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.