This has been a week of transition, of trauma, of ecstasy, of tears, of mercy and grace!
We arrived at Twee Riviere on the 1st of May - with Tazz and Cruiser loaded with all the possessions we could not fit into the truck - plus three dogs and the family. It was a long and slow journey - punctuated by the enormous realization that we were actually on our way to a new home and Cape Town was no longer our home.... fear gripped me - mixed with ecstasy - a very strange combination which surely must characterise us all as a bunch of nutters! But then we take on the mantle of "fools for God" with enthusiasm!
The house we moved to had no water or electricity - so we have endured a week of fetching and carrying water for such menial tasks as washing, cooking and even filling the toilet cistern.
Candle lit nights were at first quaint and a novelty - but became a little frustrating at times! However the house was rather romantic in the flickering light.
Today - we finally managed to get both water and electricity sorted - after 1 week of living here! The Lord answered our prayers in the form of a local Eskom official, called Werner, who lived in our street an achieved in 1/2 an hour what had eluded me for 2 weeks (I started trying to get ourselves connected 2 weeks ago).
The locals have been wonderful. Within hours of arriving a neighbour arrived at our door with a home-made fruit tart. Another arrived with home-made bread and home-made apricot jam. We were fed by Karen an Julian amongst their 6 children, when making food was a remote possibility for us.
But the beauty! The serenity! The mists in the morning - the extreme chill in the evening and early morning... the sheep and cows that are giving our city dogs nightmares... the tractors that pass our house on their way to pick fruit.. the children out all day on their bicycles (making friends and declaring this is the best place they have ever lived in!)... These are the moments that are changing our lives and are blessing us with the miracle of God's plans for each one of us.
It is not an easy road. Money is almost non-existent - and we are probably going to have to sell our Tazz to finance building our house - but it is all about redefining what is important in life.
I went to a prayer meeting this morning with some locals - and it took from 10AM to nearly 2PM - but we were treated with scones and cakes and much coffee in an atmosphere of brotherhood which I had not experienced since I lived in Greyton.
We still have a long way to go - and the walk will be interesting - but God is good and we are excited by the prospects that lie ahead!
The road ahead will be full of many challenges, and one of the locals pessimistically informed me that "The Langkloof is not for sissies!" - but we have the conviction that we were called here for a purpose and that we look to God, and not to man for our help, our provision and our strength. With faith we WILL conquer the obstacles - and we are looking forward to much joy and laughter in our new home town!
