Off to SA and Malawi!!!

today is one of the saddest days yet. lecture phase officially ended on thursday, and we leave for south africa and malawi tomorrow. yesterday was a day of "spring cleaning" - we packed up the entire base - all the mattresses, couches, chairs, tables, beds - just about everything. and scrubbed & swept our little hearts out!
it's hard fitting two months worth of necessities into one bag that has to be light enough to go on 2+ hour hikes with.
we did our weight test and took our massive bags on a hike almost to town on a wonderfully misty day. remind me to never do that with flip-flops on again!

just a heads up for those of you who haven't heard from me lately - if you saw the bits on the news about the riots and things in swaziland lately because of the King - it really hasn't been that bad. i've been completely safe and we stayed out of Mbabane during the upset the other week. I went to the 40/40 ceremonies and nothing happened - the bomb that was said to have gone off, from what i heard, was actually a banana stuck in an exhaust pipe that blew. so no worries, i am safe and well in Mbabane! :) thank you for your concern & prayers!

i have ADORED getting mail! i have now received 4 letters in the mail and one package! thank you to my cousin katie, my parents, elly trepanier & becky hepworth!! i am so blessed - they all came at perfect times when i really needed it. you guys have blessed me so deeply! (oh and Aaron Hamill... baha.. thankyou!! :) ) i''m always happy to get mail so don't stop :)

the last two or three weeks have been phenomenal times of learning - i can sum them up in three words: God is good.
i've learned tons about the Holy Spirit, HIV/AIDS & Spiritual warfare and benefitted from getting to know amazing speakers, battling out my own preconceived ideas & finding the back up for new ideas and realizing the state of Africa, and really just the state of HIV/AIDS here. i've never known much about the disease, and now i feel more prepared to help others understand the reality of it and love people affected/infected.
it's been solid, but i'm definitely ready for outreach. we've been poured into and received so much teaching and blessing, that i'm ready to just see how God can take the things he's taught me and use those to bless and love other people. we've been writing messages we'll be speaking at different churches or whatever comes up & i've had to rewrite my testimony in a new way and write actual teachings that'll be presented to larger groups of people. now, for those of you who went to grade school with me, you know my utter fear of public speaking. but surprisingly, when i spoke first to our own group (which normally makes me more nervous), i actually did it with confidence and said things that i hadn't even planned to talk about. i'm hoping this is a continued trend and that i'm able to speak with conviction and out of love with whatever God puts on my heart. that being said, i can't wait to see miracles and amazing things happen and just honestly, whatever He decides to dish out during these next two months.

i'll be sleeping in a tent at Kruger base in South Africa for the next two weeks and exciting for my 28 hour bus trip to Malawi after that!
we got our work duties for outreach this week, and i am excited to announce that...... i am the team NURSE! woohoo! haha.. really though, i was really excited to hear that, despite the large first aid kit i get to carry about. i also have chappies (gum) to give to the team whenever we have an emotional low or low of any kind to bring unity & cheer everyone up a bit. i'm in charge of recognizing that and trying to make everyone feel better - big responsibility :) i'm also a kitchen manager with matt - so i'll have to make sure the menus are made for the following week and we stay on budget for groceries, and i'm also on for worship with another staff member - Nini. i'm excited to say the least!

please continue to pray for my team's health, unity and that we'll have provision for our daily needs. my team is still in need for continued funds, and our budget for each person during outreach is about R15 - which is about $2.
thank you again for everyone's concern lately, for letters, for prayers and encouragement! i am so blessed! thank you thank you thank you ! :)

i'll write as soon as possible on outreach and give a better update. Nkulunkulu subusisi! (excuse my siswati for anyone who actually knows what that means) God bless you!

lots of love:

Sisi Busisiwe :)