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One last view

I had my final meetings with the director of Media Village, Graham, this evening before joining him at his church for the evening service. There are so many beautiful things to see in this area. We had our meeting in the car, and he brought me out to see a few things before I left.

These photos are from a place that Graham's wife, Diane, says has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. I agree. Gorgeous.

This has been a good trip.

I have an early morning--out at 5am to start my journey back to Nairobi.

God's Orchestration

It's interesting how God puts things together--accidents, coincidences... I could call it chance, but instead I believe that it's God's orchestration and interaction with us.

I've had a great visit with Media Village so far. Coming here was actually one of the accidental happenings--not the trip itself, but finding out about Media Village. When I was in Benin in July, I found out from a friend that the Mercy Ship was docked in the city where I was. We were invited on board, and while I was there I met a South African. I asked him if he knew about any media production companies or schools that had good communications programs in South Africa. He said that he knew of a place called Media Village, but he didn't know much about it. The co-worker who was with me in Benin went to a meeting and asked some of those same questions to some other co-workers. One of them happened to know the director of Media Village. He sent me the contact info...and now I'm here.

I had an interesting set of coincidences this weekend. Yesterday, while I was with Carol & Claxon I had an accidental meeting with another YWAMer, which lead to yet another accidental meeting with some other YWAMers, today. In addition to Media Village, YWAM has a few other ministries based in the Cape Town area. I didn't know much about them until these accidental meetings.

Now, lest you think Cape Town is just a little village--there are about 3 million people in the greater Cape Town area, lots of churches, and YWAM is a large ministry with staff all over the world.

On to my story...

One of my stops yesterday was at Boulders Beach where there is a colony of African Penguins. While I was taking photos of the penguins, I heard a couple of people talking with an American accent. I asked one of them to take my picture with the penguins, and then we began a conversation--why are you in Cape Town, where are you from, etc, etc, etc. They were from Massachusetts (I'm from a neighboring state, Rhode Island), and they were visiting a friend who was originally from Massachusetts but now lives in Cape Town.

The friend who lives in Cape Town talked with me for a bit. I found out that she was on staff with YWAM (not at Media Village), and her home church in the US was one I knew well. One of the pastor's there from a while back was involved in marrying my parents. Well, this conversation led to her providing me the names of a couple that work with another YWAM ministry that does photography. They are usually in Hawaii at a YWAM base there, but are currently in Cape Town. I didn't think there would be any chance I'd see them before I left, but I wrote down their names anyway.

Skip forward to today.

The staff that work at Media Village go to several different churches in the area. I had asked Carol & Claxon if I could go to church with them. During the beginning of the service, the pastor announced that there would be a special speaker. Guess who the speaker was? It was one of the names that the woman I'd met yesterday gave me. His wife was also there. After the service I was able to talk with them both, and there may be some possibilities for partnering with their ministry in photography, too. Wow.

I've really sensed that God has been orchestrating all the aspects of this trip. This was just one more example of how He has been doing that.

Seeing God's Creation with Carol and Claxon

Carol and Claxon are from Nairobi (where we live), and serve on staff with Media Village in Cape Town, South Africa. They've been here for two years. Carol coordinates DTS (Discipleship Training School) at Media Village, and Claxon works with the radio school. They were my tour guides, today, around Cape Town.

A couple of highlights from my day--observing African Penguins in their natural habitat; climbing up to the Cape Point observation area and seeing where the currents from the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean meet; eating some Biltong (South African beef jerky) and some fish and chips; and listening to a South African singing group perform The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

Listening, Learning

I've had some great opportunities to interact with staff and students. A couple from Kenya, a couple from Nigeria and a single guy from Zimbabwe work on staff with Media Village and raise financial support just like Jeff and I do. They don't receive a salary, but rely on donations from churches and individuals to supply for all of their needs. I've been talking to them about what that has been like for them and what challenges they've had. It hasn't been easy, but they are all committed to what God has called them to. It was encouraging to hear their stories and learn about how God has been providing for them.

I've been learning more about Media Village, too--both their training programs and their video production unit. There could be some exciting possibilities for how we could work together in the future. They are just finishing their video production training school. The next one will be for story telling and digital photography. They also do training for media writing, radio and a basic course on communications foundations. On the production side, they have been producing videos for a few large ministries. So, I'm seeing possibilities for contract work, interns, future staff...perhaps more.

New treats

I've tried a little something new every place I've gone. Tonight, I ate dinner with the Media Village director, his family and several students. I had a flavor of pizza that is new to me--avocado and ham pizza. Not too bad. I really liked it.

I also made a visit to a mall earlier in the day. I was browsing in the stores to see if there was anything that we might want that isn't available to us in Kenya. I was also scanning the candy to see if there was anything that looked good that I hadn't tried before. I saw this Cadbury Sweetie Pie and had to try it. Yum. It was good. It was kind of like a vanilla flavored marshmallow with chocolate around it.