Our time in South Africa for the first part of 2015 is
almost over. We are looking forward very
much to returning home, seeing the family and especially our latest addition to
the tribe, baby Lewis McMillan born on 16th March. In addition we have David and Jess’ wedding
at the end of May to look forward to.
This has been a busy time over the last few weeks. We had a
few days away at a very nice bed and breakfast in Stanford, a couple of hours
up at the coast and then two nights at a hotel right on the sea front
at Arniston. The accommodation was
excellent, the food great but the wind blew and blew, even worse than Fish Hoek
if that was possible.
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| Our room at Blue Gum |
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| The sea front at Arniston |
We went to Cape Agulhas, the southern most point of Africa,
walked the coast and played golf. We
very much enjoyed the local birds and wildlife found in the farmers’ fields and
the beautiful countryside of the Overberg.
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| Sitting atop the cairn at Cape Agulhas |
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| Ready for a little golf at Bredasdorp |
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| Brave fisherman running the gauntlet with the incoming tide |
When we got back to Fish Hoek there were terrible fires
blazing all over the local hills destroying the vegetation, a few properties
and some animals as well. It took a couple of days for the fires to be
extinguished. The local fire fighters are brave though and hard working.
Support from the local community is strong and there was a constant stream of
people taking food, water and other supplies to the fire station.
The fynbos, the local vegetation, is amazing and though
almost completely destroyed, it is designed to flourish after fires. Some flowers only appear after a fire and
everything will come back even more vigorously after the winter rains. However
in the meantime many of our favourite walks are not available as the hills are
closed to walkers till the authorities have secured the area and repaired
damage to infrastructure. There is a hefty fine if caught in one of the closed
areas.
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| Fire damage |
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| Closed hiding trail |
The local birdlife has done better than the animals though a
local house had three owls sitting on the roof one evening and an African
harrier hawk and family were in next door’s palm tree creating quite a stir
amongst the neighbours.
We continued to lead our home group and had some very good
evenings culminating in a social before Easter with great food and a photo quiz
prepared by Christopher. He took ages to
put together the quiz with a round on South African bok, another on birds, one
on local stretches of water and beaches, one on local towers and masts and the
final one a ‘through the letterbox’ view of people at church showing just their
eyes. It was great fun and enjoyed by
all.
The ladies Bible study has just concluded after spending 7
weeks studying seven different passages from the Gospel of John. It may be a
small group but we all enjoy the Word. I continue to be involved in the African
ladies prayer meetings from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Those ladies know how to
pray! The time usually passes
surprisingly quickly though I am always glad to get into my bed. The leader of
the group is a Nigerian lady from northern Nigeria and she is there now encouraging
prayer in that area. We continue to serve on the Welcome team at church every
few weeks welcoming and serving coffee to visitors to the church and chatting
to them.
My brother Roger came and concluded his African holiday with
a week in Fish Hoek having spent two weeks in four different game lodges in
Botswana. We had a fun time walking,
eating and doing a few tourist visits as well.
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| Christopher and Roger at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens |
Now after 13 weeks our southern hemisphere summer is over
and we head home for a busy summer in UK. We feel such a call to Fish Hoek and
God certainly opens up lots of opportunities for us to serve here which we
willing take on. It is good to build relationships, to share, strengthen and
encourage faith and to pray for the many needs both here and elsewhere. And we constantly marvel that God has placed
us in such a beautiful place with amazing people and for that we are very
thankful.
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| Steppe buzzard |
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| Blue crane - South African national bird |
