busy busy busy

So much has happened the past few weeks and I will do my best, with as few words as possible, to fill you in.

On July 30 we packed our bags and hit the road, headed back to Mabalingwe, the safari lodge we went to earlier in July. This time we went for a three day retreat. We had some awesome times of praise and worship and sessions that helped us to refocus and regroup for the 4 months we have left here. We also had the chance to have a little fun and relax. Funwise, my favorite part of the retreat was the fact that we got to go on a horseback safari one morning…something I have always dreamt of doing. It was so much fun! I had a crazy horse named Okane who ran a lot and had a mind of his own, when all the other horses went through bushes, Okane found an alternate path that did not involve going through bushes and trees. Smart horse. And he loved running….he hated when other horses tried to pass so he would take off running to avoid it. Fun times. We didn’t see many animals on the horseback safari but we did see a giraffe which was pretty cool. Here are a couple pictures of my horseback adventure…I don’t have many cuz it’s not easy to take pics while riding a horse. ;)

Here is the shadow of me and Okane... Some of my fellow interns on horseback...
The giraffe we saw on horseback safari...

We also got to go on another game drive. We didn’t see elephants this time but we did see lots of hippos and rhinos. I was rather excited that we got to see the baby rhino this time around. He was so adorable!

Hippos!...

Baby rhino. Isn't he adorable?!

Rhino butt shot...

I love monkeys... Even when they steal my breakfast...

The day after we got back we did assemblies to promote our rural discipleship class called Launch Pad. We went into four different schools and do five assemblies. In the assemblies, we the opportunity to do a skit that presented Launch Pad in a fun way. We also played games with the students and had a short lesson about integrity and how God sees the real us. The assemblies were a lot of fun and I’m glad we got to be a part of them.

Here are some of the students at one of the Launch Pad assemblies...
Then, Launch Pad started this week. This term Ashley and I will be teaching a curriculum called “Ordinary Day with Jesus” which talks about how to have Jesus in every moment of every day. I’m so exited to be back in class and spend time with my students and they seemed to feel the same way.

Here is Kelly with some of our Launch Pad students...

This week I have done a lot of fun stuff in the mornings. Yesterday morning, before breakfast, Josh took me down to see the new baby pigs we have here on base. We breed them and sell them to help make a little but of additional money to run the ministry. They were so adorable!

Me and one of the one-day old piglets...

Some of the older pigs...
Then, this morning I headed up Mount Everest at like 5:45am so I could get to top in time to see the sunrise….and it was a gorgeous sunrise.
Then we headed to Lion’s Rock, a lion park about an hour away that Niel and Alece wanted to check out and see if we want to start taking mission teams there or not. The lions were cool, but the game drive that accompanied was not all that great. Anyways, here are some pics I got of the lions (and the leopard)…




Then, on the way home we got a flat tire. We made it home safely though. Here’s a pic of the rather flat tire on the Pajero…
Well, so much for a short post. Haha ;) Have a wonderful day everyone! Well, now I’m going to go have dinner and relax this evening and chill with some friends. God bless!