He Has Equipped You For The Task

I am incredibly happy to report that things with my health have begun to improve! After multiple visits and conversations with doctors both here and back at home, I think we have found a course of treatment that will, slowly but surely, start to get things under control. 

There are times that I have been quite frustrated and discouraged during these last couple of weeks. For the most part, I have been house-bound and have only left for doctors appointments, a couple of trips to the grocery store and a few sunset walks on the beach. It has been a bit lonely, but it is such a blessing that I have been able to do my work from home and take this time to recover. I'm itching to get back to church and to the office! I have had some visitors, but I can't wait to be back and see everyone again. My plan is to go in on Thursday and see how things go from there.

Although it's hard to understand exactly why this is happening, especially now when I'm away from home, I know that God is bigger than all of it. I've never felt God give me more clear direction than when He sent me here. Maybe my visa came back for longer than expected because He knew this would be part of the journey. I know He brought me here at this specific time for a reason, and that He has a plan through it all. I'm trying to keep my mind fixed on that as I continue to move forward.

About a month ago, luckily before I had to start staying out of the sun, I was part of a photo shoot for an organization called Brave. It was founded by an incredible woman that also is here volunteering for HAF. The purpose of Brave is to encourage and empower people to step out in their faith and follow God's purpose for their lives. 

The photos will be used on the website and for a social media campaign that is launching this week! Each Friday for the next couple of months, a new story will be introduced via social media and also placed on the website. Mine will be featured within the bunch at some point. I'm excited to read all of the inspirational stories and am honored to be part of such an exciting movement!

Don't be afraid to listen to and chase after what God puts in your heart. Trust Him. It won't always be easy, but He has equipped you for the task that He has called you to do. He will be with you. He will watch over you. He will guide your steps. 

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'” - Isaiah 30:21

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." - Ephesians 2:10

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."  - Deuteronomy 31:8

Ten Things I Have Learned Since Arriving in Cape Town

In no particular order, here is a list of ten lighthearted, random things I have learned about myself, Cape Town and life in general since moving here. 

1) When someone says, "I'll see you just now," they don't actually mean that. When I first arrived here, I noticed so many people would say things like, "I'll see you just now," "I'm coming just now" or "I'll do that just now." I assumed that meant that I would see them in a few minutes or that they'd make that thing the next item on their list to do. I have learned that "just now" can mean in one hour, in two days or never at all. Here, if you're actually going to see someone or do something right away, you say "now now" instead of "just now." 

2) I actually prefer driving on the left-hand side of the road and right-hand side of the car. Yes, I'm serious. Get on board, America! Now that I've gone through the initial scary transition, I've discovered that driving this way actually feels a lot more natural for me. I still get nervous in high-traffic and unfamiliar driving situations, as I always have. But when I'm driving to church or places I have been before, I actually really enjoy it. Maybe it has something to do with  me being left-handed. Whatever it is, I have a feeling that switching back when I move home again won't be easy.

3) DVD players on laptops have region blocks. I bought several movies at a store in a shopping center just down the road. When I tried to play one that evening, I was surprised with an error message that read, "Disc is of a different region. Cannot playback." Apparently almost all commercial DVDs are region coded, which allows them to only be played in areas of that region. North America is in Region 1 and South Africa in Region 2. After several days of trying to find a legal solution to the problem, I discovered that VLC Media Player will play a disc from any region. If anyone is traveling in the future and comes across this problem, I suggest downloading the program!

4) The Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion doesn't make any sense. °C x 9/5 + 32 = °F - Who came up with that? Although I still tend to think in Fahrenheit rather than Celsius, I am thankful for the handy converter on my phone when I need it. 

5) Food products tend to be cheaper here, while clothing tends to be more expensive. I'm still surprised at how much food I can buy for such a small amount of money! This applies to food at most restaurants as well as grocery stores. Every time I go grocery shopping, I often find the bill being half of what I would expect it to be. On the other hand, clothing is significantly more expensive. Forever 21 is one of my favorite stores back in the states. They have the store here as well, and it was one of the places I went when I was doing some winter clothes shopping a few weeks ago. Most items there were about 30-40 percent higher in price than they probably would have been back in the States.

6) I need to start cooking more. I have known this for awhile. I love baking, but for some reason, cooking has always been a struggle for me. Being completely on my own in a new country has made be realize even more how much I need to stop relying on making sandwiches and salads everyday. It's time to get more creative. I've actually been doing pretty well the last couple of weeks!

7) Almost every car or driving term is referred to as something different here than in the States. Trunks are called "boots," horns are called "hooters," turn signals are called "indicators," traffic lights are called "robots," round-a-bouts are called "traffic circles." Speaking of round-a-bouts, they are my worst nightmare here. 

8) I am terrible at recognizing different accents. Sometimes I won't even realize that the person I'm talking to is also from the States until they directly say so. After they tell me, I listen more closely and it then becomes incredibly obvious. I'm trying to get better at paying attention to different accents and being able to recognize where people are from without having to ask.

9) I have become addicted to chocolate biscuits. Biscuits are a big thing here! The Baker's brand is my favorite. I find myself buying a couple of packages every time I go grocery shopping. There are still so many kinds I want to try. It's almost a problem. Here's the link to their website: http://www.bakers.co.za/

10) Cape Town is the most beautiful place I have ever been. Hands down, no question. I have fallen head over heels in love with this city, these people, Hillsong church and my job. I am beyond thankful and blessed to be here. 

On a more serious note, I want to end this post by asking for continued prayers for my health. The several doctors I have been to here, for the most part, agree on the diagnosis, but we just haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what form of treatment will start helping things improve rather than continue to get worse. I stayed home from work most of last week because it is about as bad as it has been yet, and the most recent doctor I went to suggested taking a few days off to avoid both putting anything on my face and going out into the sun. I'm pretty desperate for answers and relief, and have found myself being tested spiritually, emotionally and physically in some pretty significant ways. I'm so thankful to have such an incredible support system both here and back at home. This morning, I opened up JD Greear's book "Gospel" to this section that I had underlined months back when I first read it. It provided some comfort for me, and I hope it does the same for anyone else that may be going through a tough situation. 

Growth Requires Change

Hey everyone, 

I apologize for the significant delay in posting an update! I'm taking advantage of the day off to rest and get caught up on a few things, including this blog. :)

I want to quickly say thank you to everyone that commented, emailed or sent me a message to tell me they were praying after my last post. The appointment with the doctor went fairly well. He is confident that the course of treatment he has placed me on will cause symptoms to subside and says I should start seeing significant improvement within the next couple of weeks. I am very hopeful that this plan will start getting me back on the right track!

In other exciting news, I bought a car! Yes, I'm learning to drive on the opposite side of the car and the road in another country and in a big city where it is often considered optional to follow the rules of the road. Being from a small town in the middle of Kansas, the idea of this did cause a little stress! I don't even enjoy driving in city traffic back at home, and I never thought I'd be brave enough to even consider trying this. However, the transition is going much smoother than I expected it would. Although I have had a couple of small scares, I haven't hit a curb while turning left, driven into oncoming traffic or ran into anyone or anything.

Having a car has already been such a blessing. It is giving me so much more freedom to explore and get around, and I am able to help transport others in need of rides as well. It will still take some getting used to though. A couple of days ago, I got into my car, put my seat belt on and lifted my arm up to put the key in the ignition before realizing that the steering wheel was on the complete opposite side of the car. Ha! The car is a 2003 Nissan Almera. My plan is to sell it before I return home. 

Colour Conference was March 13-16. As I mentioned previously, I attended the first one and was signed up to serve during the second. Unfortunately, I came down with a stomach bug the night after the first conference ended and stayed home sick through the entire second one. Those were a somewhat disappointing and lonely two days since everyone I know in South Africa was in one place while I was in another, but I am so thankful that I stayed healthy enough to attend the first one. It was absolutely incredible! All of our campuses gathered for church together at the Grand West Arena on the Sunday following the second conference. To the left is a photo of me, Norbert and Phil in the Hillsong welcome shirts. Since the Grand West facility is so much larger than our Century City church campus, we were asked to join the Welcome Team before the first service. The entire day was such an awesome celebration! The first two photos below are from church together and the second two are from Colour.

We had Monday - Wednesday off after Colour week, and I spent those days buying my car, catching up on sleep and spending time with friends. It is amazing how much the people I have met have quickly become like family. Below is a photo from a little braai (Afrikaans for barbecue) get-together some of us had last Tuesday night. 

I had my first big driving adventure last Friday night when I drove to the Hillsong campus in Mitchell's Plain for the weekly youth gathering. Phil spoke the message that evening, so me and Norbert wanted to be there to listen to and support him as well as experience what youth is like there on Friday nights. The following day, the three of us ventured down to The Castle of Good Hope, which is an old 17th century military fort. It is a fairly big tourist attraction in Cape Town, so we thought we'd check it out. After that, we went to a popular beach area called Big Bay for dinner. 

This last week at work was a busy one! We are starting to move things forward with a plan for the newsletter and an official social media content plan. I've also joined the small team that will be creating a magazine for HAF's Family+1 adoption education and support program. All of the interns in the year-long church internship program currently are on a week-long holiday. It will be a different atmosphere without all of them up in the office next week, but I'm excited to keep working on those projects.

For another example of how my car has been a blessing, I drove Phil and Norbert to the airport early this morning so they could catch their flight to Johannesburg. They're spending the holiday week there. I was a little nervous about finding my way back home alone at 4 a.m., but I made it safely without any problems thanks to my phone's GPS, Siri and the lack of traffic at that time of the day.

Winter here is quickly approaching! The weather here tends to be quite unpredictable, but average winter temperatures are around 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Compared to Kansas winters, where temperatures can easily get down to the 20's, that doesn't seem bad at all. I have been warned, however, that I'll probably be colder than I'm expecting because winters here do get quite windy and rainy. We also are right by the sea and houses here don't have heating and cooling. The main winter months are June-August, but it has already started cooling down quite a bit over the last week or so. I'm interested to see what happens, and I hope everyone back in the States is enjoying the spring weather!

Since I have been here, and especially over the last couple of weeks, God has started to show me how much growing I have to do in my faith and walk with Him. There are some things that I am going to have to confront and work on within myself. The thought of that is a little scary because I know I'll have to get uncomfortable in order to work through them. But I also I know I have to start letting God peel back the layers in order to become more aware of His presence in my life, to further allow Him to mold me into the person He's made me to be and to chase after the plans He has for my life. Growth requires change. It is a far more dangerous thing to listen to fear! 

Spending time with God through consistently reading and reflecting on the Bible is one of the steps I'm going to take. Sitting down to read the Bible has always been a challenge for me. Starting today, my goal is to read through the New Testament in six months. I have a calendar set out and am planning on waking up 15-20 minutes earlier each day. This YouTube video that Norbert and Phil shared with me, "Coffee With God," really inspired me! It is more than worth the ten minutes. I'm excited to get started and to find out what God wants to reveal to me through His word.