South Africa: community and adventures

Here’s a bit on community living and the adventurous time we’ve had here in South Africa so far. There are A LOT of photos in this blog, because I really wanted to share moments I’ve really treasured. 🙂 So here we go!!!

We live in a sweet rural and calm area.

This is the street we live on, and we walk all the time to get to ministry at the church, to buy groceries at The Spar, and to visit the Delish coffee shop.We always walk over this creek on our way to ministry at the church, and… 

 I love it.We’ve been able to spend time with incredible brothers and sisters from the church and school staff during ministry and off days. We had a braai (pronounced as ”bry”), which is a barbeque or roast in Afrikaans.The way that they’ve all poured into us honestly leaves me speechless. Fellowship is a theme for our time in South Africa so far, and I’ve loved it.

This is us at Mossel Bay, West Cape, S.A: Paiton and I, with brother Solomon and brother Wayne,and here’s more pictures of that awesome day:I love/d the color of these boulder-rocks so much, I was like “Paiton, please take a picture of me!!”Paiton got a chip twister and I got…a waffle with strawberry ice cream on top. So yummy!!The norm here in South Africa is to call your elders “auntie” or ”uncle”, and so, Auntie Tanya and Uncle (Pastor) Phil, and other incredible friends have taken us on spontaneous and planned trips around different towns and areas, and have taught us about South African history and facts. This was when we came back from a day at a beach/bay/fishing area; here’s Lauren and the sea shells that her and other squadmates collected!This is me sitting in the back of the car, having nostalgic thoughts on life, before and after leaving from a sweet time with our new friends.

we we’re treated with a traditional Africanas dish at De Heidel (our home) and on a day out with Auntie Tanya called…. Roosterkoek (the scrumptious bread filled with shredded cheese and apricot jam to the right)

And oh yeah, chocolate cake for Amber!! Amber’s favorite— she really liked it!!

Collectively, my squad and I have seen:

• whales, seals,
• sharks (when we went shark cage diving)

• ostriches, elephants, rhinos, zebra,
• baboons, goats,
• cows, mongooses,
• rock baggers,

•  cats and dogs, and cool-looking birds.

I was being funny with the cats and dogs one, but seriously, its so fun seeing so many dogs in the neighborhood, and we have a cat that lives with us named Shelby. 

At De Heidel, we practice songs together for fun,celebrate each other’s birthdays, (Drake and Bliz, July 13th, ah, love them!)and my squad as a whole, I love them a whole bunch 🙂oh, and you’ll probably catch me going on walks with God, to soak in a lovely mural in town and come back to my family/community.Here’s a picture of when we had left on a quick trip to buy warmer clothes; the roads feel familiar but are different.

Throwback to when we were on our way to Heidelberg, tired from our 3/4-day travel to S.A. I am so thankful for the experience we’ve had so far.

I mean, just a few hours ago, Jonathan prepared us mussels and lamb and ostrich sausage.. all so delicious,and with our norm being to cook dinner, Ellie and I cooked for our team tonight, and Mami……. 

I MADE THE RICE, and it turned out perfect. MAMIIII, I thought of you, shoutout to you for having taught me so well. I love you.

  – community life and adventures – Jesus is so sweet. 

Hope you enjoyed – With much love,

J