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Nothing like Sunday in a Coloured South African Township.

This morning, we woke up after one of the most restful nights of sleep in recent memory. Waking up was not problem, and breakfast was cereal. Then we drove around the corner and walked into church 10 minutes late (This Is Africa). Worship was already going strong, and I saw Mitch and Riley in the congregation. After shaking their hands, I engaged in worship. Church was great, but not really my type. I love it when churches are very expressive, and people seem like they want to be there during church, but the worship went for 40 minutes (plus more time before we got there) and they only sang 3 songs. And all the songs they sang were choruses only, no verses. So it was repetitive, but enjoyable. The speaker sort of got on my nerves.

It wasn’t bad enough that he talked for 45 minutes, but he didn’t make any points when he was talking. His main point was that we should turn our disappointments into an appointment with God, which he took us through step-by-step but I don’t recall how. I think I didn’t respond well to this sermon because of personal reasons. I have difficulty dealing with people who try to play on emotions, and I felt like this sermon was completely devoid of any intellectual reason for anything. Therefore it was completely an emotional appeal, and I’ve learned to shut off my emotions when people try to appeal to them because emotions are so easy to manipulate. I would much rather have someone present me the facts and allow me to make my own conclusion than tell me how I should feel and why. And that’s a personal issue, but I didn’t enjoy the service today as much as I could have for that reason specifically.

Xavier played drums today. He’s the 9 year old child of Thelma and Lantor, and he’s been playing drums for 2 months. He played today and he did great, and it was the first time he’s ever played at church! It was great and he’s a stud, and I really enjoyed it.

After church we stopped by the apartment, and then we drove over to Brian and Tanya’s house. They’re Logan and Derek’s homestay parents, who are close with Thelma and Lantor. Nathan was there too, the guy who Matt and I talked to last night. His wife was there, and so was Chesland and his wife. All their kids were also there, which made for quite to compilation of people. The kids loved me and Matt, and spent plenty of time climbing all over us. For lunch at around 3 we had chicken with rice and potatoes, and they were so delicious! After that I went and took a nap in one of the bedrooms, and when I woke up and stepped out, Matt was playing dominos with 3 other people. We enjoyed that for a little, and then I ended up being drawn outside by Xavier. We played soccer for a little bit, until we went inside for pudding. Xavier, Matthew (a different Matthew), and I all walked to a nearby store to pick up a couple of 2 litre bottles of soda, and walked back, and that was cool to walk through the township at night. When I got back, we sat for a little longer, then we drove back to Thelma and Lantor’s place. When we got back, we watched Tshabalala, which was a South African comedy similar to Borat, but funnier because South African people are regularly more expressive than Americans. We sat around and talked and watched that movie, and now Matt and I are in bed again. We have survived a weekend of living in the township, and not only did we survive, but it was very enjoyable. Tomorrow morning we have our first day of class, so we’ll see how that goes.