I am so thankful for experiences of the past two weeks. Beginning with orphan camp... how my heart just breaks thinking about those precious little kids. In total there were around 150 kids ages 5-18. I was responsible for 10 sweet little five to nine year old girls. Even though they were too young to speak English, I can't explain how much fun I had with these girls. With the help of three college girl (Zulu) leaders from Crusade, we played "mom" all week. I loved learning from these college girls how this culture takes care of everyone so well. After getting the little girls ready for the day, we would all go eat breakfast with the rest of the kids from camp, then we had a morning session, arts and crafts, lunch, play time, afternoon session, dinner, bath time, and then finish with an evening session and worship. Bed time was different each night. Some nights they wanted me to tell them stories, other nights they wanted to brush my hair and walk around in my Frye boots. I just melt thinking about their innocent, playful smiles. It was the most amazing week ever! I feel like I have such a better understanding of the culture here and I definitely learned some more of the Zulu language...I can now successfully say "Do you need to use the bathroom?"

All my little girls and the student leaders

Bath time.

Ntombi wearing my boots. Luyanda posing for the camera.

























After orphan camp, the Slabbert's, our South African "family", took us on the most relaxing holiday in the Drakensburg Mountains where we stayed in a cozy little cabin, perfectly situated at the base of the mountain range. We warmed ourselves by the fire, cooked plenty of good food, and enjoyed the beauty and serenity of nature. The Lord has truly blessed us with such an amazingly generous family here in SA.