June 22 Greetings from South Africa

Sawubona!
We are back at the Mafus' house after an incredible journey. The past two days have been jam packed with work, adventure, fun and service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We woke early Wednesday morning and were on our way to Ingwavuma by 7:30. After a 3+ hour drive, we arrived at Mercy's mother's house to set up for our 1st clinic. The people were already waiting patiently for us, so the team quickly set up for the clinic with the help of Isaiah and our translators and began seeing patients in record time. Our team is truly amazing. We worked together like a finely tuned machine, each of us setting aside our own desires for the good of the people we were serving. John, Sharon and Alex worked tirelessly, serving 152 patients in about 6 hours with the assistance of our Zulu translators. Their tenacity and dedication were apparent as they continued to work after dark, in a building with no electricity so that they could see all of the people who had waited so patiently for the entire day. Thankfully, we had enough lamps and flashlights to go around. Katie, Kristi, Megan V. and Pat worked triage, doing everythin g from taking blood pressure to bandaging up a little girl's finger (a terrifying experience for the child to be sure). One of their most daunting challenges being trying to pronounce the patients' names. Richard made himself a table out of cinder blocks and set up a vitamin dispensing station, making good use of his nutrition degree by offering much needed healthy living tips to the people that he served. Robyn, Megan O., Sarah and Tracy ran the pharmacy with precision and grace, explaining directions and offering sympathy. Rev. Rob and Ian did the vision testing and fitted people with new reading glasses. They found it especialy fullfilling to see the look on the people's faces when they could finally read something after having found the proper prescription. Adam and Cheryl headed up the prayer station, tirelessly praying specifically with each and every person who came through the clinic. Shelly and Melissa organized the many children who were waiting for parents or to be seen by the docs. They also entertained adults and children alike (as well as some of the team) with their shameless participation in the games. Duck, Duck, Goose was a particular favorite, as was the Hokey Pokey. The team work was truly impressive. Proof positive that God is at work in our team and that He has called each one of us to do this work here.
We left Ingwavuma and drove down to Hluhluwe for a delicious dinner and a much needed shower. It was a stark contrast to the poverty that we left on the mountain and surely many of us felt some guilt and all of us had much gratitude for God's blessings in our own lives. We all went to bed with full stomachs and grateful hearts for some much needed rest.
The team (with the exception of Pat who decided to savor some time alone) left for the game park at 9:30 Thursday morning to take a drive around the game park. Sharon, Rev. Rob., and Tracy have been our main drivers for the trip, braving the left side of the road as well as baboons, South African drivers and a police woman who's elbow was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thanks go out to all of them for keeping us moving and keeping us safe. We were blessed to see a lot of animals that morning, particularly exciting was the very large family of baboons who decided to hang out with us for quite some time. We did a bit of shopping at the gift shop and then headed out for our guided safari. The team split up into three jeeps and we all had fantastic animal experiences. The elephants were particularly exciting, a large bull decided he'd had enough of us watching him and scared the bejeezus out of Shelly and Ian as he came within a foot of us with his gleaming, three foot long tusks and a look in his eyes that said, "Don't mess with me!" This event was captured on tape by Alex who was on the opposite side of the jeep and therefore able to maintain his composure. Another group including Kristi, Megan O., Tracy, Megan V., Richard, Cheryl, Sarah, Craig and Kristin (guests of Adam) found themselves surrounded by a herd of mother elephants and their babies. Quite a scare for them as the guide told them to prepare for a charge. We all made it back safely however and gave much deserved praise to God for all of his amazing creatures that we were so fortunate to be able to encounter that day.
We left this morning to head back to the Mafus' house. We stopped at a couple of markets for some shopping. Everyone had a great time looking at all of the wonderful local art and buying gifts for family and friends. We arrived back at the Mafus' this afternoon and most of the team heading over to the church to continue sorting meds while Alex got in the driver's seat to take the ACM staff over to teach after school bible studies and Pat, Sharon, Shelly and Ian went with Mercy to do a little grocery shopping and to say goodbye to Katie Gurzie, a missionary here in South Africa and friend of Sharon and Mercy. She is retiring after 50 years of serving God by witnessing to the Zulu people and visiting many people in need. A truly amazing person who will be sorely missed here.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We have another clinic tomorrow so your continued prayers are crucial to our success. Please pray for grace, guidance, patience, and especially for all of us to be examples of Christ to the people we serve tomorrow. Know that you are all in our prayers as well as we all miss and love you very much. You can rest well knowing that God is taking good care of us. That has been apparent in every moment we have been here.
Love in Christ,
Shelly