Location: Pretoria, South Africa
It's been a very long time since we last communicated on this blog. Our lives here in Pretoria started with a boom. We managed to get a nice place to live in - although it hurts to pay all that money towards someone else every money. We still struggle with the idea that this is not good stewardship of our resources. We kicked off our work this year with a retreat/conference with all our workers of Southern Africa attending. We all had great fun. They arranged wonderful programs for the children, meaning that we had the privilege to sit in on all the meetings. It was a time of refreshing, challenge and re-dedication to what God called us for.
We had a good December with family. We spend good time with Doreen's family in Durban and also a few days with Francois' in Clarence in the Eastern Free State. Francois and his brother had time to go fish at the Sterkfontein dam. What an awesome place.
Chauntay adapted very well to the idea of having to go to school every day. Andree misses her sister a lot during the morning.
Doreen offered to help friends look after their 1 year old girl for 3 mornings a week. This is nice for Andree too, because now she can also play big sister a bit and help mom in the house.
Work-wise things are on the roll. My office is slowly starting to look like something and I am getting more used to my responsibilities as coordinator of our regional work in South Africa. We currently have workers in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Witrivier, Polokwane, Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Please continue to pray for us as we also develop a better partnership with India.
Francois has been asked to also take on the role of team leader in the Pretoria office. He will be responsible for all fellowship times, devotion times, prayer times and building community. Currently we are waiting for our church to give a green light.
Keep well. Hopefully I will be updating this blog more now that we have an internet connection at hand.
Location: Kimberley, South Africa
Dear Friends
We are doing well. Since back in South Africa we have already done more than 4000km's of traveling. Were in Kimberley, Durban and are now back in Kimberley planning for the next 3 weeks.
On our way back from Durban to Kimberley, we traveled through the Midland and Eastern Free State. These are really 2 of the most beautiful areas in South Africa. I will place some photos for you to enjoy.
We are doing well. The much traveling is not so good with the 2 girls and we are looking at cutting back on some of it for the next 3 weeks before we go down to East London.
Francois' brother got married on Saturday in Bloemfontein. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it thoroughly.
We really had a beautiful welcome in South Africa. On our way back from the Airport we saw Rhino, ostriches, blue wildebeest and giraffes. On our way to durban we also got to see some zebras, springbok, hartebeest and camels and.... believe it or not, snow. Yes, we saw snow a month into Spring here in South Africa. During the week down in Durban the Drakensberg had lots of snow and there was a real chill in the nearby towns, and even in Durban, one of our tropical beach cities. I include some pictures.
Well, we hope you are all doing well and that you still think of us and pray for us.
Location: Czech Republic
Dear friends, we are doing fine. We took 5 days off to visit Austria - the first time in the almost 2 years being here. Strange, because it is only 60km away from us. We were blessed with some free accommodation in St. Florian, near Linz and could see the beautiful city of Linz and also St. Florian, where we stayed. From Linz we drove to Stokerau(outside Vienna). We stayed there for another 2 nights. The trip from Linz to Stokerau was a highlight for us. We decided to do the scenic route through the Wachau Valley, all along the Danube River. If you ever have an opportunity to be in Austria, this is a MUST. I post some photos for you to enjoy.
We found Vienna a bit of a disappointment, after having seen Prague and Budapest a few times. We also found it extremely expensive - especially due to the Euro/Rand exchange rate. I must admit that this put a bit of a damper on our spirits. Having said this, Vienna is still a very beautiful city and worth seeing.
The week ahead of us will be consumed with packing packing packing and more packing. Please think of us in your prayers as we are slowly cutting ties with our life for the last 23 months.
Bless you all and continue to pray for our work here and to have good closure in that too. I am sure all of you received our last newsletter, either by e-mail or by mail. Please let me know if you need me to forward you one - if for some reason you have not received it.
Location: Czech Republic
Dear all
We are doing just fine. The time to pack and uproot is really getting close now. We hooked up with a shipping company to ship some of our belonging home. We managed to get 4 cubic meter container space for about R16,500-00. This will allow us to bring more home than we expected. We thought at first of sending only 180 kg by air freight and realised that it will cost us more than R15,000-00 for that few things, so shipping is definitely a better option. We will now be able to bring back a mattress and some furniture and everything else(pots, pans, kitchenware, sheets, curtains, kids' toys, kids' bikes, etc.) Please pray with us that this will be shipped and imported without problems. We will have to collect it all in Durban 4-8 weeks after shipment from Europe.
Once back in SA we will go visit family for a bit and attend my (Francois) brother's wedding and then start with visiting all our supporters and supporting churches all over SA. Our support team back in East London will help us with many of the arrangements to make this time as efficient as possible. We are looking forward to seeing all of you again. We look forward to sharing with you about the wonderful time of learning and growth we had here in the Czech over the last almost 2 years. The kids look forward to swimming and seeing family and meeting up with old friends, and going to the beach and oceanarium and zoo, etc. So, it looks like we would need a proper holiday after these travels.
We have been asked by our Head Office to join their team up in Pretoria. We are still chewing hard on the idea of having to settle and bring up our kids in Gauteng, but if the Lord sees that fit, who are we to complain. So, in our first months back home we will have to go look at schools for Chauntay, who needs to start grade 0 next year and we will have to go look at houses. We desperately want to enter into the house market. It looks like we are coming back at a good time to buy and pray that God will be gracious and will open the doors and the possibilities to do that. We believe that this is a good time for us to do this and we desire to give our kids a beautiful stable home to grow up in.
We are happy in that my (Francois) dad managed to buy a vehicle for us. So watch out when you see the red Toyota Corolla pull up in your drive-way. We thank our Father for providing this beautiful little car and we pray that it will give us many good years of service. Francois also bought an old off-road motorbike from his brother. This will come in very handy as a fuel saver and much needed 2nd vehicle.
So, I have to go sleep now. Tomorrow we are off to Lednice in south Moravia for sightseeing. We will post some pictures asap. Keep well - jouberts
Location: Czech Republic
Hallo there. We had a special Easter weekend. We had Andree's 3rd birthday yesterday and today decided to venture out towards the Sumava Mountains in search of some snow. Well, we found some. We got tipped off yesterday by a friend who have a house near Lipno Lake in the Sumava region. I will post some pictures to share our fun with you. The 2 girls really enjoyed being pulled around on their sledges...don't ask by whom....
Andree enjoyed her birthday yesterday and also the fact that she is now is big girl. She has been holding on to drinking a bottle before bedtime each night and used to kick up a big fuss when she cannot have it. Her big thing turning 3 was that she would throw her bottle away. Knowing Andree we kind of wondered how it is going to turn out. Well, she got up on her birthday, asked for a last bottle, walked to the bin and dumped the bottle....and never asked for it again.
Doreen and I are just discussing how different Chauntay and Andree are from each other. Isn't it amazing how God made every person so unique, everyone with their own way of dealing with change and people and growing up, etc. What a joy to be a parent and seeing this movie play off in front of you and what a wonder to see the hand of our Creator in the lives of our children as they grow up.
Location: Czech Republic
Dear Grandma Rose, we hear that you will be visiting us today on this webblog. Welcome and we hope you will come see our pictures many times more. We are doing well and look forward to summer here in Europe. But more than this, we look forward to the time we will return to South Africa. Mom is teaching us to eat curry, but we are not doing so well yet. She is also teaching us to eat with our fingers. We are getting it right a little bit. You will have to teach us a bit more when we visit you. Love you and miss you. Chauntay and Andree
Location: Czech Republic
Dear friends. It is already February. The time is ticking on and it now feels like we have so little time left here in the Czech Republic. In just 7 months from now 2 years away from home will be history. Many ask us why we do not stay longer and what it is that we will do when we get back home. If you receive our prayer updates we will gradually over the next months share all of that with you. If you wish to receive our e-mail updates, please contact me on joubert@swissmail.org and I will gladly add you to the distribution list.
We are doing well. Work is in full swing and we look forward to Spring...that will hopefully arrive soon. We hope to make full use of our time here and also use every opportunity to see more of the beautiful country we live in. It may be that our visas will also now allow us to travel more freely in Europe, since Czech Republic became part of the Schengen States on 21 December 2007.
Tomorrow is the start of our next term of English classes and all the other bridge building activities that goes with it. We hope and pray to have even more students this year than our 54 of last term.
Doreen and the girls are doing well. Andree is driving us up the walls some days, because she just never sits still and always finds the most impossible things to do. She makes us laugh a lot and is a real clown some days. I guess, to be a clown you need lots of energy and initiative....hmmm?
Chauntay is asking a lot about our return to Africa. She really looks forward to the idea that she will be seeing old friends again and Ouma and Oupa and Grandma and cousins. She looks forward to going to school in 2009.
Andree also talks about going to "Afieka" and every time we get in the car she wants to know if we are going to Afieka now.
We booked flights for 5 September, and we are glad that we will do a night flight again. We hope the girls will sleep well, especially Andree. Chauntay is now a big girl, and she makes us understand that every day. She is now at that stage where we are not allowed to do anything for her, which is nice...except if you are rushing to get somewhere...you know what I mean. Well, have a wonderful February and please stay in contact. We miss you.
Location: Czech Republic
Nou ja, wie kan dit glo - dis Kersfees 2007. Aan al ons vriende in SA en ander dele van die wereld, baie baie geseende Christusfees. Mag julle ryklik geseen wees in hierdie tyd waarin ons terugdink aan daardie wonderlike dag baie baie jare gelede toe Jesus ons Verlosser vir ons gebore is.
To all our friends around the world, we wish you a wonderful Christ-feast and my you be fully blessed as you celebrate with us the wonderful birth of our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
Location: Czech Republic
Dobry den, friends. Hope you are all doing well. We are cruising on and all are happy. The girls are still waiting for the big snow to come - and I think they are about the only ones on our team who does. Although I must admit...I like to play in the snow too....and I think Doreen too...but she would not admit it, being a Durban girls and all.
So, today is our last official day in the office for 2007. Can you believe it. We are about to have our 2nd Christmas in Czech Republic. This year we will buy a real tree, just because we never have and try to find place in our flat for it.
Christmas shopping is a big thing in the Czech too. For a nation who claims to be the most atheist in all of Europe it is really strange how much they love Christmas and putting up nativity scenes etc.
Anyway, it is still pretty strange for us to have cld weather during Christmas. Back at home everyone try to make their trees look like a white Christmas and our cards are full of pictures of snow and pine trees and rain deer. But living here I must admit that it becomes more strange to me why we try so hard to have a cold Christmas when we are blessed with the warm African sun and blue skies and wonderful evenings out. The weather here is miserable and it is almost hard for me to think "joy to the world" when you don't even want to see the world outside, because it is so cold and wet and muddy.
When we are back in South Africa - we will enjoy every bit of the sunshine again. May you to and may you have joy in the real reason for the season - you're right - not the sun but the Son. May His light and rays of warm love shine in and through you wherever you are.
It will in our lives - despite the miserable weather we currently have.
May Jesus' birth be more real to you every day, and may His sacrifice sustain you.
Love
The Jouberts
Location: Czech Republic
Hi again, we're back home in one piece - especially after our drive back from Hungary. For a South African boy like me, there was just a bit to much snow on the road. And seeing skilled Czech drivers off the road every few kilometers, did not quite help with the nerves.
We made the trip of 560 km back in 11 hours and grateful for the God's protection. Jesus really blessed me with peace during the trip and helped me with decision-making along the way.
We are now back at home and still have some major unpacking and settling-in to do at our new flat. We enjoy every day of it though. The girls have much more freedom to get out and play in the garden and really enjoy it. Yesterday we were out playing in the snow and even though there was not much of it, we still enjoyed every minute of it.
Bless you.
Jouberts
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Hi there
We have been in Hungary the last 2 weeks and enjoyed it tremendously. We did not get to see as much as we would have liked, but I will share some photos with you anyway. We lived in Erd, a suburb of Budapest and quite central to many things. The girls enjoy Hungary, especially all the nice children's play areas...which is something we are not used to in Czech Republic. We as parents enjoy it too - and get an opportunity to come up for air.
Hungary reminds me of South Africa in many ways - which I will not share here. Maybe you can make up your own mind.
We had a great refreshing time here and had the opportunity to visit the international church in the city. That was a great experience. We also had the privilege to sit in for a week's teachings by their pastor - who was one of the main speakers at our conference/retreat.
Bless you and thanks again for your visit to our blog.
Jouberts
Location: Czech Republic
Hi there all you lovely people. We are doing well as a family. We just about fully moved into our new dwelling space for the next year. We had the opportunity to move back into the OM flat that we stayed in for the first week after we arrived in the Czech in 2006. We had to make some radical changes to make it more livable, we put in new carpets, painted, decorated the girls' room, etc. Now we are very happy and the girls too. Doreen has time now to take the girls out into the garden every day and they are absolutely thrilled by that. The other bonus is that the other girls on the team are around more and Chauntay and Andree get to play with their friends more.
We are eagerly awaiting the coming winter - and according to our weather forecast we may even have some snow already next week.
Both Doreen and I are quite tired after the move into the new flat and did not quite get time yet to recover from that.
Next weekend, 28th October we have to be in Budapest, Hungary again for the 2nd part of our Eastern European Missions Training School program, which is more focussed on people who have been around in the area for the 1st year, kind of a de-briefing.
We look forward to it and I hope that it will not snow in the week, since we are driving a 7 hour trip down to Budapest via Slovakia.
Please pray for us for the 2 weeks we will be away from home.
