After our 63 hour travel day, we made it to Durban, South Africa! I am so thankful to be here and just so ready to see how God is working here.
Our travel day began with a bus ride to the Guatemala airport from the hostel at 6:30am. We then took a short 3 hour flight to Miami, had a 5 hour layover and then took a 13.5 hour flight to Qatar. That flight was long to say the least, but we made it. After 12 hours in the airport attempting to sleep and wandering around a lot, we boarded our final flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, which was 8 hours. We finally made it to South Africa, where we then unfortunately had to say goodbye to over half our squad. We are now a group of 15 and although it is sad to say goodbye to the people who have become like family for the last 4 months, I am so excited to see how God uses each of the teams and hear all the amazing testimonies that I know are to come. Plus the reunion in Eswatini will be so sweet! My group then spent another 4 hours in the airport before taking a taxi to the bus station. And finally, we took a 8 hour bus to Durban, South Africa!!! It was 3 long days, where I barely saw the sun or stepped outside, but we made it and I’m so grateful to not have to take another plane for 3 months!!
We arrived to our new home, which to all our surprise was right on the beach! We aren’t allowed to swim on this beach, but it is beautiful all the same! And!! We are allowed to swim in the base owners pool, looking right over to the ocean! We spent that Friday getting settled, walking the beach, going to the store, planning our week and fighting jet leg. We will be here in Transhaven, Durban for 6 days, leaving the 26th for our next place.
On Sunday we went to church with our ministry host, it was amazing, I love the culture and we were so welcomed! We met some amazing people and after they took us to a mall, which was a very cool surprise! The mall was huge, we sat down and ate lunch and then walked around to buy white elephant gifts! It’s crazy Christmas is 2 days away, definitely feels different but I’m so happy to be here!
Today we have a rest day, ministry is pretty chill in Transhaven to give us time to settle in. Also usually the team that’s here would work in the school but currently the schools are on Christmas break. This extra time to rest is a huge blessing because in the next place we will be, Live Village, we are going to be staying at an orphanage and running a VBS for 6 days. So this week we are planning that, which is so fun! Ella, Maggie Clare and I are in charge of sports and games, so we are having fun planning different activities for the kids! Besides planning for next week, we fill our time with walking on the beach, hanging out with our ministry hosts & planning for Christmas!! I am so thankful to be here! God has already done so much and I am so excited for everything that is to come!
Thank you!
