Final Day of Kid's Club

First of all, we would like to apologize for neglecting the blog yesterday. In our defense, it was the 4th of July, and we were all diligently reading the Declaration of Independence pretty worn out from a busy day that concluded with John and Avril Thomas coming over to the Team House for dinner (what an amazing experience). The Thomases had so many incredible stories that I can't wait to share when I get back to B'ham...they are two of the most awesome people I have ever met.

Today truly was bittersweet. It has been such a blessing to work with the Living Hope staff at the Holiday Kid's Camps this week, and I think that I speak for the whole group when I say that we are really sad that today was our last day (I may or may not have cried). Over the past four days, we have experienced so many different emotions: joy as we spent time with the children and teenagers, heartbreak as we heard the stories of their daily struggles, hope as we witnessed firsthand how God is working here, and frustration as we asked ourselves how we could return to our comfortable lives when we have seen what life is like for the people living in Capricorn and Overcome.

This week, I have had the joy of working in Capricorn in the mornings and Overcome in the afternoons. As you can tell from the earlier posts, both groups have had amazing experiences. One of my favorite things about Capricorn is the praise and worship times we have had each morning with the kids. It has been so encouraging to watch them sing their hearts out every day, completely joyful and uninhibited as they praise God. I am 100% confident that if I took a poll and asked the kids which song was their favorite, they would all say "the coconut song" (more commonly known as the "Fruits of the Spirit song"). Thanks to Garner, it quickly became one of the most entertaining parts of the kids' camp. For us, it has been so much fun to learn new songs from the kids (and they have found our attempts at trying to sing and speak in Afrikaans totally hilarious).

At Overcome (where my group does the teen camp), we have done everything from jewelry making, to cricket playing, to group dancing, to spray painting, to carpentering (I'm pretty sure it should be "carpentry," but I really wanted it to fit in with the other -ing words--nerd alert!). And I am fairly certain that at any given time, someone in our group (typically Kinsey) is singing and/or dancing to "Waka Waka."

It has been so awesome getting to build relationships with the kids and teens at Capricorn and Overcome this past week. I feel like I have known them so much longer than just four days, and I will miss each of them so much. Saying goodbye today was so difficult, especially at Overcome, because we are going to church in Capricorn on Sunday and will hopefully see many of the kids from camp one more time. Several of us keep saying that if we could we would stay another week if we could (Mom and Dad, please don't take it personally).

Tomorrow morning, we are going on the full tour of Living Hope with Natasha (the fabulous volunteer coordinator), and tomorrow night we are going to Youth Night at Capricorn. I feel certain that it will be another wonderful day in Cape Town! I hope that everything is going well at home and that y'all are staying cool (it's so weird to say that when most of us have our heaters on full blast in our rooms).

-Sarah

P.S. Hannah wanted me to add that she forgot to say that Katherine Thomas came over for dinner on Tuesday night. Not surprisingly, we had a blast.

Oh and I just realized that I forgot to talk about the "Arctic Plunge" that took place today. Over half of the group (myself not included) went swimming in the ocean right outside the house. Pure insanity. That's all I have to say about that.