Riding the Zip line -- sort of -- February 22

Saturday and Sunday are generally free days in South Africa. It is very difficult to do ministry on Saturday here. Many people are attending funerals. It is very hard to plan meetings or events on Saturdays. People just don’t come. For our first Saturday in South Africa, after we had the last of our training we went on a tour of the baboon park, the cultural center, and the town of Clarens. At the cultural center, we had a visual tour of the differences between 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th century tribal customs and home styles.

We didn’t see any baboons, but we did enjoy the scenery. It was a good day to see the countryside.

Sunday after an early breakfast, we went to African church which started at 11. This service had a lot of singing. They had a drummer and a piano/organ player, along with 3 or 4 people leading the singing. When the music would slow down or stop, then someone would start singing another song. Then the pastor came up front and he would start singing a song and all would join in. No overhead, no books, no song sheets, just people singing. We could follow along fairly well after a while. Some of the songs were in English, others were in Sesotho, the native language of the Basotho people. There were 5 or 6 other pastors there, one from the other mission group at Thrive, and me, along with 4 from other churches. We were all introduced and participated in various parts of the service. Because Jenn was known at the church, they did a special introduction for us from Cornerstone. It was interesting to hear a good sermon and the translation. At the end of the service, they called the pastors up to pray for the sick. We probably prayed for 35 people. Music was playing, people were singing. Only God could hear and understand what the pastors were praying. But after all, isn’t He the only one who needs to hear or understand?

The weather where Jenn lives changes rapidly. Saturday night, it was very warm when we went to sleep, and it was warm on Sunday. It was warm traveling to church, and warm coming home. We got back and ate around 3 pm. It was still hot. Storm clouds were gathering, but we thought we'd go swimming and maybe use the zip line across the pond that is on the property. We got ready and when we got to the pond it was starting to get colder. As we looked at the zip line, Greg didn't think his shoulders could stand the overhead holding on, but I thought I could handle it. Jenn said there was no problem, I could make it all the way across the pond without getting wet. So, l left my shoes and shirt on -- I had changed into my bathing suit before we left. I launch the zip line and as I am crossing the pond, the water looks like it is getting closer and closer. Of course, I can't stop, and then my gluteus maximus hits the water the same time my feet do. I am hanging on the line, wet up to my chest and Jenn says to let go, the water isn't that deep. I'm not sure I could believe her, she was the one that told me I could make it to the other side without getting wet. Then I hear Muriel, Margaret and Marty laughing. Muriel was laughing so hard she was rolling on the ground, literally. Marty was filming this and as we learned later as we watched it, she was laughing so hard the camera was shaking. There was a new long rope on the zip line, so Greg starts pulling me back up the zip line. I'm getting closer to the shore and Greg says, "I'm fading fast." So as soon as I can see land underneath me, I drop off the line. Then I hear hollering from up above as Greg goes flying backwards falling over a log because he didn’t know I was going to drop off the zip line. Then the rain begins to pour down, and we run back to the truck, Greg is still coiling up the rope, and when he gets to the truck, the rain really comes pouring, then hail, then more rain. We finally make it back to the cabin and I get off the wet clothes, shower and get dry. Then I realize that I only have dress shoes left. So we put my shoes outside to get washed, it is still really raining. We get them back in and try to dry them off. How do you do that without a dryer? We use the oven. And it has a warming drawer. We dry them with a chamois and get them as dry as we can, then use the oven and warming drawer. We did turn them off before we went to bed. Would I have shoes to wear on Monday morning?

This video takes a while to load, but you might enjoy the laughter!!