What we've done:
- Bungee jumped off the tallest bungee bridge in the world. Our garden tour this past weekend was packed full of adventure and team bonding. On Friday we started with a safari tour on a game reserve. We got to be ten yards away from rhinos, elephants, lions, and wildebeests. On Saturday, we started at the Elephant Sanctuary, where we got to walk, touch, and ride the elephants. They are one of my favorite animals, so it was great to be up close and personal with them! Then, we traveled on to the highest bungee bridge in the world. All nine of us jumped, and all nine of us survived. Praise the Lord! This weekend was also a great time for all of us to grow closer as a team...there's just something about dropping three football fields in six seconds that brings a group together!
- Continued to help at the Holiday Club. This week at the Holiday Club has been even better. My group of 11- and 12-year-olds has become more consistent this week, so it's been easier to build stronger connections with them. And, not to brag, but we are currently in first place point wise in the competition against the other teams... But my favorite part of the holiday camp though has been getting to know all of the youth leaders better. We always have a leader meeting to start the day, which is focused more on personal and leadership development. This is where many of the youth have shared their stories and opened up about their pasts to us. My heart has continued to break as they disclose details of neglect, abuse, depression, and parents who have left them.
- Gained three new host brothers. Last Thursday night three American male missionaries arrived at our home for the month. They are participants of World Race, which is an organization that sends teams of about 60 to 11 countries in 11 months for missionary work. The participants are also seeking whether long-term missions is something they are interested in and where they feel the Lord is calling them to spread His name. Unfortunately, one of them is from Baylor. But every time that football game in November comes up in conversation, Kait and I are quick to mention the three Big 12 championship trophies that are sitting on our shelf. But it's been great to get to know our new host brothers and hear their stories over dinner every night. It seems that every conversation with them starts with, "So, when we were eating fried tarantulas in Cambodia..." or "That would time I dropped kicked a monkey in Kenya..." They have some pretty incredible stories and it's been cool to see how the Lord has moved throughout their travels. What's even more incredible is our host mother, who is now housing five host children, four children of her own, and running a Creche of about 80 children EVERY DAY. She also continues to cook incredible meals for us every night and cooks extra food because she knows that people will just come into her home randomly every night looking for a warm meal. Her generosity is overwhelming and it's been a blessing to see how she continues to serve the Lord through serving all of us.
- People here LOVE to dance. There is a dance party every day at holiday club. We dance when we get there early to set up with the youth leaders, we dance during the day with the kids, and we dance after we're done with lunch and we're cleaning up at the end of the day. The youth here are really good at dancing, and I love seeing the joy and freedom they have when the music is playing. These youth have been through so much and this is a way for them to forget about all of the hurt and brokenness they've had in their short lives, and simply enjoy life. This morning I was just standing near one of the youth as she was dancing and she said to me, "This is South Africa. You MUST dance." You know, I don't hate it. And for all of you out there who know "The Chopper" (a Gatewood original), you'll be pleased to hear that I've spread it to South Africa. All of the kids (there is about 60 of them) at the camp now know it and they incorporated it into a choreographed dance they did for us when they heard it was our Independence Day in the States.
- He heals all wounds and brokenness. As I've been learning the stories of these youth and working through how to comprehend what I've heard, I've been reminded of Psalm 147: 3, 5 - "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit." This week I've also been reading the story of Joseph in Genesis. Through it God has shown me how He uses those who have broken pasts. He can help them forget their wounds and will create fruit out of their suffering. This has been convicting for me to think about whether or not I've brought all of my brokenness before Him. No, I don't have stories from my past that are as painful as the ones they've shared, but I am still broken. I am still a sinner. I have still fallen short of the glory of God. But He can heal our hurts, our wounds, our pains. That's what He did for us on the cross - His grace covers our imperfections, so that we can find a greater hope in Him. Please join my in praying for these youth. Pray that they find their hope in the Lord, that they would be reminded daily how much He loves them and how His grace can cover all of their wounds. Our team gets the opportunity to spend all day with them tomorrow, just hanging out and spending time getting to know them better. Please pray for this time we will have with them!
At the start of our African safari!
Wildebeests...or "Ville-da-beests" as our South African guide said.
There's really no feeling like having elephant breath and snot on your hand. It's quite special, really.
Great time riding the elephant with Chantel, our contact in South Africa.
This is the bridge we jumped off of. The place where we jumped is right under the street, in the center.
The whole group who bungee jumped.
It's kind of terrifying to look down and see that the only thing that will be holding you on your jump is a rope attached to your feet.
Completely terrifying, and completely incredible.
Saturday night our tour guide for the weekend took us to this neat place to watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean.
Both Friday and Saturday night we enjoyed dinner by the fire pit at our hostel on the garden route tour.
We took the kids from Holiday Club to the beach on Tuesday. The kids were tasked with building the tallest sand castle they could in 15 minutes. It was great to see how simple the activity was, yet how much fun they had.
Here are the "Red Bulls" (the team I've been working with) with their finished sand castle!
The coordinator for the program let the kids have free time and play in the water if they wanted to. I thought she was a tad crazy, and the whole day was just organized chaos, but it worked. So we watched as 60+ kids descended into the ocean and ran away once the waves came to close. They were having the times of their lives and it was such a joy to watch.
We've continued to help at tutoring this week and work on creating more worksheets for the kids. I've been working with Amber (the one on the far left) this week - she's gotten so much better at subtraction! It's been really cool to see her increase her self-confidence with every correct problem.
Happy fourth of July to you all back in the States! This morning the kids at the holiday club learned that it was our Independence Day and they performed the South African anthem (because they didn't know ours obviously) and choreographed a dance for us. It was great! We're headed back for dinner at our host homes soon and then we are having a fourth of July party in our host homes' garage with our team and our host brothers' team. We're going to wear red, white, and blue and enjoy some Coca-Cola floats and ice cream sundaes! Hope you all are enjoying your holiday!
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