Day Eleven – The name’s Lowry. Chief Facilitator Lowry.

Today was mainly spent preparing for the meeting at 5:30. Me and Mohau were planning what we would say, as well as trying to finish off proposals to send to various departments in the South African Government.

For lunch we went for a meal out at a snack place called Food4U, run by a guy from our church. We got talking to him, and it was frankly just scary; his son died 3 years ago from cancer, he himself now has cancer, and his marriage is also on the rocks, plus he is having to work a 14 hour day, 7 days a week at his restaurant. We prayed for him there, but it would be good if you could lift him up too. I think his name is Reynard (Unsurprisingly, my rubbish-at-names skill is even worse in a country where everyone either has Dutch or Sotho names).

Day Nine – Too lazy to be a slob

Last night was a tiring, long, unsatisfying night, after we got halfway up the mountain, carrying tents, blankets, food, saucepans, etc, etc; when Mohau got called by his angry girlfriend, and we came back down. On the long walk home, I was feeling a bit depressed, as you might understand.

So this morning, I decided to have a massive lie-in. Sleep as long as I want, write off the whole day if necessary. 8:30. That was it. The latest my body could stay asleep for. To my internal clock, still adjusting from the 2 hour difference, I would still say that is around 7:30 in equivalence. Rubbish – I’m clearly getting far too mature for all this lazing around and doing nothing. I blame all the cups of tea I’m drinking out here.

Day Eight – Continuing Frenzied Activity

So I’m trying to do everything at once, and it’s stressing me out! So today, I am going to go camp up a mountain. Unfortunately we haven’t left yet (Mohau is late, surprise surprise, the South African isn’t on time), and it gets dark soon.

Oh well. Sorry we couldn’t talk earlier, and sorry that I was so distracted. I love you anyway, I just need to do loads of stuff here, and talking to people gets in the way. I’m not as bad as when I’m in my house, but it’s also not far off.

Day 7 – So who’s in charge?

So, to fill you in on how things are here; the church I am visiting split. Its always difficult to point a finger, I just know I will miss the Pastor Matthew; who I deeply respect. Its caused a lot of pain and bitterness, but a new church has been formed from many of the friends I made previously. Its pretty small.

The way its really impacting me is that Edwin, the brother-in-law of the pastor, and CEO of Tshwaranang has left Harrismith. Various reasons, but I think the loss of his spiritual church home was a big one.