here we go!

Hey there everybody!

I'm less than 24 hours away from flying out from Detroit to Cape Town!  So I figured now was a good time to start blogging.  I've never really done this before, so I'm just going to write what I want, and hope it makes even a little bit of sense to you all.  I've been thinking and preparing to go for so long, now that the time is finally here, it doesn't quite feel real.  I'm about the venture off into the great unknown of a new place, new people, and a new community, which is incredibly exciting, but slightly terrifying.  After spending this past year as an RA on Fischer 5 West at Wheaton (shout-out to 5 Southwest and staff team!), immersed in such an amazing community, it's going to be a big transition to see community in such a different place, and in such a different way.  In spite of that, though, I'm expectantly looking forward to seeing God's faithfulness in every aspect of life in Cape Town.

I decided to call my blog good hope for a couple reasons.  First, I figured it was pretty practical.  I will be living and working in Cape Town, which is located on the Cape of Good Hope.  so, good hope.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that hope is an idea I want to focus on and live in throughout the six months of my HNGR internship with the Warehouse (see the links for more information on either of these).  I spent a lot of time this past year thinking about the intersection between joy, peace, and hope, and role community and the church play in growing those fruit in a way that transforms society.  Not only am I looking for those characteristics within and for myself, but my greater desire is to see hope in the communities in which I will be living and working.  I've spent a lot of time reading and learning about South Africa and the role apartheid has played in society there.  It is an easy place to lose hope, as the process of reconciliation and healing is a long and difficult one.  As I go, and begin to see real life for the people of South Africa, I want to be able to place my hope solely in Christ.

So as I leave home and arrive in Cape Town, pray that I would be filled with good hope, hope that trusts fully in God and His goodness.  Pray against fear as I leave the familiar, fly for 24 hours, and arrive in the unknown.  And pray that I would see and participate in the body of Christ at work in South Africa.  Thanks so much for coming alongside me on this journey, your thoughts and prayers mean so much to me.  And I'll post again soon once I have my feel firmly planted in Southern Hemisphere (and South African!) soil!

Much love,
Mer