Vacation..... sort of!

That's not snow, its hail!

This past week, The Rev. David Copley from the Episcopal Church Center in NYC visited me in Lesotho! David is the Mission Personnel Officer for the Episcopal Church, which makes him my boss. He tries to make a visit to every YASCer and missionary every year, but when you have missionaries in over 20 countries that can be a hard thing to accomplish. I'm happy that David worked Lesotho into his busy schedule. The weather on David's first day was definitely not the nicest weather I've seen in Lesotho. We had a storm pass through that left nearly half an inch of hail on the ground. Luckily the weather cooperated for the rest of David's stay in Lesotho. 

David and I went up to the St. James Hospital so that he could visit and get a feel for where I will be living and what I will be doing there. John Mahoona, the hospital administrator, gave us tour and joined us for lunch. The area surrounding the hospital is very rural, but incredible beautiful. It takes around 3 hours to get from Maseru to the Hospital, and you really don't see much along the way other than gorgeous view after gorgeous view. 

Main Hall in the Hospital

Main Entrance to the Hospital

Like I said, nothing but gorgeous views!

David looking at farmland around the Hospital

David and I joined the Bishop when he went to do confirmations in Malea-lea. The Bishop asked David to vest and help with the service. 

David blessing the children

Bishop Adam's sermon

The congregation in Malea-lea

The vacation part of this week started when David and I travelled to Grahamstown, South Africa to visit with the two YASCers placed there, Steve and Cameron. Holly, the YASCer in Cape Town, joined us as well. We all came to Grahamstown to shoot a promotional video for YASC, so it was more of a working vacation (by working vacation I mean that I was interviewed for about 5 minutes and then spent the rest of the 3 days relaxing. Tough job). It was so great to be able to visit some friends and relax for a few days. Steve and Cameron live at a Monastery in Grahamstown. This place is absolutely amazing. It was incredible to worship with the brothers at the monastery. Breakfast and Lunch are both in silence, which is a little hard to adjust to but I really loved it by the time we left. There is an incredible spirituality about the whole complex. Steve and Cameron are some lucky guys to be able to live there for a year!

Steve and Cameron both are teacher's assistants at the Holy Cross School run by the brothers. We got to spend some time at the school watching Steve and Cameron work, despite Holly's and my best attempts to have never-ending recess. Both of these guys are great at what they do. The kids love having them around so much. 

Dress-up time

Cameron at work

Steve teaching English

Holly dancing

Thanks to David for visiting and making the trip to Grahamstown possible. Thanks to the brothers at the Holy Cross Monastery for hosting us for the week. Before I left, the brothers invited me to come back at any point. I fully intend on taking them up on the offer. Sala Hantle!