Josephs face was as black as the night and he lived all his days under African skies.

He has risen! He has risen indeed, alleluia!
We set our alarms for 5 am today so that we could help Keith, our host prepare for the 7am sunrise service at Pinelands Methodist Church. Being southern hemisphere this is autumn and so the weather is warmer than back home in the UK. We are having an outdoor morning service with the novelty of chairs and a full PA, with Keith playing the Clavinova.
The service is for around 100 people from the church and we are not the only visitors from England, as there is a minister and his family from York as well. Their church is twinned with Pinelands and they also support the same missionary project and so it was very interesting to meet them. The sunrise service was very similar to ours back in the UK, and it was great to share with this church and our hosts, who remember Dick and Meryl with fondness and love. After the service there was the traditional Methodist welcome in the guise of Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and of course Hot Cross Buns! Ron in seventh heaven!
After the service we were being escorted by Keith to Langa (Sun) township where we are privileged to spend time with the congregation of the large Methodist Church which was bursting at the seams. We have to sit in the choir stalls at the front of the church as that was the only room. The singing and rhythm was so powerful it was humbling, and the harmonies were amazing. But the contrast between the two services was quite marked, as was the township to Pinelands. I’m actually finding it difficult to express the many mixed emotions that the experience gave me. When you see how people are living and the pride with which they wear their Sunday best for church it makes you realise what a spiritual people the black Africans are, despite everything that has been metered out to them over the last 60 years, they are true believers and truly a rainbow people of God.
We didn’t take too many photographs because we almost felt this would be voyeuristic. I hope you all understand what we mean by this.
Yesterday, we travelled around Cape Town on the open top Red Bus as an orientation experience. We walked through part of the main city shopping area and also a local craft market. Later we explored the Waterfront which was very reminiscent of Auckland and San Francisco in some ways. Like San Francisco there is an island in the bay which was used as a prison –Robben Island. This is where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. The trip to visit there was fully booked until next Thursday, (the day we fly out of Cape Town) and this trip was certainly very high on our personal itinerary. We managed to book 4 places so we hope the weather is fine and that the trip isn’t cancelled due to rough sea conditions.
The work in preparation for the Football World Cup 2010 is we underway, but still incomplete. New roads and access bridges have been surveyed and built and the tourist facilities are going into overdrive. There are big screens being installed on the main city streets for non ticket holders to get to see the games at the big new stadium. Hopefully this will eliminate any anti-social behaviour on the part of “fans”.
Finally, until you arrive in Cape Town it is difficult to comprehend just how much Table Mountain and the associated mountains dominate this city. This is even more impressive when you look at the extent of land reclamation which has transformed the city. Once again similarities exist to Wellington (NZ) and of course the work done by the Dutch engineers mirrors their endeavours in the Nederland’s.
Finally, we mustn’t forget the pioneering work done in Dr Christian Barnard’s operating theatre in the mid 60’s. This, of course was where the first successful heart transplant was performed. The original hospital has been extended and is very close to where we are staying.