blossoms...

Tomorrow, September 1st, marks the beginning of spring here in Southern Africa. It also marks the seventeenth anniversary of the birth of Joreth van der Merwe, but outside of Fraaiuitzicht, that has limited impact. Spring is definitely making an impact. The pink peach blossoms and white apricot blossoms are splashing color all over a still dull, brown landscape. Bees are busy with their God-given pollination duty and I look forward more every day to when those blossoms will become succulent fruit. This morning I happened to notice the blossoms in the early morning sun and decided to snap a picture quickly before getting into the car and heading to school. I will probably post more later on, but this is it for now.


Last night I tried to get a "head start" on spring and took a walk down to the fields barefoot. After pulling a few massive thorns out of my very soft, winter feet, I was beginning to wonder just how good of an idea it really was. I made it down to where SW was working on his crop irrigating system and I soon realized it was a not quite spring. The alfalfa that had just been sprayed was so cold my feet were hurting. When we headed back to the house, he had mercy on my stupidity and gave me his horse and he walked. I put my numb feet against the horse's warm belly and was able to warm them somewhat. I guess Winter still has a few kicks left in her.

This one is just for fun. An unimpressed Lala and my hat.

A trip up the "Cow's Nose..."

One of Africa's specialties is sunrises. I read a book where the lady called sunset over the high veld, "magic hour," but I think the true magic happens in the early morning. The only ones awake are the birds that chatter incessantly over their morning coffee. The lights of Maseru haven't yet yielded their nocturnal vigil to the morning sun and everything is just holding its breath for Daybreak to make her appearance.

A few weeks ago, S.W. van der Merwe and I decided we wanted to do something we had not done since Father's Day morning, 2008. Climb Bees Neus (meaning Cow's Nose) in the early morning before dawn and watch the sunrise. Chelsea Revell (a student staying on the farm for internship from Gordon College in Massachusetts) and Michelle Waterson (a coworker and best friend of my fiance) and Reuben Rodriguez(a student on internship from Penn View Bible College) joined us in the early morning hike. We walked in the early morning cold, but were soon warmed well enough by the exertion. Our coats-it soon turned out-were later at the top.




We made a fire and enjoyed a beautiful view, some hot coffee and friendship. The only thing that could have made things better is having Delani there. Sadly, she was at home in Graaff-Reinet and could not make it.

a field trip to the farm...

This past Friday I had the privilege of taking my students as well as Mr. Kolobe's Lower Learning Center fourth graders to Fraaiuitzicht Farm for a field trip. The fourth grade curriculum has a project that requires them to visit a farm and to see how it works and why it works the way it does and then to do an in-class, group project. I was quite excited about it since I live on said farm and enjoy farm work and appreciate the struggle that it is to be a small, family farmer like my friend S.W. So, since I had recently taken care of his cattle in the evenings while he was doing mission work in Zambia, I thought I had the leverage to ask him a favor. While riding on the combine with him the one evening after school, I asked him if he would be willing to play teacher and he acquiesced to my request.

So we loaded up the students and took them to the farm to get a taste of what being a farmer was like. They were thrilled to be in the great outdoors and just not to be at school in general. S.W. showed them what we fed them in the winter and how and why they were fed certain foods.





The day wrapped up with horse rides and weighing cattle. Joreth was kind enough to give them horse rides. This is Mammy with Joreth.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Life has been rewardingly hectic of late. That is my pathetic excuse for silence. In truth, I rarely even communicate with my immediate family these days; a fact which leaves me feeling one part lonely and one part guilty. I may perhaps try and catch up on what has happened in between, but if not I will quickly summarize it now for you:

1. The TLC team was here and brought with them some things I had left in the U.S.

2. Kristel Glick stayed behind from the team and joined Delani and myself in the Cape. It was a great time seeing the sights and just visiting with a college friend.

3. School has resumed and in the absence of S.W. I have taken up farming as well.

S.W. van der Merwe is a childhood friend and the son of the people on whose farm I now live. He is the one actually farming the land and he farms with beef cattle. He recently left to go to Zambia to join H.I.M. on their Bible distribution project and in the evenings someone still needs to look after his cattle and make sure fences, water lines, feed, etc. is all in order. That lot fell to me. I must say, I have never been more aware of my limitations in the farming department as now. When S.W. is here and I am helping him it all seems so easy and simple, but when he is away and a water line breaks or the electric fence gets a short, or the feed starts to run out; it doesn't seem quite so simple anymore. I have enjoyed it, however, and like the outdoor work after a day of just using my head. I will be glad when he can return later this week and take back the responsibility aspect.

Life is good here in Africa and God is teaching me many things. I will try and be more faithful and expounding on that, but then you have heard that before.

a dome of many-coloured glass...

I finally took the time to google how to compress photos. I know, I know, I'm from the Stone Age, but I finally caught on to technology. I now can finally put photos on my photo blog (the internet is too slow here to upload without first compressing the file size). So, I will be updating my photo blog and outside of mobile uploads, that is the only location I will be uploading photos. I am more than a little through with Facebook and hold it as an inconvenient, convenience. So, I will do my best to be updating those (truth be told, I rarely take photos anymore) and hope that you enjoy the updates. Cheers.

Genesis 1:26...

A few weeks ago, S.W. was gone and someone needed to ride down to his cattle and check on them and so I volunteered. It was a either a Friday or a Saturday morning (we had a long weekend) and I caught his horse on a frost covered morning and rode down to count cows and make sure nothing was wrong (nothing that would be obvious to a city boy). I do not fancy myself a horseman and though my nickname here is “cowboy,” a name I got as a boy that stuck, I fear I do not live up to the nickname.

I struggled a little with his mare. She wasn’t used to me, I wasn’t used to her and the saddle he uses is the equivalent of a string bikini for a horse and doesn’t leave one feeling very secure. She was everywhere but where I wanted her to be, but I could control her to a point. I checked the cows and headed back to the house and a thought struck me.

The horse I was sitting on was significantly stronger than I and yet, with a simple bit and a God-given fear, I was able to ride and control this magnificent animal. Then I thought of the cattle. I thought of how I could walk right through them (minus one rather nasty bull) and they, though four or five times my size and much more than five times my strength, would step aside and even run away.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over…the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26

It was one of those little moments where God almost whispered, I told you so. I know there are animals that will take on a man without fear, but even them, a man can have dominion over; I cite the elephants in India, the Orcas at Sea World and a man that lives here in South Africa that has a lion farm where he walks freely among them and plays with them. These little moments where God shows me in a practical way the truth of His Word, are precious moments and to have such a moment on the back of a beautiful horse on a white, frosty morning as the earth began to wake from a night’s rest, was even more special.

I don’t know if this will mean anything to anyone but me, if so, that is okay. It was just one of those times when God knew I needed a little sign, unsolicited but freely given, to show me that He knew exactly where I was and what was going on in my intricate, yet finite mind.

when it rains it pours...

I wrote nearly a month ago and it seems life here has taken on an odd cyclical quality. I will not say it has anything to do with karma, but there is a continuity to the fact that the late summer rains have continued into winter, against all odds. Last week we were treated to three days of nearly unbroken, soft rains that fell with seemingly Biblical results. The lower fields of the farm lie under water and a horse sinks to the knees as you ride. Roads were nearly impassable and seemed to change everyday, adding novelty to every morning drive. Today has been clear and we hope the precedent to the days to come.

Despite the rains, winter is here and morning finds us hunched in coats and breathing clouds into the dawn. The children complain of the cold, even though it is all they've ever known and they know it isn't about to change. In their defense, it is very cold here in the Free State and our particular classroom feels (literally) like stepping into the walk-in fridges at the Schmul Center in Hobe Sound, FL. Fortunately, the sun quickly warms the room to an almost uncomfortable temperature. It seems that all things in Africa are linked to nature, including our thermostat.

I am enjoying teaching. This term has had its particular challenges in that the South African government decided to give about a quarter or more of it away to holidays. If a holiday should be so unfortunate as to fall on a Saturday or Sunday, which of course they already have off of work, they move it to a Monday and give the day off. This makes getting any progress done, rather difficult. I have seen remarkable improvements in some of the students I was most worried about and I give God the praise. He has been giving me wisdom where I need (everywhere) and patience that I didn't have in myself.

I know this is hardly an adequate blog post, but it is hurried at the end of a day of school and I really don't have the time. Perhaps I'll write more soon. Thanks to all who continue to read and if any of you happen to be at Hobe Sound and happen to be seniors, like my cousin Doug Wiseman, Congratulations! Also a big Congratulations to Chris Shillington, Hannah Stence, Lamont (I hope I got that right), Bryan, Katherine, Joe and Andrew. If I left anyone out I am very sorry. Cheers.