Picnic and Mud

Our lives continue with the weekly Bible studies, preaching, visiting, correspondence and the long list of normal responsibilities. We look forward to a visit from our Regional Director, Mr. Jim Howard and his wife in a couple of weeks. We also hope to do some special outreach here in our community in the near future. Once in a while though, we plan a special day to get away and relax a bit. Last week we planned to spend one day with Fanie and Rose Blignaut and their family. What was to be a nice, relaxing picnic turned into a lot of hard work when the land cruiser got stuck in mud. To make matter worse we were a couple of miles away from anyone and it was also a holiday. In spite of the unexpected we did have a nice time and made some memories!

Wild Fire

These are the charred remains of the wildfires that swept through this area last week. Thousands of acres of mountainside and grassland burned over a period of about three days. We could see the flames on the mountains that surround Ladybrand. Smoke was really bad for about two days. Every year this happens during the winter, but this fire was the worst I have personally seen.

Spring

Yes, that's right, here in South Africa, September 1st is the official first day of Spring. While we certainly welcome the return of warmer temperatures to the southern hemisphere many trees are decked out in their spring best ready to celebrate new life. With the coming of Spring, other less welcome aspects of life make their annual reappearance, like allergies, mosquitoes and the like. But in spite of such annoyances we are thankful that the cold is gone...until next year.