Our BIG trip across AFRICA!!!

We left Port Elizabeth on Thursday the 25th a little late because of having to change a tire in our car. We are going to be on the road for 20 days, visiting churches, seeing the beautiful country and just spending time with each other. I am going to try and keep you updated as much as I can.

The first day we drove, well, Tyler drove all day until we got to a place named Aliwal north which is about 3 hours from the Lesotho border. We were supposed to drive all the way to Lesotho but since we left late we decided to spend the night at a hotel.
The next morning we took off early and got to Lesotho, we entered through a border that not many people use so it was a very little house with just one worker in there...it is just a little interesting how you can get in and out of some countries so easily. After that we drove through the country and saw a lot of beautiful mountains, some Basotho herders wearing traditionbal blankets around them and sitting on their staffs, it was pretty interesting. When we got to Maseru (the capital of Lesotho) we drove through some markets and saw some cows and sheep walking the streets along with all the vendors and cars.

I have never really been out camping, I know it's sad, but anyways... we got to our camp grounds and put up our tent successfully (with some help) and waited for some people to come visit us. We had a good night of laughs and good conversation around the fire in the rondoval that Ken and Judy were staying in. This is where it gets a little interesting, we woke up the next day to find out that we didn't have water, as far as I know the whole city didn't have water and I had not washed my hair the day before so we were all stinky and rough looking which I guess is part of a true "camping" experience, ha ha.
We had an ex AIMer, Jackie and family invite us to their house for a braai (African Bbq) which we decided to go to. Lesotho is where Kris and Barb (AIM director and wife) went to their field during their AIM time so it was pretty cool to get to see the fruit of their work so many years after. Anyways, we went to the braai and found out that it was the day where students were graduating from University, it is a pretty big deal here because not a lot of people get to graduate from school. There were celebrations all around in the neighborhood, and we were invited to them... in our hats in jeans we headed to the parties, we were guests of honor and got fed about 3 times. Good times. We ended the day by eating again about 10 o'clock at night and falling asleep pretty fast in our wonderful tent.

There was water the next day and it was wonderful. I drove this time headed to Johannesburg to attend the South African Bible School (SABS) lectureships. We are staying in the dorms and helping out with the youth along with auditing classes.
Thank you for reading!
OH, I almost forgot... today Tara, Diana and I went to the store and found Dr. Peppers!!! We were so happy it was a bit ridiculous to see us. I sat in the car and opened my Dr. Pepper and loved taking a sip of it. I started driving and commented "I could drive on the wrong side of the road now" and I pulled out on the wrong side of the rode just to hear Diana saying my name and Tara mentioning how much this felt like home... don't worry, there were no cars coming so it was all good. We laughed very hard and enjoyed our Dr. Peppers.

Until next time, God Bless you!

Let God show you...

Hello there!

 

            Well, you have been in AIM for a little while now and I am sure you are tired of classes and homework and curfew and all those things that require responsibility, let me tell you about it. It is all worth it in the end.

You may ask yourself, what am I doing in Lubbock… and here I am asking myself, what am I doing in Africa? But then God just reminds me all the time… I go to see the kids in school, kids that are raped every day, kids that are hungry, kids that all they want is to be loved… I see their eyes light up when they see me, I see them find joy in the simple act of touching my hair and caressing my skin, I see their faces light up when I remember their names… just by seeing their smiles is how God reminds me that it is all worth it in the end. I don’t know what kind of impact I am bringing to these kids lives but I know that God is using me in some way to impact their life and He is using them to impact my life.

Don’t let the things that seem so hard and dumb keep you from enjoying the things that God is trying to show you. I loved being in Lubbock and being around my classmates, but after Lubbock is over (and it goes way faster than it seems), you go off into the world and really experience the cool stuff. Don’t let these little things happening now rob you from the things God wants to show you.

 

God Bless you guys,

Sasha.

 

SHOUTOUTS:

 

Ivankita Linda: I know how hard it is to be away from home when dad is sick, just know that there are people all around you that are ready to hug you and love you when you need them ok. Don’t ever forget that. I love you so much and can’t wait to see your smile and hear you laugh again. You are very precious to me, little sister.

 

Nathaniel: I still have pictures of waxing your stomach… haha… that was crazy.

 

 

P.S. I hear a lot of you are sick… last year I was sick for about a month, it was so bad that I had to sleep sitting up cause I could not breath when I would lay down. I tried antibiotics and Nyquil and a bunch of stuff… but the worst thing I tried by far was this home-made medicine that Mason made for me. It was like milk with spices and vinegar… he told me to chug it and Dan was there telling me to chase it with cranberry juice afterwards. So I was like “ok, I can do this”. All the boys there were cheering for me while I started drinking it, and all of the sudden it starts burning and it spit it out all over the place while all of them are laughing at me… it was horrible I must say. So don’t take home-made medicine from any one… it’s a lie :)

 

I’m out!

My Brownbag this week :)

Hello,

Well, last time I made mention of some of the things that are changing in my life and I think one of the girls that has influenced me and brought change to my life is there with you or somewhere near Lubbock. My dear sister, friend and teammate Neysia. She is heading to Scotland here in a little while and I just wanted you to know that I love her and miss her very much, and if you see her please enjoy her smile, I miss it.
We are in our new apartment now and it seems like we are liking it alright!

This past weekend we went on a mini retreat to a national park two hours away, called Tsitsikamma. It was a fun time for refreshing after the move, a time for loving on my teammates and sharing together the wonderful creation of God. The scenery was beautiful, the power of the waves hitting the rocks was breathtaking... we saw a couple of whales and went to these caves full of bats. Hiking to the caves was a little experience... I, being the girl I am, didn't think about packing shoes for hiking or any closed toe shoes for that matter. So, when everyone decided to hike I had to borrow some shoes from on of my teammates. Lindsey let me borrow these tennis shoes that were probably three sizes too big and on top of that they velcrowed together instead of having shoe laces. We started the hike and I was fine even though my feet were sliding forward the whole time. We got to a point were we had to climb through these rocks and in one of my steps I had to lift my leg pretty high which made my foot not stable in my big shoes and that caused my other leg to slide back... all of the sudden I was doing the splits, while Diana and I cracked up laughing and Tyler had a worried look on his face. Oh, good times... we made it to the caves and it was all worth it... until I realized we had to walk all the way back. haha.
It was a good trip. Now we are back in real life and I guess everything is going back to normal... whatever "normal" means. :)

Love you guys... until next time!

Shout-outs:

Sommer: Remember being my camper in Grass Valley and we slept in that huge tent in the backyard of Tony's parents house? Those were fun times! ... by the way, Tony: you have an awesome backyard... and an amazing family.

Nathaniel: You are in my prayers all the time buddy. I miss you.

Ivankita: I saw all the pictures of you cooking some Indian food... everyone should at least try Ivanka's cooking once in their life time, she is amazing I have to say.

Pat: the other day we remembered the time in Mexico when you were laughing so hard that you couldn't help Sarah up when she broke the bus seat! ha ha.

Brandon and Katie: Even though you were not there physically for us there last year I still remember loving when you guys wrote brownbags. Thank you for that.

God Bless,

So that you may be strengthened...

     As most of you know, we have had a series of events that have shaken us a bit, the break-in to our house and three cars outside our house, that have put questions in my mind. 

Many times I wonder why God allows some things to happen in my life, I am sure many of us do at some point question the "plan" or "motive" for the events in our lives. Lately,  I have been thinking about what has happened here in Africa in these past two months, I don't have answers. But I came across this passage that has helped me some, to see what God wants from us: 

                 "I pray that out of His glorious riches he may strengthen you with power 

                 through his Spirit in your inner being , so that Christ may dwell in your hearts

                 through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may 

                 have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how WIDE and LONG and 

                 HIGH and DEEP is the love of Christ. "

                                                                                           Ephesians 3:16-19

I want for God to dwell in my heart, I want to have the power and faith to grasp that love that He has for me. 

We have been scared, and still are... there have been sleepless nights and times when we don't want to be in that house. I have been sleeping in one bed with Neysia and the night before last was the first night we decided to sleep in our own beds... we made it through the night and were very proud of ourselves. There is a process of healing that we are going through and I ask you to specially pray for Tara, it is going to be harder for her. 

We are planning on moving out of our house, it is going to be a little hard to do because we have to break the contract or wait for someone else to rent the house, so please keep that in your prayers as well. 

...satan is trying to break us, we are a threat to him. But we are not going to let him. 

I am praying to be strengthened by this... so I can grasp how wide and long and high and deep is that LOVE He has for ME.

A lot has happened this week so I am going to try and sum this up a little. 

     On Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our dear friend and teammate Logan. His time here has been completed and it was time for him to go home. It is very touching to see hoe the people love him and how he impacted their lives after being here a little over a year. And it is crazy to think of how fast your field time go by, it just gives me a motivation to live it out to the fullest. 

     Thursday was our first day at Sanctor High School. Me along with Tyler, Mike and Neysia are volunteering out the as TA's (teacher assistants). We just help the teachers in whatever they need us to and we get to talk to the kids and hang out with them. The only problem on the first day (hope it is not a problem for long) is that the boys were a little crazy about us being there. Whistling, asking for our numbers and asking us out on dates is something that happened all day long. It is hard to want to be their friends and still be an authority figure so they can respect you. It is going to be a challenge for me and Neysia to achieve this kind of relationship with them, so please keep us in your prayers. 

     This month was Tata Madiba's 90th Birthday... the beloved Nelson Mandela. We were invited to one of his birthday celebrations here in the city. There was a rumor that he was going to be there but we were not that lucky. It was a day filled with a lot of culture, color, food, dancing, praise singers and songs for Mandela. Some of the elderly woman came up to us and invited us to dance with them and it was very exciting to be in the middle of so many people dancing to their music. It was a very neat experience.

Towards the end of the celebration, the leader of the ANC, (African National Congress) political party and the most likely to be the next president os South Africa showed up to give a speech. We were sitting very close to where he was, so if he gets elected president... I have pretty much met him. He did touch Neysia's arm when she took a picture of him which is pretty cool. 

It is getting pretty late here and tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us, so I call it quits. Good night and God Bless you. 

Life in the deep parts...

This morning we went to a township, the part of the city that is composed of shacks made out of cardboard and plastic walls, tin roofs and dirt floors. These parts of town are usually very dangerous if you don't go accompanied by a "colored" person (one of their own). The girls (Diana, Tara, Neysia and myself) are helping out with this non-profit organization that goes into the community and organizations to see the needs they have. Then, through the radio and their website (www.touchproject.co.za) they get the city involved in sponsoring their projects. So, this morning they invited us to go deliver some blankets that a factory had donated to them. We went into Walmer township, there is no running water at all and no electricity in most houses. We visited three families.

 The first home we went to had 6 adults and 2 kids living in 3 rooms with 2 beds all supported by one man who finds odd jobs on daily basis. The lady had just lost her youngest kid two months ago, and she said there are too many things happening in her life to pray about, so we prayed with her and left her some blankets.

In the second home we visited we were met by this elderly lady who told us about the little money they get from the government to support their kids, the only income they have. We prayed with her and she was smiling while we were praying, sometimes the simplest things can make someone smile. 

After that we went to the last house and met with a lady that had a little baby in her arms. She greeted us with a smile and led us into her home. She also gets a R200 check for each kid she has (almost $30) a month. She is taking care of two orphan kids. 

God is good to me.

Starting life in Africa.

My life in Port Elizabeth South Africa has started... 

Things for my team and me have been crazy lately but finally I am able to sit and start my blog. There are so many things that have happened in my life here so far that it would take a while to explain them all so I will explain them gradually as time comes by. 

God Bless.