Although it’s very clearly autumn in Pretoria, we are thankful for crisp mornings, clear, blue skies and sunny days at the LTS Preschool. Our children arrive at school in the morning dressed for winter with knitted caps, scarves, thick coats and even mittens, but fortunately they’re able to peel off layer after layer as the day gets warmer, which it inevitably does. We are thankful for a beautiful climate, lovely autumn colors and the joy of playing outdoors for much of the yearJ
As is common at this time of the year, students write exams and two of our own teachers, Trinah and Nokulunga spent several days on study leave and wrote five of their annual exams. Their Early Childhood course is proving to be quite demanding with ongoing assignments for each module as well as lots of practical work. We are very proud of their results thus far and wish them continued strength and endurance as they work and study. Our stalwarts, Tshireletso and Raheema have again shown their selfless dedication as they put in many extra hours to ease Trinah and Nokulunga’s teaching and duty load. We cannot thank them enough for their positive attitude and willingness to serve each other! Thank you ladies! Several of the LTS Deaconesses also help out on a weekly basis and for this we continue to be grateful. Florence, the wife of an LTS student, has also been a big help and is learning the ropes too while she attends to their toddler daughter.
The children have settled in well to their three respective classes and continue to flourish and grow. We’ve had the fun addition of two rabbits this term which have brought much joy. It’s lovely to see how gentle the children can be with the little bunnies and how therapeutic it is to have animals around.
We continue to weave our Faith Integration curriculum into each day and we marvel at the ability of the young minds to memorize songs, psalms and memory verses. They really are like sponges and relish the opportunity to show us what they can recite and remember. We talk daily about Jesus’ love for us, about being kind and patient with one another, helping where possible and forgiving each other for minor infractions because, thankfully, and by the grace of God, we are continually forgiven! Our weekly Matins service is especially pertinent as we attend Confession and Absolution with the seminary community on a Wednesday. We thank God for allowing us to serve in this community!
