don't worry... i made it to africa. i got here last saturday, i think. my days run together here. this is the first time i have been able to use the internet since the airport in germany. so im sorry i havent kept anyone updated. we dont have access to phones or computers where we're staying right now.
we're staying at a missionary retreat outside of johannesburg, south africa... its called alabanza. i have been there since last saturday. tomorrow i leave to go to swaziland for at least a week, maybe 10 days. and then we will come back to alabanza and stay there until october 13. on october 13 my team and i finally leave for jeffrey's bay! training camp last week in georgia was absolutly amazing. i learned so much and i grew so much. this week at alabanza has been pretty good. i got off to a rough start though... the first three days i was here i was really sick. i had a fungus infection (rash) on my arm & my chest. i got it in georgia. but it hurt, it didnt really itch. it was just painful. on top of that i also had the stomach flu. so i got my first experience in a south african hospital. the first hospital we went to was really scary... but it was the wrong hospital. the hospital where i went was really nice and clean and everyone was super friendly. long story short... im healthy now. ptl. praise the lord. this week we have been focusing a lot on surrendering to god. i dont know how to explain, because i dont want to go into too much detail. but its been awesome. the lord is workign in my heart so much. we leave for swazi tomorrow. IM SO EXCITED.  at times i dont even feel like im in africa, because it doesn't seem like i am. its kinda westernized. but there are somethings where im just blown away at the cultural difference. for example, witchcraft is HUGE over here. and africa has like 11 languages. english is pretty dominant, but we're learning how to talk other languages like zulu, swanna, and afrikkans. its pretty neat. last sunday we had people from the community come to alabanza for church. it was so amazing to worship with them and hear them sing in their languages and dance. mom, you would've had chills. :) this week, tues-thurs we were working at an orphanage. we thought we would do childrens ministry and stuff but we ended up doing manual labor. we built walls, landscaped, made bricks, and stacked bricks. it was different but it was just another way to help further gods kingdom. it was really nice to do something physical. we sit and listen to speakers a lot, which i LOVE, but it was nice to get outside and do some exercise. ok well... thats all for now. i will update in a few weeks. i love you all and i miss you all so much. i dont know if ill be able to call anyone today other then my parents because its so expensive. but ill try to call family. if not just know i love you all and miss you. you'll ehar from me when i get to j bay. god bless!!