:)

   It has been a crazy week!  First off, Thanksgiving was amazing…well as good as it could be being away from my family.  The twenty of us had a great time enjoying each other’s company and great food.  As usual, we ate WAY too much and had to lay down for awhile after dinner to give our stomachs a break.  Thankfully we all cooked our own dishes so we had some great tastes from America!

   This past weekend we were given off to rest or travel.  Of course, I travelled.  If you know me, you know I can’t sit still for too long.  A group of five of us girls headed off to a small beach town (yes, I know we live on the beach, but we needed a change of scenery) about an hour and a half away called Plettenburg Bay.  It was beautiful and very different from Jbay.  Its more upity than Jbay, but still a good time for us to get a break and see something a little bit different than what we were used to.  We had some exciting adventures travelling by the South Africa Bus system.  I would NOT recommend it.  It was an adventure.  I think every single time we called to check on the arrival of our bus they changed the time.  I think they were all sitting in the office laughing.  It had to be a joke on the Americans. I dont blame them…I would make fun of us too:)  And T.I.A. “This is Africa”  nothing is bound to be on time…EVER.

   This weekend the other Africa teams also arrived in Jbay.  It is definately different having about 40 more Americans decend of Jeffreys, but I think they are loving it here.  They will be here for about another two weeks until right before we all head back to the states.  Since they are here, we are all participating in a leadership/ discipleship conference.  This morning was actually our first session and it was pretty awesome.  I think being in the leadership track will be very interesting. 

  The Joshua Project closed last week for Holiday, so this week I just went to the Clinic every day.  It was a lot of fun to see all the nurses every day.  They crack me up.  I think my favorite is getting hugs from them.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that they give you FULL body hugs.  They are great.  It was nice to have to extra time to build a relationship with Louise (the pharmacist).  She is so sweet and precious…I just love being around her. 

  This coming week is our last week of ministry before we head home for the holidays.  I can’t believe it.  I’m getting really excited for the holiday season, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be a great break for me to see some friends and family.  I think I am really in need of some processing time too.  We have learned soooo much this semester and God has been showing me so many things, that having a few weeks to let it all soak in will be awesome.  Right now I feel like I can’t shove anything else in my brain even if I tried, but now I am in the midst of an amazing Leadership Conference so I will force it in.  I’m just ready to let me brain rest:)

  Anyways, if you could, just pray for each of us that we would finish out the semester strong.  That we would let it all out and not grow weary.  Several of us are fighting being just worn out spiritually and physically, but we know that God promises to renew and restore us.  Let us walk in His truth and promises. 

Here are a few pictures from last week at the Joshua Project.  We played with chalk and face paint.  It wasn’t long until we turned into their canvasas.             

One of the girls that comes on Tuesdays.  She’s beautiful.

                             

Matt after his face painting by Boya…and me before Keegan got ahold of my face!

Keegan and I after his masterpiece was finished!