really live from South Africa now.

Up until this point this blog has been a little bit of a misconception because really it has been livefromrochesterhillsmi. But now it's the real deal. I'm feeling spoiled in the moment because I still have access to the pearly white keys I'm used to with my mac at home.

Yup, we're here. It is... 19:04 here, on Sunday night. 1 pm your time.

Time is kind of a crazy thing, so I'm actually doing my best not to concern myself with it too much. Getting here was kind of a blur now that I look back. A: because time kept changing at our in-between destinations so a real hourly count would take some backtracking that I'm not willing to do. and B: I was in a state of half-awake-half-asleep unknowing daze that I couldn't seem to shake. My body had been awake for 40 hrs straight and wasn't really giving in to sleep. So I had a rough time, but I'm thankful because I'm pretty sure I was having the worst time of it out of all of the people in our group and it really wasn't that bad. This is my first experience with Jet Lag, so I'm doing my best to keep the side effects to a minimum. But all of the travels went exceedingly well. Planes left on time, bags got where they were meant to be, and through customs without a second glance..

Sarah took the moment to note, sometimes you can just stop and think that making it through customs with 1,000 pounds of donated medications with no back up plan as a cool little coincidence, and sometimes you can just stop and think "hey God, that was awesome- Thank you for being here with us, on this day, in this moment".

Today we did a lot of church. Went on a bumpy and exciting car ride to Empembeni to sing our praises, hear testimony, and Rev Rob's guest sermon on love. It was quite an amazing first experience to have. (Literally my first experience in Africa)

Theres a huge language and cultural barrier, and the constant battle of fighting jet lag, but I sat there and felt just as connected, if not more in my plastic lawn chair to the Zulu words as I did last Sunday in the hearty wooden pews at Genesis. And the weekend before at my dear Kensington.

The music is unreal. These people have been given a gift to sing...and I think they just might know it. Music that moves- made from no more than the voices, hands and feet that they've been given. No sound checks, no lyrical support...everyone just knows, and everyone just sings. Even me.

As Rev Rob was getting ready to go up, one of the South African girls came up to Sarah and I and said, "Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you- but would you like to teach Sunday school?" Anna piped up with a yes, so Anna and Sarah taught 10 zulu babies about Noah's Ark, while I sat in back to watch. I had a feeling that this situation had entertainment potential, and I'd have to say it was quite the jack pot.

We did the same at Grace Evangelical Church a few hours later, (minus the impromptu Sunday School) which is the Mafu's church right across the street. The only sad thing about church today was not being able to announce our medical clinics... Trying to remain flexible about the wrinkles we have not had the opportunity to smooth out, we were only able to bring the people our smiling faces today.

The afternoon demanded some down time, and then we went to the Beach. Probably not the type of Beach you're picturing... probably about twice as cool though. Mcepseni caught a crab, and let me hold it. We were digging it up, and I reached for it- but apparently I was trying to grab it by it's one huge claw, which is really not the way to attempt it. So I was to wait until he had it dug up to hold it.

Everyone is in the room behind me counting meds (one pill at a time, mind you) so the time has come to join my team. I'm sure I will be able to blog again soon.

Sala kahle.
(Stay Well)