Week 5: In which we have a birthday celebration, visit a township and be a carpenter.

Well, hello.

Sorry this is a bit late. We've had a busy weekend. On Friday we celebrated Heather's birthday, mostly by opening presents, watching The King's Speech, playing pass the parcel and eating tasty food at Knead. It was a great day.

Then, on Saturday, we had the pleasure of going to visit our friend Jon, who lives in Table View, right on the other side of Cape Town. We took a train and a bus to get there, but it was well worth the trip. We spent Saturday afternoon walking along beaches and enjoying the view with ice cream, then spent the evening watching the sunset, eating food and hanging out with a lovely Venezuelan man (that's Jon). We stayed the night, so on Sunday morning I went to church with him (Heather wasn't feeling well, so she opted out) and ended up playing djembe in their service, then we had some lunch and came home. It was really nice to have a bit of a break, to get off the base and see something new. We had a great weekend and are feeling rejuvenated and ready for the week.

Table Mountain, Heather, Me, Jon and ice cream. What more do you want?

On Friday we also concluded the week's teaching on 'Biblical Worldview', which was stretching and inspiring in equal measure. The focus of the week was to draw our attention to the fact that we all view the world through our own particular set of opinions that we may never realise we have - basic things like 'can people be trusted?', 'how is wealth measured?', 'are children a blessing?' - formed through our experiences in family, education, relationships, significant life events and the like. Once we've realised what we basically believe - and sometimes it takes a bit of digging to get to the root of a belief - we can have a look in the Bible and ask 'what does God think?'. It's led to some interesting discussions on all manner of things, including free will, overpopulation and birth control. There's been some pretty heavy duty learning involved (our Dictionary of Big Words is ever-increasing), but it's been eye-opening and humbling. I can barely describe the depth of what we've been looking at here, but we've taken lots of notes so do get in touch if you want specifics.

We've also started our local outreach, so every Wednesday afternoon Heather and I will be going, with a team of about 12, to Masiphumelele, which is a township about half an hour away. On Wednesday last week we just went and had a walk around, playing with kids and talking to people as we went. It's brilliant to see a side of Cape Town so different to everything we've seen so far, and it's clearly a place where we can do a lot of good. We're looking forward to how the next few weeks shape up.

In other news, the teams and locations for our 10-week outreach have been confirmed, and it pleases me to tell you that we'll be going to Israel and Jordan. Details beyond that are still to be decided, but that's where we'll be. We're very excited, especially as it may well mean being in Bethlehem over Christmas.

For those of who have expressed concern at my death-ladder escapades, your prayers have been answered! I'm now flirting with some basic carpentry: last week I refurbished an old cabinet, and this week I'll be making some drawers and sprucing up some old furniture with an electric sander and some varnish. I've really enjoyed it, I feel much more like a man (and a bit more like Jesus) now I'm getting to grips with how to make wood do useful things.

Heather continues to excel at her 'Hospitality' work duty, and it's paid off: She's been making the cakes for people's birthdays, so when hers came around a few different people took it upon themselves to produce all manner of delicious goods, from pancakes through to the biggest chocolate cake I've ever seen. Hallelujah.

That's all I have for now. This week we'll be looking at 'The Freedom Manual', but even after today's introduction I'm a little vague about what it actually is, so there's plenty of intrigue until next time...

Lots of love!

Sam and Heather

MJ News: He is a keen student of ethics and morality. On Saturday he climbed Table Mountain. He's lovely.

Week 4: In which we learn about grace.

Hello all.

This week has been relatively unspectacular, especially in light of last week's whale-spotting antics, but we've been learning some really good stuff and that's sort of what we came here to do. A success, by all accounts.

We've been having teaching on grace by a lovely chap called Chris Lautsbaugh, who, using Romans 3 as a starting point, has taken us through God's grace from top to bottom, looking at redemption, justification, propitiation and sanctification. All the big words. It's been amazing to look again at the fundamentals of what we believe, and to see more clearly how the Old and New Testaments both point to salvation through faith in Jesus.

Work duties took on a new, slightly treacherous element this week (for me at least) when it was announced that I was to de-mould a bathroom using a broom and a bucket of ammonia. To make things slightly easier I procured a ladder that I suspect is made out of parts of several other ladders nailed together, so at least I could reach the ceiling without having to balance on the toilet seat with bleach dripping onto my face. Don't get me wrong, I had a hilarious time and am learning to enjoy serving in that sort of a practical way, but I did have to stop a bit early on Tuesday when I accidentally put a wet finger into a live light fitting.

Anyway, all is well and me and Frankenladder have had many great adventures all around the base, having a thoroughly wobbly and unreliable time. Please pray.

This is the beast.

Our wedding anniversary has stretched, rather pleasingly, through the whole week. Apparently we were too discreet about it on Monday, so on Tuesday (once everybody found out) we got a lovely big clap and then today we were presented with a card signed by everyone and some lovely chocolate and biscuits. It's really special to be in a place that so enthusiastically values and supports marriage - I think it would be easy to feel out of place as a married couple in this sort of environment, but we feel completely accepted by everybody.

We've taken to going to a vintage crafts and world foods market on a Friday evening (this is Heather speaking now); it has several stalls with different types of food including Mexican, Indian, Greek and just plain Delicious. There are also stalls with pretty jewelry, interesting old books and quirky notebooks, exotic-looking African flowers and fresh fruit and just anything good that you can think of (ENORMOUS slices of chocolate cake!). I'll stop now before I get carried away. But here is a photo so you can get sort of an idea of what it looks like:

                      

 

MJ news: He happily informed us yesterday morning that he has watched Pride and Prejudice six times! And read the book (in Korean) three times. And he has his own one man cafetiere, as pictured. He's brilliant.

Week 3: In which we go for coffee and see a whale.

Hello all.

We've been in Cape Town again this week for all our classes, and now we're sleepy. Thankfully we have all our remaining classes in Muizenberg, so we get to approach our mornings in a slightly more leisurely fashion, which is important.

We've been learning about 'The Nature and Character of God' this week, which has been awe-inspiring, interesting and challenging in varying degrees. We started by looking at God's holiness - a lot of old testament fun where we see that everything that comes into contact with Him and isn't holy combusts - and exploring the parts of His character that aren't all that popular or fashionable, but are, nonetheless, true. It left most people feeling a little glum, I think, but it was great to spend time remembering that He is actually quite big and scary, but (thank goodness) He is good.

We moved quickly on to Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Trinity, which was excellent too. I really enjoy picking apart the things I believe and working out why I believe them, and we've had a fun week of furtling around in the Bible doing just that. It's been ace.

We've been having a lot of fun in our free time, enjoying the juicy delights that South Africa has to offer. Just yesterday we were sat at a coffee shop overlooking the beach when a kindly gentleman next to me pointed out a migrating whale that had made its way into the bay and was splashing around like a toddler in a puddle. It was an amazing thing to see, but it also means I will never again enjoy sitting in the Preston Starbucks watching pallid Prestonian shoppers going about their business over a caramel latte. It's just not the same.

Other interesting things from the week include Heather (and her friend Sarah) being tasked with baking birthday cake for seventy people without a working oven. Twice. Luckily, with a rally around and a good recipe for Grenadilla fridge tart (and no-bake cookies) all was well. And delicious.

Today was Saturday, and, in accordance with the natural pattern of the week, we had the day off. Our first wedding anniversary is on Monday, but we'll have classes so we decided to celebrate it today instead, and we popped into Cape Town for a jaunt up Table Mountain. Having successfully navigated the cable car (my least favourite way to travel, it turns out), we had a look at what we could see from the top and were amazed (but not entirely surprised) to see the rest of Cape Town, considerably smaller than we'd previously experienced it, getting on with its business as if it didn't know we were watching. It really was an amazing view and a wonderful thing to have done, but it was also incredibly cold and windy, so - after nipping into the cafe, of course - we got back in the cable car and went home.

This is us on the top of Table Mountain.

I feel like I should talk a little bit about the other people here, because they're lovely and we're not here on our own. It would be a bit weird to list their names alongside my favourite things about them, so I won't do that, but we have made some brilliant friends and there is a lovely community blossoming. Hallelujah.

Hope you're all well!

Sam and Heather

x

MJ News: We have taught him to say 'What's the craic?' and also to spell 'LOL' using his hands and face. Evidence above.

Week 2: In which we find ourselves in prison.

Hello all.

This week has been a very interesting week indeed. The lecture phase has begun and we've been busy exploring Cape Town, making friends and settling in.

We've spoken to a few of you, who've made the observation that our photos make it look like we're on a big extravagant holiday. To you, I say this: We are not.

To prove it, I'll run you through what our days have looked like this week. We've been having our classes in Cape Town, which has meant that our timetable has looked a little different to how it normally would, but you'll get a decent idea of what's going on.

At 6:30am we get up, and we're dressed and breakfasted by 7:30, ready to leave for the station at 7:45. Cape Town is about a 40 minute train ride away but the trains are irregular, so we're normally there by 8:50, and then we have a 20 minute walk to the church where we've been having our classes. There's time for a quick coffee and then we start at 9:30.

This is the garden we walked through every morning this week. The flat hill is Table Mountain!

Our lectures this week have been about Evangelism, so we've been learning all sorts of things, from how to start a conversation with somebody you don't know right through to hearing what God is saying about particular people or circumstances. It's been always interesting, often challenging and sometimes a bit weird, but always really good. I'll give you some examples of things that have happened this week in a little bit.

From 9:30 till 2:30 we have lectures (and a couple of breaks), and then we spend a couple of hours doing something practical, until we go home at about 5 and our time is our own - that's when we go to the beach and take the photos that make it look like we're on a big fun holiday.

One way in which South Africa differs to England is that here, if you haven't paid the right train fare, or you find yourself accidentally in a first class carriage when you only have a third class ticket (even if the carriages are exactly the same on the inside), they kick you off the train and lock you in a special station prison until you can pay a fine. We found out the hard way. It was scary when we didn't know what was happening, but it turned out to be hilarious.

This is the cage where Heather spent fifteen minutes of her life. Thankfully we were with a large group.

Right, now it's testimony time.

On Wednesday, our practical afternoon activity was to go out into Cape Town in groups and do some 'informal evangelism'. The emphasis was really on starting conversations with people and listening to what they have to say about their lives, rather than to roll in with a 'Repent and Believe' attitude. That was great for me (Sam) because I'm terrified of that sort of thing, and it was quite a gentle way to start. I had a lovely chat with an Israeli couple, and a couple of park security guards, and then called it a day. There was no real need to do any 'proper' evangelism, mostly because everyone I spoke to was already a Christian. It was a nice afternoon out, though.

Heather had quite a different time. Her group prayed first about where they should go, and she found herself picturing a cafe with benches in, and a lady with a white scarf sitting at one of the benches. The five of them went exploring, and, after a while, looked into a cafe that was exactly the one Heather had pictured (we've not been exploring in Cape Town at all yet, so this in itself is quite something). Not only that, but there, at one of the benches, was a lady with a white scarf on. Weird.

Anyway, there was also a lady working at the counter there, so they all got chatting and ended up praying for her. A good day.

Next week we're in Cape Town again; please pray that we have the energy to keep going! The commute in and out every day (plus all the classes and praying) is leaving us completely exhausted, but it's all good fun.

This is MJ. He is from South Korea, and he's the happiest man I've ever met. Yesterday I found out that he's eaten a dog, and today I found out that he likes 'Gangnam Style' (google it). I've taught him how to do an 'English Joke', which is a much nicer way of saying 'sarcasm'.