17 August 2013

It's been a busy time since I last wrote so will try to catch up and then hopefully keep caught up.  On our way to Africa, we changed planes in Dallas and were fortunate enough to have Lisa and family meet us at the airport to give hugs and goodbyes; then on to London where we had a 7 hour layover, but security advised us to not leave the airport. I was disappointed cause I always wanted to go to London so I guess there's my London trip, visiting the London airport for 7 hours..
       Here we are arriving at the Cape Town Airport.

     We spent a few days in Cape Town with the mission office personnel and being shown some of the sites and being orientated by Pres. Woods.  Then we flew to Port Elizabeth where we will be serving.  Our area is very large geographically so we will spend a lot of time traveling.
      We've been getting settled into our apartment "flat" and trying to find our way around the area.  Quite a challenge driving from the right side of the car and on the left side of the road.  I haven't ventured it yet, but Lee has done quite a good job. No fender benders, only a few honks.  Also challenging is adjusting from dollars to rands, miles to kilometers etc.
      Women's Day was a federal holiday here and everything closes down.  So. Africa has a lot of holidays (at least one a month) and they take them very seriously.  I was able to attend a performance by African women who dressed in their cultural clothes and sang and danced according to their native culture. It was very entertaining.
      Today was designated as "Helping Hands" day - a day set aside worldwide by the church each year to lend a helping hand to community and individuals in need. One such group we participated in cleaned a lot where the church will be building a new chapel.  We got there in time to help them load the trash in a truck (brakkie) to be hauled away. Then we went to another person's home to help clean her yard. Mostly the guys did that while I played with the children; at times even the adults joined in. I even jumped rope with them and probably won't be able to get out of bed in the morning.  Lee decided to involve himself with more of a manly job and helped "mow" grass (which involved removing the grass with a flat, short handled shovel) and climbed trees to "trim" their hedges.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that cause my battery died.