Happy New Year from South Africa!! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and I’m so excited to update y’all about our time and what God has been teaching me lately!!!
Leaving Guatemala was made up of lots of adventures, teaching and edification, and goodbyes! My team spent two more weeks with Birdhouse Ministries in another Acatenango village and continued to enjoy loving on the smiling faces and big hearts of the kids there! The pastor of this church was so welcoming and joy-filled and it was a blessing working alongside him! The following Tuesday we had a going-away party which was full of so much laughter, food, and celebration! We have so much gratitude to have been able to build such sweet relationships and connections with this ministry, especially with the girls from a partnering ministry “Casa Shalom” who spoke only Spanish! When the Lord is present and the center of relationships, a language barrier doesn’t matter because there is so much love and care even so! We already miss Tulio, Emily, and Casa Shalom but we pray these relationships will last for a long time!
We also spent our last couple weeks at the Academy for Future Leaders, continuing to teach and get to know the students there! We built some really sweet friendships, especially with our conversation classes, and I’m so glad we got to know these wonderful people!! What at first were awkward, slow-moving interactions turned into conversations full of laughter and story-telling and they were something I genuinely looked forward to every day! During the last week, we had many different celebrations, both because we were leaving, and because their summer classes were coming to an end! One night, during our 5-6pm class, we had a party where my team made classic Thanksgiving food, and the students and staff brought their favorite traditional holiday food! It was such a fun time to share food with each other and try new things! I have eaten some of the best food I’ve ever had in Guatemala, I miss it already! But again, we’re so grateful to have so many lasting connections with friends in Guatemala!!

The last month in Guatemala was also a time where our squad continued to get super close, especially in anticipation of being split-squad in South Africa. We had the best World Race Thanksgiving anyone could ask for, with so much food and fun activities!! It was a beautiful day! A large group from our squad also hiked a volcano called Acatenango! It was the craziest, hardest thing I’ve ever physically done but it was so immensely rewarding!! Never would I have thought before that I would be summiting a volcano in the freezing cold at 4 in the morning in Guatemala! Insane! Standing at the top looking out at the sunrise, I was witnessing God’s glory in the biggest way I ever have, and it was literally the coolest thing ever, especially because I also got to do it with my best friends!
On December 7th, we moved from the AIM base to a hostel in Antigua, where we would spend a week listening to teachings, resting, exploring, and preparing for South Africa. This week is called Debrief! My favorite parts of the week were the one-on-ones I got to have with all our leaders, coaches, and mentors, going to Lake Atitlan for a day, and the constant cafe runs because there is quite literally a coffee shop on every corner of the streets of Antigua!!
We then packed everything up and buckled up for a five-day long travel period to Heidelberg, South Africa, including three different flights and a bus ride! The highlight of this travel period was when we had a 12-hour layover in Doha, Qatar from 9PM to 7AM. What else is there to do than to stay up all night and do everything we possibly can? We spent a couple hours in the city which was such a surreal experience. Not only is it the middle of the night, but Qatar was so beautiful, full of friendly people, and so different from Guatemala. We all felt like we were in a fever dream! We got back to the Qatar airport and spent hours exploring it and taking advantage of every minute we had in the biggest, most bougie airport I’ve ever seen. We explored the indoor forest, had some yum 4 AM sushi, and took $20 showers! It was so much fun, yet we were so exhausted by the morning. When we got to Johannesburg a day later, it was time to say goodbye to the teams we were splitting up from. Steadfast (my team) and the Doves were headed to Heidelberg while Jubilee and Rivers headed to Durban and the boys to Lesotho. The goodbyes were hard but hopeful because we’ll be back together in a month in Swazi!
After a 17 1/2 hour bus ride, we arrived in beautiful Heidelberg, a small town full of the sweetest, most hospitable people ever, along with gorgeous mountains and fields. Here, ministry is flexible. We are living in a complex on the same property as a church, Bible college, and school. We will be serving the community by holding children’s programs, ministering to the community, hosting worship nights, serving the church, and building relationships with those around us! Pastor (or “uncle” as they say here) Phil, who is our ministry host, is giving us this month to step into our God-given gifting and it’s such an insane opportunity! We also have more free time than usual so it’s a time for us to step into more personal closeness with God! What a blessing! We have already gotten to know so many people and are so excited to call this community family! We are so pumped to partner with this church and I can’t wait to update y’all on everything the Lord will do in this short but full month!


Thank you for your intentionality in reaching out and your constant generosity!! Please continue to pray for our squad’s health and safety! Also, for teams Steadfast and Doves specifically, please be praying against spiritual warfare, sickness, and burnout, and for boldness, dependence on God, and unity!! I’ve also been really struggling with getting over jet lag (there’s an eight hour time difference) so please pray for me to get over that and that I’ll have energy! Thank you!! I love you all! God bless!!
Love, Abi : ) 💗
