We arrived in Johannesburg after a 14 hour flight — safe and sound. I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I was awake long enough to see the first sight of Africa — Ghana area — and then slept until we got to Namibia’s coast … so it was fun to see Africa for the first time.
Our hosts have been extraordinary — fabulous — words like that. Attie and Renate Nel picked us up, drove us through Pretoria on our way west to Rustenburg, and then we found our way to the home of Nic and Magriet on the western side of Rustenburg. All I can say about our place is that it is gorgeous — and we’re told there are baboons in the hills behind our home. Not seen any yet, but it isn’t because we haven’t looked! Birds galore — a birding paradise for me.
Sunday morning I preached at a Dutch Reformed Church (Protea Park), where we experienced our first service in South Africa. And then in the evening again — at Bergsig DRC. Wonderful service with a marvelous worship band, and our Pentecost services through the week are combining several local DRC churches and missional plants. I’m doing a series on the “Power to…” from Acts 1-5 and will look at Peter, John and Mary and then one on Fellowship.
Today our gracious hosts permitted us to entertain Tom Smith and Trevor Hudson for a morning of conversation; both are pastors in Johannesburg. My learning curve on what’s going on in South Africa is very steep, so I’ll avoid entering into the many issues I’m learning about. Magriet and Nic, with their very fine chef Lees, invited both Tom and Trevor to a splendid lunch.
They say there are lions in Africa, but we’ve seen no signs of their presence — reminds me of those folks in Seattle who say there are mountains in the area (maybe not seeing them has something to do with the fog and clouds!) 8)
I’m counting on the Jesus Creeders to keep everyone in line on the blog.