Ok, so my last blog was not very detailed or anything, so I decided I should write another one telling you guys what's going on…so I guess the best place to start is the beginning.. Training camp..or as the lovely Katie Movic likes to call it Missionary camp..Hehe.. anyway, during training camp the main thing was learning that this trip was not about us coming over and "saving" Africa.. it was and still is about us learning to listen to God and learning to truly and clearly hear his voice. We also have been learning a lot about spiritual warfare and about the battle that is going on in the spiritual world. I have heard all this stuff before, but I have never heard it from people who have personally seen demons and shadows crawling on the walls and had actual experiences of the battle in front of them.. its pretty cool.. I am learning soooo much more, but there is no way I could explain it all over this blog. So anyway, I'm falling off the main idea here..so after training camp we all flew over to Frankfort Germany. It was kinda weird cause when we flew up in Atlanta the sun was setting and when we landed in Germany the sun was rising..its like we spent the whole day on the plane. In Germany we had a 15 hour layover..that was in one word LONG..we all slept, read, played card games and wondered around the airport trying to waste time. By the time we were ready to go on the plane we were all so excited to get out of the airport..;) So after that we had the plane ride from there to Johannesburg, South Africa. That wasn't as long as the other flight..so it was ok. When we were in South Africa I got my first stamp on my passport..it was so exciting!! I can't wait till I have 10 passports full..that would be so exciting!! ugh..anyway.. then we met the leaders and everyone here in South Africa and drove an hour and a half to the place where we are staying. Its called Alabanza. Its owned by an amazing lady named Dini. She gave up everything to God and said what do you want me to do and he told her to make a place for missionary groups to come. So she obeyed. There are a lot of people who live on the property. There are some kids too. Its so fun to live with little ones running around every where..;) and there are 5 dogs on the property and you all know how much I love dogs..they are big dogs too which makes them that much better…ya for dogs!!! Hehe.. so ya we spent a week in Alabanza and then went to Swaziland for a week. We met some people who are friends of the AIM organization and are full time missionaries in Swazi. They are an awesome family. in Swaziland we went to a Swazi Church which was so so so amazing!! Seriously the churches over here put the western churches to shame..and im not talking about the building "church", Im talking about the church which is the Body of Christ.  Also like ¾  of it was singing worship and praising God. After someone in the church spoke about how God was working in their lives or just saying what God had laid on their hearts.. they sang! Singing praises and bringing glory to God! Im telling you it was so reverent and the only focus was God..and I LOVED it. Another big thing in Swazi was the hospital ministry we did. The first day we went I was terrified. All the stories about what God had done thru people there I was terrified of what God was going to ask of me and that I was not strong enough or ready enough for it. So I prayed about it and God brought 2 scriptures to my head. The first was one I grew up knowing, but it never spoke to me the way it did that night. 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind." and the 2^nd one was 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." This scripture really spoke to me on how God's not just sitting up there saying, "Hey I should give Vanessa something that she cant handle and watch her fail." He will never ever give us something that we cant handle. I went to the hospital with those scriptures written on my heart and with the strength and courage of God. I will tell you now that I have never seen that much pain and misery in such a small amount of time. I seriously went in there praying and walked out praying. I prayed for the old, for the young and for everyone in between. I prayed for and with the hospitalized, for the families of the hospitalized and for the nurses too. I helped people to the bathrooms, cleaned up vomit, helped feed them, and just sat and read the Word with the older ladies who couldn't do anything but lay there all day. A lot of the time the best thing you could do for them was to sit there and just be a hand for them to hold. I loved it so much that I went back a second time!! We also went to a squatter camp.. its pretty much what it sounds like.. a place where people gathered together and squatted on the land and stared lives there. That was really hard for me cause I wanted to take all the kids home that we played with and ministered to and I couldn't cause they all had families!! Sad I know..Hehe..kiddin..anyway, so we stayed in Swazi for a week and then came back to Alabanza. Every time we left we had to go through a country line and got stamps for leaving one place and entered into the other so I got more stamps..YA!! So anyway, we are now staying in South Africa and doing ministry around here. BEAR WITH ME ITS ALMOST DONE!! Just one more story, its about a little boy named Ngnobile..he is a year and five months old and he is way malnourished and cant even hold his head up or walk or anything. He is dropped off at 8 am and picked up at 5 pm at an after school program/cresh which is a lot like a daycare but they have smaller rooms and more children. So ya, when I got there I was holding him and he had a really bad cough and when he tried crying he couldn't and just made noises like his throat was clogged. I left and that night I couldn't get him out of my mind, I started crying for him.. He is so little and innocent, he didn't ask to be sick and for all the pain. I was mad and questioned God why he would allow this little boy to be in so much pain. Later on that night our group had worship and talked and I was debating whether to go back there or not. That night I couldn't sleep and every time I closed my eyes I saw him. I decided to go back and I was talking to one of the leaders and asked if there was any way I could take him to the hospital or something. She talked to the lady who owned the place and she said she would have to get the moms permission. So all that night I was praying that the mom would give permission. We went back the next day and found that she did! So next thing I needed to do was raise money. That night I asked everyone if they could please help that it would be greatly appreciated. I got some rand from them and went back the next day and took him. The whole way there he was wailing his arms and legs and yelling and trying to cry. When we got there the nurse gave him a breathing treatment and then we had to wait for the doctor. During that time a lady who worked at the cresh that came with us was holding him and talking to him in Africans (1 of there 11 languages here!) and he started smiling and laughing. I cannot tell you how hard I was holding back tears..that smile paid for the entire struggle I was going thru with the whole situation. I would do it all over again to just see it again; it was the smile of an angel, hidden just for me and it came at the perfect time. Anyway, the doctor finally came and gave him another breathing treatment and told us that he has crump, which is a severe level of bronchitis. He also had a fever. He gave us medicine for it all and he also gave us drops to give him to increase his appetite, so he can gain weight. A big miracle was that we had to pay $120 rand just to see the doctor and then we didn't have to pay for the medicine or anything else! So ya, I would adopt him in a second except the fact that he has a mommy already…hehe..

But ya, that is just a little of what's going on. I hope you all are doing well and I want to thank everyone for their prayers and for reading this really long blog. I will try to keep you guys informed more often. God is changing my life daily so that's going to be hard, but ill try..:)

         Love Always,

         (A new) ~Vanessa~