Siyahamba ekukhanyen kwenkhos!

(translation: we are walking in the light of god)

I apologize for letting a whole week go by without an update for all of you who I love so much! About halfway into the week I realized I had not even updated my own mother on the things that I had been doing, and after I sent her a brief message as I rushed back out the door to go to yet another group meeting, she told me I should simply copy what I told her and put it in my blog. Sometimes I think I need to make my blogs into an elaborate and grammatically correct masterpiece of a compilation of all my thoughts, but I think especially now, my entries are going to have to be slightly more brief and I am going to have to learn how to be ok with that! Here are the words I sent my mama, forgive me for not being able to give as many details as I have in the past... believe me I want to! There just is not any time.

"Working at Walk In The Light everyday has been so great and so wonderful. This section of the semester is definitely a drastic change from the others though, our days are full and exhausting but full of growth and learning too! Our days are like get up, rush out the door, eat and load up the vans, work all day, then come back and eat dinner fast to have time for meetings, and then go to bed! Whenever I can, I try to say hi to Nate on Skype for a few minutes or quickly email him, but I never have time to even tell him everything that I've been doing, let alone time to talk to friends here and hear about other people's days, journal, blog, or even shower! Haha I go to bed exhausted every night and wake up feeling just as exhausted, but I say many prayers for strength throughout the day and that is what gets me through! I am happy as can be, serving the poverty-stricken community of Haniville with every ounce of energy I have, digging ditches, pulling weeds and grass for hours (my back and hamstrings have never ached as bad as they do now), cutting down trees in the pouring rain, and then taking breaks after lunch to play games with kids, sing and dance with the gogo's (grannies), organize youth groups for the kids and young adults of the community multiple days a week (of which we are fully in charge, like games, worship, message, everything!) I am so tired physically and mentally but I really couldn't be happier, on Tuesday I cried tears of joy, I just can’t even begin to describe how incredible it has been! After this week we only have like 1.5 weeks of service and it breaks my heart to think about that! I want to stay and serve and help and do all their work for them and play with the kids who smell like pee and get covered in dirt from head to toe by noon every day!"