Some of the kids at Jehovah Jireh (JJ). Some with nice faces and some with crazy faces :)

View from a farm a visited

Alex and I. She runs a preschool which 4 of the JJ kids attend. I help her in the mornings. But, more than that she and her family have been one of the major supports to me here.

Molly and I. Molly is the one who started JJ because God told her to. She is amazing and loves every one of her kids!

Darrell & Jennifer Agee (and some JJ kids). They served in South Africa with Oceans of Mercy for about 2 years.

Two of the JJ teen girls with a nanny.

Time to eat lunch at JJ. There is another long table to the left of this one! And they are always packed full!

Taking my practice shot before going hunting one weekend. I didnt get anything but I tried!

Hope you enjoy!

Brief Update

Hello! I've been in Alexandria since Thursday and have met some great people from the local church here. Alexandria is a small town so I have spent most of my time with them. Adjusting to South Africa has been a bit difficult for me. Many things are different here and not knowing so much has created anxiety in me, but this has made me all the more desperate for God and to cling to His word. Every day gets a little better and hopefully by the end I will love it. Last friday morning and this morning I helped a lady from the church, Alex, with the preschool she runs. Most of the children are from the township area so they have never really had any structure or opportunity to be stimulated in a learning environment. She just started about 5 weeks ago and can already see great improvement in many of the children. Then in the afternoons I go to the orphanage, JJ. Here I have helped get update photos and letters or pictures from the children to be sent to their sponsors in the States, On friday I also helped a girl with her homework. She is 13 and in the 3rd grade. Her homework was to convert cm to mm or mm to cm. She had great difficulty doing it but we made it through. Then we went to work on other math homework she had not completed yet which consisted of subtraction problems. After trying to figure out how she was taught to do subtraction, I came to realize that she was not even able to do 2 minus 1. So, I made some practice sheets for her to do over the weekend and told her I would go over them when I come back. It is sad to see her struggle to do something that most kids in the States can do when they are toddlers. I think a lot of what I will be doing here is homework help. That seems to be one of the greatest needs.
Sorry this is a bit of random happenings, but jsut wanted to give you some idea of what I have been up to lately.



The HUGE dog at JJ

This picture does not really do justice to how big this dog really is. It is more like pony size in real life.

I hope to post more pictures later. Thanks soooo much for all the prayers!

A few pictures

I thought I would put up some more pictures. I've driven by the ocean almost every day. The Indian ocean is about a 5 minutes walk from the Agee's home.

I went to church today with the Agee's. It was pretty much like an American Baptist church. It was good and the sermon was from Nahum. Afterwards we walked along an area close to the beach where you can get some authentic Africa jewelry or home decor, used books, food, etc. I enjoyed that. Then we went to eat at a restaurant by the beach. It was good. A few things I have learned about eating out are:
-that it always takes much longer to get drinks, menu's, order food, etc. here than we are used to in states.
-you have to ask for the bill otherwise you may never get it as it is considered rude for them to just bring it.

One side of the beach from the restaurant

Indian Ocean

Bathroom stall in the mall I went to the other day. Only major difference is how the T.P. is pulled from the side rather than from top or bottom as we are used to. And then flushing is different also.

One of the strip malls close by

I will be leaving in the morning to visit Jehovah Jirah (JJ) Haven (the orphanage I will be at in Alexandria). From there I will go with Jennifer Agee and her daughter, Ali, to Port Elizabeth to visit another orphanage that Oceans of Mercy supports called Door of Hope. Tuesday is a national holiday here so we will go back to visit JJ in the morning and then have a pizza party with the kids at Door of Hope in the afternoon. On Wednesday or Thursday I will stay permanently in Alexandria. I'm not sure what kind of internet access I will have over the next few days and when I get to Alexandria so this will probably be my last post for a little while.

Update

The past few days have been a blur. Sleeping is still not going too well. I usually wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep for about 2 hours. I have seen 2 movie's, one in theaters and one at home. I have hung out with the South African social worker for Oceans, Sue Ann, and some of her friends for an evening. I've done some general running around to get a phone, outlet converter, and other things I didn't bring with me. I have also helped the Agee's sort some donated medicines and started gathering photos to be printed for the life story books for the kids.
So far, everything has gone pretty smooth and the Agee's have been a great help in helping me to get everything I need. Darrell gave me my first driving lesson today which went pretty well by God's grace. I also went to the mall today and it was basically like an American mall except that the stores are just different and you see more diversity in people. The things that I would say are the  most different for me here is the lack of independence and the feeling of being safe. Not feeling safe is a big one for me. I tend to be easily startled even in the States so it is on my mind more here to try and be calm and not let fear take over. I think the hardest part is coming though. Once I move to Alexandria, I will be living there for about 3 weeks on my own until a woman from Germany comes. When I have thought about living on my own I get pretty anxious. I have the option of staying at the orphanage if I really wanted, but I feel that this might be a good time for me to try and overcome these fears and depend on God even more. I don't want fear to be making decisions for me. Also, something that goes along with this and that I have been praying for is having greater discernment and wisdom to know when situations are truly dangerous and when situations are just different and nothing to be afraid of. Please pray for these things.

On another note, the weather here has been cool and rainy, about 65 degrees F. I wasn't expecting it to be this cool, but I am told that by the end of the month it will start to get increasingly warmer. I am looking forward to that!

I've learned some different ways of saying things around here. Here are a few:
bangs are called fringe
a bbq is called a braii
a normal 4-wheel drive truck is called a bukkie. A semi would be called a truck.
texting is called "smsing"

Please let me know if there is any way in particular I can be praying for you. Thanks sooo much for praying for me.

Can't Sleep

It is about 4 in the morning here and I can't sleep so I figured I would post a few pictures I had. I am 7 hours ahead of Missouri time.

For those of you who have not traveled long distances over seas, this is something I thought might be interesting to you. When you have long flights, you are fed well. I thought I was just going to get one meal on the 17.5 hour flight, but instead I got three. And, the meals are good and big. They always come with a main dish, side dish, a roll, something like crackers & cheese, and a dessert. Below is a picture of one of my meals. The main dish is tortellini with chicken and broccoli. I also had a breakfast meal with the main dish consisting of  eggs, sausage and potatoes and another dinner meal the main dish being chicken curry.

My 3rd meal on the long 17.5 hour flight from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg, SA

Also, this summer I was blessed to be a part of a Bible study with a group of women from Kearney, most of whom I had not known before. Throughout the summer they have been so supportive in praying for me and asking what I still needed before I left. I mentioned that I was going to get supplies to bring to make life story books with the kids, but if they wanted to donate supplies they are more than welcome. I figured whatever was needed once I got what they donated, I would just buy. Well, I did not end up needing to buy anything because they were so gracious in their donations.

As you can see, they gave a ton! And you might be wondering how I got this all there. I took 2 medium sized suit cases and filled each half full of the supplies to distribute the weight (United has a 50 lb. weight limit). I was not sure if I was going to be allowed 1 or 2 free bags so I also had another bag full of just supplies in case I got 2 free bags and then I would pay for the 3rd. I knew either way I would pay for at least one bag. It turned out that I only got 1 free bag and the 2nd was $50. The 3rd would have been about $200 so I left that one home and it will come with a group coming in a couple of months. Thanks for all the donations ladies!

This is just a glimpse into the generosity of everyone while I was support raising whether it has been financial donations or garage sale donations or supply donations. Everyone has been so supportive and I am so grateful.

 Tomorrow I will learn how to drive a stick. Please pray for that as I am super nervous mainly because I don't want to ruin their clutch. And on top of that, driving is opposite here so that will take some getting used to. The Mama at the orphanage is fully expecting to rely on me to help take the kids to school or to the hospital in emergencies so I really need to learn how to do this.

And finally, although this has nothing much to do with South Africa, I think it is kind of funny. My 19 year old younger brother just had to try this before I left:

my brother Scott trying to raise me above his head

At home, Scott always likes to pick me up and swing me around until I'm falling over from dizziness. This time though, he just had to try and lift me above his head, but as you can see was not too successful.

If you have any questions for me over the next months, please ask. I love hearing from you!

Made it

I made it to South Africa today. Everything went great and the flights were all on time. Nothing major happened. For the first week I am staying with the Agee's in East London, a family of 4 from Shawnee, KS who have been here about 2 years now. They will help me get adjusted and get everything I need and then on the 10th I will go to St. Alexandria and live in a house about 2 blocks from the orphanage.
I will try to keep posting as much as I can as the days go. Thanks again for all the prayers!

Today is the day!

In a few short hours I will be stepping on the plane to go to South Africa. It's hard to believe this day is real and sometimes I wonder what I am getting myself into but I am trying to remind myself that God is in control and He is with me. Lots of feelings and/or emotions...happy to be doing something that I know will make me a better person but sad to be leaving what I know as familiar and leaving friends and family. Anxious and scared to walk into a world of uknowns, but at peace knowing God's will will be done.
Pray for safe travels and the patience to sit on a plane for 17.5 hours (and that just one leg). Pray for those I will be meeting soon. Pray that I would adjust quickly and make the most of every moment. Pray that God would grant me a divine understanding of the culture, people, and spiritual activities.
THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!! I can't say it enough as without you I would not be here.
All glory and praise to Him.