June 7 (day 16)

Tuesday

(to the tune of the chorus of the Ben Folds song "Hiro's Song") I DON'T WANNA GO HOME!

It's hard to think we're leaving today to go back to home #1. I don't want to go. I LOVE it here in Africa. Even though it's only been a little over 2 weeks since we arrived...I feel as if it's been months. I just want to stay! Everything about Africa is beautiful to me in some way.

I'm listening to an airplane fly by. God, can I just stay, please? I hope and pray that one day God will send me back to Swaziland or even just back to Africa. Or just somewhere that my heart will feel it belongs. I don't want to go back to the States. I don't want to have everything and more and become nothing for God. I want what I need, and to become everything for God. I just love the attitude of servanthood and it makes me so JOYFUL.

Yesterday while we were still in Swaziland, Joe, Brent, Amy, and Rich and Misty all told their stories of how they met their wife/husband. Brent and Joe were absolutely hilarious. And it was just awesome to hear how God worked in the relationships of Amy and Andy, as well as Rich and Misty. He's so good. Everyone tried to get Sezwe to share his story, but he walked out of the room. Ha. BUT...today he shared it with us! I feel so special. Ha. It was so sweet.
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This morning Claire and I went exploring around Koinonia. It's so beautiful. We found this small chapel and went inside. There was this awesome stained glass window above the altar. Had to take a picture of it. There also were confessionals, and since I've never been in one before, I took a picture of those too. Ha. Outside the garden area is so pretty. There is this huge tree sitting right in the middle. It's seriously so big. That place is just so incredibly peaceful. I'm sad we had to leave it.

We got dropped off at the airport around 2pm, even though our flight isn't until like 10:45pm. We just wanted our driver to be able to make it across the SA/Swazi border before it closed. So for the past few hours we've just been exploring the airport. It's really nice. There are so many shops and restaurants. It's seriously like a mall. So yea. It was kind of fun walking into all the shops and looking around with everyone. A couple of us got separated from the rest of our group for awhile, but it was fine. I had the chance to get to know them a little better.

For once I am actually ready to get home. If I can't stay in Africa, then just get me home! I don't want to sit around in an airport or on a plane for 24 hours. But if I could stay here then I totally would :)

P.S. I hope my feather that I found at the game park doesn't get confiscated when I go through customs. I already had to throw all of my flowers away because we're not allowed to take them with us...Wait, actually I gave them to Katie. Wonder if she'll make it through with them?