So it is day 4 of the race and let me tell you it has been uncomfortable and challenging. After experiencing the longest flight I have ever had, 13 hours, I don’t like getting up to use the pee when I fly, but it happened. We were blessed to have a place to stay the day we arrived, thanks Bronwyn and her family for feeding us and giving us a place to stay for the night. The following day we had bus to catch at 5pm, but we arrived at the bus station around 10:30 am. So after waiting at the bus station for over 5 hours we got on our bus. We had a 17 hour bus ride from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, not the longest bus ride I’ve had, but there was no AC and it was hot and I was sweaty, but I did sleep good. Thank you Jesus for giving me the gift of falling asleep anywhere.
Going in, I knew travel days would be long and stretching. Patience is super important and I see how the Lord will teach us just that during these days. Not only do we have to be patient when it comes to traveling for long hours, but communicating is a struggle as well. People tell you something and you have to ask them to repeat it because you didn’t understand the first time. I feel bad sometimes
After almost missing our bus to our ministry home, we arrived and let me tell you we are blessed. We came in knowing we would be staying on the premises, but didn’t know what our living situation would be like. We arrive and they tell us we have the choice of staying inside on beds or sleeping outside in our tents. We chose beds. Then they tell us we can take showers!!! And guess what?!?!? They are warm showers! 😀 I’m telling you we have been blessed.
The boys we get to minister and do life with the next 3 weeks are AMAZING! They are rough and tough, but in need of so much love. Some are all smiles and always laughing and making jokes. Today we got to wrap their school books/notebooks in plastic or brown paper wrapping and one of the lovely boys made me a crown with a heart on it with the scraps. I wish I could have kept that crown, but one of the other boys put it on and I have no idea what happened to it. Another boy made me a bracelet out of the brown wrapping, I still have that one. Yay!
There are a total of 20 boys under the age of 18 and six of us were assigned 3-4 boys. And one of us was assigned those 18 years and older. I was assigned 3 boys that I will be able to minister to and hopefully get to know further. I can’t wait to share with you all the stories of these boys and just how they have changed my life. And I say changed, because I know they will. The Lord paired me up with a group of boys that I know will stretch me.
Oh yea and this Race thing is really going to be uncomfortable in every area of my life. 4 days in and we are getting to know each other really well and I mean really well. I’m starting to believe these stories they talk about are true. I’ll link a video down below so you can get a feel for what I am talking about. To be completely honest I am looking forward to these conversations.
Alright! I know this is all over the place, but this is pretty much how I feel at the moment. Haven’t really had the time to process it all and I promise the next blog will make more sense. Just wanted to update y’all and let you all know how it has been the last 4 days, since we left the states and arrived in South Africa. Oh and I got nicknamed Tequila. bahaha!
