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