Blog Madness!

Today marks the second time so far this year that I get to write a prayer update letter as well as a blog write-up on the same day. I love you guys, but man, it's a lot of writing. But, this is coming from the guy who used to write all his year-end papers the week before they were due. So, in a strange way, writing far, far too much in a short period of time makes me nostalgic for my academic days. Kind of like tree planting: while you're there, you hate it, but when you think back about it, all you have is good memories...

It's Only been about 11 Days

Nothing really epic has happened in the past 11 days since I last spoke to you. Actually, honestly, I just spent the past 2 hours writing here, only to discover that I just reiterated almost the entirety of my last post. Awesome. There was some really good news from home I just received recently though – my sister is coming to visit this fall! Hooray! And hopefully Jon can come too! I'm pretty excited about this, it was really great when my parents came, it was only a shame that they had to leave so soon, so I'm looking forward to more visitors. Though by the time they come I'll only have a couple months left here! Which is ridiculous! I often reflect on how quickly time is passing here. Soon enough I'll be writing my half-way report, which seems almost inconceivable.

Homelessness in Sea Point

Speaking of homelessness (kind of) this month I have had one particular assignment on my mind basically the whole time. I have been assigned the task of figuring out how to address the homeless folks who frequent our church for help. Quite often these folks struggle with addiction issues or are refugees, and either way they're in a rough spot. So I've been doing a bit of research trying to figure out what other organizations in our area are doing. Often the answers are pretty strict, along the lines of not providing any help or support at all, which seems not to be the correct solution to me. So we'll see what I can come up with. No matter what, it's not an easy thing to process at all. Social services around here are painfully inadequate and often those with the least resources are left to fend for themselves, and that unfortunately often leads to crime. I mean, it's much more complicated than that, I'm still working on what to make of the whole situation.


Life Generally

I do get some spare time occasionally as well, in fact, I'm really happy with my schedule, I'm feeling really integrated with the church and it's ministry, and yet I have time to pursue my own projects as well. For me, 'projects' mostly means doing a lot of reading. I try to balance out literature and non-fiction in my reading endeavours, but I think for the moment literature is winning out. I just finished 'the French Lieutenant's Woman' by Fowles, and I'm looking to get started on something by James Joyce. My theory is that reading good books will help me become a better pastor. I haven't quite worked out that equation yet, but neverthless, I press onwards. In terms of non-fiction I'm reading Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality Volume I: A Will to Knowledge (or something like that). Another attempt on my part to get a better handle on the issues of sexuality always seem to be under debate in the church. Also, Slavoj Žižek's 'For They Know Not What They Do”, mainly because it has a cool title. I'm not sure if you're interested in what I'm reading, but frankly, that's how I fill a lot of my free time, that and movies (watched 'Magnolia' again last night, great movie), so now you know.

Anyways, that's about it for now. If there's ever anything you're curious about, feel free to let me know, it can be a bit of a challenge trying to figure out what to tell you from week to week, many things end up getting omitted. So, if there's some question you have, do feel free to post a comment.

Until next time,

Peter