Africa.....a brief recap

I have attempted to start this blog several times but struggle so much with the where do I even begin. How do I start to process the last couple of weeks let alone share the experience in a way others can understand? How do I even express the feelings and the experiences that I had? I do not know. But what I can do is give you a brief recap of the trip......

• Traveling to Joburg was intense. It was a straight 16 hour flight from Atlanta. I've done a number of long flights but that has been the longest! I like traveling though and airports. And it's a lot more fun to travel with a group of people than on my own as I have in the past. Despite all that thought I was way ready for the plane to finally land in South Africa.
• We stayed four days in Joburg before going to our Care Point in Swaziland. We spent the days with our sister church, Mosaiek, visiting various ministries of theirs. We went to a home for people with disabilities that was amazing and we spent some time in a home for abandoned babies that touched all of our hearts. We also visited a community center, Emthonjeni, that was in the slums. This is the same community center that our First Lady had visited several weeks prior. It was heartbreaking to see this slum in the middle of a city that had such wealth as well but it was awesome to hear about how the community center was reaching out and loving people. We also did a little bit of sight seeing that included petting baby lion cubs and than seeing larger lions way closer than I'm comfotable with. ha.
• We attend church as Mosaiek and it was awesome. Reminded me of Woodmen except in a different language. After church our journey to Swazi began and involved a six hour drive which was about 5 and half hours too long.
• In Swazi we stayed at the Adventures in Mission team house which was kinda cool as AIM was the organization that I went on my first missions trip with.
• Swaziland was awesome and fell in love with our carepoint and the people at it. More on this at another time...many kids to tell about and stories to share.
• I loved the Swazi church service and seeing just how global the God we serve is.
• It was a good experience to rough it during the trip. It was dirty, cold water and we cooked a lot of our own food. It bonded our team and I wouldn't have had it any other way!
• The team was awesome and all got along great. I LOVED watching God move in the hearts of those around me.
• On our last full day in Africa we went on a game drive in Kruger National Park. It was absolutly freezing to start off but an incredible experience of seeing the African wildlife on it's own turf.
• The trip home was ABSOLUTLY BRUTAL! I came down with a cold the morning of and had my first experience of throwing up on an airplane. But after 36+ hours of total travel time I made it to my comfotable little condo that I would never look at the same again.

I've been home for five days now and in some ways it's like I never left but then in many other ways I feel like I'm not the same person. And I don't want to be the same person. I want to be changed and different. I want the experiences I had to shape me for the rest of my life.

So watch this space as I start processing and reflecting. I'm sure I'll be writing A LOT in the weeks to come.