It just doesn't translate... Or does it?

Some of my many favorite memories of today and how they translate into Zulu...

Doesn't translate:

A friend from Florida wanted to come so badly to Africa she provided a laminated cutout of herself to get photos in some key places ("flat" Sally let's just say to protect the innocent).  So Jessica decides today to take a photo with Gogo Zulu and "flat" Sally.  Any doubt what Gogo is thinking based on this photo?

You're doing what?  "Flat" Sally- $1.25  Gogo's expression- Priceless!

Does translate:

Another favorite moment...  Kids love playing and having fun across the globe, Jessica has shared thumb wrestling here for 5 years now and it has become quite the event...

We saw this young man coming home from Woza Moya High School dressed in his crisp school uniform.  His name is Spa and he reminded me that 5 years ago we thumb wrestled.

Love having our African family in Christ in our lives.

Does translate:

One of the orphans asked me why we come back to Ntshongweni?  I told him, "excellent question" and shared the following, as he read from my English Bible:

Ephesians 2:8-10

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." 

- We discussed that God tells us all we need is faith in Him to be saved and spend eternity in heaven.  This ability to have faith is a gift from God.  We also read about the thief on the cross who was near death and Jesus said he would see him in heaven, faith alone saved him from eternal separation from all things good.  He didn't do anything to earn heaven other than have faith in God.

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

- Then we discussed the crazy part, that in response to God's saving grace, we do the good things that he has prepared in advance for us to do.  God knew before I was born that I would be sitting with him at that moment in Ntshongweni South Africa (we veered off on Psalm 139 at this point, more here...  http://bible.com/111/psa.139.1-24.niv)

Then we opened to James 1:27

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

- We then discussed that once we have faith, God gives us a very clear call to care for children without fathers and wives without husbands.  Although we do not do this to get to heaven, we do it in response to the saving grace that God has provided to us.  By the way here are 37 more verses saying the same thing... http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Orphans

After this blessing of a conversation and his open heart and mind, he said now I understand.  He also asked if he could have an isiZulu Bible, which we'll provide to him this weekend.  A few moments that make the entire trip worthwhile.  This translates in any language.

Love,

Scott 

“Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.”

There are a few verses in the Bible that really haunt me, Proverbs 21:13 is one (along with Ezekiel 16:49-50; Matthew 7:21-23, and others…).  What I’m hearing here is that if I ignore the plight of the poor, God will ignore me in my time of need.

In America, the land of opportunity, we tend to excuse our inaction regarding the poor based on some sort of moral superiority or label of laziness.  And indeed, there are some that refuse to help themselves and prefer to receive a handout.  But I’m afraid that I have used these excuses to become arrogant, overfed and unconcerned.  Woe to me!!

Praise be to God that He does hear the cries of the poor and of a faithful Pastor who has made it his life mission to feed his sheep spiritually and physically.  God has given Mfundisi Thwala the discernment to find those who are in the most need and has called out to the other side of the world to brothers and sisters who are able (yet not always willing) to meet those needs. 

As I sat on the side the mountain in KwaZulu Natal, it occurred to me that if Jesus were to walk up today, it would be here - among the smiles and laughter of people who seemingly have nothing and yet are willing to give everything to help their neighbor.  Jesus lived his life here on earth among the poor and meek and called them blessed. 

I don’t know why we have the poor, but Jesus said it would always be this way – I guess maybe because of our brokenness, but maybe also to test those to whom much has been given.  Lord, help me to always hear those cries so that in the end it might go well with me and to also remember that it is You who has given me the ability to produce wealth and not the power and strength of my hands.   

-Sala kahle

Valerie

Would You Be Grateful For...???

What are you grateful for?
Maybe for electricity - you flip a switch, pull a chord, turn a knob, push a button and Voila! Magic! 




Not so for everyone. Gogo Zulu as of today has no electricity. She keeps it simple, and is so grateful.














What are you grateful for?
Maybe running water - you turn a knob, or lift a handle and Voila! Magic! I can even decide if I want hot or cold or warm or room temperature....

Not Gogo Zulu, she carries her water. And yet, she is grateful. 





Rosemary, her neighbor doesn't have a job to support her family. But she has developed a skill and taught herself to sew. She is trying to and come up with things that people might find useful. She says because she is able to work, she should. She is grateful for this!

I ask her where she goes to sell her creations - she says she goes house to house. Some people say yes, and some say no. 

Coming up with different fabric combinations that her customers may enjoy.

Here is the awesome way she stores her ribbons for her sewing. 

Collecting, packing, unpacking, sorting and giving out. You often wonder before you come - what would be helpful and not harmful? What would be useful? What would be fun? Different? Good for school? Can't live without?

Stick sweets, homemade dolls, and tennis balls definitely fall into the fun category.
School supplies - useful.
New Action Bibles - different.
Shoes and winter jackets - hopefully helpful.

Here is a small portion of what wonderful folks have given us from home to bring and share. 

Can't live without? - reading glasses! 
Definitely helpful, useful, different and FUN!! At least for Gogo Zulu.

I swear 10 years ago I said I would NEVER wear readers

But now, I know exactly how she feels! 

Sharing special moments with friends - totally grateful!

I can see them as young school girls.

What am I grateful for? 
Today it is definitely - 
READING GLASSES and GOGO ZULU!!!

No Camera

Just when you think you don't need your camera.... You wish you had it! 

Documenting your life, other's hardships and basic events can make the world feel small and artificial. Going back and forth, should we go back to get the camera? No, we can get along without it, it may even be nice not to have it. People sometimes change when they realize they are being photographed and sometimes ever recorded. 

The camera, and even the phones were left in the backpacks back at Pastor's house. 

We went exploring to "see who we will see." And see we did. Gogo Constance and a friend, Victoria, and Buchle. Gogo has been working on keeping the street clean and the ditches free of trash for proper drainage. Gogo Constance never stops. We talk and give her and her friend reading glasses, and several tshirt dresses for her to give out. She asks about friends unable to join us this trip, and we briefly catch up. We will visit her again later in the week to properly send a greeting to those far away.  We make it to the Duma's, and take part in a local custom of calling into the house while just entering the yard. Buchle appears at the door, alone. 

Mphilo was, "Over there, with some friends." Mphilo is two and Ntshongweni has lots of - "over theres," and lots of hills. 

This picture was taken yesterday... 

So we went to find him through the grass, down the hill, and around the bend to the right, past the graves of his mother's younger sister, her mom and her dad. Now is the part where we wish we had our cameras, but sometimes I must admit that I live my life through a lens, through a little eye piece or a screen in between me and the people I am relating to. 

So, no documented evidence, but a seared vision in my brain,  of a favorite memory from this trip. 

Coming around the bend and seeing him far in the distance with three other ladies, one is also a young mother with a two year old and a three month old we find out later. You can see that they are enjoying the UNBELIEVABLE view, taking in the fresh air, each other's company, light music playing from a neighbor's home and letting the two little ones, Mphilo and Emmanuel, play. An absolutely beautiful moment of women visiting one another, supporting and encouraging one another and I am sure, weeping on each other's shoulders occasionally.

We sit down and join in the conversation, the rest, the breeze, the friendship, the sunshine, the children, the smiles and laughter. We laugh when we only understand two words in two paragraphs, "Zulu, Zulu, Zulu, English. Zulu, Zulu, Zulu, English." 

Spotting a book, I ask what they have been reading. "It is a Bible." I ask them to tell me what they read this morning. Not sure in English, they call to a lady on the hill that knows English better then they do. Zulu, Zulu, Zulu - Psalms she says. 

Which Psalm? Psalm 104 Verse 1 and 2.

The Bible is in Zulu, they read it to us, so beautiful. Asking if they can explain it in English, they laugh. I mention that Buchle CAN do it! She is looking down, totally not feeling it. Then she straightens her back, and says - Yes, I CAN do it! 

At this moment the lady on the hill comes down - We know her - Ncgobile's mom!! Amazing! She translates the verses into English and we are so encouraged and uplifted to be able to share in this sacred moment. 

Take off your sandals, you are on holy ground. 

To humble and to test...

This is trip #7 to visit our Ntshongweni family.  As pastor Thwala shares stories of greatest need across a village filled with such stories...

I can see!  We were provided reading glasses from someone at home, and Jessica and Valerie have been great at finding candidates for them.  Gogo Zulu and her two neighboring caretakers rejoiced at being able to see.  One of her neighbors operates a sewing business in a dimly lit home with difficulty seeing...  Imagine threading needles in these circumstances.  How about this reaction to receiving reading glasses?  God is good

I need shelter.  Pastor does an amazing job of knowing his sheep, here are two houses that he is praying to help renovate.  The first one has a rear section that is made from mud, stones and sticks and has a tarp covering it to prevent rain damage.  God has a plan.

This home has a young lady who is working selling bananas and trying to build a new home at the rear of her old home.  The existing home is missing entire walls that are replaced by galvanized steel sheets.  The new home hasn't had the best craftmanship, but could be corrected and repaired.  God has a plan.

I study without light.  Musa, 18 and on the path to matriculating from high school (challenging for orphans here) showed us his very neat room, study desk, books and materials organized below.  His light however, was burned and missing a bulb.  God prepared this in advance for us to resolve for Musa.

I'm the son of an orphan.  Meet Mpilo, Buchle Duma's son who is now 2 years old.  On our second trip we met the Duma family.  Four teenagers living without mom or dad for the past 10 years.  In the last 5 years they lost their youngest sister Nomfundo and gained a nephew seen below.  90% of the kids you see in these photos are orphans, many never knew their parents and fend for themselves.  Most don't have birth certificates and identification to apply for government assistance and there is very little help for them other than their pastor Thwala, stand in father for an entire community, courtesy of our God.

So, I feel ashamed when this all seems normal to me after experiencing it over the past 5 years.  Poverty fatigue.  Comfort, knowing I go home at the end of the week to work, home, working lights, transportation, Publix and a debit card...

I pray for two things; 

- To have God's heart and see the world as He does.

- To give glory to God in all things so more may come to life giving faith in Him.

I pray to remember;

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

Deuteronomy 8:10-14, 16-18 NIV

http://bible.com/111/deu.8.10-14,16-18.niv

Get Your Zulu On

I have nothing to offer, nothing to give...

For I am not my own, I was bought at a price...

I take my thoughts and make them captive...

I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...

I pray not for a heart that beats, but for one that has been circumsized. That a daily operation would take place that would work all things according to my good...

So that I may be conformed to His likeness.

For when I am last, I will be first and if I lose my life, I will find it, and if I am weak then I am strong for His grace is sufficient.

I boast in my weaknesses. I ask to be commanded to get out of the boat, and live the life that was planned for me before I was born. Knitting me together in the deep and dark places that no one else could see...

But, this is hard. I follow a suffering savior, am surrounded by sufferings, yet cling to my own safety, comfort and security. I am weak, but He is strong.

These people do not need me, I need them. To bring me back to what is truly important. To be reminded of what is real and what is truly a lie. That there are matters of life and death, light and darkness, things that matter for all of eternity.

My thoughts are not His thoughts, my ways are not His ways...

This world is not all there is, this is not a war of flesh and blood...we need not only see and believe on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

I count, I finally have a birth certificate ------ I exist. These are issues that really matter.

My first time home from Ntshongweni, I had a melt down in Publix. Thinking it would be a nice idea to buy some Oreos for the family - but what type... so many choices... who really cares... I left my cart in the aisle, filled with food and went home. To be alone with two refrigerators stocked with food, beds in every bedroom, a roof that doesn't leak, electricity at a flick of a switch and running, clear, safe water at the turn of a knob. Two children that are healthy, jobs that are available and have the opportunity for advancement, relative safety and opportunities that abound for those that are interested in engaging. I had parents until I was 29.

Five years ago when we started this relationship, I truly thought I had something to give. Now I know the truth. I am only a receiver.

A member of the journey, a witness to light - of loving my neighbor as I love myself. To bear one another's burdens,

and to walk in the light...

The man who does the will of God lives forever....

... look after orphans and widows in their distress....  

Jessica

Small World

Well so far I’ve had ribs at a Western-themed restaurant (I’m talking American Indians and teepee décor – Pastor Thwala’s choice) and Mississippi Mud Pie served by a native African girl named after Dolly Parton.  You jump on a plane and 24 short hours later (okay, sometimes they seemed like very long hours) you are halfway around the world and even if they do drive on the wrong side of the road, you   discover that Disney might be right; it is a small world after all. 

This morning we worshipped the same uJesu at a Zulu Lutheran church and although the liturgy and hymns were in Zulu (Pastor did the sermon in Zulu and English), I knew when they were saying the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.  And the singing!! No organ, no sound system, and yet the angels in heaven couldn’t possibly sound so beautiful.  I thought my heart my jump right out of my chest…Then the world started to get a little bigger, at least the distance between my little world and the majority world started to reveal itself as Pastor spoke to the congregation about the death of his infant daughter just 4 short days earlier.  She was full term, beautiful and by all appearances healthy but she would not survive.  I can’t help but wonder if she had been born in a world of privilege in my world would the outcome be different?

Then Pastor Thwala took us around Ntshongweni.  Judging by the 4x5 pictures I had seen, I thought Ntshongweni was a pretty small place but it spreads out far across the rolling hills of KwaZulu Natal.  He showed us three homes that we wouldn’t let our pets live in – yet there were many more homes just like these; homes that look like they would fall down in a 20 mph wind, or perhaps if you just leaned on the wall wrong.  And I knew that it agonized Pastor to narrow down the tour to just three homes, perhaps knowing that too much would paralyze us and harden our hearts. 

I met a young man who proudly showed us his study desk.  It was no bigger than an end table and had a light that no longer worked – perhaps because of the hole in the ceiling that allowed rain to fall on his desk but did nothing to dampen his hunger for learning.  The desk housed a few neatly stacked books, including a science book that appeared to be from the 1980’s and wouldn’t fetch 10 cents at the Goodwill store.  But he loves math and science – even physics!  Got to love that kid.

And the orphans, hundreds of them everywhere…while I pulled my fleece jacket around me to block the chill of a breezy, overcast winter day; they ran and played in nothing more than threadbare shorts and bare feet.  Yet still, as they laughed and played and found such great joy in a tennis ball and a stick sweet (lollipop), they seemed unaware of their poverty --and I was never more aware of my own.    

I had thought about coming here for some time, but it was never right.  This year God told me it was time.  And although the devil tried to talk me out of it – even throwing some pretty low blows as the time for our trip neared, I am here.  I don’t know why I am here, but I know it is right.  Perhaps the reason will become abundantly clear as the days unfold or maybe my heart just needs to break more and more for the things that break His…we shall see.  Valerie....