And I will praise YOU in this storm! I will lift my hands, for YOU are who YOU are, no matter where i am. And every tear i have cried, YOU hold in YOUR hand. YOU never left my side. And though my heart is torn. I will praise YOU in this storm.
For the most part, we have been spending our time with the blacks because our contact is black, the church is black, and the teams we play with are black. I do not say that because I am racist... In fact, I feel like I get along better with the blacks here than I do with the whites. Mostly because the whites wonder why we are here and sometimes make it difficult for our ministry because of their lack of love for people of a different skin color. However, our ministry is not just out to the blacks. It is also to the whites. Our main goal is to spread the love of Christ to whoever will listen. We can do nothing but only be open to let God work through us. We are powerless to force people to listen to us. All we can do it hope and pray that people listen and that seeds are planted. And the crazier thing is... I feel so much better and I feel so much more alive by not trying and not worrying about what I can do and just giving it up. Our main goal here is just to let God shine His light through us and to plant seeds. Hopefully good ones... I will consider myself lucky and blessed if we get to see the seeds grow...
With that being said, we had a great night last night when we had a bri with our neighbors. It was such a blessing on many different levels. We had an opportunity to get a different view of the culture in South Africa while hopefully shining our light. We have been hearing things that blacks like/dislike about the government and culture but we haven't had much chance to hear about it from whites. It was very interesting to hear and actually surprised us a bit. We had some amazing Bri'd meat and got to watch Beowulf on dvd! (which isn't out yet.. Gotta love bootlegs!)
Back to the culture (the main point of this blog). We talked about things like the differences between the US and South Africa. They asked us what we expected when we got here. The truth to that answer is... We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know if there would be Lions roaming the streets or Rhinos having a beer at the local pub. We didn't know if there would be any infrastructure at all.. much less cars or communication at all. We didn't know if the roads would be gravel/dirt or paved (and the answer to that is yes). Obviously, we assumed that cities like Joburg and Cape Town and Durban would have these things but considering we were going to Polokwane, (a place that I did not know existed until I got here), it was all a big fat question mark. We were trying to describe the similarities and the biggest similarities to the US is the huge array of different people. South Africa is the USA of Africa. There are people of every nation here and the people from all over come to South Africa because it is an easy place to get into and there are opportunities all over the place. Businesses are starting to boom. Entrepreneurs are free to pursue many different things with little interference from the Government. Another similarity is the infrastructure. There are roads going all over the place from city to city, the communication system is similar, electricity, and transportation with buses and taxis.
However, the US is by far, well ahead of South Africa on almost everything. With the exception of the major cities, everything here in South Africa is behind the times and almost medieval. Yet, it is well ahead of the rest of Africa! South Africa has come a long, long way, but still has a long, long way to go! The biggest difference between the US and South Africa that I can see is the quality of life. In the US, everything is right there, you can get it anytime you want due to mass consumerism and all the business terms that go along with that. In Africa, because of unknown reasons there are shortages due (probably to some kind of scandal or the government) to unknown reasons. I have heard some blacks say they liked the way things were before the apartheid ended which absolutely blew my mind. Things here can be very corrupt and harsh yet it is a free country that is pursuing democracy...? Interesting...
We got to talk to our neighbors about the apartheid which was really cool. Daniel, the bartender/seriously bad potty mouth/biggest and only Lion fan (Rugby- they are like the KC Royals.. nobody likes them.), grew up during the time when everything changed in 1994. He said that it was really hard because it was a release of power from the whites. He said that there was a lot of hate and racism. There is obviously still much animosity going on however from my own experience, love breaks down that barrier instantly just by a simple "hello" or "how's it!" Brandon makes fun of me because whenever we walk anywhere, I am always saying hello to everyone who even acts like they look at me. It isn't because I am scared but because God has shown me that we are all His children and that everyone deserves a chance, then another, then another... I never quite understood what the big deal about Martin Luther King Jr. was until I got here. He said, "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." What is important is that people realize the subtleties that are going on here. That everything is not always what it seems. It is important that people do what they can to make a difference in the world. Half the time, I feel like I am not doing anything here. I think to myself, "what can I possibly do?" Then I have to continually remind myself that South Africa has a lot of work to do but the good thing is that God is here... in HUGE ways which means that there is hope, a light at the end of the tunnel.
The important thing is never to give up and keep pressin' on!
There is something that is downright scary about the fight in the man that does not fight back.
Happy Holidays to everyone back in the states! (Merry Christmas is coming next week!)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
You never know what will happen!
This weekend has been one of the craziest weekends I have had yet. Most of it was pretty humorous but some was very frustrating. As I have tried to point out in previous writings, in South Africa, anything could happen at anytime. There is just no knowing when you could either win 1,000,000 Rand or get car-jacked. I left the last message saying that we have a trial with a PSL team, called Jomo Cosmos, on Monday, which is now in about 12 hours. So I will pick up where I left off...
Well right now, our missions side of things is very simple... We are kind of on our own. School is out for summer (remember that its summer in the southern hemisphere) and the prison is on lockdown because the prisoners get ancy because they want to go home to their families and security is really tightened... which essentially means we are NOT allowed in. (However, I did get good news about the prison: I am going to be allowed to take a camera in and take pictures!)(Also, I am working on putting pictures up.. The internet here in Polokwane is tricky and you buy it differently than in the states, plus I am dealing with limited internet, so thanks for the understanding and patience!) So our ministry is the team that we currently train with, anybody we might encounter, the boys academy (2 boys teams), and church. That being said... Here I go again
Friday night, Church. We got there at around 645 to help set up the sound system. People start rolling in (on Africa Time of course) anywhere from 30 min before to 30 minutes late. Church officially started at 7 and didnt officially end until 1 am. During the course of those 6 hours, many things happened. First of all, the pastor did not like the "level" of worship (sorry for lack of a better word) and he made everyone sing louder and get more into it. He got up there and started singing into the mic... now you have to imagine this 50ish man with an extremely deep voice singing into a mic and emphasizing every syllable so it comes out a resounding FFFFFFFFF... all the while "dancing." I say "dancing" because he looked like a soldier marching back and forth about 15 yards in total, one way. Then the whole congregation, at that point, about 15 people total, started marching as well arms and legs all in unison. I thought I was in boot camp for a second. After the first couple of songs, no one could think of anything to sing, so me, being a leader stood up and offered to teach them one. I taught them a song called "Undignified" which is about David dancing before the Lord when the ark came back in. There is an interaction part where I sing na na na na.. and they yell HEY! they got a big kick out of it and it was a ton of fun. I sat back down and started reading the bible because they started discussing church issues of which I am basically not involved. I was reading acts and got to chapter 20 when I realized how long I had been reading. At around that same point, Sam started talking about how I have a passion for kids and I was nominated for being the new Youth Pastor. So as of now, I am the youth pastor! I remember all the crap I used to do in youth group... Help Dirk!
The next morning, and 5 hours after church, I got to talk to my mom on skype for the first time since I have been here. I kind of planned it that way so I could actually give her a "birthday present." Anyways, Happy Birthday Mom! After I was done talking, B and I went to train the kids and they actually trained hard. It is encouraging to us because if you could have seen the level from when we first got here to where it is now, you would be amazed. I am proud of the boys for changing their attitudes and for actually listening to us and getting better as people and players because of it. Praise God.
We walked back to our flatt thinking our day was done and we could simply relax and watch some English Premier League.. that idea was squashed when the manager of the team (Peace Lovers) called us around 11 and said he was picking us up for their game. This was confusing considering he hadn't communicated with us for 2 days straight. He keeps telling us, we want to sign you but we have to figure out the work permit. We will do it next week. This is now the start of the 3rd week. We would be great additions to the team and give them a little "Color" (meaning more than skin). We traveled about an hour and a half to watch them kill this team 5-0. It was about 10 pm when we got back. Long unexpected day! (The funny story that happened here was instead of a donkey on the field, it was goats along with random dogs that would rush out from under a fence when the ball got near!)
Lastly, today, Africa time struck again.. It is very frustrating when your ride comes early. We got to church plenty early and set up fairly quickly which allowed me to "meditate" before the service started for an hour. Luckily, it wasn't 6 hours. After church, I got to make some very cool relationships. I met and had lunch with some guys that play in the Vodacom League (the league that Peace Lovers is in). We went to KFC and got sit around and like the verse in Proverbs says, "As Iron sharpens Iron...," It was awesome to have fellowship. Another thing that was really cool about it was that 4 different nations were represented. Needless to say, our skin color, joy, and praying caused many onlookers to wonder what was going on!
As I look back over this extremely long, hard, grueling weekend, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed, like I am not in control. There are so many things seem so far out of my control that I have no idea where the breaks are. Some of the things that I am talking about that are going on are cultural, some are unfortunate, some are divine. I am not saying they are problems but they do make you think... I have to believe that God is ultimately in control and I do not have to do anything other than "put myself out there." Jeremiah 29:11 says that He has a plan for everyone... I have to believe that even though I cannot see what is going on behind the scenes, that God is working and seeds are being planted. I do not know what is going to happen while I am here, all I can do is pray that I grow and my faith grows too. I am going to leave this blog with a quote from Nelson Mandela (also found in Coach Carter) which describes my ultimate goal here in South Africa:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Well right now, our missions side of things is very simple... We are kind of on our own. School is out for summer (remember that its summer in the southern hemisphere) and the prison is on lockdown because the prisoners get ancy because they want to go home to their families and security is really tightened... which essentially means we are NOT allowed in. (However, I did get good news about the prison: I am going to be allowed to take a camera in and take pictures!)(Also, I am working on putting pictures up.. The internet here in Polokwane is tricky and you buy it differently than in the states, plus I am dealing with limited internet, so thanks for the understanding and patience!) So our ministry is the team that we currently train with, anybody we might encounter, the boys academy (2 boys teams), and church. That being said... Here I go again
Friday night, Church. We got there at around 645 to help set up the sound system. People start rolling in (on Africa Time of course) anywhere from 30 min before to 30 minutes late. Church officially started at 7 and didnt officially end until 1 am. During the course of those 6 hours, many things happened. First of all, the pastor did not like the "level" of worship (sorry for lack of a better word) and he made everyone sing louder and get more into it. He got up there and started singing into the mic... now you have to imagine this 50ish man with an extremely deep voice singing into a mic and emphasizing every syllable so it comes out a resounding FFFFFFFFF... all the while "dancing." I say "dancing" because he looked like a soldier marching back and forth about 15 yards in total, one way. Then the whole congregation, at that point, about 15 people total, started marching as well arms and legs all in unison. I thought I was in boot camp for a second. After the first couple of songs, no one could think of anything to sing, so me, being a leader stood up and offered to teach them one. I taught them a song called "Undignified" which is about David dancing before the Lord when the ark came back in. There is an interaction part where I sing na na na na.. and they yell HEY! they got a big kick out of it and it was a ton of fun. I sat back down and started reading the bible because they started discussing church issues of which I am basically not involved. I was reading acts and got to chapter 20 when I realized how long I had been reading. At around that same point, Sam started talking about how I have a passion for kids and I was nominated for being the new Youth Pastor. So as of now, I am the youth pastor! I remember all the crap I used to do in youth group... Help Dirk!
The next morning, and 5 hours after church, I got to talk to my mom on skype for the first time since I have been here. I kind of planned it that way so I could actually give her a "birthday present." Anyways, Happy Birthday Mom! After I was done talking, B and I went to train the kids and they actually trained hard. It is encouraging to us because if you could have seen the level from when we first got here to where it is now, you would be amazed. I am proud of the boys for changing their attitudes and for actually listening to us and getting better as people and players because of it. Praise God.
We walked back to our flatt thinking our day was done and we could simply relax and watch some English Premier League.. that idea was squashed when the manager of the team (Peace Lovers) called us around 11 and said he was picking us up for their game. This was confusing considering he hadn't communicated with us for 2 days straight. He keeps telling us, we want to sign you but we have to figure out the work permit. We will do it next week. This is now the start of the 3rd week. We would be great additions to the team and give them a little "Color" (meaning more than skin). We traveled about an hour and a half to watch them kill this team 5-0. It was about 10 pm when we got back. Long unexpected day! (The funny story that happened here was instead of a donkey on the field, it was goats along with random dogs that would rush out from under a fence when the ball got near!)
Lastly, today, Africa time struck again.. It is very frustrating when your ride comes early. We got to church plenty early and set up fairly quickly which allowed me to "meditate" before the service started for an hour. Luckily, it wasn't 6 hours. After church, I got to make some very cool relationships. I met and had lunch with some guys that play in the Vodacom League (the league that Peace Lovers is in). We went to KFC and got sit around and like the verse in Proverbs says, "As Iron sharpens Iron...," It was awesome to have fellowship. Another thing that was really cool about it was that 4 different nations were represented. Needless to say, our skin color, joy, and praying caused many onlookers to wonder what was going on!
As I look back over this extremely long, hard, grueling weekend, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed, like I am not in control. There are so many things seem so far out of my control that I have no idea where the breaks are. Some of the things that I am talking about that are going on are cultural, some are unfortunate, some are divine. I am not saying they are problems but they do make you think... I have to believe that God is ultimately in control and I do not have to do anything other than "put myself out there." Jeremiah 29:11 says that He has a plan for everyone... I have to believe that even though I cannot see what is going on behind the scenes, that God is working and seeds are being planted. I do not know what is going to happen while I am here, all I can do is pray that I grow and my faith grows too. I am going to leave this blog with a quote from Nelson Mandela (also found in Coach Carter) which describes my ultimate goal here in South Africa:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
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