Cherished Memories

During one of our daily devotions, I asked E if he had any prayer requests. He prayed, " Dear God, I pray that daddy and mummy will bring me back to Johannesburg."

The trip must have left such an indelible impression on him for him to be talking about it and wanting to return almost 6 months after. Although E enjoyed Hong Kong (only 2 months ago), that was not the first thing that came to mind when asked to pray.

Well, who knows? Maybe, we'll be back one day (and this time we are not going to miss the safari!) or perhaps E will return as a young man on another missions trip.

Friends (and Chi Chi the dog) who made the trip especially memorable for E

Cape Town

It is a rainy Friday afternoon and I'm reminiscing about our recent travel to Cape Town. Feels like springtime showers today. Alright, I'm trying reaaaaally hard to find a parallel. Allow me to indulge myself as I'm missing the lovely spring weather in Cape Town (so unlike the sudden downpour followed by blazing hot sun kind of crazy weather we've been experiencing lately). I'm steeped in wanderlust and hope to find some sort of relief by reliving the memorable moments.

We didn't have the luxury of time and could only spend 3 short days in Cape Town (the rest and relax leg of our trip to South Africa). Cape Town is a rather family-friendly place with plenty of activities for the kids and child-friendly restaurants (kid's menu, playgrounds). In fact, it is a lot like Australia. It is scenic, has great food and offers a pleasant self-drive experience. But it is definitely more wallet-friendly than Australia. Here's a trip down memory lane.

E & Baby C sharing a seat on the domestic flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town

View from the iconic Table Mountain

Sea of clouds

Enjoying his lollipop atop Table Mountain

Up close and personal with the "celebrity" male cheetah (the only one you can take photos with). Apparently the female cat is temperamental so no photos allowed with the moody feline

At Spier Wine Estate

Succulent, aromatic mushrooms. Heavenly! And I'm not even a mushroom lover. 
I, the egg connoisseur declare this plate of scrambled eggs PERFECT!

Melt in your mouth pancakes

Rustic, wooden see-saw

Beautiful alfresco setting of the cafe at Imhoff Farm

First time riding a camel. The thrilling part was when the camel stood up and when it sat down

The animals in this farm are avid eaters. Makes feeding them all the more fun.

The Fellowship of the Farm Animals

The picturesque view from our lovely accommodation (a 5-bedroom house), unbelievable value at SGD$30 per person per night

Lone penguin which wandered away from the colony of penguins at Boulders Beach

Spotted a penguin hiding under a bush. E was afraid that it'll bite

Beach babes ;)

Cape of Good Hope

Poignantly beautiful sunset

The ever-changing sunset colours

Johannesburg

It has been two weeks since I returned from South Africa.  I'm not sure if I was experiencing jet lag or was simply exhausted from being out and about for the last two weeks. E had no jet lag whatsoever. Time zone made no difference to him as long as he was having fun. His ability to stay awake when he didn't want to miss out on anything remotely exciting (even though he was zonked) and then after having expended every last bit of his energy to totally knock out within seconds; worked to his advantage. No jet lag in South Africa. No jet lag back in Singapore.

Baby C took about a week to adjust back to Singapore time. She took one long nap (4 hours) and a shorter nap (2 hours) every day for about a week. I guess she might have adjusted more quickly if I made a deliberate effort to wake her up but I relished the long naps as I could sleep too! BLISS!

Jet lag, the mountain-load of laundry, unpacking .... I've finally mustered enough motivation and energy to blog with the post trip logistics over and done with. And also having to get over the inertia after not blogging for so long.

It was an AWESOME trip! I've been to a number of missions trips when I was younger and this is the best trip ever! Going with the family and with my all time favourite people (you guys know who you are) are definitely why this trip is the best one ever! And it is best also because of how personal this trip was. We stayed with the pastor and his family and immensely enjoyed relating with them personally. It was not an events or program driven missions trip but one where we visited people's homes, talked to them, shared testimonies, encouraged and prayed for them.

The highlight of the trip was the miraculous healing of a lady's leg. One of her legs was shorter than the other. During the prayer, she felt a "click" in the shorter leg. She was utterly amazed at how different she felt when she took a few steps after the prayer. Her shorter leg was lengthened and both legs were now equal in length. We were amazed too as it was totally unexpected. God surprised us with this miraculous display of His awesome power.

 

I can go on and on. There are many reflections about this trip which I cannot possibly document in one blog entry. So I'll let the photos do the talking for now ...

Baby C slept for about 4 - 5 hours on a 10 hours plus flight. That's her in the bassinet when she's not sleeping.

Kids having fun in the open field after church service

Having fun the South African way ... the kids collected scraps of cardboard to slide down the slope. E loved it!

Buddies

Talented youth choir - Africans just have the voice and groove ... beautiful acapella singing

Icebreakers

One year old toddler who just learnt to walk. Looked really cute waddling around with a drumstick in his hand.

Baby C feeling bored during the long journey in the van and entertained herself by stripping

Baby C with one of the youths

At the home of one of the youths

Praying for healing

First home we visited in the city where our Joberg church is located. This city is a relatively new housing project by the government where slum dwellers are relocated and provided with free housing

E serving food to the kids