Wrapping Up

As you can tell, we had some extra time to catch up on our blogs today.  Our flight from Cape Town to Paris was scheduled to leave at 11:20pm on Wednesday.  While we were at dinner Tuesday night, we received an email indicating that our flight was cancelled.  After an hour on the phone with Air France, we were given a flight to Joburg and then one to Paris.  Our original two hour layover in Paris turned into an eight hour layover.  Well, this has given us plenty of time to take some airport naps and write some blogs.

I've been on ten mission trips to South Africa (plus a handful of vacations).  Each trip has its own flavor.  Its own unique story created by the individuals on the team and their interactions with the local people - a conversation, a wave hello, a call for dugga (mortar), a smile, a hug.

For those who have been on the trip with me in the past, you know that I can be task focused.  This year's trip was different.  This year's trip for me was about building/fostering/growing relationships.  Maybe this change of heart was aided by our schedule being off from the beginning due to flight issues and rain or maybe this is just me evolving to focus on what's really important.  The group seemed to have similar plans as we spent as much time at the community center with Mosaic and Ma's for Wellington as we did on the work site building the two houses.

The houses will get done.  And I want to thank those that contribute to the Beyond the Walls campaign as your financial donation went towards building two more Mosaic houses (as well as supporting Ma's for Wellington, Second Harvest, and Nederburg Primary School).  We had the pleasure of showing Nozuko the house that she will move into.  An incredible woman with an infectious personality became speechless as we showed her the house and a few kitchen appliances.  Nozuko shared with us earlier that day something that God has put on her heart that brought the entire group to tears.

I want to thank our group for following the call to go on this trip and their flexibility with the changes in schedule while on the trip.  I want to thank the prayer partners and prayer warriors who held us up over the past two weeks.  I want to thank those who followed our blog.  I want to thank those we left behind to take care of life back in the US.  You enabled our group to go on this trip.

I encourage you to stop one of us and ask us to share a story.  It was an incredible experience that is always so difficult to put into words.

God bless,

Tony