holdall full of football training kits for boys and their trainers. When we got here we asked Ronaldo what he thought we should do with it, and he suggested we gave it to the Cruzeiro football club, which trains boys aged 12 - 15. Efraim, who lives in Rainbow House 1 used to train there so they knew some of the boys come from families which don´t have much money. When we took the stuff, the trainer was really happy - he was even excited to get to keep the big holdall because they really needed one! The boys were there to play football, so he got some of them to put the kits on and we took photos. I got my photo taken with them, but I just kept my scarf on because the clothes were all too big for me. I´m not very good at football anyway.

Me with the boys in the football clothes

After we came back, we did the preparation for the Fun Day on Saturday. We made up lots of party bags with sweets, stickers, pencils and little toys for the children who will come. We also talked about all the fun things we´ll be doing with them and decided who could do the different things. Then we practised the songs and the aerobics. We are using the same songs as the team did who came two years ago, so Ruth and Yvonne already knew them, but Hannah and me have to learn them from scratch. They are quite easy, though, and lots of fun. After we did all that, Hannah got out the glow sticks and everyone had great fun with them.

Today Ronaldo and Reginalda took Ruth, Hannah and me to visit the YWAM base in Belo Horizonte. This is where Ruth first came to work in Brazil a long time ago. We visited the house where the girls live first. The house is called Casa Recanto. The girls who come to the house are either street girls who want to stop living on the streets, or girls who are not safe at home. We met some of the staff and some of the girls and got shown around the house. I made some new friends there and they really liked my yellow fur. They tried to tidy it up, but I have to say I looked like a bit of a scarecrow after and was glad when Ruth put me back in my bag! We then went to visit the House of Refuge, where children live who have HIV and AIDS. THis was where Ruth lived for over a year and worked with street babies. We saw lots of happy, healthy looking children, and Ruth was very excited to see a few teenagers who were very small children when she lived there. They didn´t remember her, but she recognised them even though they are much bigger now! We then paid a short visit to the house where street boys go if they want to stop living on the streets, and met Johan, the base director, Vilma, one of the social assistants on the base and Carla, who started up the House of Refuge and now goes all over the world teaching about AIDs and setting up houses for children with the disease. It was through Carla that Ruth came to Brazil, so we were excited to see her!

Me in Casa Recanto with Cassia (a staff member) and one of the girls.

Schoolbags!

Hello! It´s me again!

There´s been such a lot happening here I hope I can remember it all to tell you! Some kind people in Scotland gave us money to buy schoolbags for the children in Rainbow Houses 1 and 2, so we went and did that yesterday. It was a great outing! We went to a big shopping centre with Reginalda and Magna and looked at all the schoolbags we could find. We found some really nice ones in a sale so we got those - lots and lots of schoolbags! The children were really excited to get them because their old schoolbags were really old, some of them even had holes big enough for the children to put their hands right through them. Yvonne and Ruth have taken photos of the children with their new schoolbags so you´ll all be able to see them when we get back.

After that outing I asked Ruth if it would be OK for me to go and stay with Hannah and Yvonne for a night or two and she said that was fine. We had lots of fun in the afternoon with the children there, and I showed some of the bigger girls how to make cross stitch sheep pictures. They were very good at it. They even made one for my new bag which I now have to travel around in.

Today will be busy too, as we´re going to get everyone together and tell them all about the Fun Day on Saturday and show them what we´ll be doing. I´ll come back later to tell you how that went.

Me with Magna & Reginalda buying the new schoolbags

We´re here!

Hello everyone!

This is the first chance I´ve had to update my blog, but I´ve been dying to tell you all about the fantastic time we´re having so far! We arrived in Rio de Janeiro after a really long journey - 19 hours on 2 planes. Yawn... We had lots and lots of luggage, and some of it was a bit heavier than it should have been; we also had an extra bag. But we prayed about it and God was so good to us, we got all the bags and cases checked through without having to leave any stuff behind or pay extra money! The girl who checked us in didn´t even bother looking to see how much our cases weighed! We were so excited because that meant we could bring all the presents and things for our friends here. Ruth´s friend Selma met us in Rio de Janeiro airport with a kind man called Marcelo who´s helping us out a lot while we´re here; we were all very excited to see Selma, and she was really happy we had come.

That evening we went out for dinner with Selma, her husband, Henrique and their two little girls, Isabela (9) and Gabriela (4). We had such a lot of fun and laughs! We slept well that night after our long journey, I can tell you!

On Saturday Selma and Marcelo took us to the bus station and we caught our bus to Belo Horizonte. It took about 6 hours and we saw lots of interesting things on the way. We were met in Belo Horizonte by Carlos, Magna, Sara and Mateus from Rainbow House 2, and Reginalda. I already knew Reginalda and Ronaldo becuase they visited us in Scotland last year, but the the others are all new friends to me and Hannah. (Ruth and Yvonne have been here lots of times before.) Everyone was so excited to see us! And they had made lovely posters and welcome signs to make us feel really special. Hannah and Yvonne are staying at Rainbow House 2, and Ruth and me are at Rainbow House 1, although Ruth says I can go and stay with Hannah and Yvonne sometimes which will be really good.

Last night we had a big get together with the Rainbow House families, and gave them all their presents. It was such fun and really hilarious at times, especially when Carlos and Ronaldo put on their `kilts´ - they´re really towels but they look like kilts! - and Carlos even tried to do the Highland Fling! The children all loved their presents and were so happy with everything. We feel very privileged to see how pleased they are with the things that other people have given us to bring them - I wish you could all have seen their happy faces when they got their gifts.

Well, I think I better stop now, but I´ll be back soon with more news.

Me and Ruth beside the bus.

We´d just arrived at Rainbow House...

Hello again everyone!

I'm getting really excited about my next big adventure. Next week I'm off to Brazil with Ruth and Hannah from KFC and Yvonne, who goes to our church too. We're going to visit the Rainbow House Children's Homes in a place called Nova Lima, which is near the big city of Belo Horizonte. We're going to have lots of fun with the children and young people in the two homes, and also have a fun day for children who live near one of the houses. After we've done all that, we're going back to Niteroi, which is very near Rio de Janeiro and while we're there we'll visit the Good Shepherd creche. Ruth and Yvonne have been there before - they said there are no sheep in the Good Shepherd creche, but lots of little boys and girls, so that will be such fun! Hopefully I'll be able to write on here lots and tell you about all the things we're doing! We leave on 4th October, so watch this space after that...

Here's a photo of us when we were getting some of the things for the children ready to pack in our cases.

Me, Yvonne, Hannah & Ruth

Photos of Purple Submarine

Hello again!

I said I'd be back with some photos taken of me at Purple Submarine, and here they are.

Me in the periscope

In the ShipwreckDoing some crafts

Yummy! Lunchtime...

My next big adventure comes in October, when I'm off to Brazil with Ruth, Hannah and Yvonne! I can't wait! It's so exciting seeing all these different places. I'll be back then to let you know what I'm getting up to, and if I do anything exciting before then I'll tell you about that too! First though, I think I need a rest...

Hi again everyone,

We are back now, and have had a great time. Sorry that I couldn't put up any pictures while I was in Africa but I'll try to do it now.

This (to the left)is me singing with the children. Most of them were very good at English, and we would sing a song like 'we are marching in the light of God' or 'there's no one, there's no one like Jesus'. We would sing it in English and they'd joined in, then they would teach us it in Zulu.

This (on the right) is me at an after school club. I would help the children with their homework, if I could, then do a craft or game with them. They liked doing it with me.

These (on the left) are some of the animal friends that I made in South Africa.

I have got more photographs, and am going to show some at church on Sunday, and will put more in the photograph album that Ruth has.

Hope you have all enjoyed hearing about my adventure, and there will be another adventure up soon so keep looking.

Bye for now.

On our way home!

Hello everyone - especially all my friends at Purple Submarine!

We're on our way home from South Africa now! I've had such a great time here, it's been loads of fun. The best bits were getting to do stories and crafts with the children in an after school club - I especially liked making sheep! I liked going to the aquarium too, although the sharks were scary. And of all the animals we saw, I liked the hippos having a swim best. It was exciting when Pumba's friends, the warthogs, came to eat grass for their supper right outside our window too.

I expect you've all been having a great time at Purple Submarine too. Sarah and me will be there on Thursday - I can't wait to meet you all! See you soon!

Been to see some lions!

Hello everyone!

We're still finding so much to see here! Yesterday we went to a lion park and saw lots of lions. They looked like lovely big cuddly cats, but I'm sure Sarah was right when she said it's not a good idea to go cuddling lions! But they were nice to look at, and they had cute little baby cubs as well. Today we went shopping, but we didn't find much to buy. I'm not keen on shopping myself, I like going to see the animals much more.

Tomorrow we set off for home! I'll be sad to leave South Africa because it's a great country, but I'm getting so excited about going to Purple Submarine Holiday Club! It started today and Sarah said she had a text to say everyone had a great time. I'll be there on Thursday - can't wait!

Pumba's friends!

Hello everyone! We're at the game park now and it's fabulous! Yesterday, we had a visit from some warthogs, they were just like Pumba in Lion King so I'm sure they were his friends. They were eating grass outside our window. It's lovely and quiet here and we're having a very relaxing time. There's lots of great food too, we're enjoying that as well! During the day we can go on tours of the park and see all sorts of African animals. But the thing I've really liked to do is lie in my bed and watch the birds flying about in the sky. We can go on guided tours, so maybe I'll be back to tell you about that...

A bit sad on our last day...

Hello! We made the sheep yesterday, I helped tell the story of the lost sheep first from the Bible then we made some sheep of our own. They didn't have yellow wool like me though, they had white cotton wool. It was good fun though. We had a great time with the children today again, but we felt quite sad because it was our last day with them today. We had a good time though, and the people from the Church of the Good Shepherd were very nice to us before we left.

The rest of the people from the team we've been working with are going home tomorrow, but Sarah and her Mum, Dad and sister are staying on to spend a few days at the animal park we visited on Monday, and they said I can go with them! I'm so excited and looking forward to seeing my friends the hippos again. I expect we'll see lots of other African animals too, I'll tell you all about it as soon as I can.

Bath with a hippo!

Hello, it's me again! I had a great time at the game park yesterday. My favourite animals were the hippos because we got to see them going for a swim! I wanted to swim with them but Sarah wouldn't let me. She said I was too little and they might squash me. The lions were a bit scary, but I kept away from them.

Today we went back to the creche. Sarah's Mum, Dad and sister Nicola went with us. We had great fun making birds, fish and butterflies. I suggested to Sarah that we could make sheep tomorrow and she thought that was a great idea! So we're going to take some cotton wool to do it with. Sarah says this is the sort of thing we'll get to do at holiday club when we get back home, so I'm getting really excited about it now!

Had a great week!

We've had loads of fun this week, playing with the children and meeting lots of new friends! It's our day off today, but it's going to be a busy day! We're going to a market, going to see an aquarium, playing rugby (do sheep play rugby? Maybe I'll be the first one ever!) and having a barbeque later on. Phew! I feel tired already! I don't think we'll be able to put any photos on here until we get home - sorry about that folks! But we will keep in touch and let you know what's happening... More later!

Hello again! This is just getting better and better, what great fun we're having! We were back at the after school club yesterday and I even got to do a memory verse with the children! It was John 10: 14 -"I am the Good Shepherd, I know my sheep." Isn't that great? I was so excited to find out that Jesus talked about sheep in the Bible! I've been going to this place with Sarah and her Mum every day so far, we might be going somewhere else after a few days. We get to play lots of games outside: the children really love that, I can tell you! Well, better go. More later...

We're working hard!

Hello everyone! We spend our first day or so seeing all sorts of amazing things that are being done here to help people, and yesterday (Tuesday) we actually got to start helping with some of it. We went to a centre where children can go after school, get something to eat, and play games. It was great fun! I'm making lots of new friends and meeting some very special people. We went to another meeting in the Church of the Good Shepherd last night, that was really good too. We still haven't found a way to put photos on here, we'll keep trying though. But I'll write as often as possible because I love telling you about the great time we're having!

Hello again!

We've been busy today going to see all the projects the Church of the Good Shepherd run in Durban. They do a lot of amazing work that makes a big difference to the people they help. We'll be getting stuck into working with them tomorrow so that'll be great! As usual I'm really popular with the children. In fact, Sarah has to keep a close eye on me because they all want to keep me!

We haven't been able to work out how to put my photos on here yet, but we'll do that as soon as we can. I'll be back soon to let you know how the work is going..

Having lots of adventures...

Well, this has been the most exciting week of my entire life! Last Monday, a team arrived from Toledo, Ohio to do some painting in our church. I went along to meet them and help with the painting. It was great to have such kind and helpful people come from so far away to bless our church. I think they had fun too!

Then, on Friday (20th July), I left for Durban, South Africa with Mark, Liz, Sarah and Nicola Hill. We arrived on Saturday after a very long journey. We're here with Soul Action and we're part of a team of 11 people. There's a great church here called Church of the Good Shepherd (what a cool name for a church!) and we're here to help them with some of the fantastic work they do in their local community. So we'll get to do things like work in schools, creches, after school clubs and with people in townships. We heard about some of the things we'll be doing after we arrived, and I can't wait to start! First things first though, we went for a pizza after our meeting. It was very good pizza too! And, since today is Sunday, we're going to the Church of the Good Shepherd and hopefully we'll get to meet lots of new people there.

Anyway, folks, that's all for now. I'll be back as soon as possible to tell you what we're doing!

Hi everyone.

I had a nice mini adventure this week. The toddler group at the Link Church had a picnic at the park. The children brought along their teddy bears, so I made lots of new friend. I also had lots of fun at the park, and enjoyed playing on the swings with some of my sheep friends. The children liked playing on the swings too, and they liked seeing all of the squirrels that were there, but we didn’t manage to take any photographs of the squirrels because they were too quick. They liked my funky coloured scarf. We all had a great time and I can’t wait until my next adventure.

Having a great year!

Hi everyone!

I haven't told you about my trip to Zimbabwe yet, have I? I went at Easter with Pastor Iain, Norma and Angela. They took really great care of me, and I had a fantastic time. I met lots of new friends (I was a huge hit with the children!) and helped them with the Bible studies and worship at a big Easter Conference.

I also got to go to a fabulous place called Victoria Falls. That's a huge waterfall, really amazing. There was a lot of spray from the waterfall, but they didn't have any waterproof macs small enough for me, so Angela put me in a plastic bag to keep me dry. That was really kind of her as I can't do a thing with my yellow fur when it gets wet! Thanks Angela! I also got my picture taken beside the statue of David Livingstone. He was a famous explorer in Africa, so I felt very special posing for the photo beside his statue.

I've added a couple of photos (at least I hope so, I've never done this before!) so you can see what a great time we all had.

I'll be back later to tell you what else I've got planned for this year - it's so busy I don't know how I'm going to fit it all in! Exciting...

Now being a sheep and a little yellow one at that I am having to learn about all this blog stuff! I have so much to tell you about where I went on my last trip, what I am up to just now and where I will be going in a few weeks that I do not know where to start!!

I think I will start by showing you some cool pictures from my last trip but I will have to go and find them so I will be back later. Hopefully not too much later!!