This was a Saturday morning like no other at St Mark's in the past 20 years. This was a big day for the Men for the Master, this was our promised clean up day. The Men had promised to clean up the side of the church hall where rubbish had accumulated over the years, we had promised to re-varnish the church doors and clean up the little room off the kitchen and host a bring-and-share braai afterwards.
This was to be a community initiative, but would the men come out in numbers in support of our chairman Giyani Matampi and the executive of Men for the Master? Would we have the tools to do what needed to be done? Would we have the materials necessary to complete all the tasks the congregation expected us to complete and would we have the skills necessary to complete them? The answer on all fronts was a resounding YES!!!! If St Mark's was in need of a sign that the Lord was working in our midst this was it.
Let us roll out the series of mini miracles that made Saturday the 20th February so significant.
Your scribe duly arrived just after nine in the morning tasked with re-varnishing the main church door. In the course of the week we were meant to have bought sandpaper, varnish and paint brushes to do this. Eish, but other than mentioning the problem to our friend from the Women's Association the previous Sunday nothing concrete had been done about this at all. However upon walking into the A S Welsh Hall there was Beate Green with her "can do" husband Rob with a box full of the essential to fix the doors. Rob had delayed his departure to his beloved boat at Vaal Dam to advise us and donate the materials, so a huge thank you must go to the Green family.
It did not end there. Your scribe returned to the door and Roger and I started sanding with a will. The will was strong, but progress was slow. Than Jotam Mpande arrived and would you believe he is a carpenter by trade? He took over and showed us how to go about things. Shortly thereafter Johar Davids, a neighbour of Roger's, also arrived. Johar knows all there is to know about interior restoration, and he and Jotam were "A" for away, kindred spirits. Not one but THREE door gleaming doors later St Mark's had made a make-over worthy of this one hundred year old Heritage site.
Across the road Giyani, Samuel and another team of helpers were cleaning up the tangle of weeds and old plants where the homeless left piles of rubbish. Samuel had donated his bakkie to the big clean-up and one massive load later all the weeds, undergrowth and garbage had been removed. It was back breaking work, but three hours later the cul de sac was as clean as a whistle.
Giyani was also determined to fix the skirting in the gentleman's loo, but we did not have a wood saw. Beate came back from home with a saw and more sandpaper and the work continued and all the rubbish in the room off the kitchen was dumped and the "must keep" stuff was moved into the storeroom under the stage in the Hall .. all was not as neat as could be!
But there were other unsung heroines. Mention must be made of Sophia Williamson, our chairlady of the Women's Association. She'd baked scones and then buttered them and put delicious dollops of jam on top. These she served to the men. Our session cleark Liz White was also on hand and she also helped with coffee and cool drinks later .Marianne shuttled in supplies while doing the WA Minutes in the church office where . there is now a mobile phone, which will be used to replace our office land line until Telkom fixes that problem.
The list just goes on. Elvis was all over the place and took over the photographer duties from your scribe, Solomon was torn between caring for his new born son David and keeping the lads focused. And who will forget both Elvis' and Charles' lively performances over the braai fires? The community came together over grilled chicken, steak and wors and lovely buttered bread rolls in our tranquil garden. The smiles were broad, the tummies were full and more importantly we sent a message that is clear and positive ... The Lord is with us and "yes" we can make a difference as we serve the Lord our God, together.
There's plenty more to do, but we're up for the challenge. Remember you have access to more than 40 other pictures of Saturday's activities, including exclusive shots of Solomon and Perpetue, with their newly arrived son David. You can see an excellent slideshow by scrolling down the web site until you see a thumbnail picture on the right hand side. Click on the picture of Perpetue and David and all will be revealed. Click on the word slideshow to activate.
The Mark's Editorial Team.
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