I NOW live in South Africa. As you can tell, I'm really excited about this!

As you can read, I have arrived safely in South Africa,
the land that I now live in and hope to come to love!

At the Airport with my Sister

“See you laters”

After sad goodbyes - or as I like to call them "see you laters" in hopes that I would cry less - from Montana to California to Minnesota and Wisconsin and places in between, my flights from Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Capetown were uneventful. (Yeah!) This is the first time I have ever arrived at my destination in two flights, and to South Africa at that! But my legs did get a bit cramped with back-to-back flights. I arrived after 10:00pm, both of my checked bags made it (yeah!), and I headed out of customs looking for a familiar "YWAM" sign! And there it was, with a little crowd of people!

Destination Africa!

I arrived early, with a few days to settle in and get over jetlag before my classes started Monday. Jetlag was no fun! I was so tired the first few days. But I got a chance get to know my new hometown of Muizenberg (where the grocery store is, Checkers, some coffee shops, and the beach) and my roommate Anne and some of my other classmates and staff.

International Flava'
Both the town and the YWAM base are quite multi-cultural. In my School of Biblical Studies (SBS) alone, there are twenty-two students, representing six continents and fifteen countries (not including my staff)! I have nine classmates from African nations. As a school we are even blessed to have a local pastor attending classes with us! He has an amazing testimony! I am looking forward to get to know my classmates from such diverse backgrounds and experiences.

God Experiences

I have been praying so much about who my roommates would be, and they are so great. So far I have two from two different countries and continents. We get along well and have already had quite a few things to laugh about! I am thankful for all the girls in SBS. Together we are a small group of girls, but it seems we have similar hearts to love the Lord. I believe God will be showing us a lot of amazing things during this season at we seek Him!

The other night, we girls were talking and praying about this new season in our lives and the things that God has placed on our hearts. One thing I felt impressed by – my desire is that the Holy Spirit be evident in love and action in this SBS, my school – in our lives! Most of the time with school, we get wrapped up in head knowledge, but my prayer is that it would be about heart knowledge, centered around the Holy Spirit revealing to us what He desires us to learn! This goes so much deeper than that what I can learn in my own wisdom and effort.

Muizenberg, Beach, Surfing... And Surfing With Sharks???

My little mountain-beach-blustery town

View from YWAM Muizenberg, South Africa rooftop, my home!

Muizenberg is a little town along a bay on the south west side of South Africa. So far, it is pretty much always windy, especially near the ocean, making it cold most of the time! My windbreaker has come in very handy, keeping away the blustery wind and rain. And it is just coming out of winter here, heading into spring. I am thankful to have warm weather ahead of me (summer in December), though I am told the wind Muizenberg gets, keeps it cooler most of the time. The buildings are not heated, so I have to dress warmly inside and when going to classes. I am usually wrapped in a blanket in my dorm room, and my room faces south, making it even colder because of the wind from the south and the lack of direct sun.

God’s creation is so beautiful here – mountains meet ocean! This rock rises above the town on the west side. I will be climbing it one of these days! Muizenberg also borders Table Mountain National Park on the west, with Table Mountain northwest of me towards Capetown.

Muizenberg has quite a few surfers. There was a surf competition on my first Sunday here, and they tried to break the Guiness Book of World Records for the most surfers on the same wave at the same time. They didn’t this year, but it was quite a crummy day outside. And there are great white sharks! I haven’t seen them yet, but the beach has people on shark patrol all day. There are flags they fly according to whether they have seen a shark or not and the visibility for seeing them in the water. There was actually a shark attack on a surfer a couple days ago across the bay. He sustained minor injuries.