The feast!

"Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:46,47

On the project's last day at Ukukhanya, Penny and Prince found it fitting to celebrate all the Lord's provided by making all of us a traditional Zulu meal! This special celebration was organized for the staff at ULCC and our STINT team to properly say thank you and goodbye to the summer project. We arrived on the last day to complete a few projects and enjoy great fellowship with the Ukukhanya staff, but got much more than that. I walked into the kitchen to see a massive feast being prepared. The girls (Phondi, Pretty, and Hillary) had been up since 6AM cooking and running errands to prepare for our meal together. It was an incredible sight. There were women running around the kitchen shouting out commands and assigning tasks to everyone. In the midst of all the craziness was massive amounts of laughter. I so enjoy spending time with the women at Ukukhanya. Their hearts are beautiful, and when they laugh with you life seems a little lighter.I had the privilege of  helping them prepare countless dishes. While we were cooking I had a thousand questions for them and they graciously answered. They taught me a couple Zulu words and laughed at me as I tried my best to repeat. It was a great time. 

As I spent time with these beautiful women my mind kept going back to this verse in acts. As we prepared our meal this piece of scripture came to life! With glad and sincere hearts these women prepared a meal for us to share in. We praised the Lord for His work, and enjoyed the favor of His people. All of this for the purpose of seeing God's people come back to Him. Isn't that amazing? I feel deeply blessed to have shared in this time with these women. They worked so hard to care for us. With all the passion in their hearts they prepared this meal. It was a great privilege to be a part of that. The Word is living, and we are blessed to experience in our days. It truly is an incredible blessing to be a part of the Ukukhanya family! 

Here are some fun pictures of our time together! I got to try some new and exciting things... 

(My roommate was nice enough to let me use some of her descriptions... she's the best)

Samp and Beans: a thick type of porridge made from coarsely ground corn (a staple in South Africa) mixed with beans.

Dombolo: big, round dumpling bread (each one the size of m

y head, no joke) that is used to soak all the juices left over from the chicken.

Sweet Potato: delicious! (Left) no need for explanation here...

Amadumbe: another type of sweet potato cooked in their skin in the fire.

Boerewors: huge spicy farmers sausage 

Tripe: also known as intestines (mmm..a delicacy)

Chicken Dust: fried chicken with seasoning (the seasoning is "dusted" on the chicken, hence the name)

Walkie Talkie: chicken feet and head (parts of the chicken that "walk and talk"). Yep, all of it! Everything from nails, beak, and eyes are all still there for the FULL experience.

We had quite the day!