On one of my days off, I got the chance to be a tourist for a few hours! A friend and I went to Soweto and visited Nelson Mandela's house and the apartheid museum. Being a historian, I enjoyed it! I need to do some more studying about South Africa and apartheid though. I might know the basic details, but there's always more to learn!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
South African round-up
On one of my days off, I got the chance to be a tourist for a few hours! A friend and I went to Soweto and visited Nelson Mandela's house and the apartheid museum. Being a historian, I enjoyed it! I need to do some more studying about South Africa and apartheid though. I might know the basic details, but there's always more to learn!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
My kids...
Sooner or later everyone I meet here asks if I have children. (Unfortunately the question isn't "Are you married?" but "Do you have children?" even from people in the church.) I always explain that actually I have 17 in Canada (nieces, nephews, first cousins of similar ages) and everywhere I go I adopt all the local kids anyways! So, with no further ado, let me introduce just a few of my newest kids!
Nuna
My first two weeks in the Northwest province ere spent in the village of Maskiet. I stayed with a family who had a young seven-year-old boy named, Nuna. Aftersome hesitation, we became good friends. He was just beginning to learn English at school, but he quickly learned what he thought was important: "Come play!" "Come children!" (Translation: the children have arrived—come and play or tell us a story) "You, me—Generations!" (Translation: Will you watch the TV show Generations with me?).
Otsile
After leaving Maskiet, I stayed in the village of Lesung with what became my African family: the Letlape's. (My Tswana name is now officially Neo Letlape.) The grandson of the family, Otsile, is three years old. The day I arrived we played together: made frogs and boats and generally had a good time! The next morning I was already gone to the school where I was volunteering when he woke up. His grandmother, Irene, told me that he got up, looked in the room I was staying in, looked in the living room, and then with increasing panic started running through the house saying, "Grandma! Where's my white lady?! Where did she go? WHERE IS MY WHITE LADY!!!???" He was very relieved when I did actually come home that evening as his grandmother promised.
Tsbang
Ikageng is an informal settlement near Lesung. I spent about a week and a half in Ikageng. Tsbang is the twelve-year-old daughter of the lady I stayed with. Tsbang loves to organize! She organized kids to come to Sunday School, she organized kids to come play games, she even organizes things at church. She decided one week that the Bishop wasn't getting an accurate view of the church there because when he came people always attended, but if he wasn't there they didn't attend. Now she's decided to take attendance! She told the Bishop, "I'll be honest too! If my mother isn't in church, I'll mark her absent! The you'll know what really happens here!" (She's the one sitting down in the white shirt.)
Vuvu
Vuvu is the five-year-old daughter of one of the church members in Simunye. Simunye is in the Gauteng province and I stayed there for over two weeks because it was central to several congregations. Vuvu heard I was finally coming back to Simunye (I stayed there for a few days when I first arrived in South Africa)and she rushed to her Sunday school teacher and said, "Ma, you made special dresses for the Sunday school. I need one for Sunday because Leona is back!" She loves to sing and play—but like many four-year-olds she can be a handful! She has a young friend named Jasmine who is also in Sunday school. Whenever I arrive the two of them fight to see who gets to sit on my lap—usually I end up with both of them there!
There are many more, but only so much room. Besides, proud parents always make the mistake of talking about their kids too much, so I think I'll stop before someone accuses me of that!
Thoughts from the mission field
"My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 12:9
It is comforting to remember that we do nothing in our own strength and that even when we feel that we are way out of our comfort zone, God can still use us. One of both the joys and frustrations of the mission field is it’s unpredictability! I came to South Africa to work with the Sunday Schools, but since arriving I have led a Bible at a rural medical clinic, visited and prayed for the elderly, taught grade four Math and English in a local public school, and participated in a funeral (not just attended, but participated in)! I definitely don’t think that these tasks are necessarily my strengths, but that is when I need to pray that God will use my poor efforts for his glory.
"So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." 1 Corinthians 3:7
Sometimes when I am in the mission field I get quite discouraged because I see no really change happening. No one suddenly comes to know Jesus, there are no great miracles, and sometimes it seems like people are just going through the motions and don’t have any real concept of Jesus. For example, several weeks ago I asked one youth group here who God was—they couldn’t answer. When I tried to clarify by asking if the god of the Hindus or Muslims is the same as our God their faces cleared up and they all emphatically answered, "Yes!" I was very surprised and sharing what the Bible said. However I grew quite discouraged over the next few when I saw no change—except for some youth who didn’t want to attend anymore! At times like this, or at any time even if I'm just teaching the kids like in the picture, I take comfort in the scripture above and pray that God used my insufficient words and actions to sow the seeds that will someday grow into faith.
"And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Matthew 20:27
Our actions often speak more of Christ than our words and, like anywhere, our actions speak loudly in the mission field. As missionaries and visitors, people in other countries will always want to serve us—and it definitely isn’t wrong to accept this act of service from others. However, Jesus also calls us to be servants and I believe that call should be taken literally. When we are willing to be both served and also to serve in the daily tasks of life, it makes a big impact. I was asked by one person here whether I even knew how to wash dishes. Our resulting conversation helped him see me as an equal rather than someone who thought she was better than those around her. I really feel that helping out in the day-to-day lives of those I visit shows people the servant-heart of Jesus. Therefore, as I help wash the laundry by hand or cut up a freshly-slaughtered cow, I pray not only that I may be able to use that time to speak of Jesus but also that the task itself will shine with His light.
As I close, I ask for your prayers. Please pray that God will use me according to his purpose while I am in South Africa. Please also pray that all the members of the United Lutheran Church continue to grow in their relationship with their Saviour!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Ancestor worship, cursed children, drunken brawls, death threats…
I arrived in the shack settlement known as Ikageng two and a half weeks ago. Close to Ikageng is the village of Lesung. I have been splitting my time between these two areas. The work of the devil is strong here. One of the ancient deceptions the devil is still perpetrating in Africa is the practice of ancestor worship. Many people—many Christians—still believe that their ancestors watch over them and that they must pray to them and honour them with special rituals. It is sad to see people caught up in this deception. They really see no problem in believing in both the Bible and ancestor worship. The devil holds real power over them though. I was told with total conviction by a member of our church that if she didn’t keep her “gods” happy, they would strike her down with a sickness that was not curable by modern medicine…
Now, I can smell the skepticism of many of you all the way from Africa! I know that you might think the whole thing is hokey and just a bunch of superstitious nonsense, but don’t dismiss it so quickly. Read the Bible. It talks frequently of people who were possessed by demons. The spiritual world is real. The sickness I was told does happen. The devil DOES have power on this earth. HOWEVER the powers of darkness might be real, but the power of our Saviour is too—and it is so much greater than the devil’s power. It is so much greater that we do NOT need to be afraid. Jesus has overcome the world. The devils tremble before Him. His name is the cure that the medical doctors don’t have! As followers of Jesus, we need never fear things like the wrath of the ancestors because Jesus has promised us that we need only call on His name—He is greater than any power here on earth!
The unfortunate thing is many people here will not accept that the power they think comes from the ancestors is actually evil. They cannot accept that their ancestors are not listening and watching them. They will not believe that their rituals and prayers are not going to their ancestors but to the devil. So, please pray that they would come to a true knowledge of the Biblical truth: there is one God. All other “gods” are false gods and must not be worshiped. Please also pray that they will be protected by the name of Jesus from the curses that might come on them as they begin to understand and accept the truth. If you feel really convicted to pray for this issue, please email me privately for a list of specific people to pray for.
One small example of this spiritual conflict happened the day after I arrived in Ikageng. That morning I was asked to help look for a missing child. The night before a nine-year-old boy never returned home. Thankfully, he was eventually found. Unfortunately he was extremely traumatized when he was found. He wouldn’t talk, he couldn’t move properly, and part of his hair had been ripped out. The locals who found him agree unanimously on what happened: he was used in some sort of witchcraft ceremony. After he was found, his parents brought him to the doctor. I wish I could report that he has fully recovered, but no one really seems to know what really happened. I don’t have any more details, but God knows all and He will know who you are referring to so please keep him in your prayers.
For many of you who are reading this, the previous paragraphs will be the hardest to accept. The following problems are unfortunately much more universal.
The problems stem from alcohol: a worldwide problem. I personally have never had much of a problem with a glass of wine with dinner or a beer on a hot afternoon. However, I am beginning to rethink this outlook. Alcohol is such a huge problem for so many people that an example of abstinence might be much for helpful than one of temperance. Excessive consumption of alcohol here in Africa is so widespread—it’s really sad. UNfortunalte this is true amongst church-goers as well and many people seem to think the whole thing is a non-issue. Do you want to know how many times I’ve heard, “But I wasn’t drunk! I can easily drink 24 beers in an evening and not be drunk!”
Last weekend was especially spectacular. On Saturday afternoon, I was playing with the kids at one of the houses in Ikageng. Suddenly someone came running over and told me that a friend of mine was drunk and was making passes at some of the girls. Some other guys (also drunk) took exception to this and were now threatening to kill him! I immediately went over to see what was happening and ended up trying to help diffuse a street brawl: one guy had a machete, others had bottles, yet another had an old bicycle wheel… People were yelling at my friend that he’d better run for the safety of a fenced yard while others were trying to pry the machete from the other guy… My friend ran away; others chased him, one guy knocked him down, others broke it up. The whole time my friend kept insisting he wasn’t drunk, there wasn’t a problem, he was innocent and that these guys just suddenly jumped him out of the blue. Other people were trying to tell me to get my friend out of the settlement unless I wanted him to be killed. Still others were showing up to make accusations against my friend and warn him that they still planned to kill him. In the end things diffused in a rather anticlimactic fizzle as everyone stumbled off to bed to sleep off the effects of the beer they had consumed that day. Despite the quiet ending, it was a rather trying day!
The drama continued in a less explosive manner the next day when my friend—despite being sober—refused to leave the area. I spent half the day trying to convince him to leave and was finally convinced to leave him alone because he’d leave the next morning. He didn’t and we actually went in and removed him from Ikageng to Lesung that night because the guys from the day before started threatening him again! Thankfully that issue has finally been resolved. My friend went home. Before he left we were able to talk things through. He apologized for everything and has asked for prayer that he’ll be able to stop drinking and face his problems.
Well, that’s the excitement from here! However, before I close, I feel compelled to add one more paragraph. At this point, I’m sure many of you think that I’m in perpetual danger or at least perpetual excitement. That’s just not true! The above moments have taken up a small amount of my time. The rest of my days have been filled with much more sedate experiences: teaching school, playing with kids, sharing from the Bible, praying for the sick, visiting friends, etc. So, as you finish reading this blog, I do ask for your prayers, but I also ask that you don’t worry! I’m not in danger. I’m not afraid. I’m not about to be cursed or killed in a drunken brawl. I am safe! And I am definitely not ready to get on a plane and fly home—if anything, I’d like to extend my visa and stay a little longer!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
On the road again
I was met by the Bishop and by Mali, a friend from one of the United Lutheran congregations. I didn’t stay in Simunye long, however. Only three days after arriving, however, I was off to the Northwest province to stay in the village of Maskiet for two weeks. I’m writing this now near the end of my time with the people of Maskiet. Here are a few thoughts about my time here.
One of the first things you do when you visit a village in South Africa is to go and greet the chief of the village—especially if you plan to visit the other people. The chief here is pretty laid back and the visit was quite informal. I actually enjoyed the visit immensely! The chief’s wife was quite interesting and we had a good discussion about the Bible.
The other thing about living here that stands out is the lack of indoor plumbing: no water for bathing or cooking! All water for washing, cooking, or bathing comes from the communal water tap down the road. Several times a week someone must ferry empty water containers to the water tap and back. The outhouse is fine—I don’t have a problem with that, and I’m used to doing my washing by hand (the kids in the picture prefer to do it by foot). However, I haven’t had a shower since arriving in South Africa. Instead, my baths consist of a basin of water, soap and a washcloth. There isn’t a bathroom with a drain either—I generally bathe in my bedroom, and the water must therefore be contained within the basin. I must admit that I’m sure going to enjoy the next shower I have—but it probably won’t be until I return to Canada at the end of November!
In terms of my volunteer work with the church, the kids from this congregation have been the highlight! Unfortunately Sunday school here usually consists of learning to sing—if it is even held. There are various reasons for this, the biggest problem being that the Sunday school teachers are young and have no background in the Bible themselves. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the kids are eager and willing to learn! Because of a teachers strike, I have met with the kids almost every day and I am so encouraged watching how fast they learn!
The rest of the congregation members here really need your prayers! I plead with you all to add them to your prayer list. Many people that I’ve talked to have no real understanding of who Jesus is and why he came to earth. The youth seem to know very very little of the Bible, despite having gone through confirmation. Many people no longer attend church services (the church building is shown in the picture) and the leader of the congregation is discouraged and disillusioned. I know that it is only God who can make a lasting change so I ask that you would all uphold this congregation in your prayers.
I ask for you to pray for me as well. I want to be doing only God’s will and speaking only God’s words. Please pray that God will help me do so throughout my time here!
Note: I refer to pictures, but the connection here isn't good enough to add them at the moment, so the posts will be updated later with photos.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Home again...
We've always wanted to show up at home unexpectedly and we managed to on this trip. Our parents expected us home on Sunday, May 9th, and we showed up on Wednesday night! :) There we were standing on the balcony with all our bags staring through the window...and no one noticed! Okay, it only took them haf a minute or so, but it seemed long!
I am currently at home until I return to South Africa at the end of August. Amanda is home until she goes to Germany at the beginning of June.
Back to Guatemala
One of out last days in the city, we went back to helping out SonRisas by driving around and picking up things people/organizations had donated for their dental clinic. It was quite funny, actually! At one stop there were just too many donations to fit in the car, so after filling the truck with boxes, we started opening other boxes and stuffing things into the car wherever they'd fit. The whole back window was full of toothbrushes and the backseat (and Amanda and I) was covered with Crocs!
At the end of the week, Auntie Clara came to Guatemala to meet us--which was really cool!! The day after she arrived, we jumped on the bus and headed off to Zacapa. The big even in Zacapa was the first annual Guatemalan ALC convention! The three of us (Amanda, Auntie Clara, and I) were helping out with the kids. The kids under 10 had their own program during the services. The theme for the kids was "Christian Family" and so we talked about obedience (to your parents) using Jonah as an example and forgiveness (of your family members) using Joseph as an example. It was fun--even though we couldn't interact as much as we'd have liked since we don't speak that much Spanish!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Briefly in the USA
We arrived Boston and were met by Paul and Jayne Somero (thanks again guys!). After arriving we headed straight for New Ipswich, NH--which is where we spent most of our brief stay in the States. We spent the next few days being lazy, catching up on some email (sorry if I haven't gotten to you yet), drinking coffee, and touring around. It was fun! (Clearly I need to remember to take more pictures, though, 'cause I don't have a single one of Paul or Jayne...)
Also, we clearly don't pay much attention to where people are from 'cause we found out that all sorts of people live in this area that we know: Colin and Carolyn Kinnunen, Al and Kathie Traffie, and Ken and Tricia Matson just to name a few... We already knew that John and Colleen Ruotsala were there...and had planned to see them, but pretty much everyone else was a surprise--and, yes, we promise to spend more time there next time we come!
The main reason for detouring through this area was to see John Ruotsala--the administrator of the ALC Foreign Mission and to give him a run down of what we'd been up to in the last 19 months. We did so quickly and even managed to fit time in to participate in a Missions Night held at the Asburnham Church. John, Bruce (John's son), and Colin talked about India and the Philippines. Amanda and I talked about various places we visited.
Next on the agenda was a quick tour of New York City with Colin and Colleen. They both love NYC, so they were great guides! The weather was beautiful! We had a great time eating hot dogs in Central Park, climbing the Empire State Building, staring across the harbour at the Statue of Liberty, and just generally enjoying the city.
The day after touring NYC, we got up early and headed to the airport--we are off to Guatemala.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Chasing three 13-year-olds around Rome
After Ostia Antica, the girls all voted that they'd seen enough ancient sites for awhile and wanted to head to the beach. There is a beach at Ostia, but it was still March and Rome isn't THAT far south. Okay, there was no snow on the ground, but that doesn't necessarily make it warm! The girls, however, still firmly maintain it was warm and even went swimming (or wading anyways...). The rest of us think they're a bit insane, but considering the family they come from, that's probably a good thing! :)
Obviously, there are a lot more stories and a lot more pictures--but they won't all fit here. Check out everyone's facebook for more and ask for more stories next time you see us!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
England and Scotland
We arrived in the UK at the beginning of March and headed out to Benson. RAF Benson is where our cousin, Stewart, is stationed. It's quite close to London and a brilliant base for touring the country. We arrived and did absolutely nothing for several days! As Stew would say, it was ace!! :) Our three weeks in the UK were strictly for the purpose of having a holiday.
It was great to spend time with Stew and Mimi--always a highlight! We did some touring around together, had some barbeques in the yard (a bit early, but heck, we're Canadians!), hung out, cooked food, and chilled. What more could you ask for?
Another highlight was seeing some very good friends from Thailand: Ross and Sonia Wilson and their three girls. They've recently moved back to England from Thailand so we saw them in October 2009 in Thailand and then March 2010 in England. I spent my birthday there with them in Oxford--a very quiet one amazingly enough! Maybe I'm getting old... Nah!!!
Yet another amazing friend from England gave us some contacts for Scotland (thanks Jane) and we visited Edinburgh and then the wild moors near Tongue, Scotland. It was absolutely fantastic. Yet another place I think I need to go back and visit. The moors were stunning--even if it was still the end of winter and nothing was blooming. One day it was so windy that we almost couldn't climb the hills in the moors because the winds blew us over. The news that evening said they were actually gale-force winds. :) Cool!! I've wandered the moors in Scotland through gale-force winds...
Our other preoccupation during our tour of England and Scotland (Stew lent us his car so we bombed about in that) was locating ruined castles, abbeys, manor houses, towers, etc. Especially the free ones--not only for the obvious reason (they were free...) but also because they seemed to have the most character...and the fewest tourists! Our hands-down favoursit was Greenknowe Tower in Scotland! It was brilliant--you could still climb it up until the fourth floor! How cool is that?!
What else? Loads, really! Plinking away with the air rifle in Stew's garden, touring London with Mimi, birthday cards from Becky, Katie and Kezzie Wilson, staying with Fiona and John in Edinburgh, sleeping in the car next to the snowbank, sleeping on the floor and then the radiators at Stansted airport, Oz kebabs... :)
Hmmm... perhaps I really should just write a book...
Until then...onward to Rome!
Schools and orphanages
Our first two weeks were spent in the Liberian Refugee Camp just outside of Accra. It was an interenting experience! Just before we arrived several of the teachers at the Emmanuel Lutheran School left due to the financial difficulties the school is having. Therefore, instead of arriving and helping out with English and Bible classes, we arrived and I was handed the entire courseload for the 5/6 class and Amanda was asked to take over Math and English (and temporarily Ghanian History!) for the 8/9 class. We were given less than 12 hours notice.
Exciting times!
Things went well, though. The kids were fun--though definitely ready to push boundaries. They wanted to know why we wouldn't cane them...and I admit to wanting to cane a few of them from time to time! :) Things are defintely at different standards there, though. The administration of the school was a bit chaotic, and just the fact that Amanda and I had university degrees made us w ell qualified to be teaching there. Many of the teachers had only about a week of actual teacher training. I'd love to see a training program for both the administration and the teachers put on there over a month or so.
After we left the Liberian Camp, we went west to the towm of Tarkwa. We only stayed there for about 5 days, but while we were there we helped out in a daycare and at an orphanage. We taught songs and stories to the daycare kids and played games and did origami with the orphanage kids. It was fun. Once again, it was sad to see the lack of training and education amongst the staff at the daycare. There were two little boys there--one definitely had Downs Syndrome and the other probably had Cerebral Palsy. Unfortunately, the staff treated them both quite harshly and basically said they are retarded and can't learn. When we talked to them about the boys they were stunned to find out that there are people with Downs and CP (though they didn't know those names--they just said they were retarded) in Canada. They thought it only happened in Africa when babies were born too early.
Our final stop was Asiama. Once again we helped out in a daycare, a school, and an orphanage. We especially enjoyed working at the daycare and school. Amanda once again dazzled the science students with practical hands-on lessons. I think the students in the other classes were really confused as to why their schoolmates were trying to push over a tree!! (They were talking about the importance of soil...) Another highlight in Asiama was meeting another missionary couple--Larry and Cheri--who have just moved there from the States and plan to stay between five months and five years! :)
And that was it! One month gone in a flash! On our drive back to Accra we also had the chance to stop off and be tourists with Frank--the president of the ALC in Ghana and our contact in the country. We dipped our feet into the Atlantic, visited Cape Coast Castle--the place where thousands of slaves were sent off into Europe and the Americas, and toured Accra.
It was a great trip and Ghana is definitely a country that I will be returning to some day (hopefully) soon!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Unexpected Namibia
...what's that? That's never happened to you? Really?! :)
Well...it tends to happen to us somewhat frequently—and it's happened again! Two weeks ago we suddenly found ourselves in Namibia...outside of the capital city of Windhoek...on the YWAM base...
Go figure!
****commercial break**** due to computer problems this next part of the blog is written a month after leaving Namibia.