2008 Trip to South Africa Blog

What a day. Actually, what a week!

I think that I?ll start from the end and move back. Today (well,
yesterday by the time I had time to finish this) we had the privilege
of participating in a Circuit Rally Sunday. This is a celebrative
time when people from the 38 congregations of the Shiyane Circuit all
come together for a festive worship service? (It would be the
equivalent of all the people from all the churches in Watonwan River
Conference coming together for worship.) Of course, not everyone
comes. Nevertheless, I would estimate that there were a good 500
people there. Now, this service was a full 6 hours. There was
standard liturgy, however, a standard worship service is closer to 2
hours, so the full liturgy is much longer than in the States. Each
piece is longer? for instance the kyrie is sung and sung? and it is
wonderful.

The rally Sundays are a time for the whole circuit to come together.
Part of the purpose is fundraising. Like in the US, the circuits in
South Africa struggle to have enough finances. Their structure at the
circuit level is that the dean is paid from circuit funds. The dean
has many more responsibilities than in the States? basically all the
vacant parishes are his responsibility. And in many ways he is more
like a ?deployed? synod minister. There is an expectation that each
of the parishes would contribute a certain amount based on their
membership. There is a grand procession as each parish brings up their
offerings. Each parish has prepared a song. In some ways it is a
competition because the amounts are announced at the very end of the
service. Nevertheless, there is also a way that many people from
other parishes will come in solidarity with the smaller parishes. And
the competition is based not on actual money but on the percentage
given above the expected amount. That makes things a bit easier for
the smaller congregations. Anyhow, after each parish presented their
offerings we too were asked to present our offering. So we processed
singing Soon and very Soon we are going to see the king. Others
joined us in the procession. And soon everyone was singing as well.
It was quite awesome. After the offerings, which maybe took an hour
and a half, then we went on to the Holy Communion. We had stations
all over the hall, and all the pastors (including me) participated in
serving communion. After that there was the presentation of the
Watonwan River delegation. A person from the partnership committee
explained the different projects that we are involved in. a chicken
was placed up on the ?stage? and paraded around while he talked. We
were each introduced and then we presented to the dean elect, Rev.
Dladla, 2 chickens as a symbol of our partnership work. We are
actually giving him 10 as a symbol of his solidarity and support with
the project

Oh, yes, everything takes longer than one might think. Today Rev.
Duma and Dan were going to drive to Ladysmith, less than an hour away
to take his mother to the ?bus? and buy feed. Well? they were going
to leave about 6:30 this morning. Between Dan and Lee wanting to get
more eggs into the incubator and wanting to do a count on all the
breeding stock and and and, and then also the one more things on the
other side I don?t think they left till 11:30. they aren?t yet back?
and it is almost 5PM? one learns to roll with the unexpected. It
will be fun to hear of their adventures when they return.

Here?s the great news?. The 1st pregnant rabbit gave birth to 7
babies. We had purchased 8 pregnant does and 6 ready to be bred does
so that we could teach each aspect of the process. The young adults
having simply a great time? the talk is of how can we come back. Lee
and Elizabeth had a great idea and brought along a bunch of different
games? the young adults from both sides of the ocean have been
playing till late in the night?

This past Friday and Saturday we held an agricultural workshop. We
had discussions on varieties of garden seeds, how to use roundup ready
corn, caring for chickens and caring for rabbits, as well as record
keeping practice. Someone asked how to calculate a hectare, so we
talked about that and then went outside and practiced it on a field
that had just been plowed. You know, there are many little ways that
we see God at work. Here is one of them. Dan brought along a bunch of
candy that he purchased after Halloween. Among them was a bunch of
candy corn. We had really given him a bad time about bringing it.
So, who would have thought? When we got to talking about planting
corn and spraying, there wasn?t much clarity. So, Dan got out his
candy corn, we ?planted? it on the middle of the floor demonstrating
planting distances and then put we demonstrated hand spraying
technique. Of course, we all ate a bunch on the way (NO? not what
was on the floor!!!)

As for the chickens we have also had a breakthrough there. We have
?solved? most of the little problems. However, there was one larger
problem? people seemed to only want to buy the fully grown chickens.
It seems that the corner has been turned. We brought all the smallest
chickens to the workshop, and those were all purchased. Then we gave
10 of the larger ones (maybe 6 week old) to Rev. Dladla, and others
have purchase a bunch more. There is the potential for a different
distribution plan that may just work better.

We will be going to Rorke?s Drift tomorrow for another consultation
about the land there they want to plant. Hopefully it will also get
planted tomorrow. Local wisdom says that the top part can be sugar
beans (kinda like a pinto bean) and the bottom part corn. Simpson,
the plower, says that the bottom half is too heavy for beans? This
will be a first for them using roundup ready white corn.

Its hard to believe but we really only have 3 more days. Then it is
off to Johannesburg.
There?s a lot to get done before then. Nevertheless, since this is
the 1st day that I had the possibility of writing in a long time I
thought that I should do that.

God?s peace and blessings!
Rebecca for Dan, Barb, Lee, Elizabeth, Tim, and Kevin

SauBono from South Africa

The weather has warmed up and stopped raining here. I thought the
country was beautiful before now I see it and it is even more
beautiful!!!

So far we have traveled to many places. We got rabbits at Campdown 8
bred 6 not and 2 bucks. They were very nice.

I was very amused when I saw a sign on a door saying ?closed due to
weather? it was only raining so how can they close. I found out that
it meant the door was closed, not the business. It is custom to leave
the door open when you are open for business.

I had a local youth go with Dan, Rebecca and I over to the town that
Elizabeth and the rest are and on the way back I had Freedom take
pictures of the countryside because I had to concentrate on driving so
could not enjoy the sites. I told her that she should take the
pictures so when I got back home I could then see what the countryside
looked like. The next time I go to a different country and someone ask
me to be the driver I will say NO. That way I can relax and enjoy.

Tomorrow Dan and I will go to mahayoyo for Sunday worship he has been
sending cards and letters to their Sunday school children since his
last visit so is excited to see them again.

Next week we will be going to see a soy goat it is a machine that
takes soybeans and turns them into milk and a protein biscuit. The
biscuit taste good, but to me there isn?t much that doesn?t taste
good. I am a little disappointed in the food it all taste like
American food. I did have some traditional bread tonight it was very
good. We do have a very good selection of fruit that is in season,
from ripe tomatoes, oranges, apples, apricots, and mangos. Dan bought
a pear tree to give to pastor Duma, we brought it home and then left
to go somewhere when we got back a goat pruned the leaves off of it
for us.

Elizabeth is making a lot of friends most of them are on face book
also so she will have contacts not only in America but also in South
Africa. Her group of Barb, Kevin and Tim are staying at a family
compound that has a house for guest only. Today she and Kevin wanted
to wash some of their clothes but Sheila would not let them. Sheila
washed them by hand, dried them, folded them, and then laid them on
their beds. The party is at their house. Every night between 3 and 5
girls show up at their place to play games until 11:30. And by the way
the pastor also shows up. They like to play Jenga the wooden block
game the most. They didn?t think they would know how to play cards so
they taught the girls how to play go fish. When the girls had to
shuffle it was apparent that this was not the first time that they had
played cards. I heard that one of the girls was sweet on Kevin.

Tuesday we will be going to the Game Park and see the Indian Ocean.
Thursday we will be coming back to work on the chicken project and
rabbits. We want to setup standard operating procedures with pictures
to show how to do everything. It will be challenging but fun.
Time to say goodbye for now will try to email when I can. I love all
of you very much.
Love Lee

–
God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky

Dear friends,
Yesterday we traveled to Greener Pastures to pick up the rabbits. ?It
was an amazing place. ?2500 rabbits each carefully tended for.
Careful records kept. ?In addition, geese, dogs goats, cats, all
living together in harmony. ?Quite amazing. ?Their eventual dream is
to assist the local people in raising rabbits? ?so they were very
helpful to us. ?We stayed about 3 hours, and came away with a wealth
of knowledge. ?The we were 3 youth, one church leader, and Pastor
Duma, in addition to our whole group. ?What is so fun is to see our
young people, Kevin and Elizabeth interacting with the Shiyane youth.
We had 2 pickups and 2 Avanzas (7 passenger vehicles)? ?we got 8 cages
and 16 rabbits into the cages? ?we purchased 8 pregnant females, 6
other females, and 2 bucks. ?Meanwhile, the youth have been hard at
work making more cages for the other rabbits. ?When we got to
Enthembeni it was simply a delight to hear the laughter as camaraderie
as they were building cages together. ?Elizabeth was the expert on the
ground? ?take this rabbit, put it there. ?Tim was the master ?builder?
?sometimes one of the young people were hitting a finger, but the
cages were turning out well. ?Oh yes, you might want to know? ?we got
the 8 cages for the 8 pregnant females. ?They must settle in right
away so we ordered those cages ready to go. ?However, within a week
we?ll have 40-50 more rabbits? ?they do multiply rapidly!!! ?The youth
are playing games at night. ?They are laughing and enjoying one
another?s company. ?What a gift!

Today we hope to negotiate out the ?plan? for management? ?quite
different for having fun building cages together. ?We seek your
prayers as we continue to negotiate and work together.

Oh, yes, the chicks have only been on the antibiotic and different
feed for a short time. ?They are already doing a bit better. ?It is
good to see.

Now, onward to the current day.
Becky for Dan Lee Elizabeth Barb Kevin and Tim

–
God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky

–
God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky

Dear friends,

I give thanks. ?Thanks to all of your for your prayers.

These have been amazing days. ?God has been at work from moment to
moment. ?Nevertheless, there have been few moments to take time to
write.

Everyone has been so very gracious.

As you know, it took me 3 extra days to get to South Africa. ?When I
got here I had but a day before I needed to teach the preaching
workshop. ?I?d gotten a good sleep on the plane, so things worked out
pretty well. ?There were roughly 35 lay preachers at the workshop.
Rev. Duma translated most of the time. ?My teaching? ?Well, who knows.
?Nevertheless, the blessings included a couple of hours at the
beginning with each participant sharing their greatest joy in
preaching, greatest sorrow, and expectation for the workshop. ?Old and
young. ?Male and female. ?The result was that at the end the decision
was made that the support from the workshop should not end there but
continue. ?I gave many suggestions in how people could get together in
small groups to study a text? ?how could they do that? ?listening to
the text, sharing insights? ?and then we did a bunch on listening to
the gospel, discerning law from gospel. ?We struggled together. ?It
was very good.

Since the rest of the group has arrived many good things have
happened. ?We had a very long time with the chicken farmer? ?seeing
his layout and learning from him. ?It was quite an amazing day. ?Then
that evening we saw one home where chickens were being cared for? ?the
chickens were lively and healthy, just about ready to eat. ?The woman
was beaming with pride? ?they were so very beautiful and I asked her
how she would ever slaughter them. ?Oh, she said, she would get some
more. ?We made a video of her sharing how she was caring for her
chickens.

The next day we had to work with ?going to the feed company to clear
up some communication issues. ?We purchased a bunch of seed for the
agricultural workshop. ?And then we split up? ?the rabbit group in one
direction and those of us going to Wasbank. ?Unfortunately, Rev Duma
and his wife had spent the day turning in their tax return? ?a very
long process that had made them quite late to join us. ?So, we also
went to the agricultural research station. ?With no notice, Erica
vanZyles spent the next 3 hours with us, and suggested that she show
us the next day some very fine community gardens.

Then we arrived in Wasbank. ?Unfortunately the younger chickens here
have been struggling. ?The primary layers look healthy. ?Nevertheless,
the younger ones are diseased. ?After looking over the whole
situation, the next day we returned to Dundee to meet Erica again.
After visiting the community gardens she then took us to her vet who
consulted with us and then refused to take payment. ?It turns out that
the chicks have a respiratory disease. ?The provision of God is that
today we are going to the rabbit facility and while we are on the way
we can stop to purchase the necessary antibiotic. ?God shall have his
way!

then, because the vet took so long, we were late to get to the feed
store again… ?they had gotten the worng feed on mOnday, so we needed
more… ?we arived after hours, and they were gracious enough to let
us in to get what we needed…

Now it is time to take off. ?We are on our way to pick up the
antibiotic and the rabbits.

I suspect that I may be preaching on Sunday? ?don?t know where, and
have not a moment to even contemplate that. ?Perhaps on the road
today? ?we?ll be in the car for about 5 hours.

Oh, I could say so very much more? ?about the beauty of the land and
the people, of how awefully cold it has been? ?(I?ve been wearing
every layer I own). ?About wonderful food and even more wonderful
conversation. ?But now I must go.

Until who knows when? ?God does!

God?s peace amidst the pieces.
Becky, Rebecca, Revkah

Ps? ?the cpap is working fine? ?and slowly I?m catching up on sleep.

–
God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky

OK… some of you are getting a 2nd test email. that is because I
missed a bunch of you AND a bunch came back from the 1st batch as
undeliverable.

So, in the midst of packing I’m also getting my email list updated. \

Now, I really have no idea whether or not I will be able to ever
connect with a computer long enough to send something to you-all, but
I hope to.

I fly out of MInneapolis Sunday at 3:30 PM to Amsterdam and then on to
Johannesburg. Because of the time difference, I’ll arrive at 10:30 PM
Monday evening…
anyhow, I’ll begin by being picked up by Rev. Mathe, and have the
privilege of staying in his home over night. Then in the afternoon on
Tuesday I’ll be picked up by Rev. Duma the chicken man and Skhumbuzo
Mntambo our partnership contact. I actually speak with both of them
all the time. We will travel about 7 hours to Rev. Duma’s home, where
i will hopefully have a bit of jet lag recovery time before teaching a
preaching workshop on Friday and Saturday to the lay preachers of the
circuit. Then it will be back to Johannesburg to welcome the rest of
the group. Wow…

anyhow, the long and the short of it is that i have added a bunch more
people, and a bunch of you didn’t receive this the 1st time. so, i’d
like confirmation that you would like to receive this. i’d also like
it if you know of anyone else who would like to be on the list to let
me know. OR if after Sunday, then email the addition to
mattsull@gmail.com. Thanks and God bless you all!

We need your prayers. the other day when i was on the phone with Rev.
Ndlovu we talked long and hard about the rabbit project. however,
when the conversation switched and i said that our prayers were with
him and the other pastors who are so very stretched, he said, “that is
the most important thing you have said to me in this whole
conversation” We who are traveling need your prayers. The people in
South Africa need your prayers. Thanks so much!

God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky

PS… oh, yes, there’s always the possibility that i may need to send
out one more “trial” tomorrow. hope that that is ok!

PPS… some of you have asked me about the possibility of
donations… If you wish to contribute the “best” way to do so is
this: send the money made out to WRCPF (Watonwan River Conference
Partnership Fund) and mail it to Jim Branstad 213 2nd Ave. S. St.
James,mn 56081 he will put it in the account and then when I’m in SA I
can use a debit card to use it for purchasing supplies. We will be
purchasing supplies for rabbit housing, for rabbits, for feed for
rabbits till there is an established supply, for seeds… anyhow, if
you wish we would welcome contributions. nevertheless, please don’t
take away from your other committments to do so. Thanks

Dear family and friends,
I am once again about to depart for South Africa. so, I have a
question for you all… you want to be on this email list (in case I
make it to a computer)???

this time there are 7 of us going. I will leave a week early, on
Sunday the 8th… a mere 3 days from now. (don’t ask how much I
still have to do… this is one thing that I’m now getting done!
On the 13 and the 14th I’ll be teaching a preaching workshop to lay
preachers in Shiyane. Then on the 14, 6 more people from Watonwan
will be joining me. We will be focusing on rabbits chickens and
building relationships on both sides of the ocean. all in the embrace
of God who loves us all.
I wish I had more time to tall of all the amazing things that are happening.
More later!

–
God’s peace amidst the pieces!
Becky