Sotho vs. Afrikaans:

The two main languages here in Polokwane are Sotho( the natives'
language), and Afrikaans( the language of the white Dutch/English).
The Afrikaaners and Sothos do not get along in general, and have a
distinct disliking for each others' people. This attitude goes way
back in history, and makes working with either group difficult. The
whites look down on us for working out in the villages, and the blacks
don't trust us because we're the same color as the Afrikaaners. God
has given His life for each one of these South Africans, no matter the
color of their skin.

An African meal:

Here in South Africa, we Americans are eating pretty much the same
kind of food as we do back in the States, except everything is made by
scratch. The white South Africans of Dutch and English descent eat
about the same as us with a few exceptions. The native South Africans
eat a very unhealthy diet with few fruits and vegetables, which is
surprising because they are surrounded by roadside fruit stands and
good garden plots. They will typically have a piece of bread and tea
(usually Joko tea, which is REALLY good!) for breakfast, mealie pop
(corn meal) and a coke for lunch, and then eat a supper of mealie pop
with dip and a side dish right before bed.

Happy Valentine's day!

Here's how my valentines day went: Woke up very early and helped Derek

with breakfast after my morning Bible reading and coffee. We then had

breakfast and Bible time with the whole family, which is always great.

We read in the book of Micah, sang a few songs, and prayed together.

The rest of the morning I hauled brush, cleaned up the pets' mess all

over the yard, made some more coffee, painted a piece of furniture,

helped package up and grade correspondence courses, did a load of

laundry by hand since the washer wasn't working, did some reading and

fell asleep only to be awakened by my cousin Joel using a marker to

draw a green mustache on my face after already writing "Joel says hi"

on my leg. Later we had some of the African guys over for supper and

volleyball which was lots of fun! My cousin Miah was my "valentine"

for the day, haha. I wrote a bunch of stupid poems and stuck them all

over his bunk bed. He in turn, told me that if he had an arrow, he

would stick it through my heart! Oh well, it was a busy but fun day.

I've been very busy in the kitchen the last few days. Lots of the

things I've made are first timers for me, but everyone seems to like

them - lots of seconds and no leftovers! This morning I did coffee

cake and chocolate-chip banana bread which are favorites of all. Some

other missionary guys from Botswana are staying with us tonight and we

just finished our midweek service here at the house with them. There's

nothing like the sound of natural harmony echoing throughout the

house!

A typical Sunday morning Service:

Cows can be heard loudly "mooing" in the background and herds of sheep

and goats graze just outside the windows. The tin roof crackles

noisily with the heat of the morning sun, which is also cooking us

with at least a hundred degree temperatures( if not more) beneath the

roof. I thank God for each small breeze that flows through the tiny

windows which only open at the very top because of the village crime

rate. The singing and preaching are invariably in the Sotho tongue,

which means I can only pick up one or two words occasionally. Sitting

on the hard, wooden bench, I copy out the Sotho verses written on the

walls to keep my mind from wondering or getting sleepy from the heat.

Dyanna, Bethany, and I sing a special( in English), then listen to the

preaching as best we can without knowing the language. After the

service I do my best to listen and converse with limited

Sotho/English/ hand motions with the people from the village.

The afternoon service is in town, and is this time in English. We meet

in a preschool building, so the "auditorium" is adorned with good

behavior charts, lunch menus, and many colorful posters teaching

shapes, types of vehicles, animals, ABC's, and numbers. They moved a

piano into the room, so for the first time we didn't sing acapella.

In the evening, I help my cousin Dyanna pack up over 400

correspondence courses to send out in the post tomorrow.

I took a walk down the dusty road( it hasn't rained for a LONG time)

with my Aunt Debbie and cousin Joel along with "the evil twins" - the

neighbor's tick/flea infested dogs, haha.

We then enjoy rusks and coffee or Joko tea

around the kitchen table with my Uncle and other cousins to finish off the day.

I have finally been relieved of a terrible headache that has been

pounding my head since five AM. I wouldn't have prayed for the grace

to get through the day as much if I hadn't had the headache though, so

it was really a blessing( however a painful one:)

Friday's Fun and Fellowship

Last Friday my Uncle took my two cousins, Bethany, a visitor from

Zambia named Baruch and I on a trip to the third largest canyon in the

world - Blyde River Canyon, as well as several other beautiful spots.

On the three hour drive there I watched as the magnificent mountains

whose tops were covered by the clouds alternating with deep valleys

went past the window of the kombi( van). Hundreds of villages with

hundreds more huts and shacks

housing hundreds more people nestled within the valleys and up the

mountain sides.

How many of these people have never heard of the Gospel and still

worship their ancestors? Sadly, the answer is most of them. It is

impossible for one missionary to go to each of these villages within

his lifetime, however, God wants to use the hand of the believer to

reach the heart of the lost, so that is why my Uncle and his family's

ministry is concentrated on handing out Gospel booklets wherever they

can. Many of these people who they meet in town will travel back to

their own villages, and will take the Gospel literature with them,

this is the way the Gospel is spread faster and farther. After doing

some sight seeing, we went to some very busy downtown areas including

a taxi rink, and handed out close to 600 Gospel booklets. It's still

difficult to get by with only a few Sotho words, but I'm learning.

Besides, it's probably better not to know some of the things the

African guys are calling out to you as you try to give them the

booklets.

Squatter Shacks

Feeding a female kudu at Sondela...
~~~~~

Yesterday my uncle took me and a few of my cousins to a squatter village on the outskirts of Polokwane to pass out Gospel booklets. It was the poorest place I have ever been to. Trash was all over the ground, and was heaped into piles beside the pathway. The "houses" were mostly made of pieces of tin held together by old rusty nails with beer bottle caps for washers to hold the nails in.

I went into one of the shacks which smelled strongly of sweaty bodies that hadn't been washed in a long time, as well as several other not so nice things. Garbage was packed into the dirt floor, and carboard was put up against the tin so that it wouldn't burn them when they touched it( the sun here is so brutal).

The people seem so hopeless, just stuck in this way of living. Only God can offer true hope. Not handouts from the government, or money people send from overseas.

Learning languages

Here in the Northern Province of South Africa, the people mostly

speak Afrikans if they're the whites of Dutch or English descent, and

the people from the villages speak Sotho. I only know a few words in

each so far, but I can't seem to remember which language is which,

haha.

We put together thousands of Gospel booklets, invitations to Bible

studies, and tracts; plus we just got another shipment of Chick tracts

and Bibles in several languages that had to be sorted and organized.

I cooked supper last night and one of the Africans named Alfred

joined us for the meal. He left shortly after feeling very sick with a

high fever. Today he came by again, and I asked if it was my cooking

that made him sick. He said he hadn't been feeling well before he

came over, so I was very relieved. I came over here to help the

Africans, not kill them with my cooking!

"Come and see..."

A few mornings ago as I was reading the Psalms, I came to Psalm 66:5,

"Come and see the works of God..." It's been amazing to see the many

different works of God here in South Africa - the animals here are one

of them. While staying in Sondela for the past week, I saw kudu,

nyala, warthogs, wildebeast, franklin, impala, guinea fowl, and

others. The kudu there were so tame that I could feed them by

hand - they are a beautiful animal!

Today is Saturday so it will be a busy cleaning day for us.

I just pulled a cinnamon coffee cake out of the oven so I've got to go

for now. Remember to take time today to see the works of God around

you wherever you are:)