We're home!

Hello everyone!

We made it! We're home all safe and sound! Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers, love, and support over the past 7 weeks! God truly changed our lives through this trip, we will never be the same! We can't wait to sit down with all of you and show you our pictures and share more stories that we didn't have time to post on here. Right now I'm really just at a loss for words. God truly has done exceedingly and abundantly above and beyond all that we ever could have imagined for this trip! We can't thank and praise Him enough for giving us the opportunity to serve Him in South Africa! All glory and praise to Him, for HE IS WORTHY!!!

May God richly bless each of you!

Abby & Shelly

A few final pictures!

Here are a couple of photos from this past week that we never posted...

This is Amanda...

And this is Shirley...

Susan reading a story to some of the kids from the preschool...

Our girls group for the "What the Bible Says About Sex" Bible Study. Because the electricity was out at that time we had to do it by candlelight...

Playing "Down by the banks" with the kids. They loved it! :)

Playing guitar...

Well, hope you enjoyed these final pictures! Please keep us in your prayers as we fly home tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 2:00 p.m. home time. We should arrive in Newark at about 11:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

Love,
Abby & Shelly

Week #7 Prayer Update

Sorry, once again that this is a little delayed! Yesterday and today we were at a game drive, which was a lot of fun! This evening we took Amanda & Shirley to the airport, so they are probably on their way home by now, so please keep them in your prayers! Just 2 more days and we'll be the ones flying home. That's crazy!

So here is our final prayer and praise update...

Praises:

• Amanda & Shirley - For the time they gave up to come and serve with us here. They were a huge blessing to us and to the people here as well.
• Electricity - After almost 2 weeks of the electric being off at Ebenezer it finally came back on today! Praise God!
• Game Drive - For safe travels to and from and just for a good time of fellowship and refreshment. It was awesome to get to see the animals and marvel at God's beautiful creation!
• Just for the amazing trip that God has blessed us with. He has taught us both so much and definitely changed our lives!

Prayers:

• Safety - Please pray for Amanda & Shirley's safety as they fly home and also a smooth and quick recovery from jet-lag. Also keep our upcoming journey home in your prayers. We will be flying by ourselves so please pray for our safety and that everything would go smoothly.
• Goodbyes - That God would give us the strength and peace that we need to say goodbye to all these beautiful people that we've built relationships with over the past 7 weeks. It's going to be hard, and I'm sure we'll both be in tears! We're excited to come home, but not looking foward to the goodbyes, that's for sure!
• Our adjustment back to life in America - Please pray for strength as we go home and adjust to the time change and just normal life back in America. But also pray that God would continue to impress upon our hearts the things that He has taught us here and that He would show us how this experience should change our daily lives at home. We have now tasted what it is like to live life outside of our comfort zones and we never again want to settle for the "normal", lukewarm, mediocre Christian life. So please just keep that all in your prayers!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers over the past 7 weeks! You have all been such a blessing to us!

Love,
Abby & Shelly

A Quick Little Update...

Hi all!

Just thought we'd post a quick little update to let you all know what we're up to. Our final days are just flying by here! They are jam-packed with activity. Our mornings are spent with the preschool kids, singing songs, telling Bible stories, and doing crafts, games and puzzles. Right now they are apparently replacing the roof on the preschool building because there were so many leaks and stuff, so we are unable to use those facilities in the morning with the kids. So we have all been in the dinning hall which has been interesting. The first morning was a total disaster, but thankfully this morning was a lot less chaotic, so that's good!

In the afternoons we spend some time with the elderly, reading to them, rubbing lotion on their hands and just visiting with them. Shirley has also been taking all the young boys out to the soccer field for 2 hours in the afternoon and playing with them. They all love it! :)

Then in the evening we have our Bible Study with the youth using the book "What the Bible Says About Sex". So far that has gone very well! The youth have all been very open and receptive, which is a praise!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as our time here winds down and we prepare to go home. Goodbyes are going to be difficult for sure! But we are both very excited to come home too!

Love and miss you all!

Abby & Shelly

Our House

So we only have a week of our trip left and we're just now posting pictures of our house. Sorry about that! :) It certainly isn't finished yet, but it's getting there slowly but surely. Here are some before and after pictures for you. We'll start with our bedroom.

So this is before...

Just gotta love those pink walls!

And after...

Then the main room in the house before...



And after...

And here's one of the bathroom and storage room addition that's being put on our house. This was taken a few weeks ago, so by now there's a roof on and stuff. We're just waiting for the toilet to go in and the shower to get all hooked up. Maybe we'll get to use it once before we go home. :)

Can't wait to get home and share the rest of our pictures with you all!

Love,

Abby & Shelly