Mom and Dad Came to Visit!

On April 9th I embarked a plane at King Shaka International Airport in Durban and flew to Cape Town South Africa. I landed on a dark and windy runway. I took my backpack, the only luggage I brought, and walked (hiked!) to the car rentals. I waited, I worried as I saw the delays board, and I waited. 45 minutes later, THE Kevin and Shelby Cluts came walking out of the underground tunnel. They had arrived, safe and sound in Cape Town South Africa, 8,700+ miles from home. 

Fresh off the Plane in Johannesburg

We got our car rented, man those deposits are high, and drive to our first Airbnb. It was a first for all of us. Thank goodness for Googlemaps on my South African phone for getting us everywhere we needed the whole trip. Although I did have printed instructions to everywhere...just in case! We stayed in a little first floor apartment at the base of Table Mountain...what a treasure! We didn't even eat any dinner... we just talked in to the night and then went to sleep. The first day we went to a little coffee shop for breakfast. There were so many clouds and it was pretty chilly, so we decided Table Mountain would be for the next day. So we drove the little over an hour to Boulder's Beach in Simontown. This is the beach that is home to one of the only colonies of African Penguins. We did the free boardwalk, rather than paying to go on to the beach. But it was mating season so the whole colony was up in the brush anyway! It was so cute, and so amazing to see penguins in the wild :) We walked a bit around the main street of Simontown, a cute little colonial town, with lots of shops. 

Me with a penguin!

We drove from Simontown along the beach to Stellonbosch a town North of, east of? Cape Town. The geography there is very confusing! We went to The House of JC Le Roux and had a sparkling wine and nougat tasting. That was a fun afternoon! The wine was delicious and the nougat was even better. It was fun to do something that is very "Cape Town" but maybe my family wouldn't normally choose to do.

Enjoying out Nougat!

When we got back to the city. We still had the whole evening to kill so we went to The Waterfront. This is an outdoor mall, shopping centre, tourist attraction, launch site for Robben Island, everything place. It was such fun to just walk around and look at the shop, see the sea lions playing in the bay, and eat a nice dinner at a little cafe.

One of the gorgeous buildings on the Waterfront with
Table Mountain in the background

 The next morning we at breakfast in our apartment and made our way, early, to the Table Mountain Cable way. (definitely the way to go if you're ever there) We waited in line for about 45 minutes and then waited another 45 minutes to get on to the cars. But it really wasn't that long. I have waited longer for rides at Cedar Point (eg. Millenium Force). I expected the cable cars to be like a ski lift...I was wrong. They are two huge enclosed pods that hold like 60 people and are attached to a cable that feeds through a pulley and they go up and down all day. The floor inside them even rotates so that you get all the views as you go up and down. Once at the top we were immediately in awe. It is really quite flat at the top and we could see so far in to the distance on this clear and sunny morning. You can see where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet and the water mixes. You can see the Cape of Good Hope, which is one of the furthest south points of Africa. You can see all of Cape Town and Robben Island. It was stunning, and we had a lovely time taking our time walking around the perimeter of the Mountain. 

At the top of Table Mountain with Cape Town in the background

At the top of Table Mountain

We made our way back down and, holy moly, there were thousands of people now waiting in line for tickets and to get on the cars...we're talking hours and hours of waiting. We walked to our car...which is where the line ended and it took us an hour to drive down the base of the mountain because of all the people and cars. We made our way...on the left side of the road...to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. We only had about an hour, but we got to see some of the glory of the Cape Flora Region and another view of Table Mountain. 

On the Canopy walkway at Kirstenbosch

Then we went to the airport and boarded a plane to Durban. Again we rented a car, and this time we made our way along the east coast, north, to St. Lucia. We found our Airbnb, this time a lovely apartment right on the estuary. We found a pizza place...South African Pizza is so so, but at least we ate this time, hung out in our apartment and then went to sleep early. At 5:00AM the next day we were picked up in a safari vehicle and driven the 1 hour drive to the Hluhluwe/Imfolozi Game Reserve. We spent the next 8 hours driving around a gorgeous African Landscape looking for the African Big 5, Water Buffalo, Lions, Leopards, Elephants, and Rhino. We managed to see 4/5...Leopards are really hard to see. Although those elephants scared us, but we saw 3 on our way out of the park! If you're ever looking to safari in SA and Kruger is too far, or you don't have much time, I highly suggest the Heritage Tours through Hluhluwe...it was amazing! 

No zoom, no filter, all rhino

After our Safari we went to the windy beach and felt the warm Indian Ocean and looked for Hippos in the estuary...no such luck. We had a lovely Mediterranean style dinner and spent the evening in our apartment. We could really see the effects of the drought in this area as they were under strict water restrictions... the water is only one for about 4 hours a day in between 6-8AM and 6-8PM, so we definitely need to continue praying for rain in this country. As we were driving out the town we did manage to see quit a lot of Hippos! We drove the four hours to my home base Camp El Olam! We were greeted by my South African family and extended family! We had a lovely afternoon with everyone and my parents were able to be a part our Thursday night Bible Study which has become an integral part of my weeks here on the farm. My biological and SA parents hit it off, it was so cool to see them interacting! The next day I would have loved to walk them around the farm and show them everything, but it was cold and rainy, so instead, after a lovely breakfast with more family at Tala, we stayed inside and in true Cluts fashion, snuggled up on the couch and watched a movie. 

Garth, Rae, Olivia, and Shauna and their niece/cousin Grace

Saturday morning we drove to Pietermaritzburg so my parents could meet all the MCC people...although most everyone was gone so they got to meet Adam and Karen and we all got to meet their little one, Reuben, who was born on April 1. We walked around the Pietermaritzburg Botanical Gardens...which was such a nice activity but it is Fall here, so there were not too many flowers...some though! And a huge lane of giant trees <3 

Enjoying time together

Then we inhaled our lunch at the airport cafe and got on a plane to Johannesburg. We got our Gautrain Gold Cards and took the train to Sandton...our hotel was across the street from the train station! We walked to Sandton Center and had dinner at Doppio Zero... a delicious restaurant that I ate at when I was in Jo-Burg in January. Then, at my request, we went to the cinema and saw Beauty and the Beast! I was so happy to see a movie in theaters and that one in particular made me so happy! We then walked back to our fancy hotel and went to sleep. The next morning we got up early and took the train to Rosebank where we boarded the Hop on Hop off City Sightseeing bus. We got to see a lot of Jo-Burg and got off at the Carlton Tower and Constitution Hill, where we went on the tour so that my parents could see a bit of Apartheid history. We did a quick shop at Rosebank before getting our stuff and taking the train back to the Airport. 

Constitution Hill

We got all of our boarding passes sorted out and then before security, we had to part ways. Apparently Mom and Dad had quit a traumatic time getting through security and on to the plane, but they did make it! I waited a while for my plane and flew back to Durban. 

It was so amazing to have had my parents come and see where I am spending my year giving of my life to serve others. I was especially excited for my Dad who has never been outside of North America and my Mom got to add a second stamp to her passport. It was also my main opportunity to travel while here and I'm so glad I got to do it with people I love and who like to travel the same way I do, never stopping! It was an experience that my parents and I will get to cherish for the rest of our lives and I am so grateful that it worked out for them to come. 

I thank everyone that wished them safe travels and prayed for them on their journey, they really just had one big blunder in the beginning that you'll have to ask my Dad about. Thank you to everyone for the poster, cards, notes, and pictures. They are truly little blessings to my life and make my little room feel very cozy and full of love. 

You stuck it out! Well done! Check out my facebook page for more pictures and updates and ask my Mom and Dad to see pictures as well...they have the most! 

Just 69 days before I'm back in the U.S.A...weird!

Camping Season

I know that back home summer is the main camping season, and no surprise, it's also the main season here. The difference being that summer here is December to February. Also, schools year are based on the Calendar year so the kids actually start school in the middle of January and go to school for four terms with two or three week term breaks in between. They don't get much in the way of a summer vacation like we do in The States. However, schools here often and sometimes every term go on "overnights" or "outdoors," basically, they go camping. So we have had many schools here during the weeks, these camps often focus on leadership and team building, as well as experiential learning since the city kids sometimes have no idea what sugar cane even is! 

Nathan, Me, and Anina with my best friend the Bull Horn

Because it's camping season we also spend our weekends hosting church groups, youth groups, Sunday school groups, adult groups; people looking to retreat from every day life and spend a weekend getting closer to God. These groups are always interesting because they can have kids with an age range of 3rd grade - 7th grade in one camp; unlike the school groups which are typically just one grade, and in some cases even just one gender (there are a lot of single gender schools here in South Africa). 

6th grade boys doing a water study

We are blessed because almost all the schools that come have a Christian ethos, even if they do not have specific prayer, or church services at school. Therefore, we are allowed to freely share the Gospel with these school kids. It's so cool to see them soaking in the devotions and Gospel lessons that are brought out in our daily activities and experience these kids going away from camp being just a little deeper in their walk with God. 

Taking 1st graders on a kayak ride around the dam

I am blessed because when the church groups come, I get to learn more about the Word and MY walk with God gets to go a little deeper. Kids that have been brought up in the Word always have so much to offer. I am always inspired by their faith, and I always strive to have the childlike faith like of our campers that God calls each of us to have. 

So we have basically had non-stop camps for the past three/four weeks/weekends, which has been exhausting and amazing. I spend my days hiking to waterfalls, swimming in the dam, leading leadership activities, hearing devotionals, serving camp food, saying "stop talking" "no you can't eat that" "no you don't have to wear shoes" and "yes, you must clean you room" too many times. But I have loved every minute of it. 

Leading the SCA club at The Wykeham Collegiate

In these camps, I am fulfilling not only my SALT job description, but I find my soul very filled by getting to guide and lead these young people in their faith journey and life. I very often have moments where I feel like I'm not doing enough, but then I get a huge hug from a camper that tells me "this is the best camp ever" and how can I not feel like I was meant to be a part of that? 

I haven't really been off of the farm much lately except for the odd shopping trip with Rae. But, MCC did take us to a rugby game a few weekends ago and that was a total blast! I actually understood what was going on most of the time (except for the scrums). But it was nice to get out and do something with all the MCC people in my area. 

Rugby with Sokea, Dinar, Adam, Karen, and Cath

In addition to camps I have gotten to do some "hard labor" on the farm. I got to help finish our new church building, which was a lot of fun and a different pace from sending 100 emails a day in the office! I helped with the decking, painting, and cornices; as well as moving all the furniture around from the old hall and common area, now our "Fellowship hall" type space. We had an official hall opening for the church where we ate warthog that we cooked on a spit! It was so delicious :) It was definitely a nice way to celebrate! 

Helping Philani put up cornices 

Tammi and Anina are the students that are here doing the gap year/discipleship course. I live with these two in our little log cabin in the woods (which got like 15,000 likes on instagram when a cabin themed page found a picture of it!) They are lovely and I am really enjoying getting to know them, learn with them, and from them. It has been amazing to watch them grow so much in the Lord in such a short amount of time, as well as see them grow in their personalities as they have more and more responsibilities during camps and in between camps. I have absolutely loved reading the bible with them every day (We are reading the bible cover to cover this year...yes I plan to continue the reading plan even when I get back home). It has been so cool to discover all that the Old Testament has to offer alongside them. 

Tammi, Anina, and Me leading a cold and rainy camp

Me, Anina, and Tammi painting our cabin

Now I am waiting on the arrival of my parents! Look out for a blog post about their visit to South Africa very soon!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me through prayer and messages. I really love hearing from you. Please feel free to keep updated through my facebook and Instagram. Peace and blessings to all. 

We Are Called To Go Up The Mountain

"Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths" Micah 4:2

"Then Moses went up the mountain..." Exodus 24:15

" [Elijah] was told, 'Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD'" 1 Kings 19:11

"Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves." Matthew 17:1

"On the Mountain of God, He sees to it" Genesis 22:14

Mountains are mentioned more than 500 times in the bible. Servants are called to go up the mountain, sermons and laws are provided on mountain tops, God reveals God's self on mountains. The mountains quake, tremble, and sing in God's presence. Mountains are "closer" to God, God's glory is clearly seen in the beauty of the Mountains and can be felt in the breeze. 

On our way up the misty mountains

This year Rae and Garth, through Camp El Olam, have started a service year/gap year discipleship course called Ablaze. This year they have two participants, Tammi and Anina. The object of the year is to spend the year reading the bible cover to cover and exploring the word with daily bible studies, learn to be alone with God and talk with God with regular hours of solitude, and to learn principles of being a Christian with adventures and service opportunities at the camp and in the community. I am privileged to be able to be a part of the leading and participate in the learning of Ablaze by participating in Bible Studies; I am reading through the bible with the girls and get to go on their adventures and service trips. Our first adventure trip was going to The Drakensberg to go on a hike and to sleep in a cave.

The river below our cave

While it was a grand and beautiful adventure, the idea was to participate in a bible based action of worship. It took us just a few hours to hike to the cave we booked, "Pillar Cave" and we stopped along the way to take pictures and to have tea on a boulder. It was very misty and we could not see the top of the mountains but it was the perfect temperature to hike with all of our gear. When we arrived at the cave it was lunch time so we ate what we had packed and set up camp inside the cave. After resting our shoulders we went down to the gorgeous river running below our camp. We each took our bibles and found a place away from the others. There we sat, for about an hour, reading and singing, and praying, and worshiping God in God's creation, on a mountaintop, like so many servants of God before us. Just as we were all deep in praise and worship the sun came out just a bit, through the clouds, and lighted the place on the river we had all settled. It was a beautiful moment of God, revealing God's self to us.

Camping food!
Right to left: Olivia, Tammy, Anina, Me, Shauna

We all went back up to our cave and made a warm supper over our fire and as the mist settled and it became dark outside we discussed what we had studied in our bibles (Genesis at that point).
Of course, sleeping on the floor of a cave is less than comfortable, but when it's dark and you have two little ones asleep there wasn't much we could do, so we tried to sleep, pretty early in the night. We all were awake around 1AM and noticed the mist had settled below the opening of our cave and we could see the stars. It was beautiful! In the morning it was sunny and warm. We had another hour alone with God at the river. This time in the warm sunshine :)

Anina and Me enjoying the rock slides

Because it was sunny and quite hot after sitting in the sun we all put on our swimming costumes and played in the river! Having a wonderful time on the natural water slides...even though the water was absolutely freezing, like seriously, ice cold. Once we were all properly frozen we went back to our cave and packed up. Just as we set out back down the mountain clouds rolled in and it cooled down, but not too cold for hiking. As we walked back we were able to see the tops of the mountains, and in the distance a storm was rolling in with magnificent bolts of lightning and crashing thunder ahead of us for the majority of the walk. The whole walk back (less than half the time it took us to go up) we knew that this display was God showing God's wonder and power to us after a weekend of worship and praise.
Just as we got to the car park the storm reached us with huge raindrops falling fast out of the sky! We all threw our bags into the boot of the car and jumped inside. No ceremonious end to our hike or cheers upon completion of our adventure, just quick doors slamming to get out of the cold rain. It was a very dramatic and hilarious end to our time in the Drakensberg. We drove back towards home, we stopped at a little coffee shop and had a delicious lunch. Once we got back we all crashed. I personally went to bed at 8PM that night and slept soundly all through the night.

Me enjoying the view from the cave

I encourage even challenge everyone, even if you don't have an actual mountain to climb, to find those mountain top times in your life where you can be alone with God. Listen to God's call for you. Appreciate God's wonders in creation and in each person's life. I could feel God moving through the 'berg as we spent intentional time with God. Can you feel God moving in your life? Don't be afraid, as a servant of God you are called, go up the mountain and join God.

Jozi and Lesotho

On the afternoon of January first I carefully packed my duffel bag and waited on the arrival of Adam and the MCC bakkie. He arrived and took me and Dinar to his apartment in Pietermaritzburg where Sokea was already. We spent the afternoon swimming and eating Nutty Sweet Potato Waffles from "Simply in Season" They were amazing! 

On the morning of January 2 we loaded all five of us, all our luggage, and everything we would need for the next 9 days in the bakkie and we were off! We were headed northwest toward Johannesburg, South Africa. We stopped along the way for breaks and lunch. We finally arrived mid afternoon at Arum Guesthouse near downtown Johannesburg (Jo'burg, Jozi). This guest house was amazing! It was gorgeous, we were so lucky to start our trip in such a nice place...but it would be downhill from here accommodation wise. We walked to a neighborhood to eat supper and found that, because it was a national holiday many of the restaurants were closed :( We did find a shawarma place however, and it was delicious! Then we spent the evening at the guest house resting from the drive. We got up early and drove to downtown where we bought our tickets and got on the "Hop On, Hop Off Sightseeing Bus" this was such a cool way to see Johannesburg! There are headphones and you can hear information about the city as you drive along the streets, then the bus makes stops and you can get off and do whatever there is to do and then catch the next one! They run on 30 minute loops.

We got off at Carlton Tower, the tallest building in Africa and went to the top! We got off at Bloemfontaine a cute little hipster neighborhood where we ate lunch, and we got off at Constitution Hill where we took a tour of the prison and Constitutional Court. This history of Constitution Hill is frightening, interesting, extensive, and sobering. The era of Apartheid left South Africa in a state of over crowded prisons and terrible living conditions for those who were deemed "criminals." We saw the cells that were made for 20 but held 60 men. We saw the outdoor showers, designed for 200 but "bathed" over 1000, we saw the portions of food allotted for white, colored, and black prisoners...and believe me, you wouldn't be very strong on any of the portions. We saw the solitary confinement cells which by law were only allowed to contain any one prisoner for 30 days but some would stay in for more than a year or hold more than 6 children prisoners at a time.

At the top of Carlton Tower

Constitutional Court in all 11 official languages

We then got back on the bus and rode it to a stop we weren't expecting and got on the Gautrain to go back to where the bakkie was. The Gautrain is designed for laborers (mostly white) to commute very quickly between Pretoria (South Africa's Capital) and Johannesburg. This tour took us all day, after we had finished we drove to James and Joan's (the Area Directors for SwaLeSA) house, outside of Johannesburg, we had a lovely dinner there before we went to BIMS, a baptist missionary guest house. It was a cute little apartment style guest house.


The next day we spent the morning at the Apartheid Museum. This museum is unique in that there is not really artifacts but stories, you read as you walk. You wind through the museum reading different stories of people affected by apartheid, people that created apartheid, and the way it affected South Africa as a nation. In case you don't know, Apartheid was the systematic racially driven segregation that occurred in South Africa between 1948 and 1994. This system pushed black people in to townships outside of urban areas and affected every aspect of everyone's lives, there were separate schools, stores, toilets, restaurants, prisons, everything. Because of the white political dominance the colored and black people of South Africa became severely (I can't think of a strong enough word) oppressed. I could go on, but there are many many aspects to apartheid, but this is the main idea. It was sobering three hour walk through the museum but my knowledge and understanding of how this system came to be and what it meant to the country grew exponentially. And now, as I live and work in South Africa, the effects of Apartheid are still apparent, and I spend my days trying to figure out how I can be a part of continuing to break down the walls that were put up between the races, how I can harbor and foster peace with everyone I meet and even teach people I come across how to reconcile with one another and see the equality that is deserved by all people.


We then went to Rosebank a shopping centre and had a lovely little lunch before we went to an African Craft Market and spend too much money! It was very cool to see so many traditional crafts and to be able to support artists.



The next day we loaded up the bakkie and headed towards the border. We were on our way to Lesotho where MCC had partner organizations. We drove many many hours before arriving at Paballong HIV/AIDs Clinic, creche, and farm. We drove on slow highways and dirt roads. Lesotho is a small little developing country that is surrounded by South Africa on all sides. It is the highest country in the world, most of the country lies above 1 mile above sea level, and is extremely mountainous. It was beautiful! Anyway, Paballong, lies very much in the middle of nowhere (like much of Lesotho). At this clinic it was rainy and pretty cold, but we rejoiced as the country has been in a terrible drought for years. We had no electricity and no water, but we made it work, we made hobo dinners over the little braai that we took with us. The next morning we helped to clean chicken eggs to sell in town and helped to volunteer in the clinic! I helped to write out patient information for record keeping. This clinic I soon found out was partially sponsored by Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation which I helped to raise money for while doing Dance Marathon all throughout my time at BW. I was humbled and honored to be volunteer at a clinic I may have directly been involved with helping to keep up and run.

Dance Marathon shirt from Freshman year at BW at the EGPAF Clinic 

Pterodactyl Footprints in Morija

We drove to a small tourist town called Morija where we stayed in a nice guest house (they even made our food for us!) and we went on a hike and saw dinosaur footprints, we just chilled here and had a break before heading out in to the middle of nowhere again. We drove for more hours and arrived at Growing Nations Farm in Maputseng. To get to this organization there is not even a road, just sort of a break in the fields where you drive over some rocks...it was quite a bumpy ride! Here we met some lovely people, I met some lovely little girls who I played with, and we met up with one of MCC SEEDers who is assigned there. This organization teaches local young farmers how to "Farm God's Way" which is sustainable and more effective in different weather conditions. We spent our morning of service here hoeing a field...my back was very sore, but it was very cool to see the difference that we made! We then spent the afternoon on a farm tour seeing the property and the crops that are grown to sell to the locals. This place was set in a gorgeous valley and I spent a lot of time looking at the scenery in our down time.

Girls I met and played with at Growing Nations

A small corner of Growing Nations

Finally early in the morning we loaded up and headed back out of the country to PMB and back to camp. But first we stopped at Clarens South Africa "The Tourist Gem of the Free State" we stopped at a little store where I found Root Beer and Dr. Pepper! I was very excited, I'm saving my Dr. Pepper for a very special occasion...I don't know when! We arrived back at our respective homes late in the afternoon and very tired, but it was a lovely trip learning about South Africa and about MCC's partners. 

Whew! That was a long one, I thank you for reading it all the way through! You can keep more up-to-date on my Facebook and Instagram pages. 

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers it is always appreciated!

Happy Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! 

This was my first Christmas away from home and I definitely missed a few things about Christmas in Ohio, especially snow, my beautifully decorated house, and of course, spending time with my family. It was also my first New Year's celebration away from home and I definitely missed dressing up with my closest friends and counting down to ring in the new year, but they have their own ways here in South Africa, and what a blessing it was to get to share this wonderful time of year with the people I have come to consider my family just as well. 

Our Christmas Holiday started off with a week of summer camp!...I know, weird, right? I had a lovely time at camp and it definitely got me in to the summer spirit (see my last blog post for more!) When we arrived back in Eston it was just Rae, Garth, the girls, and me left on the farm. There were only a few decorations around the house, so we cut down two little pine trees and tied them together so that it was a little more full. We decorated this tree with popcorn garland made by the girls and myself, pine cones that had been painted with a bit of white, a string of lights, and paper ornaments made from hymn music sent to me by Jane Weaver (Thanks so much!). It was a gorgeous natural tree, that made me feel a bit more at home, since we have about 14 Christmas trees each year at my home in Bluffton! 

South African Christmas Tree

Christmas shopping had yet to be done by the Hawyes family, so we all (minus Donovan) packed into the  bakkie (pick-up truck) and headed for the mall. I had already done all my Christmas shopping, mostly items sent from overseas. So I took Olivia and Shauna around the mall to spend their pocket money to buy gifts for their family and their Secret Santa cousin/aunt. Rae and Garth went off in the opposite direction to do the same. It was such a blast to teach the girls different aspects of shopping, sales, brands, gift cards, and helping them to make decisions and keep them under budget! They have such big hearts they each spent almost all of their money! But they didn't mind, they were so excited to be able to buy gifts for everyone, including me! When we got home we wrapped all the gifts and put them under the tree. All the different colored paper and many many gifts just made the tree and house look very happy, and like home :) 

Several days before Christmas we met up with Garth's side of the family for a long Braai and chill evening to celebrate Christmas together as a family, it was so nice to finally meet the whole family, they welcomed me with open arms and a whole lot of food! Two nights before Christmas Rae's side of the family came over to the farm and we all swam in the dam and had a braai and also just had a lovely evening. On Christmas Eve just our family was together for the day. It was so lovely to relax and reflect on the season. That evening we went to a little Anglican Church for a Christmas Eve service...it was very nice to sing hymns together with a group of people, but man was it a long service! Just before we all turned in for the night I read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to everyone, my own storybook from home, sent to me by my ever forward thinking Mom who had mailed it two months in advance and it had arrived in SA four days before Christmas!

Shauna and Olivia hearing "The Night Before Christmas"
for the first time

Christmas morning started at 5:30AM thanks to the little munchkins in the house. We all gathered in the living room, Olivia read out everyone's favorite bible versus, that she had collected the day before and then Rae read out the Nativity Story. We all prayed together to give the day to the Lord. It was such a beautiful time to dedicate the day to God. Presents are all good and well, but without the right heart, what's the point other than being a bit selfish? It felt good to center ourselves before we enjoyed everyone's generosity. We opened our gifts from one another, in no particular order, and it was a hoot! I was so unbelievably blessed having two families who had gifts for me, I was quite spoiled I must say. 

All of my Christmas blessings!

Shortly after, Rae's family arrived again, there was wild warthog and Lamb from our farm for Christmas lunch, which was divine! We did the Secret Santa Exchange; Rae's family was ashamed they forgot to include me and so I got two gifts from concerned family members! I told you, utterly blessed.

Rae's Brother and his family live in Johannesburg so they stayed for the next three days on the farm with their four kids, it was so fun to have so many little ones around!  All in all, I had a wonderful Christmas full of love, family, the Holy Spirit, and fun <3

I got Rae Dutch Blitz for Christmas
We taught the whole family and it
was a blast!

One week later was New Year's Eve. Camp El Olam hosted a New Years Bash! So there were a lot of people around. We went for a swim in the morning, hung out in the afternoon, and later in the evening we braaied...as usual! We had a big bonfire and many of the friends I have made while here were there, so I had plenty of company. At 11:30 PM we all gathered around the fire and gave testimonies of the year gone by. It was so lovely to hear how God was working in people's lives in 2016. We closed our time with prayer and prayed our way right in to 2017! 

New Year's Bonfire

Everyone was very tired but there was one last thing that had to be done before I could sleep...go for a summer new years swim (the polar bear challenge)! All the young adults piled in the back of the bakkie and we drove (very fast) down to the dam...I thought everyone was going to jump...turns out they all just wanted to watch me do it! There were like four of us that jumped in. The water actually felt really good, since it had been warm the few days before. We drove back to camp and I very promptly went to sleep. Happy New Year!

Jumping off the diving pole on New Years Day at 1:00AM

Thank you so much for all of the Holiday wishes, cards, messages, and gifts. It made being away from home that much easier. Thanks for reading this long post! Keep even more up to date with my facebook and instagram accounts! 

Sickness, Sun, Sowing Seeds

Hello Everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I posted last. I have been very busy here in my little corner of the world. I have been all over and done lots of different things, met a lot of new people and learned a lot! I won't go in to a lot of details because there is so much to say, I'll just summarize my last few weeks here.

The first week of December I went to Pietermaritzburg, where I stayed at the Old Prison and had my second and last week of isiZulu school, 30 hours in all! I am definitely not fluent, not really even conversational but I know grammar rules, and enough words to talk to the toddlers around the farm...so that's something. This time at class there was another couple that was in the class with us. Ben and Beth Bartholomy. They were a lovely couple that is here to work at UBI (a bible college in PMB). Adam and Karen were away and Don and Jon were very busy so we had to walk to and from school each day...until Ben and Beth very graciously decided to pick us up and drop us off every day! It was such a relief not to walk in the heat.

All of us that were in Language School with our Teachers

I went back to the farm for a week, we had a prefect camp come in, it was such a blast to do all kinds of leadership activities with them and get to know the students. The school system here is quite different and each school has a prefect body that helps with discipline at the school (think of the prefects at Hogwarts if you're confused).

Kloof High School Prefects (I'm in the back third in from the left)

That weekend I got picked up and taken to the PMB YMCA to spend the night. We would have stayed at the Old Prison that night, except that the cell block that we used for storage caught on fire and completely burned out. The structure was deemed unstable and in danger of collapse so we were not allowed to stay at the house part of the prison.

The Storage Cell Block on Fire :(

We stayed at the YMCA for one night and then everyone involved in MCC from South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland, packed up and headed for Pennington Resort. We spent the first day chilling at the camp site, it was cold and rainy. The next day we went to Oribi Gorge which was very cool. We did some hiking, walked across a suspension bridge, and drove through a game park. Only one maybe two people didn't feel very good at this point. 

Overlooking Oribi Gorge from
the suspension bridge

The next day we had a free day and we all went to the beach in the morning and  in the afternoon to hang out and swim in the tidal pool/lagoon. The sea was too rough and rocky to actually swim in the waves. It was overcast and very windy but the water felt amazing! Only three or four people didn't feel well this day, but by the evening there were several others that were not feeling super great.

Tidal Pool/Lagoon at Pennington Beach

 The next morning we got up and headed to Wild Waves Water Park in the Eastern Cape (Province) in Port Edward (City). There were about five people that felt healthy on this day and were not in danger of losing some sort of cookies while going down the water slides. The water slides were very cool though, I, being among the healthy had a blast! There was a plunge slide, a bowl slide, a boomerang slide, and two traditional water slides. It was cold and overcast but again, the water felt great! The next day everyone was still feeling terrible but it was departure day. I was in the last group to be leave our little campsite. I got dropped off on an off ramp just a little ways from Pennington where I was received by Garth and taken to Camp Anerely.

Wild Waves Water Park

Anerley is the campsite that hosts the twice yearly AYM camp. (AYM= Assemblies Youth Ministry...I think) I was going to help out with the senior camp. I arrived on the second day with senior campers, the first full day. Wow was it overwhelming, I was in a new place, with new people, with 100 kids, and had no idea what was going on! It was a blast! I was immediately given a sports team to cheer on, an activity to lead that afternoon (The kids had to use sling shots to hit milk bottle targets), and a bungalow to help counsel with Rae and Sika. The theme for the camp was the parable of the sower. Each day we took an in depth look at the different types of soil spoken about in the parable. It was so great. I even learned a lot each day from our bible study, and ministry session in the evening. It was very cool to here how other's interpret the scripture. Each day the kids did a workshop to demonstrate a biblical principle from the parable and I loved watching the campers grow and have "light bulb" moments throughout the week. Each day I had free time because I was not refereeing sports sessions, which happen twice a day and were over an hour long. I kept busy by holding and watching the 3 month old Joshua....I was very much at home with that little baby in my arms all week. And it freed the parents to do their duties without having to worry, so I was helping! On the second full day of camp we spent the morning at the beach, it was HOT and Sunny! I'm sure you can imagine what happened...everyone was red red red. I tried my best to remain un-burnt but I did get quite a burn in the middle of my back (which is peeling terribly now!...woops, sorry mom) We had a lot of burnt feet and faces for the rest of camp. All week it was hot and sunny, which was so nice for the kids, and for a camp in general, it's much easier to be happy and enthusiastic when it's sunny out, even if you are always trying to find the shade.

Louise, Akhona, Sika, Amanda and of course little Joshua
at AYM Camp at Camp Anerely

Now I am back at the farm for the holidays. I'll be spending Christmas with the Hawyes family and I must say, there are already a lot of good looking presents under our little tree. Keep an eye out for a special Christmas Blog, coming soon!

 Thank you for sticking through this long post. I love hearing from you and appreciate your thoughts and prayers. You can keep up-to-date through facebook and instagram.

Food, Friends, and Festivities

Food:
Here on the farm all of our meals are prepared for us by our wonderful cook named Esnath. She works very hard and we are so thankful for her everyday when we get to eat delicious food, that she often doesn't even eat! She likes her traditional food that she prepares separately for herself. All of the teachers from the school, myself, and the Hawyes family eat dinner together every night in the camp dining hall. It is a wonderful time of fellowship and sharing about the day. We each take turns washing all the dishes for each other and on Sundays and Thursdays we always have guests from the church congregation that join us for a roast lunch after church and fellowship dinner before Bible Study.

When you are at home cooking for yourself, or even if you are cooking for your immediate family, it's easy to say, "I don't prefer that in my dish, I'll just leave it out". I have found that in order to not be picky or difficult it's just easier to eat whatever is prepared, even if I typically would not prefer to eat it. We eat really normal, even north american or English-type dishes, so I'm not having to eat anything that's like super crazy...no bugs or spiders or questionable animal meat...yet, who knows what the future holds! But I do eat things like tomatoes, sweet pickles, mushrooms...things I wouldn't normally pick if a dish included them. The biggest thing that I have taught myself to eat is fish, I eat fish and chips very often, when normally I would not even consider it! But, that's whats been prepared, and when Esnath is cooking for 20 people who would happily eat fish, I'm not going to be difficult and ask her to prepare something else just for me. I also have eaten tuna salad on more than one occasion for lunch, a feat I didn't even know I was capable of doing, since I struggle to even get seafood to my mouth when I have tried in the past. I know that fried fish and tuna are not really "fishy" fish, but to me it's a huge step to say, "I have to eat this and I will enjoy it." I would never order fish at a restaurant and I would ask for something else to eat if it was served to me in North America. But here, I am living in one great big community and I have to be a part of it. So, if that means I have to eat fried fish and tuna salad, that's what that means. Who knows, maybe by the end of the year I will actually enjoy it and choose it for myself when I get back to Ohio.

Traditional Durban food
Bunny Chow, curry inside a bread bowl

Friends:
Here on the farm, my ability to leave is very restricted, I'm not allowed a car and taxis are a desperate choice when you live so far away from town. Therefore I have spent the past three months with a very close knit group of people, we spend all of our time together. (probably one reason why we all had a round of flu a few weeks ago) But, I have found this group of people to be extremely welcoming and friendly, I am very happy to call the teachers from the school, the farmers, and the church congregation my friends. My very closest friend being my amazing roommate Cara. I am also excited to extend the circle of friends in January when you new teachers will come for the new school year, and the volunteers come for the Ablaze gap year discipleship course the camp is hosting. Of course I also have all the MCC related people who are here in South Africa and they are wonderful friends, and give me someone to text when I am feeling isolated and like I just need to talk to someone from the "outside."

Some dear friends Sokea and Dinar
the YAMENers from Cambodia and Indonesia

Festivities:
This past weekend we had a quick stop over in Pietermaritzburg to celebrate United States Thanksgiving! Of course, we know its a little early but everyone will be scattered about on the "real" Thanksgiving day. It was so nice to be around a table full of plenty of hot North American style thanksgiving food. It was such a wonderful representation of home to sit and talk about things that we are thankful for, (a welcome conversation after a hard and emotional week, post election) We cleared away the food and had a game night full of laughter and competition very much like home. (Have you ever played Qwirkle?...it can ruin friendships!) But it didn't, it was a wonderful time of fellowship and remembering all of the blessings each of us have been granted while here in South Africa. The next big holiday will be Christmas, which I will spend here at the farm with Rae, Garth, Olivia, and Shauna. We will enjoy the (hopefully warm) weather, horseback riding, and not having homework or responsibilities. I am really looking forward to being a part of new traditions and customs and getting to share some of my own.

Thanksgiving Dinner! Just missing
Dawn who took the picture

Emotionally I have felt very positive and at peace but I think that with the holiday season coming I will begin to feel that sense of longing and homesickness that comes with living abroad. However, no sense in worrying now, while I am happily settled in to my farm/camp/administrator/teacher life :)

Thank you so much to everyone that reads by page and for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support. It's so nice to feel cared for and thought of. Feel free to check out my facebook.com and instagram page for more pictures and more frequent updates!

This is Qwirkle, at the end of the game