JoBurgers

White Rhino

A herd of elephants and a stuck hippo

I spent the last week in Johannesburg, South Africa with Cindi Lombardo.  If you don’t already know, Cindi is a pastor and great mentor/friend of mine.  She lives in Kansas City but ministers around the world.  I could go on and on about her unbelievable story and how God is using her, but I would be typing for days so you should just check out her website.  Anyway, Pastor Cindi knew that I was in Zambia and invited me to join her as she spent some time ministering in South Africa.  I gladly accepted the invitation.  I took a 27 hour bus ride to join her in JoBurg on Friday, May 20th.  Over the week, we were privileged to have an opportunity to minister to pastors, churches, friends, and many others.  It was a blessing to be a part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit that took place over the week.  In addition to the ministry time, our hosts also made sure we had a good time seeing the sites.  We visited the "not as ancient as you might think" Sun City.  We went on a wildlife drive and saw kudu, wildebeest, springbok (and various other forms of biltong), rhinos, elephants, giraffes, and one or two hippos.  We visited several historical monuments and educated ourselves on some Voortrekker history.  It was an unforgettable time.

Voortrekker Monument

But even with all of that, the most enjoyable part of the whole trip for me was getting to know our hosts- Ansie, Corne, and Riekie.  Ansie was the one who told me to come on down to JoBurg and that she would make sure I had a place to stay.  I stayed with her, her son Corne, and his wife Riekie.  They welcomed me into their home like family and I instantly fell in love with them.  They are officially my “South African” family.  Corne and Riekie have a beautiful baby boy named Rico who will be a year old on June 4th.  I already miss being greeted by his smile every morning.  Ansie’s daughter, Anina, and her husband, Ruan, live next door.  They have a 5 year old daughter named Kirsten and a wonderful 2 month old baby boy.  Kirsten is probably the most intelligent 5 year old I have ever met.  English is her second language (it is rarely even used around school or the house) yet she speaks it better than most 5 year old Americans.  Since Kirsten was living next door, she helped keep me busy and entertained with all sorts of games. (My personal favorite was where I would try to tag her but whenever she said, “stop” I would have to freeze... For some reason I never could tag her.)  Anyway, the best part is that Ansie’s brother lives in Kansas City so they occasionally come to KC to visit him.  So I didn’t have to say, “goodbye,” only “see you later.”

Kirsten at the monument