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.