The last two months have been full. Filled
with learning, adventures, and grace. The days have flown by and I’m afraid
it’s been a bit too long since the last update, so there’s a lot to share. Feel
free to just look at the pictures.
Some of the happenings from the past couple months
include:
- Exploring
the local mountains. Two beautiful hikes in the Drakensberg Mountains, one to a
waterfall and one to marble pools.
- Planning and organizing a holiday kids club. This was pretty much 2 full days of VBS, with singing, crafts, Bible stories, games, lunch, memory verses and lots of fun.
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| This is me with about 1/2 the kids who came. They are holding paper boats they made. |
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| They loved throwing water balloons! |
- Putting out a wild fire. The picture I have isn’t great, but the feat we accomplished was!
Together with my host family, we battled a fire that was coming down the hill
towards our houses, in the middle of the night.
No fire department to call and no hoses at all, we beat out the fire
with wet burlap sacks soaked in buckets of water we carried. It was an
extremely hot, long, smoky battle and we were filthy afterwards…but oh how we
rejoiced when it was out. The time really helped us bond too, we’ve literally
been through fire together and came out stronger for it. Here are a few pics of some of the family:
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| With host mom (Thandi) and her grandson Ayabonga |
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| Ayabonga with Nokubonga, my host cousin (left) and Thando, my host sister (right) |
- Having neighbor kids over to play games and read stories. The word is out that I have cards and books. It’s always fun to have guests.
- Planning and putting on a camp for some of the children my organization serves. This camp was the highlight of my time so far. It is the project I worked the hardest on and was the most rewarding too. The kids who came had the opportunity to play and swim and do challenge course activities…and just be kids, leaving behind some of the challenges of everyday life. But they also got time to talk about the challenges they share in common, and learn about resilience, goal setting, and how we can have hope, even in the midst of very hard things. I’m so glad that hope isn’t just a word, but is found in Christ. Some really good conversations were had, kids opened up, the Good News was shared, plus we sang and prayed, and danced and laughed and had oh so much fun.
Another
blessing was that with all the busyness of camp, my quite time was a bit
earlier than normal, accompanied by a beautiful sunrise.
- Joining two families for a camping trip in a local game park. We saw giraffes right as we were driving into the park, then lots of ostriches, zebras, warthogs and different types of antelope. In the morning just a little ways from our tents were two rhinos and a herd of zebras. Blessed!
That’s a glimpse at what my last few months have looked
like. I really love it here and it’s
been so neat to be a part of what the Lord is doing and have time to enjoy the
beauty of His creation. But I do miss home too. A few weeks back I attended training
in a nearby city. While there, I went for a walk and was thinking about how I
was missing fall and the beauty of the changing autumn leaves. And then, right
before me, was a giant jacaranda tree in full bloom. I'd been missing colorful
trees without even thinking to hope to see them. And when I wasn't expecting it
at all, there was a gift beauty. Pure grace.
So I stood right there among the falling flowers and prayed a thank
you prayer for how God showers down blessings and makes beautiful things. I was
reminded that sometimes beauty comes when and where we least expect it, but how
that can make it all that much sweeter. And when I
returned to my village, I starting looking and discovered there are
jacaranda trees here too. How had I
missed them before!
I want to
live with open eyes, to see His blessings and recognize them. To recognize that
every day is grace - a free gift I don’t deserve and to remember that it is
grace to get to share about the very greatest Gift (Ephesians 3: 8).
And oh how
gracious God is to this one who has a hard time remembering and sometimes
forgets to look...the reminders are right in the names I have been given. The
name Anna means “grace” in Hebrew. And the Zulu name I was given my very first
week here, is “Mbali”, which means flower.
And my camp name from a few years back is “Forget-me-not”. So this is a reminder to
myself, whenever I see flowers, whether gracing a tree, a field, or a garden,
remember God’s great grace. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word
of our God will stand forever” ~ Isaiah 40:8
And one more
peak into that enduring Word says: “For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is
the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them” ~ Ephesians 2: 8-10
Walking in
and by His grace!
