Our Theocratic Part of Cape Town

The best part of staying with local friends in Cape Town was being able to associate with our brothers and sisters there. Our hosts arranged for us to go in service one morning, have a gathering at their house one evening, and to attend their meeting. We have great new friends now.

Service was cold and windy. Of course, Ben being a Minnesotan didn't seem to notice. Kimmy didn't bring much clothing for colder weather so she was dying. I was somewhere in between. Us girls worked with the only regular pioneer, the only regular auxiliary pioneer and another delightful sister. We traded off as we worked territory for over an hour. I believe it somewhere around 40 degrees Fahrenheit which could dampen our zeal. Yet we were having such a great time, the time flew by and before we knew it, we were so far from our car! It was great getting to see the variety in our brotherhood.

Tenille, the regular pioneer, is from Zimbabwe. She has been pioneering for around a year and got married just a little before that. She is fun, zealous and diligent.

Abigail, the regular auxiliary, is 14 weeks pregnant. She is from the Cape Town area. She is silly and laughs a lot which makes us laugh a lot. As we found out later, she is raising her 14 year old cousin, Andrea. Andrea had not known the truth prior to staying with Abigail. Andrea told me she loves the truth and is now an unbaptized publisher. She is so sweet. She and Sevennah would get along great!

Mathilda also was in service with us. She and her hubby (Jody) are active on many Kingdom Hall projects. In that area they have been building many standardized halls in the "informal dwelling areas", aka shantytowns. By the way, shantytowns are beyond belief. I can't believe people live in such dreadful homes, if you can even call them homes. How much praise it must bring to Jehovah that in amidst such shacks is a beautiful Kingdom Hall! Mathilda and her hubby met at the International Convention in 2003 in South Africa, the same convention Ben attended. Her dad actually The whole story sounds like a movie.

These three couples along with some others from the congregation came over that night for a nice gathering. It was so loud with everyone having fun. My cheeks hurt by the end with all the smiling I did. It was so lovely.

Also, on that same day, we visited two wineries. Laurie and I don't drink and as Mike was the driver, he didn't drink either. So Kimmy, Jayson, and Ben were the tasters. The first winery paired their wines with cheeses. The second one paired the wine with chocolates. I tasted chocolates and shopped the cheeses and jams. The settings were beautiful and relaxing. I wish we had more time to go to more wineries.

Meeting with the Protea Heights congregation is very memorable. One elder interviewed the four of us along with a couple visiting from Walkhill. (The brother from Walkhill is originally from Georgia and knows the couple that left Childress right before Ben moved to Childress.) We were told the emphasis should be on full time service. Afterward, so many approached us wondering how we pioneer, as if it was a foreign concept, something only the extremely zealous and capable people do. We explained that Jehovah always provides and that there is nothing exceptional within us. One dear sister thanked Kimmy and me for putting aside the desire for children so as to serve Jehovah more freely. She has 3 kids and said that when they grow up, she wants them to be just like us. Again, meeting brothers and sisters from such varied backgrounds is faith strengthening. Only in Jehovah's organization can we have this kind of unity and love. Our hosts had to practically drag the four of us out of the Kingdom Hall.