So... Where to begin?

How about where we left off?

On Monday, the team headed off with Mrs. Beakley and Jessie (a friend of Jordan's) to Entabeni Game Park. We stayed in "tents," (we'll have to put some pics up so you can see the irony in that statement), took a few game drives, and enjoyed some time for chilling out before we got going at the Shepherd's Conference. We didn't see any lions, but just before we headed back to camp for the last time, our guide, Nick, spotted a group of zebras (pronounced "ZEH-bruhs"). And they were all staring in the same direction. We drove closer, and Kirsten spotted a two cheetahs skulking under a tree. They had a staring contest for a while, but nothing happened. Again, we'll have plenty of pictures to share.

Tuesday, we stopped by the Protea Hotel, and The Ranch. We saw some lions, held some lion cubs, and did NOT get attacked by ostriches (I will admit, out of all the dangerous animals we saw, the ostriches made me the most uneasy- those things are creepy). We headed back to the Beakley house and chilled out for the rest of the time. Then some of us all watched a movie about psychotic killer lions. Then we took our malaria medicine that can cause hallucinations. No insanely realistic dreams of psychotic killer lions have been reported.

Today (as of now, it's 11:52pm), we woke up ready to go help set up the church for the Shepherd's Conference, but we weren't needed. So we spent the morning hanging out again (Phil took Evan, Jessie, Holly, and I out driving on the "wrong" side of the road- I learned how to drive stick for the first time!). After lunch, we headed out to the Shepherd's Cup, an annual soccer game at Christ Baptist Seminary between the four years (the fourth year team won). We brought oranges, cut them up, and served them to the players and spectators. Kirsten even got to play goalie for a team (that's pretty cool because today she's missing her team play in the super-sectionals). We then headed over to Christ Baptist Church, had some pup (will explain later- I think) for dinner with the students and players from the soccer game.

South Africa has been pretty good so far, by God's grace. We've been blessed with what has been really a smooth time so far, and we are very thankful. If you would, please pray for continued good health (some have been a bit under the weather), and for the Shepherd's Conference tomorrow as we serve these pastors by shining shoes, doing dishes, and other things. Please pray that God would be glorified in our serving, that we would be joyful and have the right heart attitude, and that our team would be unified in its purpose and encouraging towards one another.

-Joel

p.s. We know these last two have been kind of news-ish, but hopefully this next one won't have so much to report so we can fit in some thoughts, too :)