some good news from our world to yours.

1--Saturday night Melissa and I had dinner with the formerly "cool people i don't know in africa" link on the right side of my blog. Steven and Amy
work with ServLife here in Africa, and they live on the same mountain as us in Fish Hoek. We had a famous South Africa bbq (they call it a brai here, but i don't know how they spell it exactly). After dinner we spent the evening discussing South Africa, Muizenberg, church, politics, books, and many other topics we all connected on. Steven gave us a helpful overview of the history of South Africa's political party system. My brain enjoys trying to understand this stuff, but I require some smart person like Steven to explain it in detail. I like detail. Thanks Steven and Amy. It was a really fun evening!

2--Melissa and I spent all day Sunday with Ryan Dalton. He's a 25 year old guy from Cookeville, TN who's lived in Cape Town since he was 19. He speaks fluent Afrikaans and works directly with the street kids. He knows a ton of information about the Muizenberg kids (the ones we work with) but he spends most of his time on the streets of downtown Cape Town, where he learned the language and about the culture of the streets. Every, literally EVERY, street kid knows Ryan. He's a musician that has recently released a cd all about the kids he works with, about their lives, and about the life and death of kids he's worked with. Ryan has signed as legal guardian for lots of the kids, fought the police on their behalf, testified in court, beaten or threatened the lives of foreign sex offenders taking advantage of these boys.
Melissa, Ryan, and I are taking on some tasks together. One of these includes getting some of these dirty old white men out of the area and back to their home countries. We talked for a long time last night about different ideas and avenues we can explore. Melissa and I are in contact with the police chief of Muizenberg, a Christian man.
Ryan is here another 6 years, finishing up his degree at the University of Cape Town and starting an organization in Khayelitsha, South Africa's fastest growing township with over one million current residents. We connected very well with Ryan and feel excited about working with and learning from him. He told us "working with the street kids isn't something your turn off and on, it's a way of life." I'm learning this too, and so it has really been a gift from God that we met and work wiell with Ryan. I foresee lots of productive and life-altering events coming as a result of our friendship with him. I see these kids getting some part of their life back. That is so exciting!

3--Melvin came back today!!!!!!! he's the kid we work with who is totally addicted to meth. He has been gone a few weeks. Last night we learned from Ryan that Melvin started the idea of sleeping on the streets for Muizenberg kids, meaning he did it first and all the other kids followed. So, in a since, Melvin is the catalyst for all the street kids choosing such a life. However, he's also very streetwise and we are finding he is totally open and honest with us when he does show up. Today was so great b/c we saw him coming down the mountain and we screamed out his name, and he came with a huge smile--running down to us. It was awesome getting to love on him and encourage him to come again tomorrow. This is a HUGE answer to prayer that many of you have expressed concern over. Thank you for loving and praying for Melvin. He's the one we've got to connect with in a unique way.

Gotta go--just wanted to keep you updated on the happenings of Cape Town!!!