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

Speaking Zulu and Spirituality

Before

As usual life on the farm is busy and unpredictable. I have been very busy with the coming of a new horse Jack Frost, a Marimba band grades 5-7, and general administrative tasks the past week. A week and a half ago however I was not on the farm. I was picked up by the MCC team and taken to Pietermaritzburg to stay at the prison for a week. As a group, we did the very first Color Run in Maritzburg. It was so much fun! I fit in very well with my handmade, hot pink tutu and we all had a blast getting pelted with color every kilometer. We also spent an afternoon at a Butterfly House and the African Bird of Prey Sanctuary. It was a lovely week of seeing some sights and having some down time from work.

During

After

Butterflies for Africa

Our main mission for being in they city however was because it was time for our first round of language school. Dinar, who finally arrived just before I came to the city, and myself, took isiZulu lessons. We live in a province called KwaZulu-Natal and one of the main languages is Zulu, so many people I interact with on a daily basis speak this language fluently, for many it was their mother tongue. Sokea took Swahili lessons, a language spoken in many places around the continent of Africa. Sokea works at a refugee center and many of them are from Tanzania where the national language is Swahili, therefore, it will greatly help her to connect with her clients to speak some of their language. As for Dinar and me, we have to seek out opportunities to speak Zulu. While many people speak Zulu, everyone here on the farm does know English. In fact the school is an English medium school, where the children are encouraged to only speak English all day to encourage fluency and develop vocabulary skills. isiZulu is a difficult language mostly because it includes several clicks; the letters c, x, and q are made with different parts of your tongue and mouth clicking. I found I can produce the clicks just fine on their own but when you have to say a whole word saying the click followed by a vowel is very tricky for a novice. The rules of the language are fairly simple, although I did not learn even close to all of them. There's no gender in the language which is helpful but there are linking letters to help connect the noun and the verb. This is what I can never remember. and because all words have connecting letters and sounds it's hard to actually decipher the root word sometimes! I enjoyed language lessons, even though my brain was full at the end of each three hour day. I enjoyed getting a sneak peak into a culture that is very different from my own. I feel just a little bit closer to the people I spend my days with by being able to speak to them in their first languages...well I can great them and talk about myself mostly. I will be taking another week of lessons at the end of November and will hopefully be able to build some vocabulary skills. Here is what the language looks like, I'll write in isiZulu and then translate below.

Sanibona! NginguAshtonCluts, ngihlala eCamp El Olam. Ngivela eMelika. ngisebenza eCamp, ngithanda ukuhike eCamp futhi ukubhukuda. Siyabonga! ngiyaxolisa, ngifunda isiZulu.

Hello! My name is Ashton Cluts, I stay at Camp El Olam. I come from America. I work at Camp. I like to hike at camp and to swim. Thank you! I am sorry, I am learning Zulu.

My vocabulary is failing me as I write this and I don't have my dictionary with me! Well this is just a sample anyway.

After language school and having the weekend to hangout and rest at the prison. Karen and Adam took Dinar, Sokea, and me to a retreat center in the midlands. A quiet region with many artisan stops along the main road. Karen and Adam acted as our live in chefs for the next two days and the three of us YALTers were lead in a very wonderful spiritual retreat. It was relaxing and rejuvenating. We each had our own bedrooms in a lovely cottage with a lounge and kitchen. We spent several hours each day in guided mediation and theological discussion with our leader Pastor Sharon, whom Karen and Adam have come to know through a church that they attend in Pietermaritzburg. She was a wonderful leader who's theology was very much like my own. We even did one session with a video from Pastor Rob Bell who is one of my favorite pastors from Michigan. When I was in high school we did a small group series using his videos as well. We explored our spirituality through scripture, song, and meditation. I was able to be in conversation with God and bring my heart and mind into focus in a very intentional way. I came away having a deeper understanding of my calling here in South Africa and an enthusiasm to continue my journey.

Thank you again for everyone around the world who is praying for me and my time here and keeping me in their daily thoughts. Knowing I have such a wonderful support network makes being away almost easy. Please keep in touch through my Facebook.com page and instagram!

Me with some hippos at the Butterfly House

Are We Speaking the Same Language?

Life here at Camp El Olam is never dull. There are always things to do, and there are always people everywhere doing farming things, building things, administrative things, kitchen things, school things...you get the idea. I have not been bored! We had had the first camps that we did program for in the past two weeks. One a group of 3rd and 4th graders and the other a group of 10th graders. Two very different groups of kids but both so much fun. I got to see the camp really in action! I even got to lead some activities from my "home" camp, Camp Friedenswald, with little El Olam style changes of course. I love seeing the camp alive with campers, it has a presence, I know that it's God, but I can feel it so strongly when the kids are here.

Other than the camps, life is quiet and fun, horse back riding, reading in Adirondack chairs, drinking tea etc. Oh wait, horseback riding has not been so serene, last week I went on a ride with my roommate and the horses decided they had no interest in walking any further...needless to say, we both found ourselves on the ground instead of in the saddles. We both faired pretty well, although we both are quite sore and I have a huge bruise on my leg, that is healing nicely but looks pretty gnarly. I must have been hoofed as I fell off but I only remember being on the horse and then the ground...so who knows!

After the ride, smiling
but in pain!

Before the ride!

 I got to go to a game reserve for the first time this past weekend and it was so cool to get to see the animals close up! I saw, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, a warthog, Ostrich, lots of deer like animals I don't remember the names of, and rhino. These rhino were special though, in order to reduce the likelihood of poaching, vets have come in and humanely de-horned them. They were still huge and cool but did look a little funny without their horns.  

The Giraffes!

That's my quick update and now to the title of this post. I am so lucky to be in a place where nearly everyone I meet speaks at least some English. This has made feeling homesick a farfetched idea at this point...I know the time will come. But it is so nice to be able to communicate what I mean and how I want to mean it, a luxury that is not usually achievable in a new place with a completely new language. However, there are differences in the English that I speak and South African English. As I mentioned in another post that their are a lot of words that are different from the words that we use in the U.S. for the same thing. These are called colloquialisms...in case you didn't know! As I spend more time here I am learning more and more, there are so many in fact that sometimes I feel like we aren't even speaking the same language. Of course we are definitely both speaking English; but I never thought I would have to say "what does that mean" so many times, in one day! Some of these colloquialisms I have picked up very quickly and already say them without thinking about it. Some I say with a very conscious effort to help feel more a part of the culture, (like trying to speak a truly different language to help learn) and some I don't think I'll ever be able to integrate into my own speech patterns, but only time will tell.
I'm going to try to list as many as possible. Some I knew from my time in Australia, and some I knew from my time in London, the British influence from colonialism is strong.

baggies: boys swim suit or shorts
biscuit: cookie
boot: trunk of the car
bonnet: hood of the car
borewors: long sausages used to braai
braai: barbecue the verb and the noun
bruh: friend/brother (pronounced broo)
chips: french fries or chips
cokey: marker
costume: swim suit
haibo: "no way bruh"
hectic: anything that is extreme, chaotic, crazy, cool this is a filler word
hoot: honk the car horn
house: grouping you are placed in while in school (yes, like Hogwarts)
loo: bathroom
lounge: living room
peg: clothespin
potjie: a stew made in a three legged cast iron pot (this is an Afrikaans word pronounced Poy-key)
roll: bun for hot dogs or hamburgers
slops: flip flops and other sandals
stationary: anything used in the office basically, pens, pencils, paper, binders, etc.
term: length of one session of school, there are four terms in a year
tomato sauce: ketchup
torch: flashlight
tune: scold "I will tune him later about wrecking the house"
vienna: the meat part of a hot dog, once the meat is in a roll then it's a hot dog
yah: yes or yeah

Of course these are not all of them, I can only think of so many as I sit here and write but I will try to add some to each new blog! Look out for another one soon about Zulu classes! Feel free to keep updated on my travels on Facebook.com and instagram.

Congratulations you made it to the end! Thank you so much for letting me share my journey with you!