“No No, Your Other Left...”

Hey everyone, thanks once again for checking out this blog! The picture you've most likely just laughed at is probably the best picture I've ever taken... I am not doing too great with this jet lag thing! I imagine once I get more involved in my schedule I will update less, but for now I guess I’ll pick up about where I left off in the other blog. After Brandon helped me get to where I need to go, I had about a 45 minute ride with someone who had been hired to drive me to our house. I had originally sat in the back of the van but decided to move up to shotgun to see if there was potential for good conversation with the driver. I introduced myself as Josh and instead of telling me what his name was he simply asked me what I was doing in Cape Town. I told him briefly what I was planning on doing and he asked me this question: “So Yosh (Josh) you are a holy man then?” -- my brilliant response: “well, uh, yes, well I mean, I try to be...” If you think about it, this is often a hard question to answer. Am I holy? Well “no, not really.” - God does make me holy though and I strive to be holy so “yes,” - in a way. So I ask myself, am I a holy man? Funny question to answer, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put that way in the States. I don’t know where I am going with this but I hope you consider this question a little bit as well.

I eventually asked the driver what his name was and he said “Abrihiem.” I didn’t really catch it at first and I asked him to repeat it. He did. I said: “Oh, AbraHAM.” I could just hear the stupid southern accent emphasizing the HAM coming out of my stupid mouth. Embarrassing. To try to find a connection between the two of us I almost said something like: “Oh, Abraham! We have two good Christian names.” Thankfully, before I could say it, he responded to my “AbraHAM” by saying that his name was the Muslim version of Abraham. :/ Dodged a bullet on that one possibly... The conversation got much better from there on. We talked for a good 40 minutes about the World Cup and the countries different players, tourist attractions, even street signs, and mostly rap. Yes, rap. Never has my knowledge of rap and rappers been so relevant in my life! Abraham was a joy to get to know.

You may already know this, but in S.A. Everyone drives on the left side of the road instead of the right. This is still confusing and scaring the crap out of me every time we go out somewhere. It even affects the way people walk. Whether you have noticed it or not people tend to pass each other while walking the way they would while driving. Well, I must say I have had several awkward moments trying to go to the right of someone and them going to their left. Apparently, I need to work on how to walk correctly down here.... Obviously, the culture has other differences as well. When I was talking with Abraham, we passed an accident where there were two cars involved and at least 8 tow trucks. He asked me what we called our tow trucks in America. “um, tow trucks? Yea. We just call them tow trucks I guess.” He said that they called their tow truckers “hyenas.” They call them “hyenas” since, there is apparently little work here, many come rushing to any accident hoping to be chosen. Just shows you some of the differences in mindset and the need for money. It is a sad reality we often never have to deal with or even think about. Even still, Cape Town is very beautiful at night. We are staying on the outskirts of the city, so we don’t get to see it very often, but coming up from the airport on the mountains was stunning.

(My bed is the far right) --->

(Pool)-- as if you couldn't tell

Well, I guess I’ll tell you a little bit about where I am staying before I’m done with this entry. I am in some kind of gated house where there are a bunch of other volunteers living as well. I am rooming with a guy named Brock and then another guy named Ethan who is getting here on Monday night. Beds are kind of small and there is no heating. So it does get pretty cold here. But there is warm water and plenty of food to eat here (and we all know that is the most important thing for me!) There normally is a pool here, but it is winter and that looks like that will certainly not happen any time soon. There is also an abandoned bar, ironically out behind my room. Not too interesting I’ll admit, I just have nothing else to talk about anymore! Well, tomorrow I start my first day of work! I’m sure I’ll let you know how it goes soon!

I guess, some food for thought for the day would be:

How would you respond if a complete stranger asked you if you were a “holy man (or woman)?”

Oh and as always I am still trying to raise money for this whole thing: Soo...

If you are interested in donating to my trip this summer read on... If not, thank you for your prayers and see you next time!

If you would like to give, your donation IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

Please make the check out to The Church At Severn Run

And make sure to put “Josh Sheppard’s mission trip” in the note at the bottom of the check.

Please do not mail it to my college address, but rather mail it to my home address, it is:

Josh Sheppard

8203 Joshua Ct.

Laurel, MD 20708

God Bless,

Josh Sheppard