hey!

Greetings from South AFrica! We are all doing well and thank you for all your prayers and comments!!! Yesterday was a wicked hot day spend at Noorsberg with some amazing kids...Noorsberg is one of the more well off orphanages in the rural part about 1 hour outside of Durban. They still only usually get one meal a day, 6 kids to a room, ect...but we loved getting a chance to hold them and love on them and run around with them...a lot!! We played soccer for over an hour with their just formed soccer team and we were beat (physically and literally :o) but we had a great time!! It was a bit tricky, having to avoid all the clumps of grass all over the pitch, as well as the 4-5 cows that wandered onto the field at certain times and left nice little...presents along the way! They sang for us again this year and it always is the most beautiful thing ever to hear...
That night we talked about how amazing it is just to love. No strings attached. How incredible is the Unconditional love of God...we saw that from the kids and talked about how we need to love like that all the time with each other, with our family, with our enemies. Loving in action, but also in words, speaking to others about the amazing love of Jesus and how much we all need God.
Today was spent at church...this morning we went to Sean and Deshni's home church in Arena Park. It was great to worship with them in their home church!!! Then we spend the rest of the morning and afternoon at a Zulu church in a very poor part of Durban. Even though the church is basically a small shed, they danced, sang, and worshiped with such joy and enthusaism, despite some hard and sad circumstances. We talked about the fact that circumstances can't change God and the joy that He brings to us...and questioned why it's so hard for us, who seem to push God aside when circumstances are hard or tough.
Sam preached and God really spoke through him!! Katie and Elaina shared too, about their lives and how God is working in them, all through translators...Blake, Matt, Ana Laura and Joe ran a children's program during the service with bible stories, songs, games and more running around in the hot hot sun!! Westfield Baptist church is partnering with the local pastor to begin really starting to change that community through sharing about Jesus and helping to take care of large community needs. We were blessed to minister alongside them today!!!
I have to run, we are just about to begin the worship time with Westfield Baptist...know that we are experiencing the joy of seeing that God is international, working everywhere and in our hearts as well.
We are SO GLAD God provided ways for us to be here, and learned that we need to keep persevering in life...chasing after God :o)
I leave you with some words from a song we sung today: "I will run to the HIding Place...draw me ever closer to look upon Your face, I will run to the Hiding Place."!!