South Africa 2220

 Today was a long day full of joys as well as a few challenges.  We left the guest house at 7:30 am and joined the Caring Friends team for song and prayer.  Then we travelled for an hour and forty five minutes to the clinic held at a local church.  The ride was a bumpy one.  ( Our driver calls it an “African massage”). We set up the clinic in the small sanctuary — no water and no electricity, no indoor plumbing. We were able to serve 70 people, from children to age 85 with glasses.  It is so rewarding to be able to do something so small yet so impactful for people.  There is only one optometrist in a huge area and eyeglasses cost a fortune.  Some of the people tested have very poor vision.  Imagine if we had to struggle under those circumstances along with all the other challenges that these brothers and sisters face. On the way home we encountered heavy rain.  It is the rainy season here.  South Africa has planned power outages — called “load shedding”.  One took place as we were clos

(Note:  Internet is spotty in South Africa.  I am posting when I can.  I can sometimes post text but not photos). This morning we worshipped with fellow believers at St. Peter’s Confessional Lutheran Church.  The service was filled with song in both English and Zulu.  The liturgy was in Zulu, as well as the sermon.  However, the Pastor summarized the sermon for us prior to delivering it in Zulu.  Services here are usually 2-3 and sometimes 4 hours long.  Today’s was about 2.5 hours long.  Even though we did not understand many of the words, the service did not seem that long due to the joy and warmth of the congregation.   In our drive to church we noticed small lean tos set against the road where people are selling services like fixing tires, etc.  The unemployment rate here is about 35% and the government provides very little assistance to the unemployed.  So you see people trying to sell what goods and services they can.  That is also the reason why opportunistic theft is high here

 Today we visited St. Peter Christian College Grades R (equivalent to Kindergarten) to 12th grade.  We were greeted with song by the Caring Friends team.  We took a tour of the school and the health clinic (one of the clinics where we will distribute eyeglasses).  We enjoyed a wonderful braai (barbecue) and spent several hours chatting and getting to know one another.    The hospitality and love shown to us was overwhelming.    St. Peter’s is built on very rocky ground.  When the founding bishop saw the empty site he visited it often to pray for God’s guidance.  He placed rocks in a pile every time he came to the site to pray.  That pile of prayer rocks still stands.  Pictured below is the outside of the guesthouse where we are staying. 

 We arrived safely this evening in Johannesburg.  We travelled an additional hour and a half by van to reach the guest house in Middleburg.  Our driver Knut was wonderful.  We were greeted at the guest house by our gracious host Muzi who led us in a prayer of gratitude.  The guest house is beautiful and stocked with food for us.  Tomorrow we will meet the Caring Friends team and enjoy a braai (barbecue) with them. 

 We are preparing to board the flight for the final leg of our journey to South Africa.  We joined in prayer to ask God’s blessings as He sends us forth.  Some of us faced challenges with flights and three of our team are not in this photo as they are rushing to the gate as this photo is being taken.  We trust that the Lord is leading us.   These are gentle reminders that while we can prepare as best we can, God is in control!

 Part of our team at the Detroit Airport , enjoying getting to know each other .

 Our home congregations commission us to serve.   This is a very moving service  where we receive the commitment of our congregation to pray for us, and we each make a solemn promise to serve to the glory of God to meet the needs of His people on this trip.  Below is a photo from team member Charlotte's commissioning service.  She is in the center of the photo, wearing a Ndebele blanket from South Africa.  Surrounding her are her prayer partners.  It means so much that others are praying for safe travels and especially praying  that God will bless others through us.  Thank you for your prayers!

The youth group from St. Luke Lutheran, Itasca, IL (team member Walt's home congregation) packed up 973 (yes, 973) pairs of eyeglasses for shipment to Ann Arbor.   We're hoping that they might be future MOST mission team members!   We are thankful to them and to all the senders for the love that makes our trip possible.    

 Our team is in the final days of preparation.  We meet almost weekly via zoom to prepare for our trip.   We cover all of the practical aspects of travel.  Most importantly, we prepare ourselves spiritually.  Many thanks to our team leader Annette!   We are looking forward to meeting each other in person at the Newark Airport on October 27th when we will begin our journey of service.  Here's a screenshot of one of our zoom meetings.