Sala kahle.

The Gateway team!

Service sites are now over. We spent a little over 3 weeks working at the Esther house, which is a home for battered women. This experience was a complete blessing and I learned so much from all of it. The first couple days were interesting, and we mainly just played games with them. Odd variations of dodge ball, duck duck goose, and all sorts of active games outside. However, the day that really changed things was when our group decided to do a little Bible study. We had two people from our group share a verse. Most of the women in the home speak Zulu so our translator Sipho helped them understand what we were saying. The Bible study only lasted about 10 minutes when Sipho started sharing her own story. Her story was so crazy, I had no idea what she had been through. When we first met her she had the biggest smile on her face and I am amazed at what God has done in her life. The women in the home all listened to her story and afterwards, she asked if any of them wanted to share their story. A few of them did. After that, we prayed for the women. It was one of the most intense times of prayer ever. We prayed for each of the women and you could feel the Lord there with us.

Jump forward a day and more of the women opened up to us. Instead of it being somewhat gloomy inside, they all had smiles on their faces. Some of them ran out to greet us and they seemed like completely different people from the first few days. It was an amazing transformation. We definitely give God all of the glory because it wasn't anything we did.

The last day came around and all of the women wrote notes for us. They shared how now they had hope because of what we have shared with them and the joy they have seen in us. Many of them weren't Christians before, but we gave them all Bibles and they said that they are trusting in God to turn their lives around. Many of the days we were there, our group seemed to be tired and it didn't feel like we did that much for these women, but somehow God still worked through us and allowed them to see Him in our smiles. Even though we aren't going to get to see whether or not the women really do change their lives around or if they all are going to accept Him into their lives, I have a peace because I know God used us in the time that we were there and that everything that we were supposed to do was done. The seeds that we planted although we won't get to see them fully grown, I know that God is going to do amazing things.

There are so many crazy stories from each individual woman there, but I am not going to write them all down in here, but I'd be more than willing to share them with you later!!

During these service sites, we also went to a feeding scheme and worked at a school. The feeding scheme was only once a week, but the last time we did it was a crazy day as well. We went to the house where we normally start cooking our food, but the people weren't home. So we drove over to the church where we serve it and the woman that we cook with wasn't there either. We decided to go to the church service that was being held there because we couldn't really do anything else for the time being. That church has service every single day, so crazy, but you could tell there was something different about it. There seemed to be so much power in that place. We watched from the back and listened to everyone worshiping God which was a cool site to see.

After the church service, we went outside when finally the woman that helps us prepare the food arrived. She said that one of the girls that normally comes to the feeding scheme, and had come for food the last two weeks we were there past away that day because of asthma. They said she was still in school so she wasn't even out of high school yet. On top of that, one of the other women that normally helps prepare food was in the hospital because she has cancer all over her body. We decided to go to the hospital to pray for her instead of just hanging out there. The hospital was similar to one that I imagine in the army. It was one building with beds all over the place. There was no privacy and everyone seemed to be hurting so much. It was a hard thing to see. The woman we were looking for was all the way in the back corner and it seemed like slow motion trying to get there. We past so many women just lying on their beds looking so defeated. When we got to the woman that we were there to see, we prayed for her and she seemed to have so much hope and trust in God. She said all she needs is the Lord and she truly believed that. Even though she looked like skin and bones, she still trusted in God with everything she has.

Once we left that hospital, tears welled up in my eyes. Everything that happened that day seemed like way too much. We were passing so many shacks on the way back to the church, and I couldn't process anything that was going through my head. When we got back we started serving food to the people that arrived there and before we fed everyone, the food ran out.

I can't imaging living the way that they do and God has blessed me with so much. However, none of them seem to give up and they seem to know that God will provide for them.

In James 2:5 it says, "Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?"

This verse is so true. All of the people who do not have anything really seem to have so much faith. Even though they are trying to figure out how to get food each and everyday, they seem so content. They have so much to teach me and I don't even know how to soak it all in. So many experiences during these past couple weeks have challenge, broken, and changed me. I am still trying to process everything that happened and I don't really understand any of it.

Yesterday, I took two finals. One for intercultural communications and the other one for Zulu. I am completely done with those two classes and now I only have one left before the semester is over. I can't believe how quickly everything has past and how insane everything has been.

Tomorrow we leave to go stay with a Zulu tribe for a couple days and right after that we go on a 3 day safari. I am pretty excited for it, but it is a hard thing to do after everything we just experienced at the service sites. It feels like we are living in two different worlds.

The following week, we leave for a road trip across South Africa. We are stopping in major cities and along the way we are bungee jumping, riding ostriches, going to different adventure caves and all sorts of things like that. I don't think I'll really have internet for the rest of the trip. After that week we'll arrive in Cape Town. There we will climb Table Mountain go on excursions every other day. Have classes, and do home stays. After that is over we're heading home. It has been an amazing semester so far and I am looking forward to what God has in store for the rest. You guys are in my prayers and I hope you are all doing well. I love you lots and I look forward to seeing all of you when I come back home!!!