Heidelberg, Western Cape SA

Hello! It sure has been a while since I have last posted. I rarely had access to Wi-Fi and just forgot about blogging. If you couldn’t tell this is how I’ve been the whole race. I’m grateful that I am so present in where I am at but it makes it very difficult to update people back home. I think the last time I posted was saying I made it to Jeffery’s Bay and I don’t want to talk a whole lot about it but I’ll give a short recap. First two weeks we were teacher assistants in a preschool. The kids were crazy. They tackle you and hug you and play with your hair. Very different than the kids in Cambodia, their the kids would maybe give you one hug at the end of class. But the kids at the school in JBay were so cute and I still think about them everyday. We would sing songs and dance and just play everyday with them. It was a tough goodbye. Also, we were not able to take any pictures of the kids so that is why I can’t show you them. Then for the next two weeks we were serve team for our whole squad at the base. We cooked all the meals and cleaned up. Definitely not as fun as the preschool but it was a very beneficial time for my team to learn to work together, communicate and were actually able to have some hard conversations that have lead to growth. So I am very grateful for those last two weeks and all that I learned. On the last Friday my team through a huge Valentine’s Day party for the squad. We decorated the house, made pink pancakes for breakfast, the days prior I sewed my team and a few extra people valentine aprons, and had a fancy dinner. It was a really fun way to spend one of the last day as a full squad. Then on Monday the 13th we all split up to go to our next spots. Two teams went up to Johannesburg, two teams are going to Lesotho, one team is staying in JBay and we went to Heidelberg.

Heidelberg is a very small farming town in the Western Cape of South Africa. We drove around 6 hours to get here and are about 2 hours from Cape Town. We are also 30 minutes north of the ocean. Anyways, its a super cute town with one grocery store, a couple churches, a few craft shops, and very kind people. You can speak to anyone on the streets, that is if they speak English (most people speak Afrikaans), and they are so open to talk or help you. We live in our own 4 bedroom house in main part of the town. It is so cute and just feels like home.  We are partnered with the church and bible college here and I couldn’t really put into one brief sentence what our ministry is. The first day we went to the public high school and put on an assembly about God’s love for 200 students. They loved us. They think Americans are so cool and want to know everything about us, which just makes us laugh each time. The next day we did worship and sat in on a few different classes of the Bible college and then did play practice with the kids who go to the Christian school. I was with 2nd graders. Our ministry hosts opinion is that he wants us to be doing things that we are actually passionate about and gifted in not just forced into. So I think I want to start helping in a classroom at the school. But like I said earlier, the people are some of the kindest people I have ever met. They feel like family. Specifically this one family that work at the school. They have 2 kids who are a few years older than us, and then adopted their niece and nephew who are twelve and eight. Yesterday we made cookies and then brought them over to their house, oh yah they’re our neighbors, and ended up staying for three and a half hours. Just talking, playing pool, having a good time. It feels like when you go over to your long time family friends house and just spend your Friday night with them. This afternoon, it’s Saturday, we are watching the Heidelberg club rugby team play and we are going with this family.

I am not using my phone all month which has actually been really good. Back in JBay we were having a bible study on the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10. And the part that really stuck out was that Martha was distracted by doing things, when the Lord was right in front of her. And the Lord convicted be saying, if you believe that the Holy Spirit is living in the people around you, than you too can just sit an be with the Lord by giving your time to just listen to those around you, but you are distracted by your phone. So I gave it up for the month. I am using my IPad right now for the first time to write this. But because I’m not on my phone I am much more present here, and have already grown closer to God and my teammates. I wanted to give a short explanation if you have texted me and haven’t gotten a response. It is my birthday today so I decided to have my phone that day to be able to call back home.

Well, that was a short little update on all that’s happening in my life. I THINK, don’t quote me on it, I will try to write a short blog every Saturday. I hope and pray that you are all doing well. Go listen to the song Lyfie by Bernice West. It’s a song people love here so much. We sing it multiple times everyday. It’s all in Afrikaans but it’s saying that God made me beautiful. This is my head, this is my body, these are my feet, dance body dance. Go give it a listen. Watch the music video on YouTube to see how we dance to it.

Love you all!

Lauren

JBay

Heidelberg