Week 43 – “Wait, don’t go so fast. I’m missing the moments as they pass…”

It’s been awhile since I’ve written, but I did finally remember that I have a blog  I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, the way Amanda and I speak about time changed. We first arrived in South Africa on August 26, and from that point on, almost every month we’d say to each other, “Wow! Can you believe that it’s been one month… three months… five months?” After the holidays, things started to get really crazy. In early March, while preparing for my mom’s visit, I found myself asking Amanda, “What happened to February? Did it actually happen?” The weeks started to fly; a mash of late nights sitting around the AnHouse kitchen table talking and laughing, Bible studies, compline, Alpha, the ASF office, and no shortage of random adventures (including one platinum star road trip). Suddenly, when I spoke to Amanda, we’d say to each other, “Can you believe we only have 5… 4…. 3… 2 months left?”

No, I can’t believe it.

Here’s just a couple of reasons why the time has FLOWN....

Until recently, when the students left for winter break, my work at AnSoc has been the best kind of busy. Weekly Bible studies, compline services, and an Alpha course have been the focus of much of my attention amidst a varied mixture of special events that includes both landmarks on the AnSoc calendar and random last minute outings with my housemates to go to dinner or go shopping. I’ve enjoyed sharing compline with them and participating in the discussions and meeting new people at Alpha. The biggest weekly challenge (which is also sometimes the biggest weekly reward) is the weekly Bible study. I generally went the theme-based route, so some went better than others. A few times, I used Rob Bell’s NOOMA videos, but I think the best week (Holy Week) involved a discussion of the life of Christ and a few passages from that awesome Rob Bell book, Sex God. I think one of my favorite days in my life in AnSoc was Saturday, May 14. While this may not be a holiday in the US or in SA, it’s was a holiday in AnHouse – an AnHouse Thanksgiving! This was my fourth Thanksgiving in this lovely country and certainly was also the one with the most food. With lots of help from friends and housemates, I supervised the cooking of a dinner for twenty: two turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, giblet dressing, gravy, three pumpkin pies, three apple pies, and two pecan pies. I do believe it was my greatest moment of domestic glory to date. Our Thanksgiving was just what Thanksgiving should be; a kitchen full of people cooking all day and a dining room filled with family to eat the food. Love, laughter, full bellies, and leftovers for days. I hope my housemates are enjoying their winter breaks now, but the house is quiet without them. As the last few get ready to depart, I already find myself looking forward to joyful noise of their return.

An AnHouse Thanksgiving

In the mean time, I find myself at the ASF office with only a few days to go until we head to Limpopo and join 250 AnSocers from all around the Anglican Province of Southern Africa for the annual student conference. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories when I return from that adventure, and plenty more when Sarah Cardwell comes back to Cape Town.

PS – YASC Team South Africa took a week of vacation just after Easter. We went all tourist and drove the famous Garden Route, taking in even more of this country’s glory all along the coast, then up to Grahamstown and culminating in Mthatha.

Our South African Road Trip