Loving the People

As with any Fowers Family adventure there are so many adjustments.  For example it is winter down here and there is no central heating in any home, so I am always cold.  I go to bed with a heating pad and eat breakfast in my warmest coat.  Because it has been so cold, we leave the windows and doors closed so then everything is moldy and musty.  Cooking is an adventure as well.  I baked cookies the other day and I couldn't find shortening or brown sugar and it took me three stores to find chocolate chips. Even the flour is different, so it took several tries before Luci's famous cookies even resembled the kind I baked on Sunday nights.  We are finally adjusting to driving on the wrong side of the road but are constantly fighting 40 years of muscle memory so we both have to concentrate intensely while driving.   I was a terrible back seat driver when we were driving in San Diego...you should hear me now!

Check out the steering wheel on the right side of the car!

South African peoples are beautifully diverse.  We are constantly rubbing shoulders with individuals from different, fascinating cultures, races, ethic backgrounds and social economic levels.  They are a friendly and happy people for the most part and they are working their way into our hearts.  On Clarke's birthday last week we celebrated with a group of Young Single Adults that we have been helping.  They were so delighted to be part of his celebration. We have been working with them to bring focus and direction to their lives and help reconnect them to their faith in Jesus Christ.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Poverty and unemployment are a crushing problem here.  We have had our large municipal garbage cans (here they call them the rubbish bins) stolen twice in the last month.  We were quite irritated by it until we realized that people were stealing them to live in...it keeps them warm and dry during this rainy season.  There are massive townships (slums) here that we have not ventured into because they are simply too dangerous, but we see the shanties from the freeways and it is heart wrenching.

Miles and miles of shanty homes without runny water or sewer lines.

We continue to be in awe of the landscape and vistas.  Last Saturday we took an enclosed cable car to the top of the famous Table Mountain which is located in the heart of Cape Town.  We went from sea level to 3550 feet in elevation in about 2 minutes.  We felt like we were on the top of the world and we could see for 50 miles in every direction.  We took dozens of pictures and they simply did not do justice to majesty of the view that was spread before us.  It is impossible to comprehend the beauty and magnitude of God's creations and His love.

Top of the World!

View of Robben's Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.