‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’ – a grand finale in Harare on Friday night, flying home on Saturday, and some final thoughts

~ Posted by Michelle (Photos by Lourens)

Being back is bittersweet. It’s Monday morning, our second day home after touching down in Cape Town on Saturday night, and my husband Lourens and I have taken the day off (although I know that most of our group will be back at work today). Of course, there’s no place like home, and it’s been really lovely to see family and friends (and pets), and so forth and so on, but some of us can’t help but wonder how we’ll ever settle back into everyday life again.

Yesterday, a whole bunch of us met up at the 5pm church service, where Peter Wilson played a final set with our worship team (and my dear friend, Kirsty Hunt, who, before we went on tour, didn’t even clap her hands in church, launched her mosh pit ministry in front of the stage).

Phil showed a short clip from our final concert, at the Celebration Centre in Harare, a unique and brilliant venue, where the back of the stage (in the auditorium) can open up onto an outdoor amphitheatre. Usually, either the auditorium, or the amphitheatre is used, but we sold tickets for both inside and outside, which meant that the band played to crowds on both sides of the stage, with a vocalist on each end (interchanging every so often), and our drummer Curt on a revolving drum rise so that he could be spun around to face different sides.

At one point, Phil had everyone waving their cell phones in the air, while singing, ‘Shine a light and let the whole world see’. ‘It was just a very special and beautiful evening, and we loved it,’ he said, when we chatted at Harare airport; ‘just the fact that it was the auditorium, then it was the stage, and then there was an outdoor amphitheatre. I’ve never really experienced something like that, and the passion of everyone in Harare, so eager, so hungry to worship, and just giving it everything. You know, it draws the best out of the whole team. It was awesome.’

On Saturday morning, we all had breakfast together one last time at our hotel, before packing up, and posing for a group photograph in front of our two trucks, which were waiting to take us to the airport. And then it was all over, this big adventure that we’d been looking forward to for so long.

A very special thank you to our tour coordinator, Ron Martin, who put it all together, and his lovely wife Terri, who looked after our group from before we left Cape Town until we said our goodbyes at the airport. They travelled with us in the bumpy overland trucks, inspired and encouraged us every step of the way, and set such a great atmosphere that we all just flourished. We’ve learnt a lot from them. In Francistown, a shortage of rooms meant that a married couple had to split up and sleep separately for the night, and it was Ron and Terri who did it. In Bulawayo, when the girls and the boys had to sleep in different guesthouses, someone had to sleep on the floor in our room, and Terri was the first to offer (but we wouldn’t let her). They were considerate, and kind, and helpful, and approachable, and a lot of fun to have around. It wouldn’t have been the same without them.

Thank you, Church, for praying for us. No one on tour got ill, or suffered any side-effects from the malaria medication, or even got sunburnt (although Armando Stander did get electrocuted in Francistown, but he’s okay). In fact, everyone in our group got along really well, and all of us have forged friendships and made memories that will last a lifetime.

And, because everyone did their bit, over 25 000 people were reached in a week, and several thousand lives were impacted for eternity.

(By the way, please keep reading as there are a still a few posts to come, not to mention some great photos.)