Happy Independence Day Lesotho! Well, actually it was like 2 days ago...but oh well. :) You may be wondering....did you do anything special for the holiday? Why yes, I did. I boiled lots of water so I could drink water without getting sick. I know, pretty exciting stuff. I am also pretty excited for next week Tuesday when another volunteer will be moving in. WOOHOO. It also sounds like there might be an adoption ceremony that same afternoon! I find it funny that she will get to experience her first adoption ceremony on her first day and I had to wait 2 and a half months to see my first one! haha. Funny how that all works. Earlier this week I went along on another hospital run which was.....frustrating. Let's just say we were there for 6 hours with only 2 kids. Yeaaaa...it was a long day. On the up side of things, the Australian couple that volunteers here at Beautiful Gate who left for 6 weeks to visit home is back! I had no idea when they were coming back so it was a wonderful surprise seeing them again.
This past week has been a bit stressful since there has been a limited amount of fuel coming into Lesotho. The truckers are unhappy about their wages in Johannesburg, South Africa which has resulted in riots. All of our fuel comes across the border from South Africa so the amount of trucks actually getting here have significantly decreased due to the riots. On Sunday there was no gas anywhere is Maseru pretty much. On Monday, a couple of our staff found a place on the other side of town to fill up most of the Beautiful Gate vehicles. Its a little scary thinking about not having fuel available when you have a hand full of HIV positive kids that need to get to the clinic once a month and groceries that need to be picked up. I am amazed by the staff and how they are able to so easily trust God with things like this and not let it keep them down or worried like I often am. We have been limiting the amount of runs we take into town, but we are thankful that we haven't run into any major issues or set backs with it so far and we keep praying that the riots will quiet down in Johannesburg.
Sometimes I like to think back before I got here and try to remember what I thought it would be like coming here. I usually end up laughing because it really wasn't what I expected at all. Some things are silly like, I didn't think their chocolate would be better than at home or I didn't expect to have a washing machine. I also thought that being here would somehow help me resist all sin and that I would just automatically feel closer to God all the time. That sounds so silly now. I do feel close to God here but there are still tough days that He seems distant. The devil finds new ways to get in and make a mess of things, which often makes me angry. I didn't expect Beautiful Gate to be located in the middle of such a poor area. I didn't expect to feel so safe here. I didn't expect to make so many friends of all ages. I didn't expect I would have my heart broken so many times. I didn't expect I would feel this much joy. I didn't expect that I would walk away from every day with such a feeling of gratitude. Though some of the things I did not expect have taken time to work through, other things I did not expect have been the things I have loved most. Expectations are silly things.
I just want to thank you all again for praying for me in my decision to stay longer. You e-mails and words meant a lot to me. I will just tell you right now I am about 90% sure I will be staying until sometime in March it looks like. I have decided to make my final decision on the 15th of October so I guess things could change before then. I am still a little anxious for the holiday season and how that will go being away from home, but in the same breath I cannot wait to give these kids extra cuddles on Christmas Day!
I will leave you with a picture of another beautiful African sunset.....and a picture of me boiling water on the holiday :) haha
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