Friday
Dear Elsie
Today was the day we celebrated the life and mourned the passing of Monica, my sister-in-law, Granpa’s sister. We woke at about 7am, had coffee and breakfast, showered, dressed and left at 9.30am to get to the 11am service in good time. It took us an hour. We met up with Monica’s sons Dean and Sean and joined other family members in the church. Mike’s Aunt Sally was also there. It was great to see her – we haven’t seen her for a while.
The service was very meaningful. At almost the start of the year, Monica had been told her heart was failing and she wasted no time in sitting down and planning her memorial service. She wrote a bit about her life. She chose the hymns and the Bible reading. She wrote in a file a list of what her sons had to do should she pass away, listing them numerically, starting with phoning her church. She made it very easy for her sons to plan her service. Monica was part of a tight church group at St Hugh’s Anglican church in Port Elizabeth. A big imposing church that must have been around a long time.
The Rector, Rev Andrea Potgieter led us through a meaningful service which had Monica’s prayer group take part. These are special ladies who prayed diligently and effectively for numbers of people, including David. We will always appreciate them.
Monica had requested in her notes the service was to be followed by ‘simple snacks’ so to the hall we went for a tea and delicious goodies. We caught up with the Eastern Cape family and then headed back to Jeffrey’s Bay. We are at peace.
This afternoon, we went down to the amazing SuperTubes beach where all the massive surfing competitions take place. We were there yesterday and spoke to a couple of surfers who were from France. Surfers come from all over the world to try these waters. There is a big surfing competition coming up in July and it is here that they will compete. Loads of surfers both local and foreign are practising.
The waves weren’t quite as big today as they were yesterday, but we still saw massive swell and brave souls riding the tunnels. It was quite a sight.
The most treacherous part of Jeffrey’s Bay has to be the roads. Oh my goodness. The pot holes could puncture every tyre and swallow you up. We are in the Eastern Cape and road maintenance don’t seem to be a big part of the budget, although they are finally resurfing the freeway between J-Bay and PE. The money doesn’t seem to extend to little towns.
Now we are back at our comfortable rental and in half an hour the lights will go out, the internet will go off and we will be relegated to reading by solar light and surfing by battery. Tomorrow, we will be up early and will head back towards Cape Town.
Next stop, Elsie-land! We are off to see you!
This was the psalm Monica wanted read today.
Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂