OK....I was caught...the photo of the ostrich was not one that I took. I was trying to get the spelling right and I found this pictures on line and I couldn't pass it up. However, the rest of the pictures are taken my me.

Saturday, January 27, 2007 continued......Today was just a day of office work to get ready for the team that arrives tonight. A lot of copying, sorting and making packets for the training. Barbara and I met and talked with a couple that heads the relief efforts for the “farm”. This farm is a true working hunting and game farm, yet since it is Christian owned and operated, they have a lot of relief efforts which they direct and/or support. This couple, Jan (pronounced Yawn, quickly) and Jeni, sat with us for a couple of hours and they told us of all the different types of “orphanages” that is supported. The reason for the quotes is; one type is a home that boards, feeds and teaches the children during the day and they go home at night; another type is a typical orphanage but again they are taught the Word as well as fed and housed. They also wanted to know our heart and to see if our vision for lost children matched their vision. It did! Once we got to know each other, they invited us to go with them on a 3-4 day trip to visit each of their projects and see the children, the workers and actually live in their homes for that time period. This should be a very interesting and rewarding trip. All of the gifts we brought (2 suitcases full) will be put into the right hands.

The rest of the day was making sure the small details were finished. I (Jerry) did not go with the group to pick up the team. Another group was coming in to South Africa on a medical trip and the leader's son is spending a 6-month working tour on the farm and he wanted to see his parents so he drove with Joe and Danny. Barbara and I went out, this time with Jan and his son, to view the property and look for animals. Of course, we saw some giraffes, impalas, elans, wildebeests and even a jackal, a predator which they want to rid themselves of. The sunsets are phenomenal here and here is a typical one. Because of the “day-late” arrival of the team, one of the chalets would not be available until Monday so we headed back up to the Shikwaru camp for the evening.

Sunday.....the team came in late last night and Joe and Mishael wanted to get them in the “swing-of-things” early so we came down and help prepare breakfast for the team. Breakfast of an egg quiche/casserole was at 9am and church service was at 10am. Derrick and his wife Becky led the worship and it was very good. Joe then brought the Word and spoke on unity, having an intense and deep Christian love for whatever lies ahead. It was inspiring and right to the point.

OK, let me tell you of several things that has happened. The day before we arrived, Danny killed a spitting cobra snake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitting_cobra) just inches outside the door of his chalet. This is the same camp that we are in at the present time. Last week, they killed a black mamba snake about 5 feet long. You can read about this type at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamba. Today, Johann (the manager) brought in a zebra that had died giving birth. He spotted it last evening while he was taking a couple on an ATV run around the property. We were able to see them “skin” the animal and saving the head with it to “cure” and tan the skin so it could be sold later. The proceeds would be used to replace the animal that was lost. They even removed the baby from the birth canal and it was a beautifully formed little zebra. Johann thought the baby might have been too large for the Mother to give birth. Since the evenings are cool and none of the jackals or any other animal got close, he is hoping he and save the meat and sell it to a feeder for feeding game park animals...another source of revenue for the park. They have a full slaughter house and large walk-in freezers Discovery Channel could not give us the type of education we are getting here.

This afternoon, the training started with orientation, personality tests and team-building exercises.

Dinner of BBQ chicken and steak, baked potatoes and salad was excellent and tasty. Since we were staying our last night up the hill at Shikwaru, we left just after dinner and arrived around 8pm. It is so peaceful here, just four of us in the camp, we decided to retire early. OK, this is all I am doing for the night. Goodnight!

Love you and blessings,

DAD and MOM

Jerry and Barbara

Thursday, January 25, 2007.....Up early (we seem to wake up between 5 and 6 o’clock) and getting ready to go up to the “Farm”. We all had to pack. Joe and I went into town and bought a few things for the car. We returned and started our packing the car and trailer. We were going to take up two cars to the “farm” but the other car never showed up. One of the workers was in another province and didn’t make it back. So, we had to pack everything in the car and small trailer. We finally made it and there were no empty spaces. We left about 1:45pm. The drive took about 3 hours and was very boring flat land. Joe stopped about 20 minutes out and turned the wheel over to me. This is my first time driving on the left side of the road. It wasn’t too bad but all I had to do was drive straight……not too many turns. We arrived and immediately went to the Shikwaru camp and met up with Mishael’s Mom and Dad. Danny and Martha Walker has been working at the camp for the past 2 weeks doing some repair and maintenance work. We found out that Danny’s birthday and Barbara’s are both on January 24! Also, Mishael’s birthday is Monday, the 29^{th .} So, we had another birthday dinner as Joe cooked some steaks (beef, not some exotic animal) with baked potato and a salad. It was very good. Johan and his wife (the managers of the “farm”) also came up and had dinner with us. We had a good time of visiting and talking about the animals. After dinner, as we were walking back from the lodge to our chalet, the stars were amazing. It has been since childhood (and that was a long time ago) that I have seen such a starry sky. Without any lights, the sky was ablaze with stars! The chalet is great and completely furnished. This is a very nice game farm. Here is the website if you haven’t already looked it up… http://www.shikwarugamelodge.co.za It is an amazing place….Donny, you would love it!

Friday….had a decent night of sleep. We got up around 6 and walked down to Danny and Martha’s chalet where the coffee was brewing. We got our coffee and went up to the observation deck to have our coffee and watch for some animals. We were not disappointed…..we saw a giraffe making his/her way down the hill. After our coffee, we went into the lodge for our breakfast and then headed down the hill to the base camp. As we rounded a bend in the road, there were four giraffes just lounging there. They seemed completely at peace for us to stop and take some pictures. Sometimes it is hard to believe that we are a half-a-world away, sitting on a game farm. At the base camp, we unloaded the trailer of supplies and got Joe’s office set up and everything stowed. Joe, Danny and I (Jerry) was getting ready to go to Johannesburg to pick up the people coming in for the training. Mishael and Barbara went into town to pick up more groceries and supplies for the upcoming training sessions. Quick note. The training is for the NOMADS, a group of young people that will give anywhere from 4 months to six months of their lives and travel all over South Africa to distribute the Book Of Hope while working with the local churches. The training includes everything the young people will need to travel around the country. This is a great program established basically by Joe and Mishael and offered to the young people http://www.bookofhope.net/pages/page.asp?page_id=7257

Well, as it always does, thing change on the field! Joe got an email from the home office and was told the team had bad weather leaving Ft. Lauderdale and missed their connection in Atlanta. Therefore, they would be coming in on the same flight but a day later! That changed a lot of things, the start of training, some juggling of vehicle logistics, changes in training schedules and housing requirements. So, this allowed us to not have to rush with everything as we now had plenty of time. So, Barbara, Mishael and Martha worked up a great Taco Salad for everyone and we had a good meal. Now, it is getting late as everyone is going to their chalet for the evening.

Saturday…….Up early and we sat outside and had our devotions while watching the ostrids come down to eat. We had our breakfast and I am now in the lodge working on my blog while a worship video with African animals and landscapes are playing in the background.

So, until next time,

Love and Blessings

DAD and MOM

Jerry & Barbara

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Up early, had our devotions, breakfast and got ready to go. We went back to the Lighthouse Children’s Shelter. Barbara played with the babies, fed them and held and rocked them. I started on one of my projects…..building a table for folding clothes in the laundry room. We worked and fed babies until noon and then Mishael picked us up for lunch. After lunch, Barbara stayed at home and I went back to the Shelter to work on my projects. Barbara worked on projects for the interns. We finished around 5pm and had dinner. Afterwards, we watched a video and tried another night of sleep (didn’t work, tho).

Wednesday……I went back to the Shelter to finish my projects. Barbara stayed at the house to get all the laundry done. Tomorrow, we leave for the “farm:. After lunch, Mishael, Barbara and I went to a candlemaking place, about 45 minutes away. We made several candles. After we finished, we stopped by a African Art store and browsed through all the cravings, paintings, curios, etc. We bought a few things and then we headed home. Today is Barbara’s XX birthday and Mishael’s is the 29th so we headed to a nice restaurant and had a birthday celebration. Now, we sit at home waiting for the time to go to bed.

Will talk later……Love to all,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara

Saturday, January 29, 2007

We got a decent night sleep of 12 hours and got up and relaxed on the front patio with coffee and conversation with Joe and Mishael. Afterwards, we went to the mall to get a couple of electronic things for the computer and a few groceries.

In the early afternoon, we went out to the Southern Africa School of Theology (Bible School) and met the Missionaries that are in charge of the renovating. We also met a team from the states (all over) that was doing a lot of the construction……painting, tile, electrical, etc…

Next, we went to the Lighthouse Children’s Shelter. This is a home where forgotten children are housed until adopted out. They had babies ranging from newborn to seven years of age. We were introduced to the Missionaries in charge. The main Missionaries had to make a quick trip to the states. While we were there, Barbara got to hold one of the babies, The baby, Joy, is a preemie, is four months old and weighs ONLY 4 pounds. She is a sweetie, very alert and smiles. We returned home for a relaxing evening.

Sunday……normally a Church day but, and we believe God will understand, we did a little tourist thing. The schedule, and especially the Missionaries’ work load, is so full this week and the next 4 weeks that we may not be able to do the tourist things. So, we headed out of town to the Lion Park. This is a place that houses lions. They breed them and raise the cubs to full grown and then they are adopted out to private game parks, zoos and individuals. We were able to hold and feed one of the 4-month old cub. Even at that age, they can be a little aggressive and you have to watch out for the claws. We got to see all the lions from the cubs to the oldest one at 21 years and he weighs in at around 500+ pounds. It was very interesting and educational.

Next, we went to Pilansburg National Game Reserve to see the animals. This is a drive–your-own-car type of park. We were there for several hours and saw a lot of different animals, including, a herd of elephants, many herds of zebras, antelopes (many varieties) and wildebeests. We saw rhinos, giraffes, warthogs, baboons, monkeys and hippos. This is birthing season so most of the animals had a lot of young ones. We had lunch in the center of the park at a eating establishment. We returned home about dark and crashed for the evening.

Monday……up early (still not time regulated) and had a leisurely breakfast, a little workout and then off we go. Barbara and I went to the Lighthouse Children’s Shelter to help. She got to play with the babies and I mowed some of the lawn (I say some because they have about 5 acres of lawn). We worked and played until 1pm and Mishael picked us up and we headed back to the house for lunch. The afternoon was spent doing research on the web for Joe to support some of his classes they will be teaching in the training of the 11 kids coming in on Friday. Joe and Mishael worked on their materials for the upcoming training. Had a good dinner and we crashed and also, I updated this blog.

Love you,

DAD and MOM
Jerry and Barbara

Friday, January 19, 2007

WE MADE IT!

We are now in South Africa with Joe and Mishael Newell in Rustenburg. It is now 1:00pm and we are a little tired. We are trying to not go to sleep until tonight.

We left LAX at 6:30pm on Wednesday. We flew all night and arrived on Thursday at 11:00am. London was experiencing high winds and high seas and the approach was very very bumpy. We had thought about going into London for a couple of hours. BUT after checking with several people at the airport, we were told the trip was too long and a re-checkin at the airport would not allow us to have much time in London. So, we stayed in the airport lounge for the 5 hours, waiting to board our plane. Lunch at TGIF Fridays, a Starbuck latte and a little nap occupied our time. We left London at 6:30pm and arrived in Johannesburg at 6am this morning. The times we tried to sleep was interrupted several times due to thunderstorms and a very bumpy ride. Hence, not too much sleep.

So, just wanted you to know that we made it safe and sound. I will let you know more later.

Love you all,

DAD and Mom
Jerry and Barbara Northcutt

A Post-Script to my last message. Another email is jerry.kingpapa@gmail.com

DAD

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

We are off to South Africa to work with our "adopted" Missionary daughter and family, Mishael and Joe Newell with, of course, Josiah.

We will be leaving on Wednesday, January 17th and returning sometime around the first of March. We don't know the exact date because Joe and Mishael wants us to extend our departure (currently set at Feb. 21) so we could get a little R&R before we return.

Some of the things we think we will be doing are:

• Assisting the Newells in whatever help they need.
• Possibly going to an Orphanage of 300 kids to live with them and help them for a week to ten days.
• Going to the "Farm" (the training facility for NOMADS - see http://www.bookofhope.net/pages/page.asp?page_id=7257) and helping where we can. You can view the "Farm" at www.shikwarugamelodge.co.za We will be staying at the Imbabala Camp, which you can view on the accommodations page.

We fly all night to London, have a 6-7 hour layover and then on to Johannesburg (overnight) and arrive at 6:45am on the 19th.

Please pray for our trip, for safety and that we will be able to accomplish, with ease, the things that we are asked to do, and more importantly, that our actions will be pleasing to the Lord.

If you want to communicate with us while we are gone [and please do, if you can], respond to this blog or email us at the following email addresses:

• king@kingpapa.com
• jerry@peace-inc.net
• barbara@kingpapa.com

I hope this blog will allow you to travel with us and enjoy our time in South Africa. I promise that I will not get too detailed.

God Bless,

DAD and MOM
Jerry & Barbara