(I wrote this during the first few days in Lesotho).
A week ago, we stayed in Nelspruit, South Africa for a debrief after Swaziland. This was meant to be a time of rest, reflection, and growing closer to the Lord. We had a lot of time off during the day, and our coaches, Doug and Renee Duffy, led sessions in the evening. I had been sick since mid-Swaziland until the beginning of Lesotho, so unfortunately debrief was not as enjoyable for me. However, while most people went the mall, I stayed back and had the whole house to myself! That was pretty amazing since I am sometimes an extreme introvert and had been living with 50 people unescapably for the past 3 weeks (no hard feelings guys, but people are exhausting). This time allowed me to read, play the guitar, and sleep a little.
The last day, most of our squad went on a safari! We left at 5am, drove 1 hour in an open safari vehicle through fog, cold, and wind to enter Kruger national park. The park, which is larger than Israel, contains multitudes of wildlife native to the region. At first, we were concerned that the fog would prevent sightings, but it actually made it a cool atmosphere. Later in the day, the fog lifted, so we were able to see farther. Throughout the day, we saw impala, kudu, sable, a few crocodiles, hippopotamus, giraffes, and all of Africa’s Big Five: elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, lion, and leopard!
Debrief was a much-needed time of rest and reflection and really helped with moving on to our next country.
