Easter... South African style

Easter  for me usually consists going to church in the morning with 800+ people, then spending the afternoon with 20 family members gathered around a big table eating a ton of food. I like this kind Easter, it's tradition and will always hold a special place in my heart. There's something about setting the table with fancy dishes that says "today is a day to celebrate!" It's not quite the same being away, but the reason for the season hasn't changed. Easter is still a celebration!

Zion Pastors prayed for the church members

On Good Friday, we had the opportunity to attend a traditional all-night service with the Zionists. So at 8:30pm we climbed in the car with the Seghers family and drove about 30 minutes away in search of the Zionist gathering in a tent. There aren't any street lights in these parts, so driving at night through dirt roads is always an adventure. After asking some local guys for directions, Greg carried on driving us toward a tent in the distance, down a steep dirt road. We arrived and were warmly greeted with singing and dancing.

Communion

Most traditional Zionists are syncretistic in their religious beliefs, meaning they worship God as Creator, but rely on worshiping ancestors to receive blessings. ZEMA's main work with the Zionists is to teach them the Truth of the Bible: If they claim to be Christians and followers of our Savior Jesus Christ, they cannot also worship and make sacrifices to their dead ancestors. Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation. Thankfully, due to the dedicated teachings of ZEMA missionaries and the almighty grace of God, the Zionists are learning what it really means to live as followers of Christ.

Pastor's wife, and amazing drummer!

Greg Seghers had preached on the importance of living fully for God. He demonstrated this by having a church member stand on 2 separate chairs at the same time. As this man straddled the chairs and struggled to balance, people came to understand this is like worshiping God and also ancestors. It is common for visitors to be asked to share, they enjoy hearing from fellow Zionists that have come from Zion in America. I shared from Romans 6:1-11, giving examples from my own life and explained that God's grace is a gift and that we are no longer slaves to sin, but have been set free through Christ's crucifixion (v.6). It is such a joy to witness someone's growth and understanding as they come to faith.

The final product...

There was a bit of "normal" Easter celebration for us that included dying eggs and then hunting for them... something I haven't done in years! A few differences is that here they mainly sell brown eggs. It's a struggle to find white eggs because they only sell them at one store and they sell out quickly at Easter time. I was amazed that coloring brown eggs still turned out nicely!

Me, Ryne and Kirsten enjoying our Easter treats

All in all it was one of my most memorable Easters yet! We were blessed with nice weather and good friends to celebrate with. We attended our usual church that evening... and though it wasn't 800 people singing "Up From the Grave He Arose" with a giant pipe organ in the background... I was constantly reminded of Christ's resurrection and the amazing grace I'm offered each day!

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. the death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he loves to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." 

- Romans 6:8-11

April?!

I am a terrible blogger. Period. 

That being said, I would like to apologize to all of my friends, family and supporters that are wondering if I'm still alive. Let this be proof, I'm still here.

One thing that has always intimidated me about being involved in missions is that you have to keep in touch with lots of people for very valid reasons. I like you all a lot, I'm not trying to avoid anything, I simply need to process daily life and find out what might be important or interesting enough to share with everyone. Let me assure you, that life is sometimes very busy and other times very mundane... some days are full of housework, dishes, laundry and doing finances. Other days are so packed I treasure a 15 minute break to swallow a sandwich and catch the score of the cricket game before I have to jump in the car and head out somewhere...


A lot of people want to know what "life" is like for me at Sunbury... so here you go...

My alarm usually goes off at 6:30am each day... sometimes it takes me until 7 to actually get out of bed. Some days we go for a run around 7:15 but to be safe, Kirsten and I don't run alone. So on days that Mark Hugo and Greg Seghers can go, we start the day off with a 2-4k run. If office work needs to be done, I get in the office straight-away... it tends to turn into an oven after 12 noon, so I try to get everything done earlier in the morning.

Mondays are not generally "hard working" days around Sunbury, all of the staff (cleaning ladies and casual laborers) have the day off, so most of us do as well. This is a good day to play catch-up with miscellaneous things.

Tuesdays we host Bible Club from 3-4:30pm. Kirsten and Carlene Seghers alternate teaching the Bible story each week. We start by playing games and watching the kids on the playground. My specialty is pushing the kids on the tire swing, which I also count as exercise. :)  On occasion I also drive Kara Hugo to gymnastics on Tuesdays.

Assembly at Ramlakan Primary School

Wednesdays start with Assembly at Ramlakan Primary School. They graciously welcome teachings from Kirsten and anyone else that lives at Sunbury. Assembly starts around 7:45am and usually wraps up after 30-45 minutes. This is a twice a week gathering that we are able to share Bible stories and encouraging messages with the students. They usually sing songs also and teachers give important announcements. We also have tutoring classes on Wednesdays. I tutor 9, Grade 6 students from the school, and Kirsten tutors a total of 24 kids spread out over 3 days a week. We focus on English and Math, and last week I discovered that using flashcards makes a HUGE difference and they love it! I am not a natural classroom teacher... please pray for me and the kids in my class... they're coming along way but I know it's God's work, not mine. Having the relationship with these students is vital, we are very thankful to be a part of their lives and hope that God will continue to use this connection to reach them in other ways.

My Tutoring Class: Nonjabulo, Nosiplo, Nokwanda, Jabulani, Phindile, Nomusa, Nkosinathi, Me, Malibongwe &Bawinile

Thursdays are driving days. We get on the road at 2pm and usually get home around 7:30pm. Driving is quite a task around here, mostly because it's a huge time commitment just to go somewhere. Kara Hugo has gymnastics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we leave at 2pm, pick up her assistant coach on the way and get them to gym by 3:15. Her class is from 3:30-6:00. Usually Barb, Kirsten and I go to the mall nearby while Kara is in gym. We enjoy having time to shop around a bit and we always make sure to get Gloria Jeans Coffee (the closest thing to a Starbucks fix). After getting Kara, we start on our hour long journey back home. The past year I have been asking people to pray that I would adapt well to driving stick-shift on the opposite side of the car, on the opposite side of the road. God has answered these prayers and many more! Even in the scary times we have encountered flat tires or cars that break down… God has kept us safe every time. Psalm 20:1 is close to my heart: “May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.”

University of KwaZulu Natal Westville, Zionist Bible Study

Fridays also begin with Assembly at Ramlakan School. Every-other Friday is pay day for the workers at Sunbury... payroll is my responsibility and usually takes me 2-3 hours each pay day. Friday is also the day that camps arrive for their weekend retreats at Sunbury. Usually the camps arrive after 3pm on Friday and stay until 3pm on Sunday. We take turns hosting the camps, but if its our weekend to host camp, we stay home all weekend. Friday nights we also help out with the youth group at our church here, which we enjoy. There's usually 20-30 high school students that come out and majority are girls. However, there are some Friday nights that we attend Bible Study at Westville University for Zionist students. They always have very practical and intriguing questions... God is working amongst these students!

Weekends are fairly normal, Saturdays are nice days to relax a bit, maybe visit the beach... and Sundays are church, eating lunch out and grocery shopping days.

That's about all for now... I promise I will try to write more often... Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Home Sweet Home...

The short story is... originally Kirsten and I were supposed to live in a one-room flat, with a tiny bathroom and a tiny kitchen. We prepared ourselves for this venture of sharing a 20' x 15' room as our bedroom, living room and dining room by shopping at Ikea this past year and saying things like "We'll know each other really well after 5 months!" We were fully prepared to live together in our Itty Bitty Living Space :)

One month before our arrival we received an email saying one of the families here at Sunbury was going on furlough during 2011 and then relocating to Johannesburg for 2012 and that Kirsten and I would be living in that house since it will be empty! We were very excited as we learned that we now have 3 bedrooms, full kitchen, dining room, living room, a washer and dryer, and 1.5 bathrooms!

We have so much space we almost don't know what to do with it except have people over :) The Sunbury Family has already joined us for a braai (South African cookout) and our house is the favorite meeting place since we are the only house with Air Conditioning! :)

Here are some pictures of our home. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful home... there's plenty of room, so please come visit us!

Entry way (looking left)/ storage area

Entry way (looking right)

a

Kitchen

Lounge (Living Room)

Entertainment center... lots of movies are watched here

Another view

Our beautiful dining room

Kirsten's Room

My room

My giant closets :)

Main bathroom and Laundry room

Shower... obviously

Extra toilet

Office / Guest Room

Same office

Oh yea... I'm here!

On December 30th, I boarded a plane to South Africa along with Kirsten (my roommate, co-worker, and "other-half" while I'm here) and 5 short-term team members from my home church. After over 18 hours of flying and 26 hours of travel, we’ve arrived safely at Sunbury Christian Camp just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve with fireworks! New Year's Day is my Birthday, and I celebrated with the Sunbury family as they made me cards and gave me a freshly cut bouquet of flowers. I share a birthday with Ryne Seghers (his parents work at Sunbury) and he has allowed me to crash his birthday party for 3 years now.

The week to follow was busy with the Annual ZEMA Missionary Conference, when all the Missionaries gather for a week of sharing reports, enjoying rest and spending time together. Normally I would be with the Short-Term team cooking in the kitchen all week and taking care of the kids, however this year I was expected to be in the meetings. I enjoyed hearing all that God is doing through each ministry within ZEMA and look forward to being a part of it this year.

The CCC Team left today, and this afternoon Kirsten and I will be moving into our house!!! I will post house pictures very soon, once we get everything settled. Originally we were supposed to share a one-room flat, but were blessed with a 3 bedroom house that became available while another family is on furlough. We are very thankful for extra elbow room!

I hope to post more often that I have so far, the internet is sparse at times and we are just starting a "normal schedule" too. Will write more soon...

First Post!

As a brand-new blogger, I would like to say Thanks for reading! I don't follow too many blogs from others, but if you decide to bookmark this page I would be honored. :)

Sunrise from 2006 trip

It has been suggested to me to write short posts, post only what's important and add lots of pictures. If this suits your preference I think we'll be good friends. :) So here's what I will start with...

I was born and raised in Zion, IL and have lived nearby my entire life. My home church is Christ Community Church (also in Zion) where I have been a member since 2000. God has been good to me, much more than I deserve and I hope to live my life as a testimony of His great love.

In 27 days I will be moving to South Africa to work with the Zion Evangelical Ministries of Africa (ZEMA), which is a Christian Mission Agency based out of Zion, IL. (see www.zema.org for more information)

I hope you are blessed, challenged and encouraged by things you will read here. My only intention is to bring glory to God through all He has done and is doing around the world, especially amongst the amaZioni in Southern Africa. 

More to come soon...