I'm finally getting some basic Sesotho phrases down! So much so that sometimes the Basothos think I'm fluent, which becomes a problem..=) Anyhoo, this weekend we went to the lion park where I got to hang out with a baby tiger and baby lion. I can legitimately say I've been bitten by a tiger and got a slight rip on my pants by a lion=) On Sunday I went to church in Qwa Qwa where the service was 2 1/2 hours long. One we got back to base I climbed Mt. Everest and my legs are definitely feeling it today. (It's South Africa's version of Mt. Everest, but for the record it really is called Mt. Everest and it's a real mountain..it's just not the actual for real Mt. Everest.)
Today was our first day ministering in Intabazwe. I got a Sesotho name because one of the women didn't like our English names=) (They were a bit difficult to pronounce for her.) Mine is...Matahbo I think, which means happiness. We washed a lot of dishes and sang and danced with her. At another house we went to we washed more dishes and I swept and mopped the floor and then went outside and played games with the kids. We tried playing zebra zebra lion (South Africa's version of duck duck goose) but they weren't down for that so we played stop/go (red light/green light) and Simon Says for a long time.
The weather is finally warming up, which is excellent. I could finally take my sweatshirt off today and have short sleeves on, compared to last week where I had about six layers on and a jacket, sweatshirt, and a big coat! While the weather is getting warmer, more and more dust is flying in the air. One of the team members, Hayley, is having severe allergies and her face is starting to really irritate her. Ami has also been dealing with a lot of sickness and is really getting down today and Morgan felt so under the weather that she had to stay back for the second half of ministering today. Please pray for Hayley, Ami, and Morgan who are really getting pretty sick as we start our second week. As for the rest of the team, many of us are starting to feel more and more weary and somewhat sick at the stomach, pray that we can continue to stay healthy.
We really started building relationships with the two families we visited today in Intabazwe and tomorrow we're going to start our conversations about our faith. Pray for those conversations, that they are intentional and loving.
With only a week left and the fear that we may never see each other again, this week is going to be a difficult week in other ways that last week wasn't. Continue to pray for our team, to have strengthened relationships throughout the week.
Thank you all for everything!
-Ashley
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