We wish we could lament with you at this time.

The Reverend Dr. William A. Evertsberg
Hi friends, it’s Bill Evertsberg. I’m speaking to you on Friday, May 27. This is day 39 of our sabbatical. We’re at the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve, which is adjacent to Kruger National Park in the northeast corner of South Africa, a very beautiful place.

We’ve seen lions and leopards and ostriches and elephants and rhinos and everything, but what we’re finding here so far from home is the same thing that you’re finding. We’re discovering in Africa, that life is beautiful and it is precious, but it’s also vulnerable. I’m sure you’re discovering that with what’s happened in Texas this week.

They call this Sabi because Sabi is a very important river to Kruger National Park. It’s a very impressive body of water, and I asked our guide what Sabi means, and he said that Sabi means fear, because when his ancestors many generations removed would come down to the river to fetch water, or to do their laundry, sometimes they wouldn’t come home, because they meet hippos or crocodiles.

So this is kind of a place of fear, this is kind of the African cape fear. On the other hand, that guide that Kathy mentioned that I’m talking about his name is Bethel or Bethul, and that means house of God. What we want to say, Kathy and I want to say to you, is that back home in the states and here in Africa, you find out that life is very beautiful, it’s always very precious, and it’s also very vulnerable.

We wish we could lament with you at this time. It’s surreal being so far from home at a time like this, but we miss you, and we’ll see you soon. God bless you all.