Here are a couple of pictures of Resurrection Life church. The first mainly to show the worship space, the second is during the singing in which there are flags the kids can wave while singing.

With the fog, the mist, the rain, it does at times feel like Seattle.  However, it averages 10 – 15 degrees warmer in each season.  This area of South Africa receives about 30 plus inches of rain a year.  It does rain year round, however this includes much sunshine.  The grasslands are so lush, with grass growing over waist high by the end of summer.  In the winter the cool season grasses are predominate.  I can see how cattle became king.  Cattle have been the main source of meat probably for almost 600 years.  Even though there is much wild game here, after cattle were introduced, they flourished and highlighted a family’s wealth. 

Cattle, sheep and goats are loose everywhere: I have personally chased these groups out of Open Arms’ grounds, and they all roam free in the village.  I found this street sign humorous after having to nudge cattle out of the way in the village of Komga.  

Even though cattle are put on a pedestal and used for centuries as sacrifices to the ancestors, they are not considered Holy like cattle in India.  Beef, chicken and mutton are readily available and very affordable for almost all income levels.  The dairy industry is also fairly large here.  We receive about twenty four gallons of milk every other day from a local dairy and for free! AMEN! Now after my first week here I quickly found out that this was right-out-of-the-cow fresh.  It is not homogenized, or pasteurized and it is 100% whole.  No cream has been removed yet.  It is like drinking half-n-half. We also go through about 300 – 350 eggs a week bought locally.    

I went out to a cattle ranch with a friend of Open Arms who is a retired Police chief and raises cattle as a hobby.   His cattle are well tended, every color and stripe, and the breed is called Nguni.  One picture shows the variety, and the other a new born calf with great markings. 

A lot of fruit is grown fairly local; apples, pears, peaches, mangoes, avocados, oranges, lemons, and a few places in South Africa grow bananas and pomegranates.  Grenadellas are a new fruit I have tried and love. They are the size of kiwi and grow on vines like a kiwi.  It has a purplish to grey skin which is removed to reveal the light colored flesh with small flat black seeds.  It makes an excellent drink similar to lemonade, it is great in yogurt, and I have heard makes a great cheesecake. 

I am learning more about the poverty level and education level in this area.  I will send notes on that next.  I close with a picture from open arms which was so clear that I could see the Indian Ocean.  It is really there, the dark blue horizontal stripe underneath that lovely blue sky.