Sanbona (Hello) from Africa!!

I have now been in Africa for three days! It is so breathtakingly beautiful that I may never leave. My new home is up in the mountains surrounded by trees. Can you say amazing? We have a birds eye view of all the villages around us. I live in a room with 9 other girls, there are 5 bunk beds and one bathroom! We were the first to arrive so luckily we got to settle in and pick our beds. There is a DTS team from Orlando doing their outreach here, 30 of them altogether. So I have been spending a lot of time with them playing cards and talking just waiting on everyone else to arrive. It has kind of been boring because we have had nothing to do the past couple of days so I am thrilled that everything started today. We had our welcome braii (barbeque) off base at one of the leader’s house. Their house was beautiful and the food was delicious, it was a good time getting to know everyone now that we are all here. There are 15 of us altogether, 10 girls and 5 guys….
Meet My Team: The Americans – Kacy is 25 from Alvin, Texas and has her masters in marriage and family therapy. Rebekah is 21 from Plano, Texas and has her associates in musical theater. Kelly is 19 from Pennsylvania and has taken one semester of college, neither of her parents are Christians yet here she is, Amazing. Breanna is 18 from Washington fresh out of high school and already home sick. Michael is, well I’m not exactly sure how old Michael is but he’s from North Carolina and is an electrician and honey bee worker.
The Africans – Pinkie is 20 from South Africa, she is an orphan herself, I hope to learn more about her story very soon! Laney is turning 23 next month, and I don’t know much about her yet. Mongoleeso or Mongo as we call him is 22 from Capetown and has a degree in marketing and advertising. Lenon, is quiet but he danced today at church and I really enjoyed watching him open up. Leonard is even more quiet than Lenon he has been here a whole day and I haven’t heard him say more than 5 words, hopefully that will change soon.
The Swedish – Elizabeth is 28 and is a nurse, that’s all I know about her for now. Manuel is 27 and showed up with his friends yesterday, they have been traveling all around South Africa.
The Canadians – Shayla is 18 and has a great personality; she just got here today so we are just getting to know her. Last but not least is Marcella she is 21 and has extended family that lives just 5 minutes away.
Today was also church! We went in the village, it was just a plain small building with a lot of windows. The orphans attend the church and they are beautiful. I absolutely loved the church because someone just starts singing a song and then everyone chimes in, there is no music but their voices are so beautiful and harmonized it sounds like music. By the time our three months is up here I will hopefully know all the songs. Lenon and Mongo said we needed to join in and dance with them next week, so maybe I will. I loved church because the people here love God so much, you can feel his presence when your there. We start orientation week tomorrow, I can’t wait for God to move in me and all of my teammates. I may have pictures soon, it’s just hard because we pay for internet by data. So uploading pictures may cost me quite a bit of money. I will see what I can do. Please be praying for me and my team, that God brings us closer to him than ever before. Pray that we may touch these people’s lives and be a blessing to them and the orphans and that they see God in us in every thing we do. I absolutely love it here :)

Oh yeah…..there is apparently a black mamba snake on base somewhere so pray I do not see it or you might hear me scream all the way back in the states. (A black mamba is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world!!!!!)