battlefields

Last weekend our group of 53 students traveled to the battle fields. It was a five hour drive on a bus to see some of the different sites where the battles between the Afrikaner and the English and the Afrikaner and Zulu took place. It was quite the adventure. If I am being honest, it was not too exciting.

here are some pictures that reflect our groups attitudes towards the battlefields ...
























The highlight of the trip was Tony. Tony was our tour guide. I have never met any one like this man. He is an elderly man that has retired from him job and now takes groups on tours of the battlefields. He was a character. Anytime anyone yawned he would stop his lecture and very rudely ask that person why they were yawning. At one point, he referred to someone from my group as a tonsil expert, because he was yawning too much apparently. During one of his lectures, tony suddenly dropped to the ground and pulled out an imaginary gun and began to reenact the battle, with his own sound effects, of course. Tony also loved pointing out the different cattle to us, and who owned the different cattle that we passed. Why this was relevant to the battlefields, we have no idea.
We finished classes last week. Well everyone else finished classes last week. My Zulu class will continue on for four more weeks. We started our community engagement class on Monday. Our professor, Francis, is incredible. He is from Kenya and has worked all across Africa developing communities. Everything he says is so wise. I spend our entire lecture frantically scribbling down everything he says. This class as designed to equip up with the tools to empower the individuals and the communities we will be working with over the next month, rather than just coming in and throwing money or putting a band-aid on the issue.

isnt he lovely?





I am learning more and more everyday that everyone matters. This is becoming so evident to me.

I john 3:1
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are. The reason that the world does not us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what wil be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears we will be made like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

We have been labeled as sons and daughters of the King. We are children of God. I think I have become so humbled by this thought lately. I am learning more and more about the power of God that manifests itself in me everyday. I am beginning to realize more and more how much of a sinner I am and how wretched I am. God still loves me. he claims me as his own. I am so amazed at this thought. I am humbled. I have been learning so much about God’s glory. I have begun to realize that nothing good comes from me. Rather, everything that is good and encouraging that flows from me is purely God. It is all him within me. I have been recognizing that and praising him. I am realizing more and more that I am purely a vessel. I have said this before, but I am really beginning to understand this.

In a weird way I feel like a baby Christian again. I am rediscovering all of these different fundamental truths and really learning more about the God that I am living by each day. It is incredible. I am falling more and more in love with my creator everyday.

I have been able to spend some time with some of the senior youth from Haniville that I met last summer while I was here. It has been great to see the progress that is occurring in their life, and just kind of pick up where I left off. I am taking one of the senior youth, Sihle, to the mall next week to look for jobs. I am so blessed to be here, truly.

sihle and i



I have been reminded lately of how little I am and how big my Creator is. I have been reading a lot out of the Gospels and trying to understand the life that the disciples lived.
Matthew 10 is all about Jesus sending out the 12 and the instructions he tells them as he is preparing them. It is crazy for me to think that this is the life I am striving to imitate. Verse 6: go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message. The kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received now freely you must give … take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep.”

Matthew 10:27
“what I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight, what is whispered in your ear, proclaim it from the roofs.”

Matthew 10:38
“And anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses it for my sake will find it.”

I Corinthians 1:31
“Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord…”

i found out this week that i am going to be an RA next year. i am really excited about this opportunity. i cannot wait!


we start service sites tomorrow. I am so excited. The verse below is the verse I have been praying over our semester as we head out into the different communities. I am praying that God will clear our minds of our own selfish desires, of our own worries and our own anxiety so that we can just gaze upon His face and rest in him while we simply listen to his voice. I pray that love will freely flow from each of us … that God will rid us of ourselves and help us to see one another and the people of Haniville as his beloved. I am praying that we are all truly humbled and begin to discover what it means to be a true servant. I pray that everyday we are on our hands and knees begging God to speak through us, to use us in some way to bring him glory and bring love to the different communities of south africa. I pray that we are able to keep our eyes focused on the cross that we will begin to be able to embody what true service looks like. I pray that we will be able to not only love through actions, but also through our words and our thoughts. I am praying that we will be vessels of truth to one another and to individuals we meet over the next month. My hope is that we will be able to encourage one another and help one an other develop the different gifts God has given us so that we may be able to use our gifts to bring him praise and glory. I am begging for joy. I pray that we will be completely blinded to our own accomplishments so that we will purely see God amongst one another and our work. I pray that we are not the ones that are seen as we enter the communities, but rather that people see God.



I peter 3:7-11
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”