Originally I would have been in SA for just short of three weeks, but for various reasons, it turned into four. It’s astounding how fast the time flew! My sister and I spent a long weekend in Vryheid with our mom and grandmother, where we also attended a wedding. It was 3 May and freezing cold, who would have thought it? It was an old friend from church who got married, and a friend my time at seminary who preached, and it was a blessing to be there and share in their joy. The weekend was far too short, though, and I would have loved to spend some more time with my mom.
Back in Pretoria I needed to do a lot more preparation for a presentation that I was scheduled to do at my home church’s Missions Week. I needed to present not only the work of Dr Woodrow and I, but also that of a couple connected to our church who work in Chiconono, in Niassa province, as well as Roland and Susan Seiler who are here at the SIL centre and who also have ties with Constantia Park Baptist Church. I think it went okay, I certainly talked a lot… After that it was nice to enjoy the rest of the missions week and not have anything stressful to think about for a few weeks. I was mostly without transport, which meant that friends who wanted to see me needed to come and fetch me. I therefore also got some good rest by being stuck wherever I was staying, but it was rather frustrating as I needed to do quite a lot of shopping, stocking up on certain things, getting some things for the flat and also buying specific articles for friends in Nampula. This was one of the reasons that my extra week was truly advantageous, because it took much longer to get everything taken care of than I thought it would.
It was a great blessing to be with my friends from church – I felt very loved and well taken care of! I managed to be with my old Bible study group twice, and each time I was so encouraged. Roland Eskinazi, our speaker at the Missions Week, spoke amongst other things about joy in and love for Christ being our greatest motivation in mission, and he addressed so many issues close to my heart. The fight for joy in Christ and continually walking in His presence has been a recurring theme in my life the last months, a struggle with no end even remotely in sight. Yet I think I needed some reminding that intimacy with Christ is not an end in itself, but should lead to zealous proclamation of His Name and glory to the lost.
The trip back to Nampula was tiring, having to get up early to miss the peak hour traffic on the way to the airport, then waiting to board, and then a further 3 hour stopover in Maputo that turned into something more like 4 hours, as we were sitting on the runway waiting for some problem with the door of the aeroplane to be resolved. I finally got home around 17h45 yesterday evening, only to discover that the city has been without water since the weekend. That didn’t exactly put me in a wonderful mood, but mostly I just needed sleep. Everything seems more familiar and do-able today, thank the Lord! A very busy, but hopefully also exciting, time lies ahead of us.
