Skip to main content

The Beauty of South Africa

Hello everyone from beautiful South Africa! Today was a gorgeous day here, and I hope that this entry finds you warm and blessed... its rather chilly here as South Africa is about to head into its winter season.

This morning we began our day with breakfast before going to worship at King of Kings Baptist Church in Nordhoek, South Africa. This was a service that was very similar to a contemporary service you would find back in the States. They sang songs we all knew (such as Blessed Be Your Name), and the entire service was in English (which is the official language of the country). The highlight here was being able to fellowship and worship with people thousands of miles from home, and despite differences, we were still worshipping the same God! I hope you all can see that no matter the distance, we are all a part of the same body, and it was so powerful to be worshiping in that place with people we didn't know. It didn't matter to them who we were, or where we were from (though we were greeted very warmly and generously welcomed), just that we loved the Lord and wanted to worship him. That was the powerful part of the service, that the love of God which can connect across all boundaries (or in our case, oceans).

Following worship, we spent the remainder of the day seeing some of the amazing sights that Cape Town has to offer. Honestly, I don't know that I have seen a more beautiful place than what I have found here. I have found a new favorite town that I would love to be able to live in. It is called Simon's Town, a gorgeous ocean front city located in False Bay just outside of Cape Town. It reminds me a lot of towns back home like Southport,NC in terms of beach front stores, shops, and eateries. It also is home to the largest collection of South African naval forces. If you are to see the photos on my Facebook, you will understand why I love this town. We ate lunch here at a great, authentic South African seafood place, Quarterdeck.

Following lunch, we went to Cape Point, which is a piece of land that juts out into the water where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean (though there are some disagreements amongst locals as to how accurate this is). This is also where the Cape of Good Hope is located. I have never seen a more beautiful site than this where the mountains meets the oceans. We were able to hike up the trail to the top and take in the beautiful view of the most south-western point of the African continent. This is a very shortened version of what we were able to experience, I hope the pictures can fill in the blanks.

Tonight we came home, ate supper, and then our team spent some time in devotion and worship through song continuing our preperation for the week of ministry we will have starting in the morning. We sorted and packed the needed materials, and now as we prepare for bed (its 9:37 here as I type this), we are all focused on the work with the children of the Masi township that we will encounter tomorrow and this week. I hope to post another update tomorrow. Thanks for all the prayers back home!

Be Blessed!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Just Because We Can Doesn't Mean We Should

Over the last ten weeks the sanctuary at First Baptist Monroe has sat dormant. Though we haven't been worshiping in that space, worship has continued via a more intimate setting in our church's choir room beamed up into airwaves for people to participate in on all manner of personal devices. I have missed being able to gather with our folks there, and when I walk through it now, something is definitely missing. It is a vast understatement to say the COVID-19 pandemic has overturned our very way of life. Restrictions on work, retail, recreational, and social activities have hit us all hard. Like a two year old toddler, the first instance or two of being told "no" might slip right by us, but after repeated denials, that opposition often grows into anger-filled defiance before generating fits of rage-fueled outbursts. It happens. Churches are no stranger to this as the recent push to allow congregants to gather in NC has made its way through the court system. ...

Reconstructing Our Own "Cathedral of Innovation"

The other day I came across a fascinating article about a recent facility acquisition made by Audible, Inc., the Amazon subsidiary that provides audiobooks and other storytelling services on its well-designed app (of which I happen to be a frequent user). The company had purchased an old rundown building just down the street from its headquarters in Newark, NJ, believing it could be a center of innovation and development not only for the company’s products but also for their community. Your first thought is likely that what they purchased was a warehouse, a former storefront, or possibly an abandoned apartment building. What would you say if I told you what they purchased was a church? Yes, Audible, Inc. purchased what was formerly Newark’s Second Presbyterian Church. Having been constructed in 1933, the church at one time had as many as 10,000 members at its height in the middle of the 20th century. The church closed in 1995 due to declining membership and the space was used as a sc...

FBC Monroe Students Head North, eh! (Day 1)

Today our team of 8 high school students and 3 adult chaperones from First Baptist, Monroe departed for a week of serving alongside residents of Chateauguay, Quebec Canada. We have been looking forward to this experience for quite awhile. For all of the students, it is their first experience with an international missonal encounter, heck for three quarters of our team, it was their first time flying.             Our trip began with multiple headaches at the Charlotte airport, as there was difficulty with obtaining boarding passes through the airline, and misdirection from security about which “check-in” line we were authorized to enter. Then when we got to Philadelphia for our connecting flight, it ended up being delayed by 2.5 hours. All of the irritations aside, it provided time for our team to gel in light of the unique experiences, and give us a good “first day’ story.          ...