An Easter to Remember

Can you believe the Easter Bunny traveled all the way to South Africa this year? He spoiled me with tons of chocolate treats, magazines, my favorite drink ingredient, a lunch box, fun party napkins, and the sweetest letter ever! Little did I know I would have such a fun surprise when I woke up!

After church and lunch, we had the pleasure of taking Easter happies to our friends at Ukukhanya. It was so fun celebrating Easter with the patients there, though it breaks my heart to think some of them don’t know the One who made the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we could celebrate this day. The two little boys, History and Sphay, dug right into their chocolate bunnies but they were a little bit hesitant when we gave them Play Dou and wouldn’t allow them to eat it. We took a tour around Ntazuma then headed back into town to make potato candy and watch season two of 24.

I honestly had no idea how good potato candy would be! Apparently a lot of people have it at Christmas time and I’ve just been missing out. I will definitely start the tradition in my family from now on and I’ll always remember discovering it in South Africa!

I am so thankful that we were able to celebrate Easter! Praise the Lord for He is Risen!

04.20.2011

If I were an ant, I would want to live in South Africa. They have complete dominion over the city of Durban. There are so many that people stop bothering to kill them. There is an entire park, near Howard College, that no one even goes to because it’s covered in them. I was appalled by this in January and thought I would keep my house free from these invaders…that was until we became friends with them. I believe it was a quiet night, Lauren and I lay on opposite couches in our den, when I look over and realize that we were both playing with the ants that were crawling all over our floor. We were even talking to them! We decided right then and there that we would welcome them. After all, they don’t bite, they are just simply looking for food (you can’t blame them).

Unfortunately, the other day it was all over for me. I had enough of these intruders, they had out stayed their welcome. So, I went to the store and bought an ant exterminator and killed them all.

The end.

" Love is helping people toward the greatest beauty and the highest value and the deepest satisfaction and the most lasting joy and the biggest reward and the most wonderful friendship and the most overwhelming worship - love is helping people toward God. We do this by pointing to the greatness of God. And God does it by pointing to the greatness of God."

- John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad

An African roadtrip

After having the most amazing week visiting with Megan, we parted ways. She headed to the USA and my team and I headed to Cape Town for a prayer retreat. It was a short flight into the most beautifully surrounded run-way in the world. Table Mountain’s 13000 foot incline seemed like a short hike when we were flying at eye level with it.

As soon as we landed, we rented a car and headed for the Cape of Good Hope. It was an extremely winding day which made it quite difficult trekking out to the Southern Most Point of Africa. It was all worth it in the end though. To see the Atlantic and Indian Oceans colliding was something I’ll never forget.

After exploring a little of the coast line, we drove several more miles to Hermanus, where we spent the next couple of days, away from our cell phones and computers, experiencing the Lord. It was so nice and relaxing being away from all the distractions we surround ourselves with and simply being in the presence of God. I would highly recommend making an effort of fasting from technology once in a while. I found that I was much more able to hear the things the Lord had put on my heart and to simply enjoy being quiet in nature.

When we prayer retreat was over, we caravanned with the Port Elizabeth STINT team 7 hours back to their town. We took the Garden Route back but stopped along the way and stayed in wine country for a night. We stayed with the most hospitable Afrikaans man, who actually has two kids that play tennis for Samford University in the States. He gave us a personal tour of his winery and sent us each home with a bottle of his personal reserve!

The drive to Port Elizabeth was spectacular! We passed through enormous mountain ranges and beautiful coast line. We spent a couple days touring P.E. and getting to see what campus ministry was like for them and then drove 14 hours back to Durban.

1000 miles later, we were back at home and it never felt better to sleep in my bed. It’s funny how much like home our apartment feels now.