arrival

Hello Friends! I have arrived safely to Beautiful Gate! Thanks you all for your prayers, it means a lot to me.
 I will start by telling you a bit about my travels:
I left Tuesday from Grand Rapids and flew to Chicago and from there flew to New York. Just because of how my itinerary worked out, I had to stay overnight in NYC. My Aunt's sister-in-law lives right in NYC and graciously let me stay with her for the night. We had so much fun! She brought be to where she works in  Rockafeller Center and she snuck me around to show me the set of SNL (which is all used for offices for the Olympics right now), Jimmy Fallon, and Dr. OZ. We then headed over to Times Square to get some ice cream. I felt so spoiled! The next morning I had a car pick me up to bring me to the airport. You will never guess what kind of car it was.........THATS RIGHT, IT WAS A LINCOLN! Hahaha I felt right at home. When I got to JFK and was waiting to get on my flight I met a group of older adults who were also headed to Africa to work at an orphanage for a couple weeks. WAY COOL. When I got on the plane I ended up having a window seat next to a guy who literally slept the.whole.trip.....like 14.75 of of the 15 hours, he was sleeping. If you asked me if he had eyeballs, I would not know the answer to that question. ANYWAY, we ended up getting to Johannesburg an hour late so right off the bat I knew I had missed my next flight. Thankfully, I  knew there was another flight leaving just a few hours later for Maseru and so I easily got my ticket for that flight. I now had a few hours to kill until my flight. I spent most of the time people watching and trying to pick out the Americans. It usually wasn't hard because they were usually the ones who went over to take a picture with the 25ft high plastic giraffe near the gates. Seriously, it was hilarious. A bit later, a lady came over to sit by me and we started talking. She was headed to Swaziland to help at an orphanage she funds there. I was so thankful that the Lord just gave me someone to talk to to pass the time. As we got talking, I found out she was also from Michigan! I was so thrilled to have someone I felt like I could relate to. I then got on my flight and landed to Maseru where the Guerink family was there to greet me. We loaded up the van or "the beast" as they call it and headed to Beautiful Gate. Lesotho is beautiful and cold! As we rode, there was a flock of sheep crossing the road in front us and then a truck full of men singing and and clapping on their way home from work. I felt so welcomed and I knew I was going to like this place. When we got to Beautiful Gate I unpacked and moved into my room. I had some dinner with the Geurinks, then we then ran to the grocery store to get some things. A funny thing I learned about Lesotho is that the driving rules are more just like suggestions. So we had 7 people in a 5 passenger car and people were always running red lights when it was clear. Kinda crazy. That night, I don't even remember getting into bed, that is how tired I was!
First Day Reactions:
WOW. I love it here. I don't even know how to explain how beautiful the kids are. I spent some of my morning just dancing and singing around the baby room making them laugh. I love their laughs. I can only remember 3 of the kids names. :) It's a start. I love the toddlers. I love having 5 kids climbing all over me. One of them is trying on my hat, another is sticking his finger up my nose, another is trying on my rings, another is resting their head on my shoulder. I love it. I love it when they all are suddenly quiet and stare at me as I simply put my hair in a ponytail. I love how one of the babies rolls when you lay him down like my cousin sethie :) I love the Guerink family and how welcome they make me feel. I love watching the house mothers dance and watching the kids follow. I love the smiling faces that are present where ever you go on this campus. I love the 4 cats that wander...Gatsby, ScardyCat, Tiara, and I forget the other one's name. I love the Lord and how present he is here. I love that the people here love the Lord.

Sorry this isn't really a complete thought....I am SUPER tired and still trying to get on Lesotho time so I will post more later :)

peace and love.