We are leaving Worcester and going to Swaziland, finally!  Now don’t get me wrong outreach here has been great!  While we are out serving it is awesome, but when we get back to the base we realize we are still here.  It was getting hard for the team because we didn’t feel like we were really on outreach.  So when we heard the news that we were leaving this weekend we were all very happy!  We leave Sunday afternoon, hop on a train for 24 hours then reach Johannesburg.  We will spend the night in Jo-burg and then take a bus from there to Mbabane, Swaziland. 

 

So now comes the hard part… deciding what I need for outreach and what I don’t need.  I am trying to take my big backpack and a purse.  Today I am doing a practice pack because tomorrow we have to put all our other stuff into storage while we are gone.  I know I can do it, hopefully.

 

As of now these are the tentative plans for our time there.  The first week we are in Swazi we will be going to schools, orphanages, and hospitals.  The second week we are staying with a church that is involved with HIV and AIDS in the community.  We will be helping them out wherever they need us.  From May 5^th to 16^th we are staying at a AIDS orphanage and helping there.  There are children there that have AIDS or have been orphaned because their parents had AIDS.  We don’t know what we are doing after that until the end of outreach.  Plans could always change though.  That’s why they tell us to always be flexible.

 

I will not be taking my laptop with me because there is no internet at the places we are staying and there isn’t going to be a secure place for it all the time.  I am going to do my best to post on here or send a mass e-mail.  If you want your e-mail address to be included e-mail me and let me know, all4him72@yahoo.com.

After having last week Monday off we were ready to start the week.  Tuesday morning we went to Zwelethemba and attended a Bible study with the elders from the community.  While Elisha was worshiping it was great to see all the old people singing and swaying back and forth.  They were smiling and having a great time.  Luana shared Psalm 91 with them and how we can find refuge and peace in God.  After the service we prayed for a lot of land that Pastor Yang bought and he is planning on building a church there.  We prayed for funds and that souls would be won on the property.  In the afternoon we went to the hospital to pray.  We started in the waiting area outside then later, when visiting hours started, went into the wards.  I went to the children’s ward inside.  The last boy and mother we met were uplifting and encouraging.   Her son was in there with a broken arm.  He had fallen out of a tree while he was playing and had surgery that morning.  I told the mom were I was from started asking her if she knew who Jesus was.  As soon as I said she went on and on about how she is a Christian and told me her life story.  She is a mother of four boys and is raising them in a wonderful household.  She teaches them about Jesus and when they pray Jesus will hear their prayers and answers them.  Her husband is still not a Christian.  She said there has been many times when she has wanted to leave him.  She continues to pray daily that we would turn from his drinking and sinful life and turn to God.  Her hope is that one day her and her family can go and preach the good news to people that don’t know God.  It was encouraging to see this mother’s faith and to here how she is raiding her boys.  One day, when I have children, I pray that I will have the faith and love she has.

 

Wednesday morning we put some butter on some bread and made sandwiches.  We went to Zwelethemba and did a little service with them.  We weren’t prepared to lead the time, but when we got there Pastor Yang said we had to come up with something because Elisha couldn’t come till a bit later.  Thankfully Tory had her guitar and we sang some songs with them.  Then Audrey asked me to tell them a short story from the Bible.  Quickly I decided to tell about David and Goliath.  I told a short and simple version of it because the kids started getting restless.  Once it was over we passed out the sandwiches and snacks.  The kids did not listen well.  They didn’t stay in there lines and after they got their food they tried to get back into line to get more and we had to tell them no, sternly.  It was hard to tell no, I felt like I was being really mean.  That afternoon we planned some more dramas and things for future outreaches.

 

Thursday morning we went to De Doorns.  First we visited a woman whose grandson is being sponsored by Pastor Yang and his church.  The grandson, John, is in South Korea going to university.  We brought her some food and prayed with her.  She was a beautiful lady.  After that we went and did the same thing as we did on Wednesday in Zwelethemba.  Elisha led some songs, we did the box drama, I told the story of David and Goliath again, and then we passed out butter and bread sandwiches and snacks.  The children there were much better when we handed out the food.  They all stayed in their lines and didn’t try to get more food.  That afternoon we split into two groups and planned for our outreach on Saturday at the De Doorns and Zwelethemba.  One thing that touched me while we were at De Doorns that day was this little boy.  He looked like he had been burnt and was now blind.  He only spoke Afrikaans so I couldn’t communicate with him.  While they were singing songs he was causing commotion.  He used his hands to feel everyone and it was annoying the other children.  I took him aside and he just embraced me.  He was feeling me and found my ring.  So every time that he wanted to find me he would feel my hand to find my ring and then he knew it was me.  This was probably the best part of my week.  To be there for him and for him to feel that he was safe with me felt awesome.  I loved it!

 

Friday morning we did a prayer walk through Worcester.  Audrey and Jonny were in my group.  We walked through a sketchy part.  Mom, this was the first part of town that we drove through where things looked a bit dangerous.  There were a lot of drunken people and the men looked at Audrey and I like we were meat.  It was disgusting, but thankfully we had Jesus protecting us and Jonny there.  The prayer walk was hard for me because I would pray for a minute or so then get distracted by something else and stop praying.  Guess it’s my ADD getting in the way.  While we were doing the prayer walk Daniel, Luana, and Tory went to the lady’s house that Luana met last week at the hospital.  I mentioned it in my post last week.  She wasn’t able to talk with them because her boyfriend was home, but they are going to go back there this week, I think tomorrow.  That afternoon we had off so I just stayed at the base, rested, and talked to some friends on the internet.

 

Saturday morning one group went to Zwelethemba and my group went to De Doorns.  Elisha led worship, then I tried to play Simon says with them, but we didn’t have a translator so I couldn’t explain it to them and they really had no idea what was going on.  After attempting the game Jonny shared Daniel in the lions den with them.  He did a good job.  He used a lot of body movements and hand motions.  I think they understood.  We passed out coloring papers of Daniel in the den and crayons.  They did an awesome job coloring and sharing the crayons.  We were all surprised.  As they left we passed out snacks and stickers.  For Christmas my sister gave me a bunch of stickers to bring and pass out to the children.  Hanna they are perfect!  The kids love them!  Thank you!  That afternoon we went to the Hospice.  The hospices here are not only for old people.  The doctors will send any age.  They send sick people there to hopefully get them better and out again or to die, so we didn’t know what to expect.  When we got there we split into pairs.  I was with Luana.  The first lady we met was extremely ill.  They couldn’t tell us what she was sick with, but both of us think it was AIDS.  She was so thin, just skin and bones.  It looked like if you moved her she would break.  She looked like an old woman, but we think that she couldn’t have been older than 30 or 35.  We held her hands and prayed with her.  Her fingers were ice cold.  She was like living dead.  We just prayed that she would feel God’s love and that if she hadn’t accepted Jesus that she would do that before she took her last breath.  This had a huge affect on us.  After we left her we said hi to two other ladies then just went and sat outside.  We both didn’t know what to say.  We just sat there, speechless.  We saw what this disease does in the end, death.  It was sad to see her like that.  I still can’t get the picture of her out of my mind.  I will continue to pray for her.

 

Sunday we went to church again as a team.  We went to this church that reminded me of a Catholic church.  We stood up, sang a song, sat down, prayed, and sang another song…  It was so stiff.  It didn’t feel like church to me, but thankfully the service was only an hour.  I think next week we are going to AFM again.  That afternoon we went to De Doorns and helped at a church service that we went to last week.  We split into four small groups after worship and preaching.  Jane and I shared a short testimony with our group and how we have hope in Christ.  At the end we asked if there was anything that we could pray for with them.  A few of them shared and we prayed Korean style.  It was cool to hear all of praying in different languages.  The ladies were so happy when they left.

 

And Monday…. While we were at De Doorns on Sunday all of us were tired and not with it.  All of us were ready for a day off and it could not have come any sooner.  Today I went to base worship then went on a run with Jane.  After showering we went to the mall with Audrey for an hour or so, bought some food and came back to the base.  This afternoon I laid in bed and watched movies and napped.  I am much more thankful for our day off this week.  They have warned us that this week is going to be busier.  Today we got some good and bad news.  There are three outreach teams coming to the base this week so we have to move out of the room we are in now and back into the dorm we were in during the lecture phase, but we also found out that we are leaving sooner for Swaziland.  They won’t tell us when yet, but sooner than two weeks.  So that is exciting!  More news on that when it comes.  So since last Monday I have forgotten how to upload photos and I am too tired to do it tonight so I will try and figure it our tomorrow.  I did upload them onto myspace so if you have it check that out.

 

 

 

 

So the blog site has changed things and I can’t figure out how to write captions by the pictures.  So I’ll just write a little here.  There are some pictures from the safari.  I got pictures of the zebras kissing and the giraffes.  There was a lot of love flying on the farm!  The pictures with the elephants are cool.  They are huge animals!  Then the rest are from the first few days of oureach.  I have uploaded others from this week.  The kids in these pictures are from the De Doorns.  They are so cute!!  I want to take them all home with me, excpet the naughty ones.

 

Kiss a cutie!

 

First week of outreach and it was awesome!  On Tuesday we had a fun day with the whole DTS.  We went on a safari, much like a zoo, but we got to sit in this really cool safari car as we drove around.  We saw rhinos, zebras, antelope, lions, giraffe, and even the elephants.  We went later in the day and so the elephants had already gone into their cages for the night and they usually don’t let people see them while they are in there, but our tour guide liked us so much that he let us have an up close look at them.  And we got to feed them.  It was so cool!!  We had a fun time and it was nice to be with the whole DTS and the families.

 

Technically outreach started on Thursday, but Friday we actually started doing something.  Every morning, except our day off, we meet at 6:30am for worship and intercession.  This has brought so much bonding to our team.  It’s great to get up, come together, and worship God.  I will admit the time is the only part I don’t like about it.  After we did that and breakfast we went and harvested vegetables in the garden… or tried to at least.  Our school leader, Bev, planted this garden in 2006 to grow food for people at the clinic who have HIV and for child headed households.  They relocated the garden last year and it hasn’t been doing well.  Which brings me to our time in the garden…  Bev wanted us to dig up the potatoes.  We only found four normal size potatoes, the rest were about the size of an egg or smaller.  The time spent in the garden wasn’t as successful as we had hoped, but we all were laughing about them and their size.  It was a fun time.

 

After the time in the garden we went to a community named Zwelethemba.  We did a prayer walk through the community and passed out cuties or mandarin oranges.  While we are here we will be going to Zwelethemba every Wednesday afternoon to meet with the children and participate in the children worship service that Elisha and Vim put on.

 

That afternoon we went to the hospital and prayed with people outside who were waiting to see the doctor.  It’s sad how far people come from to see the doctor and how long they have to wait.  We met this one lady who had come from a town about three hours away and had been waiting almost six hours to see the doctor.

 

Saturday morning we went to De Doorns and walked around, talked, and prayed with families.  We split into three groups of three.  Daniel and Luana were in my group.  We prayed with four families, but there was one family that we prayed for that was a Christian family that spoke English.  It was cool to encourage them and be encouraged by them.  As we came back to the combi we had this huge group of kids following us.  It was like a wave of children that we had collected as we walked around the community.  Once we were back at the combi we started singing with the kids.  They love to sing and I to see and hear them sing.  They are all beautiful!

 

Saturday afternoon we went back to the hospital and prayed with people outside.  The time there was awesome!  One lady came up to Jane and I and asked for prayer for her baby.  She told us that her father worked at the YWAM base and she recognized our t-shirts.  Her father and brother work here on the landscaping and maintenance.  Her whole family was there and we prayed with them for her son.  Another lady at the end stopped Luana and said she saw our shirts and wanted to talk to us about HIV and AIDS.  She began telling Luana how she had been raped by a man that said he was HIV positive and that she has never been tested.  She is living with her boyfriend and they have one child together.  She wants to get tested, but she doesn’t want to tell her boyfriend or friends because they would disown her and not talk to her if she was positive.  She told Luana that she wanted her there when she gets tested.  So this week Luana is going to visit her at her house and probably go to the hospital with her.  I’ll update on that next weekend.  Our t-shirts really communicate and open up doors for us to talk to people and them to talk to us.  I will try and get a picture of the t-shirts this week.  We wear them every time we go out and do ministry so it shouldn’t be hard to get a pictures of them. 

 

Sunday our team went to church and the message was really good.  I was super tired so I was fading in and out, but what I got out of it was something I needed to hear.  Lately I have been asking God what next?  I want to know the plan for my life, what I will do with my life, where I will live, who I will marry, when I will get married, how many kids I’ll have.  I have been asking God why He couldn’t just tell me everything.  During church the pastor said that if God gave us our life all planned out before us we wouldn’t rely on Him for His will and direction in our lives.  We would fall away from and not rely on Him and not ourselves.  That really hit me.  I need to rely on God for His plan and know that He will reveal the answers to my questions when it is the right time.  I need to rely on Him for my future plans in life.

 

Sunday afternoon we went to De Doorns again and attended a church service that Pastor Yang and his family put on.  We preformed our first drama about the people with different sins.  It went well considering the little space we had to do it.  Jonny shared his testimony and did a great job!  Then we sang Blessed Be Your Name with them.  After the service we handed out baby clothes to the mothers with babies.  One of the women, Portia, came up to me and told me that she wanted to do what Jonny did and share her testimony.  So next week I think she is going to share her testimony with the church.  I will get pictures of the church next Sunday.

 

For the first week Luana and I have been cooking dinner.  At home this wouldn’t take long, but here it seems as if it takes forever.  The kitchen we are cooking in doesn’t have all the supplies we need, but we just do the best with what we have and the three burners and little oven we have.  Even though it is difficult it is also nice cooking for ourselves.  The food tastes so much better and we can make what ever we want.  I have been trying to eat healthier and run everyday.  Hopefully that will last.

 

The last two weeks before we started outreach I was feeling really down and bored and just wanted to go home.  We weren’t doing a lot and I had a lot of time to think about home and everyone I missed.  Since outreach has started I have had more joy and peace about being here.  During the first day at Zwelethemba there was this one boy that came running to us because he saw us passing out the cuties and I handed him one.  He was so happy, he had a huge smile and he gave me the biggest hug.  That was a confirmation that I was at the right place at the right time and it lifted my spirits.

 

The first few days of outreach were awesome!  The days go by fast and before I know it my head it on my pillow and I am waking up at 5:15am to my beeping alarm.  Though I will lack sleep the next two months they are going to be two amazing months!  Thankfully we get one day off a week.  We get Mondays off so that will probably be the day that I do posts from now on.  About posting pictures…I am trying to figure out how to do that.  The blog site has changed things and now I don’t know how to post pictures.  Expect to see them soon though.

 

So this week our team and the leaders decided not to go to Botswana.  Instead we are going to stay here in Worcester for four and do local outreach, then go to Swaziland in May.  The decision was made because the plans weren’t coming together for out time there and we as a team didn’t have peace about Botswana.  We are going to be doing a lot around the town and in different communities outside of town.  We already started, but more on that later.  The leaders are still in the process of planning specific outreaches, but we will be working in farm schools, doing prayer walks around the town and communities.  When I know more of what we are doing I will post it.  I just wanted to update everybody on the situation.  And I will post a blog this weekend with lots of pictures from this week and last week.

This was our last week of the lecture phase.  It was a fun week, but very tiring.  We had a creative arts week.  There was a team that came and taught us from Cape Town, Creative Performing Arts Training (CPAT).  They taught us dances, dramas, and helped us make our own songs.  We had Monday off because of Easter and had an extra day of rest.  They started Tuesday by dividing us into our outreach teams (Jo-burg and Botswana/Swaziland).  They taught each team a drama.  The drama was about people with issues and how Jesus died on the cross for those people’s sins and that there is hope even though they have big issues in their lives.  Then the other team went and wrote a song and my team learned a dance.  The dance was the hardest for me because it was hip-hop and after doing ballet for so many years every time I was suppose to flex I would point instead, but it was really fun to try and dance hip hop.  It was a lot of hard work and it took about 3 hours to learn the dance, but we did it.  Our heads hit the pillow hard that night.

 

Tuesday night we had a nurse come and go over some ways to keep us from getting sick with malaria or HIV or any other sicknesses.  She went over some safety tips and way to purify water and what to do if we are dehydrated.  She also warned us about all the bugs and snakes and cockroaches and scorpions and rats that we will probably encounter, especially our team that is going to Botswana and Swazi.  Pray that I become some what ready for that part of outreach.  It was good that she came and gave us all the info that she did, but by the end of the meeting all of us were like lets go to Jo-burg instead (where there is no malaria and they are staying at a YWAM base).

 

It’s tradition on the last week before DTS’ leave on outreach and the quarter is over to have everyone from the base clean up the base to get it ready for the new DTS’ and people that are coming.  So instead off intercession we cleaned.  How fun.  I helped clean Glory Hall; where we have all our big meetings and worship and intercession.  Then during “class” they taught each team another drama.

 

Wednesday night we were invited to a church in Avian Park.  They are in the process of starting a church there.  They meet in a tent and this week they were doing a seminar thing during the week.  So our outreach team, CPAT, and others from the base went to their service to support them.  CPAT performed a few times and then there was worship and man named Elisha talked for a bit.  It felt like a real African church.  As Elisha was preaching there was a scorpion, but thankfully Steve killed it before it reached me.  The rest of the night I kept watching my feet and the ground making sure that another one was not near trying to kill me.

 

Thursday morning both the classic and HIV DTS joined and had a time of worship together.  Then the classic DTS went to their class and we reviewed the dramas and dances that CPAT had taught us over the week.  And that was our last day of class in the lecture phase.

 

It is weird to think that I have been here for twelve weeks.  At times it feels like it’s going by so slow, but in the long run I can’t believe I have been here that long.

 

Friday we didn’t have classes because we had to move our luggage from our big dorm to a room that is a ¼ of our dorm.  I didn’t realize how much stuff I have here until I had to move it all… Looks like I will be giving a lot away on outreach.  That afternoon we went into town to get some mosquito preventing toiletries like citronella soap and lotion.  Then we had to buy some long skirts that we will need to wear on outreach.  It sounds like in Botswana the girls can only wear skirts, but Swaziland is a little bit more laid back.

 

Saturday morning we cleaned the dorm top to bottom, spotless.  I should have taken pictures of Saturday.  A lot of people waited to pack Saturday morning and it was like a tornado had hit the dorm.  At noon we had to say goodbye to the first outreach team to leave for Egypt from the classic DTS.  The tears were flowing, but all of them are going to be here when we get back from outreach so I have that to look forward to. J  Then Sunday morning we had to say goodbye to the South Africa team.  Again tears for the people I won’t see when I get back, unless I got to visit them in their country.

 

This week is going to be a relaxing week.  We have Monday off, but all the girls from HIV DTS are going out for a girl’s night out.  On Tuesday our whole DTS (families included) are going out for a fun day.  We are going on a safari and then out to dinner.  Wednesday and Thursday we are buying food and packing the combi for the drive to Botswana.  We’ll say goodbye to the Jo-burg team Thursday and then we will be the last team to leave Friday morning.  I am very excited to go on outreach.  I don’t know what to expect, but it’s going to be amazing!

 

Just some prayer requests…  Within our DTS there have been five deaths in families back home since the DTS started and more and more relatives are being diagnosed with cancer and other’s are getting sick.  Please pray against death and sickness in our DTS and all of our families back home.  The devil tries to attack us personally while being here by attacking people at home.  And we have to continue to submit ourselves to the work of the Lord and keep our eyes focused on Him and His kingdom.  Please also pray for my health.  Since coming back from the states I have been battling headaches almost everyday and an upset stomach.  Especially with outreach coming up soon this isn’t something I want to battle there.

 

I will upload pictures from last week and this week before I leave for outreach.

With each passing week it gets crazier and crazier to believe how long I have been here.  I am already “organizing to pack” which basically means I’m kinda sorta packing… Ok I’m packing.  We still have 11 more days until we leave so it’s too soon to be packing, but that’s just me always planning too far ahead.

 

This week started with saying goodbye to my mom and Sasha at the Spokane airport, again.  It was harder leaving this time and I was dreading the 30 hours of travel back to South Africa.  I updated my blog in the Minneapolis airport and there I met a girl who was heading back to South Africa from Santa Cruz.  We got to talking and spending some time together in the terminal before our flight.  During my flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam I wanted to sleep so after dinner I decided to take an ambian.  Well my body didn’t respond well to the combination of the chicken dinner and ambian because just a few hours later I was in the bathroom puking my guts out (sorry to be so descriptive, but there’s not a better way of putting that).  Then in Amsterdam I tried to get comfortable and lay down for an hour or two.  That didn’t work so well.  On my flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town I finished reading my book and tried to sleep and watch movies.  When I arrived back at the base Courtney was wide awake to greet me and we stayed up for a while and talked. 

This week was a struggle to change my body back to the time zone I was used to, but wasn’t on for a week.  There were some days that I just had to go back to bed.  The mornings were the hardest to stay awake.  This week was really all a blur.  Our topic for the week was children ministries.  We had a lady Katharine from the States come and share some fun and creative ways to work with children and youth.  This week helped us greatly prepare for outreach.  Friday morning we had a lady from YWAM Muizenburg come and talk to us about team building and our time in Botswana.  It was cool because it was good Friday and we were suppose to have the day off, but there was no other time that they could have her come so she had to come then.  She had picked some scriptures out for us to read then we had a time of worship and prayer.  Then we dived into team building and the outreach in Botswana.

Once again our outreach has changed.  There is now a team of six going Johannasburg to work with a project that is going on there.  Their outreach will focus on ministering to the inner city children and doing after school projects with them.  For the other nine of us we are still planning on Botswana for 3ish weeks then Swaziland for the rest of our time.

Wednesday afternoon my small group (Audrey, Jane, Debz, and I) finally went and had small group time.  The past few weeks, before I went home, we didn’t find time to just be in our small group.  So went we finally went out to coffee it was so nice and enjoyable.

Thursday night there was a worship night when all the different nations were represented.  Each nation put on a song or two of worship and pretty much every song all the people there danced.  It was a great night to sing and dance and worship our King.

I have some prayers requests.  The first is that we continue to bond in our teams and become unified.  I would like to pray that all the little details about outreach get finished up so that we can have a good and successful outreach.  I am also still praying about going to the Congo after the DTS has finished.  I would like to go, but I just want to make sure that what God wants.  Thank you for all your prayers and support!  You all are greatly appreciated!

Sorry that this update is a day late and not a lot of pictures, but here are the ones I have…

Audrey and Jane at the coffee shop.

Debz and I

 

Us four at the coffee shop

 

My Loren!!

 

Stanley and his Cameroon flag.

As I remember what Jesus did on the cross I am in awe.  He being the King of kings humbly came to earth, coming down in human flesh.  He lived a faultless life and preached about the Kingdom. 

 

“While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’  Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them saying, ‘Drink from it all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”   Matthew 26:26-28

 

He knew death was coming.  He knew torture was coming.  He knew pain, hurt, and shame were all coming.  He knew that He was going to take all the sins of the world upon Him.  He knew He was going to take them to the cross.  He died on the cross to bring healing in our lives.  He was beaten and torn apart so that our wounds would be healed.  He shed His blood to forgive the sins of this world.  He died a brutal death on the cross to forgive yours sins, to forgive my sins.  He died for you and for me.

 

He died so that through Him we could have life, eternally forever and ever.

 

Shouldn’t this mean something to us?  Shouldn’t this mean that we should surrender all of our life to Him?

 

Before you go on with your day, think about what I have said or more importantly what God is saying to you through these words.  My prayer for everyone that reads this is to be encouraged by His words.  That you will reflect on what these verses say.  I pray that the Holy Spirit works in every person’s lives today.

 

If you have time, read through these verses and see what the Holy Spirit wants to speak to you.

 

• John 13:1-20
• John 19:16-30
• Isaiah 53:1-12
• Matthew 28:1-10
• Philippians 2:5-11
• Colossians 2:8-15

 

Go and be blessed by Him, the one who gives us eternal life!

 

Happy Easter!!!

One view from our condo…

The other view from our condo…

SASHA AND I!!

Elizabeth and I

Uh…..

Heidi and I

Silly girls.

More silliness

I was spoiled last week

Cute toes, huh?

Well this week started out with me boarding a plane at 12:00am Monday morning South African time and spending 23 hours in the air to reach Spokane, WA.  I was nervous about traveling by myself and my layover in Minneapolis, but God was watching over me.  I met a very nice lady, Susan, in the Amsterdam airport.  She had been sitting behind me on the flight from Cape Town to Amsterdam.  She and I talked before we boarded our plane.  I was nervous about the customs and immigration in Minneapolis and having enough time in between my flights.  She helped calmed me and we went through customs, immigration and security together.  It wasn’t as bad as I though it was going to be.  They scanned my bags because I brought a drum home, but they let me pass through with it.  After we got everything done we came out and I spotted Subway so Susan and I went there for dinner.  She was so nice and treated me to dinner.  God was looking out for me and brought a wonderful woman to help me through it.

 

When I arrived at the Spokane airport I was greeted by a very excited brother and my cousin.  Jaxson has had a hard time with me being gone and he was super duper excited to see me!  We drove to our condo and I crashed.  Tuesday I got see all my cousins that I hadn’t seen in a long time.  It w  as good to see all of them.  That afternoon I got really tired and slept from 3pm to 11pm then was awake all night.  The jetlag really caught up with me.  I never really got on a sleeping schedule since I was turning around to head back to Africa.

 

Wednesday morning my mom and sister got into town and surprised me by bringing my best friend, Sasha, with them.  We went to IHOP for breakfast with lots of family, went to the funeral, then to the burial, and to a celebration of life where we ate some good food.  That was the hardest day, but it was the reason I was there.  It was neat to hear all the stories of how my Grandpa has impacted others’ lives.  Things I never knew.  He was a great man of God and he will be greatly missed.  Now he is up in Heaven and one day we will see him again.

 

Thursday I said bye to my dad, Hanna, and Jaxson.  Then my mom, Sasha and I headed to do some shopping.  That’s what our next three days consisted of; shopping, shopping, and more shopping.  I didn’t buy a whole lot except some things to take back to people in Africa and shoes.  Friday my mom treated Sasha and I to a pedicure while she got a manicure.  It will be cool to have cute toes while I am there wearing flip flops.  It was so good to see my family and hang out with Sasha for a few days.  I am glad that I was able to come back and put closure to my Grandpa’s death.  I can’t wait to see him in Heaven and until that day comes I am going to live my life to the fullest!

 This week’s the high in Spokane was cold so I am excited to go back to summer again!