Hello J Bay!

We made it to Jeffrey’s Bay this week and are quickly settling in at our new location. My initial impression of J Bay is that this place is AWESOME. Adventures in Missions partners with Global Leadership Academy (GLA), and we are staying in their Mission House, which is on the same property as their preschool, primary school, and high school. The Mission House is a three-story house. The girls are all on the third floor, and the guys will be on the bottom floor. There are 13 of us girls, and we’ve got one bathroom to share. So far, it has been okay, but we are only a week in, so please pray for us. Lol. There is a decent amount of land here, so it is nice to be able to get our own space here and there. They have a big soccer/rugby field with a track surrounding it. By track, I mean blue spray painted lines in the grass. It is super nice to have the space to go on walks right here on the property though! I’m getting lots of steps in on this track. The best part about our location is that we are within 8 minutes walking distance of a McDonald’s. Coming off of a month of having wifi for only a couple hours a week, we’ve spent a good bit off time next to the golden arches. I never thought I would be excited to go to a McDonald’s, but here we are. It has been super refreshing to be able to connect with my family and friends back home.

My team will start serving in Beats and Books this week. We had orientation on Thursday, and I am super excited to get started. Beats and Books is an after school program that helps students grow academically, musically, and spiritually. It is in a house around 8-10 minutes (driving) from our Mission House. They have students both from GLA and from the public schools of Jeffrey’s Bay. The ages of students range from 6 to 18. I am not sure yet what ages I will be working with specifically, but I am looking forward to getting to know the students. The leaders of the ministry are super sweet, genuine, and wise, and it is going to be such a blessing serving alongside them in the next 6 weeks.

This week we went surfing as a squad for our Adventure Day! We rented boards and wet suits from a local shop, received a 7-ish minute crash course, and just went for it. By saying I surfed, I 100% mean I tried to surf. “Tried” is the big key word. Those waves did not care whether I was ready or not. Nonetheless, we had a great time together as a squad, and how could you go wrong with being in the ocean? It is absolutely beautiful.

The past couple Sundays we have attended the church that meets right here at the GLA campus. They have such a special community, and it has been cool to meet the people we will be connecting with for the next several weeks. I know this is not the most important thing, but definitely something to note: The coffee they serve is absolutely fantastic. I was surprised the first time we went though because they serve their coffee after service. Great way to ensure fellowship happens. 🙂

In the last few days, I have really been taking the time to enjoy the little things, seeing the goodness of God in the small gifts He offers each day. There have been a couple days this week where I have had a rough start to my day, and God has just been giving me multiple things throughout my days to show me how gracious and generous He is. From my journal the other day, I wrote down the many things of the day that I was thankful for, ways that God showed up to brighten my day:

• Slow morning
• 2-mile walk around the grass track with God
• Beats and Books orientation
• Amazing cup of coffee
• Banana bread
• Met Jonathan, Carla, Jade, and Nolu (our Beats and Books leaders)
• Received my laundry back like a present- wrapped and folded to perfection [We are no longer hand washing our laundry, as we did in Eswatini. We send it to a laundromat, and they wash, dry, and fold our clothes. They also wrap them, so it’s like opening a gift when we get them back. This was almost as exciting as seeing the male lions in Kruger.]
• Got to help write/edit the team mission blog which summarizes our month in Eswatini
• Beautiful, sunny day
• Lowkey afternoon
• Worship night at GLA
• Amazing meal for dinner
• Beautiful sunset

A small shift in perspective paired with gratitude is gold.

Thank you so much for following along! If you have any questions or anything specific that you would like me to hit on, I would love to hear from you. I hope you have an awesome week. I love and miss you!