Meet Marla from Missouri

Hello from Cape Town, South Africa! After staying with Petra's family we were dropped off at a backpacker hostel where we were going to be able to stay for free, sharing a room with us was a whirlwind of energy in the form of a fifty something year old woman with a personality words can't even describe but let us just say unique! Her name was Marla and she has been walking across Africa since 2004. She says she is moved by God. Well, we told Marla that we were wanting to explore along the coast and peninsula of South Africa but were bummed out by the high cost of the tour buses and organized trips. Right before we hit the pillow for the night Marla mentions that it would be way cheaper to just rent a car and drive around and since she knows the area so well, she would consider taking us ....

The next morning, we find ourselves sitting in our rental car with crazy Marla at the steering wheel. We were to spend the next 48+ hours together in that car and thinking back now on our past two days, they were such an amazing blur I wonder if it really happened.

Marla is really something and thank God she drove because having the steering wheel on the opposite side, driving on the opposite side, and operating a stick shift was not something I was too comfortable with!

Marla was a basketball coach at Missouri state and led her team into the Final Four and then went on to become the first women's basketball coach at the University of Tulsa. She wasn't happy with that life though so quit her job, got divorced, and decided to travel Africa. Most of the time she spoke to us it was as if we were about to shoot a basket or we were on the clock, she was intense but also incredibly kind and interesting and we feel really lucky to have met her.

Our two day tour of the Cape of Africa cost us the same amount of money as one half day tour of just the city on a bus. We had a chance to really cover most of the peninsula of Cape Town and then go east along the coast all the way to the town of Hermanus which is known famously as being whale central for right and humpback whales. AND WE SAW WHALES upon whales, it was one of the most exciting moments of my life.

We learned a lot from our time with Marla - to always be open for adventure, strike up conversation with locals to make connections, when you are on a budget buy a loaf of bread and a bag of fruit from the grocery store for your meals....but for me, I learned that it is ok if I don't know exactly what I want to do when I get home and it is ok that I am single and don't own a home or have a career or have a family yet, because Marla is double my age and she is in the same place as me but she is happy with it. I will figure it out and I don't have to be in an urgent rush! I am going to live life and enjoy life and know God has a plan! Like my mom emailed me the other day: Jeremiah 29:11 ...For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.