Introduction
I am about to join with a group of 27 people who will be leaving for South Africa during the next 2 weeks. If i really get this blog to work, there will be others beside myself that will be adding pieces. We’ll see… I’m new at this, and am of the “slightly older” generation.
I am a Lutheran pastor serving at Bethany Lutheran in Judson, Minnesota. 3 years ago I went to South Africa on a relationship building trip with the Southwestern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (ELCA). As a result of getting know Bheki Mathe, a pastor in KwaZulu Natal, we invited him to visit in April and May. While he was here he invited farmers to come and help with some agricultural pieces in January of 2008… I said no way could we get a group together that quickly. However, one of the people at the table, a farmer, looked at me and said, “tell me when the 1st meeting will be”. That first meeting occured before Pastor Bheki left.
It is now 8 months later. I thought we could get together a small group. We have 27 people. As I go along I will describe some of them to you, and invite some of them to share as well. Meanwhile, I’m beginning my time change early (you need to add 8 hours to know what time mine is), and so I’m going to crash. The plane leaves tomorrow at 3, flies 8.5 hours to Amsterdam, we have a 3.5 hour layover, and then it is 10 hours to Johannesburg…
Perhaps there will be a couple of minutes left in the morning between last minute packing to add a bit.
God’s peace is in the midst of the pieces!!!
Thanks for your prayers!
Rebecca