Day One and Done

We’re here! It’s currently 8:07 pm on Wednesday July 1, 2009. We left on Monday June 29th… It just felt like one long day that was actually three. Nuts. But we got to London fine, and did the fastest walking tour of London that has ever been completed. Sites we hit in four hours included: Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye, Tower of London, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, a quaint little eatery by the bridge where a grilled chicken melt graced my tummy, and then we proceeded back to Heathrow Airport and flew to Johannesburg (Jo’burg affectionately), South Africa. I made friends with the captain of our plain in the elevator down to the gate, and he found out we were a Christian group, and asked me to sing him a gospel song. Naturally, I said I was a famous singer and didn’t do that kind of stuff for free. So he asked my name and where I was sitting on the plane, and said that he was going to call me out over the speaker to grace the plane with a song.. I kind of thought he was kidding, but he really wasn’t. He said after announcing the weather in Jo’burg and all that jazz that he had a special announcement: indeed, a famous Gospel singer was sitting in seat 34G and was going to grace the plane with a tune before take off. An old man and our group were the only people who really thought it was funny. But still. Who else can say the captain of a 747 lied about their musical skills to a plane full of people?

Anywho, a pleasant 11 hours in the air later, we were in Durban! Nice, chilly, pleasant, African, Durban. We were greeted by all of our luggage, and a very cheery Cala and Sara Beth Flippo (The Flippo’s are the M family who are stationed here in South Africa). We hopped on busses and drove to the Port Shepstone area about an hour away from Durban. We dropped our bags off at Skogheim (SKOGE-hime) Christian Conference Center where we’re staying, and ate a lovely lunch at the Waffle House (not what you’re thinking). After that we came back and showered for the first time since Monday, (or Sunday for some of us, but definitely not me), then had a little orientation time with Cala where she briefed us on some Zulu culture and greetings, and really gave us a taste of what their vision is for our time here, and as a whole. It is a beautiful vision, and we all feel more then blessed and less than worthy to be a part of what Father is doing in and through them for the unreached here in the Kwazulu-Natal region of South Africa.

On the plane from London to Jo’burg, I was reading in Isaiah. I wasn’t really feeling nervous, so much as anxious about how God would make a statement or reveal himself to me and the team even in the first day on the ground when we wouldn’t really be doing ministry, so much as getting acquainted with some things. But he showed up to me before we even landed:
• Isaiah 40:8- The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
• Isaiah 46:8-11
o “Remember this, and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things, those long past, for I am God, and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established. And I will accomplish all my good pleasure…’”
He is so sovereign. He is so big. I am so powerless. I am so small. But I’m serving that God. He’s letting me be a part of his ancient work, he planned long ago, and that is more than enough to quell my anxiety. Praise God.

The team will go to Rehoboth, the orphanage tomorrow, but Taylor, Jodi, and I who are staying longer will be going to a meeting for the camp we’re doing after they leave, so we’ll miss the first morning out.

I’m going to post this as soon as I have internet, but you’ll be reading it after the fact, and I’m storing my computer at the Flippo’s house for safe(r) keeping (Momma) until apartment time.

I miss home, and it’s lovely, scruffy faces, but am overjoyed at the blessing of this time. Thanks for sending me and supporting me with continued prayers and thought. We feel them all.

Love you all!

Katy