Church Chronicles: Part 2

Ten: A New Dawn

With my savings, I managed to buy myself a car a year after I moved to Queenstown, and maybe it was because my money was my money. I only sent my parents enough money to buy groceries, I just never saw the need to send more than that, especially since we weren't talking.

Every since I left home, communication broke. I was upset that not even one of them checked up on me, that not even one of them called or texted even when I sent them money. A simple "thank you" ke, nothing, and that hurt, but I felt obligated to continue sending them money either way. After telling my pastors about this, they decided that we should take a trip home, to mend the broken fences, and restore the relationship.

"I don't think I'm ready for that... Can we wait a bit longer, please?" I said, looking at Pastor Bonita.

"You have waited long enough already," she responded with an assuring smile.

"I mean... Argh!"

"Look, we do not mind being parents to you because it's part of our calling but, the primary relationship between you and your biological parents need to be fixed first. Spiritually you're not a street kid, you've found yourself a home with us, but now on the physical side, you're a loner yet your parents are still breathing? We have to fix that."

I sighed, yazi uyaw'ze uthi you're okay, you're done. Kuthi gqi abantu abafana noo Vislon aba and take you back to your healing wounds, bafika bawaqhaqhe for them to bleed all over again. Like... Yhu hay abantu!

"The Word of God tells us to honor our parents, those parents are not my husband and I but your mother and your father back home, you have to mend the relationship Mandilakhe, you have to make peace, you have to honor them..."

"Why me? Why can't they come to me? Why can't they look for me?"

"Because they are the parents..."

"Exactly, they should be the bigger people in all of this, especially since they are also pastors. Don't they read the very same Bible we read kanti?"

"I understand you're upset and you don't really want to take the first step, but you have to understand that when you serve and worship God, your heart has to be empty. You have to be pure, and free from the plague of grudges, pity, unforgiveness, and everything else. But for now, just go and pray about it. We will support you in prayer until we can decide on a day for the trip. "

She wasn't asking if I wanted to, she was telling me that we were doing it anyway. Whether I was ready or not. Sigh.

**** **** ****

I saw my dad from a distance and I almost stopped breathing, I was nervous. We parked the car, he walked into the house from the backyard garden. We followed right in, my pastors leading and I walked in after them, my mother started crying. I went to her and we hugged, I wasn't crying, until dad joined in the hug.

A moment later, we all calm down and sat together, the three of us. Pastor Clive explained why we were there, he explained to them everything that had happened to me in East London, but didn't mention that I was actually in a romantic affair with Michael and I was grateful for that.

"u Mandilakhe ngumntana okhule kabuhlungu kakhulu, lonto ke imenze wangumntu onenqala," my dad said, after a long minute of silence.

"I didn't want to reach out to him lest he was still angry, because I knew he was angry when he started questioning me about the time I left them... He and his mother. He was angry, and I didn't have answers for him," he continued.

"But tata you do have answers, you just don't want to tell me." I jumped in.

"I believed it's something your mother and I have discussed, I didn't see the need for you to question me again. I felt disrespected, I didn't see things from your perspective and I'm sorry,"