Africa Segment #1

Ok, so much for the constant Africa updates. I tried. Still, in my defense I have had little to no internet access and each day has been filled to about 93% capacity.

To attempt to put into one post the work we have been doing here would make a post too overwhelming to write or read, so I’ll post in a few different segments.

Segment #1:

The plane ride was basically uneventful, though I did almost no sleeping for the entirety of the 16 hours from Atlanta to Johannesburg.


This picture is the first view I had of African land. We crossed onto the continent over desert in Namibia just after the sun was rising. That was the moment I was glad to have a window seat.

I landed the night of Saturday the 18th and luckly Greg had no idea I was coming early. The pastor at Eastside Church, Riaan, lied exceptionally well and was able to get Greg to the airport without him suspecting. Standing in the airport we were discussing how comforting it is to know that our spiritual guide is an excellent liar.

Greg and I had three days together before the team arrived, which allowed for great reunion time for us before we began ministering to others. Greg took me around Pretoria, and I have gotten to put pictures to things he has described over the last 7 months. Sunday we went to church for the morning service, then in the afternoon my host family, the O’Briens, invited Greg and I to their house for a traditionally South African braai. This is essentially a bar-b-que but (no offence American loyalists) hot dogs and baked beans have nothing on South African braai food. I’m going to get a few recopies from Fransie (my host mom) before I leave, and hopefully I’ll be able to cook them back in the States.


After the braai, Greg and I went to a small nature right in the middle of the suburbs where we walked through and met some springbock, zebra, and got charged by an angry ostritch. It was quite a cliché African experience and I enjoyed every immensely.




Monday morning I went with Greg to work to help finalize some details for the team arriving, and then in the afternoon I got to go help Greg work with his boys soccer team at Sunnyside Primary School.

Tuesday we spent the day running errands and Tuesday evening the team landed just after 6:30pm South African time. We loaded up the cars, and drove the team 45 minutes south of Jo-burg to Kimiad, Eastside’s retreat center.
The following morning, work began.

Stay tuned for Segment #2 for details about Kimiad… =)