i am living in south africa. what?!

We are all settled in on campus. I am almost done with my first official week of classes. We arrived to our campus, African Enterprise (AE), on Sunday and began our classes on Monday. I am continually so blessed by the country of South Africa. It has been so great to be back. Our campus is beautiful. I wish I could capture in a picture, but it is simply not possible. I have never seen so many different shades of green covering so much land. It is summer in South Africa right now so we have some tropical weather. It has been really hot and humid. The other day it poured all day, a bunch of people went out and played mud soccer. It is nice being away from the hustle and bustle of APU. We just hang out here, when we are not doing homework. It is nice to get away from the business for a bit.




the monkeys are little devils. the other day Paige and I went for a run and on our way back we got circled by about 15 monkeys. we ran, but they chased us. hah. on the first day a monkey came through our window and pooped all over our room. haha. the boys have started a fun new game of shooting the monkeys with a paintball gun.

All of us are required to take Intercultural communication, History and Culture of South Africa, and a community engagement course. Besides for those classes, I am taking 8 units of Zulu. My isiZulu class is intensive, and it going to be really hard but I am getting really excited about it. I am hoping to be able to speak a little bit of it by the time I began working in the community. All of us have class all day here because we are doing a whole semester’s work in six weeks, classes go for at least 4 hours each. It is much more intensive than I had anticipated but so far I am really enjoying the things I have been learning. I don’t have Zulu until four at night, so my day usually consists of a run in the morning in the game reserve, then doing some homework outside, and relaxing. It is so lovely.


When I first got to Pietermariztburg it was weird to be here again under such different circumstances than my last trip here. Last summer I stayed in the townships, and this time we are in a really nice neighborhood, up in the middle of nowhere. It is good though, I am learning a lot about contentment and balance here. I have to continually remind myself that I did come here for school. God is so good though. Every time I get anxious about being here and find myself wanting to be elsewhere God sends me such encouragement. The first day we got here I walked into our little hang out room on campus and found one of my favorite guys, Alfred, from Haniville (township I worked in last summer) standing there playing pool. Alfred was someone that my team and myself really connected with. He is working with this dance ministry called foxfires and he was here for his training. I was able to spend an hour hearing how God brought him here and what is doing now. The transformation that has happened within him is incredible. It was such an encouragement and blessing.



Earlier this week I was at the mall, feeling overwhelmed, and walked into a store and saw my friend Toby working there. I was able to catch up with here and hear what is going on back in Haniville.




God is faithful. He has constantly been reminding me that he is in control and that this is not my time, my trip, my experience, it is his and he is going to use it for his kingdom and his glory. I am excited for this semester and what it has in store.

I am living in a chalet with 7 other girls. Each one is amazing and lovely. My roommate is my best friend from school, Paige. I am blessed.

Our campus is a playground. So much fun to be had, and so many adventures to go on daily.

Sala Kahle!
Al.