Packing...at the bottom of my "love to do" list

If there was an award for the World's Slowest Packer, I would win, hands down! I have been working on packing my room up for the last 5 day and I am still NOT done! And I realized tonight the reasons why this is the case:

*I am VERY easily distracted and would much rather sit and talk to friends (or update my blog)
*I go through EVERY item in my room and evaluate if i still want it (that also includes any piece of paper)
*I pack a box and then unpack it and move it to a new box to organize it better (because there is usually a more efficient way)

I sure I could come up with more reasons, but I'm sure you get the picture. I have to do my best to not get overwhelmed by it and just put things in boxes...it's all going to get moved either way! And I have to have it all packed by Sunday night...no pressure. Some good friends of mine are also moving to the east coast and they offered to put my things on their truck and they are getting the truck on Monday (and my stuff has to go in first so it comes out last once they get there). I am SO grateful to them for doing that.

I am driving to NC about a week or so after them, so my things will already be there. My housemate, Alicia, is driving with me and that is a huge blessing!

I should probably get back to packing...not my favorite thing, but it must be done!

After Dark Excursions

There's something strange about nighttime that makes Denny's seem like a good idea...don't know what, though. Last night, Danny, Alicia and I were sitting around the living room when the mood struck to do something...and Denny's was the grand plan we came up with. I guess it's the company that makes it fun. This is in the car on the way over...


And drinking our milkshakes...



Ode to Danny: "I am nobody's S.W." You should remember what that means ;-) Why did it take so long for us to be friends?

Ode to Alicia: Story of the old woman terrorizing the senior home, using walkers as weapons. Love you friend!

Big News!

It has been the topic of a few whispered lunch table conversations, mass speculation and straight out questions that I have avoided answering by laughing and changing the subject. Well, it's out now...the big news is that I am moving from LA and relocating in North Carolina.

This is a picture of the main house. There are a few other houses in the neighborhood as well. Isn't it beautiful!



You can read more about the base and see more pictures on the website: www.ywamcharlotte.com

So what am I doing in NC? I am still going to be working with YWAM, just at a different campus. And I will have a very different role. The last 3 years, I have been working in film production, where we make short films and documentaries. This fit so well with my passion for media and I count working here one of the best experiences in my life for so many different reasons. It's been incredibly hard decide to step outside of that field to do something else. To be honest, I lose track of how many times each day I question whether or not I am making a huge mistake and that I should just stay here. But each time that thought crosses my mind, I have to tell myself that this was not something I jumped into quickly and I have prayed a lot about it for a very long time. And I know it is right. I am just a little nervous. Change is always like that though.

I know it will be a challenge, but I am looking forward to being stretched and learning new things. And I am praying that the lessons I learn about discipleship and leadership will one day be combined with my experience and passion for media and something else big and exciting will come of it.

Viva Mexico

I took my friends from Florida down to San Diego and to Tijuana, Mexico yesterday. I am not exactly the greatest tour guide seeing as how I don't REALLY know my way around and I have a "slight tendency" to get lost...I can almost hear a few of you that know me well laughing with memories as they read that last line...it is more of a curse rather than a tendency. I have come to terms with it though (and come to expect it) and consider each outing an adventure because you never really know where you will end up or how long it will actually take you to get there.


That aside, though, it was fun to walk around with them. Shopping in Tijuana is not like shopping here in the states. They stand outside their stores, almost begging you to come into their shop, telling you they have the best deals in town and better prices than their neighbor. And prices are always up for negotiation. I am not really good at the whole bartering thing, but you do learn as you go.



We actually parked and walked across the border to avoid the chaos that are the roads in TJ. And the line to get back into the states by car can take a couple hours!



Just after you cross the border



View of the houses on the hill...very crowded!



A mariachi band

No pets allowed...

The mouse is no longer is my house. We are hoping that it was just one and not a family.

High and low for the day...

While we were on outreach, we would go around the group and do "highs and lows", with each person saying the best part of their day and the worst part. I figured tonight I would do that...share my high and low for the day. Here you go:

My high...some friends of mine came to visit me here in LA. Tony, Janine, and their son Josh, are out here in California for vacation so they came up to the base and got to see where I live and then we toured a little of LA...a couple of the "must do" things when you've never been here before. We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen at the Kodak Theatre and looked at the different handprints at the Grauman Chinese Theater....took a drive through Beverly Hills...went to Santa Monica to see the street performers and walk along the pier. It was such a great afternoon and I am SO happy to have them here!

My low...once we made it back to my house, we were sitting around, having a great conversation when the situation turned a bit chaotic. Why? Because we had a four-legged, long-tailed visitor running through my living room and I was not feeling very hospitable. Tony was the more humane one in the bunch and wanted to catch and release it. That did not turn out as planned. Other than giving me a HUGE laugh as the 4 of us tried to catch a mouse, it did not bring results. That little sucker ran just past Josh and under the door and into the hallway...the way to all the rooms. I keep telling myself that it DID NOT run into my room and I blocked the space at the bottom of my door to keep him out. I am hoping with all I have in me that I am not keeping him IN my room instead.

I had a small instance with a mouse in South Africa as well. The quick version of the story -- for two nights I was kept awake because I heard something in my room. He was pushing papers around and even knocked a box of crackers off the shelf and tried to get inside. Hard to believe, but true! And in Africa, you never can be sure what it is that is terrorizing you in the night. After two different people checking my room in all the obvious places, I figured it had left. Much to my surprise when I opened up my back pack to start getting my things together to come back to the states...I didn't own anything gray and furry! My bag quickly got thrown out of the room as I yelled for one of the guys to come "dispose" of the creature. I am a self-proclaimed wuss when it comes to things like this so no comments on that! Once that was taken care of, I saw that the mouse had chewed through the different pockets inside so i no longer have different compartments...they are all connected now. And on top of that he had torn up a dollar bill and was nesting in my backpack! A bit presumptuous when he wasn't invited to set up camp in my room! And we are hoping this mouse here in LA isn't planning on a warm cozy place to live in my room either. Or my house at all, for that matter!

Pictures galore!

A group of kids in a Johannesburg township.









Serving the kids at a soup kitchen










Speedy the chameleon...he kinda became our team pet for a while










One of the main projects was to build this workshop next to the youth center in progress.










None of the students had any real experience doing a project like this, but they stepped up to the challenge brilliantly.











The guy who this was built for is named Oupa, pronounced o-pa. He is the man standing on the righthand side of this picture.









So the building was affectionately deemed the "Oupa Cabana". This is the finished product.







Here are a few of the shack houses in Leseding, the township in Vaalwater. There are an estimated 25,000 people living in the township. And as many as 8-10 could live in one of these shacks.







A couple kids praying at the soup kitchen.








This is the way they carry small children...strapped to the back with a towel or blanket. And many of the older brothers or sisters would be in charge of the smaller ones, even though they were not that old themselves.






We went on a bush walk and climbed some of the rock formations out there, just enjoying the beauty and diversity in creation.






A giraffe, close up. By going on the bush walk, we were able to get pretty close to the animals. But it also helps to have a good zoom lens.






We went to a rhino musuem and were able to feed a 1 1/2 year old female. I never knew that rhino's make noise, but they sound a bit like a whale and she would make this noise when she wanted us to feed her.






Avery's favorite movie is "Madagascar" and he absolutely loves to dance and sing to the lemur's song, "I like to move it, move it." Here he is singing along.




Wayne, one of the leaders, rode in a mountain bike challege/race while we were in South Africa. It was organized by WWS, the Waterberg Welfare Society, that we worked with for the 2 months. The proceeds all went to continuing to build the youth center for the kids.






One of the skits the students would do involved putting on clown outfits and dancing around. It was amusing to watch and the kids loved it too.





Orange bounty! We were invited to go on a tour of a citrus farm and at the end, the farmer was generous enough to give each one of us a bag of oranges for ourselves! We ate so many oranges and drank A LOT of freshly sqeezed orange juice in the last two weeks of our trip. This Florida girl was delighted!






On the left is Mary, our contact and marvelous host for the 2 months in Vaalwater, and on the right is Anja, one of the students, from Switzerland.






This is the whole team, just one day before we left South Africa.

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 :-)