Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Greetings from Joburg! We arrived at Stacey & Buhle's last night after grabbing McDonalds and staying up til 1:30am chatting. Life is good. We had an AWESOME time in Cape Town. It is the most gorgeous city and I totally recommend going there. (OK, fine, I admit that we did have a few "why do we live in Harare when we could live in Cape Town?" moments...) It will do your heart good to see the beaches, the oceans, the mountains, the food in the grocery stores... (I only had a minor meltdown - it's just so unfair to see so many TYPES of cheese, milk, bread, chocolate, meat, etc. never mind just having the items, but we loaded our suitcases as usual).

We ran our Two Oceans race on Saturday. I was petrified the night before and didn't sleep, but as soon as I started the half, I LOVED it. It was the best run I've ever had, and the whole time I kept thinking, "am I going to crash? this is way too easy!" (shout out to people who prayed for me - I felt God's grace!) It was just so exciting and I felt like a real runner. Usually I bribe myself to take extra walk brakes on a run, but on the race I had to convince myself to take them (even on the hills!) I think I was just full of adrenaline. I did it in under 2.5 hours, and just had an amazing experience. Of course John also did fabulously on the 56kms. It was so exciting to both be at the finish line. As John says, "a couple that runs together stays together!" (is this brainwashing?) I thought I might retire after my first race, but I can't - it was too fun.

We had such a good time with Merrilou, Gerard and their fun kids - Jeremy and Emily. They treat us like family, spoil us with amazing meals, and wait in the sun for hours to cheer us on at the race. They even took us to Boulders Beach where we got to hang out with penguins. Cool! We love spending time with good friends.

Easter was special as usual. I always watch "The Passion of the Christ" and it really moves me. I know some people were against the film when it came out (too violent), but I find it profoundly moving. One thing that always gets me is the agony of Mary in watching her son be tortured, misunderstood and crucified. This year it really reminded me of all the mothers in Zim who are watching their children die agonizing deaths from AIDS or starvation. At our Good Friday service it sort of hit me that I live in a country where people don't have to try to identify with the suffering Christ - they do it every day - in the constant funerals, the physical and emotional pain of searching for food, the fear of what could happen if you say that wrong thing to the wrong person, the uncertainty of life, the total trust that God has a plan even when you can't quite see it... Anyway, happy belated Easter! We're off to Namibia, so more later...