Arrived in South Africa!

a peacock wandering around the amusement park

a bunch of kids on the way to dinner

scariest ride of my life

me and kels with all our luggage!

allison and mel waiting in the airport

before getting on the flight to Johannesburg!

on the first flight! bri and britt!

So...after a LONG time of traveling...we finally arrived in Johannesburg at 800 am South Africa time this morning. (SA is 9 hours ahead of cali and 7 hours ahead of Oklahoma). SUCH a long flight. We got here and got through immigration really fast. We didn't even have to go through customs...strange lol. It has been a LONG day. We went to lunch after getting everything from the airport at a mall. It was somewhat like our malls, but NONE of the stores are the same! Then we went to an amusement park for about three hours. We were told that being in the sun helps with jet lag. I'll let you know if that's true :-).

Tonight we are in a hotel. We just finished dinner. I think we are all still adjusting to the time change. The hotel is super cute! My roomate is precious...love her to death. I already love all the people we are with. They are such a great group of men and women of God. Very encouraging to each other. 

I'm having a little trouble adjusting, but I'm told it's normal. First trip out of the country...seems SO far away from everything I'm used to! It is so good to have this group to depend on though. The leaders continue to amaze me. Leslie, Regan, and Quinton. They are so sweet and so inspiring. 

Tomorrow we are going to the apartheide (sp?) museum. First day of class type things. (which entails taking notes and such haha)

I can already see the separation here in south Africa, and we are in a very developed city. We see hints of separation between the poor and the rich. Again, I'm told that it gets more extreme later on. 

Sunday we are goint to Pietermaritzburg where we will stay for the first part of the semester. We are all excited to get there and stop living out of suitcases. :-) Keeping in mind that we are having a once in a life time experience is not hard to do. This country is already beautiful. Well...time to let my roomate get on :-)

Please keep praying for our health (we have had a few sick already), and that we would be open and willing to be used by God exactly how He plans for us this semester.

Sal told me something today that really helped me...

Don't think of everything that we will do this semester. Think of it as one day at a time. God doesn't give us strength for a lifetime. He gives us enough strength to get through the day. 

So that's how I'll approach it. Each day...I'll ask God to give me enough strength to do His will for the day. One day at a time.

Love you all and miss you like crazy! Goodnight!