Hello beautiful family!
I am SO sorry for not updating in an entire month… I’ve been traveling and have also been sick… so those are my excuses this time around : )
So let’s see… the first week of November was pretty interesting, as I started really getting into my role of helping the community-based organizations in the villages with their administrative work. On Monday the 1st, I was part of a training which introduced us to the new database system where all the information about each orphan and vulnerable child is kept. Then I went out to Bushbuckridge and, for most of the rest of the week, helped out in one of the community-based organizations with inputting their data. It’s really tedious work, for many reasons. For one, people don’t seem to care that much how they spell people’s name here, making it nearly impossible to find a kid in the database. So there may be two or three entries for one kid, because the name is spelled Salvation, Salvashin, and Salvashun. It’s funny to me because it seems in the States we are very particular and get upset if someone spells our name wrong – if someone writes to me calling me “Elly,” etc. But that is clearly not the case here!
So that was my week… the weekend was pretty nice too! There was a HUGE storm (Mpumalanga has the most beautiful thunderstorms at night) and so the power was out… so we had a fun game night on Friday, then a braai on Saturday, then a couple from Hands had me over for dinner on Sunday. So it was a great weekend!
The following week… was… CAPE TOWN!!!!! I can’t even describe how amazing it was. I got to see soooo many friends, catch up and have some deep meaningful conversations… and best of all, I got to baptize my friend Brittanie!! It was such a special, profound moment that I will never forget. Another highlight was definitely returning to my cell group and sharing about the scriptures that brought us through 2010. It made me realize what a life-changing year this was, and how much God has really seen me through!! It’s been such an incredible journey and I know He is taking me from glory to glory. Another highlight was my friend Sara’s 25th birthday party with the theme of “Swagga Like Us” – we had to dress as divas or ballers so of course I chose the latter! I rocked a Georgetown basketball jersey and had so much fun with my friends. The week was over way too quickly, but it was such a blessing and really revived me for the weeks ahead.
When I got back from Cape Town, my week was pretty relaxed. I went back out to Bushbuckridge but there wasn’t too much going on at the office for me to do so it was mostly just nice to catch up with everyone at the office. I absolutely love the family I stay with – one night we had a little dance party watching some music videos and it was so much fun!! I’m really enjoying myself with them, they are such a blessing.
Then, last week, I got very very very sick. Ok let me stop being dramatic… I’m completely fine, but I was feeling horrible, I can’t even lie!! So most of the week was spent in bed. On Thursday, I thought I had recovered enough to go back out to Bushbuckridge, but I was very wrong… so now I am back on my sickbed so that I can fully recover this time. Thursday was Thanksgiving, by the way!! LOL! It was a very memorable Thanksgiving, eating pap and beans and watching the Lions lose (as usual). But it was awesome I actually got to watch the game! They were broadcasting it on ESPN Africa – how cool is that? Friday is when things went downhill health-wise though, so I headed back to the Hands Hub to recover. But I still managed to have a nice weekend – church was so lovely, and it was great to see everyone again as I’d been missing the past couple Sundays, traveling and being sick. And one of my friends preached so that was awesome! This week, I’ve just been relaxing and recovering, but I’ll probably head back out to Bushbuckridge this Thursday if I’m feeling okay.
Sorry this was such a basic catching-up… I will write another post soon dealing with some of the things that have been going on mentally and spiritually in the past month. But I wanted to let everyone know that I’m still doing well! Looking forward to seeing many of you in the USA in a few weeks!! : )
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