For Such a Time as This

This week has been an amazingly relaxing week of getting things done. Clinical is officially over and all we have to focus on now is getting our last minute papers done and over with. At first I found it kind of hard to see those God moments on campus because we are no longer serving in the community. I talked to a friend about it here on campus and she told me I should start praying each morning for Divine Appointments. Although it may be harder to see God at work amongst ourselves instead of in the community, God is still most definitely at work. I may not be seeing these moments because I am not looking hard enough for them or I am looking in the wrong places. When I am serving in the community, God's presence is seen in the smile of a little girl or boy, but God is still amongst our community on campus. Throughout this week, we have been struggling with having sweet fellowship and community amongst the 55 American students who are studying here on campus. Cliques have inevitably formed amongst the 55, but with the cliques have come those people who feel alone and left out and want nothing more than to go home. They are in one of the prettiest countries in the world and they want to go home. Why? Because we, as the community, have failed them. Knowing this, we have acknowledged the problem and have done everything we can to not be exclusive amongst ourselves. As a body of Christ, we want our own to feel welcome and loved instead of alone and in despair. We have done as many things as we possibly could this week to unite the group and cause us all to bond with one another. Throughout the week, we have had frequent movie nights and have played various games.

I also got my Senior Seminar paper done. I wrote on the ethical issue of abortion and if it is ever considered okay based on when life begins and the rights of the unborn baby. As I researched the topic, I came to the conclusion that there are so many people who have had abortions that are uneducated on the development of their babies and the various unethical methods of abortion. I have decided that on top of a social worker, woman's rights activist, and nurse, I would like to become a voice for the voiceless. I would like to spread the word to those who have unplanned pregnancies that there are options other than abortion. There are couples out there who would love more than anything to adopt a child or two or maybe even three. As most of you know, my Aunt Eileen and Uncle Dave adopted my cousin Korbin and he has been one of the sweetest blessings in our lives that we have ever received. If I put his face as the face of abortion, as his birth mother may have aborted him, my heart breaks. I cannot imagine our lives without him in it. I would like to shout from the rooftops that the unborn baby is alive and is a real being who deserves a chance at life.

On Wednesday, one of our leaders, Janet, took my buddy, LG, and I to Howick Falls, one of the biggest waterfalls in South Africa, if not the biggest. I found it to be absolutely beautiful! We didn't have to hike to it or anything. We literally drove up to some shops and walked over to some touristy ledge and there it was! Plain as day. Then we all went out to eat by some quarry. I'm not really sure what that even is in relation to the bodies of water in America, but it looked like a rather large pond, but maybe not quite as big as a lake. Haha. The body of water made for a beautiful view though and I had an amazing orange Fanta float with a grilled cheese sandwich. :) It wasn't nearly as good as a rootbeer float, but it was most definitely a close second. Since there aren't any dogs on campus, Janet then took us to her house to see her three dogs so we could get our dog fix of the month. She has a huge white dog that is a German shepherd slash wolf mix named Zoe, a rather old and stout Shiba Inu (same kind of dog as Aunt Noni's Ujio, but much bigger and older) named Hooligan, and a Border Collie named Emma. They were all extremely adorable and loving. :) Going from having 6 adorable dogs at home to being surrounded by cats and monkeys on campus is quite the culture shock, so we loved being able to love on dogs.

On Saturday, a rather large group of us went paintballing for about fourteen dollars! In the states, it costs about 100 bucks to rent a gun, buy paintballs, and pay for the game, so we were pretty darn excited about the cheap price of fourteen bucks. The game proved for a great source of community too. We formed teams and got the chance to shoot at other teams. Haha. Great bonding. We all had a great time though. A bunch of the girls had never been paintballing in their lives, so it was a nice and cheap way for them to have fun and learn the joy of the game in a foreign country.

Through this week, I have also discovered that I love the book of Esther. I started reading it this week and watched the movie called "One Night with the King" with a friend of mine that is all about Esther. I admire her boldness and would like to become that bold in my faith myself. I love Esther 4:14b, as it says that God had brought her to the kingdom "for such a time as this." Relating this phrase to my life, I believe that God has brought me to South Africa for such a time as this. I may not always see God's hand in every single moment here, but I know that He is working behind the scenes and has a plan for my life. I pray that I will always stand up for what is right even though it may not be the popular thing. I pray that I would only care about what God thinks. I pray that God would break my heart for what breaks His. I pray that I would live my life in such a way that when I meet my Savior face to face, He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

I pray that my life would make You pleased

"Right here before You, asking on my knees that my life would be something and not just what I dreamed. That I might find favor and mercy and grace in the eyes of my Savior, in the light of Your face. Lord, as I offer everything, I pray that my life would make You pleased, that I might move mountains and wake the sea, oh that Your light would shine through me. Establish Your kingdom in this crying land, restore us to freedom with your healing hand. Your people are yearning, we're desperate for truth, Take over this nation and reclaim Your youth." - "Shine" by Paul Stephens

People, people, this week has been absolutely amazing!!! Such a testimony of God's love and grace. On Tuesday and Wednesday, a bunch of the nursing girls here had the opportunity to go hiking through the Drakensburg Mountains and sleep under an overhang that they referred to as a "cave." The hike was soooo stinking beautiful. On the way to the cave, it took us about four hours to hike up the entire thing. The way there was all a strenuous uphill hike with huge backpacking backpacks on our backs. We drank the spring water and everything! We tried to have positive attitudes the entire time because I'm telling you, we thought we were never going to make it there. At certain points in the hike, we felt like we were walking through a scene from Lord of the Rings. We were literally in the middle of nowhere with 10 nursing girls and 3 guides. Every time we peaked a mountain, we thought we were nearly there, and every time we were told that we had about an hour and half left of the hike. One of our tour guides was quite the little jokester, so we never knew when he was actually being serious or when he was pulling our legs. Haha. We finally reached the caves, however, and got to put all of our stuff down and then proceed down to a God-made rock pool. The second we saw the rock pool, I thought for sure that bells would start ringing and the skies would open and angels would start singing. It was BEAUTIFUL! After we went swimming, we began the treck back to the caves just in time, as it started to downpour rain. Once we got to the caves, it began to downpour with a full on thunder and lightning storm. For those of you who don't know, I am a huge fan of drive-in movies. Growing up, I used to love going to a drive-in with my family and piling in the back of my Dad's pick-up truck with blankets, popcorn, and candy and enjoying a good movie together. The whole time we were sitting in our sleeping bags all bundled up and trying to stay warm, I totally felt like we were at a drive-in and the movie playing was God's very own thunder and lightning storm. I just sat in awe the whole night and fell asleep to the sound of God having some fun. In the middle of the night, I woke up to see the stars and I must say that they were the prettiest stars I have ever seen. They looked like little fireflies just floating around in the sky. The next morning, we packed up our backpacks and started the hike back down the mountain. Although it was the exact same hike, I still found myself amazed with the beauty of it all. We also found ourselves amazed that we had hiked up the entire thing just the day before. On the way down, it seemed like the downhill went on forever. We began to thank Jesus for arms and legs and bodies that could hike such an amazing hike with a group of people who simply wanted to explore God's creation. I personally found myself being very grateful to my parents as well for making my siblings and I do so many outdoorsy things growing up. I mean the hike was most definitely tough for me because it was so very strenuous, but it was doable because not only did God empower my body with the strength, but He empowered me with parents who never allowed me to be a couch potato. Thank You Jesus for such an amazing hike and a chance to see such amazing beauty.

On Friday night, we had a Toga party in honor of a couple of the birthdays in March. I had never been to a Toga party before this, so it was a whole new experience taking my sheet off my bed and wrapping it around my body like it was some kind of Greek dress. Haha. But we had so much fun just being silly. :)

This weekend, we had the amazing chance to go on a Battlefields Tour and sleep overnight at a hotel. Such a sweet weekend! I have found it very interesting taking this one required course here, the History of South Africa. Even though it does not count as any needed points for my actual major, I have found it very fascinating to be able to become passionate about the history of another country that I have been living in for the past two months. We had to drive four hours in order to go to Dundee, South Africa, the city where it all occurred, but we got to take a luxury bus with a tv in it, so none of us really minded. Basically, the history of South Africa and the various battles that occurred were a lot like the battles that the USA went through. I don't know what it was that caused the British people to think that they had a right to own everyone's land, but they tried to take over South Africa like they tried to rule us in the states. And like we battled the British and declared independence from them, so the Zulu and Boers did so here in South Africa. I find it amazing and rather sad that people cannot get along with one another. I mean I understand that the Zulu people had to defend their country from the British, but the Boers were just Dutch people who inhabited South Africa along with the Zulu. The Boers were white and the Zulu were black and they did not want to co-exist by any means. We had the chance to see three different battlefields. At the first at the Blood River, the Boers conquered the Zulus. At the second, the Zulu conquered the British. At the final battle, the British conquered the Zulu, even though there were 20,000 Zulu men and only 1,500 British men. The Brits won the battle because they had better tactics and better weapons. The Zulu people really had to work on their war tactics because more often than not, they were pretty ineffective. The hotel we got to stay in was absolutely beautiful and such a nice relief. Not only did we get to leave the campus and sleep in a different bed for the night, but I was blessed with my very own room. I had my own room with my own tv and bathroom and everything. It was so nice to have alone time amidst a trip with 55 students who we are surrounded by constantly. When we came home from the battlefields tour today, we came home to a double rainbow that was absolutely breathtaking! God is good and His mercy endures forever. I have been here for a little over 2 months and I am still in love with this country. I literally feel like I am living in The Lion King whenever we drive anywhere or see any site. I pray that my life pleases God in everything that I do, whether it be ministering to those who are lost or even sleeping in a hotel bedroom.

By Doing Brave Acts, We Become Brave

"These virtues we acquire by first exercising them... Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it... By doing just acts we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we become brave." - Aristotle

This is a picture I took on Tuesday before clinical... the start of an amazing day :) Thank You Jesus!

I became brave in a whole new way this week. Getting my blood drawn causes me to nearly faint. You see, when I decided I wanted to become a nurse, I naively thought that I could skip all the blood drawing and needle poking and just go straight to being a baby nurse. Yeah right! Since I have been in nursing school, I have come against the most intense challenges in my little mind. The first time I heard we had to give patients shots, I was like, "Wait. No. That can't be. I'm just going to be a baby nurse. I don't need to give shots first. I can do this. It's just on another person." And then I found out that we had to give ourselves a shot in the stomach first. The whole skills lab filled with my nursing buddies were chanting for me. "Kelly! Kelly! Kelly"... I eventually ended up giving myself a shot, but then I had to give my professor a shot in her rear end, with an even longer needle. But what I have found throughout nursing school thus far is that whatever God has called me to, He will bring me through. He has faithfully brought me through every situation I have been in thus far that I may have been a little scared or skeptical about. Last Thursday, I was pushed into drawing blood from 8 different patients. I hadn't even watched the nurse do it ahead of me. She simply talked me through it and then I was on my own. This week on both Tuesday and Thursday, I was at an HIV clinic where they were drawing a lot of blood. On Tuesday, the nurse was not about to let me do anything on my own, let alone with her. After about five or six patients, the line was gone so the nurse went to go talk to another nurse and never came back. The line began to get longer and the nurse just kept on talking with the other nurse. So I decided to be bold and ask her if I could draw blood on the next patient. She looked at me with this not so sweet look and said "Have you done it before?" And I was like "Uh, yes. Last week." So she said something like "Yeah. Okay. Go ahead and try." Challenge accepted little nurse! I acted as confident and bold as I possibly could and I drew blood all on my own, well with Jesus' help of course. Once again Jesus brought me to a tough spot and brought me right through it. I would have died a happy woman at that point. But then I got to draw blood on not just one more patient, but 10 more patients! God is so good! And then on Thursday when I went back to the same clinic, the same nurse challenged me again. I thought she would let me do it on my own because I had proved myself Tuesday, but that nurse was one hard nurse to please. She did like five or six patients and then I noticed that there were two stations for blood drawing, one nurse, and a long line. So I asked her if I could draw blood along side her and once again she challenged me with a "If you can." I could alright! I ended up drawing blood on 18 patients on Thursday! God is seriously good. I'm telling you. Just about a couple years ago, I seriously would go ashen white and nearly pass out whenever anyone would try to draw blood on me. Now I am simply fascinated by it and amazed at the wonder of the way God created our bodies. I also got to have an amazing talk with the nurse, Sister Williams, (in the third picture beneath this blurb) about Jesus. She is a right on Christian who has the same morals and standards as me and I found it to be so amazing. We live a world apart and yet we have come to the same conclusion about Jesus and certain morals in life. To me, that just showed how big the truth is. We read the Bible and meet God in two different worlds and know Jesus in the exact same way. AMAZING!!! :)

I was bombarded with so many mixed emotions this week. A nursing buddy of mine, Kayla, was in Pediatrics this week while I was having so much fun drawing blood from all my patients. She had a patient that she told me about later that just broke my heart. The little girl was only one-year-old and she had genital warts. The nurse referred her to another clinic to be examined further for sexual abuse, but the nurse was pretty sure that it was not anything standard and must be a result of being sexually abused. The thought of the whole situation made me want to become a social worker and start taking all the children out of the homes who were abused and put them into my home. I want to become a Woman's Rights Activist, a Social Worker, and a Nurse. I want to become a Woman's Rights Activist in order to defend those women who think they have no rights. I want to become a Social Worker so that I can save all the children who are abused. I want to become a Nurse in order to minister to those patients who are hurting in this world. Basically, I want to change the world and get all of the evil and trash out of it, but the trash is a part of the fall of man. I pray that God uses me in a surreal way that only God can use me. I want to adopt the entire nation, but then how can I possibly love every single child in the nation on my own? God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. So I have chosen to allow God to use me where I'm at, wherever that may be. One of the amazing little girls who I had the chance to hang out with this week just so happened to walk right into my room on campus. She is the daughter of one of the workers at the campus I'm living at and she is so very sweet. I have no idea how to spell or say her name, but I started with loving her this week and I pray that God gives me so many more opportunities to love people and gives me His love for them. :)

This weekend was AMAZING!!! We got to go shopping in Durban at an open market where we basically bargain shopped and got authentic African things and then we got to spend the day at the beach. But the shopping and the beach wasn't even the best part of it all. The best part of the weekend was the IMPECCABLE African thunder and lightning storms we experienced both Saturday and Sunday night. The sky was literally purple and we couldn't help but sit on the front lawn and stare at it. Whenever there was an intense thunder noise, we would all scream our little heads off and run around. It may not have been the smartest thing to do, as it turns out that according to some association, lying down in an open field is the stupidest thing one could do in a storm because it makes you most likely to get struck, but we had the time of our lives. Watching the beauty of God's creation in action two nights in a row was simply breath-taking... quite literally actually, as I may have lost my voice from screaming so much. I didn't get any of these pictures myself, but a couple of the students I'm here with did and I have no shame in stealing their pictures and sharing them with you :)

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Another amazing week here in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The most inspiring moment to me this week was the day I met a very special little eight-year-old girl. My nursing friend Callee and I were at a new clinic this week, Caprisa. We had the amazing opportunity to draw blood on about eight to ten patients each, give or take a few, and we had the chance to take vital signs. I almost forgot what it was like to actually do nursing duties myself instead of observe the nurses and interact with the patients. Although vital signs are such a simple thing and they had automatic machines for everything so I was literally just pushing buttons and writing down numbers, I felt like I was a real student nurse again. Drawing blood was a whole new experience that I have never encountered in the states and I absolutely loved learning how to do it and then actually getting the chance to do it myself. Anyways, this one little eight-year-old girl came in with her aunt. Her and her aunt are both HIV positive. Her aunt is now raising her because her mother passed away in 2007, when the little girl was only four-years-old, of AIDS. When she came in, the first thing I noticed was how beautiful she was. One of her eyes was permanently half way closed, but she had this automatic beautiful glow about her. She was young and innocent and had little baby freckles on her face like Katie and I. I asked the nurse I was working with how to tell her she was beautiful in Zulu, so she told me and I told her that she was beautiful. Later on in the day, the little girl came back with her aunt because her aunt needed to get her blood drawn, which I happily had the chance to do. When the little girl came back though, the nurse was telling us that the girl knew the entire chapter 23 of Psalms... in English! The little girl spoke English and I had no idea. She recited the entire thing for me on film and she said it loud and proud. As she was saying it, I got chills simply because this little girl who had lost her mother to AIDS was speaking the truth of the gospel from memory and it was simply amazing. I'm not sure if she knew how powerful the words she was saying really were or even what she herself was proclaiming, but I know that God will use those powerful words in her life. This little eight-year-old girl who is HIV positive and had lost her mother to AIDS about four years ago and is now being raised by her mother's sister, was reciting confidently and loudly Psalm 23:

"The Lord is my Shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen."


When she was done reciting this passage, I shouted AMEN right after she said it. The words of truth out of the mouth of a babe. Although she is young, she has already experienced the pain of losing a mother and the pain of an illness that was not her fault. Her mother had passed her positive HIV status on to her child, so she was never given the proper chance to make her own life decisions in order to avoid the positive status. From birth, she was "doomed" in the eyes of the people here, but her aunt is making sure that she takes her medication so that she is not doomed and her aunt makes sure that she is plugged into Sunday school, where she learns to memorize the entire passage of Psalm 23. Yea, though she may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, she will fear no evil for God is with her through it all. God used the life of an eight-year-old to speak the truth of life to my heart. God alone is our Provider and He comforts us all the days of our lives. God is good and His mercy endures forever. The day I met that little girl was a day of inspiring hope that I hope to never forget.

On Wednesday, we had the once in a lifetime opportunity to go see the amazing Drakensberg Boys' Choir. We fell in love with their sweet little voices and had a great time. We drove two and a half hours there and then two and a half hours back just to see them, but it was most definitely worth it and the beautiful drive home as the sun set. One of the songs they sang was an old hymn called "Raise you up"... I'm pretty sure it gave us all goose bumps. I don't know what it is about praise and the words of truth coming out of the mouths of children, but it is awe-inspiring and amazing.

I discovered my new favorite animal, second of course to dogs, this week! My new favorite wild animal is the GIRAFFE! We had the chance to go see them the other day and they are so stinking beautiful. God seriously is the most creative individual I know. I mean, I thought the zebras were pretty impressive, but I'm telling you, the giraffe tops them all! They are AWESOME!!! I also discovered that they are the animal most like my sister and I. The only animal that has freckles other than our cocker spaniel, Lady, is the giraffe. It was simply meant to be that I was to discover my new favorite animal here. Haha.

Last night, I went out to dinner with my chalet girls and it was so much fun! We got all dressed up and went out to some Italian restaurant where we had impeccable pizza. I fell in love with it! :) It was just fun dressing up and being girls and having amazing Italian food for a night.

We only have four more weeks here at African Enterprise in Pietermaritzburg and then we are off to bigger and better things. We will hopefully be done with all of our classes and homework by April 1st (except for our History of South Africa course, which we will continue in Cape Town), then we go on our SAFARI on April 2nd and 3rd, and then we head out of this city and travel to Cape Town on April 9th. During travel week, which is April 9th to the 13th, we will be taking in the sights and scenery on our way to Cape Town and bungee jumping from the highest bridge in the world that one can jump off of and the third highest bridge in general, Bloukrans Bridge, on April 11th. I am both extremely excited and extremely nervous. They say that 30% of the people pee in their pants during the jump... I better be a part of the 70% who don't! Haha.

Here's a link to the website about the impeccable jump :)

http://www.faceadrenalin.com/bloukransbridge.html