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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!

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