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We arrived safely home yesterday, touching down at 3:30pm at the Detroit Airport. A wonderful two weeks in South Africa now behind us. We are using this weekend to recover from jet lag and adjust back to our Michigan reality.

I did end up presenting the aforementioned seminar at Camp Meeting and it was a very good experience. I am really thankful I had the time and opportunity (as well as the motivation) to finally put it together, and then try it out for the first time on the very loving South Africans. My favorite part was the people who came to me afterwards, genuinely touched, thanking me for the presentation. Their comments made me aware of the blessing the material can be and the importance of my willingness to share it. It is such a wonderful feeling, and a humbling experience, to be used by God to bring people closer to Him and the truths He has given us. Certainly, the only thing I did was submit to Him. He did the rest!

David's messages also went well. Having given a total of seven in three days, he was exhausted by the end and happy they were behind him.

We ended our trip with a two-and-a-half day safari at a nearby reserve, a treat given to us by the local conference. The conference president, treasurer, and secretary joined David, myself, and two other Camp Meeting guest speakers, Mark Howard and Karl Haffner. The game drives were fun and relaxing and it was hard for me to say goodbye.

Below are some quick snap shots from our trip. I didn't take many pictures, but instead, left that up to Mark Howard and Karl Haffner, the unofficial "professional" photographers of our group. When I get a hold of them, I'll post them along with mine on Facebook. These will have to suffice for now:

Just to give you an idea of how close some of these animals were to our vehicle!

I don't think any of these pictures were zoomed in much if at all.

The reserve had designated areas where you were allowed to get out of your vehicle, although these signs served as a reminder that we did so at our own risk. =) At this stop there was a gift shop and restaurant that overlooked an area of the reserve where animals frequently visit.

Sneaking up on one of the "dangerous" animals at the stop for a photo-op. =)

The other designated areas were hide-outs where we could get out of our vehicles and walk down enclosed walkways that led us to these viewpoints overlooking watering holes.

Looking out from the hide-out one early morning.

Group Shot

Although we had high hopes of spotting lions on this last trip, we never did find them (we did spot a Cheetah though, which was more rare of a find). But during the visit to the Rhino & Lion Park the week prior we were able to snap these shots:

White Lions

Lion Feeding

The Rhino & Lion Park is more heavily monitored than reserves are. At this particular park, predators are kept in their own large fenced-in areas. These lions are feed twice a week, when a truck pulls in and drops off a carcass. I believe the animals in this park were mostly hand raised for one reason or another, and therefore not able to be let out in the reserves as they would not know how to hunt for themselves.

I am always struck with how majestic these animals are. I try to imagine what heaven will be like when we can actually touch and play with these beautiful creatures.

South Africa - Continued

We are now a day and a half into Camp Meeting. It started last evening and will continue until Monday morning. David gave his first presentations today, and what a day it was with three of them back to back!

The people here are very lovely! They have already invited us back for three different occasions. I'm already looking forward to returning. =) (Although probably for only one of the three.)

I have finished compiling a powerpoint of the presentation I mentioned earlier and am planning to present it on Sunday afternoon. I appreciate your prayers!

To back up a little bit, last Wednesday was the day we went to the Rhino and Lion park that I mentioned earlier as well. I had a lot of fun! We were able to see the rhinos, white lions, "normal" lions, cheetahs, wild dogs, and a lion feeding. There was also a section with baby wild-life that were being hand-raised. These animals had been born in captivity or abandoned in the wild. Pictures will come as we are able to upload and have time!

South Africa - First Day

We arrived to South Africa yesterday night at about 9:15pm. It was after 26 hours of travel time from Michigan to our final destination of Johannesburg, South Africa. Our flights were uneventful and went by faster than expected. Johan and Matilda (a local pastoral couple) picked us up from the airport and brought us to their home in Pretoria, where we stayed last night and will again tonight before moving to the camp grounds of the Sedaven Camp Meeting, where David will be speaking.

Today we awoke at around 7:30am, had a relaxing morning and a delicious breakfast. Then by 10am we were off to an appointment at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

David had previously been encouraged to check out their Ph.D in Systematic Theology program as they have a prestigious and world-recognized reputation as well as a very developed distance-learning program (no, we would not be moving to S. Africa for David’s doctorate), not to mention it is very affordable with the exchange rate of the dollar. I was able to sit in on the interview as well and enjoyed the experience. The department seemed to be impressed with David’s dissertation idea and by the end guaranteed his acceptance to the program! We are thrilled! It will be an interesting and exciting process from here.

Later, after lunch and a nap, we spent the afternoon preparing for the seminars and presentations at Camp Meeting.

I am actually considering helping David out with one seminar, but I haven’t committed yet. See, what happened was that another couple from Michigan (Dane & Vicki Griffin) were supposed to be here instead of us, but with Dane’s health condition (reoccurring cancer), they were unable. Instead, David and another Michigan pastor (Mark Howard) were asked to take their places. Here is the catch—Vicki Griffin is the MI Conference Health & Temperance Director, and was slotted to speak to Women’s Ministries and the Shepherdess about health! Well, they gave David two of her slots. Women’s health is not exactly David’s forte! However, he has been a good sport about it and has been trying to prepare something applicable. In the meantime, I kind of offered to maybe help him a little bit, if I could pull something together in time. I have actually wanted to put a presentation together on mental health, specifically on recognizing and changing our self-talk. I figured this was an opportunity to get me working towards this goal, but I haven’t promised I would finish it in time. We’ll see how it goes! I might be too scared to present it anyway. There are around 7-8,000 people who attend this Camp Meeting and I don’t know how large the women’s meetings will be. It just might be a little too large for my first presentation! =)

At any rate, our experience so far in South Africa has been very enjoyable. As expected, South Africa is more developed than Kenya and is leaps and bounds ahead of Mali. It seems I move a step up, in regards to amenities, each time I come to this continent. The home we are currently staying in has all the items expected in a traditional American house, including internet! Quite a step up from searching for internet with a satellite on a hilltop (Mali) and even from having to go to an internet café (Kenya).

Well, tomorrow is another eventful day! We just heard we will be leaving at 9am to meet up with Mark Howard and then go to a nearby game reserve and lion park! Afterwards, we will move to the camp grounds, where Camp Meeting will begin on Thursday. I’m not sure what the internet capabilities are at the camp ground, so this may be my last and only entry until we get back. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! I am truly blessed to be able to “tag-along” on this adventure!

Pictures from GYC

I can finally post pictures! For some reason, our internet router would refuse to open the page that allows one to post pictures on blogspot....

So here are some pictures from the Generation of Youth for Christ conference held from December 19-23 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There were approximately 3,000 young Adventists present and it was a time of spiritual refreshing and inspiration to "take the Gospel to the world in this generation."

David was the evening devotional speaker