Lekoa Tour - Day 5 and 6

Good Friends in Christ

Sascha and my girls travelled all the way from Edenvale to Vryburg on Saturday to be with me (a 5 hour journey)! I was glad to see them when they arrived late on Saturday afternoon.

My Great Grandfather's grave.

On Sunday morning, we left Vryburg and travelled north for two hours to Mafikeng. We decided to leave early so that we could visit the cemetary before the morning service.  The Marchinkowskis were once Mafikeng people. In the early years of the twentieth century, a polish man called Fred Marchinkowski immigrated to South Africa and settled in Mafikeng and married a woman called Anne Groenewalt. They lived there and raised their two children, my grandfather, Joseph, and his sister, Veronica. The cemetary in Mafikeng is overgrown and in bad shape but we managed to find the old man's grave (he died in the late 1950s). We could not find my great grandmother's grave (She died in the late 60s).

After our sojourn to the cemetary, we proceded to Solomon Rathebe congregation where I shared the service with the Rev Malefetsane Matli. My family was warmly recieved. Rev. Matli led the service and invited me to preach and celebrate Holy Communion. The congregation presented us with a beautiful gift - a glass jug and set of glasses.  After the service, we shared a wonderful meal with the congregation. When we had said our good byes, we set out for Vereeniging (a four hour journey), travelling through Lichtenburg, Ventersdorp and Potchefstroom.

Rev Matli translating my sermon

From right: Leah, Lerato & another
young member of the congregation.

On Sunday night, we moved into the Three Rivers Lodge which will be my home for the whole of this week.


I was so grateful to "the powers that be" (The Presbytery of Lekoa and my chaplain, Mrs Sheila Hunt) who arranged for Monday 7th March to be a "day off" for me. Sascha and the girls stayed with me and we went to the Emerald Resort in Vanderbijlpark for the day. They have a zoo there which the girls enjoyed. This was followed by a game of 10 pin bowling (You should have seen 3 year old Zoe carrying her 10 pin bowling ball!) and a few hours in the Aqua Dome (massive swimming experience). We had lunch at Wimpy before Sascha and the girls went home again.

For the rest of this week, I will be in Vereeniging, going out every day to meet with the churches.

Much love