Fall in SA

One of my favorite things about fall in New England is the extravagant colors of the changing leaves. I don't get much of that in Namibia. So it was nice to see some changing leaves at the conference center in Joburg while I'm here for this year's regional SIM Conference. This week I've joined SIM missionaries and church leaders from countries all over southern Africa at this lovely, quiet conference center in Johannesburg, South Africa to discuss issues like member care and discipleship in the southern African context. It's been great to meet lots of other people who have a similar passion for ministry in this part of the world. It's also been reinvigorating hearing stories of what God's doing in their countries and envisioning what He still has planned for Namibia!

Aside from the meetings and sessions, we also had some good downtime which was nice for me. The conference center has a nice garden with a little pond where I could sit on the grass (which we don't have much of in Namibia!) and soak up some vitamin D while typing away at my lessons for the upcoming CCC retreat. The cooler fall weather made it bearable and actually pleasant to sit in the sun. Not too shabby for an afternoon office space! One time I almost stepped on this big guy, which could have been painful since I was wearing sandals!

It's also been cool because many of the people are originally from all over the world, places like Korea, Australia, Switzerland, and the UK. I love the inter-cultural flavor of the Christian church! After one session we sang the simple chorus "God is so good" in all the different languages represented in the room. It was a nice foretaste of Revelation 7:9, "I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb."

Colorful sunset by the pond