STUDENTS & 20’S CHURCH CAMP

So I had decided not to go to the jazz fest all weekend because there was this retreat out of town in Simonstown. And the only reason I wanted to go was to invest in the lives of the people of this church and some of my cell group members (this is Jubilee church the one in which I work/serve). So I went on Saturday morning since I missed the bus which picked everyone up on Friday since I was at the conference. This also let me go to the festival Friday night.

It was a good time of just getting to know a few more people. They still are not very good at mingling. But it was nice. There were even people there from other churches. So we had a good time. And some people experienced renewal and refreshing as they felt loved by others and just had a time of rest and relaxation. I was able to play volleyball for the first time in a year. And there was a swimming pool. I got to hang out with an pray for some good friends—Werner, Harrison, Ross, Michi, Leana, Bronwyn, Brendan, Thuli, Ross, Sarah, etc. So some of the actors in the church want to come check out my play but I don’t even know if it’s happening. They might cut me from it because they scheduled the first rehearsal when I was busy and had a test. And they haven’t gotten back to me about when the next one is. So it’s a very different theatre culture here.

The best part of the camp for me was when I went out with Leana, Brendan, and Megan to watch the moonrise. Have you ever done that? Well we did. It rose at around midnight on Saturday night. It was gorgeous. We really went to look at the stars, and they were brilliant. If you ever looked at that map of the world that I sent a few months back, you’ll notice most of Africa is black. There is a dot at Cape Town, but you can see more stars in Cape Town than in any large city in the US. You can even stand at the top of Table Mountain at night and see MANY stars. So you don’t have to go very far out since it’s a small city and there isn’t a vast amount of light pollution in the surrounding region. So in Simonstown maybe 30 minutes from the center of Cape Town, you could see TONS of stars. Over here people first notice Orion like kids in the States notice the Big Dipper. They also know the Southern Cross. And you could see them both. You could see the curved signs of the Zodiac sweeping through the sky upside down. It’s great. You could see the Milky Way Belt. It was fabulous. I tried to wake up in the morning to catch the moonset, but I actually think I was up early enough but it wasn’t visible in the sky (sometimes you cannot see it). But I did catch the sunrise (which I think was before the moonset that day), and it was spectacular rising above the mountains as we have mountains everywhere. It was a wonderful break and weekend.