Month five has concluded and month six has commenced. This past Monday (Dec. 12th), we began our three-day travel from Romania to South Africa. As much as we were sad to leave the people of Romania, we were very anxious to see another country and have a change in our schedule.
As always, travel days do not provide much rest. Beginning at 6:00AM on Monday, we drove three hours from Draganesti to Bucharest. Twelve hours later, we boarded the number one airline in the world: Qatar Airways. After four hours, we landed for a layover in Doha, Qatar. Because of our overnight layover, the airlines provided each of us with rooms at a nearby, fancy hotel for the night. We arrived at the hotel at 1:00AM and had to return to the airport at 4:00AM; just enough time to stuff ourselves at the buffet, take a hot shower, and get approximately two hours of uninterrupted sleep. (God apparently didn’t want us to get too comfortable with that spoilage.) On Tuesday, all 50 very sleep-deprived and jet-lagged World Racers boarded the next plane from Doha, Qatar to Johannesburg, South Africa (an eight hour flight landing us in the capital at 3:00PM). Our destination city was another eight hours away; so after a seven-hour wait period, we boarded a bus at 10:00PM on Tuesday evening to arrive in our city of Durban at 6:00AM on Wednesday.
After all of that, I was extremely thankful for sleeping pills!
Once I emerged from my medicated slumber, I was welcomed with palm trees and sunshine! (After Romania, we weren’t sure if sunshine existed anymore.) My team, now together for our third month, is stationed in the third largest city in South Africa called Durban. Located near the Indian Ocean, Durban is a gorgeous sight with mountains and lush vegetation covering the ground. Tropical birds and monkeys are frequent friends, and the food is amazing.
Whereas our previous month’s ministries have lasted the entire month of our stay, this month’s ministry is broken into weeks. The first and fourth week, we are camp counselors at a Christian camp for disabled people called Higher Ground. Campers—ranging from 21 to 65 years old—have been injured in various ways, but all have incredible stories to tell and personalities to entertain. We are sleeping at the camp in bunk beds, instructing exercises and activities for the campers, and eating alongside of them. (Since most of the campers are diabetic or otherwise needing to be health conscious, our meals are extremely healthy and tasty!)
Working at the camp will be very rewarding, but extremely taxing on us since it’s a 24/7 ministry. God knew exactly what we needed though, because our second week is Christmas break! A family has offered their house to us while they are away on vacation. An entire week for rest and recuperation—maybe including a safari and waterfall excursion instead of the usual skiing and snowboarding we might be doing in the States.
The third week we will move again to a nearby town to help with a self-sustained farming community through the organization called Farming. We will be extra hands for whatever they will need of us. The community is non-Christian, so we are all very excited about working alongside these people and influencing them.
God has been so amazing with everything thus far on the Race and I am so thrilled to be able to continue in the journey that He has called me toward.
