HELLO SOUTH AFRICA!

Hey everyone! After three long days of traveling by plane and bus, our team has safely arrived in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa. It is a beautiful town with beautiful people! All twenty-one of us live in the YWAM base's guest house. It's a really cute place and we're very close to the downtown area where there are plenty of nice shops, restaurants and internet cafes. There are beautiful flowers and trees everywhere. The weather is warm and the sun is powerful - I've already got a decent burn on my shoulders(sorry Mom... I didn't wear sunscreen... but I learned my lesson!). Today we were led on a tour of the town by our friend Mattias who is a YWAM staff here in "J-Bay". We walked through a "community" where the poorer people of the town live in small houses or shacks. Everyone was very friendly and waved, saying, "Happy New Year!" The YWAM base is located in this community and we will be working with the kids as part of our outreach activities. I'm so excited to begin ministering, which will probably happen tomorrow. We practiced our dances today, which was a lot of fun, and we'll be performing those and the dramas in front of the beach - about a three minute walk from our door! Thank you Jesus!! We walked to the beach yesterday during the New Years celebrations and the beach was absolutely PACKED... it was a little overwhelming. This is the first time that I've felt like a visible minority. It is clear that I am a foreigner. Everyone here is chocolate! I met a YWAM staffer yesterday named Yoki, who when introducing himself said, "My name is Yoki, but you can call me Chocolate, because... I am chocolate." It was cute.

I've been taking lots of pictures so far and I will try my best to get them up on facebook and/or flickr but it might not happen for a little while. Until then I will try my best to describe my surroundings as accurately as possible!

So I better get going.. I'm on dinner prep tonight!

Love you all!!
Lindsay <><