This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, all the day long!

The sweet church where the conference was held

The second weekend every October the Lutheran women of province Kwazulu-Natal gather for twenty-four hours of fun, fellowship and food.  Nope, that's not quite accurate.  Boring American women gather for fun, fellowship and food, what I experienced October 8th and 9th was a women's conference going all out and getting wild and crazy.

Our church group from Shongweni Lutheran church,  rented combi (taxi bus) for the 12 of us to ride the two hours together.  First the women and Pastor Twala were picked up in Shongweni Village and they came to Hillcrest to gather Julia, Shara, Katelyn, Ginger and myself.  Our final destination was the Lutheran church at Shelly Beach, on the coast of beautiful Indian Ocean.

The opening scene could have been out of any women's conference, lots of hugs and greetings as van load after van load of happy women filed out like circus clowns.


Circus clowns dressed in black and white.  Married women wore more black than white and single women wore more white than black.  I wasn't sure what I was to wear.  My favorite part of the  ensemble was their 'Gillian' hats, which they NEVER took off.

Since it was lunch time soon after we arrived I was given lunch; half a corn muffin.  'Oh, thank you", I graciously said while wondering when and what was for dinner.

The conference was entirely in Zulu.  Every word, Zulu.  The singing, Zulu. The announcements, Zulu. Worship, Zulu.  You get the idea, Zulu.  Fortunately, I've been to enough women's conferences to have a pretty good clue what was going down.  We opened with worship, followed by a business meeting.

The added all the offering by pencil and paper.  How I wanted to give them my laptop with an Excel spreadsheet.

Interesting enough each church group came forward to present their report and gave their offering.  It was suggested that I donate 100 Rand which I cheerfully did. Now let me just tell you that they DID NOT walk up to the front, they sang and danced their way forward with gladness and volume.  Group after group after group each dancing and singing louder than their predecessor's.  I asked my peers where on earth would these women get 100 Rand (about $15) and was told they save up all year because this was the weekend they all lived for.

I'm peeling carrots with a KNIFE.

Hours of the business meeting until this ADD English speaking gal couldn't sit on the hard wooden beach any longer.  I meandered outside where I was invited to peel carrots for what I thought was for dinner - only to realize while at dinner and no carrots on my plate, that they were for lunch the next day.

Pastor Weber also raises pigs... next years meals perhaps?

How would you like to cook for a crowd on this?

Women have always kept the home fires burning.

Speaking of food... I witnessed Pastor Weber bringing one open crate after another of raw, whole chickens which I learned from his thrilled wife that he had raised in their garage for this occasion. Chicken parts were in our dinner on top of rice with a sauce and in our Sunday lunch.

Oh don't let me skip past breakfast. An apple. 'Oh, thank you", I graciously said while wondering when and what was for lunch.

Pastor Weber giving Julia Wehrenberg communion

Sunday was  huge worship service followed by the giving of the offering to two retiring Pastors.

Shara Cunningham

10 000 Rand each (about $1,400)  Now I realize that sounds like a huge gift but what you have to understand is that these men have no method to save for retirement.  Nothing, zip, nada, goose egg, no money post employment.  One Pastor bawled his eyes out.  Without knowing Zulu I realized he was overwhelmed with the gift from these precious women.  

Pastor Weber's garden

Lunch was served and the conference was ended.  Did you notice that I didn't mention the sleeping arrangements?  That is because the women didn't sleep at all!  They praised God all night long, singing and dancing with the joy of the Lord in their hearts.  We silly, sleepy Americans were offered a place to stay for the night which we jumped on.

Never did figure out if one side were for women & the other men...

No place to sleep and the only bathrooms were these open pits. Which according to reports were 1000 % better than the ones last year at another location.

The only thing better than attending this gathering of sweet, holy women is the fact that next October is the National gathering and I along with a year of Zulu under my belt will be there to join in the celebration of being a daughter of the King Jesus.

Katelyn & Shara walking from Pastor Weber's home to the church a few  yards away