Oh my word, it has been SO LONG since I've talked to you guys! It makes me sad! Its just that we've been so busy, and not really near a phone in so long...
My last e-mail was in JBay? Yes? While we were there we went to this place where they have an after-school program for kids and we got to play with them for 2 hours. It was incredible. Mom, thats why I came to Africa, for those kids. They just latched on to us, wow, it was unbelieveable how needed I felt. And then all these girls surrounded me and did my hair! They were braiding it, twisting it, gave me pigtails and finally settled on a rather nice half pony. It was SO cool, and they were so gentle...this one girl who was doing ym hair was just gorgeous, wow! After JBay we went to this "adventure" camp, aka a really spider infested place in the middle of nowhere! There were these huge spiders all over our beds, it was hard to sleep, plus we got up at 4:00 to drive to Mdumbi.
The drive there...indescribeable! Sincerely, it was beyond gorgeous! And green...hills and little grass huts on the hills...cows ALL over the roads...then pigs...then goats...sheep...yeah there was lots of stopping for livestock. It was the most hilarious drive of my life, George could hardly go two feet without stopping for a farm animal. And boy was it dusty! All the city folk could hardly handle the gravel roads. But once we got there it was amazing! If you go to the outtatown website, click on South Africa, and the picture you see of the beach is the view we had at Mdumbi. We were a 2 minute walk from the beach...apparently one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and I agree! Man I loved it!
So we spent the week doing the second module of Knowing Yourself, which was SO GOOD. We did personality type quizes, learned what our spiritual gifts are and encouraged each other in our small groups. The encouragements were so amazing, everyone said such lovely things to me, I have it on paper show you when I get home. It totally confirmed that I achieved my goals I've had since day one - to make good relationships with everyone that I could, and to completely grow and change. So many people commented on how much I've changed this semester, how my self esteem is up and how I've grown into a strong and beautiful woman of God. I cried! It was so amazing to have them just encourage me for no reason at all!
PLEASE TELL BABA THAT I RECIEVED ALL MY MAIL!!! All 13 items! :) She's been worried sick, I'm sure. I prayed for her on her surgery day, I'm so glad it went well!
Yesterday was a very scary day. We went swimming in the ocean, but the undertow was INTENSE. Like super super strong, pulling you out farther and farther into the ocean. Caryn and I got completely sucked out, it was scary! We were out SO far, and we were swimming as hard as we could and getting no where. Eventually we managed to get over to these rocks, barely getting a grip on them. Caryn had to grab my leg! We climbed up and out of the water. Later, Ash got swept out, and I went and retrieved her. Then Mae, and she can't swim all that well, and all these boys were around but no one made a move, so I went out, and it was scary because I wasn't strong enough to carry her and swim. She was screaming bloody murder practically, and I was yelling "help us! help us!" but everyone was kinda stunned and just stood there. Finally I yelled ay Mae to grab my foot and hold on and I swam us to the rocks. It was so scary, we got onto the rocks (after severely cutting up my feet, hands, and butt) and hugged for like 10 minutes. Man that was scary! Thats when I decided that that was 3 rescues too many and I was done for the day! More life threatening bonding moments!
We left Mdumbi at 3:00 am this morning and drove through pouring rain (it has been FREEZING all day) to a place outside of Pietermeritzberg where I went white water rafting! It was so fun, we sang and amused ourselves the whole way, and the rapids were sweet! It was super cold though, I think I'll take some vitamin C tonight so I don't get sick. It was sweet....Pappy managed to fall out and smoke his knee on a rock. It was split open so bad you could see the bone. Poor guy never gets a brake!
So here we are staying at a jail in Pmbg. It is so sweet! I love it here...too bad its still raining, especially because the overnight hike is this week. I leave for it on Wednesday. Man do I want to call you before then, its been a ridiculous amount of time since my last call, and I hate that - I cried the day we got to Mdumbi when I realised there was no phone! So I will call this week, I promise! I should go though, this has taken me a while to write. I love and miss you guys SO much!! Keep e-mailing me about whats going on with you, I love to hear it.
Love,
Janna
