Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Preparing for South Africa

Well time has eluded me once again and I now sit here staring (and by staring I mean gawking/hyperventilating) at the 5 days that linger between today and the beginning of our South African adventure. I have yet to do laundry, nor pack, but I do know where my passport is- a small step in the right direction!

Our journey to Durban officially begins at noon on Sunday, when we will fly from Atlanta to Washington D.C. From D.C., we will fly to Dakar, Senegal; from Dakar to Johannesburg, S.A.; and finally from Johannesburg to Durban. We will arrive in Durban Monday afternoon and begin to settle into our new home for the next 5 weeks! (and by settle in I mean crash from our 24 hour travel)


For the first three weeks of our project, our team will be working alongside of South African students from the University of Kwazulu-natal in the townships of Durban. The townships, or "slums", are predominately made up of black South Africans and are home to the lowest socioeconomic  class of Durban. We will be spending most of our time working at the local AIDS Hospice and orphanage, assisting in any way that we can.

Township right outside Durban


























The last two weeks we are in Durban will be spent on the campuses of the University of Kwazulu-natal sharing the gospel, meeting with students, and working alongside of the the South African Cru staff there. At nights during the week, we will have small group Bible studies, men's & women's community groups, team dinners, and large group meetings (on different nights of the week).

Because we will not have cell phones, and will only have access to the internet via once-a-week visits to an internet cafe, this blog will be our main source for updates on our trip and experience. We will make a point to update our blog at  least once a week with the highs, lows, praises, and prayer requests of our team. We are extremely excited to embark on this adventure and pray that God's glory will radiate greater than we could have ever hoped or imagined!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Our new house!

We have officially settled into our new house, and I must say... we are loving it! God has been so good to us to allow us to be home owners and we truly are so blessed to have a home of our own here in Hattiesburg! However, it still was not easy to surrender our sweet Georgia tags. But alas, we did finally give in and transfer our car over to a Mississippi registration. 


But enough about the car. After many requests for pictures, Mitch and I have worked diligently to complete painting projects (with help from my family) & other fix-ups around the house so that we could share a little bit of our new place with all of our friends & family!.So with out further ado, here is a preview of our new house!

Front of the house
Master Bedroom
Living Room
Office
Kitchen/ Dining Room
Backyard
Like I said, God has been so good to us! We have already enjoyed the house so much and we cannot wait to host cook outs, bible studies, and hang out nights come fall. We are so grateful for everyone who helped us in this process and made owning a house possible- and enjoyable! :)