I'm aware this post is really long, the reason for this is last few days have had plenty of drama in them, not only for me but also in the lives of those around me! There has been excitement and drama in my family, and in my host family, both of which I've felt I need to include in this post. Towards the end of this post I'm also going to be looking forwards to what the next few weeks and months will probably be looking like for me. You've probably already gathered that my BLS starts in a whole week from today (if you want the starting date, it's Thursday, the 10th of April). I can't begin to describe how every excited I am about that. However, before I get totally carried away with all I want to say, I'll start the drama that my dear parents had on their arrival in South Africa, between arriving at the guesthouse and leaving for home (don't worry, they didn't have an accident, nor did anyone else involved). Then I'll move on with the post from there.
My parents got back to South Africa on Tuesday (I think it was) to find that they couldn't get their car because the keys had been locked in the office and the people with the key had gone, literally. My parents had left the car at guest house near the airport when they left South Africa, the keys were then left in the office. All the people who had keys to get into the office had gone to a meeting two and a half hours away from Johannesburg. No one had thought to leave a key behind. So my poor parents didn't know what to do. Unlike in Uganda with Kampala (where we used to live before my parents and Caleb moved to South Africa and Hannah and I came to Europe) and Entebbe (where the only international airport is) being relatively close together Hoedspruit and Johannesburg are a good five and half to six hours apart. Thankfully one of the ladies had left her office key at home and was able to get it to my parents, who were then able to get the car keys. It was a long drive back for them but they're safely in Hoedspruit, safely getting over the exhaustion of travelling long hours, across continents. Caleb's also thrilled they're home, I think he's also happy that's he's been able to upgrade his bedroom. He's gone from having the loft room to having the big room with a double bed that used to belong to Hannah and me.
Yesterday morning, Alison (the lady I'm staying with until Monday), Mik (a friend of Alison's) and I went to an exhibit where they were displaying different aspect of what life was like in the Bible times. We weren't there very long, but for someone like me, who loves historical and Biblical things, it was a plenty long enough. There was also a talk about the tabernacle and the temples. It was absolutely fascinating, as I've been to the only part of the Temple that was left standing after the Romans destroyed it along with the rest of Jerusalem in AD 70 (74 years after Herod's death). The photo above what the tabernacle would have looked like (but on a larger scale), the photo on the right is a miniature of Solomon's Temple and the photo below is of the Second Temple, which was built in the book of Nehemiah and was later refurbished by Herod the Great. I'm not going to start spooling information here because you're probably not here to read pages and pages about the temples and those involved in building them. If you are interested, I'd recommend you ask someone who's better at explaining this sort of thing than I am. Before the talk started we had a good walk around and thus I was able to take a few pictures with my phone (which is why they're slightly blurred).
Here's a quick note of interest for you, my readers. The organization, called Shalom (Shalom is Hebrew for peace), is running the excibit on what life is like in during the time of the Bible and when Jesus lived, is in the Thanet area between 1st and the 5th of April, so we went again earlier this evening. The excibit is called "The Bible Comes Alive" and it's something I found quite interesting, despite being a bit tired from my excursion in to Canterbury today (which I'll get to later on, so do stay with me here). I think, for those who aren't familiar with how people dressed in Jesus time, this sort of excibit is really insightful into those times as one of the two men who started the travelling excibit "The Bible Comes Alive" likes to dress in the costume of those days (or so I've heard and read). When we were there yesterday he was dressed in in the style of what the men would have worn when Jesus was alive, what Jesus himself would have warn. There's a Roman armor costume standing on a frame, as well as a Priest's costume. They also have the style of dress that the women wore, in Jesus' day, on display.
Yesterday evening, we went to the cinema, which is a very rare occasion for me, as the last time I went to the cinema was before Christmas (thanks to Hoedspruit not having a cinema, so the nearest one is two and half hours away). The movie we went to see was really nice, and it had one of my friend's favorite actors in it (I gave up having one ages ago). We had dinner at this nice Italian restaurant afterward the film. It was during dinner that we were given a reason to celebrate and to go out. Before I tell you the reason why we ended up celebrating with a meal out, I'd better do some explaining and give some background here, otherwise it won't make a whole lot of sense to you, my dear readers. In July of this year, Alison is being ordained as a minister, she's been going to Spergeons College in London. Yesterday evening she got the call to say that the church where she's been working with, for the last three years, want her to stay on with them as their minister. The vote was unanimous. There were twenty eight votes and all twenty eight voted in favor of Alison staying on. So we decided that the meal was definitely to celebrate the church's decision. Alison's thrilled about this! Though, I do think that we're all very pleased about this.
Today I went to Canterbury for much of the day. Canterbury is a very old cathedral city and world heritage site. It predates the Romans' occupation of England in the first century. I made a pilgrimage there today, well in some sence. I'll explain why I've called it thus. On the 29th of December 1170, Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, whilst preparing a sermon, and because of this the cathedral became a place of pilgrimage for Christians from across the world. Thomas Becket's body isn't in the cathedral because in the time of King Henry VIII, a purge of the Catholic Church's monasteries and church buildings took place. Henry was in disagreement with the Pope because the church had refused to dissolve Henry's first marriage, to Catharine of Aragon. No one's found where Thomas Becket's Whilst I'm writing about a bit of history, I'll also give a bit of background. In about 597 the Kingdom of Kent converted to Christianity and St. Augustine (who later became the first Archbishop of Canterbury) founded an episcopal see in the city. This position that now heads the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion (however the Province of Canterbury covers the entire south of England).
Almost every time we visit the UK we end up staying in Canterbury, however we've never visited the cathedral itself, probably because of the whole time element. Family furloughs are usually hectic affairs when we're traveling all over England and Holland visiting friends and family, and what little free time we have left will go into shopping (the clothes you find in Europe are generally better quality than the stuff we find in Africa). However, every time we've come to England we've done our fair share of castle visits. It's been something that I've always looked forwards to whenever my parents have told us that we're going to be coming to England and Holland. I'm a history nut and have been for years. Ive loved reading history novels, and have been known to read my IGCSE history text book just for the fun of it. So last night, when we were on our way to the cinema Alison and Alan (Alison's husband) suggested I go to Canterbury for the day. Straight away I decided that a visit to the cathedral was in order. So that's where I went as soon as I got off the train at Canterbury West (that's the name of the station that the trains from Broadstairs and Ramsgate stop at), and shopped on the way back.
After I spend almost an hour in and around the cathedral, as I was enjoying looking around and talking to one of the curators about Thomas Becket, I needed to leave. I needed to do some shopping, both towards my BLS, though that's more or less done, and for Saturday. You see, on Saturday I'm going to a wedding, and I wanted, or you could say, I needed a hair piece. I'm in the early stages of growing my hair, so it's barely long enough to put into a ponytail and nowhere near close enough to being French braided, so I had no idea what I was going to do with my hair. Thankfully I already have the dress (with thanks to my dear friend, Santa Anzo, and her amazing clothing line, Arapapa) and the shoes. Alan and Alison know the bride and groom. It's the first English wedding I'm attending and Alison is also conducting the ceremony. I'm used to Ugandan timing at weddings (having been a flower girl three times and a bridesmaid once), when people are often late. Please don't take offense with this. So I'm looking forwards to seeing how this wedding is going to go.
Alison and Alan are dropping me off in London, at the YWAM base, on Monday. You're probably wondering why I'm going three days before the start. The reason is that I'd like to get settled in a little bit before it starts, not to add I'm going to see my dear cousins on Tuesday. Then on Thursday, the Basic Leadership School begins. The lecture phase lasts three months. We should be getting our schedules next week, so that's when I'll start making plans as what's going to be happening in my weekends. The BLS outreach should start in July at some point and lasts two months. With the whole course lasting, in total, five months. I'm not totally sure what's happening when the BLS ends, but I'm praying about it already and what The Lord wants me to do. I'll keep you posted!The Photographs (in order of appearance): Lucy, the spaniel who's ever hungry; The Tabernacle, in miniature; Solomon's Temple, in miniature; The Second Temple, in miniature; the set from the film "Miracle Maker", these houses are smaller than you'd think and they were actually used in the film (look it up if you don't know it); the sight of Thomes Becket's murder, I took this from a postcard I bought; the steple of Canterbury Cathedral; a postcard image and, lastly, a photo to prove that there's still a lot of water lying around after all that rain England's had over the last few months.