My middle name is Slacker!

I admit I have not been the greatest blogger in the last month....ok, the truth is I haven't blogged at all as you can see from the massive amount of time between entries. If I could come up with some elaborate excuse as to why I have been such a slacker, I would tell you. But it all boils down to the fact that I forget and then when I do think about it, I don't have time to do it. But here I am now, writing again. Please, hold your applause until the end.

Since there is so much to cover, I will give you the highlights:

May 30...After traveling for roughly 40 hours in cars, at the airport and on really long plane rides, we arrived safely in LA.

June 5...I was overjoyed at the prospect of sitting on another plane for the day (note the sarcasm), but looked forward to going home to Florida.

June 10...Imagine my enthusiasm to once again travel by plane! I flew up to Pennsylvania for my old roommate, Danielle's wedding. It is a long story, but this weekend did not turn out as I had hoped. It seemed that nothing worked out as planned and after all the work of getting to PA to see my good friend get married, I missed the actual wedding! It took me 1 1/2 hours to go 10 miles and I still had an hour and 15 mintues to drive after that. I left with plenty of time to get there in a perfect world, but alas, this is NOT a perfect world. But I did get to see Danielle for a few minutes at the reception and she was gorgeous! It was all worth it to see her in the wedding dress and see the joy in face as she stood next to her husband!

June 12...Flew back to Florida, after getting hopelessly lost in Philadelphia and having my flights delayed numerous times.

June 17-18...Went to Sarasota and Lakeland to visit friends and family

June 26...Made the trek by plane back to LA.

I realize that if I had been updating this blog as I should, you would have a lot more detail on the random things that happened during my travels to the east coast, but I don't want to overwhelm you. I will be posting a few things with pictures, as well as some of my favorites from the South Africa trip.

Only one week left...and I am sure that time is going to fly by. The next week is pretty packed with school assemblies, work days and other meetings.

Yesterday we went to a rhino museum and a school. At the museum, they have a 3 1/2 year old rhino and we not only got to feed her, but we also got to go on the other side of the fence to stand next to her and pet her. Crazy to think you usually only see these animals through cages at the zoo.

At the school, the team performed their dramas and did testimonies and played with the kids. This trip is different for me since I am not a part of the dramas and things of that nature, but I am certainly learning a lot through more unique ways, for which I am extremely grateful.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!
This is a rhino. This is NOT the rhino that Heather got to pet. This rhino may have killed her if she tried.

Seeing the Bush...(not George Bush, the AFRICAN Bush)

Giraffe...Zebra...Wildebeast...Impala...Blessbok...These are a few of the animals I got to walk next to yesterday. We went for a bush walk on a game farm and it's amazing to realize that this is not a zoo and there are no cages that stand between you and these animals. Of course you can't get too close because they have a lot of space to run away, but it's quite an experience. And on the way home, we saw a rhino in another game park, wandering around close to the outer fence. So as most people would do, we quickly stopped, turned around and drove back to get a better look at an animal that we only see in a zoo in a small caged area. It wouldn't be a proper African experience without getting to see these animals. And we have another game drive planned for next week in a park with the "Big 5," which are the 5 most dangerous animals: Elephant, Lion, Water Buffalo, Rhino and Leopard. This time we will be in a car...

Other than the animal sightings, this last weekend was full of activity. On Saturday was the inagural mountain bike challenge for this area. The Waterberg Welfar Society (who we are working with) planned a bike challenge/race in order to raise money for the youth center they are building. So as a team we went out to work the race in various capacities. There were stations set up around the course for water and directing the riders. The entire day was a success and those who organized it are already thinking about what to do (and what not to do) for next year.

It's crazy to think that we only have 3 weeks left here in South Africa. We fly back to LA on May 29th. I will be there in LA for a week and then get on another plane to Florida for 3 weeks. I am looking forward to going home but I must admit I love being here in Africa and it will be sad to leave here as well.

Just a note on the last entry...I do greatly thank my good friend Karisse for typing up the blog entry and if I did have the capability of buying her such a hefty Starbucks card and a car, I would do it in a heartbeat. I do hope though that she will settle for a DRINK at Starbucks as we catch up on the last two months :-)

Alive and Kicking...

I am really enjoying my time here and love the bush of africa. The team has been busy every day working with the Waterberg Welfare Society on an AIDS hospice, gardening the grounds and putting in a path for the ambulance. There are tons of kids to play with here in S. Africa so they are working with them in the afternoons, playing games and hanging out. There is also a soup kitchen they volunteer with each wednesday.

The community is building a youth center where children and teens can hang out. It is a place where they can go to get off the streets and hopefully stay out of trouble. They are short on funding, though, so the team is taking part in a "mountain bike challenge" on May 6 to raise money. All in all the team is great.

I spend my days with Avery and have already read all but one of the books I brought with me on the trip! Avery and I have tons of quality time together. Despite Avery's fabulous "tarzan" impressions I do love the "grown-up" conversation I get when the team gets back each night. =)

The animals don't seem as plentiful as they were before, but i have seen ostriches running on the side of the road. That's a crazy site!

Please keep me in your prayers and be praying for the team and the ministry they are doing as well.

Mucho thanks goes out to my longtime pal Karisse who typed this blog out for me. She is wonderful and fabulous. I will be buying her a $100 starbucks card and a car when I return from outreach to show her my appreciation. (This last paragraph is strictly the interpertation of the keyboardist and does not necessarily reflect the thoughts of Heather)

Welcome to South Africa

Somehow I quickly went from having 8 days until I left to being in South Africa for almost a week now. Crazy how fast time flies. Life was a bit hectic and only really got stressful in the last hour before I left the base because, well, quite frankly, I was still trying to pack and had to take a shower and clean my room and take care of things to be ready for me to leave, along with a whole list of other things. My friend Karisse got great joy out of watching me be a bit stressed at the last minute because she said I was just too calm to be leaving on outreach for 2 months up to that point.

I am used to having internet at my disposal anytime I want, for however long I need it but here you have to use internet cafes, which I am grateful for, but can't say I am a fan of. I am not sure if I will be able to post any pictures while I am here, but if not, I will do a series of them when I get back.

We have been in Johannesburg for the last week. Yesterday, we went to an AIDS home/orphanage. They house adults and children, but we were working with the kids. They say that 85% of the kids in there have AIDS themselves. Some come with their mothers or fathers and then when their parents die, they just live in the home as well. We did dramas and Bible stories and just sat with the kids. I am not in any of the skits so I get the pleasure of sitting with the kids and being able to enjoy the program with them. The second we walked in the gate, a little boy walked up to me and put his arms up for me to hold him....and that is what I did the entire time we were there. We then went over to another area for smaller kids, and again, as soon as I walked in, a little baby boy crawled up to me and held his hand up. I will never complain to hold a baby. Unfortunately, we can't stay forever so when I put him down, he stared weeping...like the "gasping-for-breath" crying. It's so heartbreaking to be in that position because I want to hold him and love him as much as possible and that is what he wants and needs. But there just aren't enough people working in these places to give them the attention and love that they need.

Please be praying for our team as we head north in the country to a small town called Vaalwater on Tuesday. We will be staying in the same place for the rest of the outreach (until the end of May).

8 days and counting...

It has recently come to attention that I leave for South Africa in 8 days. Please understand, the date has always been the same, but I have been so busy that I failed to grasp the small amount of days until I leave. And then on top of that, I got sick. So I haven't really had time to think about it. But now that I have thought about it, I am trying not to get overwhelmed with the details. Not the details of the actual trip and the time there, but the details that I have to take care of before I leave. I am working on making a list, which is quite long and involved. Anyone who knows me knows my love for making lists and crossing each thing off as I accomplish it, so there is a part of me that is looking foward to getting it all done. Plus, when it is finished, it means that I am getting on the plane for South Africa! I have to think of it as a great reward for a long, busy week. Bring it on!

Long live VIND!

To the fellow members of the VIND club...
We will not know the fate of our dear friends until April 19! What happened to the promises of coming back in March? For this and other offenses, I say we find J.J...I have a few questions for him.

Life outside my 4 walls...

Today was day 5 of my nasty illness...it was a horrible little virus that was floating around here and I just so happened to catch it...lucky me. I have been in my bed since the middle of last week. I felt, sounded and looked terrible and finally today I felt ok enough to walk out of my house. It was a big step but a necessary one.

Not only was I feeling a tad stir crazy, but our interns arrived today so I needed to greet them and show them where to go. I could not have gotten sick at a worse time because we were trying to finish preparations for the internship to start, but I had to leave it in the hands of the people I work with because, well, I couldn't get out of bed. And so now they are all here and I think things are going to go well.

I will write more tomorrow and tell you a little about them. But for now, I have overexerted myself as it is and I need sleep. Adios for now...

Ode to Ebony

As you can probably guess from the pictures above, Ebony was the name of the car...my friend Karisse's car. And I just so happened to be riding shotgun when the car went from looking normal to the damaged state it is in now. I was coming back from the store with Karisse's sister, Kristel, when she looked away to check the next lane to try and change lanes and looked back because she heard me screaming. Thankfully we were all ok...a little shaken up and a little sore the next day. But all in all, we are fine. A moment of silence for the car though...

Ok, well, Karisse was so kind to be a pseudo chauffer for me for a year before I got my car out here...now I get to return the favor.

This has certainly not be the best week because not only was there the accident, but I got really sick the next day, leaving me to lay in bed for the last 3 days! I have to admit that I am not a very good sick person because I feel very overwhelmed by the littlest of things and I just get impatient and want to start doing things when really I need to be relaxing and getting better. And I have way too much work to do to be laying in bed, but alas, none of that matters when you can't actually sit up for longer than 10 minutes at a time and have temperature over 100. That is when you have trust the people you work with to get stuff done because you aren't much help to them then. I am praying to be better by Monday because that is when our internship starts. Everything is coming so quickly!

What is going on here?

I never claimed to be the best at remembering to update my blog on a regular basis...but this was something that just had to be shared! There is snow on the mountains right behind the base and some of my friends saw what appeared to be snow on the ground and on cars in the little town 5 miles away from us. It has been so cold and rainy that we have had small pieces of ice/hail dropping all over the place and today it snowed. I know there are a few of you skeptics out there that figure it doesn't snow in southern California...well, today it apparently did. I will see if I can't get a picture of it tomorrow. And I would like to add that this Florida girl does not exactly cope well in the cold weather and is admitedly the biggest wuss when it comes to the cold. I am just not prepared or built for it! :-)

I will manage though and I am looking foward to the warm weather of South Africa. T minus 3 weeks (and counting) from today. Can you tell I am excited?