Cayce is trying a new “no jet lag” technique of not sleeping on the plane, which allowed for some valuable reading and prep time, but also meant that multiple diet cakes/coke zeros were required. It also meant that Tom had to endure Cayce being relatively wired for 15 hours, but… Cayce also introduced Tom to what is sure to be his next craze- the iPad game, Plants Vs. Zombies! Tom was a natural, until he wasn’t (thanks Dan!), because eventually (several hundred miles later), “the Zombies ate his brains.”. Ah well… Such is life.

Post customs and immigration, Cayce and Tom were whisked away by John Mitchley (SAMVIM) to meet with KK, the MCSA Missions Unit Director and Zipho, the new Presiding Bishop of the MSCA. What an amazing man and pastor! The nearly four hour meeting involved both hysterical laughter and very serious discussions. There was talk surrounding each of the five pillars of the MCSA –
- spirituality,
- evangelism & church growth,
- justice & service
- human development & economic empowerment
- education

Partnership discussions around sustainability were also very productive including the following analogy:
- Give once- appreciation
- Give twice- anticipation
- Give three times- expectation
- Give four times- entitlement
- Give five times- dependency

Next steps and proposals/recommendations should be coming from the MCSA this spring!

Food for thought… Until next time!

-Rev T

Friday the team went to the Hillcrest Aids Center where they were blessed to hear the story of this incredible hope filled facility. This treatment center supports individuals and their families with this debilitating disease. It gives hope for these individuals as well as giving them skills training. These skills allow the individuals to earn a living. They create beaded jewelry, wired animals, wall hangings, pottery, clothing, and more. The team took the opportunity to purchase items from the store on site. The funds from the store go directly to the individuals that created the craft. They can support themselves and their family. What a blessing.

Then the team went to the Samungu Church. This is the Church that was dedicated this past July. The leader of the team was at the dedication in July, so she saw familiar faces. Without a doubt this church has the most spectacular valley view of any church we have seen in South Africa, and South Africa has many gorgeous views.

They came home and started packing for the next leg of their trip. Saturday morning they will leave around 6:30 am to take a plane to Johannesburg. Saturday they will go to the Pilansberg Game Park for a day and night safari. Sunday they will leave Pilansberg and return to Johannesburg. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday they take a Soweto Tour and see a squatter camp; then on to the Hector Pieterson and Apartheid Museums and the Cradle of Human Kind. Tuesday night they will be on their way back home in the states.

This will be the last communication from the team until they return home.

Please continue praying for the team and those they encounter.

Blessings,

Today was the last day of the Children’s Bible Study. When the team walked into the Emmaus Church, the student teachers had the children in a circle and ready to go. The team was impressed.

The team said the children understood the story of Jonah. One of the instructors reviewed the message with the children and they remembered the complete story of Jonah, the team was thrilled.

In discussion with the Emmaus Church staff they were impressed with how fast the teachers learned how to work with the children. They are thinking about having a Children’s Bible study 1 day a week and hope it will expand to additional days a week.
That is how their elderly day care started. It started with 1 day a week and it has progressed to 5 days a week at this point in time. How great it would be if the Children’s Bible Study was as successful.

The children in the Bible study learned how to paint and color using the supplies brought from Resurrection. There were 5 teachers, mothers in the Emmaus congregation, that were there all 3 days. They learned the process and organization rapidly. They accepted the responsibility well. The children were well mannered and listened well to the instructions, what a blessing they were.

They had 2 translators from the Emmaus Church. The Emmaus Church has certainly been supportive of this Children’s Bible Study project. What a blessing it is to work with God’s church in South Africa.

Please keep the team and those they are in contact with in your prayers.

Blessings,

The Mission Team is doing great. Tuesday, there were 41 children at the Emmaus Bible Study. Wednesday, they had 49 children. They have had to purchase additional supplies. How great is that!

Think of the people they are influencing:
-Children
-Translators
-Teachers
-Van Drivers
-Emmaus Church Members
-Marrionridge Church Members
-Team Members
-Familes of all of the above

They are having a great time working with the children. They are laughing, singing and praying with the children. They are teaching the story of Jonah and the children are learning and repeating as much as possible.

They have 1 more day for the Bible Study. It will be sad to say goodbye, but grateful to have the experience.

This evening they are having dinner and an Adult Bible Study at the Marrionridge Church. The July Mission Trip was entertained by the Church Youth Group; they performed a play, sang and worked with us in small groups. The Youth Group is awesome.

Continue to keep the team and those they are impacting in your prayers.

Blessings,

Today, was spent with all the teachers of the Children’s Bible Study. It went very well. Looks like instead of having 30 children for the Bible Study there will be 40. Isn’t that wonderful!

The day was spent preparing the teachers for the process, there was also considerable preparation work for the next day. A lot of craft work to ready for the little ones. The team is loving having their own cottage for accommodations.

The team had the pleasure of visiting the Phakamisa organization. This is the organization that believes in building up those in South Africa. One of the skills developed is sewing as well as jewelry making with beads. This provides income as they sell their wares. The team also saw the Sizanni workshop that teaches women to sew so they can earn a living. Resurrection has been honored to be able to provide funds to assist in the purchase of sewing machines for the Sizanni program.

The weather has been outstanding and all are doing well.

Blessings,

The team arrived safe and sound. They are a bit tired. They are already at Jacob’s Well and ready for bed They have their own building for accommodations, there is a convention at the primary building. They will be going to Emmaus Church for services tomorrow. Please keep the team in your prayers.

Sunday evening, October 22, 2011
We heard from the South Africa Mission team. It was their Sunday evening. Sunday was a full day for them. They went to the Emmaus Church service Sunday, the church was filled, there were roughly 150 people, and about 50 people. They then went to the Durban beach which is on the Indian Ocean. The weather is about as nice there as it was here today in Kansas City. The temperature is in the 70’s, however, they are in the SA spring, and we are not!

They are staying in a cottage at Jacob’s Well retreat facility. There are 3 rooms, with 2 beds in each room. They have the cottage all to themselves, they are quite comfortable.

They talked to a number of people at the Emmaus Church, which is the church where they will have their Bible School for the children. The Bible School starts tomorrow, they spent Sunday afternoon preparing for the Monday classes. There were 30 children that signed up for the Bible School, we are very excited for everyone involved. Please send your prayers for the school as it starts tomorrow.

Please continue to keep the team and those they meet in your prayers.

Blessings,

 July 22-23, 2011  Friday-Saturday

We arrived at the Kansas CityAirport in two groups:  Judith, Mary, Bill and Linda and Rani, Brett, and Linn by 6:00 am for our 7:20 am flight to Washington D.C.  The flight arrived a little early (around 10:40 am) so we moved to the International terminal for our seven hour wait.  This turned out to be a great time for us to bond.  We ate lunch, played Bananagrams (thanks to Rani), talked and waited for our South African airways flight.

The flight departed on time for the seven and a half hour flight to Dakar, Senegal.  We had very good food, lots of choices for movies, television shows, etc. to watch and time to sleep.  The seats were large enough for all of us to get three or four hours of sleep (except Judith).  We spent a little over an hour on the ground refueling and restocking in Dakar before our eight and a half hour flight to Johannesburg.  More movies, two meals and everyone sleeping for a while and we were in South Africa.  Clearing customs was easy; we moved our luggage then waited only about thirty minutes for our fifty minute flight to Durban. 

The usual COR driver, Bongani Ngubane and Alfred Blose met our plane and packed our luggage into the bus for a thirty minute ride to Jacob’s Well (a Catholic convent in which we will stay while in Durban).  Altogether we had been in cars, planes, or terminals for over thirty hours, but we were here!!  

Temperatures in Kansas City had been in the upper 90’s or low 100’s, but we were now in winter in South Africa.  There is relatively speaking no heat or AC here, so we hope to be able to adjust to temperatures in the 60s and 70s without too much trouble.

 July 24, 2011   Sunday

After traveling for 30 hours and a night’s rest at Jacob’s Well we traveled to the Samungu Methodist Church dedication.  On arriving we witnessed the congregation marching from the site of the old church to the new church structure.  The church structure is located on a high hill with a large body of water in view from the church’s many windows.  This area is known as the Valley of 1000 Hills.  The hazy outline of hills everywhere reminded some of us of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the United States.

The congregation filed into the church singing, stepping in place to the music’s beat, and full of friendly smiles.  There were about 300 members and guests in attendance.  The service was four and a half hours in duration with many speakers from the South African Methodist Church organization.  Members of the church performed, the men’s choir sang, the children performed a drama explaining the church’s history.  The most unusual presentation in the dedication was the live ram brought into the church.  This was a gift from the church to the chief in exchange for the land on which the church stands.  It took ten years to secure all documents to the church property.  Immediately following the service we moved to a tent for a delicious meal prepared by the women of the congregation.  The entire event was very educational.  Churches in the U.S.probably have little understanding of the struggle it is to build a church in South Africa.  What a blessing this church will be for this community.  Pray that this building will be a hub for the community.

After the service we took an hour drive to downtown Durban to see the Indian Ocean.  The water was warm, but there were not a lot of people on the beach since it is winter.  We dined in town at a restaurant called Moyo’s – tried chicken wrapped in springbok.  It was different and interesting.  We returned to Jacob’s Well by 8:30.   Amazing, full day.  We thank God for this opportunity.

 July 25, 2011       Monday

Bright and early we head to Hillcrest for orientation after another good breakfast at Jacob’s Well.  Reverend Mokone discussed the Clerpine circuit with us and his background, but mainly we discussed African culture.  We talked about differences between Zulu (found around Durban) and Xhosa (found in the Free State).  Since Chris is Xhosa we talked about adjustments he has made and the process they go through to get married: i.e. having elders discuss issue, give permission, meet with the girl’s elders, arrange dowry in cows (today money).  We talked about divorce, trial marriages lasting five years.  We also discussed what is needed to help overcome their problems like high unemployment and HIV/AIDS.  Micro-businesses seemed to be a good starting point.  We left Hillcrest for Nazareth (2009 project).  They have one service a week with about 75 people attending Sunday school.  Youth counseling exists and they are trying to set up a soup kitchen.  This is after being open for only eight months!  They have a woman’s society and  provide HIV/AIDS counseling.  Very impressive church (society). 

After our thirty minute visit we moved on to Emmaus Methodist Church (2008 project).  They had a preschool before, but it departed and has not continued.  They have between 200 and 300 members, about 100 attend at the one Sunday service.  This church has been in the area for over forty years, but the building is new.  They have Bible meetings on Tuesday and other women’s meetings on Thursday and Saturday.  After a quick thirty minutes we are on to Mariannridge Methodist Church.  We see only the preschool class here – about 70 five year olds are in their five day a week preschool. About fifty younger children are there as well.  Finally, we move on to Thornwood Methodist Church for lunch and a meeting.  They have a public school up the hill, so adjacent to the church is a drop-in center for young children (about three to fifteen children under six).  Many other children come in after school since they have no one to watch over them.  This center helps take care of parent-less children who are living with other siblings.  They have Bible study on Thursdays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  We now moved on to Ekuphileni church site which will possibly be a future location for a church building.  It was between two heavily populated hills, so there will be an available population for this church.

     We returned to Hillcrest Church for continued discussion with Pastors Chris and Andrew along with six church members.  Discussions centered on issues of culture and their needs:  “What do you need, how can we help?” was the focus of discussion.  Their businesses are having trouble competing with India and China.  Big problems are with food and education.  Their focus is on growing, embracing, and serving.  They have an amazing AIDS/HIV center that has grown independent from the church – budget of over $1, 300, 000 a year.  Diversity and economy are big challenges with eleven official languages and 43% unemployed.  Hillcrest has four services on Sunday:  traditional, contemporary, Zulu and another contemporary.  They give 20% of their money to missions.  They have numerous Bible study groups, grief counseling, and at least 22 small groups.  About 350 people attend Sunday services with a total membership of around 500 people.  They are concerned about losing white population to Australia.  Some cities are trying to regenerate the inner city, but Durban does not seem to be there yet.

We return to Jacob’s Well by 6:40 pm and our devotional times continued our discussion about culture and what COR could do for Africa.  Much of our focus centered on availability and sustainability for the children.

 July 26, 2011          Tuesday

The rain from yesterday continues today relentlessly rarely missing a beat.  After being waterlogged and cold all day yesterday in our travels, we decide it would be a very good idea to go in search of warm clothes.  So after making that our first priority, we continue on toward Samungu to begin what we came here to do:  paint a church.  I think that the whole team was rested and warm (finally) and truly ready to go.  The huge suitcase, loaded with painting supplies was wheeled along with us to the beautiful site where Samungu church is nestled on the top of a hill with a breathtaking view of the Zulu hills and lake spread out below.  Very quickly we were sanding, patching and painting.  We enjoyed tea mid-morning, then lunch with an exhibition of art by a local artist who is married to one of the Clerpine ministers.  David’s beautiful painting captured the essence of this area in South Africa using striking colors and themes.  Several of us commissioned David to create a painting of the church, hills, lake and Zulu homes.

After working until all primer was used we packed up the van and headed back to Jacob’s Well.  While it was still very cold, several of us huddled in a small activity room with chattering teeth and a few calisthenics to stay warm and played a few games of spades.  After dinner we drove to the local home of a Hillcrest church member and participated in devotion and friendship with them.  Pastor Chris fom Hillcrest Church drove us to this meeting along with an American volunteer, Damian (he is a recent graduate of Villanova).  Our meeting was in one of the gated communities.  The discussion started after a reading of 1 John 5:1-4 talking about God’s love for us helping us to overcome the burdens of the world.  Lisa and Nick hosted the meeting, Cliff (a former yacht captain), Mycki (business owner who has a PhD in business) attended with Chris, Damian and the seven of us.  The discussion was very thought provoking, as we delved again into much of the culture and historical aspects in South Africa of today as well as significant resulting challenges:  63% poverty in some areas, (45% is the national average), lack of food produced in country and lacking in the country as a whole, indifference among teachers and students resulting in poor education, the current level of violence and the dismal thought that civil strife will be unavoidable if drastic changes do not occur.  However, this group presented optimism that change can occur and explained their ideas to help bring some of this change.  The overall theme of the discussion stemmed around Christian love and what we can and should do as Christians.

 July 27    Wednesday

After another great breakfast at Jacob’s Well we head out to the KwaDabeka site that is the projected church building site for 2012.  Construction has not begun except for ground leveling at the site.  This beautiful site has a small wooden church functioning for worship, but it is too small for the congregation’s size.  We met with an enthusiastic group of about ten people then proceeded to Samungu to work on the church.  The contractor had completed sanding and had applied the primer coat, so we painted the final coat on the sanctuary walls.  We applied primer to the kitchen and office, although we ran out of primer and used paint to complete the other rooms.  Painting goes well and we finish the church proper by 2:00 pm and then take care of the other rooms.  Even though it rained all day and is cold this was a beautiful day!  We were very happy with our progress and felt assured that we will be done after lunch tomorrow.

   We returned to Jacob’s Well to clean up and traveled to Mariannridge Church for dinner and Bible study with the young people of the area.  After about thirty young people eat dinner, we have a short program and then Bible study with about 24 young people, mainly males (unusual as it seems that most churches are predominately female)!  Their program and music are enjoyable, but the discussions in small groups were very, very inspiring.  The young people have great spirit and are knowledgeable about their religion and hopes for the future. They shared their positive and hopeful beliefs that God would take them where He wanted them to go.  The pastor, Ian Edwards, showed himself to be an excellent leader, to whom the kids really responded.  Although we were tired of rain and mentally exhausted, we had a positive re-cap and devotional period to end the day. 

 July 28, 2011      Thursday

The sun is out; temperature is suppose to be around 70!!!!!  We went to Waterfall Methodist Churchto see a really beautiful church in a very nice middle class area.  They have connected buildings on a big site.  It is a very nice place.  Then we move on to Samungu and arrive by 9:45 am and completed the painting, window cleaning, and clean up by 1:00 pm.  The church looks good, the site is amazing, and the people from KwaDabeka feed us a typical South African meal.  It includes lots of vegetables and good beef and chicken (the meats are not usually served – they are special for us).

After lunch we move to Pinetown church and visit Phakamisa.  What a fantastic place! They have developed a program to teach teaching skills for pre-schoolers and young children (often the grandmothers, called Gogos).  The program incorporates the development of vegetable gardens, teaching budget skills to adults, and teaching adults to use the materials that they have on hand.  Glenda, the director of Phakamisa, explained that the women come into the center by their area around Durban.  They are taught about vegetable gardening, cooking, care giving, sewing, and beadwork.  These programs are somewhat endangered due to economic problems for the nation, but it reigns as an example of a small effort of five care groups becoming over 300 care groups at this time.  We returned to Jacob’s Well for dinner, followed by the daily debriefing and devotional.

 July 29, 2011     Friday

After breakfast we were on our way to visit the Hillcrest AIDS project, a program started twenty-one years ago by the Hillcrest Methodist Church.  Louise, one of the staff, explained to us the outreach of this project, which she described as a ministry in response to community needs.  From the present staff of sixty people, 80% of them live in the community that copes with one of the highest rates of AIDS in the world.  In her words “almost no household has not been affected by AIDS.”  The project employs a holistic approach including testing for AIDS and tuberculosis, education for treatment, encouragement by home-based care and monitored scheduling of drugs, and establishment of food programs.  This project expanded in 2008 to include a twenty-four unit respite care facility and Louise proudly stated that about 50% of those who check in are able to leave the facility, but must keep in place a strict regiment of drugs and protection of food (as the drugs increase the level of hunger).  All of this project operates without government funds as the funding cannot always be available and the amount provided varies.

Louise emphasized viewing the project as a ministry.  “It is being faithful to the calling of God.  We must be faithful to God and we don’t move until we hear God’s voice.”  With misty eyes, she described some heart-warming stories of children taking care of a sick mother.  On Friday the center was preparing to dismiss a four-year-old child and her mother who came to the center very ill, but she has been successfully treated to be able to return to their community.  Hopefully they are departing with education about the disease, access to treatment, a buddy program to help remind them of the time schedule for food and pills, a regiment of home based visits to provide a six month supply of food parcels.  This program is meant to become sustainable and independent if something were to occur to Hillcrest.

With a break in the rain we took the opportunity to tour the outside grounds.  The center has a wide variety of plants that make up the nursery, including several varieties of aloe.  We also passed through the crafting area, which is about the size of a two stall garage.  It was full of fabrics, beads, etc. and several sewing machines.  Several people were busy making items including black fabric dolls.  We passed the respite center, but did not go in.  This center also houses a small chapel area.  All those who pass are provided a service and can feel that they died with dignity.  The last area of the grounds is an open grassy area that can be viewed from the respite.  It included many flowers and would be a lovely view for those in the respite.  In the back area is a dedication wall.  It is a brick semi-circle and is filled with small tiles with the names of each person who has died at the center.  There were at least three hundred tiles in the wall.

The visit to the center ended with shopping at the small store on the grounds.  The store sells all of the items made on site, e.g. wire/beaded animals, jewelry, knit scarves and hats, beaded Christmas ornaments, African dolls, bags, and much more.  We each left with plenty of things.  We also picked up medals for COR’s Sacred Steps race in September made by individuals at this center.  How cool is that?

We had lunch at Pot ‘N Kettle and were joined by Nonthaldel, Alfred, and Bongani.  We saw several monkeys in the trees and were thrilled to finally see them.  I think that we are ready for wildlife!

The afternoon was another time with the youth of Mariannridge Church.  Ian Edwards planned some home visits when the youth were out of school, so we went to the church to get our “assignments” for where each of our team members will be visiting.  Bill and Linda went to two houses with a group of five youths; Linn and Rani were directed to join some youth to visit Damien (who has a broken leg from a car accident last week); Brett and Mary went to visit Pretty Williams in her home; Judith visited Harold, the construction leader for Nazareth Church last year and Emmaus the year before.  We shared the experiences we encountered at each home during our evening debriefing.  What a variety of home conditions and family structures.  We were fortunate to have a window inside the homes and lives of some South Africans.   Rare and rewarding!  Evening devotional time was revealing once again as we struggled with feelings, self-doubts about our lifestyles, and kept recalling the phrase, “In light of eternity, how important is this – on a scale of 0 to 5”

July 30, 2011    Saturday

 After our last breakfast of eggs, bacon/sausage, toast and fruit we departed for the airport for the short flight to Johannesburg.  We arrived late in the morning and were picked up by Jenny and Gavin owners of Mom’s Taxi for our trip to the safari in Pilanesberg Game Reserve.  The drive took about two and a half hours, so we arrived around 3:00 pm.  It was a truly beautiful area with two lakes, rolling hills with beautiful colors and brown grasses since it is winter.  We drove around the park to our cabins and quickly saw impalas, warthogs, elephants, zebras, and much more.

We started a sunset safari drive at 4:00 pm which lasted until 7:00 pm and were quickly very cold, but were inspired by the vistas and the chance to see animals in their natural environment, up close and personal.  We heard stories about previous trips where the group saw a lion, her cubs and a zebra that the lioness had killed, but we never were able to locate a big cat.

We did see a wide variety of grazing animals like kudus. Wildebeest, bushbucks, steenbucks. At one point we encountered a very exciting young elephant, about four years old and a zebra that was very close to us and quite beautiful.  It was truly a beautiful night in a beautiful place, but no big cats.  After returning to the cabin area, we met Gavin and Jenny for a large buffet dinner in the restaurant at Bakubung.

We finished the night with a buffet dinner and devotional in our cabins.

 July 31, 2011       Sunday

Everyone was up super early at 6:15 am for a trip through the park before breakfast.  Gavin felt that we would find more animals early in the day, which turned out to be correct.  Several white  rhinoceros – two sleeping right by the road, a large herd of giraffes, lots of elephants, hippos playing in the lake and one relaxing in the grass just a short distance from a stream, fish eagles with a nest and baby, plover and ibis on one of the lakes plus spoonbills and guinea fowls.  The animals’ colors were amazing and beautiful.  At a curio shop we saw a large warthog and a young giraffe, our closest looks thus far.  After the morning trip we went back for breakfast buffet and packed our gear for the return trip to Joburg.  First, we had another four and a half hours around the park in Mom’s Taxi.  The scenery was really magical.  The park was over forty square miles and we encountered a variety of terrain including a view over the valley and lake from the top of a boulder filled hill.  Group photos were snapped as well as individual poses.

 We got into Joburg fairly late, after 6:00 pm and checked into Scotty’s on Southey, a B and B in the suburbs of Joburg.  We grabbed a quick shower, dinner made by Tony, the  owner (also known as Happy by us as he was always saying that word) and we headed out to Northfield Methodist Church.  The service was a small one in a fairly large church (about 5000 members) and was contemporary – most of us go to the 5:00 pm services at COR.  Because the museums at Soweto are closed on Monday, we changed our plans and aim for Cradle of Mankind tomorrow.

August 1, 2011       Monday

We sleep in a little later this morning, have a continental breakfast in the common area, and planned to shop on our way to the Cradle of Mankind museum, which is about an hour north of Joburg.  It was a pretty drive to the museum, which traces the development of life on our planet and the development of Homo Sapiens especially in South Africa.  The impact of water, fire and earth (plate tectonics) on the development of life was explained and we received a great deal of information on the key elements for human development and our current usage of resources.  Once again, we gained lots of information – almost too much to comprehend in the short two to three hours that we had at the museum.  After this trip we headed back to Joburg, and though we search for good shopping places we were not very successful.  We returned to Scotty’s for dinner, then to pack and prepare for a very full final day and flight back to theUnited States.  Some of us play cards after dinner;  we had our devotional time together.  I believe that we are all excited about tomorrow, but looking forward to returning home at the same time.

August 2-3, 2011   Tuesday and Wednesday

This final day was full of learning as much as we could about South Africa’s recent struggles with apartheid.  Gavin picked us up early and we headed toward Soweto where we picked up our guide, Philip, who is a Zulu man, age 78.  He was a headmaster and teacher for fifty-seven years, but is now retired and does educational tours.  The first stop on the tour was a viewing of Baragwanath Hospital, which is the world’s largest hospital.  It covers 173 acres, has over 400 beds and over 600 attending physicians.  Because of the overwhelming traffic, patients must be referred to this hospital by one of its satellite hospitals.  Phillip mentioned that a very large number of Soweto residents commute to Joburg requiring 16,000 taxis for this service every day.  The fare one way is 7 Rand (about one dollar).  Sixty percent of the population in Soweto is under 25 and while the government reports 23 percent unemployment, independent assessment reports say it is 30% and Phillip believes that it is most likely around 40%.  This presents a major problem. Soweto has about 18 squatter camps.  We drove by one that stretched past the horizon and had a population of over 18, 000 people, who live without running water, electricity, and sewage services.  These are tiny shacks of tin, lean-to walls, with a sheet of tin as a roof, held in place by old tires.  Philip stated that many of the people are illegally coming from Mozambique or Zimbabwe.  There are no schools for this population, so the children must go to neighboring townships.

One notable site we encountered in Soweto was two very large towers that comprise the old power station which was used decades ago. The towers appear to be shaped like those found in  nuclear energy plants, but power was created by coal and water.  The plant fed power into Joburg and provided no power for Soweto where it is located.  The plant closed in 1990 and these towers were painted with beautiful scenes that brighten the area.  They are currently used for bungee jumping!

In the town we saw the homes or one time homes of Winnie Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.  We went by the high school where students marched in protest on June 16^, 1976 in what became the Soweto Uprising to demonstrate peacefully, but the march quickly degraded into a violent confrontation with police reserves and the shooting death of Hector Peterson.  A short distance away was the Hector Peterson Museum and memorial where we learned more about that day and the history surrounding it.  Next, we enjoyed a typical South African meal at Wandies in Soweto.  Dishes included mashed pumpkin, mashed maize, beet salad, a doughy bread made in an iron kettle, lamb, beef, mutton, chicken served with a wide variety of herbs and garlic and finally excellent desserts.  Judith enjoyed more ice cream.

After lunch we continued our trip through history by stopping at the Apartheid Museum.  Upon purchasing a ticket here you are designated as white or non-white and enter the museum through different routes.  There was a special exhibit on Nelson Mandela which was very informative and interesting.  The museum is very large and covers the growth of apartheid in South Africa through it’s removal in the 1990’s.  One of the most interesting facts regarding this time is that while Mandela initially believed in non-violent actions, he later felt forced to incite violence at times.  Mandela became a political leader, while Bishop Tutu led from the pulpit, but he was still able to disseminate political ideas.  This allowed Tutu to stay out of prison and continue to be a thorn in the government’s side. Interestingly, both men once lived on the same street in the Soweto area (the only two Nobel prize winners to live on the same street).  After a long day and with very full brains we head to the airport after dropping Brett and Rani off at their hotel so they can move on to Cape Town for an extended trip.

Thankfully the plane rides back to the United States went well and we were home in about 24 hours.  We returned home mixed with feelings of wonder, love and sadness

Monday they went to Hillcrest Church and 4 other church that have been supported by Resurrection in Durban and one future church project site.

Tuesday was their first real work day. They painted at Samungu and primed the inside of the church until they ran out of primer. That night they attended a small group program at Hillcrest Church.

It was has been quite cold there. The team had to go and buy sweatshirts. It was snowing in Johannesburg. They do feel that they have been shown wonderful South African hospitality during their time.

They miss everyone and wish God’s blessings for each of you.