Wow! It has been awhile since I have blogged and I apologize! We have a "normal" (haha, I have found out there is no such thing as a normal schedule here in Africa) schedule now so I will be blogging regularly! Let me fill you in on all that has been going on here in Africa! Two weeks ago we traveled to a place called Somerset East, which is about three hours away from our home here in Jeffreys Bay. All fourty of us piled on top of each other in vans to do a program called Beat the Drum. Beat the Drum is actually a movie that is about HIV and AIDS here in Africa. Our job was to go into the communnity after showing the movie and educate people about the virus. We arrived on a Friday around noon and immediatly started training to teach the classes. Training lasted two days, and I found out that I would be heading off to a highschool called Aeroville. On Monday we showed the movie to about 500 students and they were suprisingly very attentive! The plan was to go back to Aeroville on Tuesday and teach in the classrooms but shortly after we arrived we found out that the students were on strike. The kids had decided to strike because of a new headmaster was coming, that they didnt like. So when we found this out we prayed and God immiediatly opened a new door. We decided that we would visit the hostel (dormatory) where the kids stayed. Visiting the hostel ended up being a HUGE blessing because the students were not in a classroom setting which made it a lot easier for the kids to open up and ask deep questions. The most interesting question that I got while at the hostel was "If I have AIDS do I commit suicide?". This question made me realize how little the kids new about the virus. NO ONE in the community talks about the virus that is killling tons of their people. We got several more questions like this and it was exciting to see the students wanting to learn more! All through out the week we talked about abstinence and at the end of the week almost all of the kids committed to staying pure untill marriage. We also got the chance to preach the gospel through out the week and TONS of teens accepted Christ into their lifes! AMEN! At the end of the week on Friday testing was offered and to show the kids that they didnt have to be scared about testing a few of our group got tested first, including myself. It was extremely nerve racking to know that you had about a hundred students behind you watching. The tests are confidential but we were in a hall that was rather large and  a little loud. My test came back negative and then our students started the testing! This was extremely scary because several of them were scared they had it. I sat with about five of the students while they got tested and not one of them ended up being positive AMEN, but our hearts went out to the students who were positive. Couseling and the proper treatment were offered to the people who were

positive. Please pray for the people who did find out they were positive. Pray that God will hold them in his arms and that their families support and love them. I'm so glad I got this opportunity to promote AIDS awareness, it was heart breaking and amazing all at the same time! Please continue to pray for the people here in Africa! thanks!!