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