FEED LESIDENG

We’ve had an incredible past few weeks. Memorable, to say the least.

About three weeks ago, we arranged for about 11 women from Lesideng to meet at the Lethabo Kids Club tent to continue working on a project they’d begun. While they were working, Aaron and I went out to The Fold Children’s Home SA to help do work. After we were done working, we came back in town to meet the women at the tent. Some of the ladies were clearly panicking and in the best English they could cried, “Jacob. Finger. Off.” Jacob is a 7 year old boy, whom we LOVE. Come to find out, they were trying to get a hold of us since 1pm. But since we were at The Fold, we were out of phone reception. Apparently some of the ladies’ kids had been playing in the tent, which is full of wooden and iron benches for the children, and Jacobs finger got caught underneath an iron leg. He quickly tried to pull it out, but instead it badly hurt his middle finger. Jacob was nowhere to be found. We drove to his house trying to find him and then to the local clinic. Standing in front of the building was Jacob and his dad, Amos. His hand was all bandaged up. Amos was very confused and seemed to not know what was going on. We went in to speak with a worker and she explained that Jacob needs to go to a hospital because they aren’t equipped to take care of it. She said he needs a special type of splint and care. They had been waiting since 1pm for an ambulance to drive them to the Nylstroom hospital, about an hour away. It was now 5pm. We decided to bring them since they were going to need a ride home anyway. We were extremely nervous to drive at night, people here try to avoid it at all costs. The roads are very bad, dark, and narrow, many drive without licenses, people excessively pass while there’s oncoming traffic, and Kudu tend to jump in the road. Nervous is actually an understatement. But away we went. Praying. I can’t explain to you how frightening this hospital is. The x-ray filing system is a cardboard box on the floor next to the garbage bin cardboard box. The medical files were in open-sided folder which were all thrown into a box hanging on the wall, papers falling out of files and into others – papers all mixed together. It was now about 6:30pm and no doctor was on the location. Amos tried to get Jacob checked in but the previous on duty receptionist pulled out all of the plugs on the computer to shut it down, instead of just pressing the button. So the computers weren’t working, thus we couldn’t get checked in. Finally a nice man came to help us and brought Jacob in the emergency facility. Aaron and I explained what happened. Jacob was quietly sitting on the hospital bed as the man gently unravelled the bandage. (As you read on, try to envision this situation, our facial expressions, our conversation.) Aaron and I are standing on both sides of Jacob. The man looks at his finger and raises his eyebrows with a gagging look. “Eesh. Wow. That’s bad. Not good. Eesh,” is his response. “Yah, we’re going to have to chop that off. Wow.” In utter confusion, Aaron and I looked at each other. Blank faces. And then looked at him. “Excuse me? Pardon?” OUR eyebrows were now raised. “Chop? What do you mean chop?” we asked. “Yah, we’re just going to have to amputate his finger. No big deal. We’ll just cut off below the first knuckle, not a problem,” he replied. For moment Aaron and I looked at each other again and were dumbfounded. D.U.MB.F.O.U.N.D.E.D. “You mean like amputate? You’re saying you want to chop his finger off? You mean like OFF-off? Like his finger is no longer there? His hands here and his finger is here? As we’re both asking these redundant questions in a slight tone of panic, Aaron’s actioning with his hands, chopping a finger off, trying to also non-verbally ask the medical worker if amputate is really what he meant. The man very matter of factly said, “It’s no big deal. The kid knows and is fine with it. See?” We all look down at Jacob, who is sitting frozen staring straight ahead, expressionless. “DO NOT CHOP OFF HIS FINGER!” We repeatedly stated. We left Jacob behind the curtain while Aaron went to see how the computers were coming and I made a phone call. I called our good friend Joy, who in no way has any authority on medical care, but she works at a facility where doctors work, so I suppose I’ve endowed her with medical knowledge simply by her proximity to doctors. I explained to her what happened and that his finger was badly severed, you could essentially slide the end third of his finger clear off his bone. I explained, “They want to chop it off. Um. We don’t DO that in America. We sew it up. What do we do?” She then made some calls and called me back to tell me to not let them amputate. We stressed this to the doctor, once he arrived at the hospital. Aaron had gone to the waiting area while I stayed with Jacob. After a while I went to check on Aaron. I walked around the halls, checked the rooms, and walked outside trying to find him. Nowhere to be found. I was incredibly frustrated. As I turned around in the hallway and looked up, straight ahead was Aaron behind the Plexiglas in the receptionist office, sitting at the computer vigorously waving at me with an exaggerated smile. The office staff was all standing behind him watching, while he fixed the computer system so that people could be checked into the hospital – this was an hour after being there. I stood there with a grin (and several sarcastic jokes in my head). We were just happy that Jacob went home with all five fingers on his hand (side note: He already has 2 toes amputated.) Just before we were leaving, Aaron told me that if he ever gets hurt and there is a 20% chance that he will die if he does not go to this hospital, chance it and drive the 3 hours to Johannesburg to a proper hospital. And I know he means it.

We’ve been keeping extremely busy with the sponsored families. We have people helping at The Fold, Maglad Daycare, and The Bushveld Mission to earn their sponsorship. We also have several of the women doing different skills/craft projects, one of which is making small rugs out of scrap fabric and maize meal bags (large plastic bags that are woven like burlap). They mixed fabric, colors, and textures to create decorative rugs for their homes. They’ve been working on these for about a week and just finished. They were so excited. Our next task is for them to learn basic basket weaving. I met a man in Lesideng from Mozambique that is going to come and teach them.

Stu’s funeral was absolutely beautiful. It was purposely delayed until Marilyn was out of the hospital and could attend. The family decided to have him buried at St. Johns, in the small graveyard beside the thatch roof church. A few family members and friends spoke, one of which was Aaron. He did a great job – it was moving. After the service, we all quietly walked outside to the graveyard as a group of Africans sang songs in Sotho. The casket was carefully lowered into the ground followed by the sons and grandson taking turns to shovel dirt into the hole. The tradition here is then for the close friends and family (male) to line up to take turns to bury their loved one. Aaron literally helped bury our friend. We all stood there watching man after man passing the shovel, listening to the metal and dirt scrape against each other and then pound on the hollow wood, all while the Africans sang in the background. The sights and sounds were poetic. Beautiful.

We met a hitchhiker. A professional hitchhiker with elephant pants (her attire when I met her – tiny elephants all over her pants). Sonja Kruse. She is a 35 year old, red-headed native South African who had a dream to hitchhike across the country, staying with whoever would open their homes, and then write about it. She is journaling her experience in order to write a book, a love letter, to her country, showing people that there is love here. Love across religions, across ethnicities, across social classes, across ways of thought. She has slept in shantytowns with the rats, in racist communities/households, with Christians, Muslims, Atheists, an in millionaires homes to name a few. One of the places that took her in was The Fold, which is where we met her. I got to sit down with her and discuss her journey. Intriguing to say the least. She had been on the road for over 200 days and plans to do it for a year. I offered for her to watch the World Cup opening ceremonies with us and some friends, which she accepted and stayed in our home that night. We were the 104 or 105 family she’s stayed with. What an adventure! She was a delight!

I celebrated my 26^th birthday! It was a fantastic day – week really. Our friend Xan asked us if we could help transport his soccer team to a lodge to go on a safari and horseback safari for two afternoons. It was amazing. We got to ride up to giraffes and rhinos and antelope. We all then had kudu for dinner and watched a good but heartbreaking Bafana Bafana soccer game. To end the night, the team sang me a birthday song in Sotho wishing me to live as old as an elephant! A song I may just bring back to the states.  To top the week off, Xan got us and the entire soccer team free tickets to a World Cup game! We just had to help with transport again. Italy vs. Slovakia. It was too cool!

We’re looking forward to this coming week. It’s the last week of the World Cup and we’re having a big party for the kids in Lesideng. Can’t wait!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Marilyn is doing much better now. She has been out of the hospital for about 2 weeks and is staying at her daughter and son-in-law’s house in Johannesburg. She is still pretty banged up, and has some difficulty with pain in her sides and chest from all of the broken bones, but she is getting better every day. Stu’s funeral is scheduled for Saturday June 12^th, so please keep all of us, especially the family, in your prayers that day. It’s going to be a tough one.

After the accident, the Cook family asked me and Jerusha to stay on Marilyn and Stu’s farm to look after everything while Marilyn is recovering. They live in a beautiful thatched roof house about a half hour out of town that was designed Stu. Staying there brought us comfort when we needed it, but was also pretty tough at first. Being around all of Stu and Marilyn’s belongings, especially sitting in Stu’s chair at his desk, took a little getting used to, but Jerusha and I are thankful that we could help the family out during a very difficult time.

With Marilyn being gone, that left Jerusha and I to take over Lethabo Kids Club (soup kitchen) and the women’s Bible study. Each week for the last month, we have organized all of the logistics from who is going to help make 95 loaves of sandwiches, to who is going to interpret the message that Jerusha gives at the tent into Sotho. Thankfully, a few people who are close to Marilyn have been willing to jump in and help us. We hold the first two feedings on Wednesday mornings, then, between the second and third feedings, Jerusha holds the women’s Bible study. This gives me just enough time to get to the butchery and pick up any extra milk that we need for the last soup kitchen. Kids get out of school in Lesideng at about 2:00, so we hold the last soup kitchen at 2:30. The tent is usually packed, and the sound of the children singing songs to Jesus is deafening. By time the insanity is done, we have just enough time to go home, shower, relax for about a half hour, and then head to our Wednesday night Bible study. South Africa may be a very slow paced country, but Jerusha and I have brought a little fast paced America here!

We have also teamed up with a Chicago based organization called Lesideng Soup Kitchen Inc. It was through this organization that we learned of Lesideng. LSK Inc. has been sending funds to Lesideng for years, and have decided to revamp the way the organization is run. They approached us, asking if we would be willing to help them restructure so that they can find ways to encourage the people of the community to become more self-reliant. We have taken over the South African side of the organization entirely, and are now looking for the best way for them to move forward.

The main aspect of LSK Inc. that we have focused on is the Families in Need (FIN) program. Previously, the program was set up in a way that did not require any effort on the part of the families to receive their money. This was not sustainable, nor did it promote industriousness around the community. Jerusha and I have been finding work for the people to do as a way of earning what they receive. We have several men who have earned their money by working at a children’s home, and Jerusha has taken on finding work for many of the women. So far, there are 10 women who are sewing, doing beadwork, making rugs, and other craftwork to earn the money that they receive. Last week, we were at one women’s house whose husband told us that she wants to continue doing this work for as long as she can. She used to sit at her house and do nothing all day, now she has something to look forward to in the morning. It has been great to see the change in attitudes, as well as families being able to support themselves with money that they have earned.

We have been very busy over the past month, and are very grateful for the opportunities that are now in front of us. During our down time, we have made friends with our neighbors, Xan and Joy. We are like four peas in a pod! I don’t know how many peas come in a pod, but if there are four, that’s us! We have spent many hours at their house eating dinner, watching TV, and laughing. They are great, and have become friends that we truly cherish. We already have plans to celebrate all of the major holidays together, including Thanksgiving, which isn’t even a South African holiday!

Last Friday, we brought four boys from Lesideng to the hostel where Xan’s soccer team lives for a fun night. We did this because Xan is mentoring his team to be Godly, respectful men, and we wanted the boys to see what real men should be like. It is not uncommon for fathers in this area to either be completely absent, or alcoholics and abusive toward their families. Boys from the township need to see that there are men from Lesideng that are worth admiring, and the soccer team is the epitome of that. Everyone had a great time. Our four young friends cooked a meal with Jerusha for everyone. They were hilarious! One boy, Philip, was chopping onions for about 20 minutes and was crying so bad he had to leave the room every 30 seconds. He insisted on finishing the job though because it was his mission! I think they were just trying to impress the team and show them that they are men too. It was awesome to see the way the boys looked up to them. It was better when they all told us that they wanted to do it again because they really like Xan’s team.

It is very apparent to us that God has brought us here, and we are so thankful to everyone who has supported us throughout the last 7 months. We could not be here without all of you!

Aaron

We found out early last week that the third passenger in the white truck also died.  Marilyn is the only survivor of the 5 people involved in the accident.

Marilyn is healing.  Late last week she was moved from ICU to the High Care Facility.  Since then she has been moved to the standard care.  We got to visit her in Johannesburg this past weekend, after Stu’s Memorial.  She was beautiful, as always, and in good spirits.  The doctors discovered recently that she also broke her sternum, in addition to the 11 ribs on one side and 9 ribs on the other.  Though she is getting better, it seems as though the doctors have been continually finding more that has been injured.  The hospital she was originally brought to, only 5 ribs were thought to have been broken.  Doctors at another hospital then found more ribs had broke.  And later found that her lungs had been punctured.  And so on.  Nevertheless, she’s improving!  Thank you so much for your prayers.  We, Marilyn, and the family are very grateful.  Thank you.

Stu’s Funeral is planned for June 12. We really miss him.

To donate to Marilyn’s hospital bills, please visit the Cooks website: www.mission2sa.org for details and updates on her condition.

Again, thank you for supporting us and praying for us.  We have needed all of it!

Talk to you soon.

Yesterday Dr. Stu Cook left this earth to be with our Lord. He passed in the arms of his wife. His best friend of 55 years. The love of his life.

The Cooks were with us at our house and we all left to go to Bible Study. We were following behind them in our truck on a country road, just past sunset. An oncoming truck didn’t have headlights on and was in our lane. Stu and Marilyn crashed head on with the truck. The truck contained 3 black African men. Two died, and one is in critical condition with severe head and body injuries. Marilyn was eventually taken to two hospitals, in which Paul, Micky, Simon, Aaron and I accompanied until her family arrived from Johannesburg. Marilyn was then transferred to a third hospital to get proper care. She is in stable condition but is in much pain with 11 broken ribs on one side and several on the other, one pierced lung and one collapsed lung, and many bruises and lacerations.

Stu and Marilyn’s children asked Aaron and I to stay at their farm for a few days to oversee the property and workers. I struggle to write this letter to you on our computer at Stu’s desk, in which I’m honored.

The very first time Aaron and I met Stu Cook, we loved and admired him. That day we laughed and told him, “Whether you like it or not, you’re going to be our mentor.”

And he became so much more.

Aaron and I had some unexpected turns and rough times since our time here in South Africa. Stu and Marilyn immediately scooped us up and took us under their wing. They provided an abundance of prayer, fellowship, teaching, ministering, hospitality, and laughs. The blessing they have been to us is indescribable.

Several weeks ago, Stu went to Aaron and told him, “May 2, you’re preaching.” And that was that. Though Stu didn’t know this, but it is one of Aaron’s life goals to be a good preacher. And this past Sunday, he preached his very first sermon. It was on wisdom. Something we hope to attain even a fraction of what Stu had. It was the last sermon Stu heard in church, which is fitting because it was out of admiration of Stu’s wisdom, that Aaron decided to preach on that topic. Aaron is forever grateful.

Stu was follower of Christ. He was a husband and a father. A preacher. A missionary. A friend. A scholar. A teacher. A cowboy. In just about any conversation or time spent with Stu, you knew with certainty he was all of these. He loved the Lord and all of the stories and mysteries the Bible teaches. With Stu, everything came back to God. Everything. I have a list I keep in my Bible, that I continually would add to, of Biblical subjects I wanted Stu to teach us about. He taught us with such knowledge and wisdom in great humility. Stu gave us a yearning to know everything we could about the Bible. The history. The people. The culture. The scriptures. He naturally educated people and made people think. He truly was someone that you became smarter and wiser simply by being in his company. Whether he spoke about why the resurrection is a real event, or his early ministry in Johannesburg, or his adoring wife, or growing up in Wyoming, there was always something to learn from Stu. And it all circled back to God.

Please pray for Stu’s wife Marilyn. She is a wonderfully strong woman who LOVES the Lord. Please pray for their family as well as the community. Stu’s impact on people’s lives is immeasurable, and the grieving is far reaching. Also pray for the families of the others that passed and for the recovery of the man in critical condition.

We had once said to Stu and Marilyn that we are a long way from our parents, and told them that they’re our “African Parents.” God left us in good hands in Africa.

We continue to weep.

Stu, we love you very, very much. We wish our parents could have finally met you.

You are our mentor, our friend, our African father.

It has been a great past few weeks! The people we’ve been meeting, the relationships we’re developing, and the work we’ve become involved in have all been such a blessing. And it has made culture shock so much more bearable! We were told before we came to South Africa that there are typical stages people go through when assimilating into another part of the world. The first 6 months, you’re basically in a honeymoon stage. Everything is wonderfully different, the food, the language, the traditions. Then there’s the next 6 months. And everything is WRETCHEDLY different, the food, the language, the traditions! You just want a Whopper, direct word for word translation, and some stinkin’ bunny shaped chocolates for Easter! But after that second stage, you’re adjusted. You accept your environment. Well I think we hit the second stage. The most insignificant things are making us become unhinged. And it doesn’t help that we compare everything, whether verbally or cognitively, to America. Thankfully, when I have my “AFRICA!!!!” moments, wanting to pull my hair out, Aaron calms the storm. And vice versa. We are thoroughly learning the meaning of “This is Africa.” Yet, even with the daily occurrences that are frustrating, it wouldn’t be Africa without them. Slamming on the brakes because donkeys or chickens cross the road, waiting for someone that was suppose to meet you at 6pm and they arrive at 8pm, driving 3 hours to find that the vehicle registration department is on strike. The grocery store is on strike. The taxi drivers are on strike. Come to find out, strikes are big here. As a matter of fact, we didn’t update our website for a few weeks because we were on strike. (Kidding, if you didn’t catch that. Please don’t stop donating. Hahaha!) All this to say, we are adjusting. Still. We have extraordinary friends and mentors showing us the way. We are learning to laugh and enjoy the other part of our world.

Before our friend, Michael, left to head back to the states, he surprised me with my very own flannel graph set. For those who attended Sunday school when you were kids, this was the little felt figures and backgrounds to tell Bible stories. I loved those. Over four hundred pieces with backgrounds and a book to teach the Bible to children. I was thrilled! Aaron and I have been having sleepovers on weekends with kids. They take a bubble bath, Aaron gives them a hair cut, we cook dinner and bake cookies, play games, AND I get to use my flannel graph set to teach them! It has been a fantastic tool. I also got to use my new set at the Lethabo Kids Club (previously known as the Lesideng Soup Kitchen) when I’ve done the messages this past month. Marilyn is overseeing the older youth of Lethabo plant trees and put up a volleyball net for the children to play on. This will be a fun addition to the property – and Aaron and I are excited to teach and play with the kids.

A couple weeks ago, Marilyn was out of town and had me lead the ladies Bible Study for the women of Lesideng. It was nice to teach in an intimate group. I spoke on fellowship. We touched on the end of Acts 2, the beginning of the first church. The people prayed together daily, broke bread, and shared so that no one was in need. Hebrews 13:16 “And do not forget to do good and share with others for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” As Philippians 2:2-3 states for believers to be “like-minded,” “being one in spirit and purpose,” and act in “humility, consider others better than yourselves.” These scriptures will certainly be a life long intention, that I desire ceaselessly. Life is easier having Christian fellowship. Serving God is better having fellowship. Even Christ had twelve.

We attended a 5 day seminar that our friend and mentor Dr. Stu Cook lectures. The seminar is teaching people how to think and bringing to light that HOW we think is rooted in our worldview. Whether Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, Christian, etc. one’s thinking is a product of their belief system. This was especially interesting to me and Aaron being here in Africa. You don’t have to be here for long to realize that the culture is not merely the veneer, but it is what the people’s daily understandings, reasonings, choices are. For example, you might think the student failed because he didn’t study and work hard. The traditional African more commonly would believe the student failed because someone put a curse on the student. We have seen over and over incidences that seem bizarre to us, but are commonplace ideas to their culture. And I’m not talking about eating mopani worms (though I do think that is deranged). We, from a Christian perspective, believe God told man to take control of his environment, as it states in Genesis. Cause and effect. The traditional African perspective is NOT cause and effect. It’s spirits. Curses. Ancestors. Our ways of thinking are dissimilar, to the extreme. This not only affects how we live together, but how Christ is presented to the people. This brings us back to culture shock. Not to plug the book, but I’m going to slyly state the book’s name. Universe Lost by Dr. Stuart D. Cook. This is one book of a 3 part series.

We’ve been volunteering to help our friends Micky and Paul Prince out at their property. They are opening a children’s home called The Fold SA. They plan to begin having about 6 children with house parents, creating a family unit. This way the children will be brought up in an intimate family relationship so that even when they are grown, they have people to call their parents. They got the property last year and were waiting for 9 months for the deed to come in so that they could finally start building and renovating. A few weeks ago, the deed finally came in! It has been an exciting time for them as they’ve been patiently waiting to be able to move forward for so long. Aaron was up in the ceiling installing wood flooring, while I got to be the chopper! Paul asked if I’d work the chop saw as they installed. I confidently responded, “Suuurrre, I’ll do the chop saw!” I was terrified. And I mean terrified. Aaron was originally going to have me do the ceiling/attic flooring with him. As I was climbing up there, I completely chickened out. I don’t mind heights so much as long as I’m securely buckled, fastened, tied and knotted in. But I wasn’t. I was standing on a 2 inch diameter scaffolding pole. So I got down. And that’s when Paul asked. I thought, “I can’t say ‘no’ to this too. I’ll figure it out.” But then Craig Nelson entered my brain. Chopped his thumb off. But hey, it was reattached and he now has 80% or so mobility in his hand. 80% mobility? Good enough for me. Away I went. I now realize, I like chopping wood. I think that works well, since Aaron likes setting things on fire. My little pyro. Bonfire in Africa!

Check out our new video of us eating our Mopani worms. You’ll get a kick out of it!

Watch out motorists of South Africa, I’m on the road again! Seven weeks after our accident, the truck is fixed. It was a nice 28^th birthday present for me to finally get it back.

A couple weeks before we left for Johannesburg we met Michael Calamia, the head of a Non-profit called A World Aware SA. I can’t say enough about this man and his organization. His goal is to empower people here to be self-sustainable; an objective that Jerusha and I really identify with. We have spent many hours discussing our ministries with him, and not just because he brought over Starbucks from the States . Michael has recruited us to participate in some of the projects that his organization is working on. One of which is a youth empowerment camping weekend. There is going to be a special curriculum that Jerusha and I need to learn so that we can help teach the kids. We are excited about the event and know it will be a great and blessed time.

It was also through Michael that we reunited with Gladys and Peter, a couple from Lesideng who run a creche (daycare) in the township. We met them two years ago when we visited, and are now developing a relationship with them. I believe they should be the poster children of Lesideng. Their story in a nutshell is this: Gladys could see pregnant young teenage girls walking to school each morning from her window. She knew that when the babies were born the girls would drop out of school, and they would continue to have more babies. By her own initiative, she started a daycare for the children of these young mothers. Slowly but surely her creche has grown, and she and Peter recently received their non-profit status. They now have the opportunity to build a new creche near their house to accommodate all of the children that they take care of! It is important to keep in mind that Gladys and Peter are from Lesideng, and were in the same situation as everyone else. They had nothing, then they had a vision. To say they are an inspiration is a gross understatement.

Jerusha led the soup kitchen again this past week. Some hunters donated a wildebeest to Marilyn and Stu for this week, so they had it made into sausages for the kids. I’m sure you can imagine the excitement when the kids find out that instead of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they are going to get a brat and bun! Jerusha said the singing in the tent was deafening. I wish you could hear the joy and excitement these children have on Wednesdays at the tent. It is fantastic! As of a couple weeks ago the Lesideng Soup Kitchen has been renamed. It is now called Lethabo Kids Club. Lethabo means happiness. Some of the children from Lesideng came up with the name.

Today we went to a potluck that A World Aware SA hosted. We were able to sit down with many of the partners the organization works with, including Stu and Marilyn, and Gladys and Peter. It was a great time of fellowship, and ALMOST everyone brought a good dish to pass. See, when I met Peter, he told me how much he loves Mopani worms. He explained that I would too if I had them prepared the way he does ‘em. I told him I was up for trying them, and he said he’d make them for the potluck. Well, he did. Mopani worm casserole… a delicacy. He called my bluff. It was nasty looking! These worms are about 2-3 inches long, and resemble a caterpillar. I choked one down. Then, to my amazement, Jerusha walked over with one on her plate! Somewhere in the world pigs were flying, I know it!!! This was a priceless moment. She started to cry a little bit before she put it in her mouth as if someone was forcing her to eat it, laughing the whole time, stabbed into it with her fork… looked at it closely… and popped it in! The look of terror was classic! (And she only dry heaved three times before swallowing it.) Needless to say, she did not finish her meal. However, we are both able to say “We ate Mopani worms. NOW we are African!”

Our Mopani worm casserole (Click to enlarge)

We’re still walkin’.  Our bakkie has been in the shop for almost four weeks now and is still not done. I called them last week and they said they ordered the parts, but they received the wrong ones.  Needless to say, I’m losing my patience.  Still being nice, but losing my patience.

Despite our vehicle-less situation, we are still getting around.  We walk everywhere we need to go, and quickly learned the African sun is not like the one in Chicago.  Conveniently, one of the jobs that we’ve taken on is right next door to our house.  Every Tuesday and Thursday we go help our friend Xander’s soccer team with their school work.  Xander has developed a ministry with a high school boys soccer team.  He coaches them as well as disciples them to be men of God, all of whom he has taken into his old guest house to live with him and his wife Joy.  So on top of being newly married, Xan and Joy have 16 guys that they take care of.   It has been a lot of fun getting to know Xander and the team.  They are great guys who are truly the bright future of Lesideng.

We have become much more involved with the soup kitchen now as well.  Every Tuesday night we pick up 15 loaves of bread, a huge tin of jam, and a bucket of peanut butter and make sandwiches to hand out the next day.  This is only a small portion of the sandwiches; the work is divided among several volunteers, on of which is Xan’s soccer team.  It is great to see all the kids eating the sandwiches the next day.  Definitely worth it.

Two weeks ago I had one of the proudest moments to date.  I was able to watch Jerusha lead the soup kitchen, teaching hundreds and hundreds of kids about Jesus.  She taught all 3 sessions.  She was fantastic! Marilyn had asked us if we would be willing to lead the Bible lesson about Jesus in the temple as a boy.  We both said yes, but I ended up convincing Jerusha to do it alone because she has a gift for teaching kids.  She was so nervous, but did an excellent job.  (And was very cute up in front of all those kids.)  It was great to see her up there doing something she loves.

We’ve also taken over the young kids Bible study that Marilyn and Stu run on Saturdays.  One of the things we love about Marilyn and Stu is that they encourage us to be hands on and take leadership.  They find things that we would be good at, and then ask us if we would like to do them.  This past Saturday was the first time we taught the Bible study, and we picked up where Marilyn left off.  Each week Marilyn has been discussing the different names of Jesus.  This week we continued with that theme and spoke about Jesus being “The Bread of Life”.  Just as we need bread/food to live on earth, we need Christ to live in heaven. Jerusha and I showed the kids scripture as well as discussed communion according to Jesus in Mark 14:22-25 and Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 .

Please remember to keep us, as well as Lesideng as a whole in your prayers.  Although we are far away, prayer is still the most important thing to us.  At times we are experiencing great difficulty in our circumstances and need as much support as we can get.  Thank you for keeping up to date with us.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forever.

Aaron

All of the kids are still in school! Each morning we’d pick them up at 7am, bring them to our house, have them get dressed in proper uniform, and take them to school. We then pick them up, bring them back to our house where we tutor those who have homework. Three things we are wanting to teach them everyday about being students. Work the hardest. Dress the nicest. Be the kindest. (Dressing the nicest is in regard to a clean, proper uniform everyday, otherwise they can be sent home and eventually kicked out of school.) The transportation is all temporary, just until they get adjusted to being in school again. They will then dress themselves and walk to and from school. Just over a week ago we had one crazy morning. All of the kids were getting dressed. Lucky, the most muscular 6 year old you’ll ever see – he’s a bruiser, put on his uniform and then realized that he lost one of his socks. Naturally, he steals his older brother’s. After seeing this and a small fight break out, I made Lucky give the sock back. About 2 minutes later, Aaron and I look over to the corner and Lucky, also called Madunga, is stripped down to his underwear. Everyone was dressed and ready to leave. Repeatedly we asked him to put the uniform back on. We then repeatedly told him to put it back on. Nothing. One fact about Lucky is that he will scream and cry bloody murder if he doesn’t get what he wants. And he did. All of the other boys surrounded him with Aaron to help put the uniform on him. He was kicking and screaming and whaling and biting and swinging. The whole situation was actually quite hilarious, we all had to stop ourselves from wanting to giggle, except Lucky of course. The kids banded together, picked him up and put him in the back of the bakkie. We were driving down the road to school and realized we are two white people with a kid screaming and crying in the back of the truck, in a country that had apartheid. We closed all of the windows. The kids in the back were loving it – they were holding Lucky down so that he wouldn’t take his clothes off again. We got to the school gate and immediately the guard saw what was going on and came to help get him out of the truck. Still kicking, crying, screaming, biting, and swinging. A couple teachers came over laughing saying, “We’ve seen this many times before!” Aaron laughed and told them the story about this all being over a missing sock. He went on to say that he promised the principle that he would personally see to it that the kids got to school everyday, even kicking and screaming. As we’re talking with the teachers, Madunga is at all of our feet continuing on with his tantrum. I even laugh now as I type this because it was so ridiculous, yet funny, and at the same time embarrassing because we didn’t want anyone to think we were beating the kid. As he was continuing on, he swung his arms so hard that he accidentally hit himself in the face and knocked out one of his baby teeth! He stopped for a moment to spit it out along with all of the blood. We all looked at each other with a grin, followed by a laugh. The teachers thanked us for getting him there and they’d make sure he went to class. We walked away laughing, thinking “good luck.” At 1:30pm we went to pick up the kids. Madunga came skipping out, smiling ear to ear, went to my side of the car, opened the door and sits on my lap. Unreal.

Aaron and I go and check on Josephine and Amos everyday. They are the family Aaron spoke about in the previous post. They are seemingly doing better. We have seen Josephine more tender with the kids. She washes the kids’ uniforms for school. And we regularly see her feeding the kids, as opposed to before when she’d commonly let the kids go hungry so she could sell the food for alcohol. Amos is really trying to take charge of the family and to lovingly discipline. We’ve been asking the kids if they like being at home and they say “yes,” whereas a month ago they did not, and their parents were drunk at any given time of the day. Aaron smells their breath everyday for alcohol, brave, brave man. We stop in once, many times twice a day, at different times so it will be harder for them to sneak alcohol. Not to say all is fixed, but progress is there. Last week, Aaron went to check on them and their oldest son, Wilson, one our kids, came screaming from the house with a chef’s knife. He was high. He was first threatening to hang himself with wire he found, but then took the knife and held it to his chest. Then he extended his arm with the knife over his head. Aaron genuinely thought he was about to watch this boy kill himself. At this point, all of the neighbors and people in the street are gathered around shouting and Aaron was yelling at them to quiet down, to not scare Wilson. He got Wilson to put down the knife. Amos asked him to take him since he’s done this before and he then starts going after the younger siblings. Aaron brought him to our house to figure out what to do, and later brought him to his grandfather’s. All we could do was pray. Quite a scary night. Wilson has since gotten wire out and hung it up in the tree telling his parents he was going to hang himself. He did not, however, this is a very real thing in Lesideng. Many children hang themselves. We have developed a genuine care and love for them and their family. We are hopeful and continue to pray for them.

A few weeks ago LSK, Inc. (American organization that helps Lesideng and was pivotal in getting us connected with the village) asked for some micro-loan ideas. Aaron and I proposed a couple, and we recently found out that the board approved them. Aaron is going to teach woodworking projects (basic furniture) and I will teach quilting (bed sets). The products made will be sold in town and those surrounding. This is in effort to teach people how to make their own living, and in turn they will teach others, to promote give what has been given and to further sustainability. We want to encourage the people to set goals and to educate them on money management. We are very excited and nervous as this is new territory for the both of us. There is much to sort out and learn as we go, but we are looking forward to it!

We moved into our permanent South African housing! We are very excited. A place to hang pictures and call ours. It is so nice to have place to call home and know that we won’t be moving from it anytime soon. Terri & Hamish have kindly loaned us dishes, linens, etc, to make our house feel like home. Up to this point, we were still somewhat living out of our suitcases because our housing has all been temporary. It is one of 12 house units that are surrounded by a brick wall with electric fencing, so no more kids knocking on our bedroom window at 5am! The kids have come over a few times already and we’ve had to stress to them to only push button number 9 on the intercom. NO OTHER BUTTON! Otherwise every other unit’s phone is going to be ringing. Wish us luck with that.

We started working at the Lesideng Soup Kitchen a few weeks ago. We love it! Every Tuesday Aaron and I make about 150 PB&J sandwiches (this is only a portion; there are other volunteers). We’re up to our elbows, literally, in PB and jam. Each Wednesday, there are 3 different Soup Kitchen sessions throughout the day. Hundreds and hundreds of kids come to hear a Bible message, sing songs, and get a sandwich with milk. We love to hear their singing, that’s our favorite part. A tent full of kids singing to God. And LOUDLY singing. This week we are doing the message!

About 3 weeks ago we got to know another missionary couple from the states, Stu and Marilyn Cook. We had only briefly met them earlier. They have been here since 1966 serving Christ and the people of South Africa. They have been an absolute blessing and we quickly loved them! Years ago they were in ministry in the US, where they pastored and started churches. Stu has a bachelors in theology, masters in counseling, and doctorate in anthropology. Marilyn heads up the Soup Kitchen and they are both heavily involved in ministry in the community. We recently got involved with their Bible studies they hold on Saturdays and Tuesdays for people in Lesideng. Two weeks ago Marilyn invited us to attend their Wednesday night cell group which Stu leads. He has a gift for teaching, to say the least. It said a lot when his son-in-law, Richard, told Aaron that we’d be wise to learn as much as we can from him. We all have a pass and share dinner beforehand and then study God’s word. Stu and Marilyn are such warm, loving people that have been a great encouragement to us!

Last week we went to Johannesburg to check for more information and books for the micro-loans. The day we were leaving, we drove into an uncovered sewer hole. A very large one. It did quite a bit of damage to our bakkie, we hit on the front passenger side . Oil was everywhere, the wheel axel broke, bottom of the car crunched, and my door won’t open. About two years back, the price of steel went up and ever since people steal the sewer grates for money. Apparently this is common to happen to vehicles. Thankfully we were staying with friends, Cathy and Richard (Stu & Marilyn’s daughter and son-in-law), that came to help us and we stayed a couple more days with them. It has been a week since the accident and we are being told it will take AT LEAST another week for an assessor to even look at it. THEN it can get fixed. All to say, we are out of a car for a while. We have been walking everywhere, which I actually enjoy. However, it is making working difficult. The kids are going to start walking to our house to be tutored, which is helpful because it will aid in their school transportation independency.

We are finding new areas to work and help in unexpected places, and we are excited. Between the school/tutoring, the Soup Kitchen and Bible studies with Stu & Marilyn, and now LSK, Inc. with the micro-loans. The opportunities that have been coming to us to serve have been wonderful! And the friends we’ve made, have helped us feel like part of the community.

Please continue to pray for our kids that they remain in school and understand its importance.  Pray for Wilson.  He has become addicted to sniffing glue and is struggling with life right now.  He is a great and smart kid whom we very much love.  Pray for his parents, Josephine and Amos, that they continue to make better decisions and learn to be better parents. Also please pray for us with making wise decisions regarding the micro-loans, as far as choosing the people, executing the plan, and selling the product.  This is very new to us, and we want to do whatever we can to help it succeed.

Happy 29th Anniversary Mom & Dad (yesterday)!

Love to you,

Jerusha