Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Beaufort West Trap

Bonny is a 6 week old puppy we're hanging around with in Bloemfontein.
We had some interesting moments on the way to Bloemfontein. Did I say moments? I should have said days!

Paul had to go ahead on Greyhound and leave us in Beaufort West. Never fear, we did not starve! We found bananas to eat.



We found a sushi place we could have eaten at too, and since it's in the Karoo, the sushi place is called Karushi. Get it? Karoo shushi. Cute, but the kids were of the opinion we didn't want sushi, even if it came in a restaurant with a cute name. I was of the opinion it would be cheaper to buy food in the grocery store, and it's best to be frugal, particularly in the middle of a breakdown.


We explored the whole length and width of Beaufort West. We went through the museum in a church in the middle. Josh was impressed with this machine gun.





The house where Christiaan Barnhard grew up is part of the museum tour. His dad used to be the pastor of the church, so it is next to the church that is now a museum. Chris Barnhard did the first heart transplant in the world, and we in South Africa are thrilled that he was a South African.
So Paul made it to Bloemfontein to preach by Monday morning by taking the bus. The kids and I hung around for the car, but they were not able to fix it since Kia's are not too common in the Karoo. Finally we gave up and took the bus too, arriving in Bloem. at 1 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday. The car came on Saturday on the back of a truck from some dear people who saved us over R9000. (about $1500 !!) for towing. We don't know them at all, but they are friends of Marie, our beloved Bloem. hostess.
Now we just hope and pray it will be fixed in time for us to drive home at the end of the week.
Meetings here have been exciting. Paul preached to over 5000 in schools during the week. Church Sunday was at a very friendly, welcoming church, with lots of familiar faces and even a few good friends.
While we were here, our hearts were also turned toward home, praying for my Dad in America as he was admitted with an enflamed pancreas which sounds scary. He's 85, and rather frail, so we are pleased that he is home again, doing better.

2 comments:

  1. To comment on my own posting, one of the things we learned in the days when we were stuck in Beaufort West, was just a little of what it feels like to be homeless. That last day, we checked out of the hotel, and had 8 hours to just hang around a small town. We went to the library for hours, but we had to eat lunch right out on the sidewalk, which was embarrassing for a certain teenager, but I think we will feel more sympathy for homeless people after that LONG day.

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  2. I am glad to hear that your dad is back home... praying for your mom and a quick recovery for him. He is tough - and he is still on God's stay-right-where-you-are list for God gives strength for our length of days... You and your handsome husband and beautiful/handsome children have such amazing adventures !!

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