River City Church of Jacksonville will now be handling the collection of my financial support. I’m excited about the change since I have a number of friendships with people there. Plus, the change should also help me tremendously come tax season.

From now on all donations should now be sent to River City Church (see details below). Support sent to WME will still work for another few months. The sooner you can start sending your support to the church the better. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Send Support to:

River City Church
2218 Park Street
Jacksonville, FL 32204

Write “David Ditges” on the memo line.

Electricity can sometimes be quite a pain around here. When I lived back in Jacksonville I really don’t think I can even remember the last time my power went out. Well, just the other day I was reminded that this is not Jacksonville! On a beautiful, but windy Wednesday our power dipped (went off and on) about 10 different times. It was such a pain! Just image trying to do work on a computer and having it reboot every 15 minutes. It made me realize just how much you can’t do without power.

If that wasn’t annoying enough later that day the power was off for about 3 hours. Being that it was getting dark all the staff loaded up the cars and headed into town for some dinner. Thankfully, the power was on, and stable, by the time we returned. It’s funny that a little thing like electricity can remind me that I’m no longer living in America.

Well, I can’t believe it, but I’m already back in South Africa. I’ve been back for about 4 days and as I reflect a bit about my time in the states I must say it was so much fun getting to…

• See family and friends I haven’t seen in over a year
• See my Dad get married
• Have chips and queso at Chili’s
• Meet supporters I’ve never met before
• Speak with people about what I get to do out here
• Teach at a church in Jacksonville
• See how much all my friend’s kids have grown
• Go to New York and see The Lion King on Broadway
• See my 2 young nephews
• Go to the Daytona 500
• See churches that are on fire for God
• Go fishing with buddy’s
• Play Halo 2 late into the evening

I knew staying in the city for a night was going to be a bit expensive so I understood having to pay $200 for a hotel room just a few blocks away from Times Square. Here’s the kicker… it was a Super 8 Hotel that costs this much. Yes, the entrance area looked more like a Marriott, but once you opened the door to your room is was your typical Super 8, Motel 6, on the inside. I’d actually say the room was a lot smaller than any other hotel room I’ve every stayed in.

I finally arrived in NY city around 2 o’clock in the afternoon after my 6 hour delay getting out of Jacksonville. Getting a cab at the airport was surprisingly easy and rather uneventful. I was hoping I was going to get to yell, “TAXI!”, but that didn’t get to happen since the moment I walked out of the airport a guy walked up to me and asked if I needed a taxi. I reluctantly replied, “sure”. I have to say that the taxi ride was a lot of run. I’m used to some aggressive driving in South Africa, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Every car is weaving in and out of traffic and somehow manage to never each other. They somehow know where the holes in traffic are going to open up and my just go for it. It’s was crazy… but a lot of fun as well.

There’s nothing like airport delays. Especially when you wake up at 4:30 AM to make your 6 o’clock flight and you’re still sitting in the airport at 9 AM waiting for the plane arrive. On the up side they just announced they are trying to locate a pilot in a “training center” to fly the plane up to us from Orlando. Oh, Lord.