From Evernote:

Day 5, Wednesday, June 12 - last day of teaching in Mtunzini

I woke early today, 5:30, and decided to use the time for some extra study and reading as I waited for the sun to rise and the house to stir.  We all enjoyed our now familiar breakfast of yogurt, granola, and muffins and then packed up our belongings for the last day of teaching.  

We made the rounds down the bumpy rock and dirt road to pick up our team members, packing 8 into our 5 passenger truck, and headed to the school.  There were blue and white uniformed students of all sizes walking up the road, standing around the gates outside the school grounds, and sitting, standing , and wandering within the fences, many already munching on a bag of chips or a lollipop. I wondered, hoped, that this was not the full content of their breakfast.   We had to wait outside the school a few minutes before someone came to unlock the wide chain link and barbed wire gate to allow us to drive in and the loitering students to enter.   

The kids straggled into class, maybe just a bit hesitant to come inside on such a pleasantly sunny yet cool day. Today was THE lesson.  The main point of our coming to Africa, the lesson about the most important "Smart Choice" in all of life, the choice to respond to God's call or reject it.  During the presentation of the Jesus Film, the children were amazingly attentive; responding to miracles with applause and the crucifixion with gasps, shudders, and tears. Two boys even approached us at the end of the class to ask if they could please get a copy of the Jesus film because it had so impacted them.

When we passed out their certificates, Bryan and I tried to pronounce their names with mixed results but we were always rewarded for our efforts by a friendly smile and laugh from the kids.  We went outside for a class photo and lots of hugs from the students.  The team then went back into the class for a light snack which the school staff had prepared for us.  As we ended our day, Bryan pulled out the response cards which we had the students fill out after the film.  We had 13 students indicate that they had made a first time commitment to Jesus.  Several others responded that they would like more information about following Jesus.  Praise God!  He is faithful and He is good!  The team closed our time together with prayer over those response cards, prayer for those children, that this would be the start of of a new life in Christ, that they would find the right place and person for discipleship, to grow in their faith. 

After our teaching was ended we stopped for short visit with Derrick, the pastor of the in eSikehwini whom we visited on Sunday.  We were supposed to have had a training session with some new team members, but they had had to leave early to get home because of their long long drive.  instead we just visited with Derrick and his family.  I had the pleasure of connecting with his teenage son who is an aspiring photographer.  Having lost his prized camera to theft, David was not taking photos with a simple point and shoot camera but still had managed to get his photos in a local publication. I really enjoyed teaching him a few things and seeing the excitement and joy in his eyes when i allowed him to play with my camera a bit. I look forward to connecting with him again via email.

We left Derrick's and went on our nightly hunt for food and internet, landing at a hotel in town.  Oh what a luxury to have unlimited internet connection and a good meal to boot!  We all tapped in and were able to Skype with loved ones, answer neglected emails, post blogs, and upload photos to Facebook.  

Back at our cottage we had a hot cup of tea and discussed how the program had gone, what went well and how it might be improved,  We shared our frustrations and our victories. Lots of ideas were batted around; Facebook page for Smart Choices, discipleship and follow up programs, letters to the kids who made new commitments, better training for team members. Our original plan was to head out of Richard's Bay area by noon tomorrow, but after our discussion it looks like we will be meeting with the team leaders here to discuss these new ideas and how to implement them.  So much for free time.  But hey!  What am I here for anyway, right?  Bring it on.  I can rest in July!