More Pictures!

I've posted over 600 pictures to my Picasa account - check it out!

We're Home!

We landed safely yesterday (Wednesday) just a little before noon - after 18 hours on the same plane!! Needless to say, we are all rather tired - our total time en route (from the time we left our accommodations in Cape Town for the airport until we arrived back at Tenth) was roughly 32 hours.
The Cape Town 2010 Stewards! (This was taken almost two weeks ago - can you find all five Tenth Stewards?!)

Before leaving on Tuesday. This is the (in)famous African Train Lodge, where we stayed. Table Mountain is in the background. :-)

Our flight from Jo-burg to JFK was delayed four hours... but Tim and Kathy Keller were on our flight, too, so we had time to get to know them!

Thank you for praying! We learned a LOT (Kelsey was a GREAT team leader!) and can't wait to see what God will do in the world through Lausanne III in Cape Town. What a privilege it was to serve!

China...

Here is an article I've written for Sam Logan and World Reformed Fellowship.

We're Still Here!

Hi Friends!

No, we have not dropped off the face of the earth. :-) We're still around! If you want to follow what's going on here more closely, check out everything on the official webpage - www.lausanne.org. Here are a few pictures that will take you on a whirlwind tour of what we've been doing over the past 10 days.

Cape Point!
The beautiful retreat center where we stewards had our first day of training.
The street market outside the church where the rest of our training was completed.
Color in the market!
Our "ministry day" as stewards was spent visiting one of Cape Town's townships.
The view of Cape Town from about halfway up Table Mountain.
The Congress underway! There are about 4500 participants ("delegates") from 198 countries - pretty amazing.
With Pastor Sachie, one of Tenth's partners from Ghana.

We have one more full day of the Congress, then a day to get packed and see one or two more things before we board a plane for another 16-hour flight back to JFK. Please be keeping us all in prayer - we are TIRED! However, things are going really well (God is on the move!) and we are meeting some incredible people. We can't wait to share more with you all when we get back!

Blessings,
Susanna for the Team

The week so far

From the time of our last post (1 week ago!) to now, the 5 of us have been given our assignments and put to work. We apologize for the lack of comunication for the last week.

We are working here in a variety of capacities-- ushers, room monitors, administrative support, security, transport assistance, writing/communication support. They have been keeping us busy! We are here as servants in every sense of the word. Some of our tasks are rather menial, yet necessary. Some of us have had encounters with disgruntled congress attendees. It has been a challenge at times, amidst busy days and lack of sleep, to imitate Christ in all circumstances.

On a positve note, we have all had great opportunities to interact with congress attendees and have connected with a few of Tenth's global partners-- Bernard Sachie (Ghana), Michael Oh
(Japan), and Michael Cassidy (South Africa). It is our hope that as a result of serving at Lausanne, our view of the world would match God's view, that is that we would fight for the truth and against injustice and that we would actively seek reconciliation within the evangelical church.



-Please pray for the attendees from China, who were planning to attend, but have been prohibited by their country. Pray that they can still be encouraged in their faith and thank God that their absence has been used for God's glory already.

-Please pray for the spiritual protection of all involved at the congress, including us, that God would keep Satan from interfering with the congress. Also pray for physical protection for the congress.

-Please pray that we would be willing servants and that we would take to heart what the Spirit challenges us with.


Pictures to follow!

The Cape!

Hello friends!

We've suddenly gotten rather caught up in the whole training thing and have neglected to update here for a few days! On Monday we had a FABULOUS trip down to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The beauty of God's creation was beyond words! If you ever have a chance to visit South Africa, you MUST go see Cape Point. There's just no way to describe it. Anyhow... Here are a few pictures of some of the "friends" we've met over the past few days. :-)

Penguins (in the wild) at Boulders Beach (on our way down to Cape Point).

(Hoping to put up a picture of the other non-flying bird we saw in the wild on Monday... but not currently at a computer that will let me upload more than a few pictures at a time.)

Here we are on the Cape of Good Hope... Pictures of the spectacular views forthcoming.

Please continue to pray for us as we begin the real work here. Delegates will be arriving Saturday, so we have a lot of preparation ahead of us yet. All four girls are in different rooms with different roommates (John is obviously also in a different room), and our roommates are from a variety of countries: South Africa, Argentina, Denmark, India (though she's lived in the states for the past five years), and obviously the US - to name a few. There are about 300 stewards from 30 nations - the US has over 100 stewards, South Africa has 85, and then the rest fill in the ranks. :-) We've enjoyed getting to know the Bethlehem Baptist team (John Piper's church) and are avoiding (okay, not really) all the Wheaton people who are serving alongside us. Everyone we've met who is associated with Wheaton LOVES the Rykens. :-) (Can't say I'm surprised!)

Well... Until next time! Blessings to all of you.
-Susanna, for the whole team

Visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

We had a lovely day today - after getting some rest last night we ate a late breakfast and headed to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens to attempt to climb Table Mountain (Cape Town's big landmark). Despite gale-force winds, we made at least halfway up the mountain before common sense took over and we decided on a more scenic hike. :-) Here are a few pictures from our day!
Kelsey, Jean, Anna, and Susanna

Our one glimpse of blue sky today!


Kelsey, Anna, Jean, Susanna, and John in front of the waterfall - which was actually at the highest we got up the mountain. :-)


Our view from the more lateral trail.

The girls enjoy the view.

After returning from our excellent hiking outing, we tuned in to the 11am Tenth webcast (of course, it was 5pm in South Africa). Can you name the onscreen person in the pulpit?!

Some pictures from our travels...

Flying in to Cape Town -- great view of Table mountain and the coast!
Living the life in Business Class.
Seat controls for Business Class passengers. (Hurray for us!)
At JFK before meeting up with Anna.

To Cape Town...

This blog is ironically titled "Philadelphia to Cape Town - Express," because our trip today was anything but. The first leg of our trip from Philadelphia to JFK International Airport was artfully handled by the directions of Russ Pfeifer and the driving of Allison Linton. We arrived at JFK early with already an ample amount of pictures and an abundant amount of food and candy both provided by the Linton family. We met Anna Taylor at our gate. She arrived even earlier then we had, traveling from Boston, MA. All seemed well in hand...

However, our fifteen hour flight from New York to Johannesburg would gradually change the tide of our confidence and sense of accomplishment. After five hours on board we were wondering how much ground we had covered. After nine hours all the "good" movies from the in-flight movie menu had been watched. After ten hours we were in continually interrupted sleep. After fourteen hours our wearied eyes, stiff necks, and dry mouths pined for a chance to break the tedium and monotony.

The fifteenth hour arrived and we were greeted with both our second sunrise of the day and solid ground. Although Johannesburg Airport (I'm forgetting its given name) was a bit confusing it certainly was a welcomed relief. We were able to walk around and lie flat on benches if we (meaning Jean) so desired. Another surprise came for Jean and me in Johannesburg. For some unknown and perhaps mistaken reason, Jean and I were upgraded to first class. We weren't asked to upgrade, we were told we were upgraded. The others were not and they remained in the cattle-car-feeling of the economy class for our flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I blame my stylish dressing and great looks for my fortune. However, more seriously, it seemed that Jean and I were the only ones from the group not get a few solid hours of sleep on the death march flight across the Atlantic. Perhaps God provided this luxury for us to have some time for rest and recovery. I praise God for that luxury.

At any rate, we arrived safely and with no technical problems. Now, we're resting at a rather "cozy" but unique hostel called the African Train Lodge. It is a transformed railway station with several rail cars, holding 5-6 rooms or dinning facilities, on two unused tracks (very inconvenient if it were working) with a platform in between. We hear from the owner that Lausanne has booked the entire place for the conference starting Monday. So it should be a fun - although busy and crowded - few weeks here at the hostel.

Prayer Requests 
-Thanks be to God for a safe trip
-Pray that we will find rest tonight and throughout the weekend to be at full strength when the conference starts
-Pray for all the conversations we had with fellow travelers and acquaintances we met along the way. Pray that good seeds were planted and may grow into salvation.

In the Airport!

Departing Flight Info

Friday, Oct 8: Depart JFK 11:15a EST
Saturday, Oct 9: Arrive in Johannesburg 8:40a (2:40a EST)
Depart Johannesburg 12:00p (6:00a EST)
Arrive in Cape Town 2:10p (8:10a EST)