We were blessed so greatly by wonderful travel (24hrs of it!) and were able to catch up on a lot of rest that we had sorely been missing during the whirlwind of our last few months in the states. As many of you know, we sold the huge majority of our possessions and were left with a closet full of stuff that we stored at our church - Thank you GCC for blessing us! - and the remainder is in this picture. Packed away in 11 suitcase/dufflebags/totes and 4 carry ons. Yikes! Thankfully every piece of our luggage made it here with very little damage!
We spent our first 8 hours in South Africa picking up our luggage, going through passport control and then shopping! We needed to pick up some essentials, like a refrigerator and a microwave. Busy days here are made much easier when you can warm up food quickly!
On Saturday, our first full day here, we headed to the nearest town, Vaalwater - pronounced Fallvater, which is 30 mins away. We got our PO Box, had our pictures taken for our IDs and shopped for groceries. If you want to send us mail, here is our new address:
Adam, Jennifer, Ethan and Caeley Hayes
P.O. Box 1003
Vaalwater 0530
South Africa
We would love to hear from you!
You can also reach us via email:
hayesfamily.thefold@gmail.com
adamlhayes@gmail.com
jenlhayes@gmail.com
ethanwhayes@gmail.com
caeleyhayes.thefold@gmail.com
We had a wonderful day on Sunday worshiping the Lord at a beautiful old stone church with a thatched roof! There were multiple dogs wandering around during the service and a puppy even hopped right up on the stage to lay on the rug while someone was speaking! We heard a wonderful sermon by a guest speaker on gratitude. Adam however, was unable to join us as he was home with the flu. :(
I'll get some better pictures of this beautiful church soon!
Following the service we had a delicious lunch at our friend Michael's house. He is an american who works in Vaalwater with a ministry for teens in this area. He LOVES Starbucks coffee and fills his suitcase each time he returns here from the US. I enjoyed at least 4 or 5 cups! Yum! The kids had a wonderful time helping to prepare the last of the food and playing outside. Soccer, frisbee and just running around being kids. This next picture is one of my favorite pictures ever! Caeley was just bursting with joy as she was surrounded on the lawn with a horde of kiddos from The Fold. They were amazed by her sunburn (she was just a bit pink from having Sunday School outside that morning - I will remember sunscreen next time!). As they ran their fingers over the skin above her dress on her back, her pink skin would have streaks of white for just a few seconds. :)
Look at that smile!!!
And here is Ethan and Junior in Michael's front yard. :)
Junior is the youngest child at The Fold right now. He is around a year and a half.
We are doing really really well! It was so hard to say goodbye to our friends and family, and there were many tears shed. However, even the kids are certain of God's calling for us in South Africa and they couldn't wait to get here. Ethan has also had the flu and Caeley and I are nervously using natural things to try to prevent us from getting it as well. We'll see how that goes... Adam and I start our driving lessons tomorrow at noon, 6 am Indiana time. We each have a 2 hour lesson each. We are driving in the right hand side of the vehicle on the left hand side of the road, and we will be learning in a pretty decent sized town in a 2.5 ton manual truck. Please pray for us!
We miss you and love you!
Jen (and Adam, Ethan and Caeley too)
