Greetings from Africa,
Sunday, Larry spoke in a new (by new, I mean, we have never been there before) congregation on the subject of prayer. We drove way out into the countryside to a new township. The 3 townships we have previously been working with, are all "suburbs" of the city. However, Port Dunford (sounds like a regular town, doesn't it?) is very rural and a completely different feel. The houses/dwellings are far apart and there is grass in many areas. Even though the people here are extremely poor, it has a much better feeling. The other townships feel like urban inner city. These people were even more warm and loving than we find other places and that says a lot. As soon as it was time for Sunday School to begin, someone came up to me and asked me to teach. I insisted that I was here to visit with them and enjoy THEIR lessons. In the end, we compromised and "team taught". I have begun bringing a notebook to write their names in (with phonetic spelling for our English). I am very slowly making progress and can actually say many (not the majority) of the names! It is the Lord blessing me...but I have a very long way to go. It is hard to teach and connect with people if you can't say their names. After church, the children all came and surrounded us and wouldn't let us go. They held my purse, my Bible and Book of Mormon and inspected every single thing I had. They hugged us over and over and finally let us go. It was such a sweet experience to worship with them and hopefully strengthen them.
I have learned a few Zulu phrases and I say them all the time. People laugh at me and are shocked (probably by the bad pronunciation) but they seem to feel flattered that I am trying to learn their language. These are simple phrases like Hello, How are you? I am good. Thank you. Goodbye. Maybe they can't understand I word I say, but they vaguely recognize it as Zulu!
The missionaries plan to clear some of the grassy areas in this township and divide it into plots so the members and neighbors can grow gardens. In the other grassy area, we hope to clear it and make a soccer field. Isn't that a great idea? Every Thursday, the missionaries play soccer with the youth. They are trying to set up a league/games with other churches. All of these things take months or a year...not a week. The trick is to be able to hang in there and not give up no matter what. In that area, I have been blessed or cursed (depending on the circumstance) ......I am stubborn and can hang in there for months and months.
Because one of our main focuses is the family, we are learning much about their family traditions. Labola, is their tradition regarding marriage. Labola means "bride price". Before a young man can marry the woman of his choice, he must meet with the future bride's family and agree upon a price. This is not quickly done and requires serious negotiation. The bride-to-be is not involved and her uncle is in charge. The average asking price is 11 cows. This is a HUGE amount of money for most people. Today, they are allowed to pay the cash equivalent of the cows. However, we see herds of Labola cows everywhere. This tradition has many negative consequences. First of all, many girls are forced to marry men who have money (and other wives---polygamy is legal) but have no feelings for the bride, but want a "worker" or worse. Families try to sell their daughters for the highest price regardless of the man's reputation.
Another consequence, is that young people just live together and never marry because the man will never be able to pay the Labola. Sometimes the men stick around, and many times they leave after a couple of children. Our church focuses on marriage. So we explain to young adults the value of marriage and also talk to parents. As you can guess, traditions like this do not die easily for Christians, non-Christians or anyone!
Most of you have heard of the hit musical, The Book of Mormon. It tells the story of 2 missionaries from the US who come to Africa and are completely out-of-their element. (This is what I heard, but I have not seen it.) Well, I feel like we are living that very story! We have 18, 19 and 20 year old young men who are serving here. They encounter such a different culture...food, language, people, traditions, homes, living conditions etc. But I am amazed at how well they do. I will not say that it is easy. They pray fervently for help and pray to love what they are doing, they grit their teeth, they endure (hopefully with grace), they eat different food in unsanitary conditions (and endure diareha), they sweat as they walk about in white shirts and ties in unbearable heat and they bear testimony of Jesus Christ. And they are soooo young! I had forgotten how young 18 is. (Can you end a sentence with is?) These young men are NOT perfect, but what they do is incredible.
But now we are living the reverse of the Book of Mormon musical. One of our responsibilites is to help prepare young African men who would like to serve fulltime missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The requirements are stiff, the paperwork is formidable. Filling out page after page, getting passports, etc. Just reading the application is very difficult for most of them. They must do everything paper and pencil because they do not have access to the internet. We pick them up for medical and dental examinations and bring them here because they do not have adequate medical facilities for the lab work. As you can imagaine, they (and their mothers) have no idea if they had any immunizations as a child so the doctors have to sort out what needs to be done.
We are helping 2 young men with this process.
Their testimony of Jesus Christ is firm and they desire to serve and share the gospel. Many of these young men will probably be called to serve somewhere in Africa, but not always. (When anyone submits an application, the application is studied, then a committee headed by one of the 12 Apostles, fasts and prays and determines where each person goes.) Even if they go to Africa, the experience will be very different from their present life.....different language, customs, food etc. in each country. But one of the young men we are helping is going to Australia. I can only imagine the culture SHOCK when he arrives there. We are helping him get an Australian Visa. The Australian embassy would NOT accept any chest Xrays (for Tuberculois) from any of our local hospitals. We drove him 2 hours to go to a hospital in Durban. We have thoroughly LOVED spending time with these humble young men.
Larry is doing a fabulous job driving on the left had side of the street. He zips around with the best of them. However, it is not JUST the left hand driving and left hand shifting, it is the cut throat, dog-eat-dog driving. Traffic rules are just suggestions and you never know if people will choose to obey or not. We live by a very busy, major street. We have NEVER, ever seen anyone stop at the stop sign---not even a policeman. Drivers run red lights much of time. They pass on double lines, curves etc. I have not tried to drive until this week. I am terrible. Boy, I am just like the South African drivers....but not on purpose. Larry is patient, but stressed when I am at the wheel. So am I.
We love you. Each of you have added something valuable to our lives.
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