So! Even though I often say “I never do anything here,” it’s not really like I’m always on vacation. I mean, I look for work, and that’s almost like working. Also, I am always available to do work if it comes up.
However. Now, I can finally say that I really don’t have anything to do! I’m on vacation!!
Christmas (as you know) just happened, and New Year’s (as you know) is rapidly approaching (ahh!! 2010!). So this whole week – that’s right, the whole week – we don’t have to work! We don’t have to report to the office at all. We can just chill. Oh. My. Goodness.
Yesterday was the beginning of our vacation. I slept in and woke to a delightful, sunny, gorgeous blue sky. My morning was slightly interrupted by a text message from our pastor asking us to clean up the church yard because of a recent wind storm, but it was so gorgeous outside that I didn’t even mind. After that Gabby and I went outside and sun/shade bathed in delightful silence. The carpenters (who normally work in our backyard every day but Sunday) are now on vacation as well. It was awesome.
I plan on doing mostly nothing this week. I will probably venture out to the store at some point this week (unfortunately the need to eat and bathe doesn’t go on vacation) and we will hopefully go to a waterfall with some friends on Wednesday for a picnic, but other than that my days are blissfully empty. Score!

Also: Christmas was pretty good. We were invited to the home of a family member of some church members (I know, right?), and we ate like there was no tomorrow. The food was basically eternal. Then we came home, chilled, and watched all of the Christmas episodes that we have from “The Office.” Very nice.

Right now I am dealing with a lot of Christmas envy. For those of you who don't know, "Christmas envy" is the turning of Christmas into a frustrating, foreign event that doesn't even seem celebratory. I almost hate Christmas.

There are manyn reasons for this, I think. Among them are:

1. It's hot. Even here, though, Christmas is portrayed in pictures as a snowy, cold event. It's like Christmas is taunting all of the southern hemisphere, laughing at our misery.


2. I'm away from home, so all the things I'm used to having for Christmas, like a big, beautiful, sweet-smelling Christmas tree and six siblings to make fun of, are far off from here.


3. We don't have stockings. Maybe this Christmas-killer belongs above, with "away from home," but stockings are so important to me they get their own category.


4. The church here doesn't seem to celebrate Advent, and this is hard for me to adjust. It is difficult for me to get into the "Christmas spirit" when life seems to be going on as normal, just hotter.


5. Team England is sucking all the life that's left out of my South African Christmas. Their Christmas is cold and will possibly be snowy; they have stockings; they have a Christmas tree; they get to drink hot chocolate and not sweat their weight. They will soon know what they did.

I know I shouldn't be looking at Christmas this way. After all, it is the birthday of Jesus and shouldn't (and doesn't) depend on things like snow and hot chocolate. But it's hard for me to feel celebratory here. I am sort of working on it, but also sort of basking in my negative emotions. Anyway. Merry Christmas!

birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday! In true RJ: Team South Africa style, Anna and Gabby have been treating me to an awesome, three-day, deliciously fattening celebration of my 18th birthday. We started the festivities on Monday night when they made me homemade peanut butter cups - yum! Then on Tuesday, on my actual b-day, we did a bunch of delightful things.
First we went out to lunch at Essence, a wonderful cafe near our house. Then we went up to Phil and Christine's house to watch...wait for it...FOOTBALL!!!! AHH!!!! We got to watch the Ravens play the Packers! True, it was a sad game, but I have been so football starved that it didn't even hurt that much.
Then Gabby and Anna made me Indian food, and we had a feast. It was topped off by the scrumptious chocolate cake with strawberry frosting we had for dessert. It even had candles on it. Amazing!
Today, Anna bought me a coconut dessert at Spar, the local amazing grocery store. And tonight, we hope to find "Hot Rod" at the video rental store, so we can end the celebration in true style.

Sometimes I feel like there is a lot to be gained from being a part of BCI.
I know I spend a lot of time feeling frustrated with the church and wanting to go home, but I think I'm ready to get over myself. I mean, okay - I know that I disagree with a lot of BCI's theology, and this is different from what I'm used to, and I sometimes feel useless here, but I don't want to waste ten months of my life trying to cut myself off from an entity that I basically live with. I don't want to waste my time in South Africa trying to claw my way out of South Africa. What I really want is to get to know the people of BCI, because I think that is where the treasure lies. Sure, sometimes I disagree with the pulpit, but one thing I know for sure is that the man (or woman) behind the pulpit is still a person with a heart and, I'm sure, some good in them somewhere. So I hope these next seven or so months are spent, on my part, working to get to know the people around me and learning to love them.

Bum Bum Bum.

This past Monday night during the youth prayer meeting I settled into a routine I've adopted in order to keep myself from getting distracted. There is so much movement and noise during praise and worship that sometimes I find myself watching those around me instead of truly entering worship. So I've taken to closing my eyes and standing still; sometimes I don't even sing. I just like to be able to hear the words and feel God speaking to me through the music. And do you know what? On Monday night, I did. I heard God, and I felt him, humming softly through the bassline.

Lovely Day

Today was lovely indeed! Minus one slightly scary incident, our Saturday was as peaceful as we've seen [that I can remember]. Here lie some highlights of our day:

• We got to sleep in, to some degree. During the week we are usually up by eight, which, although late by South African standards, feels early to most of us. Today, however, we had no reason to be up that early!
• Gabby made roll kuchen, delicious fried dough thingies, for lunch. Yum!
• It was a gorgeous day - sunny and breezy and warm but not too hot.
• Tomorrow we celebrate American Thanksgiving! We weren't able to celebrate on Thursday, but tomorrow we will be celebrating with other North Americans. It's gonna be awesome. Today Anna and I made two pecan pies, and with the leftover pie crust we made an impromptu apple pie that we happily ate.
• We watched "Slumdog Millionaire" while eating apple pie :).
• I got to make dinner! Yay for Indonesian food.
• Anna and I went to the grocery store, and on the way home were followed for a block or so by some weird guy who kept saying "You so pretty" and "Can I have your number?" It was irritating at first, then scary. We began to think of how to keep him from knowing where we lived when we got closer to our house, and I started to get legitimately worried. And then, finally, he left us alone.

So that was our day! It was very nice indeed.

Dwight!!

We have a new addition to Team South Africa: Dwight the Baby Cat!
We spent yesterday and the day before yesterday removing a big pile of sticks and compost from a corner of the church property. We would load up a trailer with these big branches and sticks and whatever else was there and then drive thirty minutes out of town to a township called Sweetwater, where we unloaded on a farm [the best part was the drive up - it was gorgeous!]. Anyway, one fateful moment, as Kyle removed a stick from the compost heap...a baby cat revealed herself to us! She is black and white, about four inches long, and basically incredibly cute. I love her!
We have been talking about getting a cat ever since we found out we had mice - so basically since the first week here. However, before yesterday it would have required either a) going to the SPCA and paying for one, or b) catching one of the many strays that hang out in our yard. Neither one of those things ever happened, because we're too cheap for the SPCA - sad, I know - and those strays are not people-friendly. Little Dwight [so named because we all have an obsession with the NBC show "The Office"] is an answer to prayer! Hopefully she doesn't get too big so we don't have to spend too much money on cat food, but hey - who's thinking about that now? We got time :).

ohhh rain...

Rain, rain, go away, go away and die.

That is how I feel.

Yesterday the sun teased us for a few hours in the morning. I woke up to a blue sky and couldn’t help but smile and think Ooo, hello sun! Thank you for coming out! And then Anna did laundry, and the wet clothes scared the sun away. By 11 o’clock it was cloudy. And then the inevitable rain appeared.

Today Anna and I had ESL and we were late. Neither of us could bear to step off the porch into the downpour, even though the walk to the children’s church building (where we hold our lessons) is only about a minute long.

On days like today I just want to go back to bed. I don’t understand why South Africa, which I have always heard is so beautiful, has trapped me in a deluge of water and cold weather. I spend my time outside looking down at puddles, trying my best to avoid them, and all I can think about is how cold I am. Even at home, as we huddle in the kitchen around cups of tea and hope for the oven to warm the room, half of our conversation is about how cold we are.

When people ask us how we like South Africa, we say “It’s too cold.” And boy, do we mean it.

On a completely separate note, I want to just say that The Celebration of the Wiebe was awesome, and I want to do it again. We spent three days (Sunday the 15th through Tuesday the 17th) celebrating Awesome Gabby’s birthday. We had some delicious desserts, went to the movies (quick note: Law Abiding Citizen is awful), partied like rock stars, and had a generally delightful time. I also made her a giant birthday card, complete with “A [Fourth] Birthday Comic”. Making cards is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do, and celebrating birthdays (as long as I get to make cake!) is always awesome. So maybe if we can just keep busy with celebrations – December 8th, the Celebration of the McKinney, is right around the corner – things here won’t be so bad. Hey, I can dream.

church church church

[over there: all the gum we collected on Friday]

Today in church I spent more time watching the drummer than anything else (it doesn’t make me a creeper. I just like the drums).

Don’t get me wrong – I think church is important, and I sort of tried to pay attention…but my favorite thing about praise and worship here is the drumming, and it’s easy to get distracted when the service has very little variation from every other service we go to.

I am feeling a bit drained when it comes to church. We go at least three times a week, which is way more than I ever have in my life. Sunday, of course, means morning worship and (maybe) also the 2:00 youth service. Monday nights we have prayer, and Friday evenings we have youth again. Sometimes there are additional things we attend, like leadership meetings. And sometimes on Sundays (for instance, when we are doing a skit) we go to all three services – 8:00, 10:00, and 2:00.

Even though I can see the good in going to church a lot, reinforcing the community and constantly trying to grow closer to God, it’s easy for me to feel churched-out. When I walk out of the building, sometimes I unconsciously breathe a breath of relief. Sometimes (like right now) I feel blessed to be able to step back and say “Wow, we don’t have to go to church any more today!”

Hopefully as time goes on I will get used to this system of things. On the other hand, the holidays are coming, and we will have some time off for a while…so maybe I’ll just look forward to that instead.

P.S. Also, I spent all morning on Friday peeling (or scraping or forcing or whatever) gum off of the carpet and chairs in the church auditorium. It was sick. But I got to listen to my iPod the whole time, and I liked that.

P.P.S. Today is Mexican Sunday. Anna and I are making Mexican food for dinner! Fiestaaaa!!

All Good Things

Can I tell you a secret? I CAN DRIVE! Yeah, it's true...I'm pretty much the Queen of Vehicular Motion.

Okay maybe not...but hey. It was only a couple months ago that I could hardly sit behind the wheel of a standard vehicle for two minutes without getting kicked into the passenger seat. And now! I drove all the way home from the mall tonight without stalling once! Okay...well I stalled two or three times, but only in the parking lot. It was awesome! I was and still am so excited!

This weekend we are going to Durban, and I will drive again!!!! Oh my goodness!

So yeah. Also today we went to a pizza place and had all-you-can-eat pizza. That was awesome, and surprisingly cheap. And since we were there to celebrate a birthday, I got to spend a good few hours today making a giant birthday card. And Anna drew penguins on it! It was superb.

Also today I taught an ESL class all on my own! We have some new students in the ESL class who know a very small amount of English, so I led a separate class with them. I have never done this before...so I did not really know what I was doing. However, we managed to fill up the two hours with useful information, like days of the week and body parts, so that was nice. I hope I didn't overload them. But I'm really excited to continue teaching this class. Not only is it a challenge (rawr!!), I definitely feel like if I'm able to teach them anything at all it will help them, and I like that.

Trip to Hilton #2 Top Moments!

Today was a day of awesomeness! Phil and Christine [our heroes and favorite people ever!] asked us last night if we wanted to go for coffee with them this morning. We said that of course we would, and then this morning we found out that by “coffee” they actually meant “come to our house all day long, take everything from us that you want, and eat all of our awesome delicious food. Oh yeah, and have fun all day.”
So! Our second trip to Hilton was even more wonderful than our first! And here is a list of reasons why:

• “I love going to Hilton! It’s such a magical place – good things always happen there.” Thank you, me. It was so true.
• “Aaa!!!! Traffic cone!” BAM. Kyle hit a traffic cone on the way there. It was either the cone or a car in the other lane…so…it was awesome. Especially for me, because I was sitting in the passenger seat and it was coming right at me.
• We ate scones at their house. Oh man, so good.
• THE RAVENS BEAT THE BRONCOS!!!! RAY LEWIS AND JOE FLACCO ARE MY HEROES!! This has to do with Hilton because I used Phil and Christine’s computer to look up the scores and I was high on excitement for a long long time.
• Another football story. Kyle and I had a conversation that went like this:

-Kyle: "Bill Bellicheck is a pretty good guy. I call him up and we talk all the time."

-Me: “Oh really? What do you guys talkabout?

-Kyle: “FOOT-BALL.” Especial emphasis on...all the letters.

• Driving! Phil took Anna and I to practice our driving in their quiet neighborhood. It was good practice and full of fun. For instance, Phil said “Shazzaam” a few times so that was nice.
• Belle (their tiny little dog, maybe a daaschun) killed a little rabbit! It was small and black and looked just like Mikey, my sister’s old dwarf rabbit that died from eating rat poison. I was proud of Belle. She also killed a bird when we were out driving, so two for two.
• Ultimate Frisbee!!!!!!!! I love it so much!!!!! Almost as much as football and badminton! Thank you Dung Tran. Okay anyway, we played with Nathan, Lydia, and Annika, girls verses boys. It was totally awesome and the girls won, 6-4. So, yeah. Also, I dove into a fence (de-fence come to life) and Kyle got smacked/scraped in the eye by Tim, even though they were on the same team.
• “So this is the white shop?” Thank you, Gabby. We went to the grocery store with Christine in a poshy sort of neighborhood that is, yes, mostly white. But Gabby said it so awesomely. Woohoo!
• Books and movies!! They gave us like 25 books to borrow, none of them under 200 pages (except maybe The Notebook, Nathan’s favorite book ever), and we also borrowed maybe ten movies or so. They. Are. Awesome. People.
• Even though we were driving down a big scary hill on a big scary highway going scary fast in lots of scary fog, we made it alive and managed to discuss awesome things. Like Phil and Christine and how much we love them. Also Anna finally managed to pop her ears, so yay! Go Anna!
  

Cell!

Okay so Friday was my first night at cell. Cell cell cell cell cell!
Alright. The cell I have been put into is headed by lovely Nicole (I hope you are reading this Nicole; you’re welcome) and the girls in it are aged 14 to 18 or so. Friday night was a really interesting experience.
The cell meeting was held at the church. There were actually a number of cells who all met around 7:30. We did an icebreaker (woohoo!), had praise and worship, and then split off into our cells for discussion.
The evening started to challenge me with the praise and worship. Youth praise and worship at BCI is even livelier than regular praise and worship; kids were jumping, dancing, doing congo lines….all around me, and I was just standing there. Just standing there, in the middle of the floor. It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying or getting into the praise and worship – I have actually gotten to the point where I enjoy BCI’s worship style – it’s just that I still feel that I can worship and praise without it being a big dance party. I can’t dance and that’s a fact.
So anyway, there I am, and after one of the lively jump-and-dance songs the praise and worship leader says “Now if you want God to be in your life – if you love Jesus with all your heart – I want you to shout ‘Jesus!’ on the count of three.” And I swear (it’s possible I imagined it, but I didn’t think so) I heard someone say, very pointedly, “Connie.”
I tried to take it in stride, and go with the flow, and think to myself “Okay, I love Jesus, I want God, so even if I feel judged I can get over it and try to get into things.” But it was so hard, and before I knew it we were into the next song (a more contemplative, no-jumping song that I actually like) and I was crying and just feeling so overwhelmed. I found myself praying “God, please get this church out of my way. I want to see you, please just get this church out of my way.”
So that is sort of how I went into the cell group. I just felt so overwhelmed and tired of being judged and confused about everything. I couldn’t understand what God wanted me to do here, if I can’t even get through a worship service without worrying if this church thinks I am a horrible person.
However. I came out of the cell feeling completely different. The girls in my cell are interesting, interested, and so honest. Hearing them talk (and answering their wacky questions about America), and hearing Nicole’s responses, gave me so much hope for my time here. These girls’ lives are not perfect – far from it – yet Nicole showed them so much love and acceptance. And becoming part of a cell gives me a feeling of acceptance and purpose here (where I spend most of time wondering what to do with myself). So it was a good night, in the end.

P.S. Here are some of the questions the girls asked me:

• [After being told I do not know Beyonce]: “Do you know Chris Brown?”
• “Can you dance?”
• “Do you have any American money with you? Can we see it?”
• “Do American girls like to eat?”
• “Have you ever gotten into a fight at school?”
• “What size shoe do you wear?”
• “What is your cell phone number in America?”
• “Are the phones in America normal?”
• “What do you want to do with your life?”
• “Do you have mixit [a cell phone chat room type thing] in America?”
• “If a South African person went to America, would you think they had an accent?”
• “Will you take me back with you?”
• “Can I take a picture with you?”
• “Do they put growth hormones in the food at McDonald’s in America?”
• “Do they have KFC?”

Office Work! Kill Me Now...

If only they had warned me!

So today, I had nothing to do again.

Surprise!!

So I went to see Thandi, who Gabby works for, and she told me to help Gabby with filing.

Oh. My. Goodness!

What a thrill. What a wonderful, exciting way to spend the day.

Actually no. It wasn't really fun. However, the worst part was that I was really, really bad at it. I could not figure out where to put things, and I spent most of the time saying "Gaaaabbyyyy....I can't do it!! Where do I put this? Where does this go? How do you use this hole puncher?" Yes, I really could not figure out how to use the hole puncher.

So. That was my day. It wasn't really that bad. I made pineapple upside down cake, and it kind of failed, but it still has pineapples in it. So that is good.

Mmm yes.

Top Trip-to-Hilton Moments

Grandma Greta! Happy Birthday! love, Connie :)

Ok so we went to Hilton Gardens today. Hilton Gardens is the area outside of town where Phil and Christine live. They recently moved there, I think because the pollution in town was driving them crazy. So yay! We went up for their housewarming party after baking some maple pecan scones – oo la la – and it turned into quite an adventure! Below are nine fantastic reasons why (plus one non-related yet interesting tidbit):

• Getting lost: we ended up missing a turn somewhere and driving all the way out, past Hilton, into the beautiful countryside. Let me tell you, man, South Africa is lush! It is gorgeous…everything is so green and beautiful and hilly. Just like a picture! And there we were, hurtling down the N3 (aka freeway) at 120 kph, going completely the wrong direction.


• “How now, brown cow.” As we were hurtling down the N3 we passed a pasture with cows peacefully grazing. Anna appropriately said “How now, brown cow,” and Tim said “Not really, those cows are black and white,” and Anna said “I know, I just really wanted to say that.”


• Trying to make it up a fantastically huge hill after we missed our turn (but before we knew we were going the wrong way). Our little Honda Ballade is weak and sad and we could hardly get it to go faster than 20 or 30 kph! Ugh!


• “The car is going to explode!” In my recent driving lesson with Phil, he told me that if the RPM gets up too high the engine could explode. Me being the innocent automatic-car-driving girl that I am, I thought he was serious, and as we were trying to make it up that huge hill the engine was making scary noises and I told them what Phil had said. However, when we got to his house Phil told us that he had been kidding. So. I am foolish.


• “Squish,” says Kyle, as we drive dangerously close to a huge semi-truck on the N3.
  
• We sang 606 (the Mennonite song) at Phil and Christine’s house!


• “My ears are going to explode!” On our way home, going downhill, Anna really felt that her ears were going to explode. It was great.


• “ENTOURAGE.” Can’t be explained.


• We had some really really good cake at Phil and Christine’s house. It is called Italian crème cake. Oh. My. Goodness.


• Also: this was after we got home, but we had a delightful conversation with our neighbor Christian. It was all about his startling Facebook friendship with Gabby's sister. Who is in Canada. Whoo-hoo!

I Love It!

The past few days have been awesome! I have not loved South Africa so much as I love it now.
So. As previous blogs explain, I was wiped out all weekend, and I didn’t want to go back to work (washing windows and tablecloths and ironing curtains! Yay!) right away, and Phil and Christine read my mind! They kindly and lovingly and awesomely volunteered to take us to the nearby Tala Game Reserve to see all sorts of awesome animals, like giraffes, zebras, rhinosaurs – yes, rhinosaurs –, warthogs, ostriches, wildebeasts, etc (no lions, but that’s okay), and also to debrief after the weekend. And also to have a braai (aka a barbeque)!
Not only was it really cool to see all those animals, it was really nice to talk to Phil and Christine. Sometimes I forget that I am here not to judge (crazy, right?) but to learn. It’s so easy for me to close myself up to different things without thinking about reasons behind the differences or how they might actually *gasp!* be smart! Phil and Christine are very good at bringing me back to Planet Earth and reminding me to not be a snob, although not usually in so many words J.
Here are some other good things that have happened in the past couple of days:

• Basketball! I am no good at basketball and I don’t enjoy playing it because I suck so much. However, Tuesday night I got to play a little with Gabby and Christian (our insane yet great Congolese neighbor), and I found that it is quite fun! Maybe I’ll get back to the States a champion!


• Fake meat! Phil and Christine were kind enough to buy me some fake boervorst sausages for the braai, and they were SO GOOD. Oh. My.


• Cleaning windows! Just when I thought I was sick of manual labor, I did it and remembered that I love it. I’m almost at the point where I can accept doing odd jobs every day, without having one big world-changing focus. It helps that when I cleaned the windows my iPod was good with the shuffling. Sometimes my iPod refuses to play songs that I really like because it is too busy playing songs I only sorta like. But my iPod was good on Wednesday.


• “Third Watch.” We watch that TV show a lot, since Tim has Season One. It’s ridiculous and dramatic and totally awesome. By the way: if anyone has any of the other six seasons, please feel free to send them.


• Learning to drive, all over again. Phil kindly is teaching Kyle, Anna, and I how to drive the crazy South African way (ok, it’s not crazy, just hard). Most cars here are standard, and they drive on the left side of the road…so Wednesday I had my first lesson in our fussy little Honda Ballade. It was awesome, though I am not that great. Phil told me to have dreams about “giving it more gas” so I can be a better shifter. Oh, I’ll have all the dreams.


• We have money!!! Finally, we are no longer broke. Anna and I went grocery shopping yesterday; it was basically the best day of my young life.


• Beautiful weather! It’s been gorgeous since Monday, which was very welcome after a rainy weekend.


• Photo ops! We took a good many “jumping pictures” at the game reserve. We didn’t intend to take so many, but we failed so many times that we had to jump probably 10 or 15 times. Finally we got a good, in-the-air pic, but the failed ones are just as fun to look at. Also. For some reason there is a giant (like, six or seven feet high) KFC bucket sitting behind the children’s church building, so Anna, Gabby, and I went over there and took pictures on it and around it. Awesome.

camp! aaaaaaa

Children’s Church Camp this weekend!
I didn’t really know what to expect going into this weekend. The idea of lots of kids running around was daunting, but I was sort of looking forward to the Camp. I don’t really dislike kids. How bad could it be?
Well. Not horrible, but certainly exhausting. This weekend was much more tiring than I would have ever expected. Not only did we have to wake up very early, there were other elements that I struggled with. It was both physically and emotionally draining.
However. In the spirit of awesomeness, I have compiled a Top Moments list with the help of Anna and Kyle. This weekend certainly wasn’t all bad, and it gave us some things to think about, be grateful for, and laugh at. Here they are!

• The kids being told, on the first day, “You are not here to have fun.” The teacher went on to explain “You are here to praise the Lord,” which makes sense, but it was still a shock for me to hear that. At that age, all I wanted was to have fun! They were also told “There will be no love letters written," which was just fun to hear :).
• Kyle conducted a play of the story of Jonah with a bunch of on-the-spot volunteer kid actors, and it was really really good! It was funny and awesome and I wish I had recorded it.
• The kids were required (at least on one day) to shower in pairs. Understandably, there were only four showers for about sixty kids. However, even when I was ten (the minimum age for the Camp) I absolutely did not shower with anyone else. Baths with my sister stopped when I was probably seven or eight.
• We were told to wake up in time for prayer with the other leaders at 5:30 am. On Saturday, we woke up as early as 4:30, got there at 5:30, and sat around for 20 minutes doing nothing. On Sunday, we woke up fifteen minutes later, got there at 5:45, and sat around for a solid hour, again doing nothing. In retrospect, it wasn't that bad, but I am not a morning person. I was so tired!
• One child was told “Your friends have to be your own age. So-and-so is not your age, so you two can’t be friends anymore.” It would have made a little more sense (or at least been consistent with previous incidences) if these kids were of the opposite sex; they were both girls. This really made me sad. It was early and I was so tired that when I heard this tears actually came to my eyes.
• Badminton! On Saturday afternoon the kids had a volleyball tournament. There was, for some reason, a badminton set along with the volleyball net, and I took full advantage and started playing with some kids. They loved it! I loved it! We all loved it! Also: there is an abundance of Jack Purcell merchandise here (he was a very good Canadian badminton player in the 1950s, and Converse made a “Jack Purcell” shoe). I loved it.
• Anna almost died! The camp building has a gas oven, and there must be a leak somewhere. One day, after lunch, the ladies were starting to work on dinner while Anna was unsuspectingly washing dishes…and…BOOM! It was so loud, and very scary. Apparently it was some sort of fireball explosion situation. No one was hurt, but for the rest of the weekend we did not use that oven.
• Anna, Kyle, and I spent a good portion of our weekend peeling and grating vegetables, washing dishes, dishing out food, or otherwise trying to be helpful in the kitchen. It was awesome. Not only did we get to exercise our love for food (yay!) we got to skip out on some of the sessions, which left me feeling increasingly emotionally and spiritully confused and exhausted.
• We were consistently expected to know famous people because we are from North America. For example, Kyle was asked if he knew Eminem; when he said no, the kid said “But…you’re white!” Anna was asked if she knew Beyonce, Mariah Carey, and Chris Brown, and upon being told “No” the child was very confused. Anna was also asked if she had ever met any “negroes” or “people with long hair and hats.” She didn’t really know how to answer either question.
• We watched the crucifixion clip from “The Passion of the Christ.” I do believe that that movie can be powerful in helping us to understand what our Savior went through, but I felt it was uncomfortable with it being played for kids who aren’t even all old enough to watch “Batman Beyond.” I couldn’t bring myself to watch, partly because it is so graphic and partly because it made me sad to think of the impact it was having on those kids. There was a lot of emphasis on the death of Christ, but not the life of Christ, and it just made me so sad (another teary moment) to think that these kids were missing out on that beautiful life.
  
  So. It was a crazy weekend. I am glad we went through it, because it gave me a lot to think about and it was kind of fun, but I am also glad it is over. I’m sure I‘ll sleep well tonight!

nickelback! celine dion! and more!

I was going to blog about my evangelizing experience today but I got distracted by Tim and Kyle’s conversation.
They have so far discussed: bicycle jousting; car jousting; other ridiculous made-up sports; Gabby’s English language issues; drive-by paintball; spying on friends; Nickelback = the worst band ever; awkward llama (pronounced by Tim as lamb-a); awkward turtle; Santana; Celine Dion, The Lord of the Rings, Dung Tran, and yearbook quotes (all of which are connected); getting chased by the police; and a number of other things that I cannot remember.
I am so glad that we are all getting more comfortable – not only here in South Africa, but with each other. Even though I always feel like I never ask the right questions, we actually are getting to know each other better every day. In Chicago we didn’t really get to know each other at all (instead, we got to know people who are now in Australia, Paraguay, and/or England), but we have slowly been learning to enjoy each other!
Pretty much every night, for instance, we stay up together and watch multiple episodes of either The Office (best show ever!) or Third Watch (also up there!). We eat dessert together! We even make dessert together!
Another example would be Kyle and Tim staying up till 11:30 to talk about a wide range of strange and wonderful things.
I often catch myself thinking “I can’t wait until I like this place so much that I could miss it when I leave.” I also can’t wait until I like Anna, Tim, Kyle and Gabby so much that I will really miss them when we part ways. I think that will happen sooner rather than later, and that makes me really happy.
Also: I evangelized today! Sort of. Anna and I went to a boarding house with Melaine, one of the youth pastors. I was not looking forward to it at all because it was my night to make dinner and going out meant I had to cut the bread rolls out of my meal, but it turned out to be really good (the evangelizing, that is, although the meal was not bad either). The girls at the boarding house were awesome! We talked to a group of girls from 13 to 18 who go to school in Pietermaritzburg but live all over, in KwaZulu Natal and even the Free State. We invited them to come to church and talked a bit about that, and then Anna and I answered a bunch of questions about America. These questions included:

· Do you have lockers in your school?
· Do you have cafeterias in your schools?
· What is the weather like?
· Are there different cultures there?
· How do schools work? (as in how are they split up for grades and all that jazz)

It was really fun! Melaine is really fun and laid back, and I enjoyed meeting the girls a lot. Not only were they super nice and funny, they were super interested in us (we couldn’t help but be flattered!). We prayed before we left, holding hands in a circle, and the girls actually fought about who got to hold our hands. Then they gave us hugs when we left. I felt like freaking Britney Spears or something. Oh my goodness!

One More Time...Why Am I Here? (and also: yay! i'm here!)

[Pre.P.S. this pic is unrelated i just like it]

I have always considered myself to be an easy to please kinda gal, fine with going out or staying in, equally able to handle fun and boredom. It’s harder here than it was at home, though, and these past few days have been very challenging for me.
My specific job here at Breakthru is working with the Children’s Church. When I found that out, I was excited. I like the idea of working with kids because they are more accepting than adults, and I was looking forward to getting to know the kids better. Also, it’s exciting just to have something to do. However, Sunday was my first day in Children’s Church, and it pretty much killed all my excitement – not because it was a bad experience, but because I felt so completely useless. There are already eight or nine Children’s Church teachers, and the program is run so well! The kids really enjoy it, and they listen, and it’s great. So I sat there for an hour and half and did nothing. It was very hard for me to do that. I don’t like the idea that I am here to be in the way.
At the same time, I really enjoy the manual labor! I think a good part of it is that I love sticking my headphones in my ears and tuning out of the world, but another part of it is that I like getting things done – I like to see results and to know that I’ve done a good job. I like to throw myself into something until it glows! Or shines or sparkles or gleams or whatever the case may be. I like the challenge of dirt and broken things.
So I have good days and bad days, and good moments and bad moments. Sometimes, usually during worship or when getting to know the people here, I feel absolutely great about things. I feel like I could live here for the next nine months and just hang out and go to worship three or four times a week and come out of it a different, better person, not feeling like I wasted my time at all. But at other times I am deathly afraid of getting stuck in this house, seeing nothing and doing nothing – it sometimes feels like a weird, very long vacation that alternately has pockets of inspiration and meaning and dry spots of no money and mice. Maybe it will just be an issue of which I focus on more, or which there are more of. I hope there are more of the former.
P.S. Our Internet ran out. So until now I have been unable to catch up on football scores. That made me SO SAD. I like Sundays a good deal less when there is no football (not saying that worship in itself is not amazing – it really is here).
P.P.S. Also our money ran out. So that sucked as well. However, we have been amazingly blessed when people have either had us over for dinner or brought us dinner! So we have been able to survive, but having no money is no fun at all, especially when it means postponing Canadian Thanksgiving for lack of turkey cash.





Update! We have Internet! Also today was sunny and beautiful, which was nice in itself but even nicer because it meant I got to hang my laundry out to dry. It had previously been sitting in a bag in my room all clean and wet.
And also I got to help Anna with her ESL class today, and it was very fun!
And also! My goodness! We got a microwave! For free, I should add.
And also Anna and I walked to the post office and didn't have to wait in line forever! And I was not confused by the crazy stamps.
And we went to the grocery store and got baking things and oranges!
So today was an unusually awesome day. I just had some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, on top of everything else. So aside from the fact that the Ravens are breaking my heart (seriously? 17-14 against freaking Cincinatti???? really??? ugh!) I am very happy right now. So today was among the good days.

Tomorrow, please don't let me down.

well now

Since we arrived here two weeks ago, I have been struggling with the idea of righteousness. I have never been confronted with a church that is so intent on righteousness before, and it's a bit hard for me to swallow. It's not that I don't think it is important for Christians to be intentional in striving to be upright and holy and blameless; I just don't think it's possible for us to ever achieve that. I, for one, believe in God and have been saved by Christ, but I still sin every single day - I don't expect to ever not sin, because I live in a fallen world and I am human. Maybe it's wrong of me to think this way. Maybe it's an issue of definition - is "righteous" synonymous with "sinless"?

Either way, I find myself unintentionally rebelling against the pressure I feel (whether that pressure really exists or not) to look the part - to lift my hands and to listen to only "Christian music" and to save a lot of souls - even though those things in themselves are good. It kind of scares me. I want to be good! There's a part of me that says "Do what they say and you will be saved!" and another part of me that says "Don't be fooled into thinking that whoever sings the loudest is the best Christian." That second part of me is crying out for the acceptance of JPUSA right now. I miss being surrounded by people who don't look the part, and still are loved. I feel like I'm in the middle of an intense evangelistic competition.

I hope that I will come to better understand this as time goes on. Honestly, I really really like this church. I like that I am challenged in my faith and ideas and that's it isn't always comfortable. I would really appreciate prayer for this as I work through these issues and try to get closer to God in the next ten months.

P.S. I don't completely get the cartoon - but then, that's a good illustration of how I don't really get the whole issue! Yay!

the good, the bad, and the exciting!

Today we got our job assignments!
More on that later.
This past week has been very interesting. Largely we have relaxed! Basically, we have only relaxed. We haven't actually gotten started on our jobs (how could we? we only got assigned today!) so we have spent our time doing the following things:

• shopping! We go grocery shopping at least twice a week it seems, but really more than that. And we have been to the mall four times! In a week and two days! Which is probably how many times I went to the mall the entire summer.
• eating! We eat a lot. A lot. That is why we grocery shop so very much.
• meeting! We meet people all the time, and people are quick to have us over, bring us dinner, take us out...even come over and stay for a very long time. It has been nice! But sometimes it is tiring to have people over foreverrr. But still nice.
• fretting! We worry because there are mice in our house! Also I sometimes have those moments where I go "what am I doing here," etc.
• being excited! About everything! Including: having our car back (only to have it refuse to start, but hey); baking bread; a washing machine and clean clothes at last; a couple of non-rainy days; a super-welcoming church community; badminton rackets and birdies to play with!!

But anyway. We got our assignments today! That is another thing to be excited about. Kyle and Gabby will be working with the NGO, Breakthru Community Action. Tim will be working with the youth. Anna and I will be doing a combination of missions work, children's church, and catering stuff. We don't know for sure what exactly our jobs entail. We do know that we will be working across the board a fair amount in addition to our specific jobs; for instance, we will all end up working with the youth in some capacity. We also know that we will have one day a week of "practical" work, or manual labor. I am actually so excited about that. Manual labor! Yay!

Quick sidenote, not relevant: Also I am uploading my first video evahh on facebook. wooooo!

gospel music

Today a couple from the church, Malcolm and Lindle, came over and brought us dinner. It was a really fun time - they are a younger couple, in their twenties, and they are full of fun and all that jazz. But the evening also gave me some food for thought.
After dinner we sat in the living room and listened to music and played a game called "30 Seconds," which is basically Taboo with a board. At first we listened to my iPod, which is predominantly filled with secular music - we heard some Queen, some Stevie Wonder, some Aerosmith, some Sixpence None the Richer. Lindle commented that our pastor would not approve of it because it isn't "gospel," which is what they call all Christian music here, and that made me feel so sad. I felt sad because I really really love music, and I really really love my music - not because I don't want to glorify God, but because it sounds good and makes me happy! I actually struggle with a lot of Christian music because it seems to underachieve musically. It doesn't make me want to dance or sing, because I don't like the way it sounds.
I don't know what exactly to do or think about this. Music is very important to me. I'm certainly not saying that I don't enjoy any Christian music (I do have some - admittedly only one album - on my iPod), but I just enjoy lots of secular music more. I can certainly understand not listening to music that is derogatory, or violent, or disgusting, but when I think of cutting all secular music out of my life I just get so sad.
I think that it's a balancing issue. I don't know. We'll see!

pastaa!!!! and soup!! and cars!!

Three things that I love about South Africa – pasta, soup, and cars.
We just recently got pots and pans! As in a couple of days ago. As in Monday. Up until Monday, we had no way to cook anything! Granted, we were out of town and eating in a cafeteria until Sunday night, but we missed being able to cook and eat good food. So first thing Monday night, Tim made spaghetti! His famous spaghetti sauce turned out to be really really good! It was so good. It was awesome. We were all so happy to eat hot food at home! It was a real partayy.
Then Gabby made soup yesterday – potato soup! It also was very goooood. And then we went out and ate pizza. So two dinners! Yes! Double win!
Then today I made lasagna and French bread rolls! It took forevvverrrrrr but I love making bread! And it was so fun and then we got to eat it and it was oh. so. good.
And also, I just want to say that the cars here are so wonderful. That is, wonderful aside from the fact that I can’t drive them – yet – because they are all standard and also they drive on the wrong side of the road here. But they have an abundance of beautiful old Mercedes-Benz and Mini Cooper and VW vehicles, and they are all oh-so-gorgeous! Anytime I go anywhere I have to stop myself from drooling all over everything and/or taking pictures nonstop. It’s like heaven.

Convention!

Okay, so we have been in South Africa for under a week and already we have traveled all the way up to Bloemfontein! Bloemfontein, or Bloem as people usually call it, is about 7 hours northwest of Pietermaritzburg, where I now live. Every year New Zion Ministries International (which my new church is a part of) has a big, four-day convention in Bloem and lots and lots of people go. This year the attendance was somewhere around 850, but somehow it felt much bigger. There were people everywhere! The semi-overwhelming atmosphere was definitely aided by how enthusiastic and downright loud everybody was, seemingly all the time. I mean that. All. The. Time. They stayed up late having parties and got up early to sing and pray.

They are insane. But it's definitely a good insane - their excitement was inspiring and even a bit contagious, even for born-and-raised-no-dancing Mennonites like us.

The weekend started out hard, with us having trouble adjusting. Not only was it a completely different environment, but we were all pretty much exhuasted in varying degrees. However, looking back, I'm so glad that we went. It was a really good experience. So good, in fact, that I came up with a Top Ten list of great moments!

10. The arts were so emphasized at this convention - it was awesome. I especially liked the dancing - they were good at it, and everyone did it! By that I mean that boys and girls danced, not just girls.

9. We saw baboons on the way to convention, just hanging out by the road, and ostriches on the way back - also just hanging out by the road.

8. There was a bus that shuttled people from our lodging to City Hall, where we had our meetings. One night, on the bus, everyone, seemingly simultaneously, burst into song - in Zulu!

7. One musical artist I remember listening to as a kid was Christofari - Christian rastofari! It's awesome music, and I hadn't heard it in years - until this weekend, when a group of guys couple of doors down were playing it (very loudly, of course) in their room.

6. We helped out with children's church one day, and every day after that I got stopped and greeted by little kids who knew my name!

5. Two kind Zulu members of our church taught us to say "hello," "how are you," and "yes" in Zulu.

4. The founder of the church (Apostle Hilton Toohey) has a grandson named Casey. Casey, while we were helping out with children's church, very kindly and sensitively broke up with me for Gabby.

3. I lent my iPod to one of the guys at the convnetion, and he wandered away with it. So Anna and I went looking for him and somehow ended up at a party! A group of maybe 15 people were crowded into someone's room playing a game: someone gives you the "mic" (a can of spray-on deodorant) and you have to perform, whether you want to or not! Of course Anna and I were given the mic, and we sang "My Girl" by The Temptations in front of a very encouraging audience :). It was very, very fun. (Also, I did get my iPod back.)

2. We went to a steakhouse called Spurs whose motto is "The official restuarant of the South African family." However, Spurs is entirely decked out in Native American Indian decorations! Totem poles, placemats, stained glass, pictures, you name it, it was all Native American. It was bizarre and hilarious. Picture above!!

1. On our way back to the hostel from Spurs, someone called Tim (one of my teammates) a trekkie (as in Star Trek). There was a moment of silence, and I was sure Tim was going to deny it, and then he said "Actually, the term is trekker." It was absolutely hilarious.

Are We There Yet?

Just a quick disclaimer – the past few days have been very full. This is a long blog.
Our travels on our way to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, have been both memorable and interesting. We left Chicago via O’Hare airport on Sunday, September 20th, at 4:15 pm, on a plane to Amsterdam (which is in the Netherlands, Gabby J, not Germany). Sunday was a day of mixed emotions. We were sad to say goodbye to the other teams, but we couldn’t help but be really excited to be on our way to South Africa!
Our flight to Amsterdam took about 7 hours, and it came and went largely without incident. Sure, we were crammed into the back of a huge airplane with next to no leg room and no way to recline our seats, but the flight didn’t last forever. Also I slept most of the time J. Eventually we made it into the Amsterdam airport. Flight one over and done!
We had about a three hour layover in Amsterdam. At the time it seemed kind of long. We didn’t have much to do and we spent the time wandering aimlessly or bemoaning the lack of free wi-fi.
Eventually we got onto our second flight: a ten hour flight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, South Africa! We were all excited to finally be getting into South Africa, and the plane was even a bit roomier. Also, we all had our own TV screens and a whole list of free movies, TV shows, and games to pick from! Yay! Airplane heaven! Again, I slept for a good five or six or even seven hours. I realize now that I am blessed to be able to sleep almost anywhere. Others on my team had a less slumber-full time and I’m sure they wish it had gone differently.
So finally we made it into Johannesburg. It was about 9:30 pm in Joburg when we arrived, and we were all tired, so we set off to get the money we needed for the room we had booked for the night. We needed to get about 1500 rand (which is about $200) to cover the taxi and the room. So we found an ATM, and I stuck my card in, and the ATM kindly informed us that my account had insufficient funds.
WHAT?
Here is what should have happened: Darrell, the Radical Journey director, was supposed to put Radical Journey money into my account for us to use for things like this. We should have gotten the money no problem, and gotten a pretty good night’s sleep at a nice guest room in Joburg. INSUFFICIENT FUNDS? REALLY?
So we had no money, except for the little bit of cash we all had with us. Not nearly enough.
So by then it was about 11:00 at night. We had close to 40 tons of luggage with us, and we were more exhausted than ever (I was actually doing okay because of the large amounts of sleep I got on the planes, but Anna, for instance, was really tired). Johannesburg, by the way, is not our final destination. We have another flight that will take us about an hour south to our home for the next ten months – Pietermaritzburg. We really, really, really wanted beds.
But, since we had no money, we decided to stay in the airport overnight. After wandering about for a while we found a row of semi-comfortable looking seats and set up camp, surrounding ourselves with luggage and trying to work ourselves into positions that encouraged sleep. A couple of us had blankets (not me! Oh me oh my!) and pillows (again, not me), and over the next seven or so hours we all got sleep in varying amounts. I think Gabby and I slept the most – yay! I must have gotten about five or six hours of sleep. Kyle slept the least, with a grand total of no hours. He was also kind enough to give me his blanket. This happened at some point when I was asleep, so I woke up warm! It was lovely!
Now we are still in the airport. As I write this, it is 8:05 am here (and about 1:05 am in Chicago) and we have another hour and fifteen minutes before our flight to Pietermaritzburg even starts boarding. But at least we are still all together, and we have had no security or border or health issues. This is quite the adventure!

P.S. Now we are here! We made it!

Only Two Days Left!

I cannot believe it! We are leaving for South Africa in two days. Two days. Two days!
I don't know if I'm ready to leave or not. Today my visa will be arriving, so technically I am finally ready, but I'm not so sure. I will miss everyone here lots and lots.
Yesterday was a celebratory day. As teams we went out to enjoy the city, and Team South Africa went mini golfing and to get ice cream. Mini golfing was hard, so we quit early, but it was still quite fun. And (of course) the ice cream was delicious.
Later in the evening we went out as a big group to have dinner together. It was awesome! The staff treated us to a three-course meal at a local restaurant called Cafe Too (Cafe Too provides job training to the homeless and underprivileged, and for many of the cooks our meal was the first one they had prepared). I was so impressed with the food, and it was a really good time. The meal took a couple of hours, and afterwards we headed to the beach to pray and talk, so we had lots of good conversation and fun for one of the last times in ten months :(.
I am really looking forward to leaving, but also I am really really not. I guess that doesn't matter much though. Pietermaritzburg, here we come!

Less Than One Week Left

We leave in less than one week!
It still has not hit me yet. I find it difficult to believe that a week from now I will be in South Africa, getting used to another new place and more new people. I will miss Chicago! But I am definitely very excited to leave.
Up until today I was not sure if I would really be leaving on the 20th. My visa application process was less than perfectly smooth, and I had not heard anything about whether it had been approved or not. It was extremely nerve-wracking. However! Today I called the embassy in D.C. and found out that it has been approved, and my visa is on its way to my house at long last. It was such a relief to hear that. If I didn't get my visa in time to leave, my entire team would be delayed and we would all have to wait in Chicago for it to come.
Six days left - South Africa, here I come!

Spirituality & Hospitality

This past week has been interesting and challenging in a number of good ways. We have spent a lot of time - intentionally and not - getting to know each other, ourselves, and those around us in different ways. For instance, I had a couple conversations with a man who lives here at Jesus People USA (JPUSA) about the spiritual realm and the gifts of the Holy Spirit - his personal testimony regarding the spiritual realm intrigued me and stretched my understanding of having a personal relationship with the Spirit.
My team going to South Africa also had a wonderful opportunity to talk to a former RAD participant (the RAD program was the predecessor to the Radical Journey Program) who spent two years in South Africa. His experience in South Africa was fascinating to hear, but I especially enjoyed hearing about his passion for a deeper understanding of spirituality and spiritual gifts. I am so excited to think of how deeply I can grow this year in my faith and understanding.

We have also been working our way through spiritual discplines - things like prayer, hospitality, journaling/blogging, and silence - as a larger group. This past week, on Monday, we practiced hospitality. This assignment was very open-ended, and I set off with a member of the Paraguay team to find opportunities for hospitality in downtown Chicago. We soon realized that hospitality is more difficult than it sounds, especially when you are not home. We struggled with defining hospitality as something more specific than merely being nice or caring, and ended up doing a series of small things; we bought food for a homeless man, took some pictures for families in Milennium Park, cleaned up some litter on the sidewalk. I learned that hospitality is harder than it sounds, and that it is especially difficult to be welcoming and caring when you have no space to welcome people into. At the end of the day I felt challenged, but definitely grateful for the experience.

Two Weeks Tomorrow!

Time here has just been absolutely flying by. Two weeks in and only two more left! While it's exciting to think about going to South Africa, I have to admit that I wish we could stay here too. It's been an amazing time so far, and I could see myself enjoying it for a while yet :).
We have learned a little more about what we will be doing in South Africa - namely, attending a camp revival style meeting almost as soon as we get there. On top of that, we will be driving and navigating our way there on our own. I'm looking forward to it!
This week we had a chance to hear some interesting stories. We attending a performance called "Stories from the Streets" from Emmaus Ministries, which is a ministry that helps male prostitutes in a variety of ways. It was interesting and even funny at times, but mostly it was an eye-opening experience. It's easy to put prostitution into a box labeled "Sin" and to not think about the effect it has on those entangled in it, or to ignore the stories that they have. It was good to hear the stories (presented to us by two Emmaus workers, Andy and Al, in song and monologue) and to be challenged to think more deeply about societal issues like prostitution.
We also got to hear from some people who have had cross-cultural experiences, from living a year in Miami to growing up in Istanbul. Hearing about the challenges they have faced was a good way to start to mentally prepare for our experiences, because many things they faced we will surely face too.
As we have gotten more into this experience, it has become more and more apparent that it will not be easy. While I'm looking forward to the challenge, I know we will need prayers and support to help us all deal with each other, as well as those we will work with and serve in South Africa.

A Week and a Half!

Today we begin team building exercises! Team South Africa had a meeting this morning in which we discussed the week and a half we have spent here so far, and we talked some about what to expect when we get to South Africa - among other things, we will experience a tent revival meeting almost right away.
I am so excited about things. I'm excited about being here, and enjoying the company of not only my team but other teams as well, and I'm excited about going to South Africa and experiencing who knows what! Today felt like the first day that I actually realized, "I am going to South Africa!" I won't be here forever! While it's exciting to think about all the things I will do and face and learn, it's also sad that we only have two and a half weeks left here. I love this city and wish I could continue to get to know the groups that are going to England, Paraguay and Australia.
Later this afternoon, we will do some more team building at a nearby park. Should be fun!

Chicago!

So today we again explored Chicago. Our adventure felt like a culmination of all the exercises we have engaged in this past week - we were blindfolded, driven to some part of the city, and told to find our way home using public transportation. It turned out to be much easier than it sounded, and it was a great ego booster. After finding our way home easily in just an hour, we felt accomplished. All of the map reading and getting lost and turning around and asking directions, we have finally arrived. We know how to get anywhere we want!
Okay, maybe not anywhere. But this week has taught me that a conscious effort does yield results. A week ago today, I wouldn't know Uptown from Downtown if I had a map of each. But now I am surprisingly confident in getting around, even by myself. Yay!

Orientation!

Here I am! We arrived at orientation just barely at two o'clock on Sunday, August 23rd, and have been meeting and learning and orientating in general ever since. Our orientation has been a mix of meetings, long and short (mostly long), and exploration of Chicago - our new home for a month!
It has been an exciting process to get to know the other participants, who come from all over. We have people from Manitoba, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and a plethora of other places, and for the past six days we have been learning about each other's backgrounds, homes, families and personalities.
Everything we have done so far has helped us to get to know each other better, and it has all been at least interesting (and often fun) just because of that.
It has also been great to stay here at Jesus People USA (JPUSA). The people at JPUSA are full of passion for God and love to talk about it - already we have met JPUSAs from California, Wisconsin, down South, and all over, and they have all expressed such delight in the Lord. It has been a very inspiring experience just to hear them talk. On top of that, they are all kind and have immediately welcomed the 18 of us into the community, extending their facilities, food, and kindness openheartedly.
I'm enjoying every minute and excited to experience the rest of orientation!