I apologize for skipping a week of blogging. This is going to be one of those simple update blogs, so don't expect anything too deep today. Last week seven people from our Swaziland team came to visit because they had their Spring Break. It was so good to see our teammates! They had a lot of encouraging things to say to our team. It was just what we needed. I took two days off and went to Jeffrey's Bay (where we lived last semester) with them. It was so nice to be able to relax and catch up with everyone. We spent some time with team in J-Bay as well. It was like a mini reunion.

We only have about seven weeks left in this country and three of them are occupied with our spring break, an outreach in Lesotho, and debrief, which means we have around 15 DAYS of ministry left! That makes me so sad. I finally feel like we are at a good point with the girls at E.P.  They are starting to open up to us and now we have to leave. It is going to be rough, but we just have to trust God and his master plan and know that He will be with them when we leave.

I will leave you with a funny story from this week. Every Monday is our "family night", where our whole team does a fun activity together. We've gone bowling, played cops and robbers, attended a rugby game, played family feud, gone to the aquarium, etc... We are also never told what we are doing until we are about to do it. This past Monday we were told to dress up in something that your grandma or grandpa would wear. We were all thinking, "What on earth are they going to make us do?" After dinner we all changed into our outfits, which were HILARIOUS, and went into the living room to find that it had been transformed into a bingo hall. We had such a great time playing bingo, winning prizes such as a bar of soap, yo-yo, pick up sticks,  a washcloth, and toothbrush. I have posted a picture of us as old people if you want to go peek at it.

That's all I have this week. Thanks for all of the comments and encouragement and prayers throughout the weeks! It really makes a huge difference!

We have reached the halfway mark of this semester! It is a bittersweet time. You want to be excited because it is almost time to go home but you also want to be sad because you have such little time left in ministry / in South Africa. I'll be back in the great state of Texas in a mere 65 days! I feel like our team has become a bit lethargic as a whole. We are slacking with our chores, ministry, loving on each other, just a passion for things in general. This reminds me of my own walk with the Lord. Some days I am pumped about Him, and totally living on purpose, and other days, I couldn't care less and simply go through the motions.

A few weeks ago we did an activity where we wrote down how we were spending our time each day, for three days. One of our leaders gave us statistics about how many hours on average the American spends watching TV, eating, working, sleeping, etc... versus reading their Bible. It was shocking. It was also very convicting. Just looking at three days of my life shook me.  I waste so much time doing nothing. It was crazy. As we looked at the lists of our days we were told to ask these questions, "What if this was your last day on earth? Was is spent making a difference for the kingdom or was it just another day that you lived for yourself?" I must say, my days didn't look like much of anything once you put it in that perspective.

I have to constantly remind myself that this is a battle. Yes, in terms of spiritual warfare and winning hearts and souls for Christ, but to put it simply, we are in a daily battle against this world.  If we just go through the motions, and aren't focused on the prize every day, we are going to lose this battle. I have to remember to fight even when I don't "feel" like loving God, or loving people. I (we) must persevere. It is in those moments of complacency and weakness that I have to force myself to get in the Word and/or seek His face. I am not even close to having this figured out but I'm working on it. I feel like that is what is happening amongst our team right now, on a less dramatic scale of course. Some of us are "fighting" for this team and for each other, and some of us have given up and are just going through the motions. 

Yesterday, a friend  was talking about crossword puzzles and how gratifying they are when you complete one. She also mentioned that when it gets difficult and she gets stuck on a word, she has to persevere through it by trying a different clue (or path). If she just stopped when they were challenging, she would never finish one and never experience that sensation of triumph. Silly analogy, but our walk with Christ is the same. We canNOT give up when we are challenged, or tired or don't feel like trying anymore.

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12 

Your silly prize today for persevering through this blog is to go look at the new pictures I posted. Enjoy.

Well, we stayed the night in the Walmer township this past Saturday. It was a very interesting experience. My host home was one of the nicest homes I've ever been in, in a township. It was 3 bedrooms and had a full bathtub and toilet and even satellite tv, yes, satellite tv. We did get to experience authentic food. We had "African Salad" for dinner, which consists of a maize/cornmeal-ish substance mixed with sour milk. It was potent, for lack of a better word.  I was paired up with one of our leaders Chelsea and we had the opportunity of sharing a twin bed together, but that's not a big deal. Some of my other teammates had crazy stories, a couple people stayed in shacks with no electricity and a bucket for a toilet. One guy, Kevin, shared a twin size mattress with the father of his house. It was a really special time though. They were so excited to have us stay with them. They walked a lot of my teammates around and "showed them off" to their neighbors.

This week has been good. Our ministry at E.P. Children's Home is getting better and better each week. The girls are more comfortable talking with us each day. I don't think we anticipated growing close to the cottage mother, Tozama, but we have. She is a generous woman with a huge heart! She invited Leah and I to stay for dinner one night with the girls and taught us how to make vet koek (pronounced "fet cook" meaning "fat cake") . It is basically fried dough – absolutely delicious. I will make it for you when I get home. It was a good time. Last time, I told you that we were going to see some of the girls in "Little Red Riding Hood", but we weren't able to.

Last night, Sara, Leah, and I were invited to go to "Supper Club" with, Heloise, the occupational therapist from Algoa Frail Care Center. We have gotten to know her well since we have been going there since October. She gets together with a group of her friends every other week to hang out, and have a good home cooked meal. She wanted us to come so we could have a "truly South African experience," of course we willingly obliged. They made Pooikie Kos which is similar to a vegetable and beef stew, except it is cooked in a huge black cauldron looking pot over hot coals for hours. Part of the "South African experience" is that the focus is on the socializing and not on the food. We didn't eat until 11:15 pm, because it had to simmer that long and they were just hanging out. It was totally worth the wait though. It was really delicious.

The taxi strike ended last Friday. Everyone was able to return to work and school, and us to our ministries. It was a complete answer to prayer. Thanks for those by the way.  There is nothing much to report from the week. We went bowling for our family night on Monday. One of the adult Small Groups from our church came over and made our whole team dinner on Tuesday. That was a very nice night. We had a big circle of 24 people in our living room, from different countries, sharing life together. I loved it.

I'm excited about what God is doing at E.P. Children's Home. We (Leah, and I) have really connected with our girls in Cottage One this week. Some of them are going to be in "Little Red Riding Hood" next week at school, we want to go watch it. I'll let you know, if we do.

Tomorrow night, Saturday, we are all spending the night in the Walmer township. We will be staying in pairs in different families houses. It will be an adventure I'm sure. I will have to write more about that later too.

That's all of I've got for this week. Hope you are well.

Look! It's only been a week since my last post, and what a week it has been. Monday we went as a team to a restaurant that has internet, to do some research to go along with what we were discussing in "Crazy Love." While we were there, we discovered that all of the taxis and busses in the city were on strike, indefinitely! That is a very common thing for people to do in South Africa; if the workers aren't getting what they want they go on strike. It is usually aimed at the government. The fishermen in Jeffrey's Bay (where we were last semester) have been on strike since last May and are still going strong!

A taxi / bus strike is a HUGE deal in Port Elizabeth. It is the main mode of transportation for thousands of people. It helps them get to and from work, to the store to buy food, get children to school.... Everything. It is also our main mode of transportation when we go to ministry. The workers usually become hostile when these things happen, so it is not safe to go into the townships. We heard reports of bombings, lighting cars on fire, and stoning cars/people who were providing rides for other people. We have multiple teams that go into two different townships on a daily basis, but were not able to this week for safety reasons. All of my ministries carried on as usual because we walk to E.P. Children's Home since it is in our neighborhood, and our leaders always drive us to Algoa Frail Care Center, since it is a bit out of town.

We were able to do our weekly Tuesday morning visit. While there, we were asking the nurses their stories, and if the taxi situation was affecting them. They all answered with a resounding, "yes." Some of them got a group together, to share the cost of hiring a private car. Some of them had been on the clock for close to 24 hrs, because the next shift of nurses couldn't make it to work. Some had to sleep there on mattresses on the floor because they had no way to get home. One woman WALKED over three hours just to get to work! As we went from ward to ward, each story became more surprising than the one before it. This is an example of one business place in P.E. Just think of the thousands of stories there are across the city.

The point of me saying all of that is to try to provide you with a glimpse of how God moved amongst our team during this situation. We had no choice but to come together and really intercede on behalf of the city of Port Elizabeth, and the people in it. We also had to seek out God's will for our team during this time, since most people couldn't go to their regularly "scheduled" ministry. We prayed together and worshipped together more this week than we ever have and it was so special. God has really formed a unique group of people here.  I think it is safe to say that we truly are a family now.

As of now, Friday morning the busses and a few taxis were running for the first time this week, but there are rumors that come Monday they are going back on strike again. Please, be in prayer for this situation.

Hello hello hello! We are currently reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It is SO good, such an easy read. I encourage EVERYONE to read it. Your life will be changed just after the first three chapters. This book, combined with other things going on, has got me doing a heart check. The convicting issue of the week is, if I have really been living as a disciple of Jesus should be living.  We as "Christians" are called to such a higher standard of living. How often do we water down the Bible to make it fit our lifestyle? The verse that was just a small reality check, is in Matthew 10 where Jesus says: "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."

That is scary. Just stop and think about that verse for a second. I feel like with all of our little watered down actions, we daily disown Jesus. How many moments have gone by where you had the chance to speak truth about God, and you didn't because you didn't want to "make someone uncomfortable" or you didn't have the time? Jesus always made people uncomfortable. Who cares what other people think, whether they be your best friend, or a perfect stranger? I want Jesus to acknowledge me and know my name. I don't want to make excuses or rationalize my actions anymore! It's not about doing or saying "the right things" such as going to church, tithing, volunteering, etc... It is a matter of the heart. It is time to stop acting, and start living like a disciple of Christ! 

And sure it is easy to say,  "Ok I'll start this tomorrow" but what if tomorrow never comes? I mean, I don't want to be morbid but it's a reality..."Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." –James 4:14 Now, in this very moment, is the time to start living for God and stop living for yourself.  "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." – Luke 14:33 Jesus asks for everything from us, but we constantly try to give him less.

This is just a paraphrased glimpse of the book and what God has been stirring in my heart. I pray that this stirs in yours as well.

We have been here for a little over two weeks now, and it feels like so much longer because we have already done so much. We went as a team and visited each of our new ministry partners so we could pray and decide where to get plugged in. There is so much need in this city. The ministry opportunities are endless. We narrowed it down to about 10 options. The three that I landed on are to continue going to Algoa Frail Care Center two days a week. I will be working at Eastern Province Children's Home, which is an orphanage with about 105 children. I am really excited. We will do things like teach them how to swim and play soccer, assist with homework, take them on small field trips, sort clothes in their secondhand clothing store, and really just love on them. We will mainly be focused on one cottage of older girls, instead of being spread thin over the 105. I will also be going to a community center in the Kwazekhale township and leading Sunday school with some kids there each Sunday. Luckily, our church has a great evening service so I won't have to miss out.

That's a bit about what's been going on. Now onto something that I have been processing this past week, each Saturday afternoon we have "intentional ministry." That is where we have time to go do extra ministry somewhere that isn't on our weekly schedule.  Last Saturday one of my teammates, Sarah, and I decided to walk around to our neighbors' houses and offer to do yard work, laundry washing, car washing, or something of the like.  At two different houses we were invited in and offered tea. We stayed at the first house visiting with Tish for about an hour and then at the second house we stayed and visited for over two and a half hours! When we left we felt like we were the ones being ministered too. It was so kind of these people to drop what they were doing to just sit and be with us. Sarah and I were talking about what type of responses we would have received if we would have done that same activity in America. Both families were such great examples of the way Jesus would treat people. They were so generous with their time and space, and they offered their homes to us if we ever need anything.  In 1 Peter it says, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." I feel like they did exactly that. It was incredible. I want to be like that when I return to the States, and not full of my old excuses like "The house is dirty," or "Oh, I was just leaving" or "Come back tomorrow".  I want to be willing to drop what I'm doing and invite people in whenever they knock. I challenge you to start doing the same.