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Hello my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! I feel like I have a lot to share in this post so I apologize ahead of time if this gets lengthy and random. :)

This week has been a bit of a whirlwind. To start, this was my first week doing special feedings to a few of the kids here who are a little behind developmentally. I absolutely LOVE doing it. I feed 4 kids at 9AM and at 3PM. When I feed them is usually when all of the other kids are at play group so it is so nice to get some one on one time with these kids and be able to give them your full attention for a little while. The two nurses here are an absolute JOY to work with. They are just two very sweet ladies who are passionate about making sure these kids are as healthy as possible. It's kind of fun because one of the nurses is Australian and the other is from another country in Africa that starts with an "S" but I can't think of the name it right now. haha. It's fun to just fun to see (and hear) people from all over come and be passionate about helping these kids at Beautiful Gate.

As much as I have been loving the work I have been doing, I feel like everyday I am on this crazy roller coaster of emotions I have never felt before. I have been trying to balance these two extreme feelings of LOVING everything about being here and not wanting to leave, and yet wishing I could be home where my family and everything I have ever known is. It is so hard to put this into words. I have been trying to figure out what is a healthy balance and trying to just lean on God no matter what I am feeling at the time. This is something I think will take some time to figure out, and I hope to grow from it in the end. Prayers are appreciated.

I never used to be much of a crier at home. I would cry sometimes but only if something was like really sad. Here, I am all the sudden a crier. I cry when I am missing home. I cry when I see a sad child. I cry when I am happy. I cry when I see the Lord's hand move in my day. I cry when I think about other orphans in the world who don't get the great care that the kids here at Beautiful Gate get. I cry when I pray for a specific child and their future family. I am still a bit confused and embarrassed that I am becoming such a sap, but I think everything I am experiencing here is just so new and a bit extreme that all my emotions are put the extreme as well.

Another thing I do a lot more here is read my Bible. At home I would read my Bible every night for devotions and that was about it, but here whenever I get any sort of break I want to go back to my room and read a Psalm or something. There is something about having the word in my head as I go throughout my day that helps me sense the Lord's presence and I just love it. I think it also makes me a lot happier.

This past Saturday morning we went for a little pony trekking adventure at Malealea lodge. I wasn't quite what to expect because all my past horse riding experience in the states was usually done on a half dead horse on a little flat trail for like 20 minutes going in a petty circle. Well, this ended up being nothing like that. Our horses were very much alive and had quite the personalities. The ride was quite hilly at times and there were points where I planned in my head a strategy to jump off the horse to safety if needed. :) This was also a good 2-3 hour ride which made it so much more worth it. Half way in we took a little hike down to see some cave paintings which was also pretty cool. I am excited to go back there in a couple weeks! Also, the view we had the whole ride was BREATHTAKING.

haha... TIA (This Is Africa :)

our tour guide

cave paintings...

BEAUTIFUL

On Sunday we went to the Guerink's home church in Maseru. I liked this service a bit more than last week because it felt more like my church at home. First, it was in an actual church building, unlike last week, and the singing was very similar to what I am used to. I look forward to going back there more!

There is an Australian couple that works here at Beautiful Gate who took us three volunteers out for the afternoon on Sunday. First, they took us to another orphanage in Maseru where they volunteer a bit. We were warned a little bit about what this place was like and how it was nothing like Beautiful Gate, but nothing anyone said could have prepared us for what we experienced. When we got there our truck was swarmed by kids in dirty, holey clothes. The place was pretty much a dump. There is trash everywhere and lots of little hills and dirt piles and it smelled NASTY. As we went on our tour, I could not even put together in my mind that this place was an orphanage just like Beautiful Gate is, because this place was the polar opposite of Beautiful Gate. There are kids of all ages there and going through and looking where they sleep just made me sick to my stomach. All the younger kids just sleep together on the ground on some mats with some blankets on them. The bathroom stalls did not have toilet paper, only a few had newspaper. There was a child who could not yet walk sitting on a mat outside by himself and when you tried to get near him he would just start crying. One of the kids said that the person who usually feeds them said they were not going to feed the kids again until they went back to school which was in a week. It sounded like they were very lucky to get 2 meals a day. I am still mentally processing a lot of what I saw even now. Leaving there, I had so much respect for this couple to uses their time and money to try and help these kids. The corrupt leadership there is sad and makes me so angry. Ahhh...yea, it was a tough afternoon. After that they took us up a mountain to watch the sunset over the city which was BEAUTIFUL, as always.

these stalls are the bathrooms

the boys' sleeping room

handing out oranges

getting a ride in the truck

sunset over the city of Maseru

What I love about being here:
I love waking up in the morning excited about the day ahead of me. I love listening to the kids talk in Sesotho. I love it when the kids pray. I love singing with the kids. I love having hot chocolate for breakfast. I love it when the sun comes out and heats up the day. I love skyping my family. I love getting e-mails of encouragement from people back home. I love talking and sharing stories with the other volunteers at the end of the day. I love that where ever you go in Lesotho there is always a beautiful view of the mountains. I love feeling the Lord's presence as I go throughout my day.

peace and love.


PS. I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE BASKETBALL TEAM TO GET HERE. I think it will be nice to see some familiar faces. :)