Curse the ozone...

So I'm suffering from a bit of Sunburn today. We spent a day away from our busy orientation schedule at a South African water park called Sun City. It was really nice but the sun here in Africa is much hotter than in Florida surprisingly. The theory is that the ozone in the Southern hemisphere is more depleted and the sun burning through my three separate applications of 30 spf makes me a believer! Unfortunately no pictures (I have a bad tract record with cameras, not going to risk it at a water park!), but other than some beautiful trees and a monkey who stole bananas out of our stuff (how cliche) there wasn't much worth taking pictures of. But enough about that.

Things here are going well. I've been a bit homesick and it took me about a week to really beat the jet lag. Today I really missed Crosspoint, knowing that Rob's first day was today and being excited for what's happing in the life of the church. I know that God has called me here for a purpose, but it's ok to miss you guys now and again. I have a few pictures I figured I'd like to share. One is of the whole team, which getting one seems like a feat in and of itself. The following ones are of my room for those who still don't believe I'm not living in a mud hut.






During these next two photos I'm actually quite nervous, mainly because I'm driving for the first time in a foreign country. If you look close enough you'll notice that some things just aren't the same as the states...

This is a video about what happens when your point man drives too fast in a foreign country.

The last week has really been an opportunity to learn about the culture and the history of the South African people. We visited the natural history museum (sorry, no pictures allowed) and got a brief overview of the history as far as they can go back until now of South Africa and how it became a country. One of the weekends coming up we will actually be going to the Apartheid Museum to gain a real understanding of what happened at that time. We are also reading a book called A Spirituality of the Road by David J. Bosch a native South African and missiologist which questions the current state of spirituality (it was written in 1979 but is very relevant to today). I'm actually considering starting a second blog where I will discuss our more in depth conversations a little more thoroughly. I really want this one to be an overview of how I am and what we are doing here. If anyone would be interested in that please let me know by commenting on this site. Whether or not you comment I will most likely still do it, but I'll at least know you're interested.

For a look at what's coming up, we still have two weeks left of our orientation and then we move into our listening posture. During this time we are introduced to different people, places, ministries, and churches so we can listen to their stories. We also learn to take time and listen to God while we explore different ways of doing that. At the end of this posture we enter into a submerging posture where we can engage in some of those different ministries and really become the hands and feet of Jesus to them. I'm very excited about this because we've gotten a few glimpses into different ministries and opportunities that we will have but those will have to wait for another time so I can better explain them.

I will leave you all with some random pictures I've taken of the team just during the week so you can just get a better idea of who I'm living with. Please send me lot's of emails and comments, I really miss you all. I know it seems like I don't have a lot to offer you right now but they are really trying to ease us into our rhythm here at Nieucommunities, understanding the initial culture shock, homesickness and the like. I was looking at this weeks schedule and it seems like orientation is picking up the pace a bit, so it will be a fairly busy week. I won't be able to blog again or return emails until next Sunday, so be looking for that. Again, I can't express how much I miss everyone of you and long to see your faces and hear your voices. So please be keeping me in prayer that God would sustain me and keep me and that I would truly enter into community here and love my new family. So, with all that said, goodnight, God bless, and I love you all!!!

These are just some time spent in the city.

Making dinner at Pangani.

This was a team building project to put up a tent. It took some time, but I would have slept in it when it was done... maybe.