South Africa!

Okay, so this is a long post, but if it wasn’t, the post about my South Africa trip would be boring and nondescript. So here it is! :0) There are pictures for any of you who don’t like reading. Although I can’t take credit for most of them. I borrowed a lot. (Mainly thanks to Kim and Wes.)

Well, (I feel like I start off every blog with “well”) anyway, I think it is about time I write about the missions trip to South Africa that I went on. It was definitely the best mission’s trip I have ever been on. It was a combination of many things really.

For one thing, our team got along so well, which was funny because we were a pretty diverse group. We had Jeremy, my cousin, a man’s man kind of guy I guess you could say. Very outdoorsy, works with his hands, competitive.

Then there was Patty. One of the most godly, encouraging people I have ever met. In Galatians, where it tells us to let the Word richly dwell within us so that we sing songs, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our hearts to God….that describes her. She has a ton of Scripture memorized and she is always thanking God for something and she tells almost everyone she meets about Jesus.

There was Justin…one of the guys from UCLA. He is just funny. Jolly is the right word actually. He has a million different laughs. I think if anyone was feeling down on the trip at any point, they could have just gone to Justin and he could have cheered them up.

We also had Wesley…or Wes. I used both…depended on what he was doing. He knew when to be serious and when to have fun and liked to keep peace on the team. He also goes to UCLA and studies molecular biology…he could tell us all about deadly viruses…he and Justin together cracked me up.

There was Chandra. She just graduated from UCLA as an art major. Chandra I think, can do just about anything…rock climbing, painting, sports, you name it. She also was just faithful to serve anyone in whatever way she could.

There was bubbly Michelle, who was also faithful to serve anyone in anyway, very cheerfully. She just sees what needs to be done and does it…and she can be friends with anyone.

We had Ben…as we described him…corny weird…but seriously…he was great at leading us all in worship with his guitar. He’s just a very sincere guy and very informative about South Africa, since he had been living there a few months before.

Then there was our fearless leader Chris. He really did seem fearless…nothing seemed to faze him…even when he knocked out one of the other guys on our team in a wrestling match. :0) He’s only 24, and it was his first missions trip to lead, and he did a very good job…preaching on the fly, not complaining, and reminding us faithfully of our purpose in being there.

Then of course there was Emily. What can I say about my sister? She went with a broken ankle and was amazing. She never complained that I heard of, and yet she wasn’t able to do the stuff she loves…hiking, sports. But she was able to do the important things like encourage the people she met with her words.

Then of course there was Jesse Johnson. He was only able to be there for the beginning of our trip…which I think was fine with him, since his wife, Deidre, wasn’t able to go. But he taught at the retreat for Cornerstone…the young adult group from the church. Very convicting and encouraging sermons. God really used him to make me think about what I have been living for at home. He reminded us of the fact that if we are not living for Christ, than whatever else we are pursuing is worthless. We were sad to see him leave!

Wow, well I wasn’t planning on writing that much about the team, but I couldn’t help it. One of the saddest things about coming home was the fact that we had to all split up. Anyway, another reason why I loved our trip was because of the people in Cornerstone. They were all so friendly and open with us. It helped having the retreat at the beginning because we were able to get to know each other. Near the end, one of the girls in the group, Jen, and I were talking about how we both felt like our team was a part of the church. We all just loved hanging out together and were able to have so many great conversations. This also made it really hard to leave at the end of the two and a half weeks.

Yeah, so first we went to the retreat for three days. It was kind of in the mountains, kind of the wilderness. This was where I saw trees that really made me realize that I was in Africa! They were like the trees you see in The Lion King! We wanted to make the retreat be like a mini Resolved. So Jesse opened up each message with a little bit about Jonathan Edwards. I liked the podium Jesse used. A laundry basket on top of a chair.

Most of the group is saved and just as encouraging to me as I could have been to them, but the main Christian friends they have are at their church. While we were on retreat we got to go on a beautiful, three and a half hour hike, past croc infested waters and by a waterfall. I really love that kind of hiking for some reason…up rocks and through the woods…not serious rock climbing, but fun hiking.

It was so cold at night there! Remember, South African winter. We were in a stone wall cabin with no heating, obviously…and there were these hole/window things along the top of the walls with little flaps that covered them in the night. I have a really lame sleeping bag and the zipper broke. I was wearing multiple layers but I only had one pair of pajama pants…so my bum (as the South Africans would say) was freezing more than anything else. It was really weird…I had to wrap my towel around my waist to keep it warm. Haha. We didn’t sleep too well the first night, but thankfully it got warmer the last two nights.
The Cornerstone group taught us this game called one clap. It’s a little bit like Pig in basketball. You stand in a circle and toss a rugby ball back and forth. You have to anticipate whether or not a person is going to throw the ball at you and you can fake once. You have to clap before you catch the ball or you get a P. But, if you clap and the person wasn’t throwing the ball to you than you get a P. You’re obviously out once you spell PIG. It was so much fun…we played it so much during retreat.

When retreat was over we all went back to Hillcrest (the real city we were in…about a half hour to 45 minutes from Durban). Some nights we just spent time with our host families…some nights we hung out at the Archer’s with Clint and Kim and Noah! And sometimes the Cornerstone group too! We had a couple of Mafia nights which were pretty fun with so many people. The night we got back to Hillcrest we went to this giant three story mall and played Putt-Putt. There is a really cool girl named Liz from Australia who moved to South Africa not too long ago and she had us all over to her place for a braii (a South African barbecue) and they taught us how to play cricket! So fun.

It was just great to see how everything is going so well at Hillcrest Baptist Church….that the people love the Archer’s and that they have such a fun young adult group. It was so fun seeing Kerry Drew too!

Near the middle/end of the trip our team went to a place called Hope Valley. It was only an hour away from the Archer’s but it felt like hours away because it looked so different. Nothing but sugar cane fields everywhere you looked. It was beautiful…especially during sunset. We watched the sunset one night from a little hill at the place we were staying. We sat there for about an hour…not even talking really. Just watching.

The Zulu people live there in the valley and there was a little school where a lot of the kids go. Two Christian couples live at the place we were staying at. There are cabins and it is often used to host retreats. There is a church there and the pastor and his wife are Zulu. At night they have choir practice and a Bible study. The first night we got there we went up to the little church (very little…a small little room) and we heard people singing on the way. When we came inside we sat down on some chairs and the choir was right in front of us. They were singing really loud, it was amazing! No instruments but they had perfect pitch…they were harmonizing…it just sounded beautiful! They were all barefoot with short hair…as I was sitting there I was just thinking how different their way of life is than mine. And here they were, all the way in South Africa, singing hymns to the same, amazing God that I sing too. He cares about us all. It reminded me of a couple of verses in Revelation. It’s Revelation 7:9-12. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Anyway, I am really looking forward to that. I think it will be so cool, and it was exciting to experience of a bit of that right now.

We wound up doing a kind of Vacation Bible School with the kids at the school. We gave a little message in the morning or a skit and then split the kids up into two groups. One did games and the other did crafts and then they switched. We couldn’t understand each other (thankfully we had a translator for stuff like the skit and message) but we still had so much fun with the kids. Some of the older kids did actually speak a little English. That was in the mornings. In the afternoon, when school ended…a bunch of the kids ran up to where we were staying and hung out with us.

At nights we made a fire and hung out with the teenagers. Most of them could speak some English and we taught them the one clap game.

The last day we were with the kids they and their teachers showed us how they dance. We all got in a large circle and they sang and beat this drum and people took turns going in the circle and dancing. They even had some of us go in. It lasted for about an hour! It was so much fun! I just loved our time there!

So I could go on and on forever with this post, but no one would read it I’m sure. Like I said, really the rest of the time there we just spent time with the church, especially the Cornerstone group and the Archers. The last night was especially fun. We held an American pancake dinner at the Archer’s and invited the whole church. We made a ton of pancakes and had so much fun chatting with all the people.

The Cornerstone group stayed the latest and said their good-byes. That is when we realized how close we had all become. I feel like I am sounding so corny right now, but it was true!

The next day we were very sad as we left for our very long flight home, but very thankful that God had blessed us with such a wonderful trip!

! It seemed like the theme of the trip for me was that life is about God’s glory and not about me. I just feel that not working this summer I have just been very complacent and self-focused and I am grateful that God got me out of here for awhile and taught me new things about Him!

Wezee

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am not a big fan of cats, primarily because I am allergic to them. This wasn't always the case. I had an orange cat named Barney until I was seven. (Barney's end is a pretty gruesome story, one I will only divulge upon personal request, so as not to frighten any young readers out there.) I was never allergic to Barney, so I guess you can acquire cat allergies. Either way, I don't typically like cats now.

However, I recently befriended a cat in my neighborhood named Wezee. I'm still not sure exactly how you pronounce it...I just call him Weezy. The other day, my friend Heather and I were walking out to my car when I noticed a small cat across the street. He was quickly moving straight towards us. He looked so friendly. He came over and let us scratch him and pet him and he just seemed so happy.

Next thing I know he had jumped onto my car...

...and quickly made himself comfortable.

The other day, my dad was outside walking our dog and he called my cell phone to tell me that Wezee and Higgins had met. I went out there and Wezee was just as friendly as ever. He followed me home and let me scratch him some more.

I'm still amazed at how much I like this cat, but seriously, how could anyone resist that little, contented face?

Summer Busyness

When this summer started out I assumed that I would be pretty bored for most of it since I don't have a job. Boy was I wrong. It has turned out to be pretty busy so far.

One of the first things I did was go to an Angels game with a few friends. My family used to be pretty big Dodger fans, but after the strike way back when, my dad stopped taking us to games, so I don't really feel any allegiance to them anymore. And man, Angels stadium is way nicer than the Dodger's stadium.

All of my life, I have wanted a bobblehead. Well, at least ever since I first saw my dad's old Tiger's bobbleheads in his old room at my Grandma's house in Michigan. It just so happened that they were giving out free bobbleheads at the Angels game! I was thrilled, even though I had no idea who the player was. I brought him home, and my mom put him on a shelf in my room. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this fact. I didn't see Jared as I reached for a book and I knocked him with my arm. I yelled out a loud, "NOOOooooo..." as he crashed to my desk. I think I felt a slight knot in my throat as I picked up Jared's decapitated head.

Thankfully my summer busyness did not end there. Wedding season began and Emily and I drove up to Walnut Creek near San Fransisco to go to my old roomie's wedding. I was a candlelighter. I think my least favorite wedding job ever, but it went fine. We didn't burn anything down, and I was thankful to be included in Lindsey and Nick's wedding. It was a really wonderful wedding too. And no, I didn't take the picture below. Candlelighters don't get to ride in the limo.

Emily and I drove back that Saturday morning and that night we went to Charis and Ryan's wedding. Pretty different than the one we went to the night before. Super casual. It was nice being able to hang out a bit with the bride. And they aren't over...

The very next weekend I went to Big Bear with some friends from Bible study. Four moms, Becky and me, and twelve kids. That's right, twelve kids. That might not sound like a relaxing weekend, but it was. These moms know how to handle their kids.

Here's Elizabeth.

And Andrew and Ian. They are very inerested in nail painting because it is only a girl thing. Here they are watching Becky paint her nails in chrome. It was actually really funny. Becky and I went to get Starbucks before our drive up there and this middle aged guy behind us was all interested in her nails, asking how she got them to look chrome. Then the guy behind the counter was leaning over trying to see himself. It was kinda weird.

Here's ten of the twelve kids.

And Elizabeth petting a goat at the petting zoo.

Wilbur was there.

It was a fun little trip filled with a lot of yummy dessets.

My mom has been busy this summer planting things in the backyard. Here is the sunflower she grew that's taller than her.

I've also had time to do some babysitting this summer for Marietjie and Anton. They have some of the cutest, funniest girls I have ever met. Here's Naomi showing me her play-dough.

One of my favorite times is trying to wake her up from her nap. The day I took this it took about 20 minutes to get her fully awake. There was a lot of tickling involved.

The most recent busyness has been Emily's broken ankle, which she cracked in three places playing baseball. Mariejtie, Anton, Naomi and Olivia came over to visit her.

Naomi thought she would help out by doing the dishes. She just climbed up there on her own and started soaping up the sink. :0)

And there is her cute sister, Olivia.

Well, since things have slowed down a bit because of the ankle, I had to pass the time by painting Emily's toe nails. Why break your ankle if you can't have a little fun with it?

So that's pretty the much the end of the summer busyness. At least for a little while.

Dunkin' Donuts and Ice Cream (Warning: This is Pretty Long)

Those two things are what my friend Kristin used to describe Massachusetts. Ever since I found out that Michigan was considered to be part of the Midwest, (I still think that area of the U.S. should be called the Mideast, although I guess that would get confusing) and not the East I’ve wanted to visit the East Coast. Well, Kristin has been bugging me for awhile about coming out to visit her in Mass some summer. When I found a very inexpensive, round-trip, no stops flight to Boston, how could I refuse? (Check out travelzoo.com if you’re going somewhere this summer.) I figured out last Wednesday that I could go…the trick was, in order to get the good deal; I had to leave Saturday and come back Tuesday. Thankfully it worked out with the Cooley’s and so at 4:45 in the morning on Saturday, my dad and I were off to the airport.

It was the first time that I had traveled more than an hour on a plane by myself and because I was so late in purchasing my ticket, I was in the middle seat both flights. I figured out why this is the worst seat…although I really didn’t mind it that much. If you want to get out to the bathroom, you have to annoy the person on the aisle, if you want to look out the window, you have to somewhat invade the personal space of the person near the window. On the way there I also figured out that coffee, apple juice and altitude don’t mix. Don’t ask any questions; just trust me on this one.

On both flights I had one friendly person sitting next to me. I know that sometimes strangers can be too talkative, but these people weren’t. The lady sitting next to the window on the way there lives in L.A. but her family lives in Boston and so she told me about all sorts of cool places to visit there (even though we didn’t hang out in Boston, if I ever do go back , I know where to go). On the way back, I sat next to an older man that lives in Boston. He had one of those Boston accents that I like so much and he gave me some gum. At the take-off he looked all excited and he told me that even though he has flown hundreds of times, he never gets sick of that part. I was very appreciative of this because I always feel like a nerd getting so giddy about the take-off. Usually the people around me don’t care.

Right after I got off the plane I saw a cop. They look a little different out in the East Coast. First of all they are state police…and they wear those funny hats. The lady on the plane told me that I would have some culture shock. Well, I didn’t experience too much on the trip, but as I was waiting for my bag I was standing next to a family from Kansas. I have never heard such thick accents. I heard one of the little girls say, “Thar’s ma bayg.” I couldn’t help but smile a little. Well, Megan found me and after I found my bag we stepped outside. The humidity hit me like a thick blanket.

Mr. Cooley picked us up and we started the hour long drive to their house. Even though we didn’t spend time in Boston, we did drive through it and it is a stunning city! Large brick buildings, beautiful architecture, and so much green! As we were flying into Boston and I looked out the window all I could see was a mass of green trees. I thought it might look a little less stuffed with trees on the ground but I was wrong. As you get out of the city, when you’re on the highway, you can’t see any buildings or mountains, nothing but trees as far as the eye can see.

The Cooley’s told me before I came that the trees make you feel a bit claustrophobic at times. I didn’t believe them before, but now I can see what they mean. I wasn’t there long enough to get sick of them, however. As we drove along the sun was shining but it was pouring rain. It looked so pretty.

I got to Mass around 4:00 p.m. and Kristin had to work until 10:30, but it was fun hanging out with the rest of her family that night. It was great to see Mrs. Cooley again after three years! She made us yummy tostadas and then the four of us played a game after dinner. Then Megan and I just hung out in her room and watched a movie until Kristin got home. As we were sitting there talking, Megan commented on how it was so weird that I was in Massachusetts. I felt the same way. It was so cool! There’s no other word for it. I don’t know what it is about taking long trips by yourself that is so fun, but it really is. After Kristin got back we talked and then went to sleep. I fell asleep very happy and content. I slept very well too. Like a rock. I woke up the next morning with two red lines running down the right side of my face. I obviously hadn’t tossed and turned too much.

The next day we went to the Cooley’s new church. I really liked the pastor. His name is Mike Avendroth. He went to the Seminary at Grace. He taught from the Bible with helpful application and he was just very sincere. I liked the size of it, and everyone was very friendly. One girl I met just finished up a year of grad school at Harvard. Her name is Annie and she came home with us along with a couple other people, for lunch. We had Mrs. Cooley’s amazing homemade Barbeque Chicken Pizza (my favorite). It was so fun. The whole Cooley family has this dry humor that cracks me up.

After lunch, the Cooley girls, Annie and I took a drive to Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women. This was one of my favorite things that we did. It was in Concord I think. Lexington and Concord is where some of the Revolutionary War was fought. I definitely wouldn’t call myself a U.S. History buff. Even though I love it, I don’t necessarily remember everything I learn about it too well. Nevertheless, my emphasis at school was in U.S. History and it was so cool to see places that I have read about. I forgot that Little Women is basically a biography about Louisa May Alcott. The three sisters in the story were based on her three sisters in real life. It was so interesting to learn how her family was in the center of so much that was going on at the time. Even though I don’t think too much of them, Emerson and Thoreau were her teachers along with her father. Her youngest sister May, taught art lessons to the boy who went on to carve the Lincoln memorial. Her parents were part of the Underground Railroad and housed a slave, not to mention they housed John Brown who was a part of Harper’s Ferry. The house was so small and cute. The ceilings and floor were all crooked. I could feel myself going uphill or downhill as I walked across a room. It was fun seeing the desk that Louisa’s father built in her room, which is where she wrote Little Women. The tour guide (who I think was younger than me) told us that after Louisa finished the first part of Little Women it became popular overnight; the equivalent of Harry Potter’s popularity today. Young girls everywhere were dying for the second part to come out, hoping that Jo would marry Laurie. Of course, she didn’t and apparently this was because Louisa never married in real life herself, and since Jo was based on her, she didn’t want her to get married at all. However, the publisher’s thought this would not be a good model for the reader’s and so Louisa had Jo marry the professor, who was based on a mix of her father, Emerson, and Thoreau. It was also fun to see May’s room. Their father made the roof rounded so that it would look more European since she went there for art classes. May had drawn pictures all around her window sills and on some of her walls. It made me feel like I was in the story, looking at pictures that Amy might have drawn. I know, I know, I’m probably a nerd for giving so much detail about this house, but I found it fascinating. The landscape outside was beautiful too.
This is my amazed look that Megan snapped when I wasn’t looking.

Here are some pictures of the house on the outside and some of the trees surrounding it.

The next day we went to Plymouth; that’s Cape Cod area. We went to go see Plymouth Rock (since the Cooley’s hadn’t seen it yet either) and the Atlantic Ocean!

So ya, Plymouth Rock is literally a small rock, with an elaborate memorial type thing built around it.

Someone carved the date 1620 onto the rock, although it wasn’t found until 1740. Makes one a little leery of the genuineness of this rock. It was a lot smaller than we all expected as well. Frankly, it was a bit disappointing. We walked a little ways over to see the Mayflower II, a replica of the real one. It was amazing to see how small it was as well. I don’t know how the Pilgrims fit on it, let alone travel across the Atlantic.

Well, to spare anyone from anymore, I will stop there. The East Coast was just as wonderful as I had hoped. If you haven’t been, you should go and praise God for the many different places He has created!

At the Ball Game....

There are two kinds of people that you can meet at Dodger Stadium.

Normal people who just enjoy America's favorite pasttime:

And crazy psycho fans:

Other than his hair, he might not look to crazy, but don't be fooled....he was definitely of the second variety that I just described. As they introduced the player's at the beginning of the game, this guy raised his right fist into the air and yelled a long "yayyyyyyy!!" after every single one. Okay, so maybe he wasn't a crazy psycho fan, there are definitely worse out there. But I always find it fascinating how some people's looks reflect their personalities so well.

Want to see it from a slightly different angle?

I love camera phones. :0)