Hello! Writing again from Durban, South Africa! We have about 3 days left here and I cannot believe it. The time has gone by pretty fast, which means there is a lot to catch you up on. My hope for this blog is to give you a run down of what life looks like here and what ministry we have been apart of!

For starters, we are living in a suburb of Durban, Kloof. We are staying at a mission house in a neighborhood here that is owned by our host who is apart of Fire and Fragrance. All twelve of us live here along with our amazing roommate, Starla! She is an American missionary who has been in missions for 10 years and she rents a room from our host. We have loved getting to know her better and spending time with her as well. Her birthday is the day we fly back home to America, so we threw her a surprise birthday party early which was very fun.

Comparing this neighborhood to home, it’s pretty similar. Quiet streets, friendly neighbors. However, there are some differences for sure. Other than the palm trees and other tropical plants, the critters aren’t quite the same. We don’t have to worry about raccoons getting into our trash bins, but…. Monkeys. And not only the trash cans, but getting in the house too. We haven’t had it happen to us, but the monkeys got in a couple weeks before we came here. Even though they do this, they are still SO AWESOME! They come to our yard almost every day by climbing through the trees or crawling on the fences. Which leads me to another difference- the fences- or should I say, walls. Every house in this neighborhood has a 6+ foot tall stone fence around the front with electric fencing on top of it and a gated driveway. On top of that, most doors and windows also have a metal grate on the outside as well. This is the case in almost every neighborhood here in Durban. Crime is a very big problem in South Africa, so extra safety measures are required. It is definitely different from what I am used to, especially when I normally just go right up to my neighbors houses and ring the doorbell.

^addie and I on a walk- great example of the stone walls and electric fences in the background

I'll say it, our house is pretty epic. I am staying in the bunk room which is fun because it has a balcony (and a really hot shower!!). We have a living room and a TV which is a blessing! My favorite part is the gazebo in the backyard which is where I spend nearly all of my mornings drinking a cup of tea, reading my bible, sitting in prayer, or chatting with other girls who are also up.

For the first couple weeks before going to LIV (In my last blog, I wrote about my team’s experience serving at LIV children’s village. If you are curious about that, go give it a read!) and the weeks after, we have been doing a variety of outreach in the community. In the Philippines, we walked to ministry because It was in the same neighborhood, but here we are driven around in our hosts vans. Most of our ministry sites are over 40 mins away which makes for a fun ride looking at the rolling, green hills and listening to some South African music favorites. We are driven around by other hosts who are apart of different ministries in the area because our main host lives 6 hours away. Sorry, thats probably pretty confusing…

Anyways, we have gotten very close with our sub-hosts which has been a huge blessing. 2 of them are married and have a worship ministry called “The Worship Hub” which is something we have been able to help serve at. They have pop-up events all over Durban which have been at schools, the YWAM base, cafes, houses, and a beach! The worship is absolutely amazing and I always look forward to attending. The musicians are so talented- they play with no music, as the worship is spirit led. The singer starts singing a song and then they just play along and make it up as they go. It’s a really cool skill to have and has been fun watching and learning from them! One night in particular, worship was at the beach! This night was so impactful. It started with a small group and ended with hundreds of people gathered to worship.

Other than worship nights, we have also served in schools, rehab centers, and old age homes. In schools, we have gone to both primary (K-7) and secondary (8-12) schools. Our time there consists of 1. having zero clue of what is happening and being thrown into a classroom and figuring out how to fill an hour of time on the spot… and 2. Learning a LOT about always being prepared and having testimonies and a willingness to share about Gods goodness! We have shared a lot of personal testimonies from this race and prior, performing skits like Jesus walking on water and the good samaritan, singing songs, having discussion groups, and one of my favorites… 1 million questions about America. Normally, we stand up in front of the class, introduce ourselves and then open the floor to questions. Some of the most common are:

“What’s Target like?”

“Is America nice?”

“Have you met any celebrities?”

“Do you have an iPhone?”

“What do takis taste like?”

“Have you tried wing stop?”

“Did you think that we would all be living in huts and riding elephants?”

“Have you been in a school shooting?”

“Do you support Trump?”

We have fun answering these questions and they definitely make us chuckle. Especially with the older kids, we get deeper questions in discussion groups that we go pretty deep with. It is very interesting hearing what they believe and giving some encouragement to dig deeper and find truth. One school in particular, Port Natal Skool (accurate spelling in Afrikaans) had some great convos with some 10-11th grade girls. It’s nice to be able to connect with people closer in our age range and they have a lot of respect for someone who they can relate to.

As for rehab centers, we spend the late morning-early afternoon there leading 2 different sessions. Typically, the first session is introductions and worship on guitar and cajon (I have played cajon for them which is sooooo fun!) and then we have testimonies from our girls. We eventually have lunch and then go back to the last session which is discussion groups. And wow, these have been some of my absolute favorite moments! Unfortunately, I had a very negative expectation of what the rehab centers would be like- I thought these men were going to be very dangerous and broken that we would have to really convince them to give Jesus a shot. And boy was I SO wrong! These were some of the most on-fire-for-jesus men I have ever met. Talking with them was amazing! They shared some hardships they had faced, how they ended up at the rehab, and then shared how they want to make a big change in their life for the Lord. It is so remarkable. We asked them what they want their life to look like after they were done at rehab. Almost all said that they wanted to either travel the world on mission for Jesus, and/or seek reconciliation with siblings, partners, children, and other people in their lives. They were all so encouraging as they spoke.

^getting locked in the rehab center

As for the old ladies home, it was a similar set up. Intros, worship, and then table discussion. I actually went into this with a lot of fear because, sorry in advance, I was afraid of old people. There is a ‘but’ to this story though. BUT, When the ladies started to file in, I did not hesitate and immediately went over to a lady (which I did not expect from myself) and started a convo that turned into an hour of chatting with her and other ladies at the table. It was the most wholesome experience. With even just our brief greeting before worship, I was actually brought to tears with the amount of joy I had simply just talking to her. I believe in that moment that the Lord stripped my fear of old people off of me. Yay! (Told you there was a ‘but’)

Recently we have had to opportunity to serve at Starla's church by painting a mural! We spent 3 different days painting fresh coats of white, tracing, and painting the details. It was a blast!

Other than this ministry, we have had some opportunities to get poured into as well! Including the worship nights, we have been able to go to Young Adult events at a local church and go to “The Send” which is a conference that is geared towards pouring into leaders as well as equipping South Africans to reach South Africans! Because as much as we need people to go out, our home nations are still hurting and we need people to stay as well. It was a very powerful day and we learned a lot!

Well, I hope that gives you a nice glimpse and a very brief overview of what some of our days have looked like in this country! In the coming blogs, I plan on writing about adventure days and how I have seen the Lord move :))))

Before I close, here’s a discription of what I have noticed about this area of South Africa: It is SO green! I honestly thought it was gonna be really dry and flat. and it’s NOT flat at all. Rolling green hills all around. Huge valleys of trees and forest. Haven’t seen an elephant (yet) and have seen lots of monkeys run across the road, like Iowa’s deer! And this is the most grass and green we have seen in a longgg time since we have been in cities for the entire race. Yay Africa!

Okay bye !!

xoxo Ellie