Well, after my bout with malaria and a lot of rest and
recuperation in Canada and the USA, I’m on the road again! Currently I’m in
South Africa with Dennis Hilman. This is a really short trip…only three
weeks—and one week is already over!
It’s been fantastic to be out here again…and, yes, I’ve been
taking it easy. As in the last few years, I’m staying with the Malefane’s while
I’m here. They are a lovely hospitable couple that have adopted me and
introduce me as their firstborn! I had to laugh the other day as we were
walking home from the neighbours in the afternoon and Mary Malefane asked,
“Leona, are you tired?”
“Not really,” I replied.
“Yes you are,” she said. “You must rest now!” So there you
go! Anyone that’s worried about me doing to much be assured that you have an
ally here who is keeping me in check.
When I am busy, it’s usually with the children, as usual,
and I’m not sure you can really call that work! I’ve taught three groups of
kids so far and I have two more groups this weekend. I’ve also participated in
a confirmation class, visited the prison, encouraged friends, and attended
services where Dennis was speaking.
We have a rental car on this trip and Dennis has chosen to
leave the driving up to me. In South Africa they drive on the left, not the
right which can be a bit tricky—but usually only if there’s no traffic on the
road. However, since Dennis came in late, we were driving back from the airport
late and several times I was merrily driving down the oncoming lane! I’ve got
it figured out now, though and the worst thing I do is manage to turn the
windshield wipers on instead of the turn signal.
We needed the windshield wipers earlier today! Dennis was
just finishing up a day of pastors’ training when the clouds blew in, the
thunder began to sound, and then the rain came pouring down. We made it from
the little shack church to the car but then we had a ½ hour drive home. I’m
from Vancouver—I understand how to drive in the rain, but the other drivers
were going pretty slow…they reminded me of Vancouver drivers in the snow! It guess
it was good they were going slow though—much of the road was covered in at
least a centimetre of water and the spray on both sides was higher than the
car. The storm didn’t last too long—about an hour. It stopped about the time we
reached the house.
At some point during the storm, however, the power was
knocked out. We’ve been home maybe an hour and the power has just returned now.
The sky outside looks pretty grey though, so I think I’ll conclude this now and
post in case we lose power again!
One more thought: there's a bush outside the house here that has the most unique looking
flowers and the most amazing smell (check the left-hand side of the picture above)! Here are some pictures of the flowers…I’m
afraid I can’t post the smell though so you’ll have to visit yourself to experience
that!
