Eternally Grateful

Hello everyone! This past week has been absolutely incredible, and has included a LOT of travelling around South Africa: last weekend I was in Capetown, this weekend I was up at Kruger National Park, and in just a few hours I am going to be heading home to the US (so many mixed emotions about that last one)! It has included many hours of planes and buses, but the trips turned out to be absolutely incredible and gave me so many beautiful memories!

          While we were in Capetown, Jake (the Fr Smith Fellow from Springs) and I were able to visit many of the different popular tourist spots including the V&A Waterfront, Table Mountain, Clifton Beach, and the Kirstenbosch Gardens. I didn’t realize that Capetown is almost completely surrounded by the mountains and the ocean, making it an absolutely beautiful place!

When Jake and I were at the Kirstenbosch Gardens

          After flying back to Montebello on Tuesday, I was able to spend the next few days here with the students at the high school, Creche, and Vianney. It was so wonderful to see them again after being away, but all too soon I was leaving again for Kruger National Park. Because the safari park is far away from Montebello, I bused up to Springs the night before and was able to stay the night with the Dominican community there. It was amazing to be able to meet them and see the people that Jake has been working with these past 6 weeks. Surprisingly, there were a few Brothers from Pietermaritzburg visiting Springs, so I was able to catch up with them and see what they’ve been doing since I last spoke with them.

          After a quick night in Springs, Jake and I bused out to Kruger National Park! While we were there, we were able to go on 4 different game drives in order to see the animals, and my goodness did we see so many! There were elephants (my personal favorite), giraffes, rhinos, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, wild dogs, antelope, and tons of other animals that I can’t remember the names of. It was amazing! When we weren’t on a game drive, we were at the campsite talking with people from all over the world including Dubai, India, Costa Rica, Italy, and England.

A wild dog

An elephant that got extremely close to our jeep

A little deer that we saw right outside the campsite

The "rocks" in the water were actually hippos!

          I bused back to Pietermaritzburg overnight on Sunday and arrived there around 4:30 am on Monday. Because it was so early, Fr Clement from the Pietermaritzburg community came to pick me up and bring me back to Emaphetweleni Priory. This actually worked out perfectly because I was able to reconnect with the brothers in PMB and say my goodbyes to them before I left. Fr Clement was then kind enough to drive me back to Montebello, and on the way there we pulled the car over in order to eat some Sugarcane! Sugarcane is a crop that grows absolutely everywhere in Montebello, and it is aptly named since the inside of it is filled with a sugary syrup. I’ve seen the Sugarcane every day in Montebello, and I was SO happy to finally eat it for myself!

Saying goodbye to Fr Martin (left) and Fr Joe (right) from the Pietermaritzburg community

Sugarcane as far as the eye can see

First time eating Sugarcane with Fr Clement!

          So that brings us back to the present, where I am now enjoying my last night in Montebello. I said goodbye to the children at Vianney this evening, which was so incredibly hard. They put together some songs to perform for me before I left, and some of the kids gave beautiful speeches saying how grateful they were for all the fun we were able to have together. For these past few weeks, one of the best parts of my day is going to Vianney since the kids always run out to greet me with smiles on their faces and arms spread wide for a hug. That being said, one of the hardest parts of the day is having to say goodbye to them in the evening. If I thought those small, daily goodbyes were hard, this last one we had tonight was next to impossible. The kids there are so amazing and sweet and full of love. While I’ve been there, I have tried to tell each and every one of them how much they are loved; I have tried to show each and every one of them that they have a place where belong; and I have tried to give each and every one of them so many hugs to the point that they are filled with love. It was so hard saying goodbye tonight, but I cannot express how grateful I am that God sent me these 23 blessings to play with, care for, and love.

These kids are so creative! I brought them jump ropes to play with, and the next thing I know they are "plugging them in" to a pipe and having a karaoke party 

My 23 little blessings

          Tomorrow is my last day at the high school and Creche, so that update will come in a later blog. The last story I wanted to share was an experience that happened just tonight. The electricity was out in Montebello all day today, which was not a huge deal during the day, but as the sun went down so did my phone battery. This was extremely concerning to me because not only did I want to take pictures of my last few moments here, but I also had a huge flight coming up in less than 24 hours. After my phone had fully died and all attempts to recharge it with my laptop had failed, Sister Michelin (who runs Vianney) and Sister Sthembile pulled me away and told me to just have dinner with them first and we would work it out later on. So, in the pitch black the three of us had a candlelit dinner and reminisced about some of the moments we had with the Vianney children earlier in the day. It was such a beautiful, peaceful moment. During a lull in the conversation, Sister Michelin sat up and said, “God, please put the electricity back on,” and I kid you not, 5 seconds later the light in the room turned on and the TV started playing. Afterwards, I asked her to please pray for me and my family because apparently her prayers go straight to the top!

          Thank you so much for all of your prayers throughout this whole Fellowship, I am so humbled by the amount of love and blessings I have received here.

          God Bless,

          Jen