The Day I've Been Awaiting: Safari Time

This past week has been AMAZING!!! We only have one more week left of life here at the African Enterprise campus, so we had multiple dinners out this last week in closure of a variety of things. One afternoon, we went out for lunch for one of the girl's birthdays at this adorable place, actually the same cafe we ate at by the quarry last week. One night, Lauren (LG) and I took our D-Group out to dinner. Another night, Lauren and I got to go out to dinner with our D-Group leader mentor along with two other leaders who she mentors. Another day, we went out to lunch at an amazing Italian place with all the nursing majors here and our two nursing professors, Wendy and Glenda. It was an amazing week of great food and great company! This week was most definitely a week of lasts and firsts. It was our last time sitting in on a nursing lecture here, our last time eating at many different amazing coffee and Italian places, last time turning in our nursing homework here in Africa, and to finish it all out, first time on a Safari!

My Mom's favorite plant in the whole world... the bouganvilla... the plant that surrounds our basketball court at home and pops all of our basketballs and volleyballs :)

The birthday lunch with the girls (not my bday... mine is in 20 days).... :)

A few of the staff kids here at African Enterprise that hang out with us every now and then :)

Our final D-Group dinner minus 2 people :) Love our group! <3

A few girls from the D-Group with our post-dinner ice cream :)

The D-Group leaders! :)

LG and I and our D-Group leader mentor, Janet.... she's from South Africa, born and raised. We love her <3

My Canadian friend, Miranda, and I hanging out in the "Cougar's Den" watching Tangled :)

Nursing lunch with the students and professors :)

LG and I LOVE the Italian food!!! :)

One of the nights, Kara and I had a three-inch gecko in our room that Lauren spotted. I'm pretty sure we were screaming our heads off for about ten minutes trying to catch it with a coffee mug or a bag to bring outside. I've seen Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan and I was not about to let any kind of little animal crawl into my mouth as I was sleeping. Hahaha.... We were pretty much screaming bloody murder whenever the little guy squiggled along. One of my friends, Miranda (the Canadian) actually wrote a story about it that is quite humorous and pretty much sums it all up.... here it is:

Once upon a time there was a young nursing student abroad in the great land of South Africa. She climbed waterfalls, stared down giraffes, roughed it in a cave during a severe African storm and could run miles without losing pace...then one night there appeared...a GECKO!!!! No ordinary creature, this gecko stretched a whole three inches long and had fangs the size of pin heads; the brave nurse did not know what to do, and in a moment of sheer terror she screamed with all her might, causing her fellow chalet-mates to echo the same fearful call into the night air. All around, chalets full of curious girls began to seek out the source of this howl, slowly coming to realize just what had happened...then they laughed and rather than being frightened, only wished they had been there to see it all play out. What happened to the gecko? Perhaps some day the world will know...

My buddies, Lauren, Mary Bette, and I went through the game reserve near campus for one of the last times. We are trying to commemorate every last moment here on campus because we aren't sure when or if we will ever be able to come back. The game reserve here is no safari, but it sure is beautiful.... it has about 6 zebra, a plethora of Mpala (which are like deer), and a plethora of monkeys. God's creation is seriously so amazingly beautiful! Just looking at this land here and its beauty is proof of God's amazingness! :)

My parents sent me a package!!!! :)

With an adorable little monkey and my favorite candy in the whole world - peach rings! :)

Sooooo the stories you have all been waiting for... the Safari.... dun dun dun.... To sum it all up, it was an amazing two and a half days and we serve an amazing God! It was so very neat seeing all the animals in their natural habitat and seeing with my own eyes just how amazing God is. Our tour guides were absolutely amazing when it came to educating us and telling us about all the animals and being fearless enough to get as close as they could to the animals. The safari experience was most definitely one of my favorite, if not the favorite experience we have had thus far in South Africa. So, Africa has this "Big 5," which basically includes elephants, rhinos, buffalo, lions, and leopards. Out of those five, one will most definitely see the first three and possibly the fourth on every safari, but the leopard is the hardest animal to see. Our faithful leader here, Reg, is over 60 years old and he has only seen the big 5 twice on a safari in his entire life. Today, however, my friends, this trip became his third time in his life. This is how amazing our God is though: I really wanted to get into the guide's car that we had yesterday, but it filled up too fast, so I could fit, but another one of my good friends could not fit. So we all just so happened to go in Reg's jeep and we just so happened to sit in the front row of the jeep and we just so happened to go ahead of another jeep because they had to take a restroom break and we just so happened to pull up behind a white SUV that just so happened to point out a leopard to us that we just so happened to see (or the first two rows of the jeep did anyways) a leopard for about 15 seconds. Just so happened? I think not. It was most definitely a God thing! We saw all the big 5 on one Safari! God is good! We didn't just see the lions one time either... we saw a lion or lions 5 different times within the two and a half days we were there! We were seriously blessed! God loves us! :) I considered that one of the best love letters I have ever received from God, other than the Bible of course. :)

Here are some random facts for you that just go to show me how amazing God is and how much He has a hand in Creation: a giraffe's gestation (pregnancy) is 13 months and it is born 6 ft tall. An elephant's gestation is 22 months. Nearly 2 years! A white rhino's gestation is 16 months. A black rhino's gestation is 15 months. A zebra's gestation is 9 months. A dog's gestation is 63 days. A human's gestation is 9 months. A lion's gestation is only 3 and a half months! Why in the world would God allow the elephant more time to cook in the oven and not the lion?! Because God knows what He's doing. That's why! If a pride is scarce on food, the baby lion is the first to starve to death because they are expendable. The lionesses are needed to continue to have more babies and the males are needed to lead the pride and do their part in the breeding process. The gestation is only 3.5 months because lions need to continue to have multiple babies in order to keep their pride going if some babies die off. God is amazing!!! :) I am in love with God's Creation and South Africa! This coming week is our last week at African Enterprise and then on to Cape Town and bungee jumping! :)

LG and I and our faithful theologian leader, Reg :)

My first encounter with a Black rhino.... all the rhino we saw were White rhino because the Black rhino are diminishing more and more each year :/

I came... I saw... I conquered :)

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.