I have to gush about the wonderful time I had in South Africa the first two weeks of January. It was a great way to start the New Year.  The first week was spent at a conference in Johannesburg of all the missionaries in Africa, over 200 people plus their kids.  I met so many new people.  The best part was sitting next to people I grew up hearing missionary stories about.  Eating dinner with missionary heroes from my childhood...doesn't get any better then that.  Or does it?  The theme of the conference was Lordship and Lostness.  This is going to be a recurring theme like the Decade of Pentecost was.  God laid it on Mike McClaflin's heart a few years ago. It encompasses the following ideas. Are we truly living under Christ's lordship in our personal lives and as an organization?  Are we keeping the lostness of people (particularly Africa) in the front of our minds?  Not only heaven is real but hell is too.  Our we doing good in our work and ministry or the best?  All this undergirded by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It was amazing to see a large organization of very independent people (Pentecostal missionaries) come together in such unity knowing some of this will bring change.  Along with that, two couple are retiring with new couples taking their place.  I've been through major organizational changes before that haven't been pretty (Christian organization or not) but this was so different.  There was incredible respect and love given to those retiring.  The humbleness of the new leaders was striking and the sense of unity behind the new leadership was palpable.  The picture below is the leaders looking at the covenant we all signed committing to the ideals above.  The second picture is of the baton (or gavel) being passed from Mike McClaflin to Greg Beggs, our new Africa area director.  

The icing on the cake was playing my viola as part of the worship team with Paula (who I met first in Zambia 10 years ago).  I haven't played that style of songs with such freedom in 10 years.  It was a refreshing time.  

After the conference, Christine and Nancy Biffert and I headed to Capetown for holiday.  Below is the view from the second mission house we stayed in.

We visited the penguins at Boulder beach.  They are so awkward on the beach walking but are beautiful to see fly through the water.

Below is the Indian Ocean at Hout Bay.  It's more a working harbor.  It felt like being back in Michigan, except the water was salty.  It was headache freezing cold.

This is a very cool snail from the beach. Within a minute of putting him down on the sand, he would be buried with only his shell showing.

The pictures don't do the landscape justice.  This is along Chapman's peak drive.

I loved finding the sea anenome in the tidal pools.  They feel sticky when you touch them.  That's because they have poison on the tips and think you are a fish.  Thankfully our skin is thick enough we just feel it as sticky instead of stinging.

This is a black girdled lizard.  It was so cold up at the top of the mountains I was surprised to see reptiles.  His black color helps him absorb all the heat from the sun he can.  Great design!

This is Cape Point, the southern most point of Africa.  It was quite the climb!

Ostrich by the beach.

This is Cape of Good Hope the most south-western point of the continent.  It was super windy!

This is Table Mountain.  It's a flat topped mountain-hence the name.  Very windy there too.  Top of the bottom of the world!

Nancy and Christine said I couldn't go abseiling.  I really thought it was where you got to jump off the mountain in a neoprene suit with wings (you look like a bat) but on further research it's just another word for rappelling.  Either way they wouldn't let me do it but had to have a picture.

Now you can see why it's called Table Mountain.

Loved this sign we found on the top of Table Mountain.  If you read all of Psalms 104, it is a beautiful poem to the signs of our God in nature.  So appropriate for the wonders we saw all that week.