All good things must come to an end

Buying all of the shoes, blankets, and toys for the kids was a huge success.   We were even able to buy some shoes for the kids at Limakatso as well as the kids at the children's home.  We were able to bring them to the students on Monday and they were really excited.  The amazing thing was they weren't even that excited about the stuff we were bringing them, they were just excited that we were there.  We had only spent a few days with them, but it was obvious that we had made a big impression on them.  We had no idea what we were doing while there, but God was able to use us in big ways and really showed His love to this students we met.  We spent the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday with the year long interns as they held assemblies at schools all around Qwa Qwa to promote their after school discipleship program called Launch Pad.  It's hard to tell at this point if the assemblies were effective, but I have faith that God planted seeds in the students while we were there and will continue to work in each of them long after we are gone.  

Today was our first day of debriefing on the base.  It's a really surreal feeling to know that we are leaving tomorrow morning and that this is the last time we will all be here together.  I feel like God has been showing Christine and I a lot this summer and I'm really looking forward to putting the lessons God taught me to use back at home as well as the chance to share some of my stories of how God changed my life with others.  

One thing God has really been showing me recently is that God calls me to live a life committed to Him everyday.  Sometimes it's a lot easier to serve God in really big ways, like flying half way around the world to do work in Africa.  It can be a lot harder to actually live out my faith in the comforts of my home with the simple, everyday things that I do.  He showed me that my life shouldn't look any different on a mission trip than it does when I'm back at home.  There is no separation between my "normal" life and my "super Christian" life.  God called us all to serve Him in everything we do, not just in that week or two we take each year to do missions.  Through the work that I've been doing here, God has also showed me that even though I am in Africa, I'm not doing anything that radical.  I've been building relationships, doing construction work, playing games with disabled children, and spending some time with some orphans and reminding them that God loves them.  These are all things that I could easily do in the United States and there is no reason I shouldn't.  I'm really determined to live my life intentionally when I get back and truly look to God to see how I should invest my time.  There are a ton of different organizations that I want to join at UNC, but I would rather spend my time and energy by doing things that I know God wants me to do.  It would be so easy for me to get distracted with the busy lifestyle I'm expected to live in America and with all the new things that I will be a part of in college, but I'm going to do my best to stay focused on God and on the reasons that He put me at UNC.  Just like I tried to take everyones advice and be "all here" while in Africa instead of thinking about all the things I'm missing back at home, while I'm back in the U.S. I still want to be all there.  It would be really easy to focus on how much better life was in South Africa or the plans God has for me after college, but if God wants me to be at Carolina for the next few years thats where I'm wholeheartedly going to be.  We can't always understand the things that God does in our lives, but they all come together in the end to form a brilliant plan that no man could ever think of on his own.  I'm not sure what God's brilliant plan is for me, but I'm looking forward to seeing it as God gradually reveals it to me.  

We leave early tomorrow morning to continue our debriefing at some secret location a few hours north of Johannesburg .  While there, we will get there chance to go on three safaris.  We then leave Saturday night and will finally return home late Sunday morning.  As I'm writing this, I still can't believe we will be home so soon.  CRAZY!!  This will probably be the last post before we get home.  Thanks to everyone who supported and prayed for us while we were here.  We love you all!!

Alison