So for month 4 I was in Capetown, South Africa right? Well…after leaving Capetown we headed for debrief in Nelspruit, South Africa…which was only supposed to be for a couple of days…hah well a couple of days turned into a week, which actually turned out to be an entire month. Why was it an entire month???
Two words: India Visas. (A process the squad has been talking about for about 3 months)
We were waiting to get the word that all of our India Visas were approved. We didn’t know how long we were going to be in Nelspruit, as far as we knew, we could have got the phone call saying we were approved and would be packing up the next day and leaving for Swaziland.
At debrief we stayed at a backpackers hostel for about 10 days. Which was nice and all, but we didn’t want to sit around a hostel all month long. So what did we do? We asked God what He wanted us to do. We told Him how we felt about going to India, we told Him how badly we wanted to love on the people in India, and asked Him for the Visas to get approved. And then we asked Him where we could go in the mean time….who could we love on while we were waiting?
And the next morning God answered that prayer. He brought us to Manna Church. And for all of month 5 we got to use our tents (I knew I brought that thing for something). Actually living in the tent wasn’t that bad, but then again we still had running water, toilets, showers, and a fully functioning kitchen inside of a huge pavilion. What can I say???? God loves to bless His kids.
So anyways…
Each day at Manna each team was assigned a task to do around the church. Most of the tasks were maintenance work, but that’s what they needed help with, and so that’s what we did. Let’s just say I think I can put professional window and kitchen cleaner, and gardener on my resume. It was definitely a month of cleaning. And you know what….some days it was hard to be motivated to go and clean, there were those days where you just wanted to be alone and not with 45 people, some nights were peaceful and other nights you hoped that your tent wasn’t going to collapse or break in the wind/rain/thunder and lightning storm. But through all of those things that seemed uncomfortable, God taught me a lot. He taught me about having a thankful heart, which I found kind of funny because it was the month of November (Thanksgiving yummm).
I found myself everyday thinking about all the blessings God has given me throughout my entire life. I thought about every person in my family and thought about all of my friends. I thought about how much I love my parents, and how I’m thankful for how hard they work so that I can have opportunities of a life time, thankful for how supportive they are in all that I do, thankful for teaching me and showing me how to love. I thought about my older brother, and how I am thankful that he is there to teach me how to be adventurous and thankful that he is always someone I can laugh with. I thought about every member of my family in this way. I thought about my Grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and all of my friends and I could write something about each and every one of them, but if I did that this blog would never end soooo……
Anyways, I never felt so homesick before. I just wanted to tell my family and friends how much I loved them. I just wanted so bad to be with them….and I knew with the holidays getting closer it wasn’t going to get any easier. But wait…God wasn’t done reminding me of all the blessings He has given me. I was very thankful for my school, thankful for my house and my car, for my bed, for American food, a washer and dryer and just so much more! It’s crazy to think about how much we take for granted in life, and sometimes we really don’t know or understand what we have until we don’t have it. So I challenge you….I know that it’s not the month of November anymore…but what are you really thankful for? Who are you really thankful for? And why? (now go and tell that person why) When you look at what you have instead of what you don’t have…your perspective changes, and suddenly instead of looking at things in a pessimistic way, you start seeing only the positives in life.
And I can honestly say since being at Manna church, and God molding my heart and filling it with thanksgiving, I am able to notice more of the blessings God gives me every single day.
By the end of the month, our India Visas were approved! Which meant month 6, here we come Swaziland!
