Day 2 from Christian Holmes

Friends, Parents, Concerned Adults… Lend me your eyes!!!

Hey everybody back home, it’s the end of our second day here in the big SA (that’s South Africa for all of you Western Hemisphere people) and we have gotten our first glance at native worship and the role of the church in poor communities.
My day began with a hot shower (yes, we have those) and a bit of time outside on the cabin deck where I observed a glorious sunrise with a great blanket of fog sprawled over the rolling hills as antelope and wild horses grazed the morning grass. I’ll tell you what, I have never seen such a glorious sunrise. I read a bit of Romans (chapter 3 for those who are wondering) and went down to breakfast with the rest of the boys after we took part in our normal morning shenanigans. We had a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, sausage and this South African wheat dish that tasted like very bland Grits. My group of rough riding gringos and myself retreated back to the cabin where we did some more scripture reading before getting ready to go to church.
Now, the church service was definitely the high point of the day, it was unlike any kind of service I’ve ever experienced. It wasn’t like the Falls Church where everything is very proper and organized. I liked to call it disorganized grace because it was without a doubt the most powerful and meaningful service I’ve ever seen. It was simple, it was small, it was humble but it was powerful. These people sang their hearts out and we were blessed with a sermon from Neil who was the founder of Thrive Africa. The native worshipers were so receptive and open to us; they shook our hands, prayed with us, asked God to bless us and welcomed us into their humble church with open arms.
When we got back to base camp, we had lunch and went straight to more training and lessons. Tomorrow we’ll be taking our first plunge into the city of Qwa Qwa, which is where we’ll be ministering for the next few days. Let me just say this to all of you back home… I am nerrrrrrrrvoussss. I have no idea what to expect or how we’ll be accepted into the community but I am continuing to pray on this and I feel that the Lord will guide us through our challenges. Well, it’s getting late and the staff is kicking me out of the nice, warm lounge room. So, from all of us over hear in the big SA, (you know what that means) goodnight and good luck.

With much tomfoolery,
-Christian John Holmes… the Great

PS: hey Mom, I’m I have an application form to come back here next summer as a member of staff for 2 months... I think I’m gonna do it..