My new home... Jeffereys Bay, South Africa!

Wow, I can't even believe that I'm here safe and sound. Traveling was crazy! We first had to fly to Washington D.C from Atlanta. That actually wasn't bad at all... it was only a two hour flight. Then we had a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. That was probably the longest 15 hours I've ever spent! I couldn't sleep, couldn't move around, and worst of all... the gross airplane food! ANYWAYS... we got to Johannesburg just to have a three hour layover and then get on another two hour flight to Port Elizabeth which is about a 45 minute drive to Jeffereys Bay. We finally got to J-Bay at around midnight on Tuesday night. We were all SOOOO tired that we got our beds situated and then totally crashed!

So we are staying at a camp called UCSA (United Christians of South Africa). It was so exciting to wake up in J-Bay. I was in a new country with new customs, and new languages! We spent the day exploring the beautiful beach, the shops, and the restaurants. Oh my, the beach is so awesome! The sand is white, and the ocean is a really pretty teal color. It is crazy that I can wake up, walk to the beach in two minutes and look at the Indian Ocean! Anyways, J-Bay is a huge surfing community. There are surf shops at every corner. Its so awesome. The languages are also very interesting. The main languages that are spoken in J-Bay are Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English. Xhosa is such a cool language! It has clicks in it and it is really intricate.

This trip is such a dream come true. Jeffereys Bay has such need, and it really needs help. I walked through the townships (the neighborhoods that the black and colored community live in, and yes... black and colored are the correct terms and I am not being racist!) yesterday and it was a huge shock. I had never actually witnesses poverty in that level before. The houses were literally shacks made of tin, piled on a little lot of land, and basically full of trash. Little children walked around barefoot on broken glass. Malnourished dogs roamed the street. The sad thing is that we didn't even get to the worst area of that community. We got to about the middle of the neighborhood. It was scary and unsettling. The fact that SO many people here in J-Bay live in poverty is so upsetting. However, God has got the whole world in his hands, right?! I know that I can help these people. I know that I came here to help and not just walk on the beautiful beaches, and to drink lattes at the Wax Café. I'm nervous but also so excited to see what the Lord will do with me in Jeffereys Bay.