Team Retreat

Last weekend we had everyone here at our house for a team retreat! The purpose of our retreat was to build team unity and vision for the summer.  We had fun together, spent time in prayer, and set goals for the summer.  

One of the highlights was having our neighbor, who is a rugby coach from New Zealand, meet us at Holliday Park for some lessons. :)  Rugby is a sport foreign to many Americans but is common to South Africans.  We decided to put our skills to the test...we were terrible but had a lot of fun learning!  

Here you can see Chad catching on quickly and Evie reffing the game! 

Learning the basics

Afterwards we ordered pizza and watched Invictus at a friend's "movie theatre" in their home.  The movie was a chance to relax and an opportunity to learn about SouthAfrica, rugby, Nelson Mandela, and the apartheid.  

We leave in only 2 weeks!  As Chad was putting Evie to bed tonight I overheard her asking him if we were leaving for South Africa in the morning.  :) She's ready to go!

Would you join us in praying through these four things with us?

1. That we would enjoy Jesus daily (Ps 63:3)

2.  That God would raise-up lifelong laborers (Matt 9:36)

3.  That we would grow in team unity (Heb 10:24-25)

4. That we would grow in personal and world vision (Psalm 67:4)

The Team

We bought our plane tickets, so we are officially headed back to South Africa with our team of 11 students and our kids!  I am really excited.  I'm so glad I went with Chad to help set up the trip because I feel pretty prepared (well as much as I can be) to bring our friends and family with us!  I know how to pack and I know a little bit of what to expect since I've seen where we will be going and living.  We leave from Indy on May 8th and will be returning to the US on June 26th.

I'm still in the process of getting to know most of the students, but I know we will become quick friends as we share this experience of living in another country together for seven weeks!

 The team from top to bottom, left to right: Jimmy, Kyle, Mike, Ben, Staci, Maira, Sam, Danielle, Karlie, Michaela, & Carly.  They are from USI, ISU, Butler, and IUPUI.

These are the photos of our guest home, Tower Lodge, that we took on our recent trip.  You can see Evie and William's window at the very top of the house.  They probably have my favorite room because they have the best view of the city!

The top right photo is taken from the front porch of the house.  It's fun that they have tennis courts as well as a pool (However it will be winter when we are there, so we won't be able to swim!)  

The bottom photo is of the dining area inside.  This is where they serve breakfast to the other guests and where we will be eating many of our meals and doing a lot of hanging out when we have down time!