Well I’m back with a new blog layout and everything. I’m still trying to get that picture at the top to stretch out, but I’m failing miserably…whatever. Anyway, since the field trip things have been awesome!
Wednesday night we had a guy named Sean Wisedale come and speak to us. He’s one of six people, and the only African to ever climb the highest mountain on all seven continents. His story was incredible! Kind of made me want to climb Everest, but more so made me realize how much of a weakling I am haha.
Anyway, yesterday was a fun day for no specific reason, it was just fun. Last night a couple of us guys went and stole every toilet seat (8 of them to be exact) from the girls chalets, it was pretty humorous, and then escalated into a full blown battle…super intense. All along there was a graduation ceremony of some sort going on that we were disrupting with screams of all sorts haha. I mean, not funny.
Today we got to check out the last of our 4 possible service sites. It was the pre-school I went to a couple weeks ago, Bongin Kosi (at least I thinks that’s how you spell it.) The school right now is a 1,000 square foot house for 43 kids and 2 teachers. The great news is that right now they are in the finishing processes of finishing their new building which will provide space for up to 100 kids I want to say. It’s a 180 degree turnaround from what they’re in now, and a great opportunity for God to meet the community.
We got back after working at the new site and getting all dirty, at lunch, and headed straight to the watering hole where we had a full-blown mud war! It was awesome. I got a mouthful and eyeful of mud, but I think I’ll be alright.
Life’s good! Got a field trip that starts tomorrow morning at 545 haha! Not looking forward to it, but I’m sure we’ll make it fun like we always do, preferably after another hour or two of sleep on the bus.
Later my friends!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
2 25 09
WOW! What a day! Well, we went on the field trip I told you all about last time, and to say the least, it did not disappoint. Today was a day of blue skies which just makes everything that much better. We arrived at our destination at about 930 o’clock, jumped into a safari bus and were off through the fields of wild game. We first came upon some wildebeest, which was very cool because we hadn’t seen them yet, but in comparison to what else we saw it was lower on the scale. Next we passed a group of zebra, which was arguably the most abundant animal where we were (by days end probably saw upwards of 100 of them.) Went by a couple other things that I don’t know the name of but that were all very big, and had very cool horns…haha. Then we saw it – the rhino! There was a group of 5 rhino we were fortunate enough to pull right up next to and watch for probably 10 minutes or so. They were insane! It’s just so weird seeing all these animals in person that you’ve never seen outside of TV, the internet, or the zoo. What’s even better is that after we encountered the rhinos, we headed off to see some hippos! Hippos have a bad rep by most, but let me tell you that they account for more deaths than any other animal in Africa. They can bite a human in half with one bite! The downside is that they sit in the water all freakin’ day long, so we did get to see them relatively close, but nothing really except the tops of their head haha. Anyway, for the safari part of the trip, that was about it…oh and we saw a bunch of ostrich. It was amazing to see the masses of animals just roaming wild, due to the fact that there were no predators haha.
Anyway, that’s been most of the excitement in the past two days, I’ll post some pictures if the internet is efficient enough right, otherwise I’ll get on tomorrow or later tonight and do it. If any of you were wondering, giraffes are still my favorite, I think I might ask one out on a date later in the trip. Cheers!
Anyway, that’s been most of the excitement in the past two days, I’ll post some pictures if the internet is efficient enough right, otherwise I’ll get on tomorrow or later tonight and do it. If any of you were wondering, giraffes are still my favorite, I think I might ask one out on a date later in the trip. Cheers!
Monday, February 23, 2009
2-23-09
Well I don’t have too much to share, it’s been a classic rainy Sunday and Monday. I’ve had a lot of downtime, done homework (I should probably say “homework,” it hasn’t been too productive). Got the time to listen to one of John Mark’s sermons yesterday, played a lot of guitar, and did quite a bit of….nothing else!
Things continue to be fun. Friendships continue to get better and grow deeper. God remains just as faithful as he’s always been.
On Wednesday our field trip is supposed to include the sight of…RHINOS! I’m super excited. I’ve had this check list of animals I want to see. Once I check off one animal, I add my next desired sighting. I started with monkeys, then zebras, then giraffes, and for about 3 weeks it’s been rhinos…then it’ll be elephants, and finally the king of it all – the Lion. I think once I see them all, the skies will part and I’ll start hearing “The Circle of Life” coming from every which direction…and until then I’ll just listen to it on my iPod.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for now. I wanted to say thank you for the support. I really though when I created this blog, that no more than a handful of people would read it (mom, dad, grandparents). To hear all the comments about this blog makes me feel the love, and I appreciate that.
Alright, I’ll check back in after my field trip Wednesday, hopefully with some cool rhino stories!
Things continue to be fun. Friendships continue to get better and grow deeper. God remains just as faithful as he’s always been.
On Wednesday our field trip is supposed to include the sight of…RHINOS! I’m super excited. I’ve had this check list of animals I want to see. Once I check off one animal, I add my next desired sighting. I started with monkeys, then zebras, then giraffes, and for about 3 weeks it’s been rhinos…then it’ll be elephants, and finally the king of it all – the Lion. I think once I see them all, the skies will part and I’ll start hearing “The Circle of Life” coming from every which direction…and until then I’ll just listen to it on my iPod.
Anyway, I think that’s about it for now. I wanted to say thank you for the support. I really though when I created this blog, that no more than a handful of people would read it (mom, dad, grandparents). To hear all the comments about this blog makes me feel the love, and I appreciate that.
Alright, I’ll check back in after my field trip Wednesday, hopefully with some cool rhino stories!
2.23.09
Well, I didn't post this in my last blog out of respect for the parentals, but by now most of you know that I got a tattoo on Saturday when we were in Durban. Here she is!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
2-22-09
Well…..let’s start with Friday. Friday, we got to check out our 3rd of 4 sites to serve at, and it was my favorite yet! It’s called Walk In the Light, and it’s an self-supported organization that works with people in the local township who struggle with HIV and AIDS. I think this’ll end up being the place I try to serve at, but we’ll see.
Following that, I had a pretty normal following few hours, some class, a run, etc. Friday night was pretty sweet! A couple of us went on a night hike in the reserve. It was pouring. We saw a ton of spring buck (antelope), a handful of some BIG frogs, and 4 zebra, which is always the coolest part! The lightening would light up the entire reserve at times….it was so cool!
As for yesterday, we headed to Durban once again and kicked it there for quite a while. Had some fun doing this and that, you know the usual beach things, and then headed off to a Super 14 rugby game. Super 14 is the world cup of rugby. It was round two and we got to see the hometown favorites (the sharks) destroy the Lions from Johannesburg. I still can’t believe that God created these guys as big as he did, they’re literally monsters, every single one of them. It was super entertaining, and made for a good night sleep cause we were exhausted!
I’ve been getting a couple requests for more pictures, so I’ll throw a couple up right now, and try to do that more. It’s difficult because the slow internet doesn’t want to upload photos most of the time, but we’ll try this.
Following that, I had a pretty normal following few hours, some class, a run, etc. Friday night was pretty sweet! A couple of us went on a night hike in the reserve. It was pouring. We saw a ton of spring buck (antelope), a handful of some BIG frogs, and 4 zebra, which is always the coolest part! The lightening would light up the entire reserve at times….it was so cool!
As for yesterday, we headed to Durban once again and kicked it there for quite a while. Had some fun doing this and that, you know the usual beach things, and then headed off to a Super 14 rugby game. Super 14 is the world cup of rugby. It was round two and we got to see the hometown favorites (the sharks) destroy the Lions from Johannesburg. I still can’t believe that God created these guys as big as he did, they’re literally monsters, every single one of them. It was super entertaining, and made for a good night sleep cause we were exhausted!
I’ve been getting a couple requests for more pictures, so I’ll throw a couple up right now, and try to do that more. It’s difficult because the slow internet doesn’t want to upload photos most of the time, but we’ll try this.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
February 19th, 2009
Shout out to Tyler Reeves who is turning the big 20 today. Way to go bud, you made it! Sorry, that wasn’t very professional of me. If this ever gets published into a nice big, hardback book, with a really cool cover of a giraffe of lion or something, those two sentence may need to be removed.
Anyway, life is good right now, and God’s better (a little cheesy, but it’s true). I continue to get challenged, to grow, and to find strength in the grace of God. I’ve had a rather eventful past 45 hours, and I’ll take you on a play by play.
Let’s see, two night ago I set a new Alex Salzwedel South African record with a fall asleep time of pre-10:00! That was exciting, but I know every single soul that’s reading this could care less.
Yesterday we had our good ol’ weekly field trip…and for the first time we had blue skies to accompany it! However, the field trip was pretty bad, and one of my top 5 strengths according to strengthquest is positivity, so when I say pretty bad, I mean pretty bad. Generally, our field trips are what we make of them. Therefore, because I am blessed to be part of the best Humans and the Environment class to ever walk this planet, our field trips are usually AMAZING, on a scale of 1 to 10. Yesterday was an exception. First, one of our star players, Amanda Kretzmann, was out of the lineup for the day, a big hole to fill. Second, we got a tour guide that…well we’ll just say she had a good heart. Third, we were in Durban…DURBAN!!! THE F’ING VACATION CAPITAL OF SOUTH AFRICA, and we found ourselves visiting industrial areas looking at God knows what. I’m still a little bitter. I will say that since we have the coolest professor ever, she let us go to the Ocean to swim for a half hour when it was over, which made up for it.
The rest of yesterday was just a really good day, and I’m not even sure why. Maybe it was the blue skies. Maybe the fabulous company. Who knows? But it was a supurb day.
This morning…new day. Woke up, clouds, oh well I’m from Oregon so I like it. In no time, sun, who doesn’t like the sun. I went on a run, and saw two zebras. I probably got closer to these guys (well it was a guy and a girl, I could tell) than I have any other zebras. So I looked, and looked, and looked at them some more, until I realized that if I didn’t at least move my feet they might become fused to the cement, so I turned around and started running back. I took a path on the way back, and ended up at this look out point in the middle of the reserve, it was gorgeous to say the least. There’s nothing like listening to the beauty of Josh White and Telecast, as you look out over God’s creation at it’s best (as if I’m one who determines what of God’s creation is “best”). So eventually I got up, ran back to The Palace, showered up, ate some lunch, went to Life and Teachings, got done with Life and Teachings, went back to The Palace, worked on my exegetical for Life and Teachings, and here I am now. Oh, and since we’re in South Africa I should add that the lightning and thunder has hit, and hit’s pouring like mad. There’s a phrase we always say here…TIA (This is Africa). Now, all you all who haven’t written me in a while (or ever since I left), we both know who you are, open up a new tab, get on facebook or email or whatever you go to, and write me a stinkin’ letter! Love.
Anyway, life is good right now, and God’s better (a little cheesy, but it’s true). I continue to get challenged, to grow, and to find strength in the grace of God. I’ve had a rather eventful past 45 hours, and I’ll take you on a play by play.
Let’s see, two night ago I set a new Alex Salzwedel South African record with a fall asleep time of pre-10:00! That was exciting, but I know every single soul that’s reading this could care less.
Yesterday we had our good ol’ weekly field trip…and for the first time we had blue skies to accompany it! However, the field trip was pretty bad, and one of my top 5 strengths according to strengthquest is positivity, so when I say pretty bad, I mean pretty bad. Generally, our field trips are what we make of them. Therefore, because I am blessed to be part of the best Humans and the Environment class to ever walk this planet, our field trips are usually AMAZING, on a scale of 1 to 10. Yesterday was an exception. First, one of our star players, Amanda Kretzmann, was out of the lineup for the day, a big hole to fill. Second, we got a tour guide that…well we’ll just say she had a good heart. Third, we were in Durban…DURBAN!!! THE F’ING VACATION CAPITAL OF SOUTH AFRICA, and we found ourselves visiting industrial areas looking at God knows what. I’m still a little bitter. I will say that since we have the coolest professor ever, she let us go to the Ocean to swim for a half hour when it was over, which made up for it.
The rest of yesterday was just a really good day, and I’m not even sure why. Maybe it was the blue skies. Maybe the fabulous company. Who knows? But it was a supurb day.
This morning…new day. Woke up, clouds, oh well I’m from Oregon so I like it. In no time, sun, who doesn’t like the sun. I went on a run, and saw two zebras. I probably got closer to these guys (well it was a guy and a girl, I could tell) than I have any other zebras. So I looked, and looked, and looked at them some more, until I realized that if I didn’t at least move my feet they might become fused to the cement, so I turned around and started running back. I took a path on the way back, and ended up at this look out point in the middle of the reserve, it was gorgeous to say the least. There’s nothing like listening to the beauty of Josh White and Telecast, as you look out over God’s creation at it’s best (as if I’m one who determines what of God’s creation is “best”). So eventually I got up, ran back to The Palace, showered up, ate some lunch, went to Life and Teachings, got done with Life and Teachings, went back to The Palace, worked on my exegetical for Life and Teachings, and here I am now. Oh, and since we’re in South Africa I should add that the lightning and thunder has hit, and hit’s pouring like mad. There’s a phrase we always say here…TIA (This is Africa). Now, all you all who haven’t written me in a while (or ever since I left), we both know who you are, open up a new tab, get on facebook or email or whatever you go to, and write me a stinkin’ letter! Love.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
2.17.09
Hello again to all my friends! I told myself I was going to do some research tonight for a bio project, but Heaven knows I don’t want to so here I am, writing about a day that nothing really happened in.
Let’s see….I almost slept past breakfast, that’s two days in a row that sleeping almost caused me to miss a meal, but I made it. Had bio for what felt like ages…it was awful, but we did get out early so that was cool. I finished Blue Like Jazz, great book, and another down for the trip. Did some homework. Went on a run. Ate some dinner. Talked to some friends. Played some guitar. Watched some I Heart Revolution DVD, and here I am now, writing to you. I think I’m going to try to get some solid sleep tonight, that’d be nice before a big day tomorrow (another field trip). Anyways, stay classy and I’ll talk to you all soon!
Let’s see….I almost slept past breakfast, that’s two days in a row that sleeping almost caused me to miss a meal, but I made it. Had bio for what felt like ages…it was awful, but we did get out early so that was cool. I finished Blue Like Jazz, great book, and another down for the trip. Did some homework. Went on a run. Ate some dinner. Talked to some friends. Played some guitar. Watched some I Heart Revolution DVD, and here I am now, writing to you. I think I’m going to try to get some solid sleep tonight, that’d be nice before a big day tomorrow (another field trip). Anyways, stay classy and I’ll talk to you all soon!
Monday, February 16, 2009
2.16.09
How’s this for humor? I left for South Africa with several prayers. I wanted eyes to see, I wanted ears to hear, I wanted this radical revolution to occur within me. I don’t know how much I actually wanted this to happen, or how much faith I had that it actually would happen, but I’ll tell you what – it has, and in a completely different way than I expected. (that’s not the funny part…it’ll come)
I’ve been stretched more than I would have imagined coming in, and the crazy thing is we haven’t even started our missions work yet. All my growth is occurring within our body of students. Recently I was called out for always cutting people off when they’re talking. Guilty. I had no idea, but since then, as I pay attention I’ve found that I am 100% guilty of cutting people off. As I’ve reflected on this idea, I come to understand that sadly, the reason I cut so many people off is because I’m doing a terrible job of caring about what others are saying. I’m doing an awful job at loving my neighbor as I should be. It’s cool that something like this can be improved so quickly as soon as you become conscious of what’s going on. My neighbor was created in the image of God. If I’m not loving my neighbor by caring enough to listen to what they have to say, than I am considering myself, my words, my story as more important than my love for God. Here’s where the humor comes. I came to South Africa praying for God to give me ears to hear, what I was meaning was ears to hear the cry of the people of Africa, to have my heart broken for what breaks God’s heart. Instead, God is giving me ears to hear the people around me. The people that I already should be listening to. My goal now is to try to listen to people, to really care about what they say, to love.
Other than just reflecting on life, I’ve also been doing things physically as well haha. Sunday morning I went to a very evangelical church that I haven’t been to yet. It was very cool, very inviting, very community-oriented…and very uncomfortable, but a cool uncomfortable, so I liked it. Later in the day a group of us went to the mall to see a movie, which wasn’t showing when we thought so we killed 3.5 hours in a coffee shop…it was super fun. Other than that, Sunday was a Sunday, nothing worth sharing, just great relationships begin furthered.
Today was a regular old Monday. I lead worship which went very well, went on a run which I always loathe, fell asleep and almost missed lunch, and just got done with 4 hours of class.
Now, I’ve got a couple prayer requests. First, please be praying for my ears to really hear as I make a conscious effort to listen and love. I also want prayer for something else. This summer I’ve got a job lined up at a golf course which I will really enjoy if I end up there. At the same time I’m going to start volunteering at Solid Rock’s youth group, God wiling. I’ve been praying and meditating on things, and I want my summer to be more. I’m going to email Brooke, the youth pastor at SR, and see if there’s any way I could get an internship. Pray that and internship would be possible if that’s what God wants. I want to be absorbed in ministry, and I fear that if I have a job…well I don’t know, I don’t really fear anything, I just would love to pour all my time into the youth and I think an internship is perfect for that.
That’s all for now…gotta go catch dinner while all you guys wake up. Time Zones, you gotta love ‘em.
I’ve been stretched more than I would have imagined coming in, and the crazy thing is we haven’t even started our missions work yet. All my growth is occurring within our body of students. Recently I was called out for always cutting people off when they’re talking. Guilty. I had no idea, but since then, as I pay attention I’ve found that I am 100% guilty of cutting people off. As I’ve reflected on this idea, I come to understand that sadly, the reason I cut so many people off is because I’m doing a terrible job of caring about what others are saying. I’m doing an awful job at loving my neighbor as I should be. It’s cool that something like this can be improved so quickly as soon as you become conscious of what’s going on. My neighbor was created in the image of God. If I’m not loving my neighbor by caring enough to listen to what they have to say, than I am considering myself, my words, my story as more important than my love for God. Here’s where the humor comes. I came to South Africa praying for God to give me ears to hear, what I was meaning was ears to hear the cry of the people of Africa, to have my heart broken for what breaks God’s heart. Instead, God is giving me ears to hear the people around me. The people that I already should be listening to. My goal now is to try to listen to people, to really care about what they say, to love.
Other than just reflecting on life, I’ve also been doing things physically as well haha. Sunday morning I went to a very evangelical church that I haven’t been to yet. It was very cool, very inviting, very community-oriented…and very uncomfortable, but a cool uncomfortable, so I liked it. Later in the day a group of us went to the mall to see a movie, which wasn’t showing when we thought so we killed 3.5 hours in a coffee shop…it was super fun. Other than that, Sunday was a Sunday, nothing worth sharing, just great relationships begin furthered.
Today was a regular old Monday. I lead worship which went very well, went on a run which I always loathe, fell asleep and almost missed lunch, and just got done with 4 hours of class.
Now, I’ve got a couple prayer requests. First, please be praying for my ears to really hear as I make a conscious effort to listen and love. I also want prayer for something else. This summer I’ve got a job lined up at a golf course which I will really enjoy if I end up there. At the same time I’m going to start volunteering at Solid Rock’s youth group, God wiling. I’ve been praying and meditating on things, and I want my summer to be more. I’m going to email Brooke, the youth pastor at SR, and see if there’s any way I could get an internship. Pray that and internship would be possible if that’s what God wants. I want to be absorbed in ministry, and I fear that if I have a job…well I don’t know, I don’t really fear anything, I just would love to pour all my time into the youth and I think an internship is perfect for that.
That’s all for now…gotta go catch dinner while all you guys wake up. Time Zones, you gotta love ‘em.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
2.14.09
First, Happy valentines day! Second, thought it may seem impossible, listening to Dave Matthews Band in his home country is even better than in America. Third, Steve Prefontaine is alive…I saw him on my run the other day. Yes, that means the “Pre Lives” shirts are true. Phil Knight has known all along I’m convinced.
Anyway, we’ve had a couple fabulous days on our hands. I’m challenged more and more by the hour to live a life completely sold out to God. I’ve got a couple friends who are super good at calling me out for my crap, and it drawing me even closer to God himself. Thank God for his grace, cause I’m one screwed up little boy. Anyway, as God continues to work, I continue to dig deeper into this amazing adventure of a semester in South Africa.
Yesterday we checked out workside possibility #2 of 4. It’s 10 organizations within one, kinda confusing, but whoever goes there will work mostly with a battered woman’s shelter…so I probably won’t be part of it but if I was a girl….Anyhoot, I had class yesterday and then following that I’d say about ¾ of our group headed to the mall. Ten of us stayed behind and had a very relaxing time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Other than that, I got some good sleep for what laid ahead today.
Side Note: Mr. Matthews and his band are “Diggin’ a Ditch” right now…beautiful!
This morning we were up at the crack of dawn so that we could make a 3 hour drive to Shakaland…a place very rich with history for the South African Zulu tribe. We saw what these people lived like back when, and still do today. It was very cool, very interesting, and very ficken’ hot! I'd throw in a picture, but my internet's way too shaky night now to upload a photo. sooo, following Shakaland we drove another 3 hours back home, which was one of the most enjoyable 3 hour drives. I see how bless we all are with the group we have the closer we get. We arrived back in time for dinner, then several of us went to ice cream, and now I might hit the sack early again cause I’m going to the early church tomorrow…should be fun.
One last thing. I just received “the curse of the elephant.” The curse has been going around for about a week now and every night it gets passed on to its new victim. The person is given a task for the following day, and then they get to pass it on. Tomorrow, I have to have my finger in my nose every time I talk to anyone….should be fun. Looks like Alex is going to have one of his quieter days tomorrow haha. See you all later! Make the most of the Valentines Day!
Anyway, we’ve had a couple fabulous days on our hands. I’m challenged more and more by the hour to live a life completely sold out to God. I’ve got a couple friends who are super good at calling me out for my crap, and it drawing me even closer to God himself. Thank God for his grace, cause I’m one screwed up little boy. Anyway, as God continues to work, I continue to dig deeper into this amazing adventure of a semester in South Africa.
Yesterday we checked out workside possibility #2 of 4. It’s 10 organizations within one, kinda confusing, but whoever goes there will work mostly with a battered woman’s shelter…so I probably won’t be part of it but if I was a girl….Anyhoot, I had class yesterday and then following that I’d say about ¾ of our group headed to the mall. Ten of us stayed behind and had a very relaxing time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Other than that, I got some good sleep for what laid ahead today.
Side Note: Mr. Matthews and his band are “Diggin’ a Ditch” right now…beautiful!
This morning we were up at the crack of dawn so that we could make a 3 hour drive to Shakaland…a place very rich with history for the South African Zulu tribe. We saw what these people lived like back when, and still do today. It was very cool, very interesting, and very ficken’ hot! I'd throw in a picture, but my internet's way too shaky night now to upload a photo. sooo, following Shakaland we drove another 3 hours back home, which was one of the most enjoyable 3 hour drives. I see how bless we all are with the group we have the closer we get. We arrived back in time for dinner, then several of us went to ice cream, and now I might hit the sack early again cause I’m going to the early church tomorrow…should be fun.
One last thing. I just received “the curse of the elephant.” The curse has been going around for about a week now and every night it gets passed on to its new victim. The person is given a task for the following day, and then they get to pass it on. Tomorrow, I have to have my finger in my nose every time I talk to anyone….should be fun. Looks like Alex is going to have one of his quieter days tomorrow haha. See you all later! Make the most of the Valentines Day!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
2-12-09
Alright, I have 15 minutes until class so I’ll fire out a quick update for you. Yesterday was awesome! My bio class (which yesterday was deemed by our professor the “craziest” class she’s ever had…and she’s had a fair share of classes) had our weekly fieldtrip. Our goal was to determine human’s impact on water sources throughout the area. So we went to several location, including a 100 meter waterfall (very cool!), and ended up in yet another nature reserve. This time, as I had hoped for, it was pouring…and had been for at least 24 hours. With some groups, this mud hiking would have been miserable, but with our group, three hours of hiking through mud was purely awesome! We ended the whole thing by seeing who could slide the furthest through this huge puddle…and then 13 soaked students made their way back to campus.
I’d say the only other notes from yesterday was our first D-group meeting (D for discipleship), also known as a small group by most. It looks like it’ll be a very good group, with some very strong fellowship. We all have the same goal in mind from the group and it should be good.
As for today, I just got back from Bonga Kosi (possibly misspelled wrong), it’s a small (and I mean small, like 1500 square feet) school for grade schools. Cause of the weather, the 10-15 of us who went were PACKED in a back room with 25ish crazy kids, screaming in nothing but Zulu, and smiling from ear to ear. I have to say, I’m very thankful for the smile, the universal symbol for I’m happy. If it weren’t for that, the thumbs up, and the high five, I can’t say I would have been able to do anything. It was a crazy hour and a half, but a fun one.
Got to go to class! See ya!
I’d say the only other notes from yesterday was our first D-group meeting (D for discipleship), also known as a small group by most. It looks like it’ll be a very good group, with some very strong fellowship. We all have the same goal in mind from the group and it should be good.
As for today, I just got back from Bonga Kosi (possibly misspelled wrong), it’s a small (and I mean small, like 1500 square feet) school for grade schools. Cause of the weather, the 10-15 of us who went were PACKED in a back room with 25ish crazy kids, screaming in nothing but Zulu, and smiling from ear to ear. I have to say, I’m very thankful for the smile, the universal symbol for I’m happy. If it weren’t for that, the thumbs up, and the high five, I can’t say I would have been able to do anything. It was a crazy hour and a half, but a fun one.
Got to go to class! See ya!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
10 Feb, 2009
The good ol’ rain is back again! Blazing in the heat one second, standing in the rain the next – it’s awesome! Haven’t done too much the last two days. Yesterday I think the most exciting thing I did was study for quite some time for my bio test this morning, I did pretty well I think, but I’ll be able to let you know for sure when I get it back haha. Had a solid 6 hours of Bio today, or something like that – it felt like 12 either way. I feel like I have a homework assignment to do, but I’m not sure what it is so I’m gonna sit here and try to figure it out for a while, maybe get something done, maybe not. Got another field trip tomorrow, rain or shine…I’m kinda hoping it will rain because it sounds like the exact same thing the last 2 have been so rain would mix things up a little bit.
Overall, life’s good. God’s still challenging me daily to respond to his calling and truly be a light towards man. You gotta love God’s relentless challenges, there’s always something to work on. I’ll leave you with this though. We pray before every meal, and the other day CJ was saying that he’s gonna pray one of these times and say, “God I pray that we’d actually be thankful for our food instead of just saying we are.” To that I say amen.
Overall, life’s good. God’s still challenging me daily to respond to his calling and truly be a light towards man. You gotta love God’s relentless challenges, there’s always something to work on. I’ll leave you with this though. We pray before every meal, and the other day CJ was saying that he’s gonna pray one of these times and say, “God I pray that we’d actually be thankful for our food instead of just saying we are.” To that I say amen.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
2.8.09
Let me ask you a question, don’t feel obligated to let me know your answer, I’ll answer it anyway. What is better than paint balling in America? Paint Balling in South Africa! After church this morning, our entire group minus 4 went to a paint ball place and played some major paintball for several hours, and it was so fun. It’s awesome to see these gentle people turn into beasts while they’re playing (I’m one of them), and then go right back to being friends when it’s done. I took a shot to the dome in the first game, and thanks to the magnificent haircut from David Wood it was essentially a bare skin shot, blood everywhere, it was super gory. Well, really there was minimal blood, but it did bleed, and I didn’t even cry, unless you count my eyes welling up, but I only consider “crying” full tears…we’re talking the works. So again, I didn’t even cry. Well, only a couple tears, but it barely hurt. Actually it hurt quite a bit, but right now, like 7 hours later, it doesn’t hurt at all……well it doesn’t hurt that bad…um….Mom I didn’t get burned again! Anyway, other than the pure awesomeness of paintball, there’s really nothing in my life the past 24 hours. I slept for 9.5 hours last night, South African record for me thus far! Hopefully it’ll come again tonight! Pray for my Bio test on Tuesday…I am not looking forward to it, but whatever. Love!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
2.7.09
Friday brought nothing too new, just classes, fun, oh and a wicked dance party! I’ve come to learn that the things that we do here with our crew that are so much fun are only fun because of our group. Our dance party consisted of music from DJ CJ, a strobe light (that was only a head lamp), and…..well that was it, and it turned out to be super fun! What was really fun though was today. We took a 1 hour ride to Durban, which is South Africa’s main tourist destination, on the SE coast. We arrived around eleven and kicked it there till 6. It was a beautiful day, perfectly sunny but no too hot. I went kayaking for an hour, sat around at an awesome restaurant that was outdoors with couches (pretty rad), went to a market (which turned out to be the same thing over and over and over again, and then chilled on the beach. It was super fun! And Mom, I didn’t get burnt again…at least I don’t think I did, I guess tomorrow will tell. That was about it for the day though. Now we’re back, I think gonna watch Indiana Jones, and hopefully hit the sack early. Miss you guys!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I just had such an empowering run, and I’ll tell you why. First, backdrop to the story. I’ve really been struggling to find meaning, to glorify God’s name, and the such while I’ve been here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a blast, but in all that I’m doing, I feel no sense of glorifying one’s name. Now in no way do I think a time of rest where you enjoy God’s blessing is wrong, but a. I don’t feel like that’s what’s in store for me here and b. If the fun I’m having is not glorifying His name, than I’m missing the point. Anyway, within the last few day’s I’ve been extremely challenged to alter who I’ve been here, to be a light among the group, a joy to be around because that light that’s shining through me is none other than Jesus.
So today’s been a good day but a tough day. Woke up, had a seminar I presented, went to sleep, had another class, then decided to run. I ran through the reserve as I always do and as I’m running, with Coldplay blaring in my ears, I look over. Now, this story might sound a little cheesy, but I am positive that had it not been for a voice in my mind telling me to look to the right, I would have missed three zebras no more than 10 yards from me grazing. So I walked in as close as they’d let me, which wasn’t much closer, and crouched there looking at God’s beauty. Take a look at a picture of a Zebra, especially from the neck up, and tell me how in any way something so beautiful, so magnificent could exist apart from divine intervention.
I continued running, again listening to Coldplay, and kept thinking about life...I generally overthink everything so that’s what I was doing. Coldplay’s “Strawberry Swing,” a magnificent song if there ever was one, and the bridge began playing, with Christ Martin’s glorious voice singing, “The sky could be blue, I don’t mind, without you it’s a waste of time,” and something hit me. Now I’m fully aware that without God, life’s a waste of time. Ask me question pertaining to that, and that’s my answer 101 out of 100 times. Yet, something about the song resonated within me. Nothing I do has any significance without the name of Jesus Christ next to it. So I continued running, praising His holy name to Coldplay’s killer songs. I believe that all music in some way is a form of worship, for it’s a creation of God using what he has gifted in a beautiful way. God’s good, and I know it. When I got back to my zebra friends, I again crouched and marveled at their greatness.
God’s good. I’m in South Africa, and contrary to what I expected, it takes just as much of an effort to sing praises with my life as it does in the city of Tualatin or Azusa, but as long as I take up my cross and follow, I’ll experience God’s overwhelming grace.
So today’s been a good day but a tough day. Woke up, had a seminar I presented, went to sleep, had another class, then decided to run. I ran through the reserve as I always do and as I’m running, with Coldplay blaring in my ears, I look over. Now, this story might sound a little cheesy, but I am positive that had it not been for a voice in my mind telling me to look to the right, I would have missed three zebras no more than 10 yards from me grazing. So I walked in as close as they’d let me, which wasn’t much closer, and crouched there looking at God’s beauty. Take a look at a picture of a Zebra, especially from the neck up, and tell me how in any way something so beautiful, so magnificent could exist apart from divine intervention.
I continued running, again listening to Coldplay, and kept thinking about life...I generally overthink everything so that’s what I was doing. Coldplay’s “Strawberry Swing,” a magnificent song if there ever was one, and the bridge began playing, with Christ Martin’s glorious voice singing, “The sky could be blue, I don’t mind, without you it’s a waste of time,” and something hit me. Now I’m fully aware that without God, life’s a waste of time. Ask me question pertaining to that, and that’s my answer 101 out of 100 times. Yet, something about the song resonated within me. Nothing I do has any significance without the name of Jesus Christ next to it. So I continued running, praising His holy name to Coldplay’s killer songs. I believe that all music in some way is a form of worship, for it’s a creation of God using what he has gifted in a beautiful way. God’s good, and I know it. When I got back to my zebra friends, I again crouched and marveled at their greatness. God’s good. I’m in South Africa, and contrary to what I expected, it takes just as much of an effort to sing praises with my life as it does in the city of Tualatin or Azusa, but as long as I take up my cross and follow, I’ll experience God’s overwhelming grace.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
February 5, 2009
Good morning to my friends and family out there. There’s not a whole lot new in the providence of South Africa right now. Yesterday we had another field trip with our Biology class. This one would have been quite boring in comparison to the previous day, but we have a hilarious class, so the 13 of us made it super fun. We also saw some giraffes and zebras (pronounced z(ay)bra here) again, and they blew my mind as usual. After we returned we had our weekly Zulu class, which was hysterical as usual. Zulu has become an enemy of mine, it’s the most frustrating thing I’ve ever tried to learn…but I laugh a lot in the class so it’s worth it. Other than that, I spent a lot of time trying to get some early studying done for our Bio test next week, but that never happened. 
good as usual. Got a seminar presentation in a half hour on the historicity of Jesus’ burial and resurrection…good stuff! Here’s a picture of my boys on the trip…just thought I’d add something in for the heck of it. Hope you all enjoy!
good as usual. Got a seminar presentation in a half hour on the historicity of Jesus’ burial and resurrection…good stuff! Here’s a picture of my boys on the trip…just thought I’d add something in for the heck of it. Hope you all enjoy!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The third of February, Two-thousand nine.
Well, it feels like it’s been a while since I’ve posted, my bad…unless you don’t like having to read a blog every single day. In that case, the break was for you. Anyway, when I last left I was heading to a pool party, and that I did, and it was fun, and it should have been, and I didn’t get burnt again Mom! Sunday night was the usual ‘Alex is done with his homework while all his friends are working hard.’ The good news is when school is in beautiful South Africa, there’s always someone who will put of homework to have fun. Thinking back on Sunday however, I can’t really think of anything too special that we did…except a crazy battle with the monkeys. This time a small crew of us (3 to be exact) went into the monkey territory to try to shake things up, and that we did. Nothing to big but the war definitely continues. Yesterday I had my favorite Life and Teachings of Jesus class, followed by History. While I generally enjoy the two because they’re taught by Reg, who’s the man if I haven’t mentioned that yet, it was a tough 4 hours. The heat was everywhere, and when you sit in a class for too long in the heat all you can think to do is fall asleep. In between classes my friend Chad and I were again chasing monkeys and it seemed that they got the best of us as we found ourselves running through some muddy, swampy, grass. So what do you do to wash off? You walk over and wash off in the water as you look over the edge of the 30 foot waterfall that lies right ahead of you (no big deal). Anyway, I was getting out and my sandal fell off so I yelled “Chad my sandal!” Chad lunged to get it, lost his balance, and fell I kid you not, within 2 inches of the edge of the fall. It was the closest thing to death I’ve ever seen…but since he lived it just ended up being really funny! Oh, and I learned my lesson Mom – take your sandals off before you go in the waterfall. That was it for Monday though.
Today was the day to talk about! We had our field trip to a land reserve…and it was AAAAMAZING! Where do I begin. First off, check out facebook pictures if you have facebook, I added 10-15 from the trip. So the place we went to was beautiful…we’re talking an 11 on a scale of 1-10. On the ride in we passed some zebra and giraffes. I hadn’t even exited the bus and I would’ve been fine leaving, and we had another 5 hours there. We did our school thing, had some quiet time, and had an hour and a half to kill, so 10 of us set out on foot through the grasslands of Africa. After about 45 minutes we found ourselves off path trekking through chest high grass with God knows what bugs crawling all over us. Yet, in the middle of “what the eff are we doing out here?” coming out of our mouths we looked up to see 3 zebras walking in the distance. So we followed, and came upon 4 giraffes.
was the most magnificent thing I’ve seen yet. Being on foot, next to some of the most beautiful creatures God’s ever created…gives me goose-bumps just thinking about it. It was glorious. All good things have to end though, the good news is that when you’re in South Africa you leave one good thing and good to another! God’s so good! I miss you all, wish you could be here with me!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
2-1-09
Here’s how you know you’re in South Africa. Yesterday, wake up completely sunny, in the 90’s all day, about 4 o’clock clouds come over and it rains pretty hard. Wake up to more rain. Go to church, still raining. Come out of church, blue skies and very hot. Welcome to South Africa.
Life continues to amaze me as I become more blessed by the day. The cool things that have happened in the last two days….let’s see. Friday we had chapel, worship went very well, thanks for the prayer. After that I didn’t have class for a while so I went on a run through the game reserve, and on the way back went exploring on a trail. Didn’t see anything but a monkey, but it was still amazing! Had class, at dinner…the usual. At night, we played a game of fugitive (basically it was fugitive/flashlight tag mixed), and it was amazing! As I was tracking through a bamboo forest, or some random bushes, I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I’m playing fugitive in Africa…no big deal.’ That was about it for Friday though, beautiful, sunny, fun, etc.
Saturday (yesterday), we went to a Birds of Prey show. We got to see eagles, and hawks, and vultures, and owls. It was all pretty insane…very cool to see, and the place was set up on a cliff looking over foresty hills – again, beautiful. I’m coming to ask myself, what isn’t amazingly gorgeous here? From the show we went on a little tour of Pietermaritzburg, the city we’re living, and then went to a coffee shop for a snack. I think that was about it. A lot of relaxing from 4 o’clock on…the lack of sleep is catching up to everyone. We’re also getting to the point where we all know each other well enough to move passed the more shallow conversation and really dig into the relational aspects of the trip – it’s a lot of fun!
This morning I went to church. There’s three churches we can get rides too, and I checked out one of them. It’s pretty small (probably 75ish people). They meet at the local college. Very basic, but a very cool community aspect, such as how they take time to simply ask anyone for prayer requests during the service. It was neat.
Now that the suns out, we’re all headed to someone’s house who wants to host us for lunch. They got a pool too so we’ll be soaking up some rays! I’ll try not to get my head burnt. Mom, you’ll be proud to know that I’m one of probably 5 people who didn’t get burned yesterday! I’m taking the streak to two days now! Cherio!
Life continues to amaze me as I become more blessed by the day. The cool things that have happened in the last two days….let’s see. Friday we had chapel, worship went very well, thanks for the prayer. After that I didn’t have class for a while so I went on a run through the game reserve, and on the way back went exploring on a trail. Didn’t see anything but a monkey, but it was still amazing! Had class, at dinner…the usual. At night, we played a game of fugitive (basically it was fugitive/flashlight tag mixed), and it was amazing! As I was tracking through a bamboo forest, or some random bushes, I just kept thinking to myself, ‘I’m playing fugitive in Africa…no big deal.’ That was about it for Friday though, beautiful, sunny, fun, etc.
Saturday (yesterday), we went to a Birds of Prey show. We got to see eagles, and hawks, and vultures, and owls. It was all pretty insane…very cool to see, and the place was set up on a cliff looking over foresty hills – again, beautiful. I’m coming to ask myself, what isn’t amazingly gorgeous here? From the show we went on a little tour of Pietermaritzburg, the city we’re living, and then went to a coffee shop for a snack. I think that was about it. A lot of relaxing from 4 o’clock on…the lack of sleep is catching up to everyone. We’re also getting to the point where we all know each other well enough to move passed the more shallow conversation and really dig into the relational aspects of the trip – it’s a lot of fun!
This morning I went to church. There’s three churches we can get rides too, and I checked out one of them. It’s pretty small (probably 75ish people). They meet at the local college. Very basic, but a very cool community aspect, such as how they take time to simply ask anyone for prayer requests during the service. It was neat.
Now that the suns out, we’re all headed to someone’s house who wants to host us for lunch. They got a pool too so we’ll be soaking up some rays! I’ll try not to get my head burnt. Mom, you’ll be proud to know that I’m one of probably 5 people who didn’t get burned yesterday! I’m taking the streak to two days now! Cherio!
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