The Afternoon of Life

Ngokuba uNkulunkulu walithanda iswe kangaka, waze wanikela ngeNdodana yakhe ezelwe yodwa ukuba yilowo nalowo okholwa yiyo angabhubhi, kodwa abe nokuphila okauphakade. Ngokukajohane I’m hoping the above looks as foreign to you as it does to me.   I’m sure if I added “3:16” after the last word, most of my friends would know immediately what it says.   In the beautiful, rich, deep language of the Zulu people, you are reading “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might have everlasting life.”   John 3:16 The language is one of the first barriers that an American missionary would find if they came to South Africa to work with the Zulu people.   Cultural differences abound.   The foods we eat are different.   The clothes we wear are similar.   The homes we live in are very different.   Attitudes towards children are different.   But God’s love for the Zulus is the same ...

The Saturday started like a pretty normal Saturday.   We slept late…and I mean late.   I got up and dressed and cleaned up my makeup bag (that’s not very normal but it needed to be done).   I finally roused and moved into the living room around noon … a bowl of Rice Krispies (with ants … sigh … also something I don’t normally do).   Caught up on e-mails and Facebook.   Was resting in the bedroom and reading my Nook (on my Droid).   And then the day changed.   The knocking at the door indicated that Julian had arrived (we’d thought we were going to have to “fetch” him but he came straight to the apartment). How good to see Julian again…smiling…eyes sparkling…the same good looking young man I remembered.   I love watching him around Marcie because he’s so attentive to her needs and treats her with such respect.   They all dined on small portions of leftover Dorito casserole from last night and then we all loaded up and headed to the be...

It’s a done deal…I’ve met the students and I’m now “very committed” to the work ahead.   There’s no turning back.   And so I will press on to the high calling from God (smile). What a beautiful group of young adults.   There are only sixteen students this semester.   I have eight of them in my Worship and Music Basics class.   These are the second and third year students (in a three-year degree program at Durban Bible College).   I have the eight first-year students for my Music Fundamentals course.   And then I get all sixteen students for choir! I had only seven students for my first class…but the missing student came by my office today to get the materials he missed yesterday.   The most difficult part of this teaching assignment will be learning the names of my students.   They have names that start with or include letter combinations that make sounds we don’t have in American names.   One of the sounds puts the tongue beh...

Here’s what I’ve learned about South Africa in ten days: Ø   They don’t drive on the “wrong” side of the road…they drive on the “other’ side of the road. Ø   “Siyabonga” (see-you-bone-ga) is Zulu and Danke (dawn-key) is Afrikaan for “thank you”. Ø   Hadedah birds are still both charming and annoying, especially annoying in numbers. Ø   Samoosa’s are delicious. Ø   Americans should have “tea time”. Ø   A wind storm sounds scary in America and in South Africa! Ø   Poinsettias grow on trees. Ø   Hymns and praise songs are just as pretty here as at home. Ø   God is in South Africa…He’s not a respecter of persons. Ø   The South Africans and Indians of South Africa are VERY friendly people. Ø   Stray monkeys are just plain adorable…sort of like kittens and puppies. Ø   The monkeys are NOT considered cute here…they are a nuisance.   They will enter your home and steal your food or anythin...

Durban is proving to be a land of contrasts for me again.   Today I had an encounter that has really got my mind reeling.   We visited A Thousand Hills, a resort area were Zulu tribe members re-enact their original lives.   Thatch-roofed domes that cover their living areas…men showing off for the single ladies…bone-reader/spiritualist letting a potential groom know if the bride he’s chosen is a good choice (and she was because she would give him 4 daughters…each eventually worth 11 cows as their dowry).   Obviously this culture is extremely different from our present day culture in America.   While the Zulus have moved away from dances and cows, they do still require dowrys for marriage…now approximately $1,000 to “buy” your bride.   I understand that several of the students I will be teaching come from Zulu background…should be an interesting time. After enjoying the re-enactment, we headed just a short distance down the road to eat lunch at The Pot a...

Butterflies for Africa What a treat we had on Saturday afternoon when we drove about 30 miles west of Durban to visit a “Butterfly House”, gift shop, museum and art gallery.   My favorite part was, of course, the live butterflies that flitted around us as we walked through the house.   Above is the very beautiful blue morph.   It was difficult to get this picture.   They rarely rested with their wings open.   Below is a picture of them at rest…totally different!   Isn’t that just like our God…to show that the true beauty is on the inside! Of course, if you’re into “brown”, you may think the outside of the butterfly’s as beautiful as the inside…but the blue was such a startling surprise when I first saw it. We actually saw quite a rainbow of colors in the house…between the gold and white koi in the pond, the beautiful birds darting in and out of the foliage and sometimes brushing their wings aga...