Sunrise, Sunrise.

Weekend in Pennington

One of the highlights of this past weekend was watching the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. It was so beautiful and it was really fun to think of how the sun was just leaving California and coming to Africa. It was like a hand off of the sun :).

We made a weekend trip to Pennington which is along the Eastern coast and is also near an entirely Indian community called Umzinto. The purpose of the weekend was to have fun and grow closer together but also to experience an entirely new culture and micro-culture of South Africa. I feel like it was the first true South African experience we have had here just being submerged in the city.

Our first day was just a day of traveling there, a trip that should have only taken an hour took five hours! Everything that could have gone wrong did, and we all realized how hard traveling with 50+ people is! It was fun anyways, and we made the best of it. We stayed at a "resort" that had a swimming pool and chalets with kitchens and everything. The following day we went and explored the Indian marketplace and then went to the beach! It was a different beach experience because a) there were huge swimming pools right next to the ocean water and b) although it was a huge beach, because of the sharks there was only a very small area where we were allowed to swim. They put "shark nets" in the water to keep the sharks out apparently. It looked funny to have everyone packed in such a small area! After the beach we went back and barbecued with a group of Indians that our professor had invited over. It was interesting to talk with them and try to get an understanding of their culture and they way that they view America. The following day (Sunday) we split up into groups and attented Indian churches. Of course the group I was with was assigned the church who had set aside the ENTIRE sermon time just for us! I was not happy about this because it meant that we each had to speak. It ended up going well and everyone did a really great job. I spoke about the challenges that God has been putting in my life in regards to stepping out of my comfort zone and trusting Him alone. Post church, we were invited to the pastor's house for lunch which was a very interesting experience. First of all, the women spent a lot of time preparing the meal for us, and then they did not even eat with us. It is their custom to serve the men and the guests and then eat in the kitchen afterward. It felt very strange. The Indian food was delicious though. At one point we brought up Barack Obama and the pastor very boldly told us that he thinks that Obama is the Antichrist and that he was elected in our majority white country for demonic purposes. He believes that satan is using Obama to get to Africa, and at one point he said something about our presidents being free masons or something like that? I wasn't sure what that was or what he meant, but he was very harsh and I heard from some of the other groups that the other Indian pastors spoke poorly about Obama as well. It seems like everyone else over here really likes him though, they even have shirts with pictures of Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama on them.

It was a wonderful experience and I feel like I am making such great relationships over here in South Africa. I am so thankful for this opportunity and each day so far has held something new. I think that through my time over here God is really closing some doors in my life in order to open others. I love being free of my usual distractions and really focusing on God and building genuine relationships here. I am fairly certain that after my time over here I will be "ruined for the ordinary".