LTS Week 3

LTS Week Three! I can not believe time has been going by so fast!! But it has been absolutely amazing!

Monday: LTS started back up. We watched two video teachings from Robert Morris which was really cool for me! After class, we had a YOYL meeting regarding flocks. Everyone got to find out who their flock leader is and who is in their flock! After the meeting, Wesley took Lesinda and I to take Humphrey to an animal shelter. So, he is alive but in a better place that can care for him (since we aren't allowed to have pets). When we got back, we had time to chill before supper and I got to call Big Joe! Then after dinner, there was a Young Adult Heartbeat (ladies ministry) social. It was a Mexican Fiesta! A group of girls from YOYL went and we made it a fun time. We left a little early and sat on the hill and chatted about life. It was so nice to spend time with my sisters!

Tuesday: LTS was fantastic again. We started talked about how God sees relationships, not just marriage, but friendships too. After class I took care of some stuff with the IT department, and then printed off a baby picture of myself for our house's fridge. I don't really know why we are doing this but I think it's so it more familial. After lunch, Victoria, Celine, Yolandi, and Lesinda and I had an art party outside! A few more people joined us. It was so nice!! Everyone is so uniquely creative! We had a delicious supper and then I had a conversation about politics and then a few of us girls discussed relationships and what we are going over in LTS. This group of YOYLers are so awesome to connect with!

Wednesday: LTS continued with the theme of relationships. Afterwards, we could go to Waterglen if we needed to and I went with a group. Later I read on the hill, until some people started to play Ultimate Frisbee so I joined them. That was really fun, especially because it started raining on us! The evening was a normal Wednesday.

Thursday: Last day of LTS for the week! It was great, and we had flock time afterwards. Nothing too exciting happened, but we did have fitness in the afternoon. We took a lekker (Afrikaans for good, or nice) walk! It was tons of fun!! Lesinda and I took videos on each others phone so we could have them forever. Then we had a delicious dinner and then I had my counseling session. It is mandatory for everyone to have counseling during LTS. It went very well!

Friday: Plotties day! I am on the wash-up team this week and we had tons of fun! After plotties, we did not have a community project so I got cleaned up to go to Menlyn. At Menlyn, Yolandi, Lesinda and I had a lot of fun going to tons of different shops and I finally bought a fan for our room! On the way back, we rode in the back of the truck which was quite an experience. Then I helped Emmanuel house make tortillas for their supper. After dinner, we gave Sally a surprise wedding shower! She did YOYL a few years ago and then she did MTS. It was so fun!

Saturday: A lot of us girls got up to help Sally set stuff up for her wedding. After we finished that, we got ready for the wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony. Later it began to rain, so the YOYL went back up to help move the reception inside the Function Hall. It was actually really fun! Then we had a fun evening of fellowship, people were braiing and playing games in the community and it was a great end to the day.

Sunday: Church in the morning, then I napped most of the afternoon, until church in the evening. A nice and restful Sunday to get ready for the last week of LTS!

I am also super excited that I can finally talk about the Mid-Years outreach! We will be going to Cape Town with Cuan and Raquel to do our outreach. I'm still not sure about all the details, but it will be a time to be a tourist and also share our testimonies to those we visit. Please keep my team in your prayers. This is a very unique trip and I am so thankful for the opportunity!!

--sea'sadventures--

LTS Week 2

Sorry y'all! I haven't gotten back in to the habit of blogging weekly!! Soon I'll return to that routine. So I guess I need to finish last week!

Thursday: LTS was great! Then we had flock time after class. In the afternoon I had time to blog for the first time since I've been here. Then we had fitness and it began to rain a little so it was cut short. Then we had supper, and after that Victoria, Lesinda, and I started to play volleyball outside. More people joined us. It really started to rain but that made it even more fun!

Friday: Lesinda and I got to go shopping for our Kitchen plotties duty! We had SO much fun. We got back in time to unload and then freshen up to go back to Menlyn with everyone else. We had two hours to do what we needed to do. When we got back, we chilled and talked about our experiences so far here at Hatfield. Sonika and I made supper. Then it was a normal, relaxed evening.

Saturday: I had YA server training, so I got up and went to the meeting. It was lots of fun and I got to meet more people! We got to brainstorm some ideas to implement into Connect. Later, Enrico's mom had made a cake for our house, so we got to eat that. It. Was. Amazing. Then Lesinda and I went up to the church grounds to sit and chill and draw and sketch. Then it was stormy and there was a full double rainbow! Then we had supper and our social. We had burgers and we watched "The Intern".

Sunday: Service was amazing! During worship someone started a conga line and everyone was ecstatic. It was a beautiful time in worship and then the message was also amazing. Nothing too exciting happened in the afternoon. I went up early to serve for the YA service. It was really fun! And at Connect I saw Jainina! She's one of the volunteers from Abba house. It was so nice to run into her, and neither of us expected to see the other. I got to re-introduce her to people.

Monday: LTS was great, as always. There was an opportunity for people to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and it was amazing to witness that! After class I finished my book, and then began cooking supper. Then it stormed again, so I sat outside and enjoyed that.

Tuesday: LTS was about the root and fruit of pride, which is an amazing session. Then Marco, Enrico, Lesinda, and Marcus and I went and played tennis. It was so fun! Then it was another fun evening of getting to know people in the house and just spend time with some people.

Wednesday: In the morning before class, we took pics for our student card. Then LTS was great again! Then Lesinda and I cooked supper. We started early so I could make tortillas. Everyone really enjoyed it! Then we had house time. We played games and then we wrote letters to God to open at the end of the year. It was a really great time.

Thursday: LTS was all about deliverance so it was a very intense session. Afterward, we had time to have personal prayer with a leader. Then we had flock time. After that I had time to do my homework, however we had to be out of the house so they could spray for bugs. So I did my homework in the chapel. When I finished I relaxed in Emmanuel house until it was ok to go back into Potters. We had fitness and then supper. Later, a group of us went to play tennis! I am so thankful these guys enjoy tennis!! It was so fun! In the evening, I practiced my Afrikaans with Lesinda. I know how to ask someone to make me coffee, so I asked someone and they did!! My friends tell me I sound French when I speak Afrikaans.

Meghan!

Friday: Our "normal" schedule for Fridays was a little different because the YOYLers had the opportunity to be baptized. Those who had decided to make that commitment for the first time (or again) got to have a funeral! We celebrated new life with them and then continued the regular plotties. For the rest of the day, everyone chilled and got ready for the Passion concert!! Emile's dad drove Lesinda, Emile, and I. It was raining and even started hailing on the way there, but that did not damped our spirit! I had gotten a ticket to sit in the student pitch, so I sat with some of the YOYL leaders in the third row. Yes! The third row. It's the closest I've ever sat at a concert! The time of worship was absolutely amazing! It was also the first time I'd ever seen Chris Tomlin live, then Tedashii (a Christian rapper) came out and performed. Then Louie Giglio preached, which was also amazing. Especially since his message was pretty much the first two weeks of LTS all summed up. Then we got on our knees and prayed for the nation of South Africa. That was an incredibly beautiful moment, and I was so thankful to be a part of it. Another exciting thing was, I got to see Meghan!! She came to Pretoria from Namibia for the Passion concert! It was such a blessing to see her again!

Saturday: We did not get to sleep in that much because the leaders gave us a surprise breakfast picnic! It was so nice! Then we had most of the day to chill. At three the ladies went up to the church to do our nails, and hair, and make-up. Just to pamper ourselves on Valentine's weekend. Little did we know, the guys were busy preparing a dinner for us! When we returned, there were tables set up outside and the guys were all dressed up. So we had time to change clothes and then be served a delicious dinner. There was even live music from our very talented YOYL guys. Throughout the night we took TONS of pics...if you don't believe me I'll show you all 400 on my phone. (Don't worry, I've deleted some by now). It was lovely and at the end of the day I got to call my parents.

All the Ladies :) 

Sunday: Ah! Valentine's Day! It was a normal Sunday...EXCEPT after church Lesinda, Josh, and I adopted a baby bird! His name is Humphrey. A little kid found him on the church property and we took him in. We managed to keep him alive all day and through the night and Monday (with lots of help from Nanny Sonika, Uncle Jacques, and God-Mother Camille. Shout-out to y'all for helping!) Then there was evening service as usual. We had a really good time at Connect too!!





















So it was a fantastic week!

--sea'sadventures--

Back at It

After a nice, long, two-month holiday at home, I am back in South Africa! It was extremely lovely to spend time with family and friends. Catching up with all y'all was such a treat! Now I could write about all the wonderful things I got to experience over the holiday: seeing family, snow, being with friends, adventuring, helping my best friend get ready for her wedding, spending time with the youth group, and traveling to see Jonathan in his *top secret location*. All those things were incredible but I'll get right to the point.

YOYL 2016

What an amazing group of young people, eager to be enveloped in God's presence and uplifting each other!! It's only been a week and a half, but we have all bonded as a family. I am just amazed at how this represents God's adoptive spirit for us, and that when we search for him, we will be surrounded by people walking that same journey. Therefore we can lean on each other, and together, grow closer to God.

Tuesday (January 26, 2016): I arrived in Pretoria, South Africa! I got picked up at the airport and we went straight home. Luckily I arrived early in the morning, so by the time I got to my house and sort of settled in my room, I had time to meet people and get ready for class. The first week is orientation/getting to know you. So during class, we just spent time getting to know each other. After class, a group of us attempted to slide down the hill on cardboard boxes. It was definitely a fail, but we had fun trying. We had supper that evening and played some games and there are a ton of musical people here, so there was music coming from almost every direction.

Wednesday: We picked up with "Coldest Moments". An intense session of sharing your darkest moment of your life. (Everyone's story is kept in the utmost confidence). That evening we played the card game, Mafia, for the first time with this group. It was tons of fun once everyone got the rules down!

Thursday: Another long day of Coldest Moments, but also a great day. In the afternoon, I hung out at Emmanuel house listening to all the people play guitar and sing.

Friday: We finished up Coldest Moments and afterwards there was an opportunity to go to Waterglen. I didn't need anything so I stayed at home. I went out, because it was a beautiful day, and laid on the grass to read Dr. Bruce Thompson's book "Walls of my Heart". It is an incredible book! Later there was more jam sessions and chilled vibes.

Saturday: I finally got to sleep in! I didn't think I had jet lag, but I think I was tired from jumping right in to the flow here. For the majority of the day, I hung out with different people, getting to know everyone. Then we had a social. Both houses had supper together, then we went up to the church's Foyer Hall to play Minute to Win It games. My team was the Ocean Basket. We had TONS of fun and totally rocked every game! We even set the record for one game! Then we had duties.

Sunday: Everyone went to church and the message was on Forgiveness, a theme we've been on and will continue to focus on during LTS. After lunch, a group of girls and I went up to sit on the church grounds. We laid out on the grass and read and chatted. Then we had the Young Adults service which was amazing, as always. I signed up to volunteer and serve with the YA services too.

Team Ocean Basket

Monday: Our first day of LTS began! Even though I did it at the beginning of my year (August 2015) I am super excited to go through the course again. I strongly believe a person could go through LTS every year and receive a new revelation from God over their life. Anyway, there are 8 nations represented in this LTS group. Once LTS was over, I went with Nonto to Waterglen, for washing powder and snacks. In the afternoon, I played 4-square with a group of people outside Emmanuel House. For supper, most of us girls sat outside on the grass to eat. After dinner, we resumed playing games outside. Everyone was either playing,  4-square, Ninja, rugby, or just sitting outside and chatting. {Like I said, we are all just one big family :) } It was a really fun day, and a great way to start the week!

Tuesday: LTS was great, I remembered a lot of the stuff from the first time I did it, so it was nice to not be furiously writing notes, but to just soak in the message. Later, we had fitness and then supper and more bonding time. During duties we had tons of fun. Being on garden team isn't bad at all!

Wednesday: LTS was again, amazing. And during the tea-break, we had a quick little meeting with the mid-years regarding our outreach this term. Only two out of the original four mid-years returned (yes, just me and Nonto) so our group is incredibly small. So we were just informed that the typical three-week international outreach has been altered for us. Instead, we will be doing something super amazing! I had lunch from Cafe Andante and then I went to Waterglen with a group of girls. When we got back to the house we sat outside because it had cooled off a lot. *It is the end of summer here now, so it gets pretty hot during the day. Also there is not A/C in the houses so it's a bit stuffy, making hanging out outside much more desirable* I took a short little nap in the afternoon. After supper, a few of us went to the seeking session up at the church. It was an incredible time of worship and opening up our hearts to God's plan. Then we went back for duties, and like I mentioned earlier, Garden duty was lots of fun.

That brings us to today! This is my first blog since being back so sorry that it's not really organized by week yet, but I'll get there. I just wanted to update all y'all back in Texas that I made it over here, and everything is going absolutely wonderfully! Thank you for your continual prayer and support!!



--sea'sadventures--