Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart

Oh. My. Gosh.
1 Peter 1:8 says, "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." Oh guys, God is so, so good!! That is exactly what has been burning inside of my heart, glorious! Inexpressible! Pure joy. Even if the circumstances at hand aren't that great, or are more difficult or painful than sweet, HE has filled ME with an overflow of this delicious taste of emotion.. Not to mention the tastey food that we have been eating too, haha. (Onnn a side note, I planned on maybe loosing a few pounds here and there on this trip-mmm quite the opposite has happened! But I am enjoying every second of it).

No, but really. Since the day I sent out my support letters, the Lord has instilled in me a spirit that I have always dreamed of having. I think why I never could achieve it before now was because I was trying to do it on my own. I would ask him to instill in me contentment and something bigger than happiness- but then I would work and push and squeeze it into my life myself. I am going to be honest, when I mailed my letters, I had no stinkin clue how I was going to raise enough money to do what God had put in my heart. But then I heard him ask me to set that fear and anxiety at the foot of the cross. "C'mon, Lindsey. Please, just give it to me! I will help you, I promise. But you have to surrender." I responded with trusting in Him- more than I really ever had before. And this is what He gave me in return! Because of him, and only by his strength, I have been able to live every single day in the moment..by being thankful for what is right in front of me instead of looking ahead or waiting for the next big THING. Not only that, but enjoying it all to the fullest because it is a gift from him. A gift. He has given all of this to me because he loves me! Why?! I have nooo clue. He amazes me in a new way every single day. As well as keeping this blog, I have been writing a personal journal. I am pretty sure that the term 'thank you' is written more than almost anything else. I really can't seem to write it, say it, or think it enough. He blows me away.

Half of my team is in Lambert's Bay, where we had our training. While the other half of us, myself included, is in Vredendal- pronounced Freedendal. Each team is scheduled to be in both towns for three weeks at a time. (I was chosen, along with one other girl, to stay in Vredendal the whole six weeks, though. God is good- I definitely want and need to be here for the whole time) One reason being that this creates an opportunity to see different areas of South Africa. In both communities, we are involved in varied activities. Some of what the team in LB is doing includes each person staying with their own host family, visiting hospitals, care centers, nursing homes, church groups, and learning more about the culture and living how these people live! Building relationships is what we all strive for. The same goes for us here in Vredendal. We want to learn from them, not teach them. We want to love on them, not show them how to live life. Making friends with strangers and brothers and sisters in Christ has been so rewarding to me in countless ways. Johan- pronounced Yohan- is our community partner here. Him and his lovely wife and their beautiful daughter have been gracious enough to open their arms wide open to accept us as their children and to help us achieve the goals I have just mentioned. One of my teammates and I have been living with a host family as well. Which has been another source of God's outpour of blessings. The couple reminds me in some ways of my parents. They love us so much. They want the best for us! To be well fed, warm, and happy. Every night before bed, we all sit in their living room and discuss our days. We laugh and tell jokes..we discuss our countries and their similarities and differences. We talk about our hearts and what God is doing in us. It has been a safe haven here. I am so excited and thankful that God has orchestrated this.

The last week and a half we have been all over the place. We have spent a lot of time on a friend of Johan's farm. Madalie and her husband, Francois, own a few different farming properties. We have spend a handful of days digging through the sand to harvest sweet potatoes. Tons of sweet potatoes! It sure has been fun playing in the dirt. We also have spent a couple of days pruning in the vineyards. Vredendal is known for their grapes! I am proud to say I have my first true farmers tan. WOO HOO. I think I am actually a little to excited about that one.. We also have visited a handful of schools to play with kids. Oh my gosh. What wonderful and beautiful kids! We have gone through bible stories like Jonah, we have taught them songs, played games, and just gotten to love on each other. It's been wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. We also got to visit a few different squattercamps. These are the areas where the poorest of the poor live. These communties are often made of houses constructed of tin sheets and cardboard.. Some are nicer than others, though. There are neighborhoods that the government has put in running water or even built some homes from concrete. The kids here are not well educated and are surrounded by a community that lives off of drugs, abuse, and alcohol on a daily basis. All they want is to be loved. The fact that we are the ones that get to do this is beyond humbling.
Praise the Lord for what he is doing in me. I would love to hear what he is doing for you too! If you have questions about anything I've mentioned, ask away! I'd love to answer. Tomorrow the six of us will be interviewed on a SA Christian radio station based here in Vredendal. Very excited!! I've never been on the radio before.. If you would like to listen, it will be live on their website.

http://www.radionamakwaland.co.za/

Our interview is Wednesday August 15 at 2:50pm South Africa standard time, 8:50am Eastern.

1. Lulu and Hunter, our host family's dogs! Hunter is still a pup- 7 month old mastiff!!
2. A view of the vineyards pre pruned :)
3. Photo credit, Brenna. This is a pic of one area of the squatter camp. A bit of a nicer area.
4. My host fsmily's home
5. After digging up all the potats, we sort them by size and quality and oil them up and pack them to be ready for selling in Capetown. Just a picture of us oiling!

Just a Taste

Ohhhhh my goodness. Where to start?! I am in Africaaaa! That simple fact alone has been blowing my mind on a daily basis. It is now 9:00 am on Friday morning, my team arrived in Capetown last Wednesday night. The adventure here was exactly just that, an adventure. But because I had great people to be around and somethin fantastic waiting at the finish line for me, I found my way. From the airport, we drove 3 hours to a very small city called Lamberts Bay- known as the lobster capital of Africa. Too bad it's not lobster season!! However, we did have a meal cooked for us that included a huge crawfish in my plate (he was looking at me while I was eating him..creepy!!) as well as some type of silvery scaled fish. If you know my appetite, you know that seafood and I have never agreed. But that night, I found an exception! For the first time, I actually liked it! I am hoping that this will continue through our time here in South Africa because fish is so prominent here along the coast.

For our first few days here, we stayed at a hotel for our training. The view from our back patio was unbelievable! A gorgeous whitish-grey sandy beach lead into the pacific ocean and was bordered by a row of palm trees. Paradise. One thing that did throw me off, however, was the temperature. It's winter here! It gets very cold at night, and there is no source of heat in any of the homes, hotels, or buildings since their winter is so short. Compared to a Colorado winter, it's nothing- so I have learned to manage well. Hein Van Wyk is our community partner during our stay not only in SA, but Mozambique and Lesotho as well. He is definitely a man after the Lord. He and his family have changed a lot in their life to accommodate the needs for the Immersion team coming down. He has specially picked out every city, host family, church, and organization that we will have the wonderful opportunity of partnering with. During our training time, we had great times of fellowship with Hein's family as well as Yan and Enid who run the beautiful hotel we stayed at. We learned a lot about the South African culture as well as ways to look at the poverty we will face in the next five months. There is beauty in brokenness, that is for sure. You know the song.. You make beautiful things, you make beautiful things out of the dust? I LOVE that song. It is so true to this beautiful place I am surrounded by.. And my heart as well. The tune is constantly stuck in my head.
I really have to go, even though I want to keep writing and writing about the experiences I have had so far, but I will find time to write again very soon. I am itching to tell you more about the things I've seen and the people I have met. Blessings to you.

GO USA! .. And South Africa :) cheering for you too.


A sunset view from our hotel room's porch.
Ok, sorry. I had to add the picture of the bird. We found it walking along the beach. Nasty!! Haha..