Whirlwind

So much has happened over the past week since we left AE, I don't even know where to begin. On top of that, the reason I have yet to blog has to do with the fact that the place I am currently staying has no internet. That being said, I am at an internet cafe. Yes, an internet cafe-- a whole new world more like it. Tracking down internet is quite a feat. The good news is, next week starting Dec. 3, I leave the bed and breakfast where myself and half the group is currently staying and we all head our separate ways into the last leg of the journey known as home stays. I met my "home stay family" this past week and found out that they do indeed have internet. WAHOO! I'll tell you more about home stays when I'm actually doing them, but for now, I'm going to do a super quick overview of this past week. 

We left AE (Pietermaritzburg) bright and early last Saturday morning and began our journey along the South African coast, or what is better known as the Garden Route. We stopped over at different hotels along the way (all located directly on the beach, I might add), and this lasted for the next 4 nights until, finally, we arrived at our final destination in Fish Hoek (pronounced Hook), a city about 45 minutes outside of Cape Town. We are here for the next three weeks and halfway through that time, the group of us at the bed and breakfast will switch with the group currently at home stays. It is sad and different being split up from the group. We all love and miss each other a lot, even after such a short period of time. 

Here are some pictures from the Garden Route, and that will give you a better idea of what went on during that trip (one of the highlights included bungy jumping off the highest bridged bungy in the world--something everyone should do at least once in their life, naturally). The past three days, since we arrived in Fish Hoek, have been spent mostly in Cape Town-- one of the most beautiful cities in the world, for sure. I can't upload a ton of pictures just yet because of my lack of internet, but for now, here a few main snapshots. 

Climbing through the Conga Caves with Christa!

5-4-3-2-1 BUNGYYY!!!!! 

Coming into Cape Town

Inside the caves

Baby Tigers!!!!

Simba and Nola

Finally arrived in Fish Hoek

Cape Town

Eating a Gatsby...biggest sandwich of my life

Table Mountain and Cape Town! 

On a Catamaran circling the cape.
That's one of the World Cup stadiums to the right of my head

Yup. I jumped off that bridge. 709 foot free fall! 

Lastly, I'd like to leave you with some encouragement and verses that spoke to me this morning....

Phil 4:11

"...for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am..."

2 Peter 1:5-10

"Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble."

Be blessed!!! And Happy (late) Thanksgiving!

Last Days at AE

It is a Wednesday night, and I have a little more than 48 hours left on the African Enterprise campus in Pietermaritzburg. Saturday morning, at 6 AM all forty-eight of us will be packing up and heading off to Cape Town. We are taking a 5 day drive along the coast in order to get there, and we will be stopping at different sites and staying in hotels along the way.

Tomorrow is the last day at Gateway. So much has happened. We said goodbye to the Cele family (one of the craft groups we were able to visit multiple times), and Promise (one of the aunts who is 56 years old) shed tears of sadness and joy as we were walking out the door. On our last day with the Celes we listened to Lionel Richie, painted nails, ate cookies, and spent time relaxing. It was a beautiful day, and the hospitality and generosity this family showed to each of us far surpasses anything I've seen in my life thus far. They have so little, yet the little the do have, they give-- freely. We prayed with them before we left and we all walked, as slowly as possible mind you, back to the car for a final goodbye.

On Friday, my Gateway group will present about our service site in our Community Engagement class, so here is a little slideshow I put together showing some of the highlights over these last four weeks. I hope you enjoy!

See you in Cape Town next week! Till then, be blessed and be a blessing.

"My child, remember what I say and never forget what I tell you to do.Do what I say, and you will live. Be as careful to follow my teaching as you are to protect your eyes.Keep my teaching with you all the time; write it on your heart.Treat wisdom as your sister, and insight as your closest friend."
-Prov. 7:1-4

Hallelujah (Jabulani Africa)

The Church Tent

We like pictures with them. They like  pictures with us
It all works out quite nicely! 

Playing during communion.

I'm an honorary usher! See the name-tag?! 

Another amazing day here in South Africa. I feel bad for blogging so much, but there’s so much I just cannot NOT write about! I’d like to tell you about this Sunday morning, specifically. About twenty of us had the privilege of going with one our CLCs (Community Life Coordinators) this morning, Reagan Joseph, to a township about forty-five minutes outside of Maritzburg because he was preaching.

When we arrived there was a large white tent set up and there was music playing. That was around 10 AM, by the way. We were seated as a group in the very front row nearest the stage and closest to the large speakers that were blasting the music we had heard from outside. I had earplugs (as I always do), so I put them in immediately, but it was just too loud, and if my father has taught me anything, he has taught me to protect my ears. That being said, after one song, I headed to the back of the tent to stand near the doorway/tent opening. There were two female ushers, probably about my age, and as the music continued I started to make quick friends with them as we danced, shouted hallelujah and lifted up our hands to the Lord.

After about ten minutes of being in the back with them, one of the girls (Ntobe) pulled a nametag out of her purse and put it on my shirt. It said “Usher.” I’d been there less than twenty minutes and I had already been designated to usher and invite people in as they walked through the tent opening, one after the other (there were probably about 300 people under that tiny tent by the middle of the service). It was a BLAST and a BLESSING. Looking into people’s eyes, shaking their hands, and saying “God bless you” was something I could have done all day (or at least until my legs gave out). Anyway, the dancing and singing went on for about an hour and a half. Every time you thought it was over, you were wrong and a new song of praise, adoration, or victory broke out. The sound, as I’ve said multiple times before, is a sound like none other. The passion with which they sing and worship the Lord takes your breath away.

After worship a few of the APU students were invited up on the spot. One of them was my friend, Christa. She and the others were wonderful as they shared verses, shared parts of their lives, and shared a bit about what they’ve been learning over their short time here in South Africa. It was really amazing how each one’s comments added so much to the service as a whole. Also, the South Africans were quite excited to hear the sound of an “American accent.” After Reagan spoke, he asked me to come up and play piano as communion was taken. I sang a song he requested called, “Break Every Chain” (it’s a great one by Will Reagan and the United Pursuit, if you don’t know it), and as I sang the words, “There is power in the name of Jesus,” over and over again, the whole congregation sang along. I was reminded in this moment, once more, that the love of Jesus crosses all borders and allows people from all nations and all ethnicities to stand as one in the presence of the Lord who has united us together by His spirit. What a beautiful and supernatural thing that is. Enjoy the pictures and video :)

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one.”

 John 17:22

Pictures thanks to my good friend, Christa :)

Project Gateway and Some Fun…Upload #8

Project Gateway and Some Fun…Upload #8, a set on Flickr.

Hugs and Kisses

This week has been incredible. Thank you for all your prayers regarding Gateway and the work going on there. The past five days at our service site have been immensely rewarding. We are almost finished working on a catalogue we’ve been putting together for them in order to promote the crafts of the people they work with in the townships in and around Pietermaritzburg to a more mainstream market. We have also been able to meet, spend time with, and connect with the different crafters with whom Project Gateway works. It has been an honor to love them, hug them, kiss them, and even work with them.

We went to two groups this past week. The first group we saw was the Gogo (which means Grandma in Zulu) group in Cramond, another township about 45 minutes outside of Pietermaritzburg. This group works mostly with beads and yarn. They crochet a lot of things, so we got together with one of the Gateway fashion school graduates named Sandile (San-dee-lay) and brainstormed some items they might be able to work on making such as a crocheted coffee sleeves, or crocheted headbands. Sandile also came with us to be our translator because even though most of the children here speak English, most people from the older generation do not.

The Gogos meet twice a week in a large concrete room (dubbed the town hall) and work on their crafts. They join together 3 long plastic tables, pull up their little chairs, and sit for hours, about 20 of them, just knitting away—talking, laughing, eating, and drinking tea the whole time. We visited them on Tuesday and Friday this past week. When our group came in on Tuesday we were immediately welcomed with big smiles and long hugs. They stood at the beginning of their meeting and sang a few songs (in Zulu), closing that time with the Lord’s Prayer (in Zulu and English—I imagine the English was for our benefit, due to the fact that almost none of them spoke any at all). It was a beautiful ceremony to be a part of, to say the least.

I spent most of my time just sitting with them, smiling, and laughing (although most of the time I’m pretty sure I was being laughed at). I didn’t mind at all. At one point, I began to sing Akekho Ofana (the only song I knew in Zulu), and slowly but surely the woman across me began to sing along, and then the next woman and the next woman, and before I knew it they were standing up from the table (as they tend to do when they sing) and we had a solid five-minute sing-along going. That may have been a highlight of my life if we’re being honest, haha. The sound of their voices...there’s nothing like it. Anyway, when we left about two hours later they clapped for us, kissed our hands, and asked us when we would return.

We were able to return on Friday, but not for very long because we also went back to Sweetwaters that same day (to see the Cele craft family I told you about already) and helped them for 3 hours as they finished a beadwork order for an event that evening. We had originally planned to go and just hang out for the day, but when we arrived they were all working frantically, so we decided to join in on the fun! (I now know how to bead the stem of one of those crazy head scratcher contraptions…something I've always wanted to learn how to do….Obviously!)

Anyway, thank you again for the prayers and encouragement I’ve received from many of you. This coming week is our final one at service sites and African Enterprise. On Friday, November 18^th, we will be leaving Pietermaritzburg and heading to Cape Town (driving along the coast by bus over a period of about five days) for the final leg of this South African adventure.
Until next time, enjoy the pictures below and be blessed!

“May the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

- Heb. 13:20-21

Hugs and Kisses- Pictures

In Sweetwaters township with the Cele family.
Gabbi (next to me) made the necklace I'm wearing!

Rushing to finish beading!

A bracelet they made from beads.

Another bracelet made out of shells

Look who's in the neighborhood!

<3

How could you not love them?

Natural born models.

Crafting time with the Gogos

Our first day together :)