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 :)

How South Africa Saved My Life

Are you ever just so overwhelmed by what the Lord has done in your life that you can barely stand it? Well, today was one of those days. This morning began with chapel (student-led chapel), and considering it was our second to last time having chapel as a community on the African Enterprise campus here in Pietermaritzburg, we did an “affirmation circle” type thing for the main staff that’s been with us from the beginning (plus Francis, our incredible Kenyan Community Engagement teacher and mentor). The staff seated in front of the room made up a total of six people--Reg, Francis, and our 4 community life coordinators: Leizel and Reagan (they’re married), Cynthia (Reg’s assistant and a community coordinator), and Janet. This affirmation circle (or line more like it) was planned last minute by the student chapel committee. It was the opportunity for us as students to thank and affirm the team that has taken such amazing care of us from the moment we stepped off the plane in Johannesburg (and even before, planning this semester at the beginning of 2011 and covering us in prayer throughout the summer).

The affirmations began, and the tears started to flow as, one by one, student after student stood up and thanked the Azusa Pacific International staff one at a time, pointing out the strengths of each one of them and highlighting this or that memory, whether serious or playful—it was just one of those moments, ya know? The kind that sticks in your mind forever because the love in the room is so evident, and the presence of the Holy Spirit is undeniable. There were a couple of words spoken that made me completely lose it, especially when those comments had something to do with Reg, who, according to one of the girls, “spits wisdom.” I would have to agree with her on that one. Fortunately, a pile of napkins was being passed around so we might dry our eyes.

By the time Reg got up to say a few words (after over an hour of “affirming” had gone by), the napkins weren’t doing much. Mine was torn and soaked, getting more soaked by the minute, as Reg stood, with tears in his eyes, and thanked us for being a semester that had restored his hope for the Azusa Pacific South Africa Semester. He thanked us for doing as much, as a semester, for him and the staff as they had done for us. He let us into a little secret of his as well. He said, “You know how I judge how the semester is going to run?” We all waited with bated breath as he stated, “I can tell by the end of the first chapel, and I knew, after that first chapel, that this semester was going to be a special one.” At that point, I was literally bawling, like the kind of bawling that should not be seen in public (chest heaving, throat squeaking etc). Thank goodness I wasn’t the only one. I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the room, boy and girl alike. 

I was crying because I was so hit in that moment with an overwhelming sense that the Lord had literally “Pulled me out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock” by taking me from Azusa to South Africa right when I needed it. Over the summer and going into this fall semester I was going through one of the hardest seasons of my life, asking God lots of questions, wondering why I still felt a burden, an uneasiness, and a brokenness I just couldn’t seem to shake. Throughout my time in South Africa, I’ve been asking the Lord for restoration and healing (if you can’t tell, it’s been a theme in a lot of my blogs), but I had become frustrated at times because I couldn’t seem to figure out why it wasn’t happening (to the extent I had expected) already!

The Lord, over the past few days had been bringing a few verses to mind. The first is found in Ephesians 6 when Scripture talks about putting on the full armor of God and praying at all times. This is something I began to do as I woke up every morning, being aware that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12), and being even more aware that the devil “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (I Pet. 5:8), and I refused to be that “someone” any longer!

Anyway, that had been going on in my head for the past week, and other verses

…like Heb. 12:11

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

…and James 1:2-4

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

…had become repetitive staples in my daily diet of Scripture verses. What I realized is, even if my struggles had not magically disappeared like I had wanted/expected them too, it didn’t mean that I was somehow doing something wrong or being utterly defeated. That wasn’t the point. The point was to CHOOSE LIFE and CLAIM MY VICTORY amidst the suffering—to persevere. After all, it’s in the testing, the trials, and the brokenness that HIS strength is most seen, isn’t it? It’s in the pain, the heartache, and the tears that the training takes place, so that, in the end, we might grow and bear fruit, being “mature and complete, lacking in nothing.” So I can REJOICE in the trials! I can glory in my tribulations knowing that “afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Additionally, because God is just that good, he has used me in spite of my brokenness. He has taken my tiny, pitiful offering of a broken heart and made it big in His kingdom. He has used me in the short time I’ve had here to touch others and be touched by them, whether it’s the people I live with here on campus or the community around us. Whether we are having a worship night or just lounging on the grass outside during teatime—He truly has been IMMANUEL, God with us, all the time, not letting go for one second.

Today is 11/7/11, if you haven’t noticed. 11:11 is my favorite time. I’m not exactly sure why, but it just is. When I see those numbers displayed on the clock I always remember the phrase that I wrote out a moment ago, “Immanuel—God with us.”

Seven is also my favorite number. Maybe it’s my favorite because it is a number of completion. Regardless, today is 11/7/11, so I’d like to see it like this...

God is Alpha and Omega, He is the elevens on either side of the seven. The seven is me--smack dab in the middle of his perfect plan, being strengthened, healed, restored, and brought to “completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).

Project Gateway

First off, I would like to pull a Marty Goetz and say I am sorry for my two-week silence without a blog! I hope you all survived. I’m most confident that you did :)

Anyway, the last two weeks have brought with them a number of transitions and trials. First off, school is over, finals have been taken, and last night I finished my last assignment for Biology class—a 12-page paper on South African conservation. To say I enjoyed writing the paper would be a lie, but when I’m put in a position of doing school-work that I do not want to do, I just try to remind myself that it is a blessing and not a curse to be receiving an incredible education and having the opportunity to increase my knowledge, skills, and have my voice heard on certain issues and topics. School is not a curse. It is a blessing. Of this I am quite sure.

After finals two weeks ago, we began preparing for our service sites. We took a three-day crash course on Community Engagement taught by a man named Francis Ngikito. He is from Kenya and worked for World Vision for over 30 years. He is a man who is in his early 60s, although you would never know it, and he is full of joy, life, and the Holy Spirit. Currently, he does independent consulting for people and was described by our executive director, Reg, as the best community developer on the continent of Africa. Needless to say, I think we were all looking forward to the class and the opportunity to learn from such a highly revered and esteemed man.

After three days of the class, endless notes, and a lot of interactive “community development-ish” type activities, I was overjoyed because for the first time in my life, I felt like I had some direction for what I might want to do with an International Business degree—I want to be like Francis (kinda, maybe, sorta). This is all in the beginning stages, but as Francis spoke, almost everything he said resonated in my Spirit. In other words, most of the things he described regarding his job as a community developer had to do with strengths and skills such as anthropology, history, communication, building relationships, creating plans, developing a vision, and working to empower people. All of these topics spark interest in me, on both a tangible and spiritual level. I left those three days feeling like I had some direction for my life, and that is something I’d been praying for regarding my time in South Africa because, “Without vision my people perish.”- Prov. 29:18

Although those three days in class had an impact on what the future might hold, the purpose of each 8AM-4PM session was to prepare us for “engaging with the community” over the next four weeks at our service site. Mine was Project Gateway. Project Gateway is a non-profit Christian organization that exists for the sake of uplifting people and their communities by providing them with job, business and life skills. It is a little campus located in a rundown part of Pietermaritzburg. On that campus there are shops run by local craft businesses, a Christian school (K-7), a fashion school, an overnight shelter, a women’s home (that is currently closed due to lack of funding), and administrative offices where they are continually trying to figure out ways to help the poorest of the poor by empowering them to break out of the cycle of poverty.

On Thursday, I headed to my site with three others—Abby (a sophomore political science major), Mark (a sophomore business admin major), and Matt (a senior physics major). We were excited, apprehensive, and a bit nervous about what the next 14 days at Project Gateway might hold (that week we were only there for two days, and for the following three weeks we spend one day in class with Francis and the next four at our site, so 14 days total on site, spread out over a period of four weeks). Anyway, it almost felt like a first day of school. We wanted to be liked, welcomed, and needed at Project Gateway.

The first thing Sally, the volunteer coordinator there, said to us when we stepped out of the van has kind of defined our past week there thus far. She exclaimed with surprise, “I thought you were coming next week!” That statement right there defined our first couple of days at Gateway. Unfortunately, they are quite understaffed at the moment and lacking a lot of funding, which, in turn, makes them have little time to get us up and running on project “this or that.” This past week was better, but there is still a lot of progress to be made regarding communication between the staff and us.

We are currently picking up on a project that last semester’s APU group left behind. It has to do with crafts (jewelry and accessories) that the people in townships make and the fact that much of what they make is beautiful and well designed, but there is no market for it within the townships because no one has the money to purchase anything. Project Gateway partners with these “crafters” (as we call them) and takes their products out of the townships and into a market (whether that be within South Africa or on an international level). They want us to design a line of products for the crafters to make that we think would sell in the U.S. and create a catalogue that can be sent to different retailers who might want to sell a “warm product,” or something that is made with a story and character, and the profit that comes in from buying that product goes directly back to the crafters in order to sustain them and help put food on their table. Anyway, it is a large endeavor, but most definitely a worthy cause with much potential.

On Friday, we were able to go and visit a family of crafters in one of the townships. That was a highlight of the week by far. Sitting in an office and creating a catalogue on InDesign becomes tedious work after three days time, and we were anxious to get out into the community and meet the people. We met four women—Nontobeko (19), Thembile (18), Gabisile (The mother of those two girls), and Mvelo (probably mid-30s). Nontobeko had just given birth a month before to the most beautiful baby girl (who was sleeping soundly in the little two-bedroom house). When we walked in there was the most beautiful display of jewelry set up, and we browsed through it all amazed at the skill level and detail of each piece created by these women. We only spent about an hour talking with them, but we decided that we would come back the next week (with nail polish and chocolate) just to hang out.

So far that has been the most frustrating part about being at Project Gateway, specifically. There are four other sites the students are going to and ours is the most “business-oriented,” which is good for me as business major, obviously, but the Community Engagement course, that is directly linked to the service sites, is to build relationships and spend time with people. Our team of four is hoping to be able to do more of that in the weeks to come, but for now we are taking it one step at time. You can pray for our team if you think of it, that we would be united and open to whatever it is God has for us at Project Gateway, whether that involves spending time with people or working on a business plan, that all of it would be done for His glory and His purposes alone. Amen.

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."- Hebrew 4:18

"All we like sheep have gone astray"

This past weekend I went on a Safari. My pictures are below if you want to check them out! We saw elephants (babies included), giraffes, zebra, lions, rhino (more babies included), monitor lizards, baboons, monkeys, wild dog (the second most endangered carnivore in Africa), impala, and the highlight of our trip had to be when we stumbled upon a whole family of cheetah right as the sun was setting. They were less than 20 yards away from our car, FIVE of them—a mom, dad, and three children. Reg, the executive director here in South Africa and my wonderful safari guide for the weekend, said that he had only seen a cheetah family one other time in his entire life. He was in awe (because they’re his favorite animal), and so were we.

We were all amazed, though, not by the cheetahs themselves, but by the God who created them and every other living thing we saw that weekend. Being in the Lord’s creation for three days straight, observing all that He has made for us is one of the best worship experiences you could ever ask for. At the end of our time at the reserve, Reg left us with a little devotional thought from Job. In chapter 38, after Job has endured an enormous amount of suffering and pain, losing everything, his possessions, his children, and almost his own life, he asks God why. Why the suffering? Why the pain? God responds, but not in the way one might think. He doesn’t answer Job’s question directly. Instead he says, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me if you have understanding […] Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place […] Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions?”

Creation is God’s response to suffering. He says, look and SEE—I’ve got the whole world in my hands, so be still and know that I am GOD…That I am the one who sets the boundaries of the sea, causes the rain to come forth, and takes care of the birds of the air, so how much more will I take care of you?

These words from the song “Your Love is Strong” were brought to mind once more.
“Why do I worry, why do I freak out? God knows what I need.”- Jon Foreman

As if that weren’t enough to learn from nature, in class on Tuesday, Reg spoke about the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18:12-14.

The text reads…

“If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”

Reg went on to share with us what a shepherd in Israel actually does when a sheep goes astray. Once he finally finds the lost sheep, he breaks its legs so it can no longer walk. Well, this poses a problem for obvious reasons, but the shepherd is not worried. He takes the sheep up into his arms and holds it over his shoulders as the legs begin to heal. He keeps the sheep this way until its legs are fully recovered, and by that time the sheep has become so accustomed to the smell of the shepherd, it will never depart from him again.

Wow. What a picture of what Jesus does with us when we wander away (as we all so often do). I was holding back a well of tears in the middle of my Life and Teachings Bible class…I must say that I failed to keep them in for the most part.

We serve a God who knows His own. He knows those who are His. Tell me, what other religion can boast of a God like that, who, when we are lost, comes after us, and once we are found, in all our brokenness, takes us up into his arms and holds us close saying,

“I’m not going to let go…not for one second.”

Safari Highlights

Elephants with babies! 

We be on safari.

Baby Rhino! Just days old.

It fit on my hand...kind of. 

More elephants! 

Had to include the food. AMAZING breakfast. 

5:30 AM safari ride!

Mosquito net in my luxury tent.

The whole fam. 

Beauties

They're snuggling!!!

Wild dog. It looks harmless. It's not.

12 hours in a safari truck= lots of meditation time. 

Reg speaking on Job. 

Fresh tears from Reg's talk
(I do shed clear tears...normally. It's the makeup!)

Safari Time…Upload #7

Safari Time…Upload #7, a set on Flickr.

Here are some pictures from this past weekend's Safari. Expect a new blog in the next couple of days!! It's finals week here, and things are bit crazy. Sorry for the delay :)

Zulu Experience

This past weekend I spent the night at a traditional Zulu homestead about 45 minutes outside of Pietermaritzburg. It was shocking, firstly, to see people living in such an extremely rural environment less than an hour away from such a modernized city as Pietermaritzburg. As I arrived at the homestead with 23 other APU students, (we had all split into two groups prior to our weekend fieldtrips, and half the group went on a safari that we will be doing this coming weekend) we were surprised to find out that our leaders were leaving us for the night. From what we could tell, the people running the place were straight up indigenous, decked out in traditional clothing and speaking little to no English—just Zulu. Here we were, a bunch of clueless college students with our little backpacks, flashlights, and cameras, ready to go but not sure where to begin.

            

Luckily, the man who ran the place spoke English quite well, and he guided us through our adventure for the next 24 hours. When we first got there, we were led to our individual huts that we shared with three other students. There was no electricity at the place, but there was a designated hut with running water, toilets, and showers (we were thankful for that). The girls all stayed within the confines of the homestead that was situated in a circular fashion with about five large huts around the perimeter, a kitchen to the side, a campfire in the middle, and below that a place for the cattle to come in and sleep at night (this was located in the very middle of the plot of land because cattle are the Zulus’ most important possession). The whole plot of land was angled up on a hillside so any drainage could flow downward. The view from our huts was beautiful because the homestead overlooked a quite large lake situated less than a quarter of a mile away.

            

There were three women and about five men that helped and entertained us that evening. They fed us an unbelievably tasty dinner of traditional Zulu food. Our first course consisted of steak and Zulu bread that they steam in a pot. It is pretty much the best bread ever, and the steak was so tasty. It was cooked right in front of us on the campfire. When it was finished, they cut it up into little pieces and placed it on a tray with the bread. Then we all sat around in a circle (by lamplight, of course) and took a piece of steak, dipped it in salt that was located in every corner of the tray, and then put it with the bread to eat. We devoured our tray within minutes. In order to receive our second course of the evening, we filed one by one into the open-air kitchen (boys first because that is the traditional Zulu way) and went around in a circle being served small helpings of each dish that was prepared. There were chicken legs, a kind of grits dish, a bean and chickpea type mixture, tomato and onion sauce, and a curried cabbage. Everything was delicious, and I was sufficiently stuffed.

            

After dinner we moved into the main hut at the top of the hill and had our own personal show and training in Zulu dance. We had seen this before, but I’m pretty sure that night’s performance was the best one yet. They also sang as they danced, and that was my favorite part by far. There is something about their voices and the harmonies and the drum and the dance all combined that is electrifying (especially in such a tiny room). After the dancing was done it was time for bed, and at this point we were all exhausted.

            

The next morning we had a breakfast that was almost as good as dinner, with bread that was toasted straight on the fire and coffee in the cutest mugs I had ever seen! The rest of the afternoon was spent making our own personal arts and crafts. One of the main women in the homestead taught us how to make our own clay pottery and beaded bracelets. Once 1 o’clock rolled around it was time to go and we left our new Zulu friends with heavy hearts. It was such a relaxing, entertaining, and beautiful weekend. I enjoyed every second of it.

 

Zulu beadwork time. Representing
 the purple and gold for my high school, CPA.

My pottery! It says, "Shalom" in Hebrew.

I would have stolen a cup if I could have.
LOVED them.

After the Zulu dancing, we definitely needed a personal picture.

Dinnertime! 

Beautiful

Sunset over the lake (and the cattle in the middle there)

Down by the river with my little Christa! 

The doors were miniature. 

Our little hut!