I highly recommend saving up the money to make the trip to New Zealand. The natural scenery and wildlife is absolutely incredible. This photo was taken in Purakaunui Bay in the Catlin region of the Southern Island. My brother and I camped right along this beach, falling asleep and waking up to the sounds of the ocean waves and sheep. This was the first stop on our month long adventure. The South Island was packed full of incredible hikes, glaciers, cliffs, lakes, and fjords. 

From here we drove and camped, sometimes stayed in hostels, all along the western coast of the south island eventually making our way up to the Picton Ferry. We took the ferry to the north island and continued driving and camping, staying longer in some places than others. We found ourselves in a small coastal town called Raglan and loved it so much we stayed for 5 nights instead of our planned 2 nights. The community of people we found at a Backpacker's hostel and the incredible surfing conditions are what kept us there.  Hobbiton (The Shire) was just a 2 hour drive away and we were beyond impressed with how The Lord of The Rings came to life on the little movie set surrounded by miles of farmland. 

If you are planning your own New Zealand adventure I suggest buying a tent and renting a car instead of a big camper RV. You will help out the environment and you will save money on fees. It worked great for us! And there are plenty of hostels to catch a good night's sleep in a bed if you need a break from a night in a tent. 

​Here at Pfunanane each person involved with the school and ministry has a daily routine that plays out. At the core of everyone’s purpose here are the kids. I've come to realize that these kids are at the core of my purpose too. Simply getting to do life with them has grown into one of my greatest joys. Tutoring or doing therapy horse back riding with the younger elementary kids at school during the day and then in the evening just hanging out or doing homework with the teenagers that live on the property here has become my own  routine; and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The time I get to spend with each kid is meaningful. I get to know their unique personalities. I get to laugh with them. I get to learn about their goals and aspirations in life. How cool is it that I get to cheer them on for these goals? I get to hear about their struggles and trials. For the teenagers, I get to be with them as they practice driving, as they watch movies on Saturday nights and as they play cards on a Wednesday. With the younger kids at school, I get to help them understand certain math problems – sometimes while using rocks to represent our numbers.  I get to be with them as we take on the huge task of conquering the English alphabet, one letter at a time. I get to hear about how their weeks are going, what they are struggling with in class, or just what in life is good or difficult that day. I am lucky to do daily life with these kids. I am lucky to know them. I am lucky to care deeply for them. I am lucky to give them love. God has been so faithful. God just wants to do day-to-day with us too, right? That's where he wants to reside- right in the middle of our daily laughter, frustrations and routines. The cool thing is He is already right there with us in the middle of our beautifully messy lives.  

The silliness around here is the best. The kids bring out a whole new meaning to silly. Today we were doing a therapy horseback lesson with the two goofballs pictured below. They rode Lucy and couldn't get enough of it. All throughout the lesson - getting Lucy ready to ride, actually riding, and then putting Lucy away -  there was always something that was funny. Either they were making funny faces and laughing with each other, laughing at something Lucy would do, or at one point they were pretending to be  chickens and running around flapping their arms and cracking up at their own chicken impersonations. What a good reminder it is to never take life too seriously. Without their silliness, and the silliness of many of the kids I get to work with here, there would be a lot less laughter. Even though some of these kids live in really tough conditions and difficult family situations, they still have a great sense of joy that shines through in their silliness. God created us to laugh and embrace the silly parts of life, and for that I am so grateful. 

I am accepting the fact that I won't be able to fully communicate everything because there is just so much going on here, and that's okay!

I'm already finishing up my second week working in South Africa. Time is moving crazy fast. I'm all settled in, getting used to a new routine, and getting to know the incredible people that make up the Pfunanane community. I have been loving doing life with them and experiencing their world here. 

This group of people has embraced me with arms wide open. What an incredible thing it is to feel welcomed when entering into an unfamiliar environment. God intends for us to live in community. To live with our arms wide open to others, following His example. I've realized that as I live life with this desire and mindset of embracing others fully, I often forget to live with my arms wide open to God first.  God craves for us to seek Him before all else; welcoming and inviting him into our messy lives and day to day routines and concentrating on His guidance, forgiveness, mercy, grace, justice, peace, love and righteousness (the list of awe-inspiring characteristics goes on). By embracing God first, He can work through our open arms. Allowing us as humans to be vulnerable, to embrace ourselves and others for all that we are, and to be a source of His goodness and  His love.  This is far greater than what we could share alone.    

Here are a few (among MANY) moments so far where I've felt God with arms wide open:
- Charlie, the three year old I nanny a few hours a day, looked at me and said, “You’re my friend now!” then proceeded to pretend to be a mouse and squeak at me for ten minutes. 
- Gracious, a girl I tutor, was excited to talk about how well her test went that day and then listed off all of the other subjects she needs help with. 
- During a therapy horse back riding lesson with a student who is all smiles, she simply asked, “Can I ride again tomorrow?”. 
- While praying with Lesli, a missionary here, I listened as she prayed about something that had been on my heart, without me even mentioning it to her. 
- While getting to know the other missionaries serving here, we laughed at silly things and I listened as they taught me which grocery store has the freshest fruits and vegetables; as well as the ins and outs of everything else. 



Photo below featuring one of the kids I nanny a few hours a day. Ellie (AKA Bobsie) riding a "cocoa", which is what she calls all horses. 

My home for the next 3 months is a town called Modjadjiskloof, which is located in the Northeastern corner of South Africa and about a 5 hour drive from Johannesburg. It is a smaller town in the province of Limpopo. I'm excited to learn more of this little town, as I don't know much about it yet. A fun fact I discovered while researching is that it used to be called Dulwelskloof and was renamed to Modjadjiskloof on June 14, 2004 in honor of the Rain Queen, who is now the only ruling queen in South Africa. I will be living in missionary housing provided by Pfunanane Ministries, the ministry that I am moving to South Africa to serve with! 

 While living in South Africa I will be spending my time working with Pfunanane Ministries! They are an incredible ministry that was founded in 1997 and currently educate around 250 students, house 6 full time missionaries who care for 19 children, and are planning to expand housing, classrooms and ministries. Pfunanane has developed different programs to support the children in their surrounding communities. The Pfunanane Academy is providing Christian education to children lacking quality schooling opportunities, the Meals Program is combating hunger and malnourishment, the Children's Homes are providing permanent housing and caretakers to children in unstable living situations, and the Equestrian Program is allowing children to benefit from the therapeutic qualities of spending time with horses and building self confidence through horseback riding. I will get to be involved in some aspect with all of these programs, but specifically I will have the privilege of tutoring Pfunanane Academy students in English as well as working with the Equestrian Program facilitating horse back riding lessons with the kids. I am pretty dang excited to be able to apply my years of experience with horses and my love for kids into helping this ministry. 

Check out the Skills Development program to see the latest venture being pursued by Pfunanane Ministries to help prepare children for adult life. 

To begin explaining my 'why' I want to quote City Scape, a church in San Pedro Sula, Honduras (and a quote also found on Haley Janssen's bathroom wall), "The purpose of your life actually has nothing to do with you." This quote really resonated with me, in many aspects, but especially in my decision to go work with Pfunanane Ministries. I got connected with the ministries by a close friend of mine who sent me a photo of a posting for a missionary opening. Still unsure of my future, I reached out to Sarah, the woman in charge at Pfunanane. After a crazy turn of events and a few conversations I felt God urging me to go, so I decided I would. Initially, I felt doubtful if I made the right decision to take on South Africa or not. I minored in Spanish and have always talked about returning to South America someday after loving my time studying in Perú. I had also been feeling that after graduating from Drake University I was meant to simply stay and work in Nebraska for awhile to be close to family. So a quick 3 month jaunt over to South Africa doesn't quite make sense, right?  Nevertheless, I postponed a job offer in Omaha and am venturing out.  

So to refer back to the quote, my purpose in life actually has nothing to do with me. Once I realized that God's plans for me actually have nothing to do with me and my own plans, but everything to do with Him and what gifts, desires and abilities He has instilled in me, I regained my confidence that South Africa is exactly where I am supposed to be. My heart for helping and loving on underprivileged children aligns with all that Pfunanane Ministries does in their community, my experience working with horses for 10 years means I will be able to really help with their growing Equestrian Program, and my time helping Peruvian students with English homework will have somewhat prepared me for tutoring English at Pfunanane Academy. What an incredible opportunity it will be to give my love and abilities to such an incredible organization and to children so worthy of feeling loved. 
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Throughout my final semester of college I had a few rejections from various jobs that I had gotten my hopes up on. I felt God encouraging me to just wait and giving me peace amidst disapointments.  It's as if He was saying, "Not yet, that wasn't where I'm leading you. Keep waiting." I am beginning to believe that this opportunity is what He had me waiting for. I can't wait to see the ways in which God has already been moving at Pfuanane for the past 20 years and how lives will continue to be changed in the future!