Breath

Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit breathe? The pulsating of the room that is electrified by the presence of God and then all of a sudden you feel the release of tension. Oh tension… that miraculous place where God dwells between heaven and earth. That’s where I want to be – not of this earth, but not removed from it. The breath of the Spirit comes when God is present in that place between heaven and earth, those moments when you’re surrounded by a hundred voices praising God with their entire beings or when you’re surrounded by His glorious beauty and all you can do is think of Him. That’s when you can feel that release of breathe but you can’t breathe because you’re afraid your breathing will make it disappear. I hope you’ve felt this.

I felt the Holy Spirit at church last week. We were at a Pentecostal church called God’s Family Life Center in Pietermaritzburg. We had just spent the previous day at a birds of prey reserve and a lion reserve and had been surrounded by God’s incredible creations (lions are a lot bigger in person than I remember them being). Our group hadn’t been to church in South Africa yet and it was a little nerve racking because we weren’t quite sure what to expect. What we found was refreshment and peace. The congregation welcomed us with open arms and for the first time I didn’t feel crazy for wanting to move in my praise to God. It wasn’t the Pentecostal you’re probably thinking of right now. It was just a place to come and be in the presence of God in any way you wanted to. And then it happened. In a moment of musical dissonance and uninhibited prayer I felt that breath and I knew that this whole thing isn’t a mistake. I think it’s really good for me to get that confirmation every once in awhile that I’m not crazy for coming to live in another country for 15 weeks of my life. After the service we were greeted by many people from the congregation and I actually ended up coming back that night to another worship service at the same church where we spent more time glorifying God.

This last week was wonderful. The days go by really slowly here… so much so that breakfast feels like a whole day before by the time dinner hits. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was at Mason’s clinic again on Tuesday and Wednesday, but they were really slow days because of the rain. I’m beginning to learn the difference between when South Africans say “just now” and “now now”. Tuesday Sal and I waited an hour and a half for one of the nurses to show up and even when she did come she only had a few patients and we were left to sit and wait for people to show up. Before Sister Gasa showed up, the other health care workers would say “She’s coming just now”, and Sal and I kept looking around for her to come through the door. When we got back to campus we asked our Student Life Coordinator Reagan, who is South African, why in the world they kept telling us that she was coming “just now” and she still didn’t show. He said that in South Africa “just now” can mean in five minutes or in an hour and that “now now” means she’s coming through the door. This is just a taste of the laid back culture here.

Thursday and Friday the nursing majors had off for the most part and we used it to do work, go to the mall for some studying at our favorite coffee place (yes I’m drinking coffee, but only sometimes) and to rest up from the week. A few of us went out to pizza Thursday night to a place called Leonardo’s pizza and had pizza which was a nice change of pace. Getting off campus isn't easy, so whenever we get the chance we jump at it!

Love you all. Thanks for staying connected with me and for all your notes of love an encouragement. They are much needed and very appreciated!

Sala Khlale (Stay Well)

This is me with a giant African bug on my head...

Tea Time

Who would have thought that I would become a tea drinker? Tea time has become two of my favorite times of day (there are two of them) firstly because I’ve fallen in love with Rooibos tea (which means Red Bush in Afrikaans) and secondly because it’s a break that promotes fellowship and gets us all out of our rooms so we don’t get completely immersed in our homework. That’s not the only thing that that has changed in my life recently. I feel like a melting ice cube… made of the same substance, just changing forms. I’m doing homework during the day now and attempting to stay on top of my work. But it’s more than just lifestyle changes. I see people differently now, smile with more love in my heart and enter into conversation with better intention that I ever have before. It feels like my senses have been sharpened. Colors are brighter here, the smells are more pungent, and I notice the things going on around me with more precision.

Thursday we went to the clinic for the first time and I can’t quite find a word to describe it, so I’ll just explain how it went. I was at a small medical clinic outside Pietermaritzburg called Mason’s clinic and was able to work with HIV positive patients who either had high CD4 counts(the white blood cells that HIV attacks and eventually kills) and needed Vitamin B and Bactrim to prevent minor ailments or had very low CD4 counts and were on Antiretroviral medications (ARVs) that fight HIV. It was amazing to talk to the nurse about what she had seen here in the past 20 years or so as the AIDS epidemic came in full force. She kept saying that it was such a blessing that the government gives people the medication for free now because before they were accessible to the masses, people were dropping like flies. I talked to a girl my age who came in with a CD4 count of 7 (a count of 200 or below is considered AIDS defining and a person who is not infected with the virus has a count of 500-1500) and she was one of the most fragile and weak people I have ever seen. She could barely walk and couldn’t get out of her chair without help. It was one of those defining moments for me. I’ve talked about working with the HIV/AIDS population for so long, but that day I was able to put a face and a story with this burning desire in my heart to see lives changed and an improved quality of life for God’s children. In the clinic I was able to interact with many other people… some who looked healthy and others who did not. Another one of the hard cases for me was a 5 year old boy who came in needing his first CD4 count after being diagnosed as HIV positive. He was so tired and scared and he screamed his head off while we took his blood, but same time was so precious and beautiful that I knew God could not have abandoned his little son.

Life around African Enterprise (we call it AE) is strangely normal. Besides the monkeys running around outside my window (one tried to attack Teresa and I today) and the hot water heater going out on us every other day, we do mall runs, go out to eat, and watch movies just like we do at home. After a week here I feel perfectly at home. We have breakfast at 7:45 every morning, lunch at 1 and dinner at 6 with two tea times thrown in there. There’s chapel twice a week and classes in between the meal times ; ) And I get to go to the clinic twice a week. We’ll be rotating clinics every three clinical days, so I can’t wait to see what’s coming next. I love you all. Praying for you ; ) I want to hear about your lives too!

Waterfalls

I have a bit of a problem... I'm in love with a country. Imagine the most breathtaking landscapes you can (include beaches, mountains and farmland), then add in some of the most diverse and beautiful people you've ever seen with incredible accents and mix them together with rich food dishes and an intense and vibrant history that is full of hope and you have the South Africa that I have experienced in the past few days. I'm here studying abroad at African Enterprise, South Africa with 28 other people (25 girls and 3 boys) and it's still surreal to me.

We spent 14.5 hours traveling from JFK to Johannesburg and then got off the plane, ate at a mall and then went to ride roller coasters at an amusement park in order to try and adjust to the time zone. The next morning was spent at the apartheid museum in Joburg. It is an incredible testament to the story of those who fought against the apartheid in South Africa. There are buildings filled with history of why it was put in place, who was able to fight against it, and what happened after the apartheid ended. My heart was filled with joy as I watched black, white, colored, and Indian people walking together through the halls of this beautiful place as brothers and sisters and not as enemies separated by fear. We spent the afternoon in a large township outside of Joburg called Soweto which has a population of close to a million. I was blown away. We had a tour guide with us and we were able to take our giant coach around the township. I think I expected a small little area in the middle of nowhere with a few shanties and dirt roads. There were definitely dirt roads, but there were also paved roads and government subsidized houses right next to the tin homes for those who had nothing... but the government even gave them toilets. We had lunch at our tour guide's home which she had turned into a restaurant and enjoyed a dance from the neighbor boys.

This morning we left Joburg for the Durban airport and then took a bus to the African Enterprise, South Africa Conference Center in Pietermaritzburg. Just the drive alone was breathtaking and as we arrived on campus, small squeals escaped our lips! The campus is set in gorgeous green hills spotted with white picturesque buildings surrounded by waterfalls and magnificent trees everywhere you look. We did some orienting to the campus and were placed in our chalets. Mine is a single room on the bottom floor with a small window that overlooks a waterfall. A little piece of heaven!

My heart is ready to see what God has to teach me in this unfathomable place. It's a world all its own with people who have a culture that is steeped in history and family. In the last three days I have seen and experienced things that I haven't been able to understand or comprehend but I pray that God will reveal his plan and some incredible understanding in His timing. And I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s supposed to be…