We have had wondered Christmas here in South Africa, although, I must admit that it's been a little different from Christmas' at home. To begin with, 85 degree temperatures just don't bring out the Christmas spirit like a good frosty morning. As I may have mentioned in an earlier blog, Christmas here centers more on family gatherings and festive celebrations rather than on lavish gift giving. Kind of refreshing! For us, we rounded up several other missionary couples Christmas eve and went caroling throughout our apartment complex. We have an interesting mix of residents here including Muslims, Jews, Hindus and a variety of Christian sects. We were careful to avoid carols that might be offensive to some, and for the most part, people enjoyed the music. We even sang to the guards who keep us safe, and took them cookies. The brightest smiles came from a Hindu family who asked us to sing Silent Night. What an interesting world we live in!

Christmas morning we joined most of the other missionary couples for a very tasty "pot luck" breakfast, and then spent the rest of the day doing a little reading, watching a video we rented, and the best part of the day was from about 5pm on talking with all our children and grandchildren. That was the best Christmas present we could have asked for. We are forever grateful for our Vonage phone !!!!!

Even though gift giving is not a big part of Christmas here, Dian and I did some special things for each other. For the past several weeks we have been out shopping for some small items that have helped to make our apartment more comfortable and home like, and on Friday we found a very nice mall where we bought some very attractive summer outfits for Dian. Earlier in the week, Dian took me to a popular sporting goods store where she bought me a set of inexpensive golf clubs. We have a beautiful golf course just a few blocks from where we live, and there are several golfers in our missionary group. I've already been our once for a 9 hole round. I was a bit rusty, but it was great just to get out with some good company on a beautiful day.

Today we went to church in Soweto.  Soweto is the township where the real revolt against aparthide took place.  Its an area of great poverty with about two million population.  The chrch members there are some of the most spititual people I've met.  They immerse themselves in the gospel.  Their faith is pure and strong.  I had one gentleman come up to me to tell me how happy he was that we are here as missionaries saying that by the time we leave, it is likely that one family will be saved.  His comment touched me deeply.