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Hello From The Hornes
August 31, 2004
"HERE AM I, SEND ME": Africa was calling loud and clear! So on August
11th, in spite of the news that a few days earlier Al-Qaeda terrorists had been
arrested with drawings of Heathrow Airport which they planned to bomb, we took
off as planned from Houston on British Air. Traveling via Chicago and London, 32
hours later we touched down at Johannesburg International Airport. But not
without incident as our arrival itself was a bit scary. The captain announced
they were having a problem with the landing gear. He explained that we would
have to circle around Johannesburg until the situation could be resolved. He
assured us that we would not be charged for the extra gas required to do that!
He also told those of us sitting by the windows that if we looked down and saw
the five ambulance/fire trucks waiting for us on the tarmac below, we were not
to be alarmed. Finally, we began another descent and thank God, though it was
the roughest landing we have ever experienced, we touched down safely without
bursting into flames--a distinct possibility judging from the presence of those
rescue vehicles standing by. We thank God for his traveling mercies.
THE ARRIVAL GREMLIN AT WORK: After such an exhausing trip home, Donna
said even her hair was jet-lagged! And even though there were millions of things
waiting here to be done, we began to experience lousy nights. You know, what we
call "salad nights" when we toss and turn. Of course our arrival back home was
typical: our fax phone was dead, Donna's cell phone was dead, Al's car battery
was dead, and our email service wouldn't perform, resulting in our computer
finally crashing a week later. With all that going on, we should have known what
would happen the night of our arrival, when two of our missionary families
invited us to join them at a favourite restaurant. First, we ordered our tea. No
problem. Then we placed our orders for food. Big problem! The waitress returned
to our table to apologize, "There is no gas for cooking", she announced. She
went on to explain that without gas they were unable to cook any meat and all
they could offer us was a sandwich or salad. We thanked her nicely and assured
her that we would be quite happy to move on down the mall to the next
restaurant. "It won't help", she stated, "because every restaurant in this mall
is connected to the same gas source. This means that not one restaurant in the
entire mall can cook meat tonight". Finally, on the way home we located an
eating place where we could order a warm meal. By the time we arrived home that
night and had dessert at our place, we felt like we'd been to a Progressive
Dinner!
BACK IN THE SWIM OF THINGS: Finally, we settled back into routine and
began working our way through our backload and regular SABC and congregational
tasks. By now, exactly two weeks later, we've reconnected to life here as
follows: we set up and are teaching two different one-on-one Bible studies: one
with Kerry Prinsloo and another with Les Edkins. We've also made three hospital
visits -- one in Johannesburg, another in the next town of Springs, and the
third here in Benoni. The latter was to see the baby son of Tish Markotter, a
Benoni member. Seems he'd swallowed a few 10-cent pieces and the doctor was
"waiting for a little change"! Al has also had three counselling sessions, not
only trying to save marriages but also trying to help to resolve a wage dispute
between two Christians. We also unpacked and began to process 30 boxes of
religious library books which arrived, having been donated and shipped from
Houston last November!! (We continue to be grateful not only to the book donors
but also to the Christian sister who facilitates the shipment of the books). On
the lighter side, inbetween SABC faculty and staff meetings and Al's sermon
studies, we managed to celebrate his birthday. In this country, it's customary
for "the birthday boy" to supply all the goodies for his own party, so we took
out to the Bible College a heap of Mississippi Mudpies, a Birthday Cake,
homemade apple pies, and over 40 homemade chocolate malts which Al is famous
for. That was a lot of food yet three of our SABC friends also made food for the
feast which was appreciated by the 50-plus salivating mouths waiting to be
filled!
OLYMPIC FEVER: It's good that there are diversions such as the Olympics
in this country. A newspaper cartoon here said, "Imagine if they had the
Olympics here in South Africa. With all the theft that goes on, it would be a
case of 'Will the person who stole the flame holder please put it back!" Typical
of the crime here, one of our ladies, Cherine, left her car on the street in
front of her house overnight. The next morning, she discovered that all four of
her wheels (and tyres) were missing. The thieves were certainly bold, too.
They'd dug bricks out of the brickwork in the driveway to hold up the car.
Cherine's was one of two cars ripped off that night in her street. Seriously, we
are thrilled to be part of the missionary team here in South Africa. The book,
The Spreading Flame, which depicts the propagation of Christianity in the
first few centuries, reminds us that we can be all be gold winners in God's
Olympics and the Christian race. Please pray for us and our work here as we all
go for the gold!
WITH OCEANS OF LOVE FROM ACROSS THE SEA,
AL & DONNA HORNE,
YOUR MISSIONARIES TO SOUTH AFRICA.
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