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Day One and Two

Yes, you read that right; we left Kansas City on Friday morning and arrived Saturday evening,  because of the time difference.  It amounted to about 24 hours of travel time.  It was a lot of hurry up and wait.  We had tight connections on the itinerary, but fortunately delays due to various airline issues gave us time to breathe between flights.  We were all a bit concerned about the longest leg of the trip from Newark to Johannesburg (about 15 hours), but agreed when all was said and done that it wasn’t as bad as we feared.  

We arrived to a warm welcome and bottles of water from our drivers, Antoinette and Piete.  Antoinette has a long history shuttling Resurrection serve trip groups around South Africa.  Our host, Johan, where we are lodging, is the perfect host.  He and his excellent staff make certain we are well fed and have everything we need.  

After a brief team meeting where we touched base about plans for the next day, we called it a day, or two days if you are counting, and turned in for the night.

Day Three

Our team of eight, were up and ready to head to church this morning.  It was a meaningful morning of worship with two local congregations.  Resurrection partners with Elim Methodist Church and Westview Methodist Church, as well as others, to support Ditshego House of Laughter, a local preschool.  Both churches invited us to worship with them and we are so blessed that they were able to accommodate us.  Elim even started their service an hour earlier than normal so that we would have time to visit both congregations.  As we drove to church, we saw many groups of worshippers in fields meeting together under the strong sun, sitting on the bare ground, joyfully praising God.  It was a stark contrast to our cushy chairs, in our heated and cooled building in Kansas City, but they were clearly happy to be together worshipping.

We met the management team from Ditshego at Elim and got to spend the day getting to know them.  One of our team leaders, Jina, was asked by the pastor at Elim to offer a prayer over the congregation.  She did Resurrection proud.  We left Elim and headed to Westview where there were about twenty young people being confirmed during worship.  It was a moving service and a great message from Pastor Damian, part of a series they are doing about Moses.  After the service, the congregation meets in the courtyard for coffee, tea, and pastries.  We had time to visit and take photos with Pastor Siphiwe Madi, Pastor Damian O’Grady, their new youth pastor, and the Ditshego team.

We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed social time with the Ditshego team and our drivers for the day, Antoinette and Nicola.  We ended the afternoon back at our lodging, where many naps were had.  The jet lag is real!  Maria prepared another nourishing dinner for us, after which we had our daily devotion, prayer, and planning time for the next day when we will be at Ditshego.  I think we will all sleep well tonight!