"Oh Voctor."

You could never even imagine the thousands of times i not only hear, but say, this phrase a day.

Voctor is Alabanza's most obnoxious pet; a black dog with a tail like a cinnamon bun. He follows us everywhere we go, typically stopping and standing right in front of us as we try and walk. He has peed on several of our belongings, and likes to kill chickens and strew feathers all over the grounds.  He  rubs his nasty self all over us, digs through our trash cans, and regularly makes our couches in the barn his bed.

His name is always said with contempt. "Ugh, vooooctor!"

And then one day i was thinking. How often do we stomp all over God, destroy His beautiful creation, and just plain get in His way? Hundreds of thousands times more than even Voctor could succeed in.
And how does God respond? Does He kick us to the ground? Does He yell at us? Does He blame everything that goes wrong on us? Does He think of us with contempt and disgust, and hope that we will just leave Him alone?

NO! Of course not, but wouldnt you want to?
I am so thankful that God is so powerful and amazing. So MERCIFUL and FORGIVING, and so
PATIENT with us, His people. THank you Lord, for treating me better than I treat poor Voctor. =)

Life is going well here in South Africa. I miss all of you very much, and as our halfway mark of the first semester passed, i thought about all that has gone on here and how TIRED you are going to get of all my stories! =) Kidding, kind of.

Ministry is going well, both at Mamelode and at the hospital. I try to keep up with my relationships at both of them. Keep Caroline in your prayers, as i dont know how much longer she can go without eating. Shes smaller than anything i have ever seen, and is feeling worse than she was last week. My friends-Marble, Rebeccah, and Leonard are so receptive to the Gospel, and we are getting to be great friends! They LOVED the bibles that i got them last weekend.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support! Love yall so much..
please write!

~Martha