Last week our church hosted a choir from South Africa. Hosting the choir was a good deal of work. There were a staggering number of details to attend to with their schedule, managing the meal preparation and coordinating the volunteers who opened their homes and provided all kinds of assistance. The fact that we were able to host the choir for 8 days was a real tribute to the willingness of so many people to step up and help in a myriad of ways. When someone needed medical advice, one man volunteered. When they wanted to shop a woman showed up on short notice to guide them.

Many people I know have been counting the days until this weekend. It is a little break at the beginning of this new program year. The reason these weekends are so-often cherished is because our lives are so full.  And the pace of life is pretty swift for most of us.

Yesterday was one of the summer days that lifts your spirits and makes you feel a deep sense of satisfaction just to be alive. The sky was blue. The air was dry. And the sun was pleasantly warm.

Dear Friends:

I have been here for five days and have seen a great deal of this beautiful country already. I am staying in Cape Town this week in the town near the University of Cape Town. My daughter Sarah has taken me to see Table Mountain and we have also been out to a game reserve. Today I visited the District Six Museum which tells the history of apartheid. On two occasions I attended some wonderful lectures in classes at the university. I did not blend in particularly well but I may have taken more notes than the students as I found the topics so interesting. For a fuller description of this trip and some pictures you can find a blog about this trip at RevSusan on www.blogspot.com. It really does feel like I am a world away, but I have made some fascinating connections, and thought often of the church, of course. ALso I have learned some wonderful new things about this part of the world, which I hope to share with you all over time.

I plan to stay here in Cape Town until Saturday and then I will be on to Durban and visit there with some churches. I hope to stay in touch through the internet and keep posting on the Blogspot website. I hope you can find it, if you are interested in learning more.

Blessings,

Susan

With great sadness we send our prayers and condolences to all the families who lost someone in the horrible violence at Virginia Tech. We send our sympathy to all the students on this campus and every campus who are inevitably affected by this terrible event.  

Authorization Form

Pledging takes some time and thought. When I make a pledge I really think about what the church means to me and what statement I want to make about the importance of God among my priorities. Jesus was clear in his understanding that our finances reflect our values. So when I make my pledge I try to think about making it enough of a commitment to mean something. I also want this commitment to be enough of my budget that I feel good about it.