Last week, on Wednesday and Thursday, all 10 people in my Zulu class and one of our community life leaders headed to Durban for a little get away. Everyone else had finals but because our class keeps going this month, we had the week off. It was so fun! We were able to spend time in Durban, walking on the beach and through street markets. We then drove to our hotel (the parents of one of the guys in our class paid for it…so generous!) which was about 20 minutes outside of Durban. It was absolutely beautiful. I have to be honest: the whole time, I felt a little weird about staying in the hotel. It was gorgeous, nicer than anything I’ve ever stayed in, and it was hard experiencing such luxuries when I have already seen so much poverty. But even still, it was such good bonding time with the group! We ate INCREDIBLE Italian food, my first taste of it since leaving home, and then all 11 of us stayed in a room equipped for 4. People were on the floor, sleeping in the entryway, 5-6 people in the bed…it was hilarious. We spent all of Thursday laying out by the pool (which was right on the beach) and just enjoying each other’s company. It was so fun and made me love my Zulu class even more.
We came back Thursday night from Durban and early Friday morning, our whole group left for the Battlefields Tour, which is essentially visiting four of the battlefield sites that occurred when the Africans were trying to gain their independence from Britain. Now, I love history and think it’s so interesting, but this tour was hard for me to enjoy. I mean, parts of it were interesting but overall, I was too tired and hot to really engage in the experience. We all got to stay at a hotel Friday night though and the highlight of this weekend trip for me happened that night. About 30 of us sat down with Reg (the man who is basically in charge of this whole program) and for nearly 3 hours, just sat there asking him questions about South Africa, Christianity, life, etc. All I can say is it gave me SO much to think about and really challenged where I’m at with my faith, and if I really believe some of the things I say. It was such a God-ordained night.
Sunday, we had “Sunday Funday”. It was appropriately named….it was so fun! :) We did a slip-n-slide on the big lawn outside and then broke up into our chalets and did this huge relay race. It was just so fun to be with everyone, being silly and enjoying the beautiful day God blessed us with. Seriously, I fall more in love with the people here everyday.
That’s a brief summary of what’s been going on! God has been revealing so many things in my heart, and allowing me to experience so much growth, which is amazing. Hopefully I’ll find some time to write about that soon! In the meantime, I’ll be in class and experiencing service sites for the first time on Thursday! If you happen to remember, please keep me in your prayers on Thursday and Friday. I have absolutely no idea what to expect so if you could pray for an open heart, that I would be flexible to whatever happens, that my group would be unified in Christ, and that I would be able to humbly serve in whatever capacity needed…I would appreciate that so much!
With love from busy South Africa,
Alex
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