The Garden Route- Not just a walk in the park

Well I have just had possibly one of the most insane weeks of my whole life. I can just hear my dad saying: “You have done more in your life at 19 years old, than most people do in their entire lives”, and I definitely feel very blessed to agree with him. If you are like me, when I first heard we were going on the “Garden Route” for a week, I literally thought we would be strolling through botanical gardens for a week, stopping here and there to do random activities maybe, but mostly just looking at scenery. Well I was very wrong. The Garden Route is an actual set route along the coast of South Africa with different hostels to stay in along the way and different suggested activities to do along the way as well as things to visit and places to stay (Google it if you have a second). My journey on the Garden Route started at a very early 4:30 a.m., but let me tell you, it was worth it!

Monday: 4:30 a.m. wake up call so we could make it shark cage diving on time. I was with a group of 24 students and 1 leader and we crawled into the funniest looking bus I have ever seen. “Bus” is a generous word. For those of you who have seen “Indian Jones and the Last Crusade”, think about the transport van they carried the ark in… That is what we were riding in. We went to this place called Shark Alley right by Geyser Rock, one of the 2 infamous “seal islands” where Discovery Channel spends a lot of time filming for Shark Week. We put wet suits on and hopped in the cage hanging off the boat, but before I go into any more detail, let me just say that before they even put the cage in the water, an 11 foot shark started circling our boat. That might not sound big, but they were huge!! The pictures don’t even do it justice, but I’m hoping some turned out well. I was in the cage with 4 other girls and we were loving every minute of it, but the sharks were realll close. There were 3 sharks, a 10 footer, an 11 footer, and a 12 footer and the closest they got to our cage was a few inches. They were baited by tuna heads right in front of our cage, so we got to see these huge sharks up close and personal. I felt like I was in an aquarium, until they started getting closer! Right after our group got out of the cage, the next group to go in actually had a shark run into their cage and shake it, as well as the whole rest of the boat. We were screaming, but again loving every minute because when else is something like that going to happen in your life? After that, we got back in our bus/ van/ army transport vehicle and drove for about 5 hours to our first hostel located right on the beach. It was a beautiful place, apparently “too nice to be considered a hostel”. The food was incredible, and we, all 25 Americans, sat around the camp fire and made s’mores. We taught some of the other travelers staying their how to make them and they were a big hit of course.

Tuesday: We had another early wakeup call and headed to an ostrich farm where I actually got to ride an ostrich! If anyone has ever seen the movie “Swiss Family Robinson”, think about Ernst trying again and again to hop on that ostrich. They move soo fast and it’s a very weird feeling sitting on a big ball of feathers. I had to put my legs under their wings and then hang onto the top of their wings for dear life. They are not nice animals, and I have decided here that I really don’t like them. They are everywhere and so ugly! After the ostrich farm, we drove to the Cango Caves and explored these caves full of all kinds of secret passageways and trails. Someone asked me before we walked in if I had done this before because it “seemed like my thing”. I laughed and said I had explored caves and thought back to “Fat Man Squeeze” in New Zealand and it made me thankful my parents had pushed us to explore places like that. There were some VERY tight spaces in the caves, and some people who were very claustrophobic really struggled. The worst part was this place called “Devil’s Chimney”, which was a vertical climb through a teeny little hole. The only way to get through it was reaching up with your hands staying totally vertical and grabbing any hand hold you could to pull yourself up vertically because there was no place for your knees to bend. Tight to say the least, but very cool and I loved it. We drove back to the beach hostel and enjoyed another night by the fire enjoying the stars and being together.

Wednesday: Another early morning, getting up at 7:00 a.m. to be on time to our appointment at the elephant sanctuary!! Definitely one of my favorite activities since I have been here and one I was looking forward to the most. Elephants are one of my favorite animals, and I actually got to walk one around, play with it, and then ride it. The boys will tell you how uncomfortable they were the whole time while riding them, but the girls all had a blast and pretty much every girl walked away ooing and ahhing over the elephants and talking about how much they wanted one. This of course led to one of the guys making the logical conclusion that instead of getting a puppy so girls would approach them, they were going to invest in an elephant. Totally logical… We left the elephant sanctuary and went to the cat sanctuary where we learned about all the different kinds of cats in South Africa and we got to see them up close and personal. We walked into the cheetah cage and got to sit right next to one of them. We also got to go in some more cages, but petting was “strictly forbidden and highly unadvised”. We left the cat sanctuary and went to Monkeyland where we ate lunch with the monkeys. They were everywhere and so silly, but they were aggressive when it came to getting food. One jumped on my leg trying to get my ice cream bar! From there we drove to our 2^nd hostel and played soccer against the local children. We pulled up to the school and they all had their uniforms on and every other Global LEAD group had been beat by this team of 11 and 12 year old boys, but we had too many competitive people on my team to allow that to happen and we really fought had. We had 2 super stars on our team, a girl who played in high school and scored 3 of our 4 goals, and then a boy who loves soccer and hockey the most out of anything in this world and he was able to coach the rest of us. I’m happy to say that Tophat Soccer prepared me a little bit for playing against these kids and we had an absolute blast. We ended up beating them 4-3, but it was a hard fought game. Afterwards we danced with the kids and played with all of them, and let me just tell you, they love to love on you. The girls played with our hair, danced, sang Justin Bieber, etc. The boys ran around rough housing and playing even more soccer. It was total chaos but it was truly beautiful. I had the most content and peaceful feeling as I was sitting there looking over the field with a beautiful little girl named Aceely on my shoulders. We were watching all the others kids playing together, the sun was setting, the weather was warm, and I had the most incredible feeling come over me and I just knew that that was exactly where I was supposed to be. I wish I could go back and be there right now. Another day well spent.

Thursday: BIG DAY. Today was bungee jumping day, but we did several other activities first. We woke up early again to drive to the place where our wild game drive (aka safari) was going to take place. The game reserve was over 200 acres, and all of the non-predators literally roam free. The lions were kept in a separate part of the park, but we drove everywhere in a safari vehicle that looked like an oversized uncovered Jeep, (keep in mind, it is winter here…), and saw everything from zebras, to springboks, to giraffes! I also got to see the rest of the “Big 5”. The Big 5 are the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt on foot and they include elephants, water buffalo, lions, hippos, and rhinos. I had obviously already seen elephants, but we got to see all the others on the safari and I loved it! We then went to the Tsitsikamma National Park to do a quick hour long hike before we ate lunch and then we headed to bungee jump. For those of you who haven’t already seen my profile picture, it was INSANE! We went to Bloukron’s Bridge which is the highest bungee bridge in the world at over 750 feet tall! Again, if you have a second either Google it or YouTube it. I was pretty terrified, but always knew I would do it. Our whole group jumped, another Global LEAD first on this trip, and they pick who goes totally randomly. I was the 4^th to last which wasn’t my favorite thing ever, but while everyone else jumped, we had a dance party on the bridge. Cleary they know what they are doing and I had a blast pumping everyone else up and cheering for them as they jumped. When my number was called, all of a sudden my demeanor totally changed. For those of you who might be so unfortunate to endure my video when I get back, you will hear the party music pumpin’ but see me taking deep breaths and doing some stretches. They hooked me up and strapped me in all in about 2 minutes, then they carried me to the edge of the bridge, counted down “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, bungee” and off I fell. For a split second I thought “what the heck am I about to do? Why am I doing it?!” but by the time I processed that, I was already at the bottom of the bungee bouncing back up and screaming the whole way! It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life! I was absolutely terrified but I loved every second of it! Nothing hurt, nothing was uncomfortable, I was just hanging upside down and it was so quiet and peaceful, it was unreal. I just looked around me and saw the ocean and thought about 1-how thankful I was to be alive, and 2- how not very many people ever get to experience what I just did and how I needed to be soaking it all up. Explaining it on here doesn’t even do it justice, but I will say that I would do it again in heartbeat and I even said I was happy it wasn’t shorter because it goes by SO fast! After bungeeing we went back to our hostel and had a huge party. We danced all night and the bartender gave out free shots to anyone who wanted them, so some people had a rough bus ride the next day, but all in all it was an incredible day.

Friday: We drove back to Cape Town, all 8 hours. We stopped here and there to walk around and take pictures from gorgeous look outs, but it was nice to have a more relaxed day and be able to enjoy the gorgeous scenery of South Africa, because let me tell you, it is that. One of my favorite things happened on this day though, and it’s so incredibly cool to see how God works. I was sitting next to a girl that from before the trip even began I wanted to get to know better. We sat next to each other on the bus and played the “Share your life story in 4 minutes” game. Of course neither of us could only share in 4 minutes, so we spent a long time talking about our lives and she has had an amazing life and one that I would love to replicate one day, but she also had a lot of questions about my faith and why I believe in the Lord. I got the opportunity to tell her why I believe in Christ and what that means in my life and what that looks like for me. I was blessed by the conversation and I hope that she was too. I’m looking forward to seeing how God continues to work in my life as well as others around me. 

It was an incredible week and I truly hope that one day y’all get to experience one of the things I did- whether its peace about where you are in life, a sense of accomplishment for doing something that terrified you, or even being blessed by what could have been an awkward conversation but turned into something wonderful. God is moving over here in Africa and in my life, and I’m excited I get to share that with y’all. Thank you for all of the continuous prayers and please know I am praying for each one of you.

All the Single Ladies (and men)

This morning I went to Hillsong church again and was so blessed and encouraged by the sermon, I just had to share it. There was a guest speaker today named Mark Gundor who is doing a series this week called “Laughing your way through marriage”. He presents biblical truth about marriage in a comedic way, and from what we saw today, it’s going to be hilarious. His sermon today though was for all the single people, so I was all ears.

He opened with “It’s great to be single” and he read Romans 12:2 which says, “Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what the will of God is for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” I don’t want to recount the whole sermon, but I just want to recap some of his great points, and I hope that wherever you are in the marriage process, whether single, dating, or even married, this can be encouraging to you.

1- The dating process is about discovering character.

-You want someone you can do life with so you need to look at how they act, but also how they react, (to things like stress, pressure, etc.); “You date the act, but you marry the react”.

-Look at everything when you are dating them- their family, their relationship with the Lord, if they give money joyfully, etc. 

2- When it comes to marriage, the Bible says “find”.

-It’s all about finding and being found, not divine intervention. There isn’t a place in the Bible where God told someone to specifically marry another person. The angel told Joseph to marry Mary, but they were already engaged. Hosea was told to marry a prostitute, but not which one specifically. With Ruth and Boaz, Naomi made sure that Ruth was found. 

3- “Marriage was never designed to make you happy”.

-As Christians, we are born again so we should be happy anyway. Other people cannot make us happy, especially if they aren’t happy to begin with. Therefore, we should marry someone with faith and character. 

4- When dating, don’t trust your feelings, use your brain.

-If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it. An example he gave was that some days his wife might think she is so blessed to be married to him. Other days she might feel like she is married to the spawn of Satan, and he would rather not hear how she is feeling on those days. Another example he gave was if you don’t feel like going to work, you can’t just call your boss and say “Hey, I don’t really feel like coming to work today”.

-Listen to friends and family when dating someone always

5- Don’t get physical when dating.

-Sex will make you stupid in dating.

-Girls are always clear headed before having sex in a relationship and guys are always stupid. After introducing it into a relationship, the roles reverse and guys become clear headed and girls get stupid and beg for guys to stick around. His comment to us, “let guys stay stupid”.

To wrap it up, he pointed out that God wants to kill the selfish me because we need to die to ourselves, and “the best way to kill that selfish in me is through marriage”. This was said with a lot of humor, but there was some truth to it. We have to die to ourselves and learn to let go and let God lead.

It was such a great message, and so encouraging. I loved the way the speaker used the Bible to back up his points and drive home his message. It made his sermon that much more real to me, and I appreciated it. Being the super single girl that I am, I am content to not just wait around but “find”, all in God’s timing.

A Week in Review... "I've had the time of my life"

I know it looks long, but it’s interesting… I promise :)

Monday:

We went to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and so many others were kept imprisoned throughout the apartheid. It was incredible, but I have to admit, I was expecting a little Alcatraz type set-up, but for those of you who don’t know, it’s a pretty big island with 3 prisons total, a church, a mosque, a visitor’s center, and a town with a population of about 200 or so. We had a personal guided tour by a man named Tulani who actually was a prisoner at Robben Island. He told us all kinds of stories and really opened up and shared about his experiences while imprisoned there and it sounds pretty terrible. Some of the things he told us included how his dad was shot by prison guards the day he planned to visit his son, and various tortures he and other fellow prisoners had to undergo. He also shared happier stories about the camaraderie within the prison, and the relationships he built with Mandela and other men. The tour was amazing and extremely eye opening. I felt very blessed that Tulani let us into his life and into his past. I have so much respect for him and the many others like him.

Tuesday:

We had class in the morning and then… I went sky diving!! It was such a spur of the moment thing for me because I have always said I wanted to sky dive, but I think I thought it was one of those things I would get around to “one of these days”. Well, it is an activity we can choose to take part in here so I signed up because I figured what better place to do it, and let me tell you- it was incredible!! I was attached tandem to a professional named Jason, and the scariest part for me was riding up in the teeny little plane. It could only hold 6 passengers who were sitting scrunched up, and since Jason was the tallest, he sat at the front of the plane and therefore we went first! We literally fell head first out of the plane and free fell from 9,000 feet for anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute. It was the weirdest feeling ever and totally un-natural, but it was absolutely amazing! I can’t even describe how beautiful it was!! Thankfully it’s all on video, but I wish I could do it over and over to just soak everything in. You can bet that I will be trying to convince my family to do it with me again, or anyone else for that matter… any takers?? That night we went to a Mexican restaurant called Pancho’s where the portions are waay too big, and then we went to a pool bar and played pool for a while. Something different to do for sure, but lots of fun.

Wednesday:

Wine country day. We actually made wine for class… How cool is that?! We went to the village of Franschhoek and visited a vineyard named Haut Espoir. We tasted some of their favorite wines and then had to mix them all together to create our own. We actually got 4^th place and were in the “drinkable” category, so we were happy with that result. One group got “gasoline”, and another got “could only use to marinate food in”, so as long as we were drinkable, we were happy. I feel like I have learned so much about wine here, but don’t worry, not in an irresponsible way. For those of you who don’t know, the drinking age down here is 18, so doing it as part of our class is a normal thing. After that, we went into the village and had lunch and dessert. To say that we have eaten well on this trip is an understatement. I have probably gained at least 30 pounds, it is all just too good. 

Thursday:

We had class in the morning and then… I went rappelling off of Table Mountain!! I have rappelled before, but this was by far the most beautiful rappelling I have ever done in my whole life. There were 8 of us who did it and we rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and then rappelled 350 feet down. It was incredible! The only time I was ever scared was backing up over the cliff, but thankfully I have done it enough times to know not to look down when I’m starting out. As I eventually started to get my bearings, I tried some jumps and had a blast! About halfway down, there is another cliff and the part of the mountain I had been rappelling down just drops off, so truly I was just swinging and hanging the rest of the way down. Our adventure guide Gavin (*sigh) told our group that rappelling is the scariest thing to do, so if that’s the case, I feel like I can do anything!! (even bungee jumping…)

Friday:

Friday was a great day as well. It was the first day we really experienced the bad weather we have been hearing so much about, but it was still an incredible day. We went to Cape Point as a group and drove all around the tip of South Africa. It was extremely cloudy so sadly we couldn’t see much, but sporadically the clouds would clear and we would get glimpses of the ocean. Driving to Cape Point we saw some wild ostriches, wild penguins, and wild zebras!! I couldn’t believe it. There is a nice sit down restaurant at Cape Point and some people chose to eat there, while the rest of us saved money (and time) and enjoyed our pre-made sack lunches. Then we hiked to one of the lighthouses at the tip of Cape Point… and it started pouring, and when I say pouring I mean it in every sense of the word. I was also dressed extremely poorly in wallabies and jeans, and I felt every drop and gust of wind. The wind got so strong I was blown into the side of a house and the rain was coming down so hard, at one point it felt like hail. It might have been a bad choice, but the view was incredible and hey, when in Cape Town… For dinner a group of us went to the Waterfront, a famous fishing and boating community, and we had dinner at a place called Karibu and I got the Cape Salmon. It was fantastic! A friend of mine got the ostrich fillet and I must say that as I was trying it, I couldn’t help but think of that animal I saw on the tour. It was an incredible dinner though and perfect location.

Saturday:

As many of you might know, we make fun of my dad all the time for knowing people everywhere we go… Well now it’s my turn to be made fun of. I am all the way around the world, and ran into a college friend of mine who lives in Johannesburg but is visiting family in Cape Town. Yes, it was partially planned that we would see each other, but not that we would overlap time here, so I got to look impressive in front of all of my Global Lead friends for knowing a local. We met up at the Old Biscuit Mill, (I told y’all that even locals went), and then we left from there. He showed me and a few other friends around today and it has definitely been one of my favorite days yet. We went to one of his favorite shopping streets- Long Street, and then went into a local burger joint where I got a grilled chicken sandwich with baked brie and cranberry sauce on top… (I’ll just let that sink in). To add to that, they had sweet potato fries. Then we went to a popular hotel and got their famous milkshakes. I got a peanut butter and banana one and obviously it was no Cookout, (people living in the Carolina’s will understand this), but it might have actually been better… it was SO good. From there we went wine tasting. Casual, right? We laughed saying we felt so sophisticated at the fact that tasting wine was something to do with your friends here, because obviously it’s not something you can just do with your friends in the States. After that we went to famous Camps Bay and watched the sunset at a restaurant right on the water. It was a wonderful day and so fun to share it with such a good friend. Everyone had a blast and we were so sad to see him leave. I feel so blessed to have such great friends all over the world and it’s then when I am reminded of how powerful and sovereign God truly is. I know the Lord has me in the right place and I'm encouraged by that fact each and every day. I'm really looking forward to adventure week next week, but even more so to service week the week after. God is doing things down here and I'm pumped to be a part of it.

What to do your 1st weekened in Cape Town

Wow, what a weekend. As y’all already know, our days are jam packed full of some of the most incredible things. This past weekend, our first full weekend here, was no different. Friday we had class and then got the afternoon off, so I went with some friends to a place called the Green Market. It is a little open air market downtown where local vendors sell their art, jewelry, wood carvings, clothing, etc. It reminded me a lot of the little markets in France. I had to learn how to bargain with the vendors very quickly. Thankfully they usually already give you a discount for being a “cute pretty girl” but I learned you can talk them down pretty far from their original prices, especially if they think they will lose the sale. Then the group I was with walked to Long Street, a famous street where tons of bars and restaurants are in Cape Town, and we picked a local place to eat called Neighborhood and it was fantastic! 

Saturday, a group of us got up early, around 8:00 and went to this place called the Old Biscuit Mill. Let me just preface this by saying that this was one of the only places that was on every single “to-do” list from previous students on Global Lead AND it was frequented by all of the locals. Well… it was amazing! I would marry a local just to go back every Saturday morning (just kidding mom and dad), but it was actually incredible. Someone described it as a Whole Foods on steroids. It is a huge open air food market with the most amazing food you have ever had- and you could sample almost all of it! Here is a picture of just one booth... (most of them looked like mini-restaurants though):

I had a banana and nutella crepe for breakfast and then a Caprese sandwich for lunch, but plan on being more adventurous this Saturday when we go again. In between trying all of the food and eating, there are more shops to walk around and buy things from as well. I walked to the grocery store Saturday afternoon with some girls to get some food and enjoy the weather. Then we all headed to the Stormer’s rugby game and oh my goodness, it was incredible! None of us knew anything about rugby, but the atmosphere of the stadium was similar, (but not quite as intense), as a world cup soccer match, which I went to with my dad and sister in Panama a few years ago. They have their chants, their cheers, and they even do the wave, but man they love that game. The stadium was huge and pretty full of people. They sell doughnuts inside the stadium… it’s probably a good thing they don’t do that in America because one of the Wake guys bought 3!

Sunday morning I got to do one of my life dreams... go to Hillsong church! It was one of the most incredible churches I have ever been to. It was truly like the Passion Conference in Atlanta this past January, and it reminded me a little bit of Passion City Church in Atlanta, but it's in South Africa, come on. The energy was extremely high as it seemed like everyone wanted to be there singing and praising the Lord. The message was clear and true as the pastor preached out of Luke and talked about miracles and how God uses us in our brokenness. So true. Until He returns, I'm so happy there are places to worship Him all over the world. 

Sorry for the novel, but basically there are a ton of fun things to do around here, and I can't wait to update y'all at the end of the week about what I've been doing this week. God is so good, and His mercies are new every morning.

" Big wheels keep on turnin' "

Another update from Cape Town… It’s been an amazing trip so far, and it’s only day 5. I really can’t believe it. I was sharing with a friend from home the other day that I really don’t feel like I ever "stopped" when I got back from school, so I almost feel like I’m still in a school daze and my wheels are still turnin' at about 200 miles an hour. Down here we are moving just as fast and staying just as busy, but we are living in a gorgeous city right by one of the “ten wonders of the world”. We actually climbed it yesterday… Table Mountain. Let me tell y’all, it was insane! I have climbed mountains before, including Mt. Princeton in Colorado which is a “14er”, (above 14,000 feet), but I’ve never done anything like this. I’m not kidding when I say it’s like doing a stair master the whole way up, all 3,550 feet up…I climbed it in under an hour and half, so I beat my goal of 2 hours! As I said, it was a tough climb, but the view was totally worth it…

Last night some of us “Wakies” as we are fondly being referred to as, made dinner together. We made pasta and chicken and it actually turned out really well. Girls cooked, guys cleaned, and we kept saying we felt like such adults the whole time. “Growing up fast” I guess. Nothing like a Wake Wednesday in Cape Town, am I right?

Today was probably my favorite day of the trip so far. We went into one of the townships and visited the school we will be serving at in a few weeks. The kids planned a big recital for us and we watched them play guitar, sing, but most amazingly, dance!! It was unreal how well they could dance, and my cheeks were hurting at the end of it, I was smiling so much. My camera died in the middle of their show, that’s how much I wanted to soak it all in. Three boys around the age of 12 or 13 played the African drums, while a group of about 10 girls ranging from the ages of about 6 to 14 performed a dance for us. The boys eventually joined in and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. So much kicking, clapping, and shaking hips, and I wanted to just hop right in. The 6 year old girl was probably the best dancer out there, and I actually wanted to take her home with me. When I was sitting in the school watching the children perform, my heart was filled with an incredible joy from the Lord. I wasn’t worried about dinner plans, or forgetting someone’s name, or who I would sit with on the bus. Those are all worldly thoughts that had escaped my mind, because I was truly living in the moment and enjoying the opportunity to sit and enjoy these children’s performances. I’m so positive the Lord has me on this trip for a reason, and despite the awkwardness with people, or the desire to be home and just slow down, He is revealing to me slowly but surely His plan for my life, and now I truly see why people say they left their heart in Africa.

"We are here, we are here, we are here!"

Funny how time flies so quickly. I had started a blog entry on Friday the 11th, the day I left for Cape Town, but in between seeing my friends play for the Varsity High School Boys Tennis State Championship match (they won by the way), saying goodbyes, and packing, it just didn't get finished. I had been home all of 3 days and my life has been a whirlwind. From chorus recitals, state soccer games, tennis semi-finals, swimming with my sisters, unpacking for school, re-packing for my trip to Africa,  having family dinners, time literally flew, but it was all great things and makes me look forward to getting back there (in 5 weeks). After a lonnggg journey over here, we finally made it to Cape Town. We had a 10 hour lay over in Frankfurt which only confirmed my love of direct flights. There is just not much to do in an airport, and after about 5 hours, I was ready to get going, but clearly the boys enjoyed some napping in the meantime...

The flight from Frankfurt to Johannesburg was 11 hours and thankfully most everyone slept the whole way. Such an answer to prayer that we were able to sleep. I have never been more thankful for a bed in my whole life. Johannesburg to Cape Town was a quick 2 hours and then we arrived to a group of Global LEAD leaders who had posters decorated for us and welcomed us into the city. We found our apartments which are located right on the beach and 2 of my roommates here went to the grocery store called "Checkers" at the mall. I was mistaken for a local while in there and truly couldn't have been more excited. The 3 Wake girls spent about 400 rands (around $50) while the 3 Wake guys spent almost 1000 rands (about $125), we headed back to our apartments. We quicklyyyy found out that our hot water wasn't working, but we had to take a shower! We hadn't showered since Friday morning... it was Sunday evening (tres nasty as my mom says). I am not kidding when I say that I have never taken a colder shower in my entire life, and I have taken cold showers. My body was literally shaking and I maybe was in there for 5 minutes. After asking around we figured out that our owner only has the hot water working from 6-9 am... Who does that?? We are in the process of working around that. We had a great dinner out at a Global LEAD favorite. We went to a Greek restaurant within walking distance of our apartments and enjoyed some authentic Greek food, in South Africa.

Needless to say, we all made it safe and sound. Things I am thankful for: safe travels, good friends to travel with, making new friends, all of my luggage getting here on time, a comfy bed, clean water, getting to live right by a beach, perfect weather, calling my mother on mother's day and telling her  how much I love her and how absolutely incredible she is, (because it's true and she deserves to hear it), getting the chance to grow spiritually and learning to choose joy, spending time with the Lord in another country and knowing He is right by side!! So many things.