The team is getting on the plane...

and I am writing this as I wait for my plane to Cape Town. It seems as though we have been moving non-stop in the last couple of days. I thought I'd get some pictures of the last few days up as I wait. We have been having a fantastic time on safari being thoroughly spoiled by Thrive. 

The team is looking forward to seeing all of you soon. Pray for safe travel.

-Jon Crocker

Day 7 from Anna Scanlon

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans back home! Today was truly an astonishing experience and the most jam-packed day so far. The entire team met up this morning outside the cabins at 5:45 am to hike up the mountain behind us. Jokingly named Mt. Everest, this "mountain" is the smallest on the reserve, standing 500 ft about the base grounds. But don't be fooled--the hike was anything but easy. At 5 in the morning in South African winter the winds are fierce and the air is beyond freezing. Climbing Mt. Everest, which is nearly vertical in some places, was physically strenuous and took around an hour. It didn't exactly encourage me that our guide had once climbed the mountain in twelve minutes flat--and made the journey regularly three to four times a week. But for all of our shivers and huffs and puffs, reaching the summit was entirely rewarding. And if personal success wasn't great enough, the entire team got to experience the majesty of an African sunrise. Don't worry, I took great pictures. It reminded me of watching the sun set in the Australian desert the summer I was going into seventh grade, but this time something was different. This was a spiritual journey, and holding hands with our feet on the edge and our faces to the sun, listening to Stephanie pray was more than uplifting. There's something magical about feeling the God who painted the clouds on the pastel sky reach down and kiss your face with the wind. 

So after our little roundabout we ate breakfast (oatmeal and french toast!) and headed out for Qwa Qwa. In the morning we did the usual relationship evangelism things, except that my experience was different. My team went to visit a new home today, and as these things go we randomly wandered into the home that our interpreter suggested. As soon as I stepped inside the fierce aroma of incense filled my lungs.  This was by far the poorest house we'd been in, with the roof and walls made of tin and lined with adverts for sofas as wallpaper. There was no tile on the floor, only dirt and rugs, and the one room shack was divided in two by a hanging sheet. However, this hardly kept my attention for long when I realized what we'd stumbled into. The woman who'd welcomed us into her home was a sangoma--a witchdoctor. At first we were all pretty rigid. I tried to hide the bible in my hands and for a few minutes we made awkward small talk. Then she straight up asked us--why do you have bibles? So we attempted to ease into the conversation gently, but God wasn't having any of it. It became clear that He'd put us here for a reason, and we soon attempted to make the most of it. It turned out she'd been a Christian before becoming a witchdoctor, but now that she's turned away she feels she can only go back to church if she slaughters a cow and washes her hair (?). We told her the story of the Prodigal Son, and she seemed to be totally touched. Spending an hour and a half with her was a terrifying but incredible blessing. It was incredible how God just descended onto the situation and totally used us to bless her. 

Ok so this post is really long and I have to go to bed soon. But any hoo. After the sangoma we all hopped in the bus and went to a hospital where we prayed for sick people. What a total culture shock. Complain all you want about corrupt American health care, you ain't seen nothing till you've seen this. I would talk about this in detail but I really want to talk about dinner.

So dinner. Well it's the 4th of July in South Africa too, and after an exhausting day we we're all hoping to go home, maybe have some hot dogs for dinner and then fall into bed. But of course, that wouldn't be awesome enough for the staff at Cornerstone. They treated us all to an amazing dinner at a Native American themed restaurant called Spurs (I think), where we munched on cheeseburgers and ice cream. They even busted out sparklers. On the way out they gave us special one time permission to be loud Americans and we all broke out with a broken version of the Star Spangled Banner. Which, of course, turned into an hour long bus ride home with every single on of us singing every singable song ever. I mean, seriously, from Wannabe, to American Pie, to that awesome song from Mulan, the end of the day was one big sing-a-long. It was a perfect little bonding experience and a perfect end to a perfect day. The whole thing was just one big blessing.

Much love, have a fun 4th of July,

Anna

Day 5 from Emma Overmyer

My team and I started out the day by returning to the home we visited yesterday. We talked with the man who lived in the home, and then began to plant his "Life Garden". The life garden was an analogy made for how his relationship with God should be like a garden. Our team leader Tracee was not with us today, so I had to bring up the conversation about God with the man which was a bit scary. The other girls pitched in telling him things like "a garden needs sun and water just like we need the Bible and prayer to grow, too." We planted cabbage, mustard seeds, carrots, and spinach. He was very grateful for our prayers and help. After our lunch break, my team and I worked with the kids, which was a lot of fun. We continued with our theme of creation; today we taught that God created all the animals. All the children were so loving and happy, and often came up to hold our hands or play with our hair.

Even though we are here to serve and love THEM, I honestly feel like I have never been so accepted and loved by so many people. A lot of times people will say things like "I feel like I got more out of the mission trip than I even put in!" And I can really relate to that after today where I met so many kids who just wanted to be friends and share in Jesus' love.

Shop, shop! ("cool, hey" in sesotho)

Emma

a few pictures from the last few days...

At Base Camp

Zebras! 200 yards from our cabins. They tend to hang out with the Wild Horses.

We also regularly see Spring-bok, Wildebeest and all sorts of deer.

Christian... enough said.

Maddy

Face painting is serious business

Qwa-Qwa, a huge prospect.

Talking with Sarah

Caitlyn - Kid Magnet

Day 4 from Maddy Parks

I have never written a blog before so I am not exactly sure what I am doing. I will start by telling you that over the last few days I have had some of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have seen God working in the most awe inspiring ways. At home, I could never just walk up  to a house and expect to be invited in and offered a place to sit and talk for hours unless I had known the person that lives there for years. The welcoming spirit of the people of South Africa has really humbled me. I am very reserved about talking about my faith or anything personal, but these people are completely open and after only talking to one woman for 15 minutes we were discussing Christ and the amazing sacrifice he made for us. Yesterday my group was visiting with a young man and he invited us into his home to listen to some of his favorite music. We spent about an hour with him, about half of which we spent listening to South Africa's finest musicians. Just before we left he had us listen to some music from his favorite Cd of his favorite DJ. Tom, that was his name, took the Cd out of the player and handed it to Matt Adams, insisting that he loved people and that it is what he wanted to do. I was so touched that his man would give up one of the few things he owns to random strangers from America. This morning we got to visit with a woman named Maria. A few minutes after we arrived we asked her way she was holding her coat over her eyes. She told us that for the last two years she has had pain right behind her eyes and her sight is not very good. We asked her if we could pray for her and she said that she knew if we prayed for her she would be healed. Her faith was amazing. After praying with her we asked how her eyes were and the pain was completely gone. This opened up a window for her to ask questions about heaven and what she had to do to get there. You could tell that she was burning up inside to learn more about this amazing God we were talking about. All of my experiences here have been so eye-opening. It is awesome to see the love of Christ and His works that the team shares and all the staff here at Thrive Africa. I am really excited to take the things I am learning home and share them. Thrive is doing an amazing act of service to God and His Kingdom and the more I see the more excited I become. Until next time, we miss you all and we can't wait to tell you more when we get home. XOXO, Maddy