Easter Weekend

Anna, Alicia and I woke up super early to attend the Diakonia Good Friday service. This picture is of a choir singing on the steps of City Hall after the flowering of the cross toward the end of the interdenominational service. We arrived at 5:30am and the service went until about 8:40 am. It was the earliest I have ever left a 3 hour church service. We had a great time. The procession from the convention center to these steps on city hall was done in complete silence and in the rain. It was quite an experience focused on 'who is my neighbor'. Here in South Africa, they take Good Friday off as a public holiday, which they also label 'Human Rights Day'. This service spoke beautifully about the connection between the two occasions. It was pretty powerful. There were approximately 1,500 people in attendance.


Happy Happy Easter! (on Sunday)
Easter was amazing! It was truly the best day I have had in months. The whole day was life-giving. The whole weekend was full of good times building up to this day. Our friend Alicia, a scholar studying in Grahamstown came to visit us for the holiday. And for the first time since my arrival, I put aside all my school work to explore the city that I live in, and had a great time hanging out with friends. It was fantastic! We enjoyed many amazing meals both as restaurants and a Mexican fiesta that we prepared for my host family. Chips, salsa and the works. It was delicious! Also, I went to the beach several times. Sand between the toes is one of the best sensations ever.
These are several friends who came to the Easter feast on Sunday afternoon. From left to right: me, Drew, Anna, Ciriaque, Matt, Pilou, Emefa, and Alicia. There ended up being 16 people who came. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, salads, deviled eggs and lots of yummy desert! It was a fantastic time.




Easter Sunday was all-around fantastic. We had a true sunrise service at the church I have been attending, Morningside Community Church of the Nazarene. We were set up on the lawn and the sun came up streaming through the trees. It was quite nice. The service was followed by two baptisms and then also a fish braai (bbq). It was fabulous, right out of the book of John.
We all lounged around for an additional 3 hours talking and enjoying each other's company. It was my ideal way of spending the morning. Church was followed by a fantastic trip to the beach where we enjoyed milkshakes and further conversations. Then I spent the early part of the afternoon preparing and roasting 2 small chickens, our oven was hardly big enough, but they turned out absolutely phenomenal! Moist and falling off the bone. We hosted a huge Easter potluck at Drew's flat, which will be above the flat that Anna and I move into next week! Hooray! With this move we will be much closer to town and in walking distance to many things. Rumor has it that there is also a running club that meets across the street, so I will definitely have to check that out.