Oats-horn and Bobbie Sue.

Here's an update on what's been happening the past few days.

Thursday, I went to Jeffreys Bay (where we had our retreat about a month ago) with Logan, Neysia, Sasha, and Nyasha.  We got to watch the finals of the Billabong Supertubes Surfing Contest thing...it was awesome!  I've never seen anyone surf like that!  Actually, I've never really seen anyone surf, period - so it was awesome.  Kelly Slater won, and we got to see him in person!  It was way cool.

When Logan pulled up in front of the house to drop us off, Liz and a woman from the church (Celestine) and her children were outside.  Turns out, someone had broken into Celestine's car.

That's two cars in less than a week, both in broad daylight.

Sometimes it's hard to live here, but days like Friday and Saturday make it worthwhile.

We (Diana, Johnathan, Mike, Logan, Anthea, Wendy and I) left Friday to go to Oudtshoorn (said like oats-horn), a town about 4 hours away from PE.  It's the ostrich capital of the world, and it was awesome!  The girls and guys stayed in separate chalets - they were really nice.  Anthea told us that a place like that was normal to stay in.  It had two beds and a couch that had a mattress thing underneath it that pulled out.  We slept very comfortably!  After having breakfast the next morning, we set out for Cango Caves, about 30 minutes away from Oudtshoorn.

I had never been in a cave before.  It was cool!  The girls took the standard tour, where they take you to 5 different chambers in the caves.  It was oddly pretty, and very interesting.  But I felt like I was inhaling carbon dioxide and no oxygen - not the best feeling in the world!  At one point, the guide turned out all the lights so we could see how dark it was in there.  Very cool.

After leaving the caves, we went to the Oudtshoorn Ostrich Farm.  It was ridiculously funny.  We took a tour, and Johnathan and Mike actually got to RIDE an ostrich.  Yeah.  It was crazy.  I got a "neck massage" from the ostriches - the tour guide volunteered me to hold a bucket of feed, with my back to the birds.  Then they came up and ate the food over my shoulders!  They were pecking at it so fast that it did kind of feel like they were "massaging" my neck and shoulders.  But I was too scared to think it felt good!  It was definitely a crazy experience that I can add to my list of Things I Did in Africa.

We got home and pretty much collapsed!  I was so tired, and we had church the next morning.  So bed seemed like the only option that made sense!

Today was difficult though.  It was Logan's last time at church.  I didn't think I would cry, but I did.  It's so weird, you know, because I don't feel like my sadness is really justifiable.  I mean, I only spent about 2 months with the guy - that's nothing compared to how much time he spent with his teammates and the church here.  But I am so proud of him and the work he's done here.  I'm proud that he's my friend and I'm so grateful that we got to know each other better here in South Africa.  When I see Logan with the church members here, it's exactly what I want to be like.  I want my field time to be productive like Logan's was.  I want to learn and grow and make relationships, I want to help and really see people.

So please keep Logan in your prayers as his field time is wrapping up and as he's heading back to the States to start new things in his life.

And Logan, if you're reading this, thanks for everything.  Izzie is really going to miss you, and I think the rest of us might too.  Just don't forget - Bobbie Sue took the money and run.

-Tara.