Tyler & Liz Jorgensen - Missionaries in South Africa

JANUARY 2005

Dear friends and family,

Happy New Year! We hope and pray that you had a wonderful
Christmas and New Year celebration. As for us, we had a very unique
and refreshing Christmas and New Years. We spent our holiday with the
Balintulo family and Delinda. The father, Lawrence, works here at the
mission and serves as the assistant pastor as well as the grounds
manager. He is the father of eight children, two of which attend the
school. The other six children live with their mother about an hour and
a half away. Lawrence and his wife Novulile only get to see each other
during the breaks. It was such a joyous time to be with them as they
were united for the holiday. On Christmas day we gathered early for a
gift opening. We had bought the whole family gifts. As each one
received their gift, they opened it and danced and clapped saying,
"Happy, happy!" The gifts were simple: hula-hoops for the younger girls,
and T-shirts for the older girls; yet they were so excited to receive a
gift. Tata(father) Lawrence would thank us repeatedly, saying, "Thank
you for what you have done for our family." We purchased a fan for

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	JANUARY 2005 Dear friends and family, Happy New Year! We hope and pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year celebration. As for us, we had a very unique and refreshing Christmas and New Years. We spent our holiday with the Balintulo family and Delinda. The father, Lawrence, works here at the mission and serves as the assistant pastor as well as the grounds manager. He is the father of eight children, two of which attend the school. The other six children live with their mother about an hour and a half away. Lawrence and his wife Novulile only get to see each other during the breaks. It was such a joyous time to be with them as they were united for the holiday. On Christmas day we gathered early for a gift opening. We had bought the whole family gifts. As each one received their gift, they opened it and danced and clapped saying, "Happy, happy!" The gifts were simple: hula-hoops for the younger girls, and T-shirts for the older girls; yet they were so excited to receive a gift. Tata(father) Lawrence would thank us repeatedly, saying, "Thank you for what you have done for our family." We purchased a fan for


	Tata Lawrence, being that it is so hot here, and he was almost drivento tears, saying that God must have told us to get that because it wasjust what he longed for but could not afford. Delinda bought us a traditional South African cookbook. We are excited to try some of these new recipes, especially "Dikahare" which calls for 500g of intestines, tripe, and lungs. It also calls for an onion, but I don't like onions, besides it might take away from the delectable flavour of the intestines. Christmas day was rainy yet it did not deter the neighbourhood children from attending. In Xhosa tradition the children go house-to-house singing for food. However, when the children came they did not enjoy Turkey dinner as they would in North America, instead they were treated to chicken, sausage, bread and potato salad. It was different yet fun. Also, the Balintulo family tradition is that all the girls sing and dance and put on a mini-production before dinner. It was a special experience for us. New Years was much the same, eating, singing, dancing, and playing games until midnight. We got each of the girls party favours and noisemakers and at the stroke of midnight the girls leaped and blew on their party favours for about fifteen minutes. It was so cute and precious to be a part of their family and to spend Christmas with such a loving and gracious family. School starts for us on the 17th of January and we are already set for next year. Lizzy is still unsure of what she will be doing next year. There are many options and we are not sure which teachers will return, so Lizzy could very well have to wait until school starts. I will be teaching grade six, I have moved up with my kids. I am so excited to have them for another year. The exchange rate is steadily declining which means our dollar does not go as far as it did even last year. That, coupled with a shortage of supporters means that we are going to have to really trust God this year. Please continue to pray that God will miraculously provide again this year. Once again the addresses for support are listed below for both Canadian and US supporters. If you are continuing financial support through this year, or if you feel led to start, please send your checks to the address below. May God richly bless you in 2005. Prayer Needs: Pray for supporters for this year. Pray for the Balintulo family. *Pray for the safe return of the students and staff on January 17, 2005. In Him, Tyler & Elizabeth Jorgensen Willowvale, South Africa vdcs@iafrica.com