Snapshot

Meet Rachel from South Dakota, Mary Kate from Illinois, Anna from Georgia, Chelsey from Texas, Shane from Texas, Rachel from Pennsylvania, and Emily from Michigan!

Time on the Rez was awesome! It always is. Together, the team and I (for those of you who don’t know, I am involved in the same program that I was last year, but with a spin this time around! I am not only a part of the team again, but I am now leading the 2013 Navajo-Africa Immersion Team) quickly fell in love. We had a lot of different opportunities to learn about the culture. We got to join in on a traditional dance festival, visit multiple ruins, and adventure and hike around God’s beautiful and unique creation on the Navajo Nation. It’s a distinct culture. Learning more and more about the deep roots of the Navajo people and specific families was beyond fascinating. We worked in different areas of New Mexico and even travelled to Arizona to work alongside and learn about the people involved with some of the churches the Experience Mission is partnered with. Through those churches, we built countless relationships that are burning and alive in our hearts even now. We led a few different Vacation Bible Schools and grew in a lot of ways through the challenges we saw in some of the kiddos’ lives. Our hearts constantly are reminded of our time with the kids in Whiterock and those in Farmington at Many Waters Mission that we had the amazing opportunity to live with. We learned a lot about the Navajos from our time in Bisti with Roger Deal Memorial Baptist Church, too. Pastor Leroy and his amazing wife, Rhonda, took us under their wing on top of all of the things going on in their home and church life. What a blessing it was to reunite with them! God is so good and drew me closer in daily reliance on him through our 4 weeks on the Reservation.

 

 

 

On August 2^nd, the eight of us hopped on a plane from Albuquerque, to Dallas, for a pit stop in London, and finally landed in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our layover in London was long, so we decided to invest in a ride on the tube into the city! We were so unbelievably blessed with beautiful whether. Sightseeing was a must for the seven of us that had never been to England. It was AWESOME. I admit, I hate being a tourist, I hate feeling like a tourist, I hate looking like a tourist, but sometimes…ya just gotta! And we did. It was so fun. We sat and had crepes in a park, then walked ourselves all over until we were satisfied. The extra stamp on our passports was a plus, too!

 

Once we landed in South Africa, our community leader, Hein Van Wyk, his wife Helene, and their son Daneiko surprised us with an afternoon, evening, and morning on a game reservation! We got to see animals I have only seen in the Lion King! And some I have never even heard of. Staying at Camp Discovery was an amazing way to start out the trip Africa Style!

 

 

Then, the team went through Worldview training that Hein travels all over the continent of Africa sharing with countless churches and conference centers. It truly is a blessing having such a wise man of God guiding us through our time here.  After our bodies had finally adjusted to the eight hour time change, we began planning and preparing ourselves for the weeks to come. We also got to meet and stay with our host families! For the first few weeks, I am living with the Fouries. I have a wonderful host mom named Lindi and her husband Phillip. I also have two little brothers! I have always wanted to be a big sister, and now I am! Wesli is 19 and about to finish his final year in high school. Graham is 17, 6’3” tall, weighing about 210 lbs. They are huge! It really has been so much fun getting to know them and what makes them tick. God set me up just right- they have a small obsession with motorcycles and dirtbikes. Needless to say, we have lots of fun together. We are all living in a small city called Centurion, which is a suburb, if you will, of Pretoria which lies just outside of Johannesburg. We are on the northern and eastern side of the country, look it up! J Then, we daily travel 15 minutes to a squatter camp area called Olievenhoutbosch (pronounced Oh-leave-en-hote-bosh). There we are working alongside two different organizations, Olievenhoutbosch Disability Center and Olievenhoutbosch Christian School. In addition to working at OCS, we join in on helping with the after school program called Faith Hope and Trust where volunteers become mentors for the grade one to grade four students in the school. We also have days that we visit an old age home just down the road from the school. We will also be participating in different programs going on at the Senior Center throughout the weeks.

This first week, though, was a great one for me! I had the opportunity to work at OCS. I helped Ma’am Rose teach her class of 16 grade zero students (equivalent to kindergarten). Ah! And it was so fun. The five and six year olds were learning about their shapes this week. We also reviewed the colors, numbers, and days of the week that they have learned thus far in their school year. We had so much fun together! Its amazing to see how quickly their brains soak in different information. I really enjoyed being a part of the start of something amazing. Having the opportunity to get to know the teachers has been a blessing as well. To see their dedication in reaching out to these kids is inspiring; the mentors too! They range from 19-30 years old and are full of energy and full of life! All of this they use to pour over the students that attend the Christian school as well as furthering their knowledge, skills, and personal walk with the Lord. We had a lot of fun singing, dancing and laughing with the kids. Each day we also have a special time in the word, its amazing to grow alongside of them in faith. I am so look forward to continue in getting to know them more as weeks go on. God is doing big things in them and through them.. towards the students and towards me.

 

This is Innocent! He has become my little shadow at OCS. We were continuing learning about numbers, counting, and colors with blocks.

Here is a picture of Ma'am Rose, me, and some of the kids in her grade zero class showing off their drawings for the day.

 

There will be lots more stories and more details to come, but I wanted to include you all in a brief overview of what things have been like!