Greetings from South Africa!
19 Jan. 2007
There is a lot of activity here in the bottom of Africa! It is always
amazing how our loving Father chooses to bring His plans about - He
almost never does things the way we do. Some time ago Louise started
going to a neighboring spa for some health-related treatments, which
were very nice. There is a young man who works there and who she got to
know in this process (Wayne). Apparently Wayne became rather impressed
with Louise (which is no surprise for those of you who have had the
privilege of meeting her), and told his friend Barend about her. Last
week Barend came to visit for an evening to discuss his new non-profit
enterprise. This enterprise is the result of his being approached by the
person in charge of distributing food for one of South Africas largest
grocery chains (called Checkers/Shoprite). It seems that there has been
no initiative for distributing just-expired food and other un-sellable
items in Pretoria for some time. Barend was invited to fill that gap,
which just happens to be the ministry to which he has been called (just
happens???). He was on the way to file his corporate papers when he
heard about Louise and me, so he delayed doing so until after we meet.
He has designed the structure of his organization to be under the
authority of a local congregation, but, he didn't have a local
congregation he wanted to be under. So he came to see us, and then came
to the Philadelphia Fellowship meeting last weekend. It seems he now has
his answer. So Louise and I may be involved with Barend in the near
future in the distribution of A LOT of food and other goods to the poor
and homeless in Pretoria. It isn't all final yet, and I have no hard
information on how much of what will be available how frequently, but
this does seem to be a large open door well worth walking through.
Lest we forget that this is still Africa, I must mention that I intended
to start writing this email hours ago - but - we had another power
outage (in a fairly large area of Pretoria this time), so I had to wait.
Speaking of local conditions, we are STILL having a LOT of rain, almost
daily. The pattern is pretty well established. In the late afternoon the
clouds start to come, then in the late evening the lightning and thunder
start, and then late at night comes the rain. Usually quite a bit of
rain. This is way weird, and VERY much appreciated by all real Africans.
On the brighter side, this past weekend I signed up for the Field Pass
on the nfl.com web site. In this way, last weekend, I could listen to
live radio broadcasts of some of the football playoff games. It was
REALLY fun, and Louise got a big kick out of it as well. With the big
time difference I did not manage to stay away for the second half of the
San Diego/New England game, which is actually OK, since I wanted San
Diego to win.
On a personal note, Louise (and I, and her family, and many others) just
celebrated her 41st birthday. We had a party for her at our house after
Philadelphia Fellowship met, and we all had a wonderful time - with 28
people in our house. [See photo of Louise with Wayne and Barend (wearing
the dark shirt)]
At Philadelphia that day Louise had one of our children - Elen, who is 9 - present something she had learned to the congregation (standing on a chair to be seen - see photo). This is childrens ministry at its finest!
We had various visitors during the day and evening of the 31st of last month, and when everything settled down we wanted to go out to eat. Well, unlike in the US, everything is closed up and dead here that night - well, almost everything. We found ONE place open, which fortunately was our favorite Greek restaurant. That place was HAPPENING that night, with plate breaking and music and the whole 9 yards [see photo].
Unfortunately, we arrived after the kitchen had closed. Fortunately, the owner [see photo with no broken plates - he is at the bottom right of the pic] knows and likes us - to the degree that he knows what we usually order. He said we should come in and he would arrange our favorite food for us. This he did, and we had a great time. We didn't dance and break plates - this year. We'll see what happens next year . . . .
Work has been progressing, with fits and starts, on the transformation
of the garage. We have selected paint and floor tiles, and the glass is
fitted in the windows and sliding door. Soon it will be ready for the
launching of our monthly (or so) seminars. But, since this is Africa,
the thing to remember is that news isn't news until it is news. So, our
garage is not news yet.
Louise and I produce LOTS of documents for Philadelphia, and it occurred
to me that I should be sharing some of them with everyone via these
emails. So, I'm attaching a one page thingie I did a while ago on
Nurturing the Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit. I hope you enjoy and are
blessed!
Love from Africa
Lary and Louise