Valleys and Mountains

I've seen my fair share of valleys and mountains during the last 6 months, after all I do live in an area called "The Valley of a Thousand Hills." However my title isn't referring to landscape but rather the lows and highs that I've experienced all within the last month. I'll give an update on everything that's been happening here as of late:

During the last week of January while I was away from Lily spending time with my parents exploring SA, one of the long term volunteers was attacked inside her home and severely injured. She was taken to a local hospital and was admitted into the critical care unit due to a fractured skull and finger. The crime in and around Lily is nothing new, however this was a significant escalation and the incident threatened the life of a Nurse who has the biggest heart for these children. MCC had been concerned about the safety of myself and Rebecca (an MCC service worker at Lily) however they agreed we could stay on site because at that time there was only occasional theft occurring around the village. After hearing about the serious attack, MCC made the decision to pull us out of Lily and look for new placements. Obviously this was heartbreaking news for me for many reasons. The prospect of being uprooted and leaving the place I had invested myself in for 5 months and starting over somewhere else was difficult to comprehend on it's own, but I couldn't bear the fact that I would be abandoning the children and teens who had begun to trust me and accept me into their personal lives. At the time, I tried everything in my power to stay, I even looked into the options of staying at Lily independently because it meant so much to me, however at that point I had no choice but to follow the instructions of MCC. It hurt to leave. It made me aware that grieving happens on different levels and that I was in a state of grief for a while because of the loss I was experiencing. That was about 3 weeks ago. I spent those 3 weeks with MCC in Pietermaritzburg doing various things including a spiritual retreat and various trainings. This time had it's ups and downs but overall it was nice to be part of the MCC family and get to know a new couple who are now working as service workers with MCC. Long story short: There has been a compromise made and I have been able to come back to Lily! I am beyond happy to have the opportunity to spend the remainder of my term with these children that I have learned to love and appreciate so much. The only caveot is that I will be living off site at another children's village which is about 40 minutes away and commuting 4 days out of the week. I will no longer be living at Lily or spending any nights here. Although that is a difficult pill to swallow I am so grateful to be back and still be apart of their lives. Today was my first day back and I have soaked in every moment. Before coming here I have never known the feeling of having 120 children and teens faces light up when seeing me (though, to be honest I was most likely even more excited than they were!) . Many did not know I was coming back so they were surprised :). The change in living arrangements means my schedule and programs will look different and I will lose a lot of evening time, however I am trying to work around it and still continue many of the life skills activities that I hoped to do with the teenagers.

This is all to say that my entire SALT experience has been full of ups and downs but the last month was especially volatile. Nonetheless I am hopeful and expectant for what's in store for me the last 4 months. Thanks for all your encouragement and support!

I would really appreciate prayer in the following areas:

-Adapting to this new schedule and a new home: There are about 45 children at the other Children's Village where I'll be spending some of my down time and I will be getting to know them in the coming weeks. I want to be available as much as possible with all the children I am relating with but I also don't want to get burned out. (In total it will be around 175 children/teens)
-A sense of direction with the activities and programs for the last 4 months and how to be the best support/role model possible to my caseload of teens
-Safety for everyone at Lily
-Wisdom for the senior staff at Lily as they decide the future of the village and the children/teens