Life here has finally begun and I couldn't be more excited! It has been a bit of a struggle for me as I have been just longing to begin ministry but there has been other events on the agenda.

We arrived here in Jeffreys Bay last week Wednesday and had two days to settle in and get a feel for the town. Friday we were able to experience the joys of camping in the great South African Bush(there is a hint of bitterness in my tone if you couldn't tell) We stayed at a little camp in the absolute middle of nowhere...to be honest saying ‘in the middle of nowhere' would be an understatement. All that surrounded us were mountains, trees and a river flowing through. We had no electricity and so all of our meals were prepared by ourselves over the fire. We prepared meals like oatmeal, stock bread (bread dough wrapped around a stick and cooked in the fire), stew, and much more.

Its winter here in Africa and so its actually pretty darn cold, so cold that I spent the weekend looking like a hobo wearing two sweatshirts, two scarves, jeans, leg warmers, and mittens. I was so miserably cold the first night that I hardly slept at all, the second night my friend Gail and I decided to sleep together to keep warm. Any warmth I received from sleeping with her was replaced with the horrible discomfort of not be able to move all night because we were so squished on my tiny bunk. Hygiene was not a top priority for us and so we stayed in the same clothes all weekend, even sleeping in them (mittens and all) so we'd keep warm.

Finally Sunday came and we were able to return home, let me just say, all of us were practically kissing the ground of Jbay!

Monday was our first day of ministry! As I walked down the dusty streets of the township to my ministry site I was suddenly filled with such excitement that I nearly bounced the entire 15 minute walk. My ministry is at a place called Itemba which is a daycare/after school program held in a church to keep kids off the streets.

As soon as I entered the gate we were met by tiny children who immediately reached their arms up to be held. We spent the remainder of the time as human jungle gymns. At one point I was sitting in the dirt with a little boy named Buko falling asleep on my lap and little Timna playing with my hair, suddenly it came over me "this is the moment I've been waiting my entire life for! I'm here, I'm in Africa!"

On Tuesday I was able to return to Itemba where I was assigned a group of about 9 children in first grade. Itemba is extremely lacking in teaching material so I was given some loose leaf paper and pencils and told to give a math lesson. Mama Queen, one of the leaders there wrote out some addition problems and so we gave the children that to begin. Immediately the children spread out on the floor and began to work (there are no desks or tables for the children). When I sat down to check on the kids I realized that two of the children, Sphosethu, and Sihle could do basic addition while the others didn't even know their numbers. I suddenly became overwhelmed. I had 9 little children tugging at my clothes pleading for my attention. "Miss miss!" they'd cry but I had no clue what to do, they hardly speak a word of English! How was I to explain anything to them? I stood in a flurry of complete helplessness. Sphosethu and Sihle were shoving their papers in my face wanting them to be corrected while Tonti, Bongiwe and the others just stared blankly at their sheets. I tried to sit down with little Bongiwe and go through the adding with her but she had no idea what numbers were what so I wrote them down and she proceeded to copy them over and over the remainder of the time. Alas I still had no plan of how I was to help all of these children, so we went back to the complete basics. I managed to get them all to sit down and I started counting with them. "One" I shouted and the children would repeat after me, "okay now write the number one for me" Immediately the children would write the number one and stand up and show me their masterpiece. I shrilled with excitement and gave each child a hug or kiss or high five. Suddenly they were so excited that each time I'd teach them another number they'd fly up waiting for appraisal. I cannot even express the joy that filled my being as I worked with these children. I am completely and utterly in love with them. I talked with Mama Queen after class and asked if I could have those children. She joyfully handed them over to me so now for the next three months I will be able to meet with them each day. She gave me a rough outline of what she expects from me and now I have the freedom to do what I will with that. We will cover math, writing, colors, shapes, etc, I will need to come up with my own materials and lesson plans. I couldn't be more excited! I went home that night on a total high. At dinner I hunted down my new found friend, Pepsi. Pepsi is a beautiful South African woman who lives at the same compound as me. She is one of those people who just shines the love of Christ. We connected almost immediately and are becoming good friends.

"Pepsi I need to learn Xkosa" I pleaded with her. She joyfully began giving me lessons...this is what I have so far.

Ezapa- come here

Salapanzi- sit down

Tulani- quiet

Folani- line up

Mowheni-hello(to a group of people)

Malo- hello (to just one person)

Diagotanda- I love you

Unjonny- How are you?

Depelelay- I am fine

Unchojonny gaysee Xhosa- How do you say in Xhosa?

I'm pretty excited to learn more. Oh did I mention to you that Xhosa is a language with clicks...yea it's going to be rough and Xhosa is just one of the languages they speak here many of the children speak Afrikaans as well. I have a lot of learning to do.

Life here is absolutely amazing and I couldn't love it more. The Lord has blessed me more than I can even express.

Oh also I have been paired up with a discipler, her name is Aaryn and she's absolutely amazing. I actually knew the day I met her that she was supposed to be my discipler and she said she felt the same. I am so excited to see how the Lord uses her in my life!

Oh one more thing before I go. The first week of October my team will be traveling to a town about three hours away to present the Beat the Drum project. We will each be assigned a family in whom we will be living with for the entire week and we will be plugged into different schools, hospitals, churches and what not to inform them about HIV and AIDS. My understanding of it all is pretty vague but I'm so pumped!  I'll keep you posted as I find more out about it!  Well I hope you are all doing well.  I hardly ever get online so i apologize greatly for not keeping in better touch.  God bless you!  -Sama