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The team at Greenwood after all 11 bags were packed!!!

 So more thoughts on the first day here in South Africa...

The gardens downtown Cape Town

So after a few quick showers and everybody trying to find their legs we headed off into the heart of Cape Town. It's really weird looking at this group of people who were just packing all these bags back in the high school room at Greenwood (which by the way we needed a separate vehicle just for the bags)  and seeing them trying to drink in all of the new things around us.  More than anything today was really about just looking at Cape Town, looking at all the various parts and pieces of this melting pot city. It was a typically beautiful winters day with clear blues skies and a very manageable 65 degrees. We went from seeing abject poverty to having a bright new red Ferrari roar by us on the highway. The are the contrasts we've been trying to talk about all this time. Two things that are seemingly on opposite ends of the spectrum live very close to each other here.

We wanted to send everybody a few pictures from today, so here goes... this first one is taken in what was the initial gardens for the Dutch East India Company as they founded a food station and refueling station for ships heading from Netherlands to India. Today these gardens are open to the public and many Capetonians often wander though the park for lunch and enjoy the beautifully manicured lawns and trees. Our group enjoyed these gardens and the friendly squirrels that were all over the place.

This is a picture of one of the stained windows in St. George's Cathedral, this is the home church to the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in South Africa. It was a church that had a significant role during the apartheid regime. It was from this church that Desmond Tutu would call apartheid evil and ask the government to stop treating its people so inhumanely.

It has been a full day, though I think much of the tiredness we all feel comes from the nearly 2 days of traveling. We hope you have found a spot for the team prayer and that its something that helps to remind you all to be praying for us.

We will be in touch..

Grace,
Gershwin