South Africa

Happy Thanksgiving from Lamego dear friends!

No comments needed on my artistic (or lack of) ability!

This month has gone by the fastest it seems and I can't believe that it is almost December.

Well, have you been oh so curious as to what I've been up to lately? I just knew it and so I'll make you wait no longer. 
For most of this month I was in South Africa. My team leaders go to South Africa every 4..ish months and this time I was able to go with them. 

The first half of our time in S.A. was spent in White River, where we stayed at Mercy Air. (see the link) Please take a moment to read about the work that they do there. This place is absolutely incredible. The weather was cooler, which was a nice change from the Lamego heat, and the place itself is beautiful (sort of like a scene from a fairy tale).




              

 

Where we stayed

meet my friend Jet

Our time in White River was filled with various appointments, stocking up on items that we can't find here in Mozambique, and other various adventures.

                                                            South Africa's version of Sams Club

                                                                     Outside the Post Office.

The mall is all ready for Christmas.

I became addicted, and very quickly I might add, to Chai Lattes in South Africa. 

*Side note- If you missed out on my post about my early birthday gift then tisk tisk on you but no worries, you can read about it here. 

The second half of our time in South Africa, was at a leadership retreat/training at eMseni Conference Centre in Johannesburg, that my team leaders attended. This retreat consisted of individuals & couples, originally from all around the world, who are leading teams in various southern African countries. During this time I worked with two of my team leader's sons and continued homeschooling. Even though I didn't sit in on sessions, I still had the opportunity to talk with each person there (seriously all the accents, y'all). What a huge, huge blessing it was for me to hear their stories and how the Lord is using them to bring the Gospel to Africa.

Represented here: South Africa, Mozambique, Australia, and Texas

 Enjoyed many things about S.Africa. The post office being on strike was not one of them!!!

By the end of our time away I could feel myself really wanting to be back in Lamego, which is good because I don't think anything else could have gone in the car with us.

5 folks, along with luggage and supplies, all loaded up to head back to Lamego.

                                                   
Phew, sorry about the longer post this time but there was just so much that went on this past month. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving I will end with this; I am thankful for the rest that all of us got, for the many adventures & laughs, and for the new friends made. Thank you South Africa for being so good to us!!

(Cue awards show music indicating for me to get off the stage.)

Wait, wait....real quick I would also like to give a, thankful shout out to Honey Pot in Xia Xia, Mozambique. They welcome in missionaries to stay for a free night as they pass through during their travels.

Love from Lamego!!

~Ashley 

Kruger National Park

hello friends!!!

For those of you that may have not known, I am in South Africa for the next couple of weeks. Long story short, my team leaders needed to come here and they let me tag along. I am still continuing to homeschool one of their sons, while getting to go to various appointments with my leaders. I will blog soon about my time here but for now let's talk about Kruger National Park. 

Let me first start off by saying I love birthdays. I love birthdays a lot. I won't ask for Christmas gifts, but when my birthday comes along feel free to spoil me all you want. And the same goes for those around me. People should be celebrated and therefor birthdays should be ridiculous and fun. Also note that my birthday isn't until April!

With that information in mind here is how Kruger came about. I had shared my love for birthdays with my team leader Karis. After discussion, and knowing that I would come with them to South Africa, we decided that Kruger National Park would be my early 30th "29-round 2" birthday gift. Karis explained to me that this was their favorite park to go to and that they have really come to appreciate Kruger. I was completely on board for this adventure. 

With lunches packed and cameras ready, we started our trek in the park at roughly 6:30am. Kruger is huge folks. It is 7,523 square miles huge. Needless to say, only a portion could be covered, but in 13 hours we got a lot in.

The weather was perfect and traveling with the Koehn Family was a wonderful blessing for me. They truly enjoy each trip through Kruger and got just as excited with me on different finds. On each of their visits they mark down what they have seen and bring along books to help identify certain birds and other animals. The teacher side of me enjoyed this educational aspect. 

I do have to admit that I had some selfish wants while in Kruger; one of them was being able to snuggle with a baby elephant and the other, to hang out with Simba for a bit. Hey, a dream is a dream, so don't ruin it. Even though these two things did not exactly happen, we still had a full day of awesome moments and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift. 

Enjoy!! 

Lioness multi-tasking; taking on both a crocodile and buzzards to keep her food safe!

~love from Lamego South Africa,

Ashley