I cannot believe that it has only been two days since we began our ministries here in Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa. The locals call it Jeffrey's or J-Bay so I'll follow their lead and call it J-Bay :) Our twenty-two member team is divided into five ministry teams, mine is team five and there are five members on my team. In the mornings we work at a Care Centre run by the Victory Church here through a program of theirs called Victory 4 All. For the three hours of the morning shift there we do manual labor outside in the cool, breezy, sunny, amazing weather of a South African winter. I'm working on my incredibly spiffy farmer's tan. In the first two days we already planted ten trees and have dug holes for several others in the rockiest soil ever encountered by me or by the Alabaman, two Texans and Alaskan that are my ministry members. But I'll come back butch and bronzed from tree planting, picking up trash, or rubbish as they call it, piling rocks, and bonding with the Dutchmen who run the site, Erik and Harmon.

After we eat lunch around noon, we drop off our teammates  at their respective sites and then my team goes to a site called Ithemba--which means hope--and we help in the after school program there until five. The kids' ages range from toddlers through maybe fifteen year olds and we just play with them, sing songs and dance, give them piggy back rides, and let them braid our harre lanke, which means long hair, because they are used to their own harre korte. I'm learning Afrikaans quite well, as I have a lot of bemused children patiently drumming out the days of the week and nommers 1-10 and simple phrases for me while we play together. I'm loving the kids, and particularly one girl named Masintha has run to me and clung to me for the whole duration of the two five hour days that we spent at Ithemba. I'm used to a little more structure in programs, but God's teaching me flexibility to be willing to dance for 3 hours straight if that's what the kids want!

     In the evenings, all five ministry teams come back together and walk home, make dinner, hang out and debrief, and just bond. Even in the first week of training camp that we had in Gainesville, GA and in this first week here in J-Bay we've become a family. Having just said goodbye to my family for the next six months as they move back to Japan, it was such a blessing to be welcomed into a surrogate family of peers with common passions and totally diverse giftings that complement each other beautifully. I've been so blessed by the way that God pulled this team together, and how it has shown me how smoothly and beautifully the body of Christ can work together.

    Christ has blessed me so greatly with work to do that I love that brings me joy, and people who get my sense of humor and laugh with me instead of just thinking I'm crazy, and good eats that doesn't make my intestines churn with food poisoning, and gorgeous weather. He's also been pushing me just beyond my limits. Only four days here and I already hate the sound of my alarm beating me out of bed at six in the morning. My hands are getting callouses in odd places from hoeing, raking, and using an incredibly hefty pounding posts to break the rocks in the ground. My head is sore from being whipped about by the hands of little African children saying who knows what. And I have to pray for a good attitude CONSTANTLY.

     But God is teaching me to have a malleable heart. So often I treat sites, problems, and people as PROJECTS, and when I do, my heart is cold and hard towards them. I'm being taught a heart of compassion that is willing to see past the harsh words of another and see the hurt that caused it, or the past that hardened them, or the inattention afforded them by the largeness of a twenty-two person team. Even though it can be draining to feel their pain with them, I've been repeatedly reminded of Romans 12:15, in which Paul exhorts followers of Christ to "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Though it drain my pool of energy to feel all the hurt of those with whom I interact, if it lightens their burden and lifts their spirits, what an opportunity for me. And though now I am feeling brought down by exhaustion and the burdens of others, I'm learning to give it all over to God and not try to function on my own strength, or let my own compassion be enough for others, but to let God's strength and compassion fill me and move me.

     Please pray for J-Bay! Some of the teams are encountering difficulties at their worksites, both with the directors and the participants, so pray for open hearts and the eyes to see opportunities to serve. Pray for sustaining energy for us all, and wisdom to discern between what we can and can't do, and how not to commit cultural faux pax! Please also pray that we learn the two languages most common here, Xhosa and Afrikaans, and that we learn quickly to be able to better communicate with the people!

     Love to you all! And mom and dad, I hope your trip to Japan was good and if possible, could you send me a phone number through a blog comment or my email so that I can call you on Skype? Thanks, love you guys!