14th July 2024
Although we didn’t necessarily plan it this way, all of us traveling from Malawi and Zimbabwe arrived at the Johannesburg airport at almost the same time. This worked out well because we were all picked up at the same time and could get settled together. It’s always nice to see familiar faces when traveling to unfamiliar places. It was great to meet Neil and Isella Wallis who were coordinating the airport transportation. Isella helps run the UCG office in South Africa and we’ve emailed back and forth a few times in recent years.
Lena and I rode with Gracious and Loney to our hotel in a small shuttle van. Our driver was very pleasant and told us a little about the area we are staying during the conference. He was a great ambassador for his country and his city. In the midst of conversation the driver brought up the news about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump that happened while we were in the air flying from Harare. Even though we know there are plenty of political tensions in the US, I don’t think anyone expected that to happen. While we do have access to internet here, it will be wonderful to be somewhat isolated from the world and focused on the work of God in the world.
We arrived earlier than the official check-in time even though most of our departures will be before the official end of the conference at least we aren’t late. We were able to get a drink of water and actually check into our rooms. We were greeted by David Meidinger, the pastor of the Albuquerque, NM congregation, who has been in South Africa since Friday (along with most of the Americans). David has traveled to serve in Kenya in the past and also helps Jorge de Campos in Brazil at times. He was very helpful and also a familiar face for Lena and I.
After I figured out where everyone was situated (at least the Malawians and Zimbabweans) I wanted to make sure they were all connected to the WiFi (and their phones on airplane mode so they wouldn’t waste their personal data). We ran into Rick Shabi, president of UCG. With everyone situated, I took a pleasant walk with David Meidinger around the compound for quite some time sharing stories about our travels. Later on we got a cup of coffee and sat and talked with some of the South Africans before heading back to our rooms to get ready for the evening.
The conference officially began at 6pm, although there were some who had just arrived from the airport and were still getting settled, as well as a few who we were waiting for. A few at a time, couples and groups from each of the 7 countries represented began to gather in the small conference room. We saw so many familiar faces, pastors and their wives we know and see often, and others we hadn’t seen for a very long time. We also met some face-to-face for the first time.
It would take far too long and far too much brain power to try to list everyone we met. I’ll mention that there’s one young pastor from Zambia who has his own Monday night Bible study similar to my own, Rodrick Epomba. We’ve stayed in contact off and on since he first tuned into my study sometime back in 2020 or 2021. His Monday night studies are broadcast live on Facebook and on a local radio station. He gives his in the local language and it goes out to the public there.
After some fellowship and the official welcome, we heard from Vivien Botha, another pastor and director of operations in South Africa. He announced a few housekeeping items including the fact that there are some food items to avoid since we aren’t the only people staying at the hotel and not everyone in this world keeps God’s food laws. We also watched a short video about the country of South Africa. Then finally it was time for dinner. Lena and I sat with Darris and Debbie McNeely. We talked about our various recent travels and also about some upcoming Good Works projects and potential volunteer opportunities.
As we were finally saying good night to each other, I tried using some of my limited knowledge of Spanish to say good night to some of the Portuguese speakers. They are both Latin based languages and do share some vocabulary. We’ll see how that will go the rest of the week. I’m looking forward to the rest of the conference and spending more time with our fellow pastors from Africa and fellow senior pastors who work here.
– Lewis VanAusdle
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