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Thursday-Monday blog… This is just updated as things go along. Sorry, it’s random…
Well, I said goodbye but not without some tears shed. I woke up Thursday morning with a complete peace and I was going to Africa to do the Lord’s work and that was it. I was READY. So, so, so ready. Then the goodbyes came and the final prayer over us. Woah. I cried like a little baby as my family, some of my favorite girls on the planet, and best friends all surrounded, touched, and prayed over and for me. Suddenly I realized I’m going to Africa for the summer. I will not see these people for 3 months, or 11 weeks, or 79days (whichever one is easier… haha!). It broke my heart. If you know me you know I LOVE hugs. They’re my favorite! I will miss my mama’s hugs when I wake up in the morning and all throughout the day. I will miss my little brother constantly “aggravating” me and then randomly telling me he loves me and hugging me. I will miss my daddy hugs. I will miss my best friend hugs. I will miss getting picked up by one of my “little sisters”. I will miss my big brother hugs. I will miss the youth girls in my church and the JOY they bring to my life. I will miss one of my other families that I spend a TON of time at their house. I will miss their precious kids that are constantly loving on me. I will miss a lot. So many precious people wrote me letters (or did a slideshow) and I read them and laughed and cried. My dad wrote me the sweetest letter that I will forever cherish. I am so thankful to have the support of my family and friends as I embark on this journey with Jesus. To each one of you reading this blog (that I know) I MISS YOU!


So, ready to hear some stuff Jesus has already taught me, showed me, and done??? This is called “on a happier note”…
-My luggage got put all the way to Mozambique! I was supposed to get it in South Africa but it got put all the way to Mozam. Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! Praise Jesus! Oh and my bag was 47 pounds. Yeah, I did GOOD! And I believe it will be 44 pounds by the time it gets to Pemba…. Because Jesus does miracles!
-The Lord keeps showing me that He is SUSTAINER!!! He WILL sustain me through these weeks. He thanked ME for being obedient and going. ME? Are you kidding me? Jesus thanked ME. How HUMBLING! I said well Jesus, anything for YOU! Obedience is better than sacrifice afterall!
-I ate AIRPLANE food! For those of you who know me, I don’t eat airplane food. I am one picky, picky eater. It looks nasty, smells disgusting and I can’t put it down normally. But I think Jesus is changing my taste buds because I REALLY enjoyed it. Hahaha. I actually wanted more. If you know me well(and my crazy eating habits) you’re saying “what in the world, Emily??!!! I can’t believe it” right now. Haha
-we met some pretty crazy amazing missionaries going to Africa this summer. LOVE getting on international flights and being able to talk about Jesus and what ALL He is going to do this summer. How EXCITING! I love how Jesus brings His body together.
- I had my “when heaven invades earth” book out and we got to talk to the flight attendant about the book. She had read it before and LOVED the book. It was neat.
- my “verse for the day” on my ipod was Matthew 28:19-20. Ha, perfect Jesus!
- Riding on an airplane for 16 hours was not the best or worst experience… ever. Haha our plane shook most of the time. It was interesting. We’d try to go to sleep and our plane would just shake back and forth. I prayed in the spirit A LOT because it felt like we were going to crash at any second. And we were over water MOST of the time Then we sat in front of 2 SCREAMING kids that kicked our seats, kept hitting us in the head, dropping their cups on us, etc. ha Jesus is always wanting me to bear more fruit. But it was an adventure!
- this is our picture after traveling for 20 hours straight…


-As I arrived in south Africa I forgot how MUCH I loved the African accents. Oh I LOVE them!! I told the first lady I met, “Oh I’ve missed your beautiful accents!!”
-As I am writing this we are staying at a beautiful hotel. We have a wonderful bed, shower, food, etc and I am just so excited about actually being able to LAY DOWN and go to sleep. I am so sore.
-I can’t believe I’m in Africa and I’ll be here all summer. Alex and I keep turning to one another and saying “we’re IN Africa!!” yes, I love it here.
-I’m about to have my first African meal of the year. YUM! I can’t wait!!
-I am so ready to play with orphans tomorrow! Hip! Hip! Hooray!
Saturday/Sunday
-We arrived safe and sound with all of our luggage. PRAISE JESUS!!! I am not rooming with Alex or my other friend, Laura. At the moment I am all by myself in a room. I am a little sad that neither of them is in a room/house with me.  It will be ok though… it will. As I continue to know the girls in my house it will be fine. In our house, we have a girl from France who barely speaks English, girl from England who just hates this heat and bugs(poor darling!... she is SO sweet though!!!), a girl from New Zealand(who is probably the nicest person I’ve ever met), and 2 other girls from the united states. We will get more people Sunday!
- oh let me tell you living conditions… this is interesting.
We are all SMOOSHED into this little house. It is TINY!!! We do have 2 bathrooms though. We CAN’T flush toilet paper EVER or we’ll mess up the entire system. We each have a little bed and that’s about it. We do have a small kitchen with the cutest LITTLE stove and sink. Our house “mom”(she’s like 24.. she’s on staff) said she only takes a shower maybe twice a week. Yeah, I’m used to one everyday… guess that’s not going to happen. Hahaha. There just isn’t enough water. So, looks like I’ll be nasty all summer. But it really won’t matter because everyone else will be. Right when you take a shower you start sweating because it’s HOT! And we have no AC or a fan. I’ll get used to wearing a hat and doing all sorts of things with my hair. It’ll be fun.
-I had rice and beans last night. They were actually really good! Praise Jesus! I may not like them in 3 weeks but I liked them last night. I’m learning that here you don’t eat because you like something. Food and eating is not an enjoyable thing, it’s what you have to do to survive. So, I will probably not enjoy eating for the next 11 weeks but I will have to eat to survive. It’s a whole new mindset.
-Please pray I sleep better. I haven’t been able to sleep well at all. It might be because I’m not used to it being so hot or the fact that my “window” is just like a mosquito screen and I can hear animals literally at my ear the whole night. It will take some getting used to. But I NEED to sleep! I have been waking up, wide awake about 5 am….which is so not me.
-All the students I meet are really sweet. We are all different and unique, but it’s been fun. We have people from so many different countries.
-We had a worship night last night and it was incredible!! The stars are BEAUTIFUL and it was wonderful just to praise the Lord underneath the stars all together as a group. It was perfect.
- Do I miss home? Yes. I think as things get busier and I can actually communicate with people I will be ok but until then I miss home. I do love it here. I do. But it’s tough. It’s minute by minute dying to myself. But yet the living conditions as hard as they are(and believe me it’s TOUGH) it’s not unbearable. I’m getting used to it. I am having to continually trust Jesus and speak to Him to get me through. I am having to lean on Him ALL the time. I’m tired. I’m weak. I’m weary. But, it’s all going to be ok.
-This morning we had church and it was good! It was hard because we couldn’t understand the worship(it was in Portuguese and makuwa). But then Heidi spoke and that was precious. I sat at the altar and just talked to Jesus. Oh how I needed that time.
-I’ve had two meltdowns today. I just really miss home and I miss my family and friends. I want to be able to talk to everyone so badly and it’s rough not being able to. It’s hard not being able to hear my mom’s voice or being able to talk to my friends or family. I just miss home. Please, please, please pray for strength. Pray the Lord would be my sustainer. He promised He would be so I am resting in that. Once it we get busier I think it will get easier. We just have nothing to do right now so that is making it harder. I am praying it gets easier.
-We went to the beach today(it was beautiful by the way) and on our way we saw a little boy probably about 3 years old get run over by a truck(land rover). We saw the tires literally run over his body. My heart sank and all I could do was pray in the spirit. They picked him up off the road and we saw his foot just hanging. Half of his foot was just hanging by skin. Sadly, he will most likely lose his foot because the hospitals here are not very good. He was screaming then he went into shock. It was very hard to watch. I DO still want to be a nurse. It didn’t gross me out and immediately my first thought was what can we do! I wanted to help that poor little boy so much, but there was nothing I could do. It was very hard to watch. We are praying he doesn’t have internal injuries but we saw the car run over his back… then his foot got stuck. Oh so hard to watch and something I will never forget.
-I am mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. It’s only 6 pm at the time I am writing this but I am so exhausted. I can’t wait to go to sleep.