We made it to Jeffreys Bay without too many interruptions.  As was somewhat expected, a few of my teammates lost their luggage, but it has already started arriving here for them starting the day after we flew in.  In addition to that is the one topic I really wanted to post about.  One of my leaders, Melissa, lost her passport and didn't know until we were going through customs in Johannesburg.  They wouldn't let her through and they now deported her back to Canada (where she is from).  Please, if you can give anything, send money to her account (visit her blog: http://melissaregier.myadventures.org).  Please support her because, as of right now, she does not have the money to get a plane ticket back to South Africa and, if she cannot come up with it, she will not be joining us here.  So, please, send as little or as much as you can so that she may join us again.  I currently have all of my money in, so I am no longer in need of support if anyone was thinking of sending me support, please send it to her instead. 

    As for Jeffreys Bay, this place is amazing!  I cannot believe that I am actually here, that I will be here for at least 3 months, and that this is my home.  Really, this is my home now.  It's crazy to think that I am only blocks from the Indian Ocean.  It's insane to think that these 54 people I didn't know a week ago have already become like family to me.  Jeffreys is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  We went to the ocean.  Oh wait, let me interrupt myself and say that stereotype #1 of Africa has been shot down.  That would be that Africa is warm.  Ummm...  I'm freezing!  We are all sitting around in the sanctuary area singing and talking and no one is wearing less than a sweater and some are wearing jackets.  At night, it gets really cold here in Jbay and the wind is cold as well.  Okay, so, back to the location.  It's really weird for me because, when I applied for the trip, I was expecting to be in the middle area of South Africa, in specific Swaziland.  Now I have ended up in Jeffreys Bay, right on the ocean, surrounded by stores (including Billabong).  It almost doesn't feel like I am actually in Africa.  Other than the accents of the locals, I feel as though I am still in America, like I've never left. We are living right in town, a block from stores and coffee shops, two blocks from the beach.  It is on a compound called UCSA, a Christian camp area.  The cabins we are staying in hold 12 people in two rooms, have one toilet, one shower, and two sinks.  We do not have dressers, just one closet area.  It's small, but the girls I am rooming with are amazing.  One of them is not here yet, she had to wait in Georgia to get her visa, but should be joining us sometime tomorrow along with one other teammate and two of our leaders.  One more leader will be joining us on Sunday, then we will just have to wait and pray that Melissa will be joining us again.

    I feel like this is all fairly scattered, but life kind of has been as well.  We traveled for over 32 hours the past couple days, so once we got here, we kind of crashed and are still attempting to settle into life here.  It should be better after this weekend.  As far as I know, we are going camping this weekend, then will be able to completely settle into our rooms.  Today we were able to spend most of the day in free time wandering around town and getting the essentials that we left in America that wouldn't fit in our suitcases such as shampoo, conditioner, bedding, etc.  Everything is easily accessible, which is nice, but at the same time, it's not what I was expecting at all because it is almost too easy.  I wanted to leave the comfortable lifestyle, but I suppose I will get used to this, and it is still very different from the US. 

    I will not be posting pictures of any ministry we are doing for at least a month.  This includes any people I will be working with.  It was by request of our leaders and really makes sense, so I just wanted to explain it to everyone quickly.  Basically, it is because we do not want the people to feel like we are coming in and they are, in a sense, caged animals for our entertainment.  I hope that makes sense.  So, we will not be taking pictures of ministry sites until we get to know people and have their permission instead of just snapping shots of them (imagine 54 people, not the same ethnicity as you, coming into your home and taking pictures of you).  I will, however, post of what I am doing in the sites.

    Well, this is very long and I'm not sure when I will have internet (I'm just going to copy and paste from my word processor) so I hope it is not extremely overdue by the time I get it up!

    In Him,