weddings, welcomes and further thoughts about the USA

robert and nicki welcomed us
at the airport

after leaving washington DC we made our relatively sort journey to augusta, georgia, where we hooked up with all sorts of people for what was to be the thembalitsha wedding of the year. we have so many friends who have visited us on trips, both short term mission and longer term individual volunteers, to the village of hope and it was truly wonderful to meet up with some of them at nicki and roberts wedding.

on arriving in augusta with it's unusally small red brick faced airport we knew we had arrived in the real united states, gone were the relatively familiar low level buildings and european city feel of washington DC, hardly surprising since it was designed by a french man named L'Enfant, and what welcomed us were huge expanses of land, mostly of trees, and wide lane freeways, traffic lights and shopping malls.

there seemed to be every conceivable drive through experience as well, not just the familiar MacDonald's that we have in england and south africa but Starbucks coffee, which we suppose isn't that surprising, but an ATM/bank drive through or pharmacy store drive through really!, there was even a drive and 'donation drive through' where you could drop off you unwanted but still use able donated goods which would be handed out to the poorer people who couldn't drive everywhere without even getting out of their car!

a visit with jon and regan

we had also arrived in 'the bible belt' and there seemed to be a plethora of huge churches with parking lots the size of some towns on every stretch of road, they even have traffic cops directing the cars as they arrive at these venues which seems like a great use of police time.

americans seem to have thought of everything however one thing that seems to be missing in this whole drive through and churchy culture is a drive through church!, we've heard that there are 'drive in' churches but our concept would be a drive through fast food style option, we could expand but wouldn't want to be heard as heretics so we'll leave the options to that idea open to your imagination, however if that ever happens to come true then you heard it first on this blog!.....thinking about it perhaps we should come over and start one just to see if the concept works!

we digress so back to the reason we were in augusta, we had made this long roundabout trip to come celebrate the wedding of some friends who had actually met on a missions trip to south africa where robert was leading a team who stayed at the village of hope. we were met at the airport by robert and nicki which was a real surprise and privilege given all the planning and sorting that they had to do prior to the big day later in the week. they shared a starbucks coffee and cake experience with us before settling us into our first home stay, we are thankful for them and the time they spent with us!

the happy couple

one thing we have learnt about people in the USA is that they are very welcoming and keen on making you feel right at home the minute they meet you, karla (garrard) had sorted out a whole schedule (pronounced very differently over here to what we are used to in england!) of people who were going to provide accommodation, cars and meals throughout the week and we are so blessed to have had her around to make us feel part of the family.

keith and mary were our first hosts and made us feel very welcome in their lovely home in north augusta, which is actually in the state of south carolina, and during our stay with them we had some lovely walks along the savannah river and meals both at their home and at restaurants, including our first experience of chick-fil-a a very southern thing apparently.

our first home meal was with melissa and matt, two people whom we have grown to love from their trips to south africa, we think the best thing that we have experienced so far on this trip is the home cooked meals and being able to see the real america that many tourists would miss by stopping in hotels, it is a true blessing to have made so many good friends and we thank God for that and those people he has drawn across our paths.

meeting up with thembalitsha friends

we had opportunity to talk at keith and mary's weekly home group, where we encouraged their friends, who all attend the In-Focus church in augusta, with stories from our lives in south africa, the group was very responsive and we hope that we inspired them to get involved in all that God is doing be that way away in africa or right here in augusta where there are still great opportunities to serve him and share in his kingdom work.

keith also lent us his car, a very luxurious nissan complete with a 3.5litre engine which we have driven around to the various events, including the wedding, it was quite strange to drive on the right hand side of the road, but one soon gets the hang of it and without the need to change gear it was really plonk your right foot down to accelerate and brake and make sure you followed the signs to ensure there were no accidents. driving at night was a slightly more scary experience with little or no lighting available even on major junctions and the lack of cats eyes and clear central lines made even short journeys a bit of an adventure.

on thursday we had quite an unusual experience, tim visited a hairdresser!, this was so rare that it was the first time he had visited since his birthday last august and also the first time he had let his luscious long locks surrender to the scissors for nearly six years. the result was a short cut which tim is quite happy with but maz seems the happier!

a hot chick eating chic-fli-a

it's great to see what God is doing around the world and we were privileged to spend some time catching up our friend john and his wife reagan who have purchased some land to start their own ministry, it would seem that human trafficking is as much a problem here in america as it is in the rest of the world and their hope is that they will provide some safe accommodation for young ladies and perhaps their children who have been trafficked, we visited the site and it was great to share some time praying and sharing ideas with them on their new adventure.

by thursday the wedding was looming large and it was great to joined the wedding rehearsal that even, thankfully the event was more than the english style rehearsal which normally involves a lot of standing around and getting people in position prior to the big day, this one included speeches and a meal afterwards. it was wonderful to meet up with old friends, both young and old and from all over the states including people from trinity church in dallas and shannon jones, a volunteer all the way from california.

don, patty and nathan

friday saw the day of the wedding and it was fantastic to be able to share this special time with nicki and robert as well as their families who had joined the party from all over the united states. the venue was stunning over looking some rapids on a wide part of the river, the sun came out and everyone was smiling but with a tear in their eyes on seeing these two wonderful hearts come together, they truly are a dynamic couple and we can't wait to see where their paths will take them as they set out on this new adventure together.

over the weekend we moved to patty and don's home which is on the other side of augusta, this couple seem to be on every mission trip that is sent from InFocus church and therefore have visited the village of hope on many occasions but to be welcomed their home was very special and we thank them for all the hard work that they had undertaken to make sure we had a good time with them, we met there wonderful boys including nathan who made us very welcome and kept us entertained during our stay.

wholehearted worship at infocus

we have really enjoyed our week in augusta and our last days were spent with a trip into the wilds to have dinner with brent's (karala's husband and pastor of In-Focus) mum and dad in their timber home on the banks of a very large dam, we went fishing, which confirmed tim's thoughts that the exersise is really just about drowning worms as we didn't actually witness a fish being landed, however we enjoyed another BBQ, this time cooked by pastor frank from our home church in somerset west, sorta home from home really!

we couldn't leave before attending a service at the In-focus church, our friend charl (ex-wholehearted) led the worship, brian, current lead singer of wholehearted played along side him, and pastor brent bought a good word. we actually attended the last of three services and we don't blame don and patty for rushing to a near by mexican restaurant afterwards for some refreshment on what is a weekly busy morning for all leaders involved.

bbq or braai

before we sign off on this part of the trip we must also thank tom and linda for the breakfast they provided for us on saturday morning, we did have some interesting things to chat around and for terra and her husband kyle for sharing a wonderful meal with us, and krissy and amanda from thembalitsha, last night. 

with all this hospitality we are sure to have put on a few kilos so this next week we will try to make the most of the sunshine and beach that we hope to find in florida to try to work off some of the excess weight!

Sorry that there aren't any photos on this post but our cell phones are on strike, we hope to have them back up and running to update this sometime during the week!