Day 15, Thur July 31st-Bryan Watanabe

Our team didn't have a busy day but unfortunately we said goodbye to Curtis, Rhonda, John & Caroline.
After breakfast we went to 2 meetings at Outlook church. The 1st meeting was with the local board members for Beacon of Hope & Glynn Smith. The 2nd meeting was with the Glynn Smith, local board & the Pastors that lead the teams who teach the Smart Choices programs.
It was nice to be part of the meetings and even have a chance to talk and give some encouraging words for everyone.
After the meetings we all ate lunch at the church and came back to Zulu Lodge to have a quick team discussion about our time. Had a nice time of prayer & laughs before right before Curtis, Rhonda, John & Caroline left.
Now there's only 6 of us left. We all went to Richards Bay Harbor to do some sightseeing & take pictures. It was fun as we took some goofy pics and enjoyed each other's company.
We came back to the lodge for our final night here. This was a great place to stay for the past week, really blessed to have stayed here!

Day 14, Wed July 30th-Bryan Watanabe

Today was our final day of teaching The Smart Choices program in South Africa! It was a lot of fun teaching the last 2 weeks, looking forward to relaxing the last couple days before heading back home on Sat.
I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE AGAIN TODAY!!! Driving in South Africa is a lot of fun & I like driving on the opposite side of the road now. :)
I dropped Mitch, John & Caroline off at their school for the morning session & give out certificates. But on the way to the school we got lost, haha. Took us an extra 30 min to find the school but now I know my way around Esikhawini pretty good now & I got extra practice driving. :)
After dropping them off, Melissa and I met up with Pastor DZ so we could do a survey with students that already went through the program. Had a good time doing that & I also got to meet Pastor DZ's son who attends the school. Next, we dropped off DZ & headed back to meet up with Pastor Kenny so we could go to a school he taught the Smart Choices program and got another survey.
It's very interesting & super helpful reading the surveys because it's already helping us to start thinking of ways to revamp the program & to help clear up any miscommunication/misunderstandingthe students have while going through the program.
Around 3:30pm, Mitch, Melissa, Judy, Glynn, John, Caroline & I went to Cross Roads to meet up with Bianca, Curtis & Rhonda as they were finishing up the Smart Choices program. It was nice to say goodbye to Janet & Bennie. We met Janet last year & she's now the leader of the Smart Choices team in Empangeni. Bennie is the director of Cross Roads which is an after school center for school students.
After that we went to Pastor Clement's to drop off clothes, shoes & gifts for the orphans. All the children are very nice and it was very cool to see all their happy faces. We also went there last year so it was nice to see a lot of the same children again. We played frisbee, took a ton of pics and just played around with them for almost 2 hrs. It was definitely a great way to end our day. We came back to Zulu Lodge, ate dinner then Mitch & I went back to our room to talk, chill & went to bed.
Heading home in 3 days!

Day 13, Tue July 29th-Bryan Watanabe

Today was really awesome! Melissa, Curtis, Rhonda, Bianca & I taught at 2 schools today. Melissa & I also had another survey to do at the school we taught at last year.
At the 1st school we met up with Pastor DZ, Pastor Thulani & Mandla. Luckily, Melissa & I taught with them last year and it was great to be reunited with them!
Class went well, the students were nice & fun.
I had a nice conversation with Mandla and I was happy to hear that he's starting to preach so that's very good news! I'm very excited for him and looking forward to hearing all the great things he'll be doing for his community.
After we finished teaching, we headed to Muntolokudla high school to do the survey. We got to see the main teacher & principal again, it was nice talking to them once again. The students in the class went crazy when they saw me through the window. It was so great to be back & see them again. They all remembered my name and we had a great time talking & taking pics/video! Melissa had a good time reuniting with some of the students she taught last year too. Unfortunately we were only there for around 40 min but it was a blast!
For lunch, Curtis, Rhonda, melissa, Bianca & I headed over to the same McDonald's our team visited last year. I showed the managers a pic from last year too, haha. I wanted the Batman mask in the display case for the kids meal but they said no. After they found out we're from California, Melissa was able to bargain with them & they sold us 2 masks for $2. :)
Needless to say I was stoked, so I took a pic with the manager that sold it.
After lunch we headed to the Cross Roads teen center in Empangeni where we met 2 team members from South Africa to teach. It's actually an after school club so it's cool to see students show up on their own time to learn The Smart Choices program. The class went great & the students were great as well.
After that, we headed back to Zulu Lodge for dinner. After dinner, we headed over to Vususiwa's home & church to bring food, clothes & toys for the orphans. The children are amazingly happy & they were very appreciative of everything they received! The bonus gifts were 2 new frisbees & we had a blast throwing them around. The had a new church built by the house and it's very cool! By Gods grace, all the money had been donated to build it! Visiting the orphans was very special as I met most of them last year. They really are amazing & such a joy to be around!

Day 12, Monday July 28th-Bryan Watanabe

We had a very busy day as everyone had to wake up around 5am! Everyone split up into 2 teams to teach at 4 different schools. It went well and everyone returned safely. My day started off with Pastor Derrick taking Melissa & I to a school near Esikhawini to do a survey of the students that already went through the Smart Choices program & to hand out their certificates for completing the program. Even though I didn't teach the program there, I had a great time making the students laugh. Maybe in the future I'll have the opportunity to teach there, I believe it would be fun. The main idea with the survey is to see how the students lives have changed since learning all the information about HIV/aids, making a commitment to abstain from sex until marriage & accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The surveys were good and the information will help us know how to continue to make the program more effective & applicable in the students lives.
After that, Pastor Derrick drove us to a historical site for King Shaka Zulu, called Cowards Bush & to the KwaBulawayo cultural center where we learned more interesting facts about the history of King Shaka.
Then we headed to Birchwood school and met up with John & Caroline Gittins to teach sessions 1& 2 of The Smart Choices program. We had 70 students in the class, they were a bit rowdy at times but overall it went well.
Judy Smith arrived today too, so thankfully she made it safely! It's nice to have her with the team now. I'm sure Glynn is happy too! :)

Bryan

Day 11, Sunday June 27th-Bryan Watanabe

Today was nice, the 1st half was busy but then we had a nice relaxing evening from 6pm & on.
I GOT TO DRIVE TODAY!!! :)
Driving on the opposite side of the road was weird & since I also sat on the right side of the car, I had to shift with my left hand. It was definitely fun!
Mitch, Melissa, Bianca & I drove down to Empangeni to visit Pastor David Ndayaho at Upperroom Tabernacle Christ Ministries International. We were at his church last year so it was nice to be able to see him again. He talked a lot about us & we each had a chance to stand in front of the congregation to talk about ourselves, Smart Choices & how our trip has been going so far. Pastor David's wife made us a great lunch too. After that we headed over to Esikhawini to meet up with the rest of the team, Glynn, Curtis, Rhonda, John & Caroline at Pastor Derrick's church for a team meeting. It was nice to see Pastor Derrick again as we visited his church last year too. Mitch, John, David (Pastor Derrick's son) & I walked around the neighborhood as David shared some stories of how they evangelize & some of his hopes to help refurbish the elementary school he used to attend.
After that we headed to the local mall to get ice cream from a great place called Milky Lane but unfortunately it wasn't there anymore. We found another place in the mall called Freddo Italian Ice Cream. It was good but Milky Lane is better. :)
I got in trouble for taking a group picture in the mall, security actually came up to me & said it was illegal to do that, haha.
After that we drive home. Melissa, Mitch & I went for a jog and to throw the frisbee around. Some of the other team members went for a walk. Dinner was delicious, especially after a jog & frisbee. We had rice, beef curry with diced tomatoes & onions! Very tasty!
Pretty much everyone went to their rooms to finish preparing for tomorrow since it will be our 1st day teaching the Smart Choices program in Richards Bay, South Africa. We'll be at 3 or 4 different schools tomorrow. Super busy day ahead & I need to wake up at 5:30am! Goodnight!

Day 10, Sat. July 26th-Bryan Watanabe

This is our last morning in Bulawayo! Heading to South Africa this afternoon. It has been such a great blessing to have stayed at Jeff & Tammy Scorziell's house this past week. Thankful to have seen them everyday & be a part of their life. Will miss seeing them too.
Today was mostly a traveling day as we took 2 flights & around a 2hr drive from the airport in Durban to Zulu Lodge where we'll be staying until Thur.
Today is Bianca's birthday so we sang her a bday song inside Mugg & Bean in the Johannesburg airport, haha. She was a "little" embarrassed.
While walking from the security gate to our plane, Mitch & I kept telling random people it was her bday & they also told her happy bday. The fun wasn't over yet...while boarding the plane I kept telling passengers & some of them clapped and also said happy bday. :)
Kevin Krusiewicz went home today, it was a lot of fun spending the week in Bulawayo with my good friend.
Bummer he won't be in South Africa too, the team will miss him.
We did meet up with 2 more team members, John & Caroline Gittens. Looking forward to spending the week with them as well. We finally arrived at Zulu lodge and it looks pretty cool even though it was hard to see everything because we arrived after 9pm.
Had a nice chicken dinner waiting for us when we arrived. We talked about plans for Sunday as we decided what church to attend. Melissa, Bianca, Mitch & I will visit Pastor David Ndahayo at Upperroom Church while the rest of the team will visit Pastor Derrick's church. We'll all meet up at Pastor Derrick's church to discuss plans for teaching the rest of the week. Melissa & I will be finding out what schools we'll be at to do follow-up interviews to see how the Smart Choices program has made an impact in some of the students lives. Looking forward to it! :)

Bryan