my new home

Table Mountain - 1/2 mile from my house!

Camp's Bay - the most beautiful beach ever

Windy day in Blouberg... Windsurfers

Hawk's Bay - just gazing

welcome to cape town, south africa! my home away from home... if you are reading this, then be prepared to journey with me for a year, as i live in work in this beautiful city. so far it has been quite an adventure!

when shawna and i first arrived, our wonderful friend kyle weichardt (who is the son of the national director of yfc here in south africa) picked us up from the airport. we were starving, so we made a quick trip to mcdonald's. definitely felt like we were home there for a second until we pulled into the drive-thru on the opposite side! all roads are backwards from what we know in the states and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. crazy! then we had to wait while 4 boys WALKED through the drive-thru... that's not even allowed in the states. lol. welcome to africa!!

the next morning shawna and i found out that we would be separated into different houses... not what we expected, and for that fact, it was very difficult to separate. but we were definitely willing to see what God had in store for each of us in our own households. shawna ventured over to pinelands which is more inland, and i ventured over to blouberg which is a house on the coast. eventually, we realized that the living situations were perfect for who we are... God totally made that happen. He's just awesome like that.

i moved into blouberg and reconnected with some of the international interns i met at youth week, but also met some new ones. so many countries are represented in my house! germany, holland, england, northern ireland, america! it's exciting to see so many cultures converge. it's just like south africa in a way... :)

the house is wonderful... beautiful! right on the beach... totally perfect for me, and i seriously have to pinch myself sometimes when i watch the sunset over the water every night. it's like a glimpse of heaven everyday! it's great to just escape out to the water front sometimes... i can honestly feel God's presence there with me. the girls that i live with make it that much more enjoyable. even though there's a lot of us, they are all spectacular and can teach me so many things! my roommate mirjam is just perfect... we go to bed at the same time and usually wake up at the same time. and that's not the only reason why she's amazing: she just loves beyond herself. you can hear, see and feel her love. it's been awesome to just grow closer with her in only a few weeks. and she lets me have a lot of closet space :)

things in the house are pretty regular every week... one day a week, we have a night where we cook dinner with one of the housemates. then all of use enjoy dinner together like a little family. we also have tuesdays as a cleaning day plus devotion in the morning. i am really excited to see the ministry that could just come out of all of us living and growing together in the same house!

so i've really just been relaxing, getting to know the girls in the house, and figuring out how things are done around here. i also got my hand at driving! took my driver's test and passed! holla... i can now officially drive backwards to what i know. you should be proud. i'll try to be careful... can't promise anything about the south african drivers! yikes. more updates to come soon. stick close to facebook... pictures and updates are posted as much as i can weekly!

prayer requests - pray for our house: for good attitudes and less frustration! pray for safety on the roads :)

love to ya,

k10