from Katherine
When we were in America I told many of my friends about my 2 1/2 year old friend Azola. When Azola first came to the Pre School we were the very first white people he had ever seen. He was terrified of us!
One day last month his granny came early to school and I was the only teacher there. I promised her that Azola and I would be fine, took him in my arms and she left. We were not fine! Azola was screaming at the top of his lungs and thrashing about. I needed to start breakfast and help was not on the way. I finally put Azola down and promised he could stay on his side of the room and I would stay on my side. He watched me closely to make sure I stayed where I was supposed to!
This week as we began a new school year, Azola came up and held my hand. My heart sang!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
A Mosquito in the Bedroom
from Elliott
I saw a sign in a local shop recently that captured a sense of empowerment that is crucial for those in ministry confronted with what may seem to be insurmountable problems in their area of ministry. It read:
"Do not think that you are too small to make a difference, imagine the power of one mosquito who finds its way into your bedroom at night"
That really spoke to me since we have to open the windows in our flat, especially at night, due to our lack of air conditioning. There is a real trade off in the hot, rainy season with its significant mosquito population - a cooling breeze or minimize the presence of mosquitoes?
But if we think beyond our personal comfort it does suggest that we do not have to be the size of an elephant to create attention or to impact someone else. In fact, that minute mosquito can get our full attention simply by buzzing about our head for a short period of time. Of course, that is negative attention which does not help much in ministry.
It was Helen Keller who said: "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each worker."
It seems like in our western culture that we are prone to idolize our heroes and praise them for doing great things. Unfortunately, it ends up being an excuse for the regular folk to accomplish very little or not even make an attempt. After all we are not that powerful...
One thing we have found here is the impact seemingly minor gestures can have. Things like acknowledging the presence of a typically marginalized person while walking down the road, smiling at a child, inquiring genuinely as to the well-being of a widow in your midst and then being willing to hear the answer, offering a person with a heavy load a ride in your vehicle, etc. The list goes on...but it is not just in South Africa it is everywhere and each of us has the power to make a difference. When done with the love of Christ, the impact is immeasurable.
I saw a sign in a local shop recently that captured a sense of empowerment that is crucial for those in ministry confronted with what may seem to be insurmountable problems in their area of ministry. It read:
"Do not think that you are too small to make a difference, imagine the power of one mosquito who finds its way into your bedroom at night"
That really spoke to me since we have to open the windows in our flat, especially at night, due to our lack of air conditioning. There is a real trade off in the hot, rainy season with its significant mosquito population - a cooling breeze or minimize the presence of mosquitoes?
But if we think beyond our personal comfort it does suggest that we do not have to be the size of an elephant to create attention or to impact someone else. In fact, that minute mosquito can get our full attention simply by buzzing about our head for a short period of time. Of course, that is negative attention which does not help much in ministry.
It was Helen Keller who said: "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each worker."
It seems like in our western culture that we are prone to idolize our heroes and praise them for doing great things. Unfortunately, it ends up being an excuse for the regular folk to accomplish very little or not even make an attempt. After all we are not that powerful...
One thing we have found here is the impact seemingly minor gestures can have. Things like acknowledging the presence of a typically marginalized person while walking down the road, smiling at a child, inquiring genuinely as to the well-being of a widow in your midst and then being willing to hear the answer, offering a person with a heavy load a ride in your vehicle, etc. The list goes on...but it is not just in South Africa it is everywhere and each of us has the power to make a difference. When done with the love of Christ, the impact is immeasurable.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Home
from Katherine
We arrived ‘home’ in South Africa after spending five weeks
at ‘home’ in America. We stayed with dear friends and family who promised that
we did not smell like fish after staying with them longer than 4 or 5 days!
I have heard the expression that “home is where you hang
your hat.” Well we have hats in South
Africa to protect us from the sun and we hang them on hooks in our flat when
the sun goes down. Does that make Africa home?
No, I think it is more than hats, its hearts. You see, when
the plane touched down in America; we were excited to see friends and family,
to tell of our ministry experiences over the past year, to show our photographs
of the people and places where we are in ministry and beautiful South Africa.
When we returned to our ‘new’ home in South Africa we were equally
excited to see friends and our ministry team.
Now I know that my heart can have two homes!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Which Star are You Following?
from Elliott
It was a challenging question posed by our Pastor today. He noted that the Wise Men came from the East and they were astrologers not the good Jewish folk of the area. But somehow God used them to celebrate the birth in Bethlehem. Perhaps, the local folks were not willing to hear God's whisper.
They followed a star to find the manger - representing hope for us Christ followers. It seems today that we have a choice of many stars to follow as we seek our future. So many seem so bright when we first gaze upon them but as we follow them many times they fizzle out or when we get to the destination we find that we were following the wrong one and there is no 'there' there. We must discern the difference between the fleeting and the eternal.
As you gaze into the night sky here in South Africa you can well imagine how one could physically follow a star but at the same time find it difficult to know which one. The stars are brilliant here especially in the rural area where we are. On a clear night there are so many in the sky, they light up the land below as if there was a full moon. As you gaze upon them you can imagine the magnitude of God's universe and the completeness of God's creation. There are literally thousands of them visible - each one different in their location, brightness and their relationship with the others.
God calls us to follow a star. His Word tells us which one to follow, how to pursue it and how to know that you have found your way when you get there.
It was a challenging question posed by our Pastor today. He noted that the Wise Men came from the East and they were astrologers not the good Jewish folk of the area. But somehow God used them to celebrate the birth in Bethlehem. Perhaps, the local folks were not willing to hear God's whisper.
They followed a star to find the manger - representing hope for us Christ followers. It seems today that we have a choice of many stars to follow as we seek our future. So many seem so bright when we first gaze upon them but as we follow them many times they fizzle out or when we get to the destination we find that we were following the wrong one and there is no 'there' there. We must discern the difference between the fleeting and the eternal.
As you gaze into the night sky here in South Africa you can well imagine how one could physically follow a star but at the same time find it difficult to know which one. The stars are brilliant here especially in the rural area where we are. On a clear night there are so many in the sky, they light up the land below as if there was a full moon. As you gaze upon them you can imagine the magnitude of God's universe and the completeness of God's creation. There are literally thousands of them visible - each one different in their location, brightness and their relationship with the others.
God calls us to follow a star. His Word tells us which one to follow, how to pursue it and how to know that you have found your way when you get there.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
"You Are an African"
from Katherine
Last Sunday, Pastors Themba and Lucky, our friends from Bizana, a market town about an hour from our home, invited us to visit their church. We were excited to join them and Elliott had a brief greeting in mind as you are always asked to 'bring greetings' to the congregation. When we arrived at the church, a large corrugated tin structure, Themba came to the car to greet us and asked Elliott if he had his message. Elliott was taken aback but Themba really wanted him to preach!
And preach he did - for 45 minutes. I was shocked and told Elliott he was a true African!
He preached long and loud and pointed often to his Bible just like the African preachers. He preached about God having an individual plan for each of our lives and that His plans were to 'prosper' (Jer. 29:11) us but God, not us, chose how 'prosper' was defined. Elliott then wondered whether the God that is all about a relationship with His Creation might define prosperity as our growing relationship with God. Our response to that would be to honor God by the way we chose to live out that plan (Col. 3: 22-24).
Last Sunday, Pastors Themba and Lucky, our friends from Bizana, a market town about an hour from our home, invited us to visit their church. We were excited to join them and Elliott had a brief greeting in mind as you are always asked to 'bring greetings' to the congregation. When we arrived at the church, a large corrugated tin structure, Themba came to the car to greet us and asked Elliott if he had his message. Elliott was taken aback but Themba really wanted him to preach!
And preach he did - for 45 minutes. I was shocked and told Elliott he was a true African!
He preached long and loud and pointed often to his Bible just like the African preachers. He preached about God having an individual plan for each of our lives and that His plans were to 'prosper' (Jer. 29:11) us but God, not us, chose how 'prosper' was defined. Elliott then wondered whether the God that is all about a relationship with His Creation might define prosperity as our growing relationship with God. Our response to that would be to honor God by the way we chose to live out that plan (Col. 3: 22-24).
Monday, November 14, 2011
Our Favorite 'Jewish' Food
from Elliott
Katherine has done a great job of finding those familiar food items at the local shops and even introduced us to quite a few new indigenous 'favorites'! Most places have quite a selection of snack foods like potato chips and a variety of similar crunchy things. Most have different names and we aren't sure what ingredients are in some.of them. One of our favorite new flavors is chutney which is a flavor that South Africans put on almost anything.
One item we hard a hard time finding was pretzels. In the US they are always adjacent to, or an alternative calorie type, the potato or corn chips but here they are hard to find in a basic store here. While at a specialty shop a couple of towns away Katherine found them! They weren't in the snack food aisle as you would expect, they were on an ethnic foods aisle labeled 'Jewish Food'. The inquiring mind went into action and she found out why - these pretzels were manufactured in Israel. Never knew they were known for their pretzels but in my opinion it sure beats matzos!
Katherine has done a great job of finding those familiar food items at the local shops and even introduced us to quite a few new indigenous 'favorites'! Most places have quite a selection of snack foods like potato chips and a variety of similar crunchy things. Most have different names and we aren't sure what ingredients are in some.of them. One of our favorite new flavors is chutney which is a flavor that South Africans put on almost anything.
One item we hard a hard time finding was pretzels. In the US they are always adjacent to, or an alternative calorie type, the potato or corn chips but here they are hard to find in a basic store here. While at a specialty shop a couple of towns away Katherine found them! They weren't in the snack food aisle as you would expect, they were on an ethnic foods aisle labeled 'Jewish Food'. The inquiring mind went into action and she found out why - these pretzels were manufactured in Israel. Never knew they were known for their pretzels but in my opinion it sure beats matzos!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Language Forensics
from Elliott
You can learn a lot about how people think by the words they chose. That is one reason we hope to greatly improve our understanding of Xhosa. An example is how people respond to the question of 'how you are doing?' or 'Kunjani?' When you ask it of an individual standing alone you would expect them to say - 'I am well' or 'ndiyaphile'. Many times the response will instead be, We are well' or 'siyaphile.'
The difference being a simple prefix - ndi vs. si or I vs We. 'We are well' They are speaking for their family not just themselves. It suggests a perception of their relationship with their family and position within. It is usually the mamas who speak collectively because of their intense maternal instinct that extends well beyond their own biological children to include other family members and even community members that they have responsibility for.
Just a couple of letters difference but it tells you a significant amount about the person!
You can learn a lot about how people think by the words they chose. That is one reason we hope to greatly improve our understanding of Xhosa. An example is how people respond to the question of 'how you are doing?' or 'Kunjani?' When you ask it of an individual standing alone you would expect them to say - 'I am well' or 'ndiyaphile'. Many times the response will instead be, We are well' or 'siyaphile.'
The difference being a simple prefix - ndi vs. si or I vs We. 'We are well' They are speaking for their family not just themselves. It suggests a perception of their relationship with their family and position within. It is usually the mamas who speak collectively because of their intense maternal instinct that extends well beyond their own biological children to include other family members and even community members that they have responsibility for.
Just a couple of letters difference but it tells you a significant amount about the person!
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