One Week Left

It’s my last week in South Africa. Exactly 7 days from now, I will be heading to the airport to fly back to America. I have no idea if I feel ready or not. It depends what hour in the day you ask me. There are things I cannot wait for about being home, and other things that make me so sad to go back. It’s a challenge because, although I’ve grown up in Ventura, I have spent 4 life-changing months here in South Africa and it has become a home to me. I now feel as though I have two homes, and being in either one is ambiguous. I love both of them so much, yet being here, I miss Ventura and I know returning home, I’m going to miss South Africa…agh it’s kind of a lot. But I’ve been praying about it and trusting that the same God who is with me here will be with me in Ventura and provide everything I need to readjust.

Anyways, now to update you on this week! Monday was a GREAT day. I woke up early and walked down the Olympia Café (ITS AMAZING!) with some friends. We got coffee and croissants, talked for a bit, and then I got to journal. It has become my new favorite thing: waking up early, getting a delicious warm drink, and writing out my thoughts while sitting in an adorable little café that directly overlooks the harbor/ocean. If it were a free experience, I would do it every morning. After that, we had class and then another group of us went into downtown Cape Town! We went to this place for lunch where I got an Nzolo sandwich with vegetable chips…it was delicious. Then we walked around a bunch of little street markets, bookstores, etc. I got the last of my gifts for people! Yay! We came back to BI and spent the night doing homework, emailing people, etc.

Tuesday, I started my day off once again with Olympia…it’s becoming an addiction. Haha. Then our whole group went and did the Peninsula Tour, which is essentially a tour of some of the most beautiful views that exist in this world. That’s not necessarily how they advertise it, but that was my conclusion. :) This tour included visiting the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, Houk Bay, and the penguin beach…yes, a beach with penguins on it. It was a warm, clear day and I loved getting to be surrounded by such beauty. Plus, we had a picnic lunch and it was SO good. French bread, hummus, grapes, cheese, mango juice, chocolate chip cookies…I loved it. That night, we went to watch Theater Sports at a nearby theater. It was surprisingly really funny. It was also nice to go out and do something at night because most of our excursions are during the day.

Wednesday, I got to talk with my parents! Internet has been so tricky lately and communication has been limited, so it was good to talk. I even sacrificed my morning Olympia trip so talk to them ;) Then we had class this morning and after, some girls and I went and got lunch…at Olympia. Haha. We walked around Kalk Bay and went into a bunch of little shops, then spent the afternoon at an Internet café where I finally got to upload pictures to Facebook!!! I posted some from the Farewell Dinner, Garden Route, my homestay, Kalk Bay, Cape Town, and tons more. So click here if you want to look at them!

Thursday (today) was another good day. We got to sleep in a little…by the way, my version of sleeping in has changed drastically, i.e. I woke up today at 8am. I haven’t slept past 8:30am since being here. But anyways, I slept a bit and then—you guessed it—walked to Olympia with some girls. Then we attended BI’s chapel, which had a really good speaker! He went to BI and is now a missionary in Kenya. He had a lot of really good things to say and I enjoyed it a lot. Then, our whole group went to Stellenbosch and Spier. Stellenbosch is essentially the wine capital of South Africa, which I found it funny that we went because we aren’t allowed to drink alcohol here. But oh well…the vineyards were beautiful to look at. In Spier, we got to go see some cheetahs and some people even got to pet them. It was a good, relaxing day. We came back and I spent some time working on my final paper (we do have homework here, contrary to popular belief) and then I went with Katie and Nick out to dinner, where I got incredible tomato and basil soup and worked on my paper. I am currently sitting in a little café, drinking Rooibos tea and looking out of a window that faces the ocean, reflecting the moonlight. Gorgeous.

Things are wrapping up here in South Africa. Now that I’ve finished my paper, all I have left for class is a group project due Monday. We stay in Kalk Bay until Sunday (during which I get to visit the Hillsong church here!) and then we move to a hotel in downtown Cape Town where we do our final presentations and a debrief/re-orientation. Then Wednesday morning, we head to the airport to come home! I honestly cannot believe this chapter of my life is almost over. It is the most surreal thing I have experienced in my life up to this point.

I’m sorry for the lack of pictures on my blog. I can’t upload pictures here at BI, but like I said, I was able to upload some to Facebook the other day so look at those if you want! To end this blog, I want to share a quote with you from Nelson Mandela, whom I have a new obsession with. In his inauguration speech on May 10, 1994, during which he focused heavily on reconciliation, he said, “Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud…Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”

With love from that beautiful land,

Alex

A Week of Experiences

The adventure in Cape Town continues!

Tuesday night, after our time at BI, we came back to our homestays and at our house, we were having a party! It was our host family’s pastor’s birthday so we threw him a surprise dinner party at our house. The food was absolutely INCREDIBLE. There was chicken, steak, chips, butternut squash, rice…it was so good. Then we had a feast of desserts! I went to bed a very happy girl that night :)

Wednesday, we all met at BI and then drove to a township in Cape Town called Langa. It was quite the experience for me. I honestly don’t know what to think of it. This township has gained quite a lot of tourism over the years, which has helped them gain funds for development projects. Because of this, although there were parts of it that were really sad, most of what we saw was really nice. Which is awesome and it’s great that they’re developing it like that, but I didn’t quite know how to handle it because of how many tourists they get there. They even said there were three bed & breakfasts’ in the neighborhood. I couldn’t help but question. Bed and breakfasts, a personal radio station, nice big buildings…it was very different than Mpophomeni or other townships I’ve been to. It made me wonder about the authenticity of what these tourists are seeing. Because, in that place, it looks like townships and apartheid weren’t that bad when in reality, it was awful. I’m so glad Langa is being developed the way it is, but…I don’t know. For some reason, I just felt weird about it.

Anyways, after our time there, we came back to BI and I got to walk around the town a little bit. It’s absolutely adorable and the whole main area of town is a strip right along the coast, so you are walking next to the water the whole time. It’s amazing. We came back to Oceanview and tonight, there was a basketball game! The Oceanview team vs. the Americans! :) We kind of got our butts kicked but that’s fine; we had so much fun cheering and just interacting with the community. It was great!

Thursday, we did a day trip to Robben Island. I have been looking forward to this since we got to South Africa, and it did not let me down. Our tour guide was a man who actually was a prisoner there for five years because of his political activism against apartheid. I couldn’t believe I was actually there. We read so many crazy stories about how hard it was to get a hairbrush, or how they made the prisoners wear shorts in freezing weather, or how they would bury prisoners up to their neck and then pee in their mouth…it’s so awful. We also saw Nelson Mandela’s cell. We couldn’t go in but I would guess it was 10-12 feet wide. He spent 27 years total in prison and 18 at Robben Island. I can’t even imagine spending that many years in a cell that small. 18 years…that’s nearly my entire life. And then, after all that time, he came out ready to forgive the people who put him there and push for reconciliation. He’s truly a remarkable man. We also got to see the cell of an activist named Robert Sobukwe. He lived in solitary confinement for 7 years I think. They had letters on display between him and his wife, and they were some of the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever read. And the letters were in their actual handwriting and everything, so genuine. Ah, I loved it. The craziest thing about all these people though is that they were imprisoned for fighting for equal rights. By trying to end apartheid, they suffered so much. The stories were amazing.

When we came home after Robben Island, I was doing my homework on my bed when Chloe and Cleon (the two kids at my homestay) came in. They saw on my computer the picture of Ethembeni and the rainbow, and somehow, God provided the opportunity for me to share with them the story of Noah’s Ark and the rainbow that was sent. They were absolutely in awe. They kept asking if that story was from the Bible and if I learned about God in the Bible. It was so precious. Then, they started telling Katie and I how Michael Jackson and Nelson Mandela are friends… :) It was so cute.

Friday, we had class in the morning, and then got to go into Cape Town! We took the train in and walked downtown to this burger place where I had one of the best burgers and best milkshakes of my life. Then we walked down to the Green St. Market and I got some gifts for people, as well as some fun things for myself ;) It was so good to just be in a smaller group, on our own, spending time in the heart of Cape Town. And then, on the train ride home, a man stood up and announced that a group of people from YWAM wanted to sing for us! They sang Mighty to Save, This Little Light of Mine, and Amazing Grace. The best part was looking around seeing how many people were singing along…a teenage black girl, an elderly Asian woman, all of us Americans…it was great! I love those little moments in a busy day when God just reminds you of His presence. Friday night, we went to a church disco! Our “mom” described it as “a club but with Christ.” :) We had a great time dancing with everyone from the church, and some of our American friends. It was complete with a strobe light and worship music put to a rap beat…classic.

Saturday was AWESOME! We hiked to the top of Table Mountain and it was incredible. The hike was SO hard. The “trail” was a bunch of huge rocks piled together, and it was a steep incline for 2 hours straight. I was exhausted, but the view from the top made it worth it. I don’t know if I’ve ever been surrounded by so much beauty in my whole life. I felt like I was on top of the world. We could see the lowest point of Africa, downtown Cape Town, Robben Island, mountains and ocean that seemed to go on forever…it was magical. I could have stayed up there forever taking pictures. There are no words that can describe how beautiful it was.

Sunday was our last day at homestays. We went to church with our family, and then spent the afternoon packing up and just relaxing with them. We said our goodbyes, which was sad. It was nice being around a family and in that environment, and I was actually surprised how sad I was to say goodbye to people I only met a week ago. But hopefully we’ll see each other again someday. So now, I’m sitting at my new home…the Bible Institute! I’m excited to be here. I feel like it will be relaxing after a very chaotic last 3 months. :) 10 days left!

With love from South Africa,

Alex

Homestays in Oceanview

Hello! I’m currently typing this from my bed at my homestay (which I will tell you ALL about) and I just realized I only have 15 days left! I can’t believe it! I was walking home today, admiring the incredibly gorgeous sunset and thinking how much I love this place. Only 15 days…I’m trying to soak up every last drop of it.

Anyways, HOMESTAYS! Because there are over 50 of us, they had to divide us into two groups. One group does homestays and the other group is at the Bible Institute of South Africa (BI) which is absolutely gorgeous. Even though we’re at homestays, we go to BI during the day for class and it’s beautiful! Sitting in the dining room, you look out right over the ocean. It’s a very similar feeling to being at Point Loma, where everywhere you look, you can see the beach. So I’m excited to be there next week.

This week though, I’m doing homestays in a little community called Oceanview. It was appropriately named because from nearly every street, you get an awesome view of the ocean, which has these gorgeous mountains right on the shore. It’s breath-taking. Anyways, I could talk about South Africa’s beauty all day but you all want to hear about other things :) Friday night, we had a big dinner where we all met our host families and there were a bunch of singing and dancing performances while we ate. It was such a fun night! Only our mom was there to meet us for dinner, but we met the rest of the family the next day. The mom is named Esroebayda, but we just call her Bayda. She’s really a lovely woman and her family is great. She has three kids, but only two are here at the house right now. The oldest son, Cleon, is 6 years old and Chloe is 4. They are precious kids and I’ve loved getting to play with them. We got to meet her husband Justin the next day when we visited him at work. The house is simple but nicer than I expected and so comfortable to stay in. It’s actually so nice to stay with a family in an actual home. It brings a certain level of familiarity and comfort I’ve been lacking since we’ve been in Africa.

Saturday, we woke up and went to the nearby mall to visit Justin and get some groceries. Then we came back, had lunch, and went to a “women’s rally” at a nearby park. It was such an awesome event! There is a missionary woman here named Sarah who put it on through the church her husband is a pastor at, and I loved it. They had worship, dancing, a raffle at the end, and a speaker from Hillsong South Africa (which I get to go to next weekend!). The whole service was great and God really used it to open my eyes to more things than I have time to write about :). We stayed at that event for a few hours, came back home and made a quick lunch, and then went to a joint church service for two different churches Saturday night. This service had a guest speaker from Australia and overall, was quite an experience, to say the least. The next day was Sunday, and we visited an Anglican church because Bayda was asked to perform a dance there. I have never been to any sort of mass before, so that was interesting for me to experience. As soon as that service was over, we finally got to attend the church that Bayda and Justin actually go to. It was good, quite charismatic. So in the first two days, we went to four church services put on by four different churches. It was really neat though because I got to experience quite a variety. But it’s always good to worship with believers from all over the world. It’s honestly one of my favorite things to do. Even when it’s a bit uncomfortable, I love knowing that people from every tribe and every tongue are praising God. It’s beautiful.

Sunday afternoon, we met up with six other people from our group who are also doing Oceanview homestays and walked to this adorable little area called Imhoff Farm. It has a restaurant, a little coffee shop, a bakery, a cheese shop, a chocolate store, and a bunch of little stores with jewelry, etc. It was so fun getting to meet up with other APU people and hear how their homestay is, laugh with them, just relax for a bit…it was great. That night, we also got to go around Oceanview with Bayda and meet some of her friends. We ended up going to visit her pastor’s home and, as many South Africans have, he asked Katie and I about our purity rings. We got to have a great conversation with him about purity and the importance of it and the struggles there are for teens in South Africa. It was really enlightening for me, and cool to be able to share my opinions with him.

Monday was our first day of class in Cape Town. We were supposed to go into a township, but it was raining pretty hard so we changed plans. We’ll go to the township on Wednesday and instead on Monday, we went into the heart of Cape Town and visited two museums: one about the forced removals of black South Africans and one was a contemporary art museum. Then we got to go to the Waterfront and eat lunch in the harbor. Seeing all the boats in the gorgeous water with the mountains in the background was so pretty. Then we had a couple hours back at BI to use the Internet, etc. We came back to Oceanview Monday night for dinner and to spend time with our family and do some homework. It’s been fun as we’ve gotten to know our host family better because it’s more comfortable to be together.

Tuesday (today), we came to BI and spent some time with the South African students here. We went to their chapel service this morning, had our own History class, and then did a lunch with all the students. Thankfully, we had some time this afternoon to just relax so I got to go to this ADORABLE little coffee shop down the road that I have feeling I’ll spend a lot of time at next week. :) Good preparation for Seattle. It’s nice to have a few hours to hang out with the other group, relax, and drink delicious hot chocolate.

It’s been interesting since leaving AE. Last Thursday and Friday were the first days since I’ve been gone that I’ve been homesick. I think it’s because of the lack of consistency we’ve had. We did the Zulu experience and safari, went back to AE for a day, traveled to Cape Town, stayed in a hotel for a night, now are doing the homestay, and then go to BI. They’re all INCREDIBLE experiences and I’m so thankful, but the lack of consistency does make me feel a little homesick. I think it’s good though because if I had to go back to America directly from AE, I would have been really sad. So it’s a good transition time, I suppose.

I have been learning so much through this homestay experience. It’s a lot to process and write though, and not something I necessarily want to put all over the Internet :) but it’s been so good. God’s been opening my eyes even more to how much I need to put my treasures in heaven instead of earth, and how blessed I am in this world. It’s been awesome. Sorry for no pictures again…we aren’t allowed to upload pictures while at BI so I’ll have to find an Internet café soon! Thank you all for your love and support in these last few weeks!

With love from South Africa,

Alex

Garden Route

Whew! Another whirlwind of a week. It has been so fun. The Garden Route (the drive from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town) is absolutely beautiful and full of fun stops along the way :) Let’s start at the beginning:
We had our Farewell Dinner Saturday night, which was really great. All of the AE staff and our teachers were there, and some of the service site leaders were there, including the Ethembeni staff! We all took one last round of pictures and said our goodbye’s, and then finished packing up AE. Sunday morning, we woke up early (what’s new) and packed up our stuff onto the bus. It was definitely weird, standing in an empty chalet room. A few girls and I walked around campus, taking one last look at the classroom, the waterfall, the prayer chapel…it was so surreal. I wrote in my journal that day, “I’ve thought a lot today about how much I’ve grown since being at AE. I have changed so much since January 24th when we first pulled up. I remember being in awe of how beautiful and green it is, squealing about how cute the monkeys are, complaining about the heat and humidity, setting up our chalet…and now, well, I’m still in awe of how beautiful it is but now I hate the monkeys and I’ve become immune to the weather and my room is completely empty. It’s all so strange.” It was weird saying goodbye. God really has grown me in so many ways: opening my heart to His, revealing sin I need to work on, passions I have, relationships that were built & strengthened…and that all happened at African Enterprise. It has become a home to me and a place that has changed me so much. I’m so incredibly grateful for everything that happened there, but also really sad that it’s over. Now, being in Cape Town, I feel as though I’m a little homesick for America and AE.
We spent all day Sunday driving. We left around 7:30am and arrived in East London around 5pm that night. Our hotel was incredible…literally a 30-second walk from the beach and my room even had an ocean view. I got to go write on the beach, which is something I have missed SO much. I got up to watch the sunrise over the water again (I’ll miss that for sure) and then we packed up and drove about 5 hours to Port Elizabeth. This hotel was also right on the beach, so a group of us went down there and took pictures, looked at shells, etc. For dinner, we got to go to this promenade area with a bunch of shops and restaurants. It was wonderful. We woke up the next day and once again, packed up our bags and hit the road. We drove this time about 3 hours before we reached the bungee jump!!! I ended up not doing it (which I’m really glad about) but it was so fun watching everyone else do it. They had a camera set up so those people who weren’t jumping could sit and watch. It was CRAZY. We spent the rest of that day’s bus ride watching everyone’s videos…so good. :) That night, we arrived in George at a little Christian conference center, which was gorgeous. On Wednesday, we woke up and went to do the Cango Caves, which are these ancient caves you can walk (and at times, crawl) through. I really enjoyed this. Some of it was just walking, but there were four parts of it that were incredibly narrow. One was called the “Devil’s Chimney” and was a tunnel about 3-4 meters high, and probably 2 feet wide, and I honestly don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that. It was so small! But I had fun, which is always the point :) Then we went to an ostrich farm, where we learned everything we could ever want to know about ostrich’s and some people even got to ride them! I got to sit on one for a bit, long enough to pet it and take a picture. That was enough for me ;)
We slept in George again that night and then on Friday, arrived to Cape Town! From the small bit of it that I’ve seen, it’s absolutely gorgeous. Table Mountain is huge and beautiful; I can’t wait to do that hike and see the view from the top. We went to dinner Friday night and got to walk around the city a bit. Then this morning, we had orientation in Cape Town and now, I’m about to go do a homestay with a family! It’s in a town called Oceanview, right near Cape Town. I won’t have internet (again) while I’m there, but after that I stay at a Bible Institute where I will have internet. And that’s when I’ll be able to upload pictures and everything, but right now, my Internet is really limited. So I’ll do that for you asap!
Also, if you think of it, please pray for health for me. I’ve been feeling sick all week. It’s a bummer because I want to enjoy these last few weeks here, but I feel like I really have to rally myself to go do all these things. So please pray for healing and restoration!
With love from Cape Town,
Alex

Summary of Zulu Experience & Safari

Hello everyone! WOW! What a week I had! I am incredibly busy today trying to pack up my life at AE before heading to Cape Town at 5am tomorrow morning, so this will be short but I wanted to give you a quick summary of what happened last week! It was pretty crazy, but so so so fun! And I don't have time to do pictures on this blog, but I posted some on Facebook. You can click here to look at them! There are ones from the Zulu thing and the Safari! Okay, here we go....

We were divided into 2 groups, and my group did the Zulu experience first. We left early Monday morning and drove for about 4 hours to this Zulu wedding shower. It was quite the experience. Women were topless, the bride-to-be was wearing a white bra, the ground had leftover parts of the cow they sacrificed earlier that morning, multiple girls from our group were proposed to…its was certainly something :). We found out that was just to stall time until the place we were staying was ready, so we drove for an hour on a bumpy dirt road to this Zulu tribal village that was in the middle of nowhere. It was absolutely beautiful though. We saw some amazing sunrises/sunsets that were breath taking. The first night included lighting incense to invite the ancestor spirits, drinking Zulu beer all out of the same cup, and watching them do Zulu dancing. Then we went to sleep in our mud huts. Literally, the walls and floors were made of mud and the roof was straw. The next day, we went on a gorgeous but exhausting 4-hour hike through the mountains. That afternoon, we had time to rest and shower. By the way, the toilet was a piece of wood with a hole cut in it over the ground and the shower was a bucket that poured out water while you were naked underneath the African stars. Kind of a challenge, but really cool! Anyways, that night we ate dinner and then God sent a CRAZY thunderstorm! I’ve never seen anything like it. The lightning lit up the entire sky. It was beautiful!

Starting around midnight though, people got sick. There are a ton of gross details that I won’t put you through but ultimately, 5 people went to the hospital and by Thursday night, 20 out of the 27 people in my group had either thrown up or gotten diarrhea (keep in mind the bathroom we had to use). Completely by the grace of God, I was one of the 7 who didn’t get sick. But that Tuesday night, people were up ALL night taking care of each other and going to the hospital. It was insane.

Wednesday, we drove from the Zulu place to the safari which took forever because we had to pull over literally every 10 minutes for someone to throw up. But we finally got there late Wednesday night and then woke up Thursday morning and spent the whole day on safari!! We saw so many cool things: TONS of giraffes (which might be my new favorite animal), impala, three white rhinos, hippos (they growled at us from the water!), warthogs, wilder beast, and tons of different birds. We were referencing the Lion King the whole time :). That night, we all BBQ’d around a campfire and had dinner together. So fun. Then Friday morning, we woke up at 4:30am to do one last safari, during which we saw a lot of cool things but the coolest were a pack of buffalo, two HUGE white rhinos that walked right in front of our car, and then three beautiful cheetah’s about 20 feet away. It was incredible!!! It was so cool and I’m glad I got to see 3 of 5 of the Big Five.

We spent the rest of Friday driving back to AE and now, it is our last day here. I can’t believe it! It still hasn’t hit me yet. I’m just packing up my room all day, doing a quick mall run, and then doing the Farewell Dinner tonight. So, so crazy. I can’t believe this phase of the journey is already over and we have less than a month left here. I’m leaving Sunday early morning for Cape Town (again, I’ll have no internet) and arrive there on Thursday. I have no idea what the Internet will be like there, but I’ll still blog as much as I can and post pictures if at all possible! Sorry for the lack of detail but I’ll be home in about 3 weeks so I can tell you in person! :)

With love from South Africa,

Alex

Easter, Treasures, Ethembeni, and Sharks

Sawubona! And Happy Easter!!! I am celebrating my first major holiday (Valentines Day doesn’t really count…) in South Africa and to be honest, it’s been different. The church we went to this morning didn’t even mention the cross or Jesus or that it was Easter…it was strange. But I was able to have my own time of reading the Word and praying, so that was really good!

Something God has been really opening my eyes to lately is just how focused I am on earthly things. Instead of storing my treasures in heaven, I do that here on earth and my eternal perspective is skewed. A friend showed me a verse regarding this and service sites: “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” –James 2:5. It is so true. Something I’ve thought a lot about with the people at Ethembeni is that, yes they are living impoverished lives which is heart-breaking, but they understand God’s Kingdom so much more than I do. They desire it more and are focused on the right things. So that was something I really got to pray about this morning, which was good. However, the service made me miss Easter at home…going to an Easter service, eating Easter lunch, doing egg hunts with the family…I was sad I missed it.

I am realizing lately how little time we have left here. We leave for America in a month and a day. Only one more month. And truthfully, I really don’t like that. I miss everyone at home and I miss certain foods. I miss being able to drive my car and walking along Surfer’s Point. There are things I miss, but the love I have acquired for South Africa is supernatural. I wish I could go home for two weeks and see everyone, and then come back here. And I think about all the adventures we are about to go on…we leave tomorrow for 5 days of safari and staying with an actual Zulu tribe. Then we come back to African Enterprise for one day to pack everything up and have a farewell dinner, and we leave Sunday morning for our road trip on the Garden Route to Cape Town. We spend about 2 weeks in Cape Town, and then come home. And all of that sounds INCREDIBLE. I am so excited, but my heart is still completely at Ethembeni. And I don’t know how to balance those things. I can’t wait for all these one-in-a-lifetime experiences I’m going to have and I am so thankful that we get to do it all, but I think I would be more excited about it if I knew I was coming back here. If I knew that immediately after, we could come back to Pietermaritzburg and live at AE and I could spend all of my days at Ethembeni. The hardest part is knowing that realistically, I will never be back here. I mean, if God wants me to then of course it will happen. But coming back here just for fun or just because I want to…I really don’t know that it would be realistic. And thinking I may never come back to this place that has impacted me so much…it’s very strange.

Life has been good lately though. I had two finals yesterday, for Intercultural Communication and isiZulu, so now I only have my History class! Woo!! And last night, we all went to a rugby game in Durban, the Sharks against the Reds. And the Sharks won! Yay! (If you want to see pictures, they’re on facebook!) On the way home, the bus I was on had a HUGE dance party, strobe light and all. It was hilarious and so wonderful. I have found myself praising God so often for blessing me with the other 52 people on this trip. They are incredible.

I think that’s all I have to say for now! Just a heads up: because of all the things we are doing, our Internet will be pretty limited for the rest of my time here. We won’t have anything for the next two weeks, except the one day we’re back at AE but that will mainly be spent packing up my entire room. And then in Cape Town, it’s a very small amount that we have. So if you email me and I don’t respond, know that I do really love you!! :)

With love from South Africa,

Alex

Jumbled Thoughts

I was talking to a friend today about service sites and how overwhelming the whole process is. We spent at least 7 hours a day, 4 days a week at these places with these people. We built relationships, invested in them, and were changed by them. And now it’s just over. I may never go back to Ethembeni or see those people again, especially some of the kids. It’s weird. The past two days, I have woken up in the morning with the mindset that I was going to the Family Center, and then had to remind myself that I wasn’t. It feels like something is missing in my day.

The past month has been crazy. Everything was so compacted: service sites all day, an hour to shower and do homework, Zulu class, bed, and then wake up and do it all again. There was never any time to process any of it. I think that is partly why I had so many tears on our last day. It was an overflow of everything I have been feeling during those four weeks. My heart was, and still is, overwhelmed by it all. Yesterday and today have just felt off. Like I said before, it felt like something was missing. And I know what it is. It’s the beautiful sound of children laughing and speaking better Zulu than I ever could; it’s having incredible conversations with the staff and hearing their hearts; it’s spending time with the teenagers and trying to comprehend their strength after they’ve endured so much; it’s seeing Jesus in the face of every single person I’ve met since we started on March 11^th. I miss that. I miss all of it.

I can’t even begin to guess how long it will take to process it all. Because I wasn’t able to process it as we went, I feel like it will take a long time. But truthfully, I’m excited. I can’t wait to learn more about the ways they impacted me, the ways they changed me, and the ways God was at work. I know my journey with Ethembeni is still very much in process, and it will be for a while. But there have been so many times just in the past two days that I’ve found myself praising God for loving me enough to allow me to experience everything that I did.

That has actually been a theme for me on this entire trip. My experience here has been one-of-a-kind. Living at African Enterprise, getting to know 53 people that have helped shape me, spending the most incredible month of my life at Ethembeni, the quiet times I’ve been able to have with the Lord that have radically changed me, weekend trips filled with joy and fun, having my perspective changed, growing so much spiritually and emotionally….God is so good. I feel like I can’t spend enough time praising Him for all that He has blessed me with since January. I am an incredibly lucky girl, and want to live my life in a way that shows my gratitude to Him.

I know these thoughts are all over the place, but I want to sum this all up with a quote from Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest” that I read awhile back. It’s something that has really challenged me since being here, especially today on Good Friday, and I thought I’d share it with you all:

“If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God, completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself to us—totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.”

I will never forget

I cannot believe it’s April. We officially come home next month. Time is going by faster than I would have ever imagined and more than I want. I feel like it was just Valentine’s Day, and now its April. I don’t know where the time has gone.

But God blessed me so much by ending March with one of the best days of my life. March 31^st was our last day at Ethembeni. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to present that day to you, because it was absolutely incredible, so I guess I’ll just go for it. What we had planned to do on the last day was provide a lunch of pizza, chips, soda, and cookies for the people at the Family Center (which I’ll tell you more about later). Three of us in our group spent some time at the mall that morning, to print out some pictures for the staff and to pick up the pizza. For me, it was such a rejuvenating and fun time with Cynthia and Jamie, getting to know them better and realizing how much we have much in common. They are such wonderful, amazing girls and I feel blessed that I have gotten to experience all of this with them.

We got to the Family Center around noon, and set up lunch for everyone. We thought this would be such a valuable thing because 1) the kids rarely have fun days like that. They were all so excited about the pizza, taking seconds and thirds, and just had the biggest smiles on their faces while they waited in line. And 2) the women on staff spend probably about two hours every day making food for 50+ kids, so by us providing lunch, they would get a break from having to cook. So we gave them their food and all the kids sat outside with each other, and we ate with the staff inside. During this time, we presented a gift to the staff. We framed two pictures: one was a group photo of us with all the staff, and the second was a silhouette of an acacia tree with Philippians 4:13 in front of it. We wanted to do the picture of the tree as a reminder of the Tree exercise we did with them the second week, and we put the verse to remind them that even when things are difficult and seem impossible, nothing is impossible for God. As we began to explain this to them, I lost it. I haven’t really cried about anything I’ve seen yet…I’ve felt sort of numb to it all…and it was as though it all hit me in that moment. Jamie was explaining why we chose the verse, and I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I was crying for these people, these kids, this situation…everything. After we explained it, all of the people on staff went around and thanked us. Every single one. Even the older women who normally don’t say anything during our group conversations, they had Zwe translate for them so that they could say what they wanted to. Each word just touched my heart so much. The things that they were thankful for blew my mind. Almost all of them talked about how much of a gift the lunch was today, how they weren’t expecting it at all. They thanked us for holding the kids, because they can’t hold all of them. Multiple people thanked us for being nice to them. Everything they said humbled me more and more.

After they all finished, we all wanted to thank them and I was the first to speak. Looking back, I wish I could have said more. I have so much respect and love for these people but I was so overcome by my emotions, I felt like I could barely get anything out. I was so humbled by these people. They have the most willing and servant hearts, they go to the Family Center every single day…their selfless attitudes overwhelmed me. We all went around and said our thank you’s to them, and by the end of it, every single person in the room was crying. APU students, MFC staff, boys, girls, everyone. The amount of love in that room is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. We asked if we could pray for them, and when we finished, they continued to humble me by asking if they could pray for us. One of the most beautiful parts of that prayer is that some of them were praying in English, and some were praying in Zulu. What an incredible picture of God’s kingdom.

When we finished praying (which brought on a whole new flood of tears), Claire and Zwe said they had given us all Zulu names. This has become one of my favorite things here. I have received three Zulu names now, and this one was Nokuthula, which means “giver of peace.” They went around for all of us and when Zwe got to the last guy, Rob, it took him about two minutes to pull himself together. He was crying so hard and when he finally could talk, he said, “I’m just so thankful you guys came here.” I don’t think I realized how much of an impact we had until that moment. They have thanked us throughout our whole time there, but seeing everyone in tears, all standing with our arms around each other, tears resulting from a sadness about leaving these people who were strangers just a month ago…having Zwe be so overwhelmed by his emotion that he could barely talk…I don’t know. Again, it was just overwhelming. We decided to end our time singing two Zulu songs, which was perfect. I pray that I get to do that again with them in heaven.

We then called all the kids in to the room, and showed them the Lifehouse “Everything” skit (which, if you haven’t seen it before, stop reading this and watch it because it’s so powerful). I started crying again when watching this. I probably cried for 2 hours straight yesterday…my eyes still hurt. When it finished, we put on the Lion King for the little kids and asked the older kids to come into the back room if they had questions. Again, we had about 15 kids come but instead of continuing our conversation about sexual purity, they had so many questions about the video. They asked a lot about sin, some things I had never even thought of. One question was if Satan was truly sorry for what he’s done and asked God for forgiveness, would God forgive him? It was a really great time of trying to give them a picture of God’s love. One of my favorite moments of that day was when a girl, regarding the video, asked how God could forgive us so many times when we keep sinning against Him. I loved getting to explain to her His immense love for all His children and see the look of surprise on her face. So cool. We ended that time with prayer and again, it made me hope that happens in heaven.

We spent some time with the kids, and then the staff called us into the other room. They presented each of us with a beaded pin of their logo (you can see it all some of the pictures), which was welcoming us into their family, and a letter they all signed for each of us individually. I was so thankful for these things because, although I will never forget any of these people, it’s wonderful to have a tangible reminder of the impact they’ve had on me. We spent the last hour and a half taking pictures, giving & receiving hugs, and saying goodbye.

There really are no words to explain how I felt yesterday. It was joy, sadness, humility, gratitude, love…I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the emotions I felt. I think it will take months and months to fully process everything that has happened in that place in this short amount of time. But all I can really say is that I am changed. These people, children and staff alike, have touched my heart and I will never forget them.