We have been getting to know a lot of people and getting engaged in the ministry. It has been pretty cool. Different people have been bringing meals over to get to know us. Some have stayed to eat with us. One sister showed up this week and cooked at our house and hung out. The disciples here are as you would expect...great Christians!
The first Sunday we were here, I went to the teen class. There were over 40 teens there. Last week I preached in the Northwest Region. That is the region that we will be part of. The Northwest Region meets at the church building. The Johannesburg Church owns a pretty amazing facility. It has four buildings: the worship area with classrooms, the chapel for small events and weddings, a large office building with a teen room where HOPE also works, and a smaller office building. They gave me an office! I am excited about having a place to get away and work. It is also close to where a number of the teens live. I have had a number of Bible studies there already.
One of the primary reasons that we moved here was to help the teens and their families. We have identified over fifty teens that are part of the teen ministry just in the Northwest Region. Only one is a disciple right now. We are trying to understand all of the dynamics here and why the kids aren't making their own faith decisions. We have discovered a prevalent thinking that has permeated many of the teens and the parents here. It seems that becoming a Christian in high school seems improbable as they see it as the time to explore the world. When I described to one of the teens that in Chicago, most of the teens are disciples before they are grade 11 or 12, he was shocked. The driving age and the drinking age are 18 here. Many of the teens go to clubs. We have a lot of work to do to help them see the value and proper convictions to seek God first. We already have 13 teens studying the Bible. The ones we have gotten involved with seem eager and hungry to learn. I am very hopeful!
This week we begin a four week series with the parents. I am going to teach the Biblical Theology of Family and lay some spiritual foundations. I am really looking forward to it! We got with the Northwest teen workers last night. We made them a mexican meal. That was a lot harder than we thought it would be! Turns out, there are not many mexicans here so the grocery stores don't have many of the ingredients that we assumed they would have. I tried to make refried beans. I found dry beans but no black or pinto beans. The closest ones that looked like pinto beans were called "sugar beans." They turned out okay, not great. The meal was so-so. The good news was, they hardly ever eat anything resembling Mexican food so they thought it was good. We had a great meeting with them after dinner. We talked about the energy and focus that it was going to take to turn the corner with the teen ministry. They all seemed up to the challenge!
So, why "the banana tree?"
As we have been getting engaged in the ministry, we have been slowly plugging along with basic life things. I have been working nearly daily on the bank account and it is still not in place. We have not found a home or a car. The mobile phone company denied us a contract because "I have only had a job for two weeks." I informed them that I have not been out of a job for thirty years. They said that nothing counts unless it is in South Africa. I had a chat with Justin about it. He told me about a book he read. It proposed a theory as to why southern hemisphere countries seem more lax. In the northern hemisphere, farmers had to diligently plant and harvest to prepare for winter. There was no time to waste or else they would starve. In the southern hemisphere, if you don't take a banana from the tree, it will still be there the next day.
As we have seen set backs and slow, seemingly inefficient people helping us at the bank and cell phone store, I keep mentally chanting, "banana tree."
hi, i am also from the states (san diego, ca) and spent 2 years in jo-burg. i loved the church and life in south africa. there are definitely things to get used to, but overall it was amazing. i totally relate to your pain about mexican food, but wanted to let you know that at pic n' pay i found refried beans(you have to really search the bottom row of the bean aisle). they were expensive about r25 a can. they also have fresh tortillas in the area near the fresh rolls, melk tarts and baked goods. they saved me while i was there. :) lots of luck, we definitely miss it there.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I went to Uganda, I had to have two people sponsor me in order to set up a bank account. Both of them had to have had accounts for a certain length of time. One of them happened to be a national celebrity. It didn't matter how much money I had to deposit; they wouldn't bend their rules. I found it so hard to believe that banks made it that difficult to give them my money.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff Dave. We had a very similar experience over there last year trying to make a Mexican meal for some friends. We did find a fair amount of stuff at Spar finally.
ReplyDeleteMichael Burns
You might be interested in Malcolm Gladwell's discussion of the nature of rice farming and how that creates a culture of hard work. Apparently the Chinese have a saying: "No one who can rise before dawn three hundred and sixty days a year fails to make his family rich." http://chineseculture.about.com/b/2008/12/16/why-are-chinese-better-at-math.htm
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