The Big Mac

It would be a big fat lie if I said that my time in South Africa has  been all smiles and rainbows. I, like most people who are thousands of miles from home, get homesick. I thought that I was pretty good at hiding this emotion from the people here , but about a month and a half into my stay it was very apparent - even to strangers.  
Due to the schools being closed, I had a week off of work.  This amount of down time was not very good and it made my head spin like a ferris wheel.  The honeymoon phase was really wearing off and I was craving something “homey”. This feeling built up and built up all the week thru to Sunday when I felt the waterworks starting. 
My host rotates churches every week and she decided to change up her rotation to a church that she said  I would really enjoy.  In my head I thought to myself, “if it is under 5 hours long, I will enjoy it!”.   I know, I know, it was a bratty thing to think.  As soon as we walked into the service I started to cry. It was in English and it had a worship band - two things I had not encountered since I arrived here in SA.  As we were leaving, I over heard a man talking to my host sister. He said to her,
“You should take her to McDonalds. She looks homesick and they have those in her country!”
I laughed at his comment and realized that it was probably the week’s worth tears that were now on my face that clued him into my homesickness. I am pretty confident that I had tears in my eyes the whole service.  They were tears of joy,  for I was able to get a little piece of home, thousands of miles away. Now, I probably will never go back to that church and may not experience another service here in English again, but I am very thankful for my host realizing what I needed that day and allowing me to experience it.

Peace,
Kelly

PS  This occurred at beginning of my journey, I thought it was pretty funny and fit into my journal of grateful moments...No worries, I am doing very well.:)