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Finally an Update!

First of all, I would like to apologize for my lack of blog posts. These past few weeks have been crazy busy and I can update my blog only when I get free wifi, which is very rare. Especially when things are busy and there are teams here. But here I am, free wifi so I’m updating!

Before I start updating on the past few weeks, let me tell you about the most amazing thing we saw in Kruger! We had been there for a few days with some of Janine’s friends from college. Our camp was farther north than I had previously been and located on the river - one of the most beautiful camps in all of Kruger.

Hyenas frequently came up to the fence - sometimes during the day and sometimes at night. It got pretty creepy when you could hear them laugh at night - or worse moaning and crying because they wanted to come in! Not a sound you want to go to sleep to!

There is a severe drought in all of South Africa and there wasn’t much vegetation where we were. We saw lots of dead carcasses. As we drove throughout the five days we were there, we saw lots of zebra, impala, giraffe and warthogs. Of the game we did see, much of it was on the side of the road where the little amount of greenery was.

I was hoping to see some big cats on this trip, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen with the conditions of that area of the park. We did see a group of wild dog, which was completely awesome. They were fairly close to the road lounging under the shade of a few trees. A nearby safari guide said that the wild dog is the most endangered species in the park - only about 120 left. So it was a really cool sight to see!

A little while later, Darryl spotted a female lion under a tree. Only one other vehicle was there, so we weren’t fighting for a good spot. She was weirdly moaning/crying while looking around. We were hoping that her pride would soon come, but that wasn’t the case. The safari guide sitting next to us told us that she had isolated herself from the pride to give birth. And now she was crying because she had either misplaced her cubs or a predator had gotten them. Basically she was crying for them. It was heartbreaking. I like to think they were out playing with Simon and Pumba and would be back in a little bit.

Ok, so here’s the good part of the story. We were all pretty worn out from driving all day, so we decided to head back to camp for the night. I may or may not have closed my eyes and fallen asleep until Ben woke me up from yelling at Darryl to stop driving the car. He thought he had spotted a lion. We looked closely and spotted two crouching in the grass to the right. We looked to the left and saw a herd of buffalo - we knew a hunt was about to happen. I spotted another lion hiding and we kept seeing more (obviously they weren’t hidden too well if we could see them - haha). Darryl saw one to the left, quite close to the buffalo. All of sudden, something spooked the buffalo and they were off. Five lions jump out from the bushes and ran after the buffalo. So naturally we drove behind and watched the whole thing. The lion caught the baby buffalo, which was honestly quite sad, and we watched the kill. The lions settled on the side of the road with their dinner and we sat by and watched them chow down.

Lion chasing the buffalo - if you look closely, you can see the takedown!

We were the only car there, so we were able to get fairly close. It was incredible. After we had watched for awhile and taken lots of pictures, we went back to camp to tell the others. One man who had been coming to the park multiple times a year for the past 30 years said he has never seen anything like that! It really was such a blessing to see something so cool.

Ok, now for the real updating! We have had a wonderful past few weeks with teams and friends coming to visit. The Living Hope Family Church, based in Cape Cod, came to join in missions for two weeks. What a blessing they were to us! With a team of 10 in varying ages, they jumped right into what we had for them. It was such a joy to do ministry along side of them.

The team brought nail polish, face paint and balloons so we had a party in each preschool! The children were so excited and had a blast. The younger girls on the team painted nails and faces and I got to play with balloons! The amount of joy something so small can bring to children - especially when they don’t have much - is so humbling. Their smiles make this year away all worth it.

Emoyeni has one preschool about 45 minutes away, so I have been there only once. The team wanted to go see the children there, so we went for the day. It was really cool to see another way Emoyeni is changing the lives of children! We were there during lunchtime and got the privilege to eat with the children. The bomake (mothers) make breakfast and lunch during the week for the kids. We had a very basic meal: rice and stew. The stew had fresh veggies (some of which were from the garden here on the farm!) and soya mince. Mince is ground beef. And it was soy beef, aka not really actually beef. But it was so delicious! I had a wonderful time eating with the children and practically licked my bowl clean!

I had mentioned what a blessing the team from America was to the team here on the ground in SA. They were open with sharing their stories, encouraging and always open to listening. The women from Cape Cod shared their stories with the women at Bible study (something I was blessed to be at) and it was truly incredible. They had come to encourage the African women, but instead encouraged me more than they could realize! The team encouraged us at what we were doing in the community and lives of other people and always had positive feedback about what was going on. It truly was a breath of fresh air to have them here.

The team also spoiled us a bit and treated the Emoyeni team to a day at the resort. Badplaas is known for its resort and mineral baths. I have never been because it costs money to get in and swim, but the team raised enough money to bring us all. It was a wonderful day! We got to swim, go on the water slides, relax in the mineral baths, go on a game drive and some women got massages. What a wonderful day.

The game drive at the resort doesn’t have any big cats, but it does have lots of buck. We had the option of doing the game drive on quads (4-wheelers) or on horseback. Because I’ve never ridden a quad, I chose that option! It was really cool to see wildlife that way. The views of Badplaas were spectacular!

View of Prayer Mountain from the safari!

The team also treated those who wanted to go to a day trip to Kruger. I had never been on a real safari vehicle, just driven through the park. The guide was so knowledgeable and gave us some great views of things. We saw five male lion with a kill quite close to the road. And then the best part of all: cheetah!!! It was my first time seeing cheetah in the park, so I was thrilled. They were sleeping under a bush close to the road. Our guide said this is one of the best viewings of cheetah you can get. Wow! Thank you, Jesus! It was a great trip to Kruger!

Lydia’s Circle has been going so well. These women continue to steal my heart. It truly is one of my favorite parts of the week. The truck has been fixed, thank you, Jesus! We are celebrating that it has been fixed and the women can start earning money again, but we continue to pray that it will come more often. Unfortunately, the truck doesn’t come regularly and the women don’t know when it will come.

The women have given my a new siSwati name - Zinhle. It means beauty. They teach me new songs and how to dance like an African. They have shown me what it means to fully rely on God. They teach me what it means to not care about other’s opinions and that God’s is the only opinion that matters. I’m truly thankful for these ladies and how Claire continually pours into them.

The women at Lydia’s Circle have started Lydia’s Market and now make handcrafts! They make beautiful floor mats, brooms, jump ropes and placemats that are sold in the community. Maybe one day I can be as crafty and talented as them!

We are now preparing for a medical missions team to arrive in just a few short days. They will be setting up a clinic in Elikwatini for a week to serve the local people who don’t have access to medical care. Planning for a team involves quite a lot of work, so I’m excited for them to finally come! I have been joining Tara for grocery shopping for the missions teams. We get quite a few looks in the grocery stores as we load the carts with 420 eggs for breakfast!

I don’t think I could choose one thing as my favorite thing about Africa. I want to say the stars are my favorite because they show God’s infinite glory and beauty. But I also want to say the fact that I get to see lions and giraffes and elephants and zebras all the time! (I mean seriously, how cool is that?!) But then when I really think about it I want to say the relationships I’ve built with people. Sometimes I look around at all the people I’ve met and just sit back and think, how am I going to live without these people when I move back home? They were strangers a few months back, but now they are family. I knew Africa had my heart, but I didn’t realize how deep it did.

This past Thursday, I sat with four mothers in the community we pray with every week and my heart came alive as they cried out and pleaded to Jesus to win the hearts of the children in the township. I love listening to them pray in siSwati. I love being reminded that God has no language barrier.

I love these women. We have laughed together. We have sang together. We have prayed together. We have wept together. Sometimes I don’t always know what they are saying, but these women are family and they have completely stolen my heart.

In coming to Africa, I knew God would take care of my heart. There have definitely been tough times, I won’t hide that fact. Sometimes I wonder what the heck I am doing here. Why did I leave my family for a whole year? I miss my family and dogs and Chick-fil-A (but really). Sometimes I cry all night because I just want to go home and go back to being comfortable. But then God shows up in amazing ways. He wipes my tears and whispers, this is why you’re here. To pray with these women. To pray for the children. To play and laugh with the kids even though you can’t always communicate with them. To pray for and heal the sick. To magnify Me.

I have seen the Lord show up in incredible ways since I’ve been here. Sometimes I think America has become so desensitized to the work Jesus is doing and we often write it off as something else. Wake up, people! Jesus is alive and working! Here is a cool story of how He sees us and knows our every need:

I have been attending Firestarters every Tuesday night. This past week was about the prophetic. It’s often misunderstood and many people think prophesying is just seeing the future, which isn’t true! It’s simply saying what God is thinking! I personally think many people have a prophetic gift and they just don’t realize that it’s prophetic. The Lord can give you something prophetic in many different ways. It may be a picture, a scripture, a single word, a word of encouragement to someone and so on. But this isn’t a lesson in the prophetic, I’ll let someone else do that job.

Anyway, in Firestarters this past Tuesday we were randomly paired up with someone. We prayed and then were given five seconds to ask the Lord for something for the other person. I immediately saw a big baobab tree (a tree native to South Africa with a massive trunk). It was storming horribly - rain, lightning, wind, the works. But the tree wasn’t moving. So I told this to the lady I was paired with and she immediately started smiling. She hugged me, which was unusual for her. The Lord really spoke to her through that picture and it directly related to her current circumstances (for her privacy I will not go into further detail). I don't know much about her story, but Jesus does and gave me that picture just for her! How amazing is that - that we have a God who sees us and our needs and will be that personal?! Pretty cool if you ask me.

Here is another example of how Jesus is alive and working: update for a boy many of you have been praying for. If you remember, I wrote a post about a boy we had been visiting and was very sick, M. Over the past month, his health had been up and down, but mostly down. At one point, we took him to the local clinic for tuberculosis testing. He had a horrible cough and pain in his stomach, which would keep him up at night screaming in pain. I really thought he was going to die.

Just when he started doing better, I received a text to pray for him because he was being rushed to the hospital for apparent appendicitis. He needed surgery immediately and the doctors were hoping his appendix hadn’t burst yet. Once again, I didn't know if he was going to make it. When he arrived to the hospital, the doctors weren’t so sure the cause of all the pain was appendicitis. So, they ran tests on him. He was in the hospital for about a week.

We heard he arrived home and we went to visit him the other day. His go-go told us he was doing much better. When we asked where he was, she told us he was out herding cattle with his friend. WHAT?! This boy who could barely move because he was so weak and in so much pain was out herding cattle?! Thank you, Jesus! As we were leaving, who do we see walking up, other than that sweet boy with a big old smile on his face. Like beaming smile. He was quickly walking towards us with pep in his step. This wasn’t the same boy we had been visiting. This was a healthy, happy boy! He played with us and the other children. He laughed for the first time. He was finally able to be a normal kid with his friends.

These are the moments that make it all worth it.

Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah, what a Savior that we serve.

Here are some specific ways you can pray about what is going on here:

  • Strength, energy and rest for the entire time. It is a busy season and it’s easy to get worn out.

  • The two interns, Sylvie and Laurel, that will be arriving in less than three weeks! Woot woot!

  • The Lydia’s Circle ladies - that their eyes would be opened to truth and that the truck would come regularly.

  • The children in the community to turn back to Jesus.

  • Families in the community to be restored.

Thank you to all my faithful prayer warriors. Thank you for praying for healing for M. Thank you for praying for me and the rest of the team. Your prayers mean more than you know.

In Christ,


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