1. Sand boarding takes skill
Our hosts wanted us to get the sand boarding experience, so they took us out to some giant dunes along the beach. Once we arrived, we all pulled our homemade sand boards to the biggest sand dune we could find. Our host showed us how to grease the birds with floor polish, and then proceeded to show us the best techniques to get the most speed down the dune. We all went up to the top and had such a blast sliding down! After playing around for an hour or so we decided to try standing up as we went down the dunes. All though this was fun, it was definitely a challenge!
2. We should be like farmers (or gardeners)
Recently my squad mentor asked us what cultivating the presence of God meant to us.
So, what does that even mean?
Cultivate- break up (soil) in preparation for sowing or planting
We have to break up and dig out any previous expectations and walls that regard God to truly experience His presence how He wants us to. We have to be intentional in knowing that God has something new for us each time He talks to us. It’s literally resetting groundwork that we might have already had. Farmers have to till the soil between each harvest season to grow the best crops. Their work and preparation gave them the peace of mind that they had done everything they could to reap the results of the harvest. In the same way, we have to continually reframe our mind and refresh our expectations to reap the full harvest of God’s presence. When we fully put in the groundwork we are able to find peace in the new revelations God chooses to show us. Wow, good stuff. Rachel and I had a good talk about this one night, and then worked on some gardening literally the next day. How funny is that?!
3. If my friends decided to jump off a bridge I would definitely join them
As we got to J Bay we heard that the “worlds tallest commercial bungee bridge” was close by. We weren’t sure what aspect makes it a “commercial” bridge and by what standards it was the tallest, but of course we had to check it out! My entire team of six plus one of our lovely squad leaders all decided to bungee off the bridge! When you got out on the bridge they had loud music playing to set the mood (or maybe so you can’t hear people scream while jumping). I’m usually pretty calm with things like that, but I’m not going to lie…I was low key freaking out. As I stood on the edge my adrenaline took over and I just launched myself off. It took a total of 2 seconds for the sound of the music to be drowned out by the wind passing quickly by me ears. The craziest part was being in the air for 3 to 5 seconds and realizing that you’re still falling. It was incredible! I think I was on a high for a few days after that.
4. Hosts can seriously affect your month
It’s always interesting each month to get off a public bus and see your host for the first time. When we got off the bus we saw our host hanging out in the back of his pickup truck without any shoes on, and I knew it was going to be a great month. It took no time at all for our hosts to invite us into their family. There was another woman that was around our age that became the 7th member of our team for the month. We had family dinner, tea time, and game nights throughout the month, which led to so many great memories. They all knew how to work hard and play harder, and we embodied that motto with them. The Father’s love and joy overflows from their family and you can’t help but want to be a part of it.
5. Prioritizing my time is important
My month in South Africa was easily the busiest month so far on the race. We would start ministry at 6:30am as we woke up the campers and would end ministry at 10:30pm when they would go to bed, with small chunks of breaks in between. I started the month spending those break times just hanging out with the team and our hosts, but man I was exhausted. I learned that something needed to change, and I started being really intentional with how I spent my breaks. I learned that I needed to do the things that would best rejuvenate me, even if that looked different than the group. This was a great lesson that I know I’ll take home with me.
6. Safaris are incredible
We had a debrief for a few days in Nelspruit, South Africa, and we all got the chance to go on a safari. I had never been on a safari before, so I was stoked! We left our hostel at 4:30am and rode in the (super cold and super windy) safari truck to Kruger Park. Within the first hour we had already seen lions and many other animals up close. It was amazing! We spent all morning out in the park looking for animals, and we even had a jam session to Africa by Toto. The only animal out of the Big 5 that we didn’t see was a leopard, but I guess if you see everything you don’t have a reason to go back!
7. I’m not too old to be a camp counselor
As many of you know, Christian camps are a huge part of my past. I was involved in an episcopal camp for about 15 years of my life, and I’ve had a lot of transformative moments there. I went from being a camper to a counselor, a counselor to a seasonal staffer, and finally I was the assistant camp manager as my first full-time job out of college. Needless to say, I love camp and how it brings you to the Lord. Even though I have so much love for camp, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is now in my past and I’m just a “has been” as we like to call it. God gave me such a gift this month by having our main focus be running Christian camps. I got to relive my counselor days and pour into a group of kids that are thousands of miles away from Camp Allen (my second home). I was in my element. It was such a cool experience, and I loved every second of it.
8. The next generation is doing big things
Near the end of our time in South Africa we got to serve at a youth conference called Imagine. There was over 900 high schoolers there, and that was just one of several conferences going in the country that weekend. This was the kind of conference that had amazing worship, discussions over real things going on, and a lot of transformation in people’s lives. It was so cool to see the youth praying and doing big things!
9. You can charge over 70 phones from 3 outlets
Our job at the Imagine conference was to take cell phones, charge them, and return them to the youth. Basically, we got to babysit electronics all weekend. We would have a line of probably 50 people that were trying to drop off their phones, so we had formed a pretty efficient system to manage it all.
10. It’s time for change
As I mentioned in a previous blog, we had team changes at our Debrief in Nelspruit. I had been living with the same 5 girls for 6 months, so the split was pretty bitter-sweet. We were all excited about the idea of getting to know new people on a deeper level, but we knew we would miss each other a ton. We had some great discussions about it and what we wanted to carry over to our new teams. So it’s time to say “See ya later” to Daughters of Peace/Selah and “Hello” to Samson’s Mullet!
Samson’s Mullet’s first dinner together
11. Every day can be an adventure if you say “yes!”
For one of our off days our hosts decided to schedule us a “fun day” where we went all over town on a scavenger hunt to learn more about J Bay. The day included things like watching the sunrise while sipping on coffee, dressing up and running around town, eating at the best ice cream place, collecting shells on the beach, going to a local coffee shop, meeting strangers, and seeing local art. To wrap it all up, we ended the day sand boarding with our hosts. All of us concluded that it was one of the best days on the race!
