Our travels while a bit grueling, were uneventful. Both of our flights were quite full. We had (surprisingly) good airplane food including several different meals on the 11 hour flight from Amsterdam to J’burg (the short name for Johannesburg). We finally arrived in J’burg Friday evening (see photo) and after getting our luggage, met Scott and Marcia Borg in the lobby and went to a nice hotel for the night.
We rose Saturday morning to load up and leave quickly for the drive to Nsoko, stopping at a truck stop along the way for breakfast. After some vehicle swaps at Jumbo’s house (see photo of Jumbo and Clara), we proceeded to the big event of the day - visiting with Sheila.
Velma Holding Clara
We met Pastor Peter and his wife Precious on the road into Sheila’s and they went along to meet her. As we arrived, Sheila came out of her old house with her grandson on her back. She was clearly overwhelmed by the large group, but as Marcia talked with her, she began to relax and talked to us. As we took photos of the new house, we could see that construction was proceeding. The roof is on, window frames are set and the work is proceeding in “Swazi time”.
Sheila shared that her two children need to find work. She also shared that her children ask her for money that she can’t afford to share. She told us that she just knows to hang on to her faith in God and depend on Him.
Sheila's House
Today (Sunday) we had our first experience of a Swazi church service. The singing was amazing! Wonderful accapella songs lined in siSwati and English. Pastor Bheki called the New Hope team forward and we each introduced ourselves and offered greetings. There was more singing, and then I (Jay) was invited forward to present the book of stories. I read the introductory letter as Pastor Bheki translated and the congregation cheered. Vern then preached a message from Romans with Bheki again translating. The congregation welcomed the message with “Amens”.
Church Service in Nsoko Church
Following church, we went to Pastor Bheki’s for lunch with some of the church leaders. We heard the story of Pastor Bheki’s coming to Nsoko and his work planting other churches. He introduced the church leaders. We prayed together, cleaned up from lunch and went to visit Gogo Nomsa’s house (where we will be doing some work this week). Gogo Nomsa told us of the loss of her husband, about her children and grandchildren and shared some stories of her life - we’ll bring that story back in our book from the Nsoko church to New Hope.
Nomsa's House
I’m out of time for tonight. We will post again in a couple days (maybe Thursday) when we are back at the Nisela dining room.
